{African Adventure} Rotary Presentations

During our trip to Tanzania, we were able to deliver our first Ambassadorial Scholar presentations outside of South Africa. The first was to the kids at Amani Children’s Home in Moshi, Tanzania. We gave a presentation about Texas (with the assistance of our Swahili translator) and taught the kids how to sing “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” 

After the presentation, we organized a rodeo that included races with broom horses and balloon cows. However, the kids enjoyed an old fashion sack race the most! 

  

I delivered our second presentation in Tanzania to the Marangu Rotary Club located just outside of Moshi at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. In fact, I gave the presentation at the Marangu Hotel which is a popular launching spot for treks up the mountain. During the presentations, I share a little about my family, my hometown, sponsor Rotary club, Texas, Rotary service projects and my studies at Stellenbosch University.

Both our presentations in Tanzania included lively audiences and we look forward to future presentations throughout the year.  

Our Rotary Weekend

We started our weekend by visiting the Drakenstein Rotary Club in Northern Paarl on Thursday evening. As part of the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, David presents to different Rotary Clubs in the area about our life back in Texas and also a little about his studies and service projects we hope to get involved with here in South Africa. We enjoyed meeting all the members of Drakenstein Rotary and David's first presentation was a success!

Friday night we attended Helderberg Sunrise Rotary's Race Night at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West. The theme for the night was "Black and Bling" (none of which I brought with me) but thanks to my co-worker, Jean-Marie, I had a beautiful dress to wear and David looked as handsome as ever in his suit! The Race Night is a fundraiser for local charities in the area and this year the money went to support local animal services including Mdzananda Animal Clinic in Khayelitsha which provides the only permanent, on site veterinary services to the dogs and cats of the more than one million people who live in Khayelitsha.  

Sunday we were up dark and early to head in to Cape Town to help marshall for the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. Cape Argus is the world's largest individually timed cycle race- with more than 35,000 cyclists who compete in the 109 km race from Cape Town down the Cape Peninsula and back. We spent the day cheering on the cyclists (with just a little crowd control marshall work mixed in too).

Check back this week for more detailed posts about each event! Happy Monday!!