They stole our hearts without having to utter a word

Ujamma Hostel and Volunteering

As part of our year off, Mirek and I wanted to spend some time volunteering. We didn't know exactly what we wanted to do, but we knew we didn't want to pay some organization $2,000 to "get to" volunteer. A lot of the volunteering organizations you'll find online are, more than anything else, concerned with capitalizing on rich foreigners' itch to help, and that's not what we were looking for.

So I did a little research and was lucky enough to find a place that would be both our home and our faciliator for volunteering - Ujamma Hostel. The place had amazing reviews, gave us breakfast and dinner every day, and didn't have any sketchy "volunteering fees." It didn't hurt that it was in Arusha, which meant we wouldn't have to buy another flight after hiking Mount Kilimanjaro.

View of the courtyard connecting the halfs of the hostel

Gasper, the owner of the hostel, actually used to work for another volunteering "facilitator" that operated off of "mandatory volunteering donations" that never actually made their way to the orphanages and schools themselves. It turns out this is the very reason he started Ujamma Hostel in the first place.

Arrival to Ujamma

Gasper kindly agreed to pick us up from our hotel, showed us our room, and introduced us to Evans. Over the next two days, Evans would take us to visit 5 different sites so that we could choose which organization we wanted to work with. Evans would also prove to be our guide for using Dala Dalas (Arusha's take on public transportation), awesome outdoor adventures, and some dankity dank food.

Enter the dankity dank food

We also met some of our fuzzy housemates for the coming weeks. Meet Nalla and her friends (no, we can't remember the other one's names, and yes, Nalla is the only one that matters).

While extremely adorable and lovable as they were, Nalla really, really, enjoyed barking at all hours of the night. I'm pretty sure if we had stayed a couple more nights, Mirek would have had to inform everyone that she had "gone missing."

After settling into our rooms, it was time to go check out the various volunteer sites. First, however, Evans needed to teach us how to take a Dala Dala. Dala Dala's are privately held minivans that are painted various colors that indicate the route. They traditionally come with someone sticking their head out the window, yelling out destinations, and hustling HARD to find some passengers.

I'm also pretty sure there is a competition to see who can fit the most people in one van. During the mid-day lull, vans will literally fight over your business and attempt to pull you into their car.

I think the most people we ever counted in one of our vans was 28. It was a little crowded, to say the least.

Dala Dala "yeller" dude repping those Oregon Ducks!

The most memorable of the sites we toured that day (but didn't end up picking) was an orphanage that cared for children between the ages of 0 and 3. After getting a tour, we joined them for play time. I bonded with one little boy who absolutely refused to be set down (cue the crying), while Mirek found himself a mini entourage.

Needless to say, it was hard to leave

I truly felt that this could be a place I could spend the next couple of weeks. However, by the end of the day, having visited the remaining sites (all of which were schools), Mirek and I both knew where we wanted end up.

Mornings at Shule Yetu

We settled on a school called Shule Yetu, which translates to "Our School" in Swahili. It was a perfect fit because during the day they taught children ages 4 - 6, while in the afternoon they provided adult education classes for the community. It was an ideal way to connect and interact with a wide range of people in a short amount of time.

On Shule Yetu's Mission: Shule Yetu, which is situated in one of the poorer parts of Arusha, was founded to help children from poor, single-parent, or abusive households. Amos told us that the school's mission is as much to create a safe, joyful place where kids can "just be kids" as it is to prepare the children for further education.

Left: the school courtyard, which doubles up as the place for cooking, dancing, and running "science experiments." Three classrooms are attached.
Right: the teachers and principal.

The principal, Amos, was extremely excited when we told him we wanted to spend our next two weeks volunteering at Shule Yetu. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Mirek informed him of his computer prowess and the school had quite a backlog of "computer issues."

Time to meet the kids!

Yes, this is your greeting every morning, and your goodbye every afternoon.

So, what does it mean to be a "volunteer" here? When we told Amos we wanted to help out, we thought we would be helping the teachers run lessons, tutoring individual students, and otherwise serving as assistants. What actually happened is perhaps best illustrated by our first interaction with Amos.

Us: "So Amos, we think we'd like to spend our next two weeks here!"
Amos: "Oh wow! That is great news! We are so happy. Okay then, 'Mirowec' (sic), what do you like to teach?"
Mirek: "Well, I like science, math, and computers."
Amos: "Oh wonderful! And Sophia, what do you like to teach?"
Sophia: "I enjoy teaching about emotions, math, and english."
Amos: "Oh, so great! Okay, Sophia, you will be in classroom 1 teaching emotions, and Mirek, you will be in classroom 3 teaching math!"
(Yes, he was this unflinchingly enthusiastic the whole two weeks.)

We were then shown to our individual classrooms, introduced to the children (who sang us a cute "Welcome Song"), and handed a piece of chalk.

With chalk in hand, no lesson plan, and knowing only that snack time is a full hour and a half away, this is your view. Start teaching already!

Yep, you got it. Every day, for two weeks, we came to the school and were responsible for running the show. Since the children only spoke Swahili, the teacher would try to translate for us... some of the time.

