My 4-H trip to Tanzania
by SabinaMästle Torres
My delegation had three adults: Dr. Howard, Mr. D. Gordon and Ms. B. Gunderson; and two delegates: Quinn Williams and myself. We met in Tanzania a 4-H Finnish delegation. We did most activities together, and in the process played multiple “spoons” tournaments (spoons is a kind of card game).
We left on July 23rd , on a 12-hour flight to Addis Abbeba, Ethiopia’s capital, We then flew five hours to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. As I said goodbye to my dad, I felt both curiosity and apprehension. I was flying to Africa, a continent I had never imagined visiting. My head was filled with images from the stories my mom had told me about her work trips to Africa. I, however, was going to Tanzania, a country in eastern Africa that she had never visited. I knew little about the country, only what I learnt during the preparation classes. I knew people spoke Swahili and English in Tanzania, and I knew a thing or two about the culture, religions, and 4-H in Tanzania.
In Tanzania, we first went to a hotel in Dar es Salaam, where we also stayed at the end of the trip, then to the 4-H headquarters in Tanga, and finally we stayed at an English boarding school in Morogoro. We were able to get a glimpse of the towns and visited local markets, very different from those we have here in the United States. In Tanzania, markets are open, and vendors display their merchandise that can range from meat two carved wooden figures. I learned there a bit of Swahili. The words “Asante” and “Asante sana” soon became part of my everyday vocabulary. “Asante” means more than thank you. The words “Asante sana” can be used to say thank you a lot.
We visited various schools because in Tanzania, 4-H clubs often consist of whole schools. 4-H projects teach kids how to raise and sell animals, farm plants, and create a steady source of income. We could see during our visit that people work very hard in developing and maintaining those projects. Many do not have much, and they use everything that they have without waste. I saw how our 4-H hosts recycled everything. In the school, where the kids took care of a vegetable garden, they had built small fences with recycled bottles filled with sand.
In Tanga, we visited projects done by former 4-Hers. These projects were very impressive, and completely different from 4-H projects in the US. In Tanzania, the 4-Hers’s slogan is “Learning by earning”. Indeed, 4-H in Tanzania is mostly centered around entrepreneurship: For example, a 4-Her would start a project raising pigeons. He would later sell the pigeons, buy a cow, and start selling milk. It is to one of these entrepreneurship program, — raising goats— that we gave part of the funds collected in my painting class thanks to the Lucky Clovers. Once they graduate, 4-Hers sometimes start their own businesses using the skills they learned in 4-H.
We went to a sewing school for teenage girls in Tanga. We spoke with the girls who were very welcoming and cheerful. Several of them said that when they graduated, they would want to open similar schools to give other girls the same opportunity of learning to saw and be able to learn a living. Dr. Howard gave to this school the other part of the Lucky Clovers’ donation for the purchase of a sewing machine.
We also went to a village of Maasai, a tribe that lives in Kenya and in the Northern part of Tanzania. They are mainly cattle herders and are nomads or semi-nomads. They are very tall and slender. When we visited, they made a demonstration of their Adamu or Aigu, a dance traditionally performed by warrior, which consist in the men entering a circle an jumping as high as possible to demonstrate their power.
A major highlight of our trip was the Safari we went to in the outside of Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is home to some of the most beautiful wildlife in the African Continent, and it is amazing to see all these elephants, giraffes, lions and other animals walking free through the land from our car, They seem to be used to humans, and some of them, elephants in particular came very close to our car without fear. It was a very special day!
In conclusion, this trip was an eye-opening for me. I saw a culture that was unlike any other I knew! In all the places we went, we encountered that amazing hospitality that defined my experience in Tanzania. I was blown away by the vibrant culture, the delicious food, and the generosity of the Tanzanians.
My heart goes out to everyone who helped me seize this amazing opportunity! If you are a 4-Her, I would strongly encourage you to seek out information about these trips and take advantage of this unique opportunity that 4-H is offering for you to make a difference in the world
