As you may already know, Imberhorne School is linked with Minaki High School for boys in Tanzania. The school exchange has been running for five years and has become very popular in that time. 

On a rainy 23rd October, 12 students got ourselves packed into the Imberhorne mini bus to spend two sunny weeks in East Africa, Tanzania.  After a nine hour flight, we arrived at Julius Nyerere International Airport to be greeted by the huge grins of Minaki students and teachers, their warm welcomes helped us ease our nerves and sooth our rough edges after a long night flight. Within minutes we realised that these boys were not about to waste time with getting to know all about us and British culture. Questions such as, “What subjects do you take?”, “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” and “What is the Queen like?” some questions were harder to answer than others but it was amazing to see how intrigued they were about England.

The scenery was unbelievable on our way to Minaki School - for a few hours it still had not clicked that we were actually in Africa and not watching a celebrity on ‘Children In Need’ helping African children. No, we were there for ourselves and it was incredible!
 
On arriving at Minaki, we met the teachers of the school who would be out hosts for the first week. I have to say that they were so welcoming, they would always make sure that we were well fed and that you had one litre of water a day. Their continuous sayings of “Karibu” which means “You are welcome,” in Swahili, was brought across in their actions and we Imberhorne students were more than grateful.

We had many activities planned for these two weeks, our first was the day at the orphanage. For many of us it was the most touching part of the trip. Immediately on arrival the children came running to meet us, they were so thrilled to have people coming to visit them. It was as if we had known them for years. We had brought donated gifts from England to give to the orphanage and after singing a bit of “Hokey Cokey” we released balloons and bubbles for them to enjoy, this is when the real excitement broke out. Within seconds, children were running around screaming with joy, trying to catch all the bubbles and collecting as many balloons as they could hold on to. Seeing this made us think of our own happiness and what it was that put a smile on our faces, because for these children who had nothing materially, it was balloons, bubbles and being with the people who they now loved and befriended.

The following day was the trek to the bat cave, where some of us decided to face our fears and stand in the midst of flying bats swarming past our hair and just missing our faces. Not only were we surrounded by bats, but there were cockroaches scurrying around the cave walls. It was fantastic! It was also the time where the friendship between ourselves and the Minaki students began to develop. They always wanted to help us and often dared us to go right to the centre where the majority of bats were.

We would question each other about school, families and cultures. It was remarkable to discover different answers between Imberhorne and Minaki. In the time we spent at the school, we played English and Tanzanian games, had quiz nights and hilarious talent shows! Everyone was having a great time learning and teaching each other something new.

A few weeks before we flew to Tanzania, we were put into pairs to organise an English lesson for the local primary school. The time had now come to put our teaching skills to the test, and I never knew teaching could be so much fun! The children were so enthusiastic about learning our language and expanding upon what they already knew through songs, pictures and games. “The Fast Food Song” was a hit!

But before we knew it, the end of the first week had arrived and it was time for us to say goodbye to our Minaki friends and gear ourselves up ready for our holiday week.

The ‘Foxes Safari Camp’ this was such a treat for us. We stayed in luxurious tents in open grassland, so every morning when we woke up we could see elephants walking around in the distance.  We were all more than happy to have a bathroom fit for a king! In almost every tent you could hear excited Imberhorne girls screaming, “WOW look at the toilet! This gets a 57 out of 10!” we were so appreciative of such small things it was rather amusing.
 
The safari felt like we had been copied and pasted into Walt Disney’s Lion King, our surroundings were incredible. We saw elephants, giraffes and came so close to a lioness and her cubs but she seemed too tired to be bothered with us and nodded off to sleep, until a small Jackal came to have a bite of her latest kill.

Our stay at the camp lasted for three days, after being on Safari, swimming in a pool and being in awe of our toilets, we were exhausted. Nevertheless Kipepeo Beach Resort awaited us!

It was a nine-hour drive to the resort and being in a jeep with little air conditioning at 280 or so, we were not looking our best. It was merely 9pm Tanzanian time when we arrived and having left at 7am we were not very lively either, so after a quick dinner we agreed that we would all go to bed. The Beach huts were smaller in comparison to the tents on safari. But we were at a point where anything would do!

These huts were built so that they were facing the sea. Every night you could hear the crashing waves in your sleep, which personally I found quite relaxing after a long day, but it was nothing in comparison to what it looked like the following morning. When I opened my door all I could see were palm trees, blue skies, blue seas and clean white sand - it was a beautiful sight. You DO NOT get it like that in Brighton I can assure you! A sea like this one deserved to be swum in, so you can imagine what was on our list of things to do before breakfast that day!

While we were on the beach we took a little trip to a small island opposite the resort. Here we went snorkelling and were visited by a few dolphins, unfortunately we did not get to swim with them but it did not matter to us - we were just excited to have seen them.

The second week was coming to an end and it was time to be reunited with our Minaki friends. They arrived at the resort and it was like seeing your best friend after five years! We were so happy to see them again and the opportunity to spend one more day with them before returning to England.
I couldn’t possibly put every single detail in this article, I’ve used words such as amazing, incredible and fantastic but they do not even come close to describing what this trip was like. I’m sure I speak for the other eleven students when I say, THANK YOU to Imberhorne School for such a trip. It was unforgettable!

In March 2011 nine selected Minaki students will come to England, we cannot wait to see them again. To the Year 12 students who are applying to go next year, I wish you all the best and I hope that those chosen will have an even better time than we did!