One Smile has the Power to Change the World

“Use your smile to change the world, don’t let the world change your smile”

Hi my name is Berkeley, I am a sophomore at Eagle Valley High School. This year, I will be playing on two teams for hockey, a 16U team and a 19U team. I am really excited for the 19U season as I will be playing “up” (playing with an older age group). I am excited for the challenge that it presents, and the opportunity for growth. I also might try out for the high school junior varsity team, but I am not completely sure of what I will do yet. Besides hockey, I also enjoy making jewelry, and plan to sell some as a fundraiser. I love how while making jewelry and playing hockey I only have to focus on that one task, thus relieving me of the worries and troubles that had been plaguing my mind throughout the week.

This year, I have another challenge coming. I am traveling with Children’s Global Alliance, a 501(C)3 local non-profit organization, to Rabat, in Morocco. This will be my fourth trip, I am ecstatic to be back, and honored to be asked to be the student mentor. My whole world is transformed when I go on these trips, and when the opportunity arose to go on another trip, I could not refuse. I am excited to see how old Moroccan traditions are infused in the modern Morocco. On that note, this year in class we watched a TED talk on how in order to truly understand someone you need to hear multiple stories not just one story i.e multiple points of view. With that in mind, with the countries that I have been to before, it seems as if I hear one story about the country, and it is usually negative, but when I get to the country I realize how that one story failed to mention how amicable the people are, how rich their culture is, and how complex the history is. I can’t wait to find out more about Moroccan people, their culture and their traditions.

CGA has been such a huge part of my life for the past 3 years and I am so grateful that it has been. It has changed me in ways I have never expected and showed me that there is always something to look forward to and to work towards. In those two weeks that I am gone, I feel as if I am in a whole new world, one that is surrounded by hardship but conquered with love and happiness. The quote “Use your smile to change the world, don’t let the world change your smile” holds so many truths, but I think in this case it is not my smile that has changed the world, it is the smiles of those who I have met. The kids, that I have met, are able to smile through hardships, they come to school and are able to laugh and smile; their laughs make the world seem like it's radiating happiness. Their dedication and determination inspires me to try my best no matter what happens, and to preserve in order to accomplish my goal.

Finally, my family shared my excitement when I told them that I was accepted to go on the Morocco trip; they have always been supportive of me and this year was no different. Declan, my brother, was old enough to go on a trip this year but ended up not applying, I hope that next year I will be able to convince him. I would love to share the experiences that I have had with him.

Tutaonana Baadaye (See You Later)

             I have always been told, “Even if a person is not with you, keep them close to your heart and they will watch over you.”

When I was young, I imagined that my heart had a room in it with one whole wall being made of glass. When I am apart from someone, they go into the glass room showing how they will always stay in my heart. In my glass room, I have always had my grandpa, and God. Year by year, more people join them: Winder, Jesus, and Julio, from Nicaragua; Srey Tom and XO from Cambodia; and many others. Now as this trip comes to an end, the students and teachers of LOAMO will be joining them. Goodbye is always the hardest word to say, I have heard many times that it is not “goodbye”, it is a “see you later”. I hold on to this, because even though I will forever have them in my heart, I would just about burst if I got to see them again.

                Jordan Edward was one of the first students I really made a connection with. On the first day, he was struggling with his math work and the teacher asked me to help him. At first, I was scared I would not be able to explain it well, but after the first few problems, I learned that a visual aid thoroughly helps. We would count on my fingers together and when he would realize he had reached the right answer, his face would light up and he would quickly right it down. A warm feeling of happiness expanded through me as I realized that I was able to help him. The next day, when he recognized me and said good morning to me, my heart grew. The warm feeling returned, expanding through my body, radiating outward through my smile. In that moment, I knew I needed to give my all to these students.

                Friday was sports day. I could feel the anticipation in the class room. When the time finally came to play, it was like a dam opened and all the stress was let go. The teachers and the students all played the same games, and all the classes came together to play football or other small games. They have this one game similar to Monkey in the Middle, but they would try to hit the person in the middle. The person in the middle would try to duck, and when the ball would go out of bounds, they would try to fill up a coke bottle with sand. If they filled up the bottle, the person in the middle won. Yet, if they got hit with the ball, the two people on the outside won. Teacher Upendo and Teacher Lillian both played, it was entertaining to see them taunt the students as they dodged the ball and filled up the bottle. When I wasn’t playing Monkey in the Middle, I would play clapping games with the kids from my class. When someone would get out, the whole circle would light up in smiles and laughter. Then we would start again until we had our final winner. Even though they didn’t win, all of the kids would cheer, shout, and celebrate the winner. This touched my heart to see all the kids being happy for one another.

