Day 16: Desert Islands, JellyFish and Bat Caves

It occurred to me last night that I had never seen a sunrise...so this morning Katie and I got up at 5:00am and walked the 50m to the beach to watch the sun rise over the Indian Ocean. It began to get light really quickly but we couldn’t see the sun. We messed about taking random photos and then suddenly saw a hint of the sun crawling up from the horizon. It seemed to rise in minutes and I think I took over 100 photos trying to get the perfect shot (which of course you never do) – was quite pleased with some of them but like many things, you just can’t capture it all on a camera.

We came back from the beach and got ready for breakfast and our snorkeling trip. Decided to go for the full “English” breakfast this morning which was actually quite good – proper sausages and really good scrambled egg too – just lacked the HP sauce!!

We left at around 8.00am and walked out to the little wooden boat that was going to take us out around 6km to the first snorkel site. We had to walk out about ½ km as the tide was so far out and the water so shallow that the boat couldn’t get any closer into shore. We got a “little” concerned on the way out as after being told there were NO Jellyfish we saw a couple on the way out to the boat. Harry revealed her phobia of water to us and threatened to literally kill anyone that made jokes about sharks! Of course...that led to.....jokes about sharks! Well it would wouldn’t it!

The journey out took about 40 mins or so and we saw Dolphins in the distance – 5 or 6 of them I counted. We all piled into the crystal clear and very very warm sea and began snorkeling...many of the boys still wearing their tee-shirts as our necks, shoulders and backs we still very burnt. The visibility was fantastic and we saw loads of puff fish, nimo fish and star fish (which got Katie very excited) before people started reporting that their felt a bit itchy. We blamed most of this on the salt on our burns but as we started to board the boat again, the skipper told us that they had seen loads of baby jelly fish. Pretty much all of us had been stung. Not badly, but Katie had lots of little stings on her back, Jan had been stung on the lip of all places and most of the rest of us had escaped with just a couple on our arms or legs!

After another stop (and more stings), we moored up at “Sand Island” which surprisingly was an island of....wait for it......Sand!

Words can’t describe what this little haven was like. It was like how I would imagine Mauritius or the Maldives to be like, or infact, if you googled the work “paradise” i image this is what would come up. The pictures will hopefully do it justice but it was literally just an untouched island of sand with waves gently crashing in from all sides. The sea must have been 45C – literally bath temperature! It was heavenly bliss and we just didn’t want to leave....unfortunately being a sand island, the tide slowly put a stop to our stay and we had to leave a couple of hours later before the island was immersed forever....well, until the next tide anyway!

Back at the resort, those that were not burnt before now were and those that were – well, we were even more red than before! We had lunch and then this afternoon half the group opted for a quiet relaxing afternoon whilst the other half (Jan, Adrian, Katie and me) ventured out to the caves. We were planning a visit to the natural hot springs too – but ran out of time.

The caves were wicked!! There are 8 formations of caves in total (all limestone). Unlike a typical cave tour in the UK, these caves had no lighting, no “do not touch” signs and no fencing or directions. Oscar from Really Wild travel was out guide and knew the caves really well. The tour was amazing and there seemed to b e many natural carvings in the limestone of Christian symbols, animals and even stalactites that resembled the statue of liberty for example. In some places we had to crawl through the caves as they were so low (Jan had fun with that bit) and right at the end there were tree roots coming through and down into the caves. Oscar showed off his skills by climbing up the tree roots to the top of the caves which then of course spurred Adrian to do the same. Not wanting to let him “win” we all had a go and discovered that Katie is actually not a girl...she is a monkey. She literally just wizzed straight up about 3 levels. We all followed (to the layer below) – just brilliant!!

We got back around 6ish, had dinner (fresh crab) then Kerry booked us all in online so we got good seats together. Some of stayed up for a bit, some of us went back, showered and packed....breakfast at 6:45am then we are planning to hot the road for 7:30am to do the 8 hr drive to Kilimanjaro Airport.

Well....this is the last blog entry for the RM FutureBuilders trip to Tanzania. We have done so much this past 2 ½ weeks and sitting on the beach on the desert island today felt so far removed from this time last week when were we refurbishing Uwa Primary School.

Personally this trip is right up there on the top list of trips I have been on – I have had so many “first” experiences on this trip in such a short period of time. Helping refurb a Primary school (in Africa), sleeping in a tent for 10 days, using squat toilets, going on safari, seeing dolphins in the wild, being stung by Jellyfish, sitting on a desert island, eating real crab, climbing up tree roots in a cave, staying in a bandana hut on the beach, swimming in sea hotter than my bath......to name just a few!

I also wanna say what a great pleasure and fantastic time I have with the rest of the FutureBuilders. We are already talking about coming back to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and would love to combine it with some more work with ChildReach if we can. This really has been an experience of a lifetime.

Now....for you folks at home picking people up....our flight gets in to Heathrow T4 at 6am on Saturday 20th November. Mum, Dad it would be great if you could get me some milk and tiger bread, and stick the heating and hot water on!!!!! Thanks and see you soon UK.

Day 15: Lazing By the pool

Woke up at a leisurely time of 8:00 and got ready for Breakfast at 9:00. By the time Katie and I got down to breakfast everyone else had already eaten and were now in the pool playing water polo. As we were the last down we seemed to get special treatment and had full blown waiter service. We both opted for the “light” breakfast which was the best breakfast I’d had all the time I’d been in Tanzania – fresh fruit, freshly baked rolls, fresh coffee and real milk (not had that for a while). Katie and I sat chatting for ages after breakfast before heading over to the pool to join the others. We took a walk on the beach and went for our first swim in the sea – it was so warm. I have never felt sea so warm (no I hadn’t wee’d in it!) even on my diving holidays in Egypt I have never felt sea so warm – it was almost hot!

After swimming in the sea and taking some photos of the beach everyone sat around the pool and made the most of the day in the sun that we had. That being the case most of us (well, the boys) did not put as much sun cream on as we should have done...by the evening there were some very sore people.

In the afternoon we played some more silly water games and then did bombing competitions in the water..well...you have to keep cool!

Around 5.00pm we all went for a long walk along the beach to watch the sun set. We went looking for crabs in the rock pools and realised just how far we could walk out to see with it only being ankle deep. Some of the photos we took were great as it looked like we were literally walking on water. As we came back at dusk, the crabs were on their way out of their holes in the sand..again – never seen so many of them. Katie took quite a dislike to them though and screamed (just a bit) which seemed to encourage every other crab on the beach to come out to see what all the fuss was about.

Dinner time came and we were all a bit knackered (nothing to do with too much sun!). Dinner was fantastic...again the best I had eaten in a while. Katie, Jan, Me and Kerry all had sea food platter which was awesome.

The evening was a quiet one with lots of conversations about all sorts of stuff ranging from kids TV programmes to 70’s/80’s films (StarWars and Back to the Future seemed to win), sports legends, and favorite movie stars.

