April in the World

Lest you think I am simply sitting around eating ugali (corn mush) and sipping Konyagi (local gin), I’m posting the job description that Polly and I agreed to this week.  There are a lot of different tasks I’ll be working on in the next year and I’m sure more will pop up but this is already a pretty full slate. It’s a lot of work to run a good organization, especially in a challenging environment like TZ, and Sega is fairly understaffed right now so volunteers have… Read More »My Job Description

Yesterday, I joined a group of volunteers and some Tanzanians on a hike into the Uluguru mountains to a waterfall.  It was a beautiful hike and, along the way, we saw the homes and farms of people living there. Once we’d climbed a bit, we were able to look back at the growing town of Morogoro with an approximate population of 300,000.  Since almost all the  buildings are single storey with the exception being a few hotels and some two storey businesses in town, growth results… Read More »Into the Mountains

HOW THE HECK did I end up volunteering for this particular organization in Africa and what am I doing here? What is Sega? The Sega (Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement) School is a residential secondary school for bright, motivated Tanzanian girls who otherwise would not have access to secondary education due to extreme poverty. Founded in 2008 and located in Mkundi near Morogoro in central Tanzania, there are currently 150 students boarding at the school, 90 in Forms 1,2 & 3 (Grades 8-10), and 60… Read More »What is Sega and why am I here?

It is Sunday afternoon and I’ve been here in Morogoro since Wednesday afternoon.  A lot has happened in a very short time or at least it feels that way to me.  This is certainly the first moment I’ve had to sit down and write.  When I arrived Wednesday midday after a 4 hour drive from Dar es Salaam, I spent the afternoon with Polly Dolan, the founder of The Sega Girls School. She had me over to her home, gave me lunch, and then took… Read More »First Impressions

I’m finally off!  Fraser is set up in his dorm at Drexel University in Philadelphia (see photo) and I leave tonight for my extended stint at The Sega Girls School in Morogoro, Tanzania. My house is rented out through June 15, 2013 so my plan is to stay until then and possibly longer. With this blog, I hope to chronicle my experiences living in a place so different from Berkeley and working in a young organization with a group of like-minded people who are excited… Read More »Off to Tanzania…