                Today was one of my last days teaching. I tried to cherish every single moment, every single laugh, and every single smile. I never want to leave, more so, I never want to forget. I never want to forget the warm greeting that slipped off the locals tongues, or how vivid the colors of their clothes looked in the Tanzanian sun. Most of all, I never want to forget the stories I learned here. They taught me to be strong and brave, and how you can conquer anything if you put all of your heart into it. No matter how bad the odds may be stacked against you, there is always a way to find happiness and laughter. In all, I think the kids at LOAMO perfectly represent one of my favorite quotes, “Don’t tell me the sky is the limit, when there are footprints on the moon.”

All You Need Is Education

          Teacher Lillian explained to me that a child’s mind is like a blank piece of paper: you can write anything and it will stay, because they have not learned a lot yet. That is why they learn and remember information so easily. Education is vital here in order to get a sustainable job one would need a good education. However, there is a flaw in their system. In order to get into secondary school, past Class 8, you have to pass the exams at the end of Class 7. While this may seem reasonable, in government schools they teach in Swahili all the way until Class 7, then the exams to get into Class 8 are all in English so it is very hard to pass. The kids at LOAMO all learn in English so that part of the exam will be a little easier in that way, but the material of the exam is still extremely challenging.  Yet with the odds stacked against them these kids still try their hardest every day.

          Last night I was asked the question what has impacted your heart the most on this trip. I think it is the fact that these kinds have to be on their “A” game all of the time, no matter if they’re 4 years old and in kindergarten or if their 13 years old and in Class 7. They always have to try their hardest, slacking is not an option. This really destroys me on the inside because at home we take our education for granted and slack off and complain, and here are these kids who deserve so much more than they are given and yet they come to school every day laughing and smiling, and are elated to be sitting in a class room. These children who come to school laughing and smiling have spectacular stories, of what they have been through and conquered. Glory is in Class 5 her house is made out of cement with electricity and water from a tap, for drinking. While they may seem pretty well of her father got laid off of his job as a security guard as he did not have a certificate of education. Suzie, the mother, is also unemployed. She worked at LOAMO for 16 years; since she worked at the school she was able to send two of her four children all the way through LOAMO. Unfortunately, two years ago she discovered she had a disease in her spinal cord preventing her from being able to bend over. The doctor told her if she wanted to recover she would have to leave her job. Since she has LOAMO Glory and Suzie’s youngest child will have to finish their education through public school. While telling us this something snapped in Suzie and the tears started to roll down her cheeks. All she wants for her kids is for them to get a good education so they can go and live a good life with a good job.

          I also go the chance to visit Teacher Lillian. When Teacher Lillian talks, it’s like her words start to fill the room and transport you to another world. It is as I you are standing right next to her experiencing her life and feeling her feelings. Teacher Lillian lost her dad when she was 17 to AIDS then five years later when she was 22 she lost her mother to AIDS as well. Not only was losing her parents hard, but she was left as the guardian of five younger sisters, the youngest being 5 years old. Most of them got sponsors to pay for their school fees, but Lillian had to provide the money for them to eat. I could not fathom trying to provide for five people by yourself, anger rose inside of me as she explained how none of their relatives would take them is as they were all girls. My respect grew for Teacher Lillian as she explained all the set-backs and hard times she experienced, and how she always persevered and was resilient.

         Seeing the work ethic of these kids is astounding to me it has and will be my motivation to work harder. Any struggle or road block I will encounter is incomparable to what these students will do just to sit in a class room for the day. There are time in the school year when I take my classes for granted and start to let up a little and slack off, making excuses for myself, but this year when I start to do this I will remind myself of how Glory and Teacher Lillian and all of the others persevere and fight through it all just to get an education.

A great start to a new beginning

I have always struggled with starting my blogs. Ideas racing through my mind, feelings jumbled inside of me waiting to be put into words, and this year is no different. Arusha is so much better than I ever could have imagined. I thought it would be dry and dusty with minimal trees scattered across the plains, and yet there are lush trees and bushes almost everywhere I look. The culture is also different than I was expecting, they are very welcoming. On Saturday morning we took a class on Swahili and Tanzania culture, our teacher, Nai, explained to us that they do not care about the time they care about the people. Later when we walked through the market I discovered what this meant; you enter the market and you’re greeted with mambo, jambo, and habari, each with a different response you are to give. At this market we saw many handmade goods including jewelry, clothing and many more intricate, colorful objects. We then went to a food market, which had all kinds of food from spices to passion fruits. The smells of the food enveloped me making me feel like I was in a giant kitchen. At the second market our guide, Rasta John, picked up two eggs and told us that the bigger egg was the mzugyu egg, i.e. the foreign egg that was processed and came from machines; you could buy this egg for cheap. Then he brought out a smaller egg he claimed that it would make you stronger and healthier, because it was from Tanzania, it was an “African Egg”.

