July 8!
July 8th, 2017
(Written morning of July 9th)
(Edited and continued July 20th)
I'd never had rhubarb before, but we had rhubarb coffee cake for breakfast and it was delicious. Breakfast was also a lovely affair as all four of us shared laughter and stories. We reminisced about the days when I was Ms. Pike's student and we all learned more about each other. It was a great way to start the day.
The morning was filled with more meetings at Tina's, but we split into two groups to be more productive. Jude, Jill and Sephra met to discuss hospitality curriculum, and Tina, Cindi, Brad and I met to talk about merchandising. Our group talked about the beading can be a sustainable source of funding if one finds places to sell it and get into retail. Tina also had a lot of ideas about what Simon's Promise Service Chapters can do to make more of a cultural exchange. It was informative but the whole morning was quite draining.
Summer and Adam came by eventually and we all shared some more laughs. Summer offered to take me to town for a drink since I'm of the legal drinking age here. ;) All of it was a nice break after an intense morning, and then we went back over to our house for lunch. The food we'd bought at the market were not going to be enough to last us the next several days, but we made do for the time being.
Then it was back over to Tina's to discuss some more. We talked about sustainability in Tanzania and how Simon's Promise can be a part of that. (This is where I messed up in the July 7 blog). This was the day when Sephra explained the Tanzanian school structure and Tina talked about employability. Then we got to talk about SP's Promise Center, where it will go, when it's open, what will be taught and how to make it successful. Tina had a lot of questions about Simon's Promise and where its focus lies. She gave us some advice and told us stories about her experiences with her non-profit. We talked about taking Tanzanians on safaris for the first time, since many of them don't get to see the beauty that is in their backyards. We looked to the future and tried to sift through the present. My brain was spinning like crazy with thoughts and ideas, but I felt winded. Then, since we'd been talking and planning about bead sales so much, Tina showed us her supply of merchandise & beads.
(Written morning of July 9th)
(Edited and continued July 20th)
I'd never had rhubarb before, but we had rhubarb coffee cake for breakfast and it was delicious. Breakfast was also a lovely affair as all four of us shared laughter and stories. We reminisced about the days when I was Ms. Pike's student and we all learned more about each other. It was a great way to start the day.
The morning was filled with more meetings at Tina's, but we split into two groups to be more productive. Jude, Jill and Sephra met to discuss hospitality curriculum, and Tina, Cindi, Brad and I met to talk about merchandising. Our group talked about the beading can be a sustainable source of funding if one finds places to sell it and get into retail. Tina also had a lot of ideas about what Simon's Promise Service Chapters can do to make more of a cultural exchange. It was informative but the whole morning was quite draining.
Summer and Adam came by eventually and we all shared some more laughs. Summer offered to take me to town for a drink since I'm of the legal drinking age here. ;) All of it was a nice break after an intense morning, and then we went back over to our house for lunch. The food we'd bought at the market were not going to be enough to last us the next several days, but we made do for the time being.
Then it was back over to Tina's to discuss some more. We talked about sustainability in Tanzania and how Simon's Promise can be a part of that. (This is where I messed up in the July 7 blog). This was the day when Sephra explained the Tanzanian school structure and Tina talked about employability. Then we got to talk about SP's Promise Center, where it will go, when it's open, what will be taught and how to make it successful. Tina had a lot of questions about Simon's Promise and where its focus lies. She gave us some advice and told us stories about her experiences with her non-profit. We talked about taking Tanzanians on safaris for the first time, since many of them don't get to see the beauty that is in their backyards. We looked to the future and tried to sift through the present. My brain was spinning like crazy with thoughts and ideas, but I felt winded. Then, since we'd been talking and planning about bead sales so much, Tina showed us her supply of merchandise & beads.
Then it was dinner time. You know what we had? Pizza. We traveled all the way to Tanzania and we had pizza, but I'm sure not complaining. It was so good and we all ate well. After dinner we headed back to our little house, but before bed Jill, Cindi, Brad and I debriefed all that we'd talked about in the last few days. We caught each other up from that morning when we'd all be in different meetings, and then we started talking about Simon's Promise. We discussed how we could improve and what challenges we were all facing at this point in the trip. Then we talked about what beaded items we wanted to take home with us, and we decided we'd had enough discussion for one day. Of course it was already 11 o'clock, but it definitely helped bring some resolution to the days' conversations. Someone went to go turn on the showers, but the water pressure wasn't working. We went to bed dirty and exhausted but not unfulfilled.
Much love,
Kami
