Volunteering Experience in Tanzanya

Among the things I’ve learned this week, there’s one I didn’t expect: I can go beyond my abilities. Or rather, beyond what I thought were my limits. Even in small things, even when I’m not completely sure of what I’m doing.

Of course, there have also been beautiful moments, the simple ones that somehow stay with you. Like going to Babu Saidi’s house for a Kiswahili lesson, trying to repeat words that seem impossible but slowly start to make sense. Or the day we settled the chickens into their “new home”, which sounds simple, but was actually a small adventure.

And then there’s my favorite moment of the day: after dinner. When we all gather together in that spot near the ocean and just talk. Nothing special, and maybe that’s exactly why it means everything. Simple conversations, laughter, the sound of the ocean in the background. It’s one of those moments when you’re not doing anything extraordinary, but you feel like you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.

If I had to describe my first week in Zanzibar in one word, I would say: fulfilled.
Even though, to be honest, it’s one of those words you truly understand only when you live it, not when you translate it.

2 WEEK

Now we’re really getting into the heart of the experience. After the first week of orientation and all the introductions from the different departments, this week felt relