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Theresa Taylor left a comment for Sydney

January 31

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About me:: My name is Sydney Devore and I am currently a senior in high school. This summer, my mom and I are volunteering in Tanzania for my senior trip and I am looking forward to the experience of a life time! I cant wait to see what magical things Africa has to offer. If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it! Thank you!

CCS Volunteer Status:: Enrolled Volunteer

Length of Volunteer Program Stay:: 3-4 weeks

Date I Volunteered or Will Be Volunteering: July 18, 2009

Region/s of Interest: Tanzania (Kilimanjaro)

Volunteer Interests:: Caring for Infants & Children, Teaching Children, Teaching English, Assisting Teachers, Assisting Local Health Professionals, Working toward Women's Empowerment, Sharing Professional Skills/Experience

Occupation:: Student/ Athlete

School or University Attended:: Will be attending FSU Fall of 2009

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At 1:06am on January 31, 2009, Theresa Taylor said…: Any of the restaurants in the city are fun to go to. There are some small ones along the main strip or along Chagga Street that are more traditional foods, or vendors in the markets often also have food. There is a more western restaurant called IndoItaliano which is worth going to for the fun of it. They have Indian foods and some pastas and pizzas. The pizza is a good price and pretty big, so if you are craving western food it is the place to go!!
There is another western style one called Deli Chez but it is not as good. There is also a Chinese restaurant in ShantyTown which is actually the richer part of town. So yeah...!! For clothes to my placement I wore long skirts with loose long sleeve or three quarter length sleeve dressier shirts. It is pretty unusual in the smaller villages to see a woman wearing pants or shorts, but in the city you will often see people dressed in more western style clothing. You will definitely want more casual clothes for the weekend, especially if you go on safari, bring some cargo pants or jeans, and I reccomend bringing a hat because if you do go on safari you'll have the top down a lot and you will find that it is nice to stand up in the wind but it gets dusty. Bring more than one pair of shoes, particularly something to go hiking in that you don't mind getting muddy. Running could be doable depending where you are...in general the roads are really uneven or bumpy. Actually I will upload a video of the road in Karanga village on a muddy day, I'll add it here, it will give you an idea hahaha. There are a few basketball courts that you could do a lot of laps around, that might be your best bet. But yeah safety wise I found that I didn't fear for my safety once the whole time I was there. I felt very comfortable, just be smart, don't go out walking around completely alone or late at night. Even then, if you are out later at night if you are in a group you are safe. Hope that helps a bit, let me know anything else!! I'll add that video of the muddy road now haha.

At 7:52pm on January 29, 2009, Elyse Caudill said…: I would like to work with children as well. I teach middle school so hopefully I will get a placement where I can teach English or something. I'm so excited!

At 7:09pm on January 28, 2009, Elyse Caudill said…: It's so great that we'll be at the same homebase! What sort of volunteer placement are you hoping for?

At 6:06pm on January 28, 2009, Kelly Rusnak said…: for going to the press i used the press release sample in the fundraising guide and added my story to it. then i sent it via email to the editor of the local newspaper. the editor called the program manager and asked if i wouldnt mind to be interviewed (i gave the ccs contact info instead of my own). so i called the editor back and she did a quick phone interview and i sent a pic for the article too. he next day i was in the paper. that is amazing that the guys at the gym are willing to donate that $. I don't have anything planned for the weekends. i heard its easier to make arrangements when you are there ( and you can make them with the other volunteers). I want to do a weekend safari (preferably at Ngorongoro Crater), I'll prob go to Kili but I won't climb to the top because it takes about a week to do so, I heard Zanzibar is nice (and I might try to get there if I don't run out of $), I also want to visit a marketplace, and a maasai village, as well as visit kids in an orphanage.

At 2:09pm on January 27, 2009, Kelly Rusnak said…: i really want to work with children. i would love to teach english or work in an orphanage. but i would be just as happy working in a health clinic. where ever i am needed i will help. I did raise money for my program fee. i sent out letters to family and friends (even people i haven't seen in years), made a facebook group, and sent a press release to my local newspaper (the release didn't get printed but a reported did call to interview me about the trip and funding and that got put in--the reporter will be doing a follow up story when i return). i was surprised at who donated. I had people that I haven't talked to in over ten years, people that I thought had grudges with me, and complete strangers! I am also trying to learn some basic phrases/words in swahili to help me get by. learning the language has been hard but fun at the same time. I just get my shots about 2 weeks ago. i had to get yellow fever, typhoid, polio, and hep a (4 total). my arm was dead for a couple of days. I didn't think it was gonna hurt that bad and I am usually good with neeedles and shots. I think it was the fact that i had four at a time in the same spot that did me in though. don't worry about about doing something wrong. everyone makes mistakes. thats how we learn. :)
are you fundraising? learning swahili?

At 8:30pm on January 26, 2009, Theresa Taylor said…: I tried to learn a bit of Swahili before I left. My friend and I practiced with flash cards and learned some key phrases and words. You will have Swahili lessons at the homebase, but there is just so much going on and by that point you are already there and so immersed in the experience that you will be better off to learn some before hand. You can get by with very little Swahili, but overall your experience will be much richer if you know some, especially if you are working with small children or the very elderly because they generally do not know english. You will find that the staff, many shop keepers, and taxi drivers etc. do know and speak English very well though!! The food at the home base was good, there was always fresh fruit and vegetables so even if I wasn't feeling well or feeling keen on the main meal there was always a lot to choose from. At the Karanga home base it was buffet style so you could take as much or as little as you wanted, and we would have a variety of things from Veggie burgers to more traditional things such as chapoti and ugali. Some of the food has a bit of an Indian influence to it, but overall I found that in Tanzania the food itself did not have a lot of spice or extra flavor but would always have some kind of sauce on the side. In general I did not like the beef because they had to boil it for a long time before preparing it so that it was food safe. Any dish with chicken was always delicious though, and you will find that chickens run around free range everywhere so it is the freshest meat to eat!! In Moshi there are some restaurants and street vendors that I definitely reccomend trying, it is a lot of fun to eat out in the community.

At 1:43pm on January 26, 2009, Kelly Rusnak said…: Sydney-I am going to TZ for March/April. I can help you with any questions that you may have prepping for the trip and when I return I can answer any add'l questions about what it is like to be there.

At 11:32pm on January 24, 2009, Theresa Taylor said…: You will love Karanga!!!! It was an amazing experience, the staff there are so wonderful. The whole community is amazing. I really reccomend walking around the little village, you will meet amazing people. I loved Tanzania so much that I am already planning when I can go back!! Let me know if you have any questions!

At 9:55pm on January 22, 2009, Elyse Caudill said…: I'm at the Karanga homebase too! I haven't met that many people yet so I'm excited to hear we'll be at the same location! I'm so excited to go, I've been planning since last March! What sort of volunteer placement are you hoping for?

At 6:27pm on January 21, 2009, Elyse Caudill said…: Hey Sydney, I'll be in Tanzania from June 27-August 8. Do you know what home base you're going to be in? It would be cool if we crossed paths!

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