Working with One Heart Source highlighted the power of immersion. I spent the program absorbing new surroundings, customs, language, and, most importantly, people. With this intense immersion came intense appreciation for my students, neighbors, and co-workers. The fascination I experienced upon arrival soon turned into a deep investment in the community – one that made every lesson, every encounter, and every conversation both meaningful and memorable.
In the grand scheme of things, 4 weeks is the blink of an eye. It’s merely a month – a third of a precious summer, or an eighth of a grueling school year – too little time, I assumed, to make a real difference. I was wrong. In the 4 weeks I spent in Musa village, I watched a room full of timid, mindlessly obedient children gain confidence and ownership over their education. I watched my Mama learn to read English, and my 12 year old dada (sister) master multiplication as her baby brother slept soundly in her lap. I witnessed the power of love over poverty, and the true heartbreaking beauty of simple human interaction. And while I hate to admit it, I learned more about myself and who I want to be in the world than I ever could have hoped to learn otherwise.
Traveling to Musa was one of the most rewarding and exciting experiences of my life. OHS welcomes you in like family, and that’s how relationships develop while you’re there. Through this adventure, I gained the opportunity to enrich my own life and participate in an honest, enthusiastic humanitarian effort. This also led me to see the comforts available to me in the US with a new found appreciation.
Going to Tanzania was an experience that completely altered my perspective on life and the way I live it.
When I first decided to do OHS, I didn’t really know what to expect. I had been on previous international volunteer work before and didn’t really think that this experience would be all that different. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Trying to put the whole experience into words would not be doing the program justice. It was the whole picture – trying and failing to help my family cook food, playing soccer against the local boys, getting bucked off my family donkey – that gave me a more real perspective on the lives of Tanzanians than any sort of tour or other volunteer organization ever would. The opportunity I had to teach a whole community, and help its youth realize their potential, was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had the privilege to enjoy.
The OHS experience has had a tremendous impact on my life. I now feel a sense of clarity and meaning with my life. I met so many great individuals from the friendly volunteers, encouraging staff, and my home-stay family. In particular, those who transformed me the most were the children from the village where my program was at, Bwejuu. Their and my love for soccer gave us an immediate connection off the bat. During my stay a few OHS volunteers, including myself were fortunate enough to go into town and purchase some soccer equipment and colored jerseys for the children. They were so excited to represent for their teams. It was such a rewarding feeling.
Not a day goes by that I dont think about my experience as a volunteer in northern Tanzania. The times I shared with my home-stay family, teaching in the classroom, and talking to all of the inspiring volunteers and staff were simply unforgettable. I went into the trip as a student just exiting my freshman year of college, and came out with more insight into life than I could have asked for. Never have I experienced so much love and laughter as I did while living in that little village in Tanzania. Memories of teaching my eager 7th grade class and of the love I felt just sitting around the dinner table with my home-stay family are what continue to motivate me each day.
OHS is the purest form of altruism – people helping people simply for the satisfaction of making this world a better place. As a volunteer, you are not only spreading awareness about health and HIV/AIDS, but bringing enthusiasm into the classroom and laughter into the home. I am a better person because of my experiences at OHS, experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
One Heart Source not only works with the communities they are empowering and educating, but is an integrated part of them as well. This is something that made my time with OHS in Tanzania this summer so incredible. The students we taught at school were the brothers and sisters we came home to each day. There is not a day that I do not think of my family in Tanzania.
The people that are attracted to this organization are the kind of people that I strive to surround myself with. Each person is different, from a unique background and life story, but the way that we all fell together in such a cohesive manner just shows that the world has the potential to be the place we all want it to be. It was only eight weeks, but those eight weeks will stay with me for the rest of my life as one of the most eye opening, amazing experiences I have thrown myself into. Not to mention it was ridiculously fun!
All of the children touched my heart in more than one way that I cannot describe in words. They are unique, extremely inspiring, caring, thoughtful, and mature. It is because of them that I can look back on my experience and be proud of my work and feel honored to have been around their presence for such a short while. I think of them all constantly, and they truly are the future that they motivate me to strive to make better. I cannot wait to see them again!
Working with OHS was like turning a new page everyday. I learned a great deal about myself, and discovered that I’m capable of much more than I imagined. Living so simply and on such a beautiful, serene site was utterly therapeutic for me. And I was deeply moved by the work I was involved in and by the people I had the pleasure of working with. My experience with OHS has touched my soul and inspired me to pursue more humanitarian work. And I hope to continue to work with OHS over the next few years.
I went to Africa knowing it would be cool, but never did I expect this. There are things you can do at home that are just as good for society as a whole and between those things and One Heart Source is that the process of this realization is accelerated, and you end up solidifying in your mind a lot quicker than you would at home the things that matter in life. I learned so much in such a short period that I spent the majority of the trip just trying to swallow what had just happened to me and began to expand beyond what I previously had thought about. It’s something about the detachment from your former life that allows you to start fresh and rebuild more of your thoughts than you would have imagined possible. You go to Africa expecting to change things there, but more than anything it’s you that changes. It was in Tanzania that I discovered very quickly that all we really do need is love. I loved the trip so much I’m going back. You should come too.
I applied for OHS thinking that I was going to teach kids and spread knowledge but in actually doing it I found that the kids taught me so much more than I could have possibly taught them in a whole lifetime of class. Working with the kids serves as an awesome reminder to enjoy the little things in life and to remember that a little laugh and smile can go a long way. OHS has given me another perspective on life, I’ve realized how fortunate I am to be in the situation that I am but at the same time I see where I need to improve.
I first heard about One Heart Source through a friend and I eventually applied for its 2 month summer volunteer program on a complete whim. There was something in me, spur of the moment, that finally realized my choices in life solely lie in the palm of my two hands. And although I was scared out of my mind as to whether or not I was actually capable of traveling across the world to taste life in a way I had never tasted before, my heart calmly steered me in that direction knowing very well there was nothing else I’d rather do at that time. While living in Tanzania, I unexpectedly felt at home and surprisingly felt at ease with a group of human beings I now consider family. It was my embrace of allowing each and every moment to exist as a defining moment in my life that impacted me wonderfully, beautifully and memorably. It was honestly an incredible experience and I look forward to going back next summer.
While I wouldn’t say I went to Tanzania with OHS on a whim, exactly, I definitely had no idea how profoundly my life would be changed in the space of a month. You’d never guess how much good can be achieved and how many seeds planted by so few people all working towards a common cause. Once you’ve seen the very real changes that have happened in such a short time, it’s hard not to get excited about what’s to come and even harder not to want to be a part of that change. Tanzania is always in my thoughts and my experiences with OHS has convinced me that this is the kind of work I want to be involved with for the rest of my life.
3 months, 10,000 miles away, speaking different languages with 40 amazingly different people should have highlighted the strength of human individuality, however, it was undoubtedly the strength of human oneness that shone most brightly this summer. Together we found beauty in the simple truth that people are people.
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