We had binoculars in our suitcase for our trip to Tanzania. We dreamed of this trip for a long time. We are finally here. Ours is a shared honeymoon, there are four of us: Costanza, Alessio, Annagiulia and Marcello. In Florence, six months ago, we asked ourselves: how can you walk among zebras and giraffes, cross the heart of Tanzania and not learn anything from the people? Binoculars are not enough, you need a microscope, which Kisedet was for us (thanks to Matteo Borzoni for the tip). We met Giovanna and Nino through email, then through their Italian counterpart Gruppo Tanzania ONLUS (thanks Veronica for all the support) and finally in person at the airport in Dodoma, the capital city. And still, not many tourists pass through here, the center of the country, and where Kisedet has its short-term center called Shukurani. With a few formal speeches, Anderson, Fulgance, Giovanna, Nino and all the Kisedet staff offered us a window and also a magnifying glass through which we viewed Tanzania and its children. After a full day of walking in Dodoma, with all it’s markets and vibrant colors, we moved to the guesthouse in the village of Chikongwe, a half hour drive away.
On top of that hill we learned about the ever-changing projects such as cultivation, tilapia fish nurseries, chicken coops, vegetable gardens, vines and a football pitch. Calvin, originally from Arusha, accompanies us and his eyes shine when he talks about all this and how everything is done for the children at the center. But Marcello and Annagiulia get tired of listening. They play, like all the boys and girls in the world. And then the Italian group of international civil service volunteers help us. We learn words in Swahili and finally we were able to play with the children who live in Kisedet’s long-term center. The best experience of the whole trip. Honestly, the view we have right now in Serengeti pays off, but learning dances, words, games and sharing moments – a moment with no filters – is unmatched. Marcello learned to play Tanzanian checkers with Ismail, Annagiulia says that there are some strange berries that can be eaten (thanks to Gift, Asnazi, Dori and Mariano.) Alessio finally reviewed the Pythagorus theory with Michael. Together we climbed to the roof of the highest house in Chikongwe and saw a breathtaking sunset. The only downside was the goal scored at the last moment which made us lose the football match four to three!
TOURISM EXPERIENCE WITH KISEDET: BEYOND MASS TOURISM
You could come to Tanzania and do 10 days of safari in the north of the country and 10 days on the coast in Zanzibar and you would return home with a partial idea of the country you visited and having lost an opportunity to have an authentic journey.
Or you can decide to get a real feel of the country.
This was the idea we had in mind when we decided to contact Kisedet, who helped organize our trip to Tanzania.
In addition to quick and timely support in the pre-departure period, Kisedet created a program based exactly on our needs: we wanted to meet local people, experience parts of their daily lives and go trekking and hiking, because slow tourism is more respectful and we were able to really connect with places.
And above all we wanted to understand from those who know the country and have lived there for almost 30 years, what it means to live there.
After landing in Dar-Es-Salaam one of our luggage had not arrived, which can happen sometimes, but obviously we were stressed.
The Kisedet operators immediately reassured us and Giovanna took care of contacting the airport for us and we got our luggage in just a couple of days.
The first days of the trip we focused on settling in; we visited the short-term center, and the Drop-in center located just outside of Dodoma, as well as some areas of the city itself.
In addition, Giovanna and Nino have opened a pizzeria and eating there on the first evening in a mixed Italian-tropical atmosphere was very welcoming.
After the first night in Dodoma, we moved to Chigonwe where Kisedet’s long-term center is located. Here we experienced a part of the daily life of the children living there by eating and playing and doing homework with them.
Between a yoga session held by Giovanna and a relaxing walk within the large grounds of the Centre, we also met and spent time with the friendly civil service volunteers who are currently with Kisedet. We enjoyed spending time with them and hearing about their experience.
We did all this in the beautiful setting of the Centre, which again, is located just outside the city.
The Elena Fontana guesthouse is enchanting, surrounded by greenery and silence, and the rooms are clean and welcoming.
Mama Mdogo took care of us and cooked excellent dishes.
After 3 days spent in this slow and exciting rhythm, spending time with the children, visits to the surrounding areas, we set off on a road trip full of fun activities.
Fulgence and Peter, our tour guides, always put our well-being first and Joeli, the driver, made the journey as comfortable as possible.
The home-staying experience with a family in Mto Wa Mbu gave us a further glimpse at life in Tanzania and the days were full of enriching but manageable and relaxing activities.
We have no doubts that entrusting our holiday to Kisedet was the right thing to do and we will recommend the same to anyone we know who wants to visit this extraordinary country.
SOLO TRAVELLER: GIGLIOLA’S TANZANIAN ADVENTURE
A few months ago I was invited to a Tanzanian fashion show and during that occasion I met the president of Gruppo Tanzania Mauro Del Pino who told us about Kisedet’s work.
I was pleasantly surprised but also interested. So I decided to leave shortly after mid-September for Tanzania with their support.
Eleven wonderful days: meeting with the very welcoming staff of Kisedet and learning about their projects, visiting the most breathtaking places in the central and eastern part of Tanzania (Dodoma, Chigongwe village, Udzungwa Mountains park, Morogoro, the famous art school of Bagamoyo), but also entertaining places such as a safari at Mikumi national park and relaxation in Bagamoyo with its beautiful white sand beaches washed by the Indian Ocean.
All the accommodations where I stayed were comfortable, clean, all with private bathrooms, and the food, always fresh and cooked by excellent cooks. The staff was also always very kind and available to satisfy any type of request.
Perfect climate: pleasant temperatures, not too hot or cold. In some areas (Dodoma and surrounding areas) a little wind but only in the evening.
In regard to the health aspect and above all the issue of mosquitoes, I had provided myself with an adequate repellent but honestly I didn’t see any in the city and in the villages, neither was I bitten.
Now I have returned to Italy and I would like to truly thank Giovanna, the founder of Kisedet, and all her collaborators for giving me the opportunity to live this wonderful experience firsthand and for their truly extraordinary help in favor of who is are difficulty.
I also thank Brighton, my guide, a very knowledgeable guy who also speaks Italian, and Fredy, my driver, who accompanied me every day during my stay in Tanzania.
I really recommend this type of alternative tourism also known as “responsible tourism” which allows you to get to know not only the classic tourist destinations but also to stay in contact with the local people and learn about their culture and traditions.
Last but not least in terms of importance, I suggest anyone who can help this association because its contribution supported by real, existing projects is truly important for the children of Tanzania.
Thank you all.
Giuliana
JULY 2023: TARANGIRE, NGORONGORO AND PANGANI
With this email we would like to thank you for our safari and also give you feedback on our experience.
First of all, congratulations for Kisedet’s fantastic projects. We were welcomed with great warmth and immediately felt at home, we met the staff and the Director Mr Mukama who carefully explained to us how the programs for children work, both at the drop-in, the short-term shelter home in Shukurani, and at the long-term shelter in Chigongwe. Both realities filled our hearts with joy because we felt the care, the attention and the love dedicated to these projects.
Then we started our journey and it was a wonderful experience. Fulgence and Freddie were the perfect traveling companions. Fulgence always attentive, kind, patient and discreet; Freddie a really great driver. With them, we always felt at ease and despite the many hours spent in the car, the time flew by.
We have always stayed in nice, clean places and have always eaten exceptional food: visiting the Kigwe market with Marimbocho, the stops en route to Babati and also on the way back from Arusha along the coast where we were always welcomed by the local people.
We were especially amazed by the night spent in Mto Wa Mbu where Freddy,
from the Diaconical Health Central, had organized everything for us: a simple and wonderful accommodation near the hospital and an unforgettable dinner and breakfast prepared by two very kind ladies. We especially liked the fact that we were supporting small local communities in this way, as it was explained to us.
We also visited the Watoto Foundation and stayed at the Kiboko Lodge: places that impacted us positively and where we felt a warm welcome and perfect organization and once again, we were happy because our contribution was socially responsible and sustainable. We would have liked to have stayed longer to take advantage of the activities organized by the guys who currently work there.
Finally, we arrived at Bahari Pori in Pangani. Let’s start by saying that the nature in which the lodge is immersed in is nothing less than marvellous, including the beautiful mangrove forest. It’s a very quiet and relaxing place. Francesco was kind and helpful from the start.
I once again thank you for the unforgettable trip and congratulations on the Kisedet projects!
Julie and Betty.
FAMILY’S TRIP
In July 2018, we spent about two weeks in Tanzania, visiting Kisedet’s projects through a trip advised by the Viaggi e Miraggi agency. We are a family with three children: Iacopo aged nine, Marta and Giulia aged fifteen. We started with a strong desire for knowledge and also a bit of apprehension, especially thinking about possible health problems. However, the warm welcome and constant presence of Nino, Giovanna and Julius, Baraka, Daudi accompanied and guided us throughout the journey.
After a short visit to the city of Dar es Saalam, we went to Dodoma where Kisedet operates. We spent a few days in Chigongwe village with the children living at Chigongwe family, a shelter home for street kids. The sunsets, the baobabs, the colors and the open spaces of the African landscape are still in our minds, but certainly the joy, the welcome, the vitality of the children, the balls made of rags, the games played only with hands left an even deeper mark. The days were spent visiting the village and other nearby villages, schools, the lake, the health dispensary, participating in Giovanna’s yoga classes; we spent the evenings watching the sunsets, playing football and singing songs
with the children and young adults of the center.
In Dodoma, we visited the Shukurani shelter home and the drop in center.
Accompanied by Julius (Baba Kiri) and Baraka, we went to Mwanza at Lake Victoria, where we met the children, young adults and operators of the day center for street children, run by the Cheka Sana Tanzania association. We spent the morning engaging with children, joining their games and activities; in the evening we had the opportunity to follow the Cheka Sana operator in his usual route through the city center, during which he talked with children, trying to befriend them and inviting them to participate in the activities of the center.
It was the first time we had traveled to Africa; we would not have chosen any better way to learn about Tanzania. The landscapes are certainly breathtaking, but we keep in our hearts all the people that the work of Nino and Giovanna’s, who dedicated their entire life to Africa, have allowed us to meet.
A big hug to all of you
Iacopo, Marta, Giulia, Silvia, Simone
A NEEDED JOURNEY
We have been to Tanzania this summer (July 2018), we always wanted to try a different kind of holidays, to discover a world that is so far away from us, and this year we finally succeeded.
With our 11 and 8 years old daughters, we embarked on a new journey. A new experience for all of us, (no one had ever been to Africa before) which had already looked appealing to us on paper. But when we got there, our expectations and perhaps our imagination crumbled in the face of a reality so intense and so different that left us breathless.
I am not just talking about the opportunity to engage in a close and intimate relationship with Africans, and Tanzanians in particular, but also about being able to see clearly, as if we were Tanzanians, places, people and situations that we certainly would have never been able to accomplish with a tour operator or by going alone.
All this thanks to Kisedet, especially the employees who helped us and allowed us to completely immerse ourselves in a society and a culture that we perceived as distant.
Most importantly, we had the opportunity to closely see the work that Kisedet (which was created
over twenty years ago by Giovanna and Nino) has done, and only through direct experience we were able to understand its complexity and the difficulties in operating and carrying out such work.
Giovanna and Nino, who still work in the field side by side with local collaborators, some of whom could grow and be trained thanks to the organization, who day after day try to alleviate the sufferings of those children who are abandoned on the street and to give them hope for a possible future. In over twenty years many of them have been given a future or, at least, they were shown that a different life is possible.
The humanity that constantly surrounded us every day, has been huge and very intense and we returned home with our suitcases – and perhaps our heads too – a little more empty of things, of objects, and a little fuller of faces, colors, flavors, words.
We will definitely come back and we will also try to offer a little help from our comfortable sofa!
Lavinia and Mauro with Clelia and Frida
Mauro is today the President of Gruppo Tanzania Onlus
BACK TO TANZANIA (A REASON TO MADNESS)
I returned to Tanzania 7 years after my last (and first) trip there. At that time, I had narrated my journey with the words of “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad, outlining the two protagonists of KISEDET’s founders – Giovanna and Nino – as two crazy people like Kurtz, the protagonist of that novel. The main difference is that they brought light and not horror to the savannahs and dusty life of Dodoma and its surroundings.
In addition, I want to add another of my favorite masterpiece, that is “Hamlet” and not because it is a tragedy, on the contrary it is a splendid comedy, which is often tinged with the colors of tragedy, like the stories in our book “Fiori di Strada” show us (by the way, for latecomers and newcomers there are still copies available). Hamlet, as we know, pretends to be crazy to understand what happens at court and someone notices it, so he says: “even if this is crazy, there is a reason to his madness“.
A splendid comedy/tragedy, in which now many other actors are involved, in addition to the main characters….KISEDET staff has expanded because the organization has enlarged, various partnerships have begun, including international ones. Growth required a greater number of people – believe me when I say it is a very difficult task but at the same time it is very rewarding and satisfying, especially when you reach the objectives, but even when you sometimes fail, because no one is perfect. The work is often unpredictable and there are some unforeseen developments, especially if, as Giovanna, Nino and their collaborators do, helped children and adolescents are trained to become active and self-aware. In fact, no one can decide for them to change!
The number of children and families that KISEDET has helped over the years has also increased (I kindly advise you to check numbers and figures on our website). Just look at the photos taken in the occasion of 20 years of KISEDET NGO celebration (1998-2018):
look at the people and their faces, the scenes of celebration, the happiness from being together, old and young people, children and adults. I was delighted to participate and to document it! I could have not showm my passion for photography in a better, more exciting and engaging way.
The crazy achievements of Giovanna and Nino livened the party and the key project of KISEDET, aimed at the recuperation of street children of Dodoma, in CHIGONGWE….a small and semi-hidden village in the windswept savannah surrounded by aridity of the Tanzanian soil which, however, coincidentally, near the shelter is colored with green and trees, plants, various fruits and even animals (it is the kingdom of a beautiful goat won by the boys last year in a competition about which I do not remember a lot…): another splendid crazy achievement, I would say.
Some former street children are now parents, although very young. Others are also skilled and competent workers (waiters, chefs, drivers…). One of them, Japhet, “a racing driver”, named his second son Gioven in my honor: sorry if it’s not enough!
In short, I had left him as a teenager at Kisedet (14 years old), even if he was very strong and determined, and I saw him again as a young adult (20 years old), much stronger, grown up, and even more determined.
You will agree that a reward exists for this hard work, right? And that there is a reason to such madness.
And since “if they are not crazy, we do not want them”, I hope that some of you, by reading these few lines, will feel encouraged to enter this world or to push harder to thrive because, as they say in kiswahili, “Adòss che ‘l muntù è l’é gross“!!!
Asante sana!
Giovanni Iannaccio
Ex-President of Gruppo Tanzania Onlus