That first day we taught separately. Mirek focused on math, and I spent the day drawing various emotion faces on the board, having the children try to mimic the faces, and struggling to know if anything was making sense. The language barrier made running the show solo hard. By the end of the day we realized we would be better off teaching classes together. Amos enthusiastically (how else?) agreed.

Given the language barrier, we soon realized we'd need to think outside the box. Enter Science Experiments!

We started off running various "experiments" involving balloons. Our thin hair made a great conduit for static electricity, and the kids loved being able to rub a balloon all over our heads. We made some balloon powered rockets, built some string telephones, and otherwise tried to make the most of whatever we could find in the local minimart.

Apparently the experiments were a hit, because from that point on, whenever we told Amos it would be a "science" day, he'd rush out to collect all 3 classes and pile them into one room, where we'd end up teaching the entire school.

Our other steady subjects were English and math (you wouldn't believe how enthusiastic they were to practice addition).

The kids would often grace us with some singing and dancing, and you better believe they expected Mirek and I to return the favor!

A few times during our stay it rained so hard that to get to school you had to trek through a veritable river of mud. We thought that maybe class would get canceled.

Not a chance. School runs rain, shine, or mudslide... deal with it, pansy.

It's worth mentioning that all of these children are there voluntarily, as they are not yet required to attend school. Yes, these tiny 4 - 6 year olds WANT to come to school. It was awesome to see how excited everyone was to participate: ask the class a question and every single hand will shoot up. Half the kids will have no idea what the question was, much less the answer, but you better believe they want to figure it out!

Also, almost all of the kids walk themselves to school and back each day, some having to take multiple Dala Dala's to do so.

If you're walking home in the same direction, be prepared to hold hands 'till the last possible moment!

On our last day with the little ones, we decided to do a SUPER BIG SCIENCE EXPERIMENT! We took all the students to the front of the school, where we ran a dramatic mentos-and-soda experiment. It was an explosive hit.

Who knew mentos and soda could bring such immense joy... to Mirek

Afternoons at Shule Yetu

Where our mornings were spent with little the ones, our afternoons were spent with computers and the adult community members. When I say "adult," I mean anyone from the ages of 12 to infinity. Basically, if you want to learn about computers, English, sewing, or really anything, they encourage you to come.

Mirek made friends with a man named Samson and helped him navigate the world of Excel. I met three girls who wanted to learn the proper way to type on a computer, which led to a request for a 2 hour English lesson a few days later. I'm not ashamed to say there was a lot of acting things out, and google translate was a close friend.

It was great to come into the computer area one day and find Samson explaining the prior day's Excel lesson to another student.

One evening, we even gave an impromptu Excel lesson to about 10 people from the community. And when we weren't teaching, Mirek fixed almost every single computer in the school. When we came, there was only one working computer. Once we left, there were four. I served as computer assistant, helping unplug and replug things back in. Needless to say, my job was very, very important.

Arusha Outside of School

While our days were filled with teaching, we also managed to fit in a few adventures. As mentioned before, Evans was an amazing host. Over one of the weekends he called up a buddy of his who graciously agreed to take us to Kikuletwa / Chemka Hot Springs - for a fee, of course. It was worth it!

On our way we picked up a some brews and snapped a few epic tree pics.

It didn't take long to get to the hot springs, and we were not disappointed. It was truly beautiful.

Would he even be Mirek if he didn't drink a beer while in the hot springs?

Mirek also managed to get a free spa treatment, and we dined on some delicious "mbuzi" (aka "goat").

Mirek dropped his phone in the water trying to take this picture. Fail.

The following day, Evans took us on a nearby hike to a waterfall on the edge of Arusha National Park.

At this point we'd been without running water for 3 days (this wasn't just a problem at our hostel, but something that affected most of the houses in the area). So, as you can imagine, Mirek desperately needed to shower.

This was Mirek's much needed shower.

I, of course, am a delicate flower and give off a blissful aroma at all times, and thus saw no need to get wet.

Ok, ok... don't worry. The water was back on when we got to the hostel and I showered then. I'm not an animal.

On our last day, our flight was very delayed, and we weren't slated to leave until 2:30am. We spent one last day exploring the city...

... and I was able to finish one of the hardest... puzzles... ever. Seriously. This thing took me the entire two weeks.

Do you see how many pieces are missing!? Trust me, it was hard.

Parting Thoughts

Thinking back on our time there, I am honestly amazed and so grateful for the experience. Leaving was harder than I imagined it would be. I didn't realize how much I would come to love and care for the children and people there, even without being able to communicate verbally with most of them.

The respect, compassion, and joy that each person exudes is contagious. People I had never met knew my name and would say hello on the street, all because they knew the children we were working with.

Though not to Mirek, his name's too hard - why does it have to end with a K!?

At the end of two weeks, we were part of a community. Amos still messages us today, limitless enthusiasm intact ("MIREK AND SOPHIA HOW ARE YOU!!!!")

If you are thinking about a volunteer opportunity, we would highly recommend Arusha and Ujamma hostel. It was an experience that tugs at my heart strings even as I type.