Oh, we are going on a snorkeling trip tomorrow (all 8 of us plus a couple of Norwegian girls that are staying on the resort).

Day 14: Snake Park then Beach Beach Beach...

Well....just after the blog was written last night most of decided that as we had a long day of travelling to the Peponi Resort in Pangani (for a couple of days of sun, sea and anything else beginning with s...such as shells!!) we’d call it an early night. About 10 minutes after Harry had retired to bed we heard a squalor from her tent...”KERRRRYYYYY!....Bring a Boy......QUIIIIICK....There’s a GIIIIAAAANT Spider”. Like a flash all the boys, followed quickly by Kerry and Katie legged it over to Harry and Kerry’s tent...well, we weren’t missing out on a good laugh now were we! Harry was wrapped in her mosquito net and shrieking – pointing to where a fairly large spider was sitting on inside of the tent. Adrian (now aka Mr Konyagi) was first in the tent to rescue Harry and with a little bit of help he managed to save the day and kill the traitorous spider and save Harry.....or so we thought.....She let off another scream as this she had spotted a scorpion in the corner of her tent....after a couple of seconds Kerry decided it best that we fetch security as they are used to dealing with scorpions....good job too. They managed to get the little git out the tent and killed it but were extremely cautious and told us that even though it was tiny, it would have given quite a nasty nip...they warned us of the red scorpions and said that if we saw one of them to get far away as they can be lethal....needless to say we ALL thoroughly checked our tents that night...I must confess, I actually slept in all my clothes...no one else admitted to but I bet they did too!!

Right....Tuesday now...and we awoke without bites, however Jan had suffered a reaction from the bites the day before and couldn’t open one of his eyes this morning. It was quite funny (for us) as he looked like something out of night of the living dead! Anyway, we had breakfast and headed off at around 8am for the snake park and then to the beach at Peponi resort.

We arrived at the snake park in Arusha at about 11ish and were a bit shocked to find we had to pay as it wasn’t included in the safari price....we argued about for a bit before giving in and paying the $10. It was ok...nothing that you couldn’t see in a zoo back home but we got to see loads of poisonous snakes such as cobra, constrictor and adda’s and we even got to hold a baby croc and a baby snake....we even got Kerry to hold the snake after us all calling her a scardy cat!!

Crocodile Hunter of Tanzania

The rest of the journey was long......as we arrived at the “hotel” site just before 8pm – so nearly 10 hours of driving in all! We all managed to have a little sleep on the bus as well as play some games (yes...they did involve drinking Konyagi). We kept enticing the driver to go faster so we’d get there sooner...unfortunately.......he got stopped for speeding in the process but managed to “get off” by saying that he had not seen the sign....to be fair...we didn’t see one. We discussed what would have happened in the UK if your caught driving twice the speed limit. We were then told some great stories about how they “get off” over here in Tanzania. Our ReallyWild rep, Oscar, told us that he was stopped the other week and denied it (they had no real proof) and then there were going to take his car away...he has a wire under the dash that he could disconnect to stop it from starting (like a manual immobilizer) – he uses this a lot as if the car won’t start, they can’t take it...The other one they use a lot (in the bus) is that are taking people to the airport (even if they are not) – the police get in trouble if they delay passengers getting to the airport so this one works pretty much all the time...

The last part of the journey involved everyone getting “caught a little short” and us having to bail out the bus and pee in a bush...even the girls!!

We got to the resort and were surprised that what we thought was B&B ended up being Full-Board...result!! Just have to pay for drinks.....The little huts we were staying in are amazing. Such a different life to that we knew a week ago in Uwa School. Each hut slept two, though you could have slept our entire party in one to be honest, on suite, ceiling fans, power and a view of the Indian ocean – literally meters from our front doors....it was like the accommodation one might pick for a honeymoon really...just brilliant for a couple of days relaxing...

Katie and I got to our room and did the usual “bug check”. Katie found a little spider in the bathroom that I quickly disposed off before finding a GAINT spider in the “spare room” which about the size of a tennis ball in diameter (with legs)....Braving it up (well there was a girl present) I fought the evil spider monster with my shoe until I was victorious! Feeling I deserved a beer after my battle, we headed for the bar and met the others for dinner. Most of us either Steak or Surf and Turf and it was the best meal I had eaten in well over 2 weeks - almost as good as home cooked grub (though I am still SOOOOO looking forward to my Sunday roast at Mum and Dads’ on Sunday!!!).

Giant Spider...man eating laser shooting spider!!

Harry went to bed straight after dinner as her cough had taken a turn for the worse, while the rest of us returned to the bar for a few rounds of Killer on the Dart Board. Kerry was first out followed by Adrian, Katie and then me....Katie did kick some serious ass though (yes, she asked me to write that!). The last part of the game went on for hours and Paul just pipped Jan to the post. Aghh....bed time now!!

Nu night peeps!!

Day 13: Lake Manyara National Park

A few of us had been bitten in the night by some hungry mosquitoes – Jan in particular got munched good and proper in the neck, shoulder and on his fingers – fingers most likely from where he was trying to fend off the one eating his neck. I escaped mildly with a couple of little noshes on my leg and on my lower arm...b*stards!!

After breakfast, we set off at around 7:30am for Lake Manyara which is renowned for its elephants and tree climbing lions and flamingoes. It is situated on the well named mosquito river and is around 127sq miles in size.

Our circular tour took as around the main part of the lake where we say many Stalks, Flamingos, and Puffin birds as well as a massive herd of elephants (around 15 or so drinking from a stream), monkeys, baboons, giraffes and unfortunately lots and lots of tsetse flies (these ere evil little buggers which as they bite you lay eggs beneath the surface of your skin – they often go un-noticed for several weeks until they start to hatch under your skin...nasty..so we kept applying the deet every 10 minutes or so just to be safe).

On the way back from the tour we stopped off at a Hippo Pool and saw, as you’d imagine, loads of hippos that were slightly more active than the ones we’d seen previously. Most of the hippos’ were migrating from one pool to another. The view was quite spectacular as there were so many different breeds of animals all in one place – Hippos, Zebras in the background and flocks of stalks in the distance...it really was like looking at a real life safari postcard.

We arrived back at the campsite today around 1pm for lunch and then had the afternoon to ourselves. It was quite a wierd afternoon as it was very hot one minute (too hot to sit in the sun) and cloudy and rainy the next. The girls attempted a bit of sunbathing and the boys gathered round and read their books and listened to some music..most of ended up dosing off. Katie was still not feeling to good but managed to get a few hours sleep and seemed a little less chesty come dinner time.

After the antics of the bugs and mozzies last night, I was taking no chances and put on long sleeved trousers and lots of deet. We headed for dinner at 7pm and just chilled out....

Have written the blog early today so I’ll fill you in on any evening antics tomorrow morning if there are any and tomorrow morning we are off to a Snake Pit and then on to the beach for a few days of relaxation before we head home on Friday night. Weirdest question of the day from Harry today after apply deet and realising she’d sprayed her NorthFace jacket with deet – “Now then If I was deet, where would I go?”

