Dreaming Big

For the past three days, I have sat in a booth as educators from the Arusha area approached us. We brought many of our appropriate technologies, including our maize sheller, the pedal-powered water pump, and our newly made bicycle furniture. Surprisingly, everyone wanted to buy our stuff---probably not for practicality and perfection, but for having such a unique chair and to use such a unique device.

For sure, it has been a great experience to meet other educators. I ended up talking to one man for over an hour as he discussed his accomplishments and dreams. He talked about how he started out in education, and after being in the field, he realized that his career path should be that of a social worker. In one of his past programs, he started a futbol programme (don’t you just love that European spelling?) because he couldn’t help noticing that when boys went home, they had nothing to do and thus resorted to alcohol and smoking. He brought out a futbol and slowly boys started coming, and now the futbol club is going strong.

He’s noticed now that a large majority of females, especially in Arusha, sell themselves for extra income. He is looking at starting a female empowerment program. And his long-term goal is to have an orphanage and a school. He’s already bought some property, and he’s slowly going to earn more money to buy even more land. His plan is to write proposals in attempts to get more funding.

The great thing about this guy was that he was a Tanzanian with enormous dreams. And even more, he was all about exchanging ideas, showing me his solar cooler, which functioned via evaporative cooling. He made me dream big, made me realize I have an amazing opportunity before me, and I must take advantage of it. And so I will, beginning with my move away from town. I will definitely let you know how things fare, as something is cooking in my head to start a winter break program at Global Alliance for Africa Vijana Centre as well as an exchange, where I go and live with the students for an evening or two. Yes, I am definitely dreaming big. =)