During this trip there have been several major milestones: revisiting Tuck and Jones’ orphanage, exploring the Chinese city where Yve was born, and volunteering at the Baobab Home. During my life there have also been several major milestones: graduating out of the “when-I-laugh-I-pee-my-pants” phase, skiing my first double black diamond, and volunteering at the Boabab Home. My first two life milestones may be relatively self-explanatory, but what is it about volunteering at the Baobab Home that was so special? What happened during our weeklong stay in Bagamoyo, Tanzania? To tell you the truth: three months ago, while on the airplane from Bagamoyo to Vietnam, I was so incredulous and dazed by the sheer awe of it all, that I too was asking myself these exact same questions. Ten months ago, I embarked on a journey: My Eagle Project, a journey of a lifetime. Three months ago, I completed this journey, and now, with some reflection, I will do my best to put the amazing memories into words.
Day 1: Introductions
The first day in Bagamoyo was all about introductions. After eight months of emailing back and forth, I finally got to meet Terri, the founder of the Baobab Home. Out of all the people we have met on this trip so far, I can confidently say that Terri is the most courageous. She left the comforts of the west and moved to Bagamoyo on a mission to help children who have been affected by AIDS. She raised money and built the Baobab Home, so orphans who lost their parents to AIDS could have a place to grow up. Terri is passionate about education and made it a priority for the Baobab children. Dismayed when she found that the schools in Bagamoyo weren’t up to her standards, Terri erected the prestigious Steven Tito Academy right next to the Baobab Home. Now the Baobab kids, as well as many others from the community, have access to a great education right on their doorstep.
In addition to meeting Terri that day, we met her equally bighearted husband and her two kids. We also were introduced to all the students, the teachers at the school, and an amazing young man, William, who grew up in the Baobab Home under Terri’s care. I also got to witness the kids during reading time…using the books! Watching the children read the books for the first time was a quintessential moment for me. All of the hard work, all of the donations, all of the generosity and perseverance was wrapped up into that moment. Seeing those children reading, laughing, and absorbing the same stories I loved as a kid, was an indescribable feeling. I just stood there: I remember trying to say thank you to Terri, but not being able to make any sound. It was as if I had checked out of reality for a moment and found myself in this strange, outlandish place. Could I really be in Africa? Could I really be watching a boy in Africa read a copy of Good Night Moon from Island Books on Mercer Island? It was an unbelievable and exhilarating feeling when reality checked back in with the answer to my questions: “Yes.”
Later that afternoon, we spent time in central Bagamoyo, where Terri introduced us to Ernesto, the local carpenter who was willing to volunteer his workshop and his time to help us. I could hardly sleep that night. I must of stayed up until at least four in the morning going through the plan in my head for the upcoming days.
Terri, Ernesto, and I strategizing.
Downtown Bagamoyo outside Ernesto’s workshop
Front entrance of Ernesto’s workshop
Yve playing games with Terri’s son, Justice!
Day 2: Getting Started
On the second day, I rounded up the troops and assembled the teams. Team “building the bookshelves” would include Ernesto, the talented local carpenter who spoke no English (hey…you know what they say: good leadership is all about how you pick your team. Expert Tanzanian Carpenter on my team = awesome leadership on my part); William, who would be our translator; Erin, my godmother from Austin, Texas who connected me with Terri in the first place; Marquis, Erin’s friend from San Francisco willing to help out with the hard stuff; my Dad, who was there to support me and help me with anything I needed him to do, and me. The other team, Team “Classroom Readiness,” comprised of Yve, Otto, and my Mom, would be putting the brand new books to good use by reading to the children, painting new chairs for the classrooms and volunteering at the Baobab Home.
After the teams were amassed, it was time to hit the wood. We operated out of Ernesto’s workshop. Needless to say, it was compact, but other than that, it was pretty nice. When it came to tools, Ernesto was very resourceful; he made use of a broken power drill by cracking the circuit board open and duck taping a semi-sketchy copper wire to the back. We were only staying for a week, and didn’t want to take up all of Ernesto’s time, so we worked like crazy that day. Sawing, shaving, and sanding, so that the next day, the wood could become a bookshelf.
Team “Building Book Shelves” (minus Marquis)
Marquis became an expert at the lathe and made all the bookshelves look awesome!
Back at Baobab where Nayay became an expert at painting chairs!
Day 3: Assembly
We spent the entirety of Day 2 perfecting the heavy wooden planks, so Day 3 was all about assembly. The problem was that we were lacking some necessary materials: screws, nails, glue, plywood for the backs, and other basic necessities for bookshelf building. William asked Ernesto for directions to the nearest hardware store and he described one about a five minute walk up from the workshop. I sent Dad, Erin, and William; an hour later they came back with everything we needed. Just to give you a little glimpse into why it took so long to build the bookshelves: we spent a solid 30 minutes sorting out the usable nails from the bent, dull, and rusty ones in the boxes of “new” nails they just bought 🙂
By the end of Day 3 we were styling! All three of the bookshelves were assembled (minus the plywood backs, which we still hadn’t purchased) and ready for priming.
