First things first, addressing the blog. "Chura" is the Swahili name for "frog", and as some of you know I am crazy about frogs. In many Swahili-speaking tribes, the frog is a symbol of transformation and change (also fertility but that doesn't really apply here). As a young woman with everything to play for in the future, I am thinking a lot about this trip in terms of transforming myself into a more conscientious and globally-responsible human bean.
I've been planning parts of my trip since last November. The winter of 2009-10 nearly had me migrating further South, but I wised up this year and will be spending most of the winter on the Equator where my sandaled feet belong.
My trip as of now sticks me right in the middle of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania's coastal capital city.
A man named John Mashaka, the founder and executive director of the Mashaka Foundation, has quite a few connections in Tanzania and has been gracious enough to get in touch with them for the sake of finding me a safe place to stay. Right now there are about four folks who would be willing to take me in, but each time I speak to John the number grows.
John contacted me a week ago to provide a chance for me to gather advice on African Do's-and-Don'ts. He asked about the organization I had told him I was going with, and how much money it was. When I told him, he said to me "No, no, no, you should never have to pay to volunteer. I have friends in Tanzania, I will make some calls and make sure you have a safe place to stay. Do not worry about paying that organization."
Those words were music to my unbelieving ears; my mind until then had been in an unending loop of money making schemes that grew progressively less feasible. And here, my problem solved! All that would be left to pay was the plane ticket and a few various trip preparations and safety funds, an amount that was far more feasible than before. I stumbled over my words in paragraphs of gratitude and jubilation, and upon hanging up the phone I exploded into a mess of Facebook updates and emails and text messages and running through the house spewing good news.
John will be at my fundraiser Friday, helping me to make the food (tea marsala, chapati bread with chicken and carrots and tomatoes, and rice). He has also agreed to speak about his organization, specifically a program which sends needy kids to school (since I will be working in schools and orphanages) and another that is building water towers for villages without water. I cannot wait; it seems too soon for all of this to be coming to fruition but I am ecstatic that it finally is.
John Mashaka Foundation: http://www.mashakafoundation.org/
