Trees of the Future

Our "Trees of the Future" tour was suppose to leave at 7:15, and we thought we'd missed it by the time we went to check at a quarter 'til eight. Luckily, Ethan, our guide, hadn't left let and we got the opportunity to go. I'm so happy we did, because the experience we had that day was amazing and emotionally challenging.

We visited an area where deforestation had eroded the land around a Maasai village. We were planting threes there to try to stabilize the soil and make the village more ecologically sustainable. The powerful part of all this was the children who met us upon our arrival in the village. There were probably 60 kids dressed in their tattered but matching school uniforms who sang to us as we pulled up in the buses. We spent a long time after planting the trees just talking to the kids and taking pictures with them. They loved being bale to see themselves on the camera display and would rush over to see it after you had taken their photo. They were even more excited about the video camera I had once they saw themselves on tape.

From there we headed to another, ecologically stable Maasai village, where, again, children met us and sang their greetings, chasing after our bus as we drove by to meet with their teachers. Kids are kids, but African kids are especially sincere and good natured. They were excited to talk to us and show us their school. One thing we noticed in particular about African children: they take school very seriously and are excited about learning. Not all children in Africa get the opportunity for an education, so if the opportunity is provided, it becomes extremely important to them. American children, I think, take their elementary education for granted. The African children we met were more than happy with their dirt floor classroom and painted wall for a blackboard.

On the way back into Arusha, we passed by the town dump. Not a landfill, mind you. A dump. A fenced-in area full of trash. The most heartbreaking part? Children were walking amongst the trash, looking for things of value to sell.