Assembling the bookshelves at Ernesto’s workshop
After two long days in the workshop, the bookshelves are almost done!
Meanwhile, back at Baobab, Yve and Otto are participating in reading time with the students!
Mom spends most of her time playing with the kids and painting chairs.
Teams unite to celebrate the bookshelves being close to complete!
Day 4: Transport
We tracked down some plywood backs from our favorite hardware store down the road and nailed those babies on. I don’t know what people thought of us, but I don’t think they see many foreigners running back and forth through town with three huge, floppy pieces of plywood over their heads. We attracted some bizarre looks during our 8-10 quests for supplies.
William arranged for a truck to pick up the three fully assembled bookshelves and drop them off at the Baobab Home. We followed by foot, but by the time we got there, we had another problem on hand. The bookshelves could not be out in the open because a storm was moving in, and if they got wet before we lathered them up with primer, it would be game over! I enlisted the strongest people around (Marquis, Erin, Nayay, my Dad and William) and we all moved the bookshelves two hundred feet to the shed: where we could store them while we went to find lunch, primer, and paintbrushes. The shed we were planning on storing them in was completely full with firewood, so we organized a long assembly line: Nayay, then Otto, then Yve, then me, then Mom. We transported the shed full of wood to a big pile. There was a rat who was living in the shed under the pile of wood, and he was startled when we disassembled his home of sticks. Nayay was equally startled when he saw the startled rat, and beat it with a stick, grabbed it by its tail, and chucked it far away. Gotta love his Maasi warrior instincts!
Stick assembly line pre-rat!
In the afternoon, fully equipped with wood primer, paintbrushes, newspaper, and Sharpies: we were ready to get designing. Teams “build the bookshelves” and “classroom readiness” collaborated and finalized the bookshelves by drawing amazing scenes from our safari on the sides and by putting a nice, glossy, protective layer of primer over each of them. By the next day they would be dry, done, and ready for use!
Backs on and shelves ready for transport!
Loading the shelves!
They are off!
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Day 5: Finishing Up
We arrived early: eager to see the finished product. Unfortunately, one of the shelves had toppled over during the night and the back now sported a pitiful, gaping hole. The other two however were beautiful! We lugged them inside the classrooms and loaded them up with books.
Erin drawing final decorations on the trim!
Kids admiring the animal drawings Dad did!
Relaxing at D’z during lunchtime and playing with Erin’s son, Kiaka
Typical lunch at D’z!
Dad gives his camera to one of the students who took this pic 🙂
Otto attacks final coat of lacquer like a conductor!
I got the privilege of picking a book off of the bookshelf with the kids and reading it aloud. I noticed that on the cover was a big, shiny, silver sticker: the Caldecott Award. A flashback occurred. I went back in time, back when I was little, really little, living in Austin reading Click, Clack, Moo, a classic about cows that can type. After reading that book, I was obsessed with the idea of winning a Caldecott Award. Every day in kindergarten, I would sit at a desk and just create books, and I have to say, some of them weren’t as bad as you would expect. The memory made me laugh out loud. Although I hadn’t yet won the Caldecott Award, I had won something far better: a journey of a lifetime. During this journey I met amazing people who have become my role models; I have learned valuable lessons that have taught me an incredible amount about my leadership style; and, best of all, I have connected with a community. The Baobab Home is such a fitting name considering it feels like my home away from home in Tanzania.
Three months ago I completed a journey of a lifetime, but more accurately: three months ago, a journey of a lifetime completed me.
I want to thank Terri and her family for giving me the opportunity!
I want to thank Daniel, the marine that coordinated the shipments of books and made all of this possible.
I want to thank Roger and the team at Island Books for working so hard to pick out the perfect titles and coordinating all the book sales!
I want to thank Troop 647, my Boy Scout Troop on Mercer Island.
I want to thank my aunt, Kaarina, for working with Troop 647 to ship all the donated books.
I want to thank Mouni and Kim for being mission control on Mercer Island.
I want to thank Ernesto for letting us use his workshop, tools, and expertise.
I want to thank William for bridging the language gap and for introducing us to D’z 🙂
I want to thank the teachers and student of Steven Tito Academy for putting the books to good use!
I want to thank Erin, Nayay, and their kids, Sam and Kia, for traveling to Tanzania with me to support my project.
I want to thank Marquis for all the hard work he did to help during the week.
I want to thank my parents for being awesome!
I want to thank Yve, Otto, Tuck and Jones for busting it out in the hot African weather and not complaining.
I want to thank D’z….the best restaurant in Bagamoyo!
I want to thank Mr. Townsend, Mr. McLellan, Mr. Callahan, Mr. Hamilton, and Mr. Padgett for approving the project and getting the ball rolling.
I want to thank our family and friends who made this all possible with their generous book donations!
And finally, I want to thank all of those who made this journey possible, and all of those who seriously made a positive difference in not only my life, but in many, many children’s lives as well. THANKS EVERYONE!
What the classroom looked like before the bookshelves were built…
…and after!!
We had so many books donated that we were able to make different sections of the library!
Showing the students where the books came from (Seattle) on their map!
To read previous posts about my Eagle Project click here and here and here! Thanks!
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