From the promise of a future to a glimpse at the past....

Getting through Arusha is quite the experience! Arusha is a fast-growing city of nearly one million people and is the center of commerce and tourism (mostly for safaris) in northern Tanzania.  It is in a beautiful setting, on the foothills of Mt. Meru, with Mt. Kilimanjaro just a short distance to the northwest. But the city has haphazard streets and horrendous traffic (I think there are only two stoplights) which we had to plow through on a busy market-day Saturday. While Lee and Karashi exchanged money and bought some Bibles, the rest of us stopped at a fairly modern grocery store to pick up some lunch and drove on to the outskirts to visit an amazing school.....Peace House Secondary School.

After seeing the conditions of the public schools in Tanzania, this one is extraordinary.  It is a private, US-based non-profit boarding school targeting orphans and "vulnerable children", usually the victims of AIDS in their families.  It was started three years ago by a Minnesota doctor,  who grew up in Tanzania,  a son of a missionary.  He wanted to give back to the country, and his foundation and funds from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania give nearly 300 students a top-notch education.  The library was impressive, stocked with "Books for Africa" donations, and there was also a computer lab with donated laptops......  

....a busy lunch room on a Saturday afternoon filled with kids listening to hip-hop music...

.....dorm rooms that must be a delight to keep up compared to living in mud huts with earth floors...

                                                      
                                                              and a soccer field....

.....and an organic garden where they can grow their own produce....

We learned that most of these kids had never dreamed of having such an opportunity to learn, and were usually from homes without running water and electricity.  An education in Tanzania is free up through primary school, about grade 7.  After that there is a fee, with families also having to buy uniforms, books, and school supplies, and most can't afford that.  Kids drop out and many end up on the streets, pregnant, or back in their tribal villages.  This school is trying to change that and help these kids be the future for Tanzania.  They take their opportunity seriously, beginning their structured day around 6 a.m, taking their classes in English, and expected to help with the organic gardening, take part in sports, and extra-curricular activities.  This school seemed to hold the promise of a future for these young Tanzanians.

The rain had stopped and the sun was shining as we continued our journey through Maasailand towards Karatu.  The landscape was dotted with Maasai villages and kids herding their cattle alongside the road.  It seemed we were back 1000 years.  The Maasai, a peaceful tribe,  have resisted Western dress and modern housing.  Their colorful jewelry and clothing was a sharp contrast to the hand-me-down Goodwill clothes that many others wear.

As we were driving we saw a group of Maasai children pointing to something in the road and trying to get us to stop......a PYTHON that had been run over!  They thought it was great fun and were laughing at our wide-eyed faces!

We continued west and stopped in Mosquito River to pick up Esther,  a dear friend of former Hosanna teams, who would work with us for the week. She is from Kenya and would be a strong asset to our team for translating.  


We arrived in Karatu, leaving the only paved road in the entire area, and dodged deep ruts and potholes in the dirt road to the Lutheran hostel where we would be staying for the week.  Simple and comfortable, complete with mosquito nets, hot water, and electricity.... we were all ready to settle in.