Honk If You've Received Your YASC Placement

No reason to be coy: I'm happy to announce that I will be serving in Dodoma, Tanzania with The Carpenter's Kids program!

"Tanzania?  Dodoma?  The Carpenter's Kids program?"  I'm glad you asked.

Tanzania

• Tanzania is extraordinarily diverse
• No African country has more languages spoken within its borders than Tanzania
• Swahili and English are the two official languages
• Christianity, Islam, and local religions are each practiced by about a third of the population
• Though nearly all Tanzanians are African, the historical legacies of Islamic expansion and European colonialism remain
• Compared to other countries, the average per capita income for Tanzanians is among the lowest in the world
• Agriculture, tourism, and mining are the drivers of the economy
• Booming population pyramid with over half the population between the ages of 0-24
• Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa
• The Serengeti, home to incredibly biodiversity and mammal migrations
• Zanzibar, an incredibly beautiful island (as far as I can tell from Google Images)

Dodoma

• The new capital city located in the center of the country
• Capital used to be Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania
• Government offices still split between these two cities
• Fewer than a half a million people live there

The Carpenter's Kids

• A program run by the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika
• Works to provide education for HIV/AIDS orphans
• HIV/AIDS orphans: children who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS
• An estimated 40,000 of these orphans within the Diocese
• Also provides these orphans with breakfast, school supplies, shoes, a uniform, and mosquito netting
• Click HERE to visit The Carpenter's Kids website

To my knowledge, during my time in Dodoma I will be serving as a liaison between The Carpenter's Kids and supporting parishes/organizations, maintaining regular communication with interested parties.  We'll see what that means once I'm down in the trenches!

Most of what I just did was throw out a bunch of statistics and facts gleaned from the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.  But from what I understand, the world is much more than an internet summary.  Without a hint of sarcasm, I cannot wait to actually get to Dodoma and get slapped in the face with how much I don't know.

And not just in regards to what I don't know about Tanzania.  To learn more about compassion, about hardship, about joy, about humility, about love, about people, about God... I'm so excited for this opportunity.

In two weeks, I graduate from William & Mary.  I am just about to finish my career as an undergraduate, but boy am I still ready to learn.