Hey there!
I've now been at St. Jude's for about 10 days. I haven't had a lot to do at the school during the day, so it has been cool getting to explore Arusha a bit. Arusha is a big stopover location for tourists because of its proximity to the national parks and kilimanjaro. This means there are quite a few nice little restaurants and coffee shops that cater to western tastes. I am at my current favorite coffee place, "Fifi's," as I write this.
St. Jude's is different from any of my previous schools this year in that it exists specifically to serve low-income children. The school slogan is "fighting poverty through education." Because the school relies on donor support to keep running, there is a huge team of volunteers and employees that work to keep a steady flow of income via the school sponsors. St. Jude's is also constantly hosting visitors and sponsors, so unlike some of the other places I have been this year, there are always people coming and going. This definitely makes for an different atmosphere- something I haven't experienced before.
Last week I was working on a song with a group of boys after school. We performed it at the assembly on Friday, and even though there were some technical issues with mics, I'm glad we got a chance to get up and sing it. Their song is a reggae tune called "Life Is Hard Without Education." We made a recording on Monday this week and it will be up on my soundcloud soon.
Yesterday was my first day with the secondary students. Everyday now I take a 50 minute bus ride to the upper campus and work with about 20 students for around an hour and a half. I would say a majority of these students are already writing their own songs, which is awesome. Also, they are quite a bit older- many of them are 19 and 20, so that makes things a little different too. I am super stoked to be spending the next couple weeks with them. Hip-hop is really big here in Arusha, and I'm hoping to get some of these guys a little studio time in the local recording studio. It would be so cool to have some semi-professional sounding recordings for the students.
I've now been at St. Jude's for about 10 days. I haven't had a lot to do at the school during the day, so it has been cool getting to explore Arusha a bit. Arusha is a big stopover location for tourists because of its proximity to the national parks and kilimanjaro. This means there are quite a few nice little restaurants and coffee shops that cater to western tastes. I am at my current favorite coffee place, "Fifi's," as I write this.
St. Jude's is different from any of my previous schools this year in that it exists specifically to serve low-income children. The school slogan is "fighting poverty through education." Because the school relies on donor support to keep running, there is a huge team of volunteers and employees that work to keep a steady flow of income via the school sponsors. St. Jude's is also constantly hosting visitors and sponsors, so unlike some of the other places I have been this year, there are always people coming and going. This definitely makes for an different atmosphere- something I haven't experienced before.
Last week I was working on a song with a group of boys after school. We performed it at the assembly on Friday, and even though there were some technical issues with mics, I'm glad we got a chance to get up and sing it. Their song is a reggae tune called "Life Is Hard Without Education." We made a recording on Monday this week and it will be up on my soundcloud soon.
Yesterday was my first day with the secondary students. Everyday now I take a 50 minute bus ride to the upper campus and work with about 20 students for around an hour and a half. I would say a majority of these students are already writing their own songs, which is awesome. Also, they are quite a bit older- many of them are 19 and 20, so that makes things a little different too. I am super stoked to be spending the next couple weeks with them. Hip-hop is really big here in Arusha, and I'm hoping to get some of these guys a little studio time in the local recording studio. It would be so cool to have some semi-professional sounding recordings for the students.
Grade 7 songwriters. After our performance of their song "Life Is Hard Without Education."
English phrases on the wall of a local government school.
Man with a beer and some banana wine (in the blue bucket). I sampled some after our tour of a coffee plantation on Saturday. Tastes like you would imagine, like a headache. The guys were great though and it was fun to sample.
Small music festival at a place called Mango Tree on Sunday afternoon/evening. A lot of reggae, soul, and funk music.
A little dancing at the festival.
Post concert, chicken and bananas on the grill. Grilled meat is really big here. So far I've had chicken, fish, beef, and goat and it has all been quite tasty. Wash it down with a little Coke and a side of fries, a little hot chili sauce on the side... can't complain.
One more thing- This song is all over Tanzania right now, and I would bet that it is all over Africa too. The students here love it. It is a Nigerian song about a farmer that falls in love with a princess (something like that). I can't get enough. This is my jam!
Until next time,
-T
Until next time,
-T
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