We hope you are enjoying the blog – we’d appreciate any comments to know you are missing us all...Everyone sends their love to friends and loved ones back home and we hope the rest of the FutureBuilders didn’t find their first day back at work too hard....

Day 12: Ngorongoro Crater

Katie feels a little better this morning but is still really coughy. Harry and Adrian still have little coughs and I still have a bit of head flu. Simon feels a bit chesty too this morning...what a healthy bunch we are!

We had breakfast (pancakes, Omelet, toast, juice and coffee/tea) at 5:30 before setting off just after 6:00am for an hrs drive to Ngorongoro Gate. The main crater is just 19km in diameter and according to the texts books offers the most famous wildlife refuge in the world.

After passing through the gate, we drove up to the first view point – a view over the Crater (or officially Caldera - basically this is a mountain which they believe was once bigger than Kilimanjaro which collapsed into itself and formed the lake which we can see today)...The Crater once belonged to the massai and in 1958 they waived their right to live there, though they still take their cattle down to the soda-licks around Lake Makat. Despite the weather being very thick cloud this morning, the view over the Caldera was incredible and we could see a rainbow across the lake which looked awesome. From here we headed to another part of the “crater” where we could see right across to the other side. We took a few funny photos of us jumping up in a star shape and fought off the maasai people trying to sell us spears “for our protection” apparently!!

From where we were standing we were looking down from the crater rim at about 8,000ft upon the near circular crater floor, an expense of flat, open grassland, forest and lake which is over 14km across (9miles). Around it stands a ring of now extinct volcanoes and within this arena there are claimed to be something like 20,000 large animals including rhinos, water buffalo and elephants as well as birds such as flamingoes and kites. Katie looked like a real explorer in her gear!!

Katie aka Dora the Explora!

Within another 30 minutes we had now seen the entire “big 5” within 48 hours (Leopard, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion) amazing – we were told that often on a 4-5 day safari you won’t see all 5 so we are doing really well so far.

We stopped for lunch (and a needed toilet break at around 11:30) – lunch was weird today – peanut butter and jam sandwiches, banana, a nice drink, chicken and a boiled egg as well as a single boiled potato). Within minutes of us eating flocks of Kite birds swooped down on the other tourists who were attempting to eat their lunches outside of their 4x4s. This was a great opportunity to take some photos of the swooping almost eagle style birds and their tried their luck and skill at getting some lunch. Paul had a very close shave as some swopped in within inches of his head.

We took a scenic drive out of the crater stopping to take more scenic photos of the crater and some great shots of Wilderbeast and Zebras and arrived back at the camp site at around 4pm which gave us a couple of hours of daylight in which to chill out, have showers and get ready for dinner.

View from the top of the Ngorongoro Crater

We were all quite exhausted (not to mention covered in dust) today. We showered and then had a couple of beers with some popcorn snacks which the cooks had left out for us before eating dinner – Spag bol which was lovely.

Katie was feeling really rough again so went to bed not long after dinner. The rest of us stayed up for a couple more drinks – Konyagi of course, and a dew hands of the “finger game” in which Simon seemed to lose the most and therefore ended up consuming the most amount of Konyagi! I retired at around 9:30pm and everyone else around 10ish. Jan and Adrian managed to capture the end of a lightning storm which was surrounding the camp site.

Breakfast at 7 tomorrow for a 7:30 safari to Lake Manyara...

Day 11: Tarangire National Park

BANG BANG BANG.......twice in the night we had that knocking on the window of the hotel room.....At breakfast I naturally accused Adrian of another Konyagi fuelled frenzy but soon realised that a.) Everyone else had experienced the same thing and b.) It wasn't him!!

We checked out the hotel, and got picked up in two 4x4s to begin our safari adventure for the next 4 days. We stopped a couple of times on the way to the national park, once to pick up our packed lunches and water and the again to buy ourselves some treats....as we were all feeling the need for some home comforts...at a price too - £6 for two cans of pepsi and a small bar of Cadbury Fruit and Nut....so worth it though!!

We arrived at Tarangire National Park at around noon and soon began our first day on safari. The heat really hit us today as we were at a much lower altitude that we had been at Uwa School. We deeted and sun creamed ourselves up as the roof came off the 4x4s and we headed into the park...

OMG - this has got to be the best Saturday i have had in my life ever....speaking after, I think we all pretty much agreed. The great thing about safari is that every trip in every 4x4 is different. The 4x4 I was in (with Katie, Jan and Adrian) saw things that the other 4x4 (which had Harry, Kerry, Paul and Simon in) didn't just because nature is not timed...so its all about chance as to what you will see. Before lunch we had seen Wilder beasts, Zebras and Giraffes.

We stopped for lunch around 13:30 I think and went down to the picnic area where were given lunch boxes containing a burger, chicken and bread rolls....we encountered many many monkeys over lunch with one table of visitors loosing several items of lunch including a bag of crisps...it was hilarious to watch. After getting immersed in photos of the scenery, monkeys and a herd of wilder beast which we saw from a distance, it was time to set off again.

This afternoon, we were very very lucky...we managed to see a leopard (which we had been told we would be very unlikely to see), a couple of lions which we really thought were going to fight right before our eyes since they were eyeing each other up and moving in..marking their territory every chance they got. We were then also fortunate enough to get caught in the middle of a herd of elephants crossing the road within a meter of the 4x4 - we got some amazing close up photos. Words cannot describe our experiences this afternoon - it was simply fantastic - the landscapes, the animals, everything.

We left the park at around 4:30 and arrived at our next camp site which will be our home for the next few nights. This was nothing like Uwa school. The tents were great....two man, standing height and we even have power outside and lights outside too. There are proper toilets (we always get excited about that) and even warm water showers..

Katie and I were both feeling a bit ropey this evening....Katie has a nasty cough (which we did manage to get some medicine for....hopefully in will cure her and not kill her) and I have got a nasty head cold. Since we are leaving at 6:00am tomorrow for Ngorongoro National Park we headed off to bed at 9pm - the others had a couple of drinks and followed shortly after....

Day 10: Leaving Celebration

After a relatively dry night, it decided to absolutely tip it down from about 5:30am until gone 9:00 - just typical as this was the morning we needed to pack our stuff and move out of our tents...needless to say we got soaked..in fact drenched! We got packed anyway and one by one the tents got packed away and we moved our bags into one of the classrooms.

After a quick breakfast it was time to get ready for the celebrations - this meant blowing up balloons (which we stored in a mosquito net - genius) getting the gifts ready (the football shirts and footballs etc) and putting the ribbons and tape up for us to later cut to officially sign the school over from Childreach to the Uwa School. We had been given an agenda as follows:

Leaving Party Agenda

The Children began turning up in droves from about 9:00 - the ceremony not due to start till around 11:00, so we used this opportunity to spend some time with the children playing singing games, taking photos, and firing off rocket balloons as well as trying to learn a little more Swahili [most of which they were trying to teach us was definitely rude!!]. We handed out a few more "gifts" including tiny silver and gold stars which they were licking and putting on their faces...we got absolutely mobbed by the kids with hands coming from every angle trying to grab whatever it was we had in our hands.

We were informed that the Education Minister was going to be around 30mins late so we ended up having an early lunch so as to make sure we still got away on time since 5 of the team had planes to catch back to the UK.

At around 12:00 the ceremony began, firstly with the cutting of the first ribbon (to the entrance of the school) followed by a tour led by Elvis and Jan of all the work Childreach had carried out on the school. This in summary included:

• Renovation and painting of all the classrooms
• Dividing walls to make separate classrooms rather than just a single teaching space in each building
• A new kitchen for the staff to prepare meals for the children
• A water harvesting system (to collect rain water)
• Painting of the outsides of all the classrooms and buildings
• A new toilet block (sanitised) with drainage and sewerage
• Painting of all the benches
• Murials and pictures in all the teaching rooms to aid learning - these included maps, pictures of the human body, the solar system, nutritional diagrams and water cycles as well as times tables, numbers, alphabets etc.
• A Volleyball pitch
• Steps to replace the dangerous muddly slope which connected the upper and lower blocks.

Once the tour was complete we cut the final ribbon and then Jan raised the school flag while all the school children and staff sung their national anthem to us. We were then serves a glass (well, plastic cup) of champagne (ok, sparking juice). We we seated and then followed a programme of speeches, dances from the children (which we were invited to join in with) and presentation of gifts - firstly from the RM Futurebuilders to the school (football shirts, footballs and an assortment of musical instruments such as clappers, recorders, tamborines etc. The school then presented each of us (in turn) with a kilimanjaro sun hut and a traditional Tanzania braclet before then serving us up a meal (which we were not expecting as we'd just eaten lunch). The meal was basically goat in a kind of stew with local nuts coated in salt and fat and fried bananas with vegetables....it was actually a lot nicer that it sounded though we had to eat with our fingers (since they rarely use cutlery).

Bottom of the new Flagpole..signed by the RM FutureBuilders

There are a few traditions/values with regards to Tanzania food... Firstly, it is considered extreemely rude to turn the offer of food away, Second, you have to eat with your RIGHT hand only (since they use their left hand for....well...you know..) and THIRDLY while is acceptable to leave food uneaten on your plate you should not leave any food which has not been grown from the ground...i.e., anything that has been "sacraficed" such as an animal..in our case, the goat!

2:00pm came round very quickly and we had to rush off....we said goodbye to the Education Minister, Education Councilor and teachers before saying goodbye to the children for the last time....it was a bit of a wierd experience knowing we would not be coming back (not anytime soon anyway) - we have all achieved so so much these past 10 days and completing the walk around the school really opened our eyes to just how much hard work, sweat and commitment we had all put in.

We set off for Moshi to we where we said goodbye to NIkki, Tom, Chris, Freddie and Kevin who carried on to the airport to catch their flight back to Niarobi and then to the UK. We wish them a safe a pleasant flight and hope they wont be too jeleous of our final week of safaris and beaches...

The remaining FutureBuilders were now ready to start the next part of our adventure....the holiday bit. Harry, Simon, Paul, Jan, Kerry, Adrain, Katie and me checked in to a little hotel in Moshi, headed to the pool (thanks to Katie for cleaning all the leaves out for us while the boys sat and drunk Konyagi).

We went out for a meal in Moshi Town (a very cheap but nice steakhouse - around £3 for a good steak) and then a couple of beers back at the hotel before bed as we had a earlish start in the morning to set off on safari.....

Day 9: Finishing Off Uwa School and Local Community Visit

Woke up this morning feeling less delicate than certain people I could mention....hu hum..Adrian...Anyone that knows him, just ask him about the cocktail sticks in his head....I'll say no more but just think grapefruit with cheese and pineapple sticks.....now imagine Adrians' head as the grapefruit....

Felt a little bit coldy this morning so went for a walk to look at Mount Kili with Katie (we would have gone with everyone else but we took a wrong turn at a tree and lost them). The view of Mount Kili looked really amazing this morning as it could actually be seen really clearly since there is little/no cloud today.

We had breakfast and had a briefing from Elvis about the leaving celebrations tomorrow. Basically, we will need to be up, fed, washed and packed and out of the tents by around 9am so the tents can be cleared away. We now have the flag for the flag pole which tomorrow Jan will raise as part of the cememony. The day will start with a visit from the Tanzania Education Minister who will be present when we (the RM Future Builders) cut the ribbon to open the new school and mark the project complete. We (led by Jan) will then take a tour of the school with the head teacher and education minister and show them all of the work we have completed during our time at Uwa school. We have been told they will be very impressed since we have acheived far more than they expected us to. Once the tour is complete we will be addressed by speeches and singing before sitting down to a celebration lunch..

Today therefore we had to ensure that all our work was complete. This meant finishing off the borders, finshing murials, painting chairs, tables and desks and putting furniture back in the rooms.

Everyone worked hard today but i think the fact that this is the last day is beginning to get to a few people. There was definatley increased tension between a few people in the group and people seemed a lot more snappy and short with each other than usual. All in all however, everyone has got on famously with no arguements (visible ones anyway).

We stopped at 14:00 (11:00am UK time) for a minutes silence (led by Nikki) and were amazed that we were joined by a couple of classes of children from the school - this was done out of respect for us and was really touching and emotional that they would stand with us while we remember the heros back home and around the world that we have lost in our wars.

We stopped for a bit at 17:30 to take a tour of the local community. We were taken by Raymond and Elvis into two homes just around the corner from the school. It really completed the experience of Tanzania for me. There homes are very basic...typically consiting of two houses each with one or two rooms. They have very large plots of land (which they just claim) in which they grow bananas and coffee, have pigs and cows for milk/meat. The living area is like a very small lounge from a 1920s terrace house with a bedroom attached to the side. In the other "building" a stables for the cows and goats and an area where they cook and prepare food...yes in the same area. Most do not have toilets. The whole plot of land, plantations, animals etc could be "bought" for under $3,000 dollars.

A typical living room (just enough room for people to sit)

A proud mother with one of her children

We learnt that they typically receive around 3,000 Tanzania Shillings per Banana collection (around 60-80 bananas) which they sell in the market for the market rate. In return for the 3,000 shillings they could perhaps buy...cooking oil, keresene oil for the night lamps, some tomotoes and onions and some meat to feed the family....for ONE day.

The local people rarely leave the town or Tanzania as to get a world recognised education they need to send the children to Private School which they can NEVER afford to do. Children that cannot speak English by the time they go to Secondary school simply have no chance of school in ever getting there exams or moving on....the state education system and local exams have no recognition in the outside world so what is needed is an overhaul or re-recognition and integration with world wide qualifications....wouldnt it be amazing if somehow through RM and Childreach "We" could help to influence this......the schools Childreach are involved with ensure that English is taught at Primary agaes so hopefully (at Uwa school atleast) these children will have more of a chance to a good education and a chance at getting there family and family to come out of poverty...

After returning from the community village, some of us showered while others finished some paintings....we are literally complete with everything finished other than a couple of tiny last miute touch ups.... here is a picture of a before and after classroom so you can see what we have done...this is just one classroom of course. We have done 6 plus outside work, steps, volleyball pitch...

Before....just cleaning the room

Completed - even with RM colour benches....

This is it....the last day and the LAST SUPPER..... We spent the evening talking about what we had achieved and how we felt (over some beers of course). For Tom, Nikki, Freddie. Kevin and Chris - tonight was their last night as they are heading home tomorrow evening...the remaining 8 of us will carry on to the safari after tomorrows' leaving party....

Raymond and Elvis gave us a speech to thank us for all the work we had done this past 10 days. It was really heart-felt and we could tell they meant all their kind words. We presented the team with gifts that we had brought them of football shirts and some cash donations that we had collected for the cooks, security guards, driver and of course Elvis and Raymond before having a few photos of the whole team taken.

Day 8: Visit to Odangeni School then down the local pub

Was up a little late this morning as the persistent heavy rain, made getting up and scrambling out of the tent in the rain the last thing i wanted to do....so I waited until the rain stopped which was about 7:45 before getting up...it was so so muddy....will be nice on Friday night when we get another night in the hotel ahead of the safari....

It seems we still have a lot to do...with only one and a half days of work to go before the opening ceremony and party on Friday. We have a half day today since we are going to visit another school in Moshi called Odangeni School which is a school in a far far worse state than Uwa school at which we are currently working. This is a school which has recently applied for funding/help from ChildReach International...so if we manage to secure more work here though our work or hopefully with the help of RM in the future, we may return to help this school one day....

Today, we concentrated hard on completing a number of more "fun" tasks which really make the classrooms look like learning spaces rather than just rooms....this included more drawings on the walls, murials, painting the outside of the school, cleaning the windows and just making them look like school classrooms...the teachers are so so impressed with what we have done and everytime we see a teacher or community member, they just say thank you - thank you and want to hold your hand/shake your hand and show their gratitute.

After lunch, we showered and whilst people were getting ready the others continued to work until we'd all showered (which was nice as it was still daylight so I could actually see what I was washing...and the amount of dirt that seemed to be coming off me)!

We all piled in the back of the van at around 4:30 and set off to Odangeni school....the journey was cut short (after about 30 seconds) as we could not get up the muddy hill....this meant bailing out about half the people and trying again...getting a good run up this time....We eventually got underway but it was quite a hairy journey...bumpy, slidey and just a little snippit of fearing for your life as the van struggled to climb up the muddy hills to the school.

Upon arriving at the school, we were greeting with an influx of children (who had been doing exams today) who surrounded the van as we approached the school.We had some balloons and ticker tape with us which we threw at the children as we came in and they went absolutley mad for it...they loved it and kept chasing the balloons and getting us to blow them up again.

The head teacher gave us a speech and thanked us for the work we had been doing at Uwa School and then gave us a tour of the school....naturally we were followed by the pupils who seemed to just we worshipping us...it was so overwealming and at times i felt myselt welling up as the emotion was just so increadible.

The school is basically a Primary and Secondary school in one, (two main buildings but one school). The head had such amazing pride in what the school had already accompanished which was incredible seeing how run down it was - it really did have no or little facilities. In particular, the kitchen which is an old shack with a hole in the ground for a stove [PIC], toilets are just bits of tin wrapped around a make shift door and non-sanitised hole in the ground - very smelly and no real drainage. We were also shown an old store room which is now being used to teach up to 35 pupils per class. Many of the classrooms had incomplete roofs, there were holes in the walls and they looked more like disused garages than facilities in which teaching and learning could ever take place.

This is actually a classroom teaching 35 children!

This is the toilet block for all 350 children and 6 staff! (non sanitised and no proper sewerage)

After the tour, we got to spend 30-40 minutes with the children, teaching them the same games and songs that we had taught the children in Uwa...this included up playing "whats the time Mr. Wolf", "Heads Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "Hokey Cokey". It was even more overwealming than at Uwa to be honest since the children here had not been used to visitors - you have to remenber that Uwa school is at the last stage of its Transformation so have been used to seeing volunteers around. Most of us were a bit tearful (with joy, sadness and excitment)...We all discussed that when we get back to the UK we all want to try to get RM to help support this charity officially if possible and will be making our case of getting ChildReach as an RM supported charity if we can....

On the way back from the school, we visited a local pub in Moshi and had a nice few drinks in the bar with the locals before heading back to Uwa school for dinner and drinks.

Day 7: Stepping it Up

Was up quite early this morning so spent a couple of hours writing the blog (for the last couple of days) and chatting to Nikki about random stuff. Some of the guys - Kerri, Simon, Paul and Tom went for a walk up the hill where we went the other night to see if there was a good view of Kilimanjaro in the morning...there wasn't!!

After breakfast, we divided into teams again for the days tasks. Many of us formed a conveyor belt and began shifting bricks and blocks ready to start making steps to replace the slippy/slidey/muddy slope that currently joins the upper and lower parts of the school. Once done, the boys helped to dig out the shape of the steps and then the fundies joined in and took over most of the hard graft (as we are not allowed).

The rest of the day was spent finishing off the classrooms (borders/black boards and the backs of the doors) and then starting to decorate them with appropriate educational content. We spoke to many of the teachers and the Owa School head around which content should be used in each classroom. This ranged from painting the English Alphabet in some classrooms, to maps of the world, the solar system, solar eclipses, Tanzania maps and geography information such as the water cycle and the time/clocks of the world as well as a compass.

Some off were feeling a bit stressed/tired/upset and emotional today and strangely there were several smaller groups of people working on their own (just to get a bit of "personal" space I think rather than because of being pissed off with anyone/thing in particular). I was ok today and felt quite happy with what we had accompanished so far. Just a bit tired.

Katie and I went for a nice long walk as she was feeling a bit tearful today. We walked out past the school and into the local village where every household we passed wanted to speak to us or say hello. There were some 20 something year old guys outside one little house - that shouted out "Aright Mate!". We found a little quite opening where you could see for miles and miles across all the mountain ranges...it looked like the green opening in the Twilight film! We also passed lots of people/families carrying huge amounts of bananas on thier heads. Really will make me think twice now when buying fruit...i never have tended to buy much fair trade food before but now I envow to always buy fair trade!

After lunch we continued the painting, step building and picture drawing. We continued through until dusk and then all went for showers...again it was dark when we finished - thanks to Nikki again for the Army issue glow sticks.

Evening for me was a short one....after dinner I managed to drink a Kilimanjaro beer before heading off to bed at around 10:00pm. Katie, Harry and Chris also retired early leaving most of the others up for a little. Some of the hard cores stayed up till around 1:00am and apparantly the chefs stayed up with them and got COMPLETELY drunk and were throwing up near the tents..nice.....fortunatley, those that know me know I sleep through anything so didnt hear any of it!!!

Day 6: VolleyBall and FlagPoles

Habari za asubuhi...after struggling to sleep much the night before after it being a very wet and windy night I got up around 6:30/7:00 which was early for me as i normally make it up just in time for breakfast at 8:00!! Due to amount of water I drunk the day before I also needed the toiley several times in the night....why would I write about this, well, at home its a simple thing - you get up, pop to the loo, get back into bed...job done. Here, however, you have to fish about to find your torch, find your trousers and a top (well, you dont want to get bitten by mozzies on route), open the inner tend chamber, put your muddy shoes on, grab some baby wipes, close the inner chamber, open the outer one and walk through the mud to the squat toilets with only your torch shining through the rain and mist.

We had breakfast...porridge (which i did not like and tasted like Sick....though many did like it Katie agreed with me and heaved when she tried it) followed by yummy papaya fruit and mango and then omlet, toast and peanut butter.

We split into groups again with some people painting classrooms, some painting windows and the other (which included me) gave painting a miss today and began work on the VolleyBall pitch. I got online (just) via the 3G dongle and at 600bps managed to find the dimensions of a volleyball pitch. Since this was a bit big for the area we had we went for 12mx6m which is about 2/3 normal size. We marked the area our using Jan's tent pegs reverting to basic pythagorus theory to get the angles and draw out the pitch. We dug two 3ft holes in which the volleyball posts would go and dug out a trench in which we placed planks of wood marking out the court. We had great fun playing in the hole after we had built in, pretending we were little people....Jan alomost looked normal height!!

In preparation for this we had to move around 3 tonn of sand and really felt it by the evening....i struggled to grip a cup of coffee by 7pm as my hands were knackered from holding a pick axe and shovel all day. In order to get the height of the net, we used our worthy leader Jan as a bench mark, getting the children to jump up high to see if they could pat Jan on the head....he is so tall (at virtually 2m) we are thinking of starting a new measurment system after him....so our court was 6Jans long by 3 Jans wide!!

Lunch was AMAZING today...we had a meat and vegetable pasty with chilli sauce. The food here is just so good!

In the afternoon, we were able to give some of the gifts that we had brought out with us to the children. We split the gifts (the pens, pencils, Kaleidos post-it notes and marbles) and went into each classroom (5 in all) and gave a small speech and then handed out the gifts. It was amazing to see how excited the children were to receive such simple gifts. Harry started the gift giving excercise off by letting off rocket balloons as we entered the classroom...they kids went mad for it...and loved it. One class got really scared and ran away when the ballon was released...so funny...

At the end of the day our final task was the flag pole. We dug (with the help of the local charity helpers) a 3ft hole and errected the flag pole which Katie painted in the colours of the Tanzania flag (which by the way Matt Beynon, is pronounced Tanzain..ia as Lauren said...i hate admitting you are right Laura!!!). Tomorrow we are going to buy a flag (as the school were going to get it next year when they had some money!!). On the base of the flag pole we will all write our names!

Jan and I went "up stairs" to take a photo of the flagpole. We got surrounded by children who just wanted to thank us for their gifts. After taking some photos the two of us begun playing clapping games and pat-a-cake and then they wanted to play hockey cokey again. We started to play but then they taught us a game where you all stand in a circle, one of them is "IT" and then they run round the circle until they "tag" some one...that person then joins the other run and they run round the circle. The game continues until only one person is left in the "circle". That person is then IT and has to chase everyone else until they catch someone. That person is then IT for the next round. The games really wore us out...they have so much energy and we were just running round with them for about an hour.

We stopped work about 6 and had showers....girls first of course so they get the best of the daylight hours. The solar showers that me and Nikki bought are great. We pour hot / boiled water into them and use them in the shower "room" - so much better than the bucket showers!

It was dark as we finished the last batch of showers and Nikki kindly put some army issue glow sticks into the shower block so the boys could see as we showered and washed the dirt, dust, mud and sweat off.

As we prepared for dinner at around 7:30 the rain started (early). It started as a normal rain shower but got heavier and heavier. It was real monsoon style rain and within minutes we had floods around the site. Many of the tents did not survive with Freddy's being hit the hardest and flooding most of her things. Most of the other tents were letting varying degrees of water in - I was lucky, so was Katie, Harry, Paul, Tom and Simon. After about an hour and a half the rain eased for a bit so we checked out damage to the tends. Raymond and Elvis helped Freddie and Nikki to move there stuff from the drenched tent into one of the classrooms and they set up more tents for them. They were to spend the night in the dry of one of the classrooms. We were told that if the rain persisted tomorrow, we would all need to pack our stuff and move our tents into the dry of the now almost completed classrooms.

The sense of "community" amoungst us was amazing...it felt in many ways like we had been rescued from an overseas disaster and were refugees. To me, it really does feel like we are one big family here. Everyone is so considerate towards each other and the 13 of us are now really close and everyone is just there for each other.

Once the rain stopped for the final time at around 10:00 many of us too the opportinity to return to our tents and try to get some sleep hoping the rain would hold off and we'd start to dry out... This will be an ever increasing threat now as Tanzania approaches the start of the rainy season....

Night night - dont let the bed bugs bite :-)

Day 5: Markets and Mud Slides

Habari!!

Woke up feeling so refreshed this morning....decided to skip breakfast and savour every minute of a proper bed so got up around 9:30, showered and packed up the "night" bag....it almost felt like a holiday at this point as we all headed down to the hotel pool where we spent a couple of hours swimming, sunbathing and drinking ice cold cola and banana split ice-creams...


We got collected by Raymond and the driver at around 12:30pm and were taken back to the place where we had dinner...this time for lunch... The food was okay..a combination of salad, chicken (we think), spring-roll type vegetables and a local delicassy, of which i cant rememeber the name off, which looked like spinach mixed with snot...it was actually really nice though...well you have to try these things! We also found a local Computer repair shop by the side of the road next to the restaurant.....

RM....home from home!!

From here we headed to one of the Markets to try our hand at a bit of haggling. We stopped to change up some money into Tanzanian Shillings and after some Swahili lessons from Raymond on how to say "no, not interested" or "Habana Sitaki" we went off looking for bargains. We split off into pairs and very quickly began getting harrassed to buy anything from dangly plastic bracelets to 8ft wooden sculptures - some of which looked absolutley amazing...but you have to ask..who would buy this stuff! That said I did buy a few begains...a little wooden sculture for the lounge and a couple of oil paintings...many of the others purchased nic nacs, a massia through, hats, chess sets - all at well haggled prices (thanks to the help of Raymond - our official security guard, handyman and now...personal shopper)!

