Nimefika Morogoro!

I've arrived in Morogoro!! After a long and intense 8 days spent doing training and orientation in the city of Dar es Salaam I have finally made it to my project site! Dar was an amazing city and I was able to swim in the Indian Ocean, barter in the market, and meet lots of people. Now I will be spending the next 8 weeks working with Faraja (a Tanzanian NGO) on a variety of projects. My particular projects will include income generation projects with a group of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who make and sell batiks and a group of volunteer community-based care givers who sell second hand clothing, coordinating a play group for children living with HIV/AIDS, organizing and assisting with a basketball and/or soccer team for youth at a youth centre, and organizing a reading and literacy program for children at the local shule (school). There is a lot of potential in these projects and I am really looking forward to it! Morogoro, which is a village in the Uluguru Mountains about 2.5 hours inland from Dar, is beautiful and my house is complete with a shower, flush toilet, tv with one channel, and fan! And we share it with lots of ants and a friendly mouse. Luxury at it's finest! Anyway, just a quick update from the equator- pictures and more stories to come soon!