Capstone Presentations 2019

Today, we had our Second Annual Global Studies Fair, featuring the presentations of the Senior Capstone Projects. Check out the presentations through the links below.

Samantha Mahoney: Autism is South Korea v. Autism in the U.S.

Spencer Drake: Evolution of Latin: Classical to Modern

Charbel Massaad: Colonizing Mars

Lucy Ryan: Education and Quality of Life in the United States and Tanzania

Tanzania Trip Day 14-15

We woke up early on our last day at SEGA in order to hike in the Uluguru Mountains up to the Choma waterfalls. Breakfast was at 0530 and we left at 0615 for the trail 45 minutes away. The SEGA students joined us, so a total of 35 students, 4 teachers and 5 guides set off on a steep hike on a mountain road. It was a hot and challenging climb (not too bad thanks to our early start), and while our paces varied, we all made it. The swim was cool and refreshing. We enjoyed the water and took lots of pictures before heading back down the mountain.

 We met our bus and drove back to SEGA by noon to give us a couple hours to shower, eat lunch, and finish packing. After a last picture at the lodge with our Maasai security guards, we met our SEGA hosts at the gate and had an emotional farewell.

 The drive to the airport, with one stop for food and restrooms, was a 6.5 hour odyssey with more and more traffic the closer we got to Dar. The last hour or so covering the last few miles was a slow crawl through neighborhoods that were surprisingly bustling on a Sunday night. Fortunately we had allowed plenty of time and still arrived more than three hours before departure. After winding our way through the first couple layers of security, we said one last goodbye and thank you to TK, our faithful TFT tour manager with the new taco outfit. All that was left was to grab some food, board our 2355 KLM flight for Amsterdam, and then fly Delta to Boston for our noonish landing and bus back to the Cape.

While the trip has been full of surprises, it was also exactly what we hoped it would be - a deep dive into a culture very different from ours, which warmly embraced us and taught us more than we can yet comprehend. This really was the trip of a lifetime. Asante sana, SEGA! Tutaonana tena, Tanzania!

Tanzania Trip Day 13

Our last full day at SEGA! This morning we went to the Morogoro to get a few last gifts. The bank took a while for those who needed a bit more cash, and there were a few stops to make for SEGA shopping. Eventually we got the market, and the kids found some good carvings, bracelets, etc.

 From there we went to the supermarket where kids were able to buy ice cream bars and other items. We made it back for a late lunch, then bracelet making with the SEGA students, which was great fun.

  We met up with our tailor, Hussein, to make sure he got our shirts, dresses, etc  After eveyone settled there, we went to dinner with the SEGA students, then went to our last night dance which went until 2130.

We had our last nightly meeting - Sam and helpers made a thank you dessert for Taylor, and a few gifts were exchanged. Our thought questions for the night? What are you taking home from your experience here (i.e., not bracelets), and what are you going to do with it? Up early tomorrow for our waterfall hike!

Tanzania Trip Day 12

We started today with the semi weekly all school assembly that featured singing and guidance from prefects. In addition to the songs was some good advice for seeking a career (talk to someone with that career, practice it yourself as a volunteer, follow your heart) and an admonition not to talk while you are eating, lest you choke on your food.






Today was our second split squad day. Ms. Police and her group stayed on campus and did some work in the library before getting artistic, making posters for cheering on the SEGA girls in their football (soccer), volleyball, and netball games scheduled for this afternoon. Our group went on the morning shopping run in Morogoro before going to visit Catherine, a 2013 SEGA graduate, at her home. She lives with her sister in a small room they sublet from a larger home.

We sat on a rug in the dining area of the larger home. After a nice getting to know each other conversation (she has a university degree in community development) she served us tea and cassava for snack, which was delicious. It turns out that she has an interview today for a job at SEGA in a program for recent graduates. So she rode with us back to campus - good luck Catherine! When we returned we had the opportunity to attend their Friday religion classes. It was very hot and the students choose to rest in their rooms ahead of lunch. I attended the Catholic group - it was sweltering with 75 kids in a room and the lesson was in Swahili. But a student was kind enough to lend me her English Bible, and point out the verses they were discussing.The class culminated in singing and dancing which was wonderful.



We all had lunch together at 1430 as on Wednesday, then went back to get set to cheer on our teams. Unfortunately the other school didn’t make it, so after an hour of waiting, the two SEGA teams played each other in football, and then scrimmages in netball and volleyball as well. When not watching these, the students played various games and had a lovely afternoon together.

We had a nice dinner of chiapatis, beans and plantains then filled out surveys for SEGA, jammed some tunes on ukulele, and started packing with less than two days left here. It’s going to be sad to leave!

Tanzania Trip Day 11

Today was safari day! Wake up was at 0530 (0500 for those of us making breakfast). After french toast and fruit, we loaded our three safari vehicles and headed off at 0615. Our driver guides were Kanuth, Mike, and Victor of Kanuth Adventure Safaris. It was amazing how bustling the streets were at that hour - people going to market, kids on their way to school, etc. The traffic was significant and it took us a couple hours to get to Mikumi National Park. Once we entered the park, we were greeted by a troop of baboons, followed soon by warthogs, impalas and zebras. 

After getting to the visitors center, we went onto the main area of the park, and spent the morning touring the loops on the western side of the park, including a stop for some tree climbing at an ancient baobab tree. We saw many many animals including elephants, Cape buffalo, wildebeests, giraffes, elands, hippos, brevets, a monitor lizard, and a mongoose. And that’s not mentioning the many kids of birds. 

We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the savannah we had just toured, watching more baboons and giraffes. After lunch we went back to explore the eastern loops in the park. 

