I have been to this center, personally and can tell you from first hand that here children are on the first place. Within couple of years with dedicated support from  Shadows of Africa, this orphanage that counts 44 kids many hiv positive, have gained many goals with support of people who visited Tanzania either for holidays as well as some amazing volunteer help. Two years ago these kids had schooling in Tanzanian local school with no english language, today all of them with help of international sponsors are attending private ESSA school. Getting better educational grounds with opportunity to learn English from Early age is huge bonus for these kids. As much as it may be considered for granted in Western world, here education is still privilege and luxury for many Tanzanian children.

In addition to better education Shadows of Africa arranged regular safe daily transport to school and back, providing daily meals, money for uniforms, shoes, clothes and with kind support that is always appreciated kids from now on can learn computer skills on donated laptop.

Though for you sitting in front of computer somewhere in a cozy place, this things may appear very simple.

In free time Kibowa orphanage is accepting volunteers that want to help kids in free time after school, to help them with homework, practice english, teach them crafts or any thing that could help them to gain new skills.

By help of volunteers the Kibowa orphanage has little garden where they produce crops, chickens, goats….

So if you are looking for fair volunteering, i can recommend Kibowa orphanage where your help will be more than welcome and what matters most – your help will go directly to benefits of children and orphanage! Not to mention sweet kids, full of life and eager to learn new things!

More about volunteering in Arusha: http://www.kibowaorphanage.com/en/

or even better – show appreciation and support by liking their page:

https://www.facebook.com/VolunteerTanzaniaOrphanage

This time I plan to visit:

Victoria lake, Tanzania – since my base will be Tanzania, I definitely plan to discover more and travel to less visited and popular places.

Climb Kilimanjaro – not 100% sure, i am afraid of attitude sickness

Lake Victoria which  is the largest lake in the world / approx. 60 000 square kilometers ,

Lake Tanganyika remote Gombe Stream  National Park, hopefully to meet Jane Goodall and have a pic with her, that would be really cool.

Lake Turkana in Kenya – remote place hard to get there, but i think it pays off, the world’s largest desert lake – makes life possible in parched northern Kenya. The lake is home to the world’s largest population of Nile crocodiles, healthy populations of hippos, and hundreds of bird and fish species.

Volunteering in Malawi  – this is already arranged and the first thing I will do when I come back to Africa. I have found really affordable volunteering opportunity from a small organization that is obviously not greedy in terms of prices, cant wait to be there. More about it when I actually come there.

I will most likely also come back to Rwanda and spend some time there, what I missed on my previous trip are tea plantations and meet again some dear friends I met a long the way.

Climb the Nyiragongo Volcano in DR Congo, lets hope political situation gets stable, its on my travel list for long time already.

Visit my friend in South Africa – Cape Town, been there 10 years ago and would love to see this gorgeous place again.

I think for a start is enough, if I manage to complete these goals, I would be more than happy.

Gorilla Etiquette:

Tracking guide will tell you more about how to behave when you’re in the presence of gorillas but here are some things to keep in mind:

Dont point index finger into gorillas, they have bad experience with poachers and they might think you want to shoot them

Be quiet

Dont make eye contact with gorillas – can be seen to be aggressive

If gorilla approaches you just act submissive and crouch down, but never run away!

Besides its not allowed to take food, drink with you  – you will leave your backpack and unnecessary equipment, clothes  in a safe place about  hundred meters before you approach gorilla area.

But most of the time i used to have numerous delicious fresh salads.

Reblogged from Rwandan Art by Augustin Hakizimana:

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Solo Art Exhibition in Kigali by Augustin Hakizimana

Looks like i am going to start this blog with invitation:-) Have been very busy lately, having free workshops in Agasozi Art Center in Musanze, working on my latest paintings along with preparing my upcoming solo exhibition in Kigali. Therefore I haven't been able to update and start this blog as it was planned but I promise to update my blog soon with all the art material I  have created so far.

Read more… 54 more words

Due to typhoid fever i had to return home  sooner than planned initially. There are many photos to sort out but right now i have to get better first. Hope you will still enjoy the upcoming pics!

Still, had an unforgettable time in Africa and also getting sick is part of African experience….

Thats all i managed to sort out for now….