                On Sunday we went to a Maasi village, I was nervous that we would not be welcomed, as we were a foreign group coming into their homes. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised when we exited the car and were warmly greeted. We were shown to where they keep their cows, a sacred animal. They explained to us that when cow blood and milk is mixed together it is considered a remedy for illness. We then got dressed in multiple shuka’s and conga’s (basically scarves), and made chapatti, one of the best breads I have ever had. After we finished making the chapatti they brought out goat and salty vegetables, which I gladly received. After eating we danced with the Maasi warriors, they started with high pitched sounds and transitioned into song; their dances consisted of many jumps. These warriors seemed to jump more than two feet into the air. After a whole day at the Maasi village, it began to sink in how nervous I was becoming knowing the next day would be my first day teaching.

                My stomach was twisting into knots as we rolled up to the school. I was terrified of messing up, but in the end I taught and tried to think on my feet. While I still have plenty of room for improvement, I will learn from my mistakes today, and improve throughout the week striving to be the best teacher I can be.

                In all, Tanzania has exceeded all of my expectations from their welcoming culture, to the colorful landscape I see when I look out my window. I have had many memorable experiences in the short time I have been in Arusha starting with the Maasi tribe, teaching, and exploring the markets, I am eagerly anticipating the many more to come.

Breaking the Cycle

I was researching the topic of what are nonprofit organizations are doing to help eradicate poverty in Tanzania when I scrolled over this headline, "Is Celebrating Women the Wrong Approach?" I was instantly intrigued. My first thought was wondering what could they mean, how could that be bad? The organization, Aid for Africa, wrote this article, they claim that while the world is making efforts to close the inequality gap we cannot celebrate now, as the gap is not completely closed yet. That reminds me of the saying "Don't count your chickens before they hatch", the world has made progress but if they stop to celebrate now they will never actually complete their goal.

This validates my belief that if secondary education was more accessible to girls then there would be a decrease in poverty around the world. I think that educating women and girls would be beneficial to the countries in with a large population in poverty because with a higher education girls can get higher paying jobs, have more awareness about health risks, and can educate their families as well. With a secondary education they will have more skills and knowledge that will be applicable in life. Furthermore, the World Bank states that “Increasing the share of women with secondary education by one percentage point can boost the annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percent on average.” This proves to me how women getting a better education can get a better job, which becomes more beneficial to the family because they can gain more income. On that note, the World Bank also states that  “Every extra year of schooling beyond the average boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10-20 percent.” Hence, proving that with a better education a woman can better support herself and/or her family. Also, when women are more aware of health risks and have a higher education, they will have knowledge on how to keep children healthy. An educated woman will also be more aware of her financial stability and if having a child would be a good choice, as family planning and birth control would be part of her education. Finally, as a educated mother she will be able to teach her kids. Women are seen as the people who are supposed to care for the child. If the mother is educated she will be able to pass on her knowledge to her child. I know this from experience as well, I have probably learned more from my mom than from school for some topics.

I hope to be a catalyst for this change by going on these trips. On this service trip I am going to teach in Tanzania. I want to give hope to the students that they can do whatever they want if they follow their dreams. I feel that this trip I could give hope to the girls in school and give them a role model, Lisa Marie, as she is well educated and they can see how much she has accomplished and they know her. She always inspires me to try my best and work my hardest and I know that she has the same effect on the girls in Tanzania. That is one of the reasons I do these trips, I know that even though it is a small step I can make a change in these children’s lives. I feel that I am letting them down if I don't put all I’ve got into these teaching opportunities. In all, I can help make a change in helping more girls get a secondary education if I put my all into teaching them and try to be a role model for them as well.

