Tanzania 2

The first day in Tanzania didn’t end with the lunch. After the lunch we packed a few things and set out to Marangu, which is a village close to Kilimanjaro. We did not see the mountain due to overcast.

Carl-Erik playing guitar, while one of the children is listening.

In the late afternoon we arrived at Kilimanjaro Children’s Home (MOKICCO) where Overa and Carl-Erik Sahlberg live. Carl-Erik has worked more than 20 years in one of the parishes in Stockholm, St. Clara. The church is located in the CBD of Stockholm, next to the railway station. The congregation has an extensive work among socially challenged people, especially in Sergels Torg (which is a famous square in Stockholm). We are very impressed by the work of that church.

When Carl-Erik retired, Overa and he decided to move to Tanzania and start the work with orphans. They don’t run a traditional orphanage. The organisation they have founded makes sure that couples or single mothers have the means needed to take on a few more children in their families. The idea is that this family becomes the home of that child, even when s/he has become an adult.

In the evening we had supper together with one of these families. Wonderful! Altogether around one hundred children have got new homes through this organisation.

Marangu Falls Kinukamori

The Friday we went for a guided tour on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. Two men showed us coffee plantations, a beautiful waterfall and also an exhibition where we could get to know the culture of one of the tribes that live around Kilimanjaro, the Chagga.

On our way back to Makumira we had coffee at the famous Union Café. Excellent coffee! Later that evening we had dinner at an equally excellent restaurant close to Makumira. The monkeys in the trees and the birds in the dam did not disturb us at all.