We left the market and began our long drive "home" to camp through Arusha and Moshi Town. On route we passed by the "Centre of Africa" which is literally...as is says on the tin - the middle point of Africa. Now, in the UK this would probably have been represented by a gaint monument or something stunning but here...no..simply a couple of model elephants in the middle of a roundabout!

We stopped a couple of times on the way "home" to collect food and water supplies for the next few days. Whilst stopped in Moshi Town, I am sad to say that we whitnessed a fatal hit and run accident. A driver of a van didn't give way and hit a motorcyclist from the side...crowds of people surrounded the scene (no police or emergency vehicles however). The driver of the van fled and chase was given to catch him [since there is no way of tracing the driver via the license plate like there is in the UK]. The motorcyclist was taken away in a taxi but was clearly dead on impact. We asked Raymond about whether they would catch the driver...and we asked why he ran...he said (which shocked us a little) that becuase he was clearly in the wrong (by not giving way), they would have kicked him to death...it was said in a way that made it sound so "normal" to the way of life out here..it made all go bit quiet. Whilst the driver was in the wrong, it was clearly an accident and to fear his life that much that he had to run rather than wait for the police (who never arrived or probably even got called)!

Anyway....morbid scene over!

We arrived "close" to camp site at around 7:30 but due to a flash rain storm in the afternoon, our vehicle was unable to make it all the way up the mud track to the school. We left the girls in the van (for some weight) and the boys got out and pushed...for 10 minutes we pushed the van until finally it got traction...The girls cheered when we got back in the van and Freddy told us that the experience in the van was terrifying as the van slid towards the edge of the road with a sheer drop the other side of it....fortunatley us boys were victorious over the weather and we saved the day!!!! :-)

Almost at camp, the van stopped again and we were told it could go no further. A smaller van had been prepared to take us the final part of the journey but there was not room for all of us so Paul, myself, Simon and Tom walked the final mile of the journey (after being told it was only 500m)!

What a day...so many experiences wrapped into 24hrs. We were wacked! We managed some dinner which was waiting for us when we arrived back to camp and one by one we headed for the tents to sleep...a mixed night sleep as the rain kept us awake most of the night. Most of us were lucky but a few suffered leaking tents and got a little drenched in the night.

Day 4: Half day then off to Arusha

After a smaller downpour during the night, another yummy breakfast the same as day 2 welcomed us. Today we only had half a day of work so lots to be done as we were travelling off to Arusha (the main town in Tanzania) this afternoon staying in a proper hotel where we get to have proper showers, lights and air con.....amazing!!!


I felt a bit run down this morning....speaking to the others I was not the only one - Katie felt coldy and head achy and Harry also had a bit of sore throat....Some of the other guys had..."toilet trouble" also so we were all looking forward to a night of "luxury" tonight.

So...we cracked on with the work splitting into 3 teams. The girls worked on the top two classrooms finishing these off - painting new blackboards and painting the blue borders round the bottom of the walls in the classrooms. Meanwhile one of the boy teams worked to finish off the old tea/kitchen room with the top coats of white gloss and finishing off the windows frames whilst my team began prepping another two classrooms. These were both big rooms and were SO SO dusty as the builders onsite had just finished rendering the walls ready for us to paint. It took Paul, Simon, Tom, Kerry and I nearly an hour to dust the room down and sweep the floor clean(ish) of dust and dirt. We managed to get a coat of primer onto both rooms so they are now ready for us tomorrow....

We stopped just after 12:00 noon and had babywipe showers (they might not sound like much but it does get some of the dirt off)! Lunch was chicken and rice with these shredded vegetables (which tasted like the inside of a spring roll you get in a chinese restaurant) followed by yummy fruit.

After lunch, we packed up our rucksacks and headed off in the minibus to Arusha stopping briefly at Moshi Town to drop off Elvis who was going to spend tonight at home with his family - a much needed rest as he has not stopped since we arrived at camp. After a long bumpy and very dusty ride along the half-made up roads to Arusha we arrived at our hotel - the Impala Hotel. This is so much luxury compared to what we have been used to....

Once checked in we rushed to our rooms to shower in hot fast running water....I dont think I'll ever appreciate a shower and hot free running water as much as I did as i stepped out of the shower in the hotel room...its so amazing the things we take for granted at home an dafter just 4 days at camp i had almost forgotten just how good a shower can make you feel...

We met in the pool and had a swim/splash around for about an hour which was great- the water felt so fresh on our skin and we felt really clean for the first time since we arrived in Tanzania. Later, we met in the hotel bar at 8pm (after another amazing shower) and had a couple of drinks before heading into Arusha town to a restaurant that Raymond knew. We had a couple of beers and a few drinking games (well, why not) before being served dinner which was chicken, liver, grilled bananna, chips and vegetables...after a few more rounds of drinks we headed in-doors and played more drinking games (which I think Harry started) - we managed to make Drink Why You Think last for 2 hrs somehow....after a few more games including arm wrestling we retired around 2am back to the hotel and to bed...tonight actually felt like we were on holiday and the rest made us feel great (minus the almost certain hangovers in the morning).

Play time.......in Arusha

Tomorrow..Arusha for lunch and then exploring the markets before heading back to camp.

Day 3: Hardcore work begins...

After another night of terrential rain we had the usual morning ritual for showers...I say showers, we each have a large bucket of hot water (or moshi moto) where we can wash our selves down with in the shower room - basically a toilet cubical size room with hole in the ground which acts as the drain...these are only different from the toilets in that the "toilets" have squat pans embedded in the floor and the "sewage" pipes run deep in to the ground rather than just letting it all flood into the ground...seriously - they are quite hygenic..for squat toilets.... On that note, many of us have still not been to the toilet (as in a number 2)...some of the boys have given in and used the squats but the girls seem to be holding off until Saturday night when we get to spend a night in a hotel in the town of Arusha for the dream of a normal sit-down toilet.


I was last to have a shower today but even so the feeling of being "clean" or "cleaner" has never felt so good...it really perks you up for the day in a way that I never thought I would appreciate to much when at home a hot shower is never more than the turn of a dial away.

We had a nother amazingly prepared breakfast of porridge (that was a bit of a like/hate moment - with me being on the hate side) followed by lovely fresh fruit and then eggy bread and sausages...just what we need to get the day started.

By the the time we started work at 9:00am, the sun had burned most of the cloud away and it was already in the 30Cs.

We had another amazingly sucessful day today managing to get the first 2 classrooms that we started yesterday competely finished (apart from the blackboard and the paint around the borders which we'll do tomorrow). We also managed to get what was the breakfast room, stripped, dusted, 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of gloss and most of the windows painted...a really successful acheivement - we are already way ahead of where Child Reach thought we'd be.

Late afternoon once work was finished for the day was very eventful. Whilst waiting for the shower room to be free we spent a large part of the afternoon playing with the kids. We tought them the hokey cokey which they absolutely loved (around 300 kids and us volunteers all hokey cokeying!! Fantasic!! The kids were fighhting over who gets to stand next to us in the circle). This was second to head, sholders, knees and toes which was a very popular request. Harry and Katie took centre stage and ttok pride in teaching the children the macarana to which they picked up extremely quickely and continue to hum the tune throughout the evening!! Freddie and Katie also tought the children the game of "What's the time Mr Wolf, again very popular!!

