Saturday, October 20, 2007

Don't feed the children!!!!!!!!!!

So Moshi Tanzania is a pretty touristy place b/c of Mount Kili. there are many street vendors working their magic in hopes of some tourist money. When you read travel books they tend to say things like, " bring chocolate and pens to give to local children." FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS BY ANY MEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The local children need to get an education to better themselves but because of tourist who hand out candy and pens there mastery of the English language consists of one English sentence with 2 alternate endings as well as the great English work "Yes!" The magical sentence that young children will bring them out of poverty is...
"Give me chocolate", or " Give me pen." Some students did not bother to learn this phrase and just posses and understanding of one three English words and they are of course, "chocolate, pen, yes."

It has gotten so bad that there are signs now in many hostels/hotels that plead with tourist NOT to give out chocolate/pens/anything. They want tourist to instill in the children that they need to go to school to get an education and not to be street kids whom depend on tourist for their survival.

On a side note the safari was kickin'! and yes we did not feed the animals either on safari!
We saw it all, hippo's, lions, cheetahs, twig's (the swahili word for giraffe's), dic-dic (which are mini deers that have a family ceremony where they all poop in the same area to mark their land! how sweet is that!, wilderbeast, elephants. The safari was great. there will be pictures to come via our good friend Michelle who was kind enough to spend part of her trip with us. Ron was with us well and we hope he can post some pictures as well if he can get to this blog!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think the tic-tics have something. I like the entire family marking their territory. It won't replace the family's annual Turkey Hunt at Thanksgiving, but it is worth bringing up as an alternative at a future Thanksgiving. Love what you guys are doing!!! Always in our thoughts and prayers. Uncle Manny and Aunt Linda