Nicaragua, Morocco, & Tanzania

The goodbyes are never easy. They always manage to leave a break in your heart and a lump in your throat. No matter who you’re saying goodbye to, or where you are, it sticks with you forever. What usually comes with parting with someone is a silver lining that is often overlooked. The silver lining is the impact either you had on someone, or how they changed you. When I think about saying goodbye to these kids, I have to remind myself of how lucky I am, to have gotten the chance to be taught more than I could every teach them.                 At LOAMO, to them the silver lining is to be able to come to school. Coming to school not only allows the students to have hope for the future, but also their parents. Just like us having to say goodbye, these students have a million obstacles pointing them in the direction to give up, but they still never do. The students do what they have to do to set themselves up ...

Love, Respect, and Resilience is what this community and culture stand on. Not only do they live by this but the people here display these traits at every waking moment. No matter what a family or someone has gone through, they choose to come out as a better person, filled with love and respect. These qualities are the first words to come to mind throughout our whole group when describing anything here. Whether it’s in the classroom, on home visits, or little things in our daily routine we have received more of these qualities than we could have ever asked for. This year I have gotten the lucky opportunity to teach Class 5, which is mainly made up of 10-11 year olds. From the moment I walked into the classroom, I knew love was a staple. I saw it in the first couple of days from the teachers going the extra mile and checking in on the students even when they had ten other things to do, to  the kids taking care of David who is on crutches because of a broken toe. But for me, I...

           10 months and 40 hours of travel, and I am finally back in the place that stole my heart.  Leaving Arusha a year ago, I would have never thought that I would get the opportunity to come back to the place the left a lasting impact on me. Landing in Kilimanjaro and not being able to shake a smile off my face made me remember how lucky I am to get the chance to come back. With the chance of a life time in my hands, I will be pushing myself to be the best possible me from start to finish.                  The first day walking the cramped streets filled with smiles and laughter made me feel more at home than ever before. As we walked through the markets in Arusha, it started coming back to me how vibrant and wonderful Arusha, and its people, truly are. Shortly before our tour through the town, we learned about the history here. Although t...