It's Official!

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I have been bursting with "Mom" news over this last week or so, waiting first to find out if things were really going to work out and then waiting for the news to become "Facebook official" after he notified family members.  Now I can let it out!  My son who has been living and working in Tanzania these last 5 years is coming home in October - and not just for a visit!  The organization he works for has agreed with him that the communication aspect of his job - which is really the most important part - can be done more efficiently and effectively stateside.  He had been planning a visit home in October with his girlfriend, but let me know when we last Skyped that there was a very good possibility that when he arrived he would have all his belongings with him -- and now it's official!  

I know he will be experiencing some very bittersweet emotions these next few months as he prepares to leave the country, friends, and family who have been his life for five years, and I know he faces quite a transition in this move, not just a visit, back to America.  We are not the same country we were when he left.  But, I also know that he will be surrounded by family and friends who love and support him.  And, I know he will continue the incredible work that he does and perhaps find new, exciting ways to share it here, bridging needs in East Africa with caring individuals and groups stateside. I, for one, am starting to count the days until I get to say, "Welcome home!"

Tuesday's Tanzania - "Trees for the Future"

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 While there were many highlights to our trip, one of the most rewarding days was our first full day, spent learning more about the work that Andrew does as the East Africa Regional Manager for Trees for the Future, an international "agroforestry charity."  This is an incredible organization that teaches, promotes, and supports "tree-planting" to benefit not only the environment but also the community, its crops/livestock,  and the present and future ecosystem, all while supporting community, cooperation, independence, and environmental concern.

We met up with Dr. Issaya, one of Andrew's site coordinators, who was eager to show us some nursery sites.  Our first stop was at the home of an area Lutheran pastor and his wife who were fairly new to the TREES program, but as you can see, were growing a large nursery very quickly (above).  We were told by Dr. Issaya that in October they were already able to pass on over 700 trees.

My favorite stop of the day was to a school participating in the TREES program.  This picture shows just one part of the tree nursery.  When the trees are ready, students may take them home to plant them there, after learning the proper way to plant and care for them.  The woman on the left   introduced herself to us several times as the school's environmental science teacher, a program they take great pride in providing.

 The largest nursery we visited was Dr. Issaya's original one, a beautiful place with trees and shrubs of many varieties, including coffee trees.




Water is a very appreciated resource in Tanzania due to only two rainy seasons (the "long" and the "short"), so this nursery's water collection system was especially interesting - and probably quite helpful given the size of the site.  Although it was a dry day, Dr. I. gave us a good demonstration of how the man-made pump worked.

We also noted the thatched "ceiling" over many younger plants, providing a shield from a very hot sun and keeping in as much moisture as possible.

Our last stop on the TREES tour was an eye-opening stop into Kilimanjaro National Park.  The area surrounding Mt. Kilimanjaro used to be wrapped in natural forest, but sadly, as the photos show, that is no longer true.  Poachers - tree poachers - have gone into the park and "farmed" the forest, decimating the natural landscape and threatening the environment (one of the reasons the "snows of Kilimanjaro" - the glaciers - are melting, is due to the loss of so many trees surrounding the mountain).  Currently, TREES is trying to work with the Tanzanian government to gain permission to plant in the national park in an attempt to re-forest.

If you would like more information about Trees for the Future or would like to receive their monthly newsletter, stop by their website or find them on Facebook.  "Plant Trees. Change Lives."

Tuesday's Tanzania

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 Andrew with Idi and his family

This past November, hubby and I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Tanzania in East Africa and visit with our son who has been living there for the last almost five years.  I've been wanting to share about our trip, but how and where to begin...so I've decided "little bites" will be best and here we have the first of our "Tuesday's Tanzania."

After college, Andrew joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to a small village - Ksiwani - in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, the first Peace Corps volunteer ever to be placed there.  Andrew now lives and works in the city of Moshi (also in the Kilimanjaro region) as the manager for East Africa for "Trees for the Future"  (another post on that later), but one of the first things on our agenda was a visit to Ksiwani to meet his PC village family - who were very anxious to meet "mom" - and I was so very excited to meet all of them and to say many "thank-you's" for taking such good care of my son over those two years.

Traveling out to the village was an experience in itself - first by bus (but you wait for the bus to be full before it leaves...and then it stops along the way to drop off and pick up so don't be on a schedule -- oh, and yes, that was a live chicken in the aisle) to the closest town and then by private "taxi" when we couldn't find a van going out to the village that afternoon.  It was then that I learned that while Ksiwani was a village, where Andrew had actually lived along with his friend's Idi's home and the village's school was about 5 more miles outside of the village's center.

Idi had killed a goat in honor of our coming (and no, I had not eaten goat before but yes, I did eat it and yes, I did eat the seconds that I was offered when my bowl was empty - fortunately, Andrew explained to me that it would not be rude of me to not eat all of the 2nd round).  I was overwhelmed by everyone's warmth and such care for Andrew and him for them - it was so clear that his years there had indeed made them all family.

The following morning we were greeted by the school children arriving for their daily routine of singing and dancing in preparation of their classes.  Andrew and I then set off with Idi (on his motorcycle) to visit with some of Andrew's friends at their homes.  At each home we were greeted with chai, breakfast, and more smiles.

Of course, my favorite visit was with Mama Freddie where I was presented with a kanga, the traditional wear for women in central/east Africa.

Freddie (Mama's oldest son - hence, "Mama Freddie" - my name was "Mama Andrew") had been a good friend of Andrew while he was in the village, but Freddie was away at university in Dar es Salaam when we visited.

Next Tuesday - learn more about the Ksiwani futbol team!