Click here to view a photo slideshow by Ezra Mack from the Teen Insight Leadership in Tanzania, 2009.
Click here for the video from the Teen Insight Leadership project in Tanzania, 2009.
SUMMER 2010 AFRICA DATES AND CONTACT INFORMATION:
Making a Difference Serving Yourself and Your World — August 3-10
African Splendor Wildlife Safari — August 10-18
DEPOSITS DUE BY MARCH 10, 2010
For more information, costs, itineraries, and deposit info, please contact Candace Semigran at Candace@insightseminars.org or 1.800.311.8001 ext 109.
Kuwa Na Malengo Ni Jambo Muhimu Sana Katika Maisha Yako. “To be with aspirations is very important in your life.”
These are the words written on a wall approximately ten thousand miles away at the Mrupanga Primary School, nestled in the village of Rau, at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. They are also written in the hearts and minds of sixteen teens, seven adults, and one pre-teen, many of whom began a journey of service, commitment, and love more than three years ago to bring themselves to that place. It is a place marked by the memories of time shared, sacrifice made, and the seeds of dreams to come planted, not only in the ground, but in a community, and a country. This journey to Tanzania was the culmination of Teen Insight Leadership II, or in many ways, maybe just the beginning.
Many of the teens began at an earlier age, taking seminars offered by Insight for children. All of them completed Teen Insight I, II, III and then Teen Insight Leadership. At the conclusion of this series, with open hearts and expanded awareness of Self and Spirit, a group of the graduates decided they wanted to take their experience further, and share what they had learned of love and service with the world, and the journey to Tanzania began.
Through building group consensus with guidance from their facilitators and friends, the teens chose to support and serve the Matumaini Child Care Center in the village of Rau, a facility that houses and cares for some twenty orphans, fully funded and directed in great part by the Knock Foundation. Other locations were in the running, a more comfortable site in Europe, a discussion of South America I believe, but it was through the long-standing friendship of the Hilecher family from which two teens were going, and the Krowne family from which a father and daughter are two of the founding five board members of Knock, that Matumaini was chosen. The group concluded that reaching out to this small-impoverished community in Africa might offer the greatest opportunity for positive impact and growth for all involved. It also presented an opportunity to build on a current relationship where certain levels of infrastructure were in place, allowing for greater effectiveness of resources.
Research and planning began, a budget was set, and the teens began building their intention to raise upwards of $120,000.00 that would pay for the construction of a new classroom at the Mrupanga Primary School (where most of the orphans from Matumaini attend classes), supplies and necessities for the school and orphanage, and all the expenses of travel for the trips teen participants. The teens also prepared curricula, based upon what they learned through the Teen Insight Seminar Series, for three days of seminar to be share with the students at Mrupanga, and games and activities with the orphans at Matumaini.
As the planning progressed, news came that the Knock Foundation had purchased over an acre of land and embarked on a capital campaign to fund the building and management of a modern facility for the orphans, and to be expanded into a community center. With this came an increased focus of service and beautification of the Mrupanga Primary School as the two-bedroom house that was serving as the current facility for the orphans was soon to be vacated.
After months of planning, organization, and determined focus, the day finally came, and with joyous yet tearful goodbyes, the group boarded the plane from Los Angeles to London. There was a full day of touring the city, having fish and chips and later tea and scones, a quick visit to the Tower, and then back to the airport for the nine hour flight to Nairobi. From there it was a short little hop to Kilimanjaro, and shorter drive to Moshi, and the modest yet comfortable Lutheran Uhuru Hotel and Conference Center. With great excitement and anticipation to meet the children, it became very clear to all we were not in Los Angeles any more.
The two weeks that followed were truly two of the most extraordinary of all of our lives. Serving under the silent majesty of Mt. Kilimanjaro, each day brought a greater depth of loving, caring, and sharing as we became part of the children’s and the teacher’s village, and they a part of our own. It became clear that the absence of financial abundance while a hardship in many areas, was fertile ground for a simple and open consciousness of love and appreciation for everything present. Over these days plaster was smoothed out, walls were washed, painted and decorated, songs were sung and games were played, food was cooked and shared, stories both told and made. The teens presented their seminars to the children to great welcome and success by all, including the teachers. In great part thanks to the assistance from the EduCare Foundation and Stu Semigran, EduCare’s President, as well as David Raynr, advanced workshops were offered to the teachers, and foundations were laid for future programs. It became clear to all that what was happening was beyond anybody’s imagination, as previously unshared dreams became one.
Once the seminars were concluded we headed out into the bush for a three-day safari. We began visiting the beauty of Tarangire National Park and then the extraordinary experience of Ngorongoro Crater, which had become so valued as an example of pristine flora and fauna that it was designated a World Heritage Site as early as 1979. Finally, we took in the beauty of Lake Manyara. Though the time was short, an abundance of wildlife was spotted, including what has historically been termed the big 5: Rhino, Lion, Cape Buffalo, African Elephant and Leopard. There was also an abundance of baboons, monkeys, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, hippos, birds, a cheetah, and the list goes on and on. To be out in the wild was a wonderful contrast to our life back in Moshi, and certainly life in LA, yet when the three-day journey ended, we were all looking forward to our cozy beds at the Uhuru lodge, and to seeing the children again.
