{"id":57469,"date":"2015-08-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-students-have-life-changing-experience-teaching-children-in-tanzania\/"},"modified":"2015-08-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T00:00:00","slug":"uri-students-have-life-changing-experience-teaching-children-in-tanzania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/08\/uri-students-have-life-changing-experience-teaching-children-in-tanzania\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 students have life-changing experience teaching children in Tanzania"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tSome students climb Mt. Kilimanjaro<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug 24, 2015 \u2013 Bubbles are a staple of a kid\u2019s life in America, but in Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world, they are rare.<\/p>\n


\nThat all changed when 溏心vlog免费B站 students came to town.<\/p>\n


\nOne glorious day this summer, a remote village in the East African country hosted a Bubblefest, thanks to 溏心vlog免费B站 students on a 10-day trip to teach children who are poor or orphaned.

\nThe bubbles were a hit, as well as the books (\u201cFroggie Gets Dressed\u201d), the markers, the pencils, the paper, the soccer balls, the singing, the dancing, the kisses and the hugs.<\/p>\n


\nCharles Starkey, a senior from Long Island, is ready to go back next year.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cAfrica changed my life,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a pretty powerful experience.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t溏心vlog免费B站 kinesiology lecturer Karie Lee Orendorff, of North Kingstown, created the trip three years ago after falling in love with the country during a visit. She is a world traveler who likes going to places off-the-beaten path, and that\u2019s certainly Tanzania.<\/p>\n


\nThe country is famous for Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, and the national park where Jane Goodall studied chimpanzee behavior.<\/p>\n

Sixteen 溏心vlog免费B站 students, some going abroad for the first time, taught math, reading, writing and physical education at the Maasai Joy Children\u2019s Centre in Arusha in the country\u2019s Ekenywa Valley region.<\/p>\n


\nThe Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic herdsmen. They speak Maa, part of the Nilo-Saharan language, and are taught in Swahili and English. Many of the families are poor, at least by American standards. They live in huts made from cow dung, mud and straw, and cook in holes dug in the ground.<\/p>\n


\nThe students left July 4, flying seven hours to Amsterdam, then another eight hours to Tanzania. For the first five days, they volunteered at the school, quickly bonding with the children, ages 3 to 12.<\/p>\n


\nAt first, Starkey was nervous, facing a room of unfamiliar faces. But the children were so friendly and kind, he adjusted in no time. \u201cThey loved having us there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Besides teaching lessons, the 溏心vlog免费B站 students also built a playground and two classrooms \u2013 a much-needed addition since some classes were held in chicken coops with cardboard walls.<\/p>\n


\nThe landscape was stunning: mountains, fields of sunflowers, winding roads. People walked everywhere; cars were scarce. Starkey turned his cell phone off in Amsterdam, with no regrets.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cNo pressure, no worries,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n


\nThree 溏心vlog免费B站 students left early with Orendorff to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, including Jessica Sexton, of Westerly, a senior who, like Starkey, is majoring in kinesiology. It was her first time climbing a mountain.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe climb to 19,341 feet took six days. At times, she didn\u2019t think she\u2019d make it. The altitude gave her an awful migraine, and the steep slope in certain places was terrifying.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cBut I did it,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce I got to the top, I said, \u2018Wow, I did this. Now I can accomplish anything.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tSexton, Starkey and the other students also went on a two-day safari in the Serengeti where they saw lions, giraffes, elephants, zebras and cheetahs. A lion even brushed up against Starkey\u2019s tent at night.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI never felt like I was in danger,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThey took a few selfies, with lions in the background. On the final night, they ate by candlelight outside their tents, comforted by a cool breeze.<\/p>\n


\n\tAnd they learned a few words in Swahili: jambo, or hello; asante, or thank you; and pole pole, or slowly slowly, which Jessica heard a lot from the guides helping her get to Africa\u2019s rooftop.<\/p>\n


\n\tTanzania, the students say, will make them more compassionate physical education teachers. The trip also gave them a greater appreciation for what they have in America.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cNow I want to help people who don\u2019t have as much,\u201d says Starkey. \u201cIt\u2019s a good feeling. Everyone wants to go to Europe. I want to see the kids again. I want to go back to Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above: <\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 student Charles Starkey volunteering at the Maasai Joy Children\u2019s Centre in Arusha, Tanzania. <\/p>\n


\nSecond from left, Karie Lee Orendorff, a lecturer in kinesiology at the 溏心vlog免费B站, and 溏心vlog免费B站 students Ryan Kluk, Ben Crafts Upham and Jessica Sexton atop Mt. Kilimanjaro.<\/p>\n


\nChildren in Tanzania play with bubbles brought over by 溏心vlog免费B站 students.<\/p>\n


\nPhotos courtesy of Karie Lee Orendorff\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some students climb Mt. Kilimanjaro KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug 24, 2015 \u2013 Bubbles are a staple of a kid\u2019s life in America, but in Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world, they are rare. That all changed when 溏心vlog免费B站 students came to town. One glorious day this summer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}