Kilimanjaro does exist I am told...

Having spent 4 days, 20km from the mountain and only having seen it once, I am beginning to think it's all a figment of my - and everyone elses' - imagination! The Salesian compound we were staying in apparently has an excellent view of the 19,000 ft mountain - but only on a clear day. And none of the days were clear enough! Oh well, at least I can say I was in the Kilimanjaro area....

We stayed at Don Bosco Moshi which not only has a school but also a seminary for about 40 young men - most of whom were young enough for me to be their mother. In fact one sensitive (!) chap told Zelma and I that we reminded him of his mother. Then sadly he said he doesn't write very often to her because he is forgetting his mother tongue. The seminarians come from Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Peru and Sri Lanka - a veritable mixture so they all speak  and study in English. Considering we are two middle aged women, they were all extremely friendly and very welcoming, often stopping to chat whenever we saw them.

We spent 2 days working with the teachers of the school which caters for children  -and adults- who for some reason have had a break in their education. In the final Form 4 class there were two women about my age. Unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to find out what their story was. However, I did spend an hour with Form 3 and Form 4 (equivalent to years 10 and 11). I was asked to do something on aspirations. I brought a number of postcards of the great generation quote by Mandela plus a poster, so I based the session on that. I  think they thought I was mad as I was whipping them up somewhat: after having got them to make a life map with their goal at the top (one lad wants to be the next president of Tanzania so I said I would look out for him on tele!!) we talked about positive language and believing in yourself. I got them to shout out 'yes I can' getting louder and louder each time. Later that day, their teacher told me they thought I was a 'nice' lady!?

As well as the training we spent a lot of time in the social hall attending Masses with hundreds of young people and also watching sports and 'cultural presentations'. Lovely but exhausting even though we weren't really doing anything! Apart from being asked each time to stand up and introduce ourselves, we just sat in a very hot and humid hall and spent a lot of time clapping!!

We did manage to get out in to Moshi town and have a quick look around. My sandals were coming apart so I had them mended by Boneventura, a cobbler on the street. He took  five minutes and charged me less than 50p. It really made me think about our very disposable culture. Had I been at home, I would have probably just thrown them away and bought a new pair. As it is now, they are as good as new. Food for thought  - and possible action once back in Blighty. Everyone in Moshi seemed to know Don Bosco: every shopkeeper we spoke to seemed to brighten when we said where we were staying or when they saw the car and/or the driver.

Another day another session to prepare.... tomorrow we drive to Shinanga which is 1000km to the north west. 582 kms took us 8 hours yesterday so it will be a long day in the car tomorrow: thankfully it does have AC.