Student impressions of Umoja

Daria: It was so nice to see what we achieved. I'm working on my booty shake. It was an amazing experience. I loved it!

Jessica:  It was amazing. I wanted to go to the school; it was a highlight of the trip.

Peter: The kids faces, they were so happy to see us. You don't know until you see it.

Will: I was so honoured with the meal and the tshirts. It was a great experience. They really liked my leg hair. I loved how we all split off and made our own friends with the students.

Garrett: I'm blown away by all Africa. I didn't know what to expect. You wave at kids, they wave back. It was a very emotional experience.

Tyler: I felt really welcomed and at home.

Lindsay: The people here are a lot happier than people in North America and they have so much less.

Lovejot: It was nice to see how happy the people are.

Kyle: It was crazy how welcoming they are. I knew they'd be fascinated , but it was crazy to see. And they loved our technology - cameras and such. It reminded us that they don't have that stuff.

Karly: This has been life changing and emotional. They surrounded us with flowers; it was so emotional.

Hailey: Really good learning experience. They were teaching us words, dancing, clapping.

Bryce: Crazy how welcoming they are - the show.  They have so little and offered us so much.

Christina: Mrs. Athayde told us about the hair touching etc. - it didn't prepare us, it was an amazing experience - the children braiding our hair.

Melissa: It's overwhelming. Sad. Happy. Cool.

Mrs. P: I loved the universal language of play. Students all connected without language language. Each of our students were working with the Umoja students. I learned what the school still needs - classrooms, teacher housing.

Ms. Michaleski: I'm so appreciative and thankful, they don't realize what they've done for us, what a wonderful experience today was.  We will hold this in our hearts for a long time.

Mr. Shute: The adults were having as much fun as the kids. The Tanzanian teachers were all playing volleyball. Watching the kids with our cameras - they learned how to use the cameras, which buttons to press. And they were very careful with them.

Ms. Salamon: Laughing. Playing. Skipping. Jumping. Tag. Holding hands. Little fingers running through your hair. Amazing day. Really hard to say goodbye. Lots of hugs and tears.

Ms. Athayde: The whole experience defies words. Everyone from two very different cultures had so much pleasure simply connecting with each other. The memory of this very special day will remain with all of us for a very long time. Jean from CPAR :  this is the most interaction between visitors and students I've ever seen.