Preparations and Plans for the Trip

Hi Everyone,

As most of you know Peter and I are returning to Tanzania for 3 weeks at the end of February. I have never done a blog before but thought it might be fun to try doing one for this trip. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Plans

We are leaving London Heathrow on the 25th of Feb at 2pm and flying via Doha to Kilimanjaro Airport arriving at around 10am on the 26th.

On this trip there will be no safari, we will be spending all our time in or around Moshi. Our plan is to spend quite a bit of time catching up with our friends at ACTT (Affordable Computers and Technology for Tanzania), the social enterprise that we support. ACTT(as the name implies) install affordable computer labs into schools and offer computer training to vulnerable youths in Tanzania. At present less than 5% of schools have computers so there is still plenty of work to be done.

www.actt.co.tz

 

Whilst with ACTT we hope to catch up on some of the projects that we were involved with on our previous visit last April. These will of course include Ashira School where we installed a large computer lab with a huge amount of help from many of you. Ashira School have been so grateful for the computer lab and so it will be great to go back and see how they are getting on. Mr.Mamuya the headmaster emailed me today to say how much the children and staff are looking forward to our visit.

 

The Computer Lab at Ashira School
 



 

Other initial plans for the trip include a day trip to Arusha National Park, an overnight stay at Lake Chala, visiting Paula, a student we supported several years ago, a visit to the large Memorial market in Moshi and  visiting Mandela School where some friends of ours installed a computer lab with ACTT last September. We also hope to visit Lyasomboro School where another family are going to install a lab in April. Around all of this, we will obviously be spending plenty of time in ACTT with the staff and also socially with them and Robert (the ACTT manager) and his family.

Of course we couldn't return to Moshi without trying to do a bit more fundraising for another school. This time we are trying to help JK Nyerere Primary School in Moshi. The school has around 450 pupils and only 2 rather old computers so they clearly need some more. ICT is part of the National Curriculum in Tanzania but at present most schools like JK Nyerere teach this using a paper drawing of a computer.

So far the fundraising has gone well but we still have a little way to go to reach our £1000 target. Lets hope we make it by the time we leave on the 25th.

For more information or to donate please use the link below

www.justgiving.com/Peter-Bacon1

 

JK Nyerere School

 

 

 

 

Preparations



So at the moment we are busy sorting out anti-malaria meds, gifts to take, computer equipment for ACTT, money etc. We are flying with Qatar Airways this time who give us a baggage allowance of 30Kg each so we are busy weighing items to make sure we stay within this limit. As yet we have given very little thought to clothes and personal items but in reality we shouldn't need much. 

Having visited Tanzania several times previously we have all the jabs we need. We plan to get our visas on arrival at Kilimanjaro airport as this is cheaper and easier than getting in advance.

 

We have again arranged to stay at TemboTamu B&B with Sandra, Frank and Tony. This is really convenient for us being only a 30 minute walk from ACTT. Sandra, Frank and Tony are great hosts, it is just like staying with friends and their prices are incredibly reasonable. It is also very near JK Nyerere School which will be useful this visit.

So I think that's about it for now. I will post again when we are a bit nearer departure.