NAIS Pudong students from Year 9 to Year 12 were fortunate enough to take part in the NAE Service Project in the Kilimanjaro area of Tanzania. Annabelle S, Giselle O, Andy Z, Kevin C, Linus L and Ricky Z were joined by Olivia W from our sister school LIS Chengdu, as well as students from BIS Abu Dhabi, BIS Charlotte, BSB Shunyi, Hameline Laie, and Beau Soleil.
This service project, aside from offering students the opportunity of a lifetime to explore a beautiful part of Africa (including on a 2-day, overnight safari), is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to gain a deeper understanding of the extraordinary difficulties that the communities face. One of our core NAIS Pudong values is to help develop consideration in our students, and there could be no better opportunity than this.
Accommodated in what can only be described as a high-end resort glamping setup (complete with beautiful gardens, orchards, football pitch and swimming pool), our students used that base to travel deep into surrounding communities to develop a cultural appreciation of life there. These exchanges were supported by both Seeway Tanzania (www.swtz.org) and our specific partner, Umoja Tanzania (www.umojatanzania.org).
Students from NAIS Pudong supported some families facing unimaginable hardship, building cow and chicken sheds for them (and providing animals too), and then also installing solar panels, sockets and lighting to the families to enable them both to have electricity in their home for the very first time, but also to support charging for mobile devices which are essential to allow the family to communicate and build small business.
Students took an incredible safari in Tarangire National Park, where they encountered lions, elephants, baboons, giraffe, wildebeest, warthogs, eagles, gazelle, impala, smaller monkeys, zebra and many more. They camped for one night in the middle of the national park and were overwhelmed to have a mother elephant and her calf within 10 metres of their tents!
Other days of our trip also took us to meet the Meru tribe who introduced their community and gave some fascinating insight into the legal system, the religious mix within the villages, and the education system. They then took us to their coffee plantation where we learned about the process from initial plant nursery right through to roasting and selling the beans. Of course, we also got a taste too, and boy was it good coffee!
We camped again in a private reserve where students learned how to put up tents before they prepared and cooked meals for the entire group. We don’t like to boast, but our food was apparently within the Top 3 of all expedition meals so far! Kudos to our Head Chef from BSB Shunyi! Students cleaned all of the dishes, tidied camp, and after a good sleep we headed back our service projects.
The final day saw students putting absolutely every inch of energy during the midday sun into digging and transporting vast amounts of soil across the school campus to help repair a very uneven football pitch, which is now good to use! The afternoon saw a true heart-warming exchange where the local students gave speeches, performed dances (and a fashion show!), while NAE students reciprocated with group dances before passing over a large amount of gifts which were donated to the school.
Prior to departure, we saw students get very emotional as the true realization of just how much their work had meant to the local community hit home. Undoubtedly this project has developed new friendships between schools, but also between continents, and our aim is to continue supporting the local charities as the year progresses.
