Moshi - Part 2

 We have another leisurely breakfast, enjoying our coffee and looking at Kilimanjaro which has appeared this morning.

More Than a Drop is a B&B and Hospitality School located in Moshi. 

The B&B is part of a social empowerment project for severely deprived Tanzanian female adolescents. 100% of the proceeds go to the school project.

The students are on a one year course during which time they learn all aspects of the Hospitality Industry. They spend quite a bit of time on their academic studies and then the rest of their time is spent getting some practical experience working in the B&B so you see them around the place all the time.

This morning Hilda brings back Pete’s freshly laundered ACTT T-shirt that he had specially asked for.

Today the girls are in class revising for an English exam. I pay them a brief visit and give them a bit of practice speaking English. 

Later while we are sat on the terrace, Neema has a group of them cleaning. We also see them doing other jobs like gardening and laundry and at breakfast and dinner some will help serve in the restaurant or prepare the food in the kitchen.

I love staying here and supporting the girls. There is also a link with ACTT as they provide the computer training part of the course. Boniface from ACTT has been here for the last 2 weeks and will be back in a couple of week time to do some more.

The project obviously works well as a large number of the girls go on to get jobs in hotels or safari lodges.

We have a light lunch here as tonight it is the ACTT Moshi Staff night out.

Robert is not around this afternoon so Bruno said he would pick us up between 3 and 4pm. However by 5 pm we have heard nothing so ring. Apparently the staff are now just about ready to leave so we say we will just get a taxi and meet them there. 

They have picked Kili Home Bar as the venue for tonight which Pete and I are pleased about as they do good food.

When we arrive they are all having a drink and chatting. There are a larger number of staff than in Mwanza, I think we were 14 in total once Robert arrived.

There is the usual presentation from Bruno about the achievements of the last year. Robert then also has a talk with them about the future. By now it’s getting dark and there is no lighting where we are sat, so the restaurant staff set up another area for us under some lights and serve the food there. As predicted it is very good.

Once the food is finished Robert hands out a small gift to each of them and we do the same. It’s good to see Paula again who we first supported as an ACTT student 10 years ago. She now works as a computer trainer.

Bruno also has some fun gifts for people, Peter and I get bracelets with our names on. I always think that at these events it’s nice that Robert includes “ Babu” the night watchman and Mama Irene. Babu means grandfather in Swahili and is clearly not his real name but thats what everyone calls him. The light is not good but he is still very keen to have his photo taken.

Robert then continues his talk from earlier and Pete also speaks to them, encouraging them to think of ways to expand the work of ACTT in the future.

At the end of the evening Robert organises for Boniface to drive us and some of the staff home. Before we leave Boniface remembers that some of the girls have left their bags in the car. Before he returns them, we make him and Hussein model them 😀. It’s been a good evening.

Moshi - Part 1

We slept pretty well and enjoy a good breakfast of fresh fruit, pancakes, eggs, cake and fruit juice.

We spend the morning on the terrace at MTAD catching up on the blog, emails, school records, spreadsheets, finances  etc. The terrace has plenty of trees that offer shade from the sun and there is a constant supply of tea and coffee.

We hand in a rather large amount of washing and Pete asks if they could manage to get his ACTT t-shirt back to him by tomorrow.

He also asks Millie if we could pay for our room for the next week so we can see if our credit card is working ok. She is happy to do this and the payment goes through with no problem.

Late morning we decide to go down to the ACTT offices. Robert would normally offer to come and collect us but the car is in the garage for repair. 

We decide to walk as it seems to have clouded over but as soon as we reach the main road the sun comes out again so we take a bajaji……a very good decision.

When we arrive at the office there is no power so Robert has actually moved outside as the offices are in a basement so quite dark without any electric lights. They do have a small amount of solar lighting in the main training room but nowhere else. It is also probably cooler outside as there is a bit of a breeze and its in the shade.

We catch up with all the staff and then go and get some lunch. Mama Irene runs a small restaurant next door to ACTT and has provided lunch for the staff for many years. She is always very pleased to see us and happy to provide lunch for us too. Today she has made ugali for the staff which she knows I don’t like so she has done us some extra bananas. As always lunch is very good.

This afternoon we join Robert in his open air office, continuing with our “office work” in between chatting with various staff members.

A bit later Pete and Robert walk down to the bank as we need to get some cash, again the card works fine.

About 5.30 the fundi returns the car to Robert having done the repairs. Pete and Robert check it over and are pleased to see the air conditioning is now working again.

Robert then drops us back at MTAD where we have a quiet evening. MTAD have a small vegetarian restaurant which is very good so we get dinner here tonight.

Travelling to Moshi

 This morning it has stopped raining and we get a proper look at the hotel. Isaac arranges breakfast for us outside, omelette, bread and fruit, all good. 

We leave about 8.30 and have really given up on the idea of getting sweet potatoes when, driving through Magugu village, Aaron suddenly spots someone selling them. Robert buys a large bucketful. This also seems to be a place to get bicycles and bajajis repaired. 

Driving on we again see zebras and wildebeest and some baboons. This part of the road runs just outside Tarangire National Park. There are also lots of people selling mats and baskets.

It’s now time for a coffee stop. We are on the main road from Arusha to the National Parks so all the places are geared up for tourists and charge tourist prices……but the bathrooms are lovely!!

We order coffees and sodas. Robert has a cappuccino coffee which he has never had before, he is very impressed with the pattern on the top, he even takes a photo.

While we are having coffee Aaron mentions that his youngest sister has been working as a house girl in Arusha for the last 4 months and it turns out that Robert knows the family she is working for. So after some discussion and some phone calls we decide to try and visit her. We have got some directions which get us to the right area but still have some problems finding the house. Eventually we see Aaron’s sister walking down the road to meet us.

It is lovely to see both their faces, so surprised and happy to see each other. The family are all at work or school so Aaron’s sister (I have forgotten her name 🫣) is the only one at home. She has obviously been given permission to invite us in and give us a soda. Aaron then rings all his family to tell them he is with his sister and so she can speak to them. It’s a really nice visit.

Before we leave Aaron’s sister says that we are to take some bananas with us from the banana trees the family have growing next door. So we now have some extra produce for Mama Diana.

We drive on into Arusha Town. Aaron is now the “tourist” and we are the guides 😀. He has given Pete his phone as he is sitting in the front of the car with him, and asks him to take photos. Every so often he points at something and says “Shoot shoot” so Pete takes a picture. 

We have another short visit to make in Arusha. The friends we met in Chato have asked us to drop off some dollars that they owe to their safari tour operator. We manage to find the office fairly quickly and Achmed is waiting to greet us. We stay for a short chat but enjoyable chat. 

It’s now 3pm and we haven’t had lunch but we decide to drive the 30 minutes to Usa River before we stop. Robert knows a place that does decent buffet food so we go there. It’s now raining quite heavily again but luckily they have a big covered area

They have spaghetti which makes a change, so I have this with fish and greens. The others choose different things. The food is ok, nothing special but the toilets are definitely in need of renovation!! 

We are now on the last leg of our journey to Moshi. Unfortunately for Aaron we don't have great views of Kilimanjaro due to the cloud, but he seems happy with the bit he can see. 

We arrive at More Than A Drop (MTAD) at about 6pm, this will be our home for our last week in Tanzania. We have stayed here many times and are pleased to see Millie and Neema waiting to greet us. We say goodbye to Aaron who will be getting the bus back to Mwanza tomorrow and say we will see Robert in the ACTT offices tomorrow.

We have booked one of their garden rooms and quickly settle in. Later we get a bit of dinner and a glass of wine before having an early night.