Our 3rd and 4th Peer Educator trainings in Tanzania were just as exciting as the first two and yet they were delightfully different.
In the town of Katesh, we trained 14 Tanzanians and 16 American Peace Corps Volunteers. It was a blast and everyone was totally engaged! Some of the Peace Corps Volunteers already had experience with moringa in Tanzania and were able to encourage everyone with their success stories.
The 2-day seminar took place at the Kweli Center, which is a church and primary school founded by our good friends, Steve and Natalie Burkholder.
Rick and Eligius getting excited about the best ways to plant moringa.
Jackson, a local businessman, was very intent on learning all he could about moringa.
We planted the seeds right behind the school kitchen so that the leaves will be within easy reach of the cooks.
This was a great group! We’ve received news from them since we returned to the U.S. that they are out in their communities training others all about moringa!
Our final training was way out in the bush in a village called Gelai Bomba. We were excited to see old friends whom we hadn’t seen since we lived in Tanzania 8 years ago.
So fun to see a giraffe crossing the road in front of our car.
We also saw geranuk – a very shy and beautiful type of antelope.
This gives a bit of perspective about how far out in the bush Gelai is. The mountain in the background is Oldonyo Lengai (the Mountain of God) which is an active volcano.
This was our classroom – the local church.
We had such a wonderful group to work with. They were totally engaged and having a great time!
Jeri had a fantastic time teaching. Many of our new Peer Educators were old friends, which made the training even more special.
Amani, Michael, Mama Moses, Neema, and Nengai.
Zakayo, a young warrior, was part of our group.
Two of our new Peer Educators, Timotheo and Henry, were so excited about what they were learning that they sat down after lunch and started to teach the cook all about moringa! She owns a local restaurant in the village and was eager to hear what they had to say.
Planting the seeds
What an awesome time we had with these folks ~ it was a great way to end our month in Tanzania. We’re able to have Facebook contact with Lajara (front row, in the red and blue stripes) and he has let us know that their moringa trees are growing – what a blessing in this dry and dusty place! And yes, it is amazing that we can have Facebook contact with someone living so far off the grid – love it!!
We are looking forward to the next time we are in Tanzania and hearing the stories of all of our new Peer Educators as they work to impact their communities with the news of the positive life changes that are available through the simplicity of a tree – Moringa!