After all the fun and games (we were exhausted) but were then taken on a trek by one of our guides (Raymond) to see what I believe must be one of the nicest sights tanzania has to offer...so far. We set off around 17:30 grabbing some beers on the way from the local pub (a half fallen down wooden shack, manned by the locals). Beer has to be brought up by motorbike from the nearsest town which is about 10km away and you'd be amazed how they make it in one piece with the beers literally strapped onto these pizzahut like bikes with string..Anyway, we trekked high up into the hills for around 30mins to the most amazing viweing point. You could see for miles right over into kenya!! It was absoltuely stunning, words cannot describe!! Our guide (Raymond) suprised us with choclate (what a luxury!!) and buscuits and we cracked open our beers and took in the view!! Incredible!!

As sun set we went back to base collecting a few more beers on the way ans sat round the campfire to enjoy a strange concocktion of cucumber soup (yummy) followed by pancakes and mincemeat (which was not quite the shrove tuesday experience!!). Elvis one of our chlreach reps on asite then began some campfire games which evoked many others oin the group to share their campfire games, brainteasers and childhood once past before hitting the hay. Most of us disapearing off to bed by around 21:00 as we were so worn out from the hard days work (a few people including me were also feeling a little poorly! Too much campfire smoke maybe?!)

Day 2: Transformation Begins @ UWA School

Well, we have just finished Day 2...which is the first of work for us after a long day yesterday travelling to Uwa school..

Yesterday we landed in Nairobi at around 6am after the most uncomfortable flight in the world....the plane was really nice but I think the seats were made of cardboard....After a little nap and a few games of Cards (called "Sh*t head"), we boarded our connecting flight to Kilimanjaro which was a 30 seater twin-prop plane.

The heat really hit us when we got off the plane - must have been about 35C I think. We filled in our arrival forms and got picked up by Really Wild Travel who took us first into Moshi Town where we got SIM cards, water (we drink SO much of that out here) and got harrassed by EVERYONE trying to sell their good or swap them for our possessions! We did learn some great lingo though..in particular "Habaan aSante" or something like that which means simply..."no thank you" or....buggar off!!

We arrived onsite at Uwa School at about 16:00 local time and had the most amazing welcome ever...all the children  (all 440 of them) were singing, running after us, wanting to hold our hand (in fact most of have one child per finger at somepoint)! We had a welcome speech and again were sung too before having a late lunch and a tour.

We had a bit of free time to sort out essentials such as sorting out the tents and getting the beer in before sitting round the camp fire (with Marshmellows that we brought) and having the most AMAZING dinner ever...the food here is really simple but just tastes so great and full of flavour.

We sat and watched an electric storm and slowly watched the bright stars disappear before the most heaviest rainfall we'd seen in a long time set in, so after nearly 36hrs of being awake we used this as a good chance to get some kip!

So...DAY2.....
Most of us slept quite well...with some of us braving the night rain to use the squat toliets....man those head touches were a good investment...

We got up about 7am (when it got light basically) had a bucket shower (well, I did) and then another great meal (breakfast)...of juice, omlet, sausage and...wait for it....peanut butter...the best in the world...EVER!! REALLY!!

We started work at 9 and pretty much worked though till 6:30pm stopping only for lunch and a coffee break...yes...they have coffee and tea so we are all well refreshed!!! WE ARE PROPER BUILDERS...
What did we do...LOADS....so much...we emptied 3 classrooms of tables, chairs, bits of old roof and piping and then dusted down each room, cleaned the walls and floor and then painted.....this meant

• 2 coats of Primer on the walls
• 2 coats of primer on the windows and doors
• 2 coats of top paint on the walls (we have one left to do)
• 1 coat of gloss on the wood...

What was so amazing was the kids....they all just wanted to help..with everything - they were queuing to help and are just so so greatfult for what we are doing....Yesterday evening we were out witht the kids playing games - Harry doing airplane impressions and Katie teaching them nursery rhymes...I think Katies favourite was ring a ring a roses....it is so hard to explain how this feels but its like they worship us for what we are doing...and not just the kids - the whole community...the following picture cannot really describe it, but gives a glipse of the work and participation of not just the RM Futurebuilders but the children of the school...

   Thats it for now....its 7pm here and pitch pitch black.....a few of will be having showers in dark as we let the girls go first...nice boys aren't we!!!

Shower, dinner, beer and camp fire again tonight...earlyish night I expect as we are knackered...
Bye for now......

Day 0: We're Off to see the Lion King

Well...they day has come.....the day some of the team have been waiting for almost a year....a year of planning, charity events and fund raising....and I’d like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported us throughout the year and donated their pounds, pennies and even bits of fluff, cotton wool and buttons that we have found in the charity buckets. We TOTALLY smashed our target of £26,400 and raised £29,000 which all goes towards our project of building and refurbing the Uwu Primary School in Moshi, Tanzania and also helping to fund other projects around the world, sponsored by Childreach International.

On a personal note I'd like to thank the following companies/organisations that have personally helped me reach my target..

• Classwatch http://www.classwatch.co.uk/
• Edwards and Platt http://www.edwardsandplatt.co.uk/
• IOT plc http://www.iotplc.co.uk/
• Techex Ltd http://www.techex.co.uk/
• RM (of course) http://www.rm.com/

Thanks also go to EVERYONE who sponsored me (and everyone else) and have personally suported me and said nice things like "wow, that sounds amazing" and "bloddy 'ell why would you wanna go allthe way over there and have no toilets, hotwater or power!"  Anyway, seriously, could not have done it without you and I (we all) will do our best to make you proud of what YOUR money has helped us acheive.

I must admit, with less than 10 hours before our flight out to Tanzania, I  have mixed feelings this morning. Feeling of excitement but also nervousness as I really have no idea of what to expect when we get there or how we will feel when we suddenly find ourselves emersed in the lives of these villagers who's lives, compared to ours, are just completely different in more ways that I can even imagine right now. Its funny, as I had a shower this morning and had powerful hot water falling on me on-demand I realised just how much we take for granted in our lives....where we are going we will have ONE bucket of water (Cold water) for a shower each day which we'll literally throw over ourselves. That is its own will be strange...but just a tiny tiny example of how different the villagers of Moshi's lives are compared to our lives of luxury over here...

Right...all that's left now is to finish packing and then I plan to make the most of the day....watch a bit of TV, see some friends for lunch and make the most of the "luxuries" we'll be leaving behind for 3 weeks....

That said...I can not convey just how EXCITED I am about this trip though - its gonna be amazing, eye opening and I hope the group of RM'ers will become life-long close friends as we share this experience together.....

...Right breakfast time now.....nice bowl of coco pops I think.... :-)