We saw many babies (elephants, zebra, etc.) in this area. The one thing we wanted to see most was lions - one group had seen one cross the road but the others only caught a glimpse in the bushes. We were rewarded in finding a mother and two juveniles, who played with each other just meters from us for a half hour. 

We then saw a male along the road just a half mile away. This was the icing on a rich cake. The time had finally come for our drive back to SEGA. We got back in time for another wonderful dinner and some birthday cake for two birthdays on the trip. Everyone crashed pretty early, exhausted from a long and magical day. 

For a slide show of safari photos, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/23616297@N05/sets/72157707026957524

Tanzania Trip Day 10

This morning we headed in two directions. Half of us went with Ms. Police and Taylor on a home visit - they went to the home of a local SEGA graduate and got to see how they live - I will describe the home visit more on Friday when my group gets to go on one. For the other group, our mission for the day changed at the outset - we were going to attend class with our hosts for the Life Skills course, but the teacher was sick and the other classes were preparing for exams on Saturday. So they came up with an alternative plan. There is one classroom building on campus that is covered with murals. But the murals were falling off the wall and leaving large chunks of exposed plaster. So they asked us to reconstruct these. We embraced the mission. First we scraped where the walls were exposed, and the murals came off in chunks. For the lower half of the walls, we ended up with a empty white canvas on which to create - the upper half was still attached to the wall pretty well as were the ends of the building. So after scraping and putting a base coat down, we split into five groups - four of which created new murals each with a unique design, and the fifth did touch up work on the ends. The kids really got into the project and it took up our whole day - until our 1430 lunch with them (we also had a tea and bread break at 1100). The results were pretty spectacular.

First we scraped where the walls were exposed, and the murals came off in chunks. For the lower half of the walls, we ended up with a empty white canvas on which to create - the upper half was still attached to the wall pretty well as were the ends of the building. So after scraping and putting a base coat down, we split into five groups - four of which created new murals each with a unique design, and the fifth did touch up work on the ends. The kids really got into the project and it took up our whole day - until our 1430 lunch with them (we also had a tea and bread break at 1100). The results were pretty spectacular.

Our hosts were impressed. After lunch with the SEGA students - rice, beans, cooked greens, and fish - we had a meeting with our hosts where we split into groups and compared cultures on topics like marriage, music, sports, religion, etc.

After an hour of that, it was sports time - some played netball and some played football (soccer). This ended at dinner time, and after a relaxed evening, we got to bed early - we depart for our safari tomorrow at 0600 - breakfast at 0530!

Tanzania Trip Day 9

Today was our day to learn more about food production in Tanzania. After breakfast, we headed to a farm and food processing plant associated with the University of Sokoine. We started on the Sugeco organic farm.

Half of us weeded among the banana plants using hoes and rakes. The other half worked in the greenhouse turning over bags of compost to prepare them for planting tomatoes. After 45 minutes or so, we switched tasks.

I’m sure we weren’t the fastest workers, but we got some stuff done and learned a little about how they farm - and covered ourselves in deep red clay. After washing up as best we could, we then spent some time learning about and helping at the Kinshasa Foods production.

We took turns making mango juice and pineapple cookies. We developed our skills at peeling, juicing, kneading, rolling, cutting, cooking, and packaging.

We were rewarded with the chance to sample our wares - the cookies were delicious and the juice was heavenly. After all that work, the kids earned a relaxing afternoon at the Nahera Hotel - lunch and swimming and lounging by the pool.

Back to SEGA in time for dinner and showers and group activities. Tomorrow we split up for school shadowing and home visits.

Tanzania Trip Day 8

Morning assembly did not disappoint. In a ceremony run entirely by the student prefects, they hoisted the flag, sang the national anthem, sang other patriotic songs, went over some disciplinary issues (make your beds or you will be punished!) and then sent the students to their classes.

We then sauntered back for breakfast and then headed off for our morning in Morogoro. Our first stop was a visit to the Hero Rats of APOPO. These are African Pouched Rats which have exceptional senses of smell, and are trained for two different purposes. The first is to detect landmines - they are used in about a dozen countries to find landmines and unexploded ordinances which can then be disabled (they are 100% effective at finding explosives if they get within a meter). Their other mission is to detect the presence of tuberculosis in samples sent from clinics. TB today kills more people than malaria and AIDS combined. Third world clinics are only about 50% accurate at detecting TB using microscopes. APOPO receives samples from clinics and can detect TB in samples that did not get discovered by the labs with about 80% accuracy - those they indicate on are confirmed under a more expensive and powerful microscope procedure than the clinics can afford. Some of the patients who are indicated by the rats and who are deemed not to have TB under the microscope later develop TB, so it is possible that the rats are more accurate than the system the checks on them - this is being researched.

We saw them in action as they worked on some samples and then got to hold a couple of the rats. The kids were a bit freaked out at first but came to love them (well, except Rory).

From there we headed to the horticulture area of Sokoine University - the country’s leading agricultural institution. We met Elias, who has been working there since 1977, and he led us on a tour of the fields and orchards. We saw mango trees regenerating, citrus trees beginning to ripen (got to sample grapefruit and pomelos - like a large grapefruit), citrus shoots being grafted onto rootstock to make new trees, and their spice area where they were growing cardamom, vanilla, and peppercorns (got to sample these) among others. Elias is a guru, and we appreciated him leading us on this horticultural adventure.

After picking up some supplies in town, we headed back to SEGA for a late lunch, then spent the afternoon ordering custom clothes and bags from Hussein the tailor (using the cloth they had bought), doing our own laundry by hand, playing netball (like basketball without a backboard) with the SEGA students, and helping Loveness cook dinner.

After dinner and a dance party, we settled in to get ready for another day of adventure.