Today marks the first day on site and everyone was ready to finally put their work gloves to work! For the next few weeks our major project will consist of building a teacher’s house that is located right next to the school. Simon and Peter, our two local fundis (workers), made an excellent team and quickly gave our group the first few tasks to complete. These consisted of filling the dug out foundation with gravel, gathering water and mixing the cement, and once the cement was created, pouring it over the gravel and smoothing it around the foundation. Everyone crushed these tasks and we were able to successfully complete each one before the work day was over!
After eating a light lunch we got dressed up and ready to go to our welcome ceremony hosted by the Maji Moto community. The afternoon ceremony started off with each student signing the village guest book as well as a chance to meet some of the village elders. We then were quickly whisked away to where the rest of the community awaited and were seated among the village elders. One by one everyone was able to perfectly introduce themselves to the community in perfect Kiswahili. Traditional songs were sung that welcomed us to the community with warm hearts and open arms and we were all even able to join in on the fun and began singing and dancing alongside the community. Some of the school children performed a welcome song as well that was thoroughly enjoyed amongst the group due to how adorable each and every performer was. Once the official ceremony was over we were then invited to the school to join a welcome meal with the community elders. We feasted on soda, cookies, and—of course—fresh goat meat that had been specially prepared for us for the occasion.
We then wandered back outside where we all joined in on the fun by playing games with the kids; some of us even joined in on a local soccer match! We arrived back home later in the evening and were grateful to find a great dinner of rice, potatoes, vegetables, and a variety of fresh fruit awaiting us, generously prepared by our loving “Mamas.” Our day ended with some group bonding around a campfire while looking up at the incredible night sky. We are all so excited to be here together in the wonderful Maji Moto and cannot wait to see what these next couple of weeks will bring!
– Sam & Alex