I did some research to find efforts to help end poverty in Tanzania I found a successful project and an unsuccessful project. A successful project that helped to rid poverty in Tanzania is, the World Bank is starting a Conditional Cash Transfer program to help get families out of extreme poverty. This project gives families about $13 a month. This extra money helps them to get more protein in their diets and cover some of the schooling costs. Many families who apply for this cash transfer are families lead by a single mom, this extra money helps her to provide for her children. A failed attempt at helping to end poverty in Tanzania would be the company, Sun Biofuel's, attempt to create a biofuel plant in Tanzania. The company promised to give new jobs, create a better education and health system, and said that they would get clean water to the community. However, the company failed and abandoned the project. This left many villagers unemployed and their land was destroyed in the effort to produce the plantation, leaving them without a job and without land. This failed project had a detrimental impact on the village, it shows how even though the company thought that they would help they ended up making things worse. I think that while it is important to see what has succeeded and learn from the pros, it is equally important to research the mistakes and learn from those as well. The biofuel project was a bust, which was good in a way because now future projects can see how much the failed project not only affected the company but how it devastated the village as well. Hopefully they can plan so that that type of disaster will never happen again. As John Powell once said “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”

All You Need is Confidence

   "One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else."- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

My goal for this trip is to gain more confidence in myself. This weekend I had my Martin Luther King Jr. hockey tournament. All the teams were really even in strength, so all the games were really close. The final scores were either a tie or a difference of only one point. Now, I play defense, so when someone gets a big rush at our goalie it's my job to stop them and make sure they don't get a shot off. As my dad had pointed out to me when I get scared I tend to stand up tall and be stiff. This is a big mistake in hockey because when I stand up tall my feet stop moving and my stick gets stuck to my side; I basically have tied myself up. Thus, letting the person skate past me and giving them a possible scoring opportunity. My dad gave me the advice to stay low and to believe in myself, because if I don't give up then I will be able to steal the puck from the other person. I believe this applies in my life too. When I get scared I draw back and stay quiet, or second guess myself. This is like standing up straight and tying myself up, I know what I am supposed to do, however I just don't have the confidence in myself to go forth and do it. To counteract that my personal goal is to have more confidence, which will allow me to take risks and to believe in myself, like staying low in hockey. In Tanzania, this will be beneficial to me because I find it really intimidating to think about teaching in a classroom; I only get one chance at this lesson so I better make it count! I believe that if I am more confident in myself I will be able to teach a greater and more effective lesson as confidence shows on the outside. As a result, this goal is important to me because I believe that one can see confidence in another, and having more self-confidence will help me to achieve more and create more opportunities for myself.

In order to enhance my knowledge about Tanzania, I did a little research on their history. I discovered that the earliest proof of human life was found in Tanzania, the remains date back to around 5,000 B.C. The discoveries include skulls and other fossils that can be related to human-like beings. During the 1500s Tanzania was discovered by the Portuguese. Although the Portuguese found Tanzania it was never really colonized. However, a couple years later the Germans colonized Tanzania, much to the dismay of the indigenous people. A big revolt was lead by Chief Mkwawa of the Hehe people. Chief Mkwawa gained his fame by resisting the German colonization and winning a battle in the Lugalo Hills. This was a big win for Chief Mkwawa, it is said that only 2 German soldiers and 15 officers escaped. Chief Mkwawa was such a big threat to the Germans that when they finally defeated him they shipped his skull back to Germany to put on display as a trophy for their victory. Furthermore, Britain then took Tanzania from the Germans and remained in control from 1916 to 1954.

Tanzania declared independence in 1961. The first couple of years they were off to a rough start having a prime minister the first year then having different presidents each year for the next three years, which created some political instability. I find it fascinating how, Zanzibar, a small island off of the coast of Tanzania, has its own laws and president. This allows Zanzibar to have its own government even though it is still considered to be part of Tanzania. This is because when Tanzania gained independence Zanzibar had some conflicting political views creating two different governments. Currently, there are 120 different tribal groups in Tanzania. Most Tanzanians live in rural places and grow what they eat. However, there have been more and more people who have started to move to developing towns and cities.

I find it very interesting how the Germans kept the skull of Chief Mkwawa. The Germans didn't even kill Mkwawa themselves he had decided to take his own life; which in my opinion, makes it even more gruesome. This means the Germans had to track down and find the head of Mkwawa to ship back to Germany. There were many efforts by the Hehe people to get the head of Mkwawa back. They said that until the head was returned there would be no peace. To me, this shows how they were loyal to their leader. Finally, in 1956 the skull was returned to the Hehe people although, some speculate it is not his skull. In all, I am excited to work on my personal goal of gaining more self-confidence, and I am excited to learn more about Tanzania because it broadens my global awareness.