Places and Faces of Tanzania

Wildebeast

Twigga




East African Rift Valley


Sweet Safari Cars and Rugged Paths

Elephant in the Ngorongoro Crater


Lake Manyara

Tanzania 2007

"Everything you never knew that you always wanted..."




Located between the breathtaking views of Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro.



Among the rural communities of Ngyeku and Sakila



A.S.A.P. discovered its new home in Tanzania this summer



For one month, we lived at Holy Mountain Lodge, so named after the small mountain that the locals hike up regularly to camp and pray.



Six or seven of the volunteers hiked up Holy Mountain, and one stayed overnight. It is a steep climb, and there isn't a whole lot to see, but we considered it a victory to get to the top nonetheless. It requires endurance and arm strength to launch yourself up this big hill using roots and weeds so you don't slide back down. If you stay overnight, you will hear many locals coming to pray out loud and theres potential for loud drumming as well. Don't plan to get much sleep, because there are an abundance of noises and small critters to keep you company.


Sakila Secondary School, where TJ, Alyssa, Charlotte, Jessie, and Chris taught - is located at the foot of Holy Mountain. It has approximately 300 students.


Maggie, Kelsey, Meredith, Lynn, and Hilary all taught at Ngyeku Primary School. It has 13 classrooms, and 1000 students from grades 1-7.


It was at Ngeyku that we taught valuable lessons such as "How to Limbo"...and English Instructional classes as well ;)



The staff and all of the locals added a very positive element to our trip, as they were more than willing to take us on walks, show us how to make food and wash clothes, braid hair, carve and collect food from the surrounding areas. They truly won our hearts and we will never forget the energy that they put forth every day to make our experience memorable.

web.mac.com/zeekcw

just a few more weeks to go!!!!!

We will be bringing over $2600 with us this year...more fundraising totals to come.

Dinomite Kidfest 2007

Mud Hut...

You rock my world, Lora.

We asked them to draw pictures of their homes, and showed them where Tanzania is on the globe.

Pretty good architects, Id say.

February Chill

I sort of wanted to do an update on the Tanzania class. There are ten students now involved, plane tickets bought and everything!
Hilary O'Sullivan
Maggie Spring
Chris Zeek
TJ Bittel
Alyssa Gordos
Lynn Bahret
Meredith Poff
Jessie Lane
Kelsey Laitinen
Charlotte Sherman
Together, we have been taking a one hour credit class on teaching in Tanzania. We have learned everything from the history of colonization in Africa, to key Swahili phrases, to how to teach pronunciation to ESL students. This week, we watched a movie that is called "Tusamehe", which documents the life of an African couple who comes to to U.S. only to discover that they both have contracted AIDS from the husbands former american girlfriend. It is partially done in Swahili, and I think it brings up some important issues for our trip. We also talked alot about culture shock, and Chris presented 3 articles he found that described his past experiences well.
Right now I am pleased to be working on a business plan to make ASAP more of a business in the sense that we can sustain our organization with cashflow. We hope to work with the office of entrepreneurship to accomplish this goal. We have compiled a list of supplies needed for this summer. For more information on what we need for our school, Maji Ya Chai, please send an email to POFFME@muohio.edu.

"Dude, you've got alot of stuff going on right now" - TJ

Last semester we switched things up a bit with fundraising and planning.
Overall, we had a small number of dedicated individuals who took smaller projects under their wing. Our 3 main fundraisers were:

1. Sponsor a Book - which began early in 2006 as we prepared for our trip to Ghana. We revised the project for our Tanzania trip. It ended up that we set up tables in Shriver and collected donations in increments of $2, the approximate cost of one primary school textbook in Africa. In addition we collected email addresses of our donors so that they will be kept up to date about ASAP's accomplishments.

2. Calendars - With a collection of pictures from Christopher Zeek's 2006 Tanzania trip, we created a calendar and had it printed free of charge in Dayton with ComDoc Corporation. Thanks to Matt, ASAP's former VP, we were able to allow this idea to come to fruition. Calendars sold/are being sold for $10, all proceeds going to ASAP in 2007.

3. Kona Bistro - Our 3 older wiser ASAPers: Lora, TJ, and Matt offered to be guest bartenders during one of Kona's "wednesday philanthropy night" deals. We raised money from the bar and restaurant tips, and were able to generate interest in a completely new way: out in the community at large. I personally think this is a fantastic fundraiser in terms of fun, friends, and informality and ease of completion. In other words, lets do it again!!!

Moving on but not forgetting our projects in Ghana, we have decided to Teach in Tanzania from May 12-June 12, 2007. Twelve Miami students (not all ASAP affiliated) have decided to participate in this summer program, and I could not be more thrilled with the progress we have made. These students are currently enrolled in an EDL course at Miami named "Teaching in Tanzania" in which they each independently learn skills to supplement their ability to teach english in a non-english speaking country such as Tanzania. With the help of professors, students, and graduate students, I have put together 15 sessions to help this independent adventure. For more information about this curriculum or ways to set up such a course, email poffme@muohio.edu or contact the Office of Continuing Education at Miami University via their website http://www.units.muohio.edu/continuingeducation/

With megafair and elections coming up in the next few weeks, I hope to have updates as to who will be ushering in the new wave of ASAP news. Thank you for your interest.

Meredith Poff
ASAP President

Fall Semester

Welcome to A.S.A.P.'s blog! It is officially fall, and several things have been happening with the Miami Chapter. We have already selected our site for next summer...TANZANIA! In addition, new and old(er) members have come up with many great ideas for fundraising. Our annual dinner and debriefing will be on October 24 at 6:30 pm in the 1809 room. There is a suggested donation of $10 for the dinner, and the proceeds will go to the school in Tanzania.

Already we have gained the support of several departments on campus for the upcoming trip in the form of Independent Study opportunities (for Uni-credit) and donations to defray trip costs. We hope to be able to bring a group for 5-7 students to the Arusha region of Tanzania to teach English for a period of one month. This is a great way to expand ASAP's reach to students and schools abroad.

Hope to see you at a meeting soon!
5:45 18 Laws on Sundays

Check out our trip website!
asap.farmdevil.net
email: poffme@muohio.edu with any questions

This is Tanesha and I at La Yahoushua School, where ASAP donated many books and supplies. Here we are presenting the books to Theodora, the schoolmistress. She was amazing, even going to the bookstore with us to pick out what she thought would be best.



The children at the school danced for us, and there was much to celebrate!












Here is a classroom at the school...not too shabby!


















This student wrote and recited a poem for us called "My Book"

It was very moving and also quite hilarious. We encountered many of these mixed emotions on the trip. Do you laugh? Do you cry? Do you give up? Do you set new goals....(yes!)









This is Tanesha (Miami) and Kenneth (from NYU study abroad) at La Yahoushua having a great time watching the dancing, singing, and poetry.