Bringing Sustainability to a Maasai Village

Bringing Sustainability to a Maasai Village Our students may have returned from their two weeks in Tanzania, but they've still got some great memories and experiences to share. Read on for more details. Our students may have returned from their two weeks in Tanzania, but they've still got some great memories and experiences to share. Read on for more details.

Last week, the group of British International School of Boston students and staff volunteering in Tanzania spent time in a remote Maasai village near Tanzania's Lake Natron, helping the staff and students of a local school develop a sustainable farming initiative on their grounds.

It was a life-changing week of service work for the students and staff of the British International School of Boston, a private school in Boston, and for those they worked with in Africa. The group from BISB spent the week working with local experts in biogas, permaculture and other sustainable farming industries. 

The group worked closely with students from the Maasai school, ensuring that the project will continue now that the Boston students have returned. To learn more about the work done, the BISB students shared some reflections from their time in the village. 

Read on for more information on their experiences:

"Natron has been fantastic and I'll be very sad to leave. Today is our last day working on the school garden. Although I feel very sad about leaving, the feeling does not even compare to how proud I feel. The transformation of the school's garden has been astounding. What used to be a flat, empty patch of dirt is now transformed to an extremely promising sustainable garde. I don't know how it will fair in the future, but right now I am very hopeful and very excited for the children and the village of Engare Sero." -- Teal Fechtor-Pradines (Year 12)

"Yesterday I realized that this trip has changed me in multiple ways. Actually, I realized this as I slid barefoot through what I thought was mud but turned out to be fermenting cow feces. Surprisingly, I didn't find it as repulsive as I might have when I first arrived in Tanzania. But I also feel I have changed on a deeper level, after coming to a new country and experiencing life here. I've grown as a person and seen lifestyles I never imagined. Tanzania has grown on me and taught me life lessons I will never forget, and introduced me to an amazing people and culture." -- Victoria Wu (Year 12)