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School Expedition Blogs

Culloden Academy - Blog 2

Tuesday 27th Today we woke up early and travelled to Tarangire National Park. We saw lots of zebras, wildebeests and giraffes. The most impressive animal in my opinion were the elephants. We were also lucky enough to see a leopard slouching in the middle of a tree. In the evening, we camped out in tents which had very comfy beds in them. We also star gazed and I saw two shooting stars! Wednesday 28th This morning, we had a very early start, we left our tents at 5.30am and began our second day of safari. By the end of the day we seen all of ‘The Big…

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West Calder and James Young High Schools - Blog 2

Tuesday 27th We mixed up the groups today, as well as switching the work sites. I went to Maro Upendo's site. I find it extremely humbling to see the conditions these families live in and we can all see that the houses we are building will make such a big difference to their lives. Today, we spent time passing cement and bricks along a chain of us to where they were needed. The fundis (local builders) were very nice and the work was good fun. We sang some songs and practiced our counting in Swahili. Once we had finished at the worksite for the day, we stopped at the supermarket…

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Culloden Academy - Blog 1

Jambo from Culloden Academy! We've been having a great time in Moshi, Tanzania. Our expedition got off to a great start! On Thursday we visited the head offices of TAWREF (Tanzanian Women’s Research Foundation) - one of Vine Trust's home-building partners in Tanzania. We were warmly greeted by singing, and Dafrosa, TAWREF's Executive Director, enthusiastically discussed the work we would be doing and the impact we would have. In the afternoon we visited Mochi Christian Children's Centre (MCCC) and played football with the children - it was a high-scoring game (9-8)! Our first family is that of Regina Tesha, a widow who cares for her 4…

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West Calder and James Young High Schools - Blog 1

Sunday 25th Today we visited Kimashuku Children’s Home, Moshi - a centre which Vine Trust volunteers helped to build in 2011. It was incredible to see the efforts of previous expedition teams and the amazing work that Vine Trust do.  After that, we went to Moshi Christian Children's Centre to meet and play with the children there. We played ball games such as catch and piggy in the middle, and it was good to spend time with the children.  We also had the chance to exchange money into Tanzanian shillings which are very different for us - £10 is 29,000 shillings! After dinner we played team games,…

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Earlston H.S. - Blog 3

Wednesday 21st June We started our day normally with breakfast at Berea and got ready to go to Fuka to visit the Parish and Vocational School for orphans and local children.  After a 45 minute journey, we arrived at the school and were led into a classroom where the Head Teacher spoke to us about the purpose of the school, and translated what one of the teachers was saying. The school provides a home and education to orphaned and deprived children within the community, and to offers a brighter future for young people who have found themselves in difficult and vulnerable situations. As always,…

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Earlston H.S. - Blog 2 - On Safari

We got up early this morning - 5.30am for a 6am breakfast! It was a struggle to get out of bed, but we wanted to have the best possible chance of seeing lots of animals on our safari. After a long climb to the top of the ridge of the Ngorogoro Crater, the drivers navigated us down into the crater. We saw hippos and lots of wildebeest and zebras. Apparently a rhino was spotted, but all it really looked like was a grey rock in the distance!  After lunch and on the way to leave the crater, some lions were spotted on a hunt. We waited…

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