#nurturingminds

two weeks. 14 days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQbiNvZqaY . I just can’t get enough of this.

Exactly two weeks from today, I’ll be on a plane to Africa. I don’t think it’s fully hit me yet, but it won’t until I’m at the airport. I also don’t think it’s really hit me that I’ll be there for 5 months. July 8 – December 5. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that long, but right now it seems a bit daunting. Yet even with my anxiety and fear of the unknown (for those of you who really know me, I’m terrible with change), I am getting more and more excited.

I met one of the girls who goes to Sega, Nusura. She had been in school in Philadelphia for 6 months and before she returned to Tanzania, she stayed with the family who sponsors her in Connecticut. So I met her at fundraising event that some of the board members for Nurturing Minds/Sega hosted. I chatted with Nusura for a bit, about what to expect, what the girls are like, I asked her about her life, and what it was like for her being in the states. She was incredible. So full of joy and happiness. Her mom died when she was very young, so she’s been living with her maternal grandmother. Her father, who is Muslim, has three wives, so Nusura has many other “step siblings.” She told me that her grandmother wasn’t able to pay for her schooling fees past her primary years, so had it not been for Sega, she would’ve stayed with her grandmother and spent her life farming to make a living. But now, she has dreams of becoming an accountant, a tour guide, a teacher, a nurse, the list of careers goes on and on. Thanks to Sega, she actually has the opportunity to be an independent woman. If you have not seen the “Girl Effect” video, you should watch it, I’ve seen it so many times, and it still makes me tear up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQbiNvZqaY .

This is just one of the many reasons why I’m doing this.

Also, to travel. Let’s be real. I LOVE travelling. Obviously I am going to be staying at the school and in Morogoro, but I want to take advantage of being in Africa. Here are just some of the places I want to visit and things I want to do – hike some of Kilimanjaro, visit the Ngorongoro Crater, maybe go on a safari, lying on the beaches of Zanzibar, exploring Dar es Salaam, and of course, spending my last week or so in Africa in Cape Town. Back to one of my favorite cities.

Things I’m nervous about.. showering with a bucket of water. How exactly does that work? And my laundry? Also done in a bucket? Hygiene in general.  My soccer skills. These girls love playing soccer and I haven’t played since middle school. Learning Swahili. And of course, being in Africa. Not necessarily the safest place in the world.

This post was a bit scatter-brained, but that’s kind of how I’m feeling right now. Just no idea how I can prepare myself. I have tons of lists all around my room of what I still need to buy, places I want to visit, and who even knows what else I wrote down.