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Parelli with a local child, and one of the orphans at Foxes Highland Lodge.
In March-June 2010, I took a 3 month break in Tanzania. During this time I did a combination of holidaying, adventuring, and volunteering. My volunteering experiences involved teaching adult English, playing with street kids, making home visits (in African villages) with a missionary doctor, helping at an HIV/Aids clinic, and beading at the Nuru Centre. I spent a week staying at an orphanage with a group of school students; during that time we played with the kids, helped fertilize trees, and dug a trench. I also spent 6 weeks at the Foxes Lodge in the highlands. Vicky and Geoff fox run a guest lodge, and are also very involved with local community; having started projects such as building schools, hospitals, and an orphanage. In my time with the Foxes, I managed the horsey side of the lodge (organising the feeding, training, and schedules of the horses, teaching the workers and children Parelli natural horsemanship, and taking guests on treks) I also helped out at the orphanage whenever possible. An average of 34% of the population in Mufundi are HIV/Aids postive, which is perhaps the highest HIV rate in the world! As a result, there is a lot of poverty, and a lot of innocent children are brought into the world with this disease.
I realized that if THEY can smile, so can I!
Toddlers at the Foxes' orphanage