The final days were filled with finishing touches on the beautification project and the mural, which was a dream tree, made up of the hand-prints of all the students, teachers, and visitors who had shared so much over the two weeks. There was also a special ceremony conducted during which everyone had the opportunity to place their dreams and wishes forward, and a tree and stone chosen as an area to commemorate the shared gifts of friendship. With a just a few hours left for goodbye’s and gifts exchanged we were off to Kilimanjaro once again for the long journey home.
If your life here in America (or wherever you are reading this) is anything like my own, you cannot get through half the day without being confronted by the opportunity to be of service. Whether it’s the fellow or lady holding a sign at the stop light at the juncture of two roads that reads “Hungry,” or maybe the hand held out at the entrance to a supermarket with a whisper that asks for change, or maybe a family member who simply needs to be heard, or a request for assistance to complete a task, or hold open a door, it is difficult to understand the opportunity of traveling 10,000 miles to be of service. What I can share is that even with all of the experience I have had, and time given, it has taken me over six months to begin to relate to you the depth of beauty and love, service and spirit that came forward on this journey. The words above certainly fall short. My hope is that the photos might transmit some of the joy experienced, and the following link to a nine-minute video, which is an edit from a longer documentary, may begin to do some justice. Click here for the video.
In conclusion I would like to take this opportunity to offer a few simple facts. There are approximately 350 students enrolled at the Mrupanga Primary School and yearly tuition for each is approximately $18.00. This fee includes lunch, which is often mostly rice and beans, and is frequently the only meal the children eat. Even at $18.00 many families find they cannot keep their children in school for the whole year. $1,200.00 a year provides the entire school, all 350 students, with a much more nutritious meal. Textbooks are in short demand and cost $4.50 a piece. While we were there the teens had raised so much money we were able to purchase twenty new desks for the new classroom that was built at a cost of about $35-$45 a desk. There is a building in some of the photos that is often to the right – which is large and has no window grids. The interior floor is rock and dirt, and was the location for our seminars with the children. At the time of our visit the cost to poor a concrete floor, finish the windows, install a wood fired kitchen (there is no electricity at the school) was as low as $5,000. Since our visit we understand that the room now has a floor and windows (no furniture yet) and our group has raised tuition for two graduating students to continue on at private boarding high school. (It costs $5,000 US to put one Tanzanian teen through four years of private boarding high school).
At present, Insight is planning a return trip for adults to Moshi and Mrupanga in August of 2010, with an option for participation in a one week service project at the school including activities similar to those mentioned above and shown in the photos and video, and a fuller one week safari to some of the most extraordinary natural environs remaining on our planet. See the info at the end of this article about how to find out more about these trips and to register. Time is of the essence, since the deadline for deposits is March 10th.
Donations and support of any amount are gladly welcome and can be directed to The Knock Foundation, The EduCare Foundation, and most especially, Insight Seminars. Insight is currently collecting donations to fulfill as much of Mrupanga Primary School’s wish list as we can — from completing two classrooms to purchasing desks and chairs for the students to providing running water in the kitchen and flush toilets to obtaining more textbooks. Everything on their current list totals just under $25,000.
My heartfelt thanks go out to Candace Semigran, President and CEO of Insight for her support and welcome of me on the trip, to Kelley Raleigh, without whose service, support, commitment and perseverance Teen Insight Leadership II may very well not have occurred, to the mastery and kindness of Stu Semigran and David Raynr both Insight and EduCare facilitators, Kim Krowne for her extraordinarily wise and giving heart and to her father Barry who has so faithfully supported and shared her vision, to the parents and families of the Teen Insight Leadership II group, and to John Morton and Leigh Taylor-Young, for the love they share and all that they are.
Finally, I would like to thank the teens of Insight Teen Leadership II who so boldly stood forward in love and service, and who welcomed me on this journey and opened their hearts to me. To honor them, and their achievement, I close with words from Insight’s Founder John-Roger, and some of their own.
Insight’s Mission is: To assist us in transforming ourselves into loving so that the greater transformation of the planet to loving will take place.
TEEN LEADERSHIP MISSION STATEMENT: We are Teen Insight Leadership, traveling the world and creating opportunities to empower and support leaders of tomorrow by giving and receiving service and connecting with the global community.
SUMMER 2010 AFRICA DATES AND CONTACT INFORMATION:
Making a Difference Serving Yourself and Your World — August 3-10
African Splendor Wildlife Safari — August 10-18
DEPOSITS DUE BY MARCH 10, 2010
For more information, costs, itineraries, and deposit info, please contact Candace Semigran at Candace@insightseminars.org or 1.800.311.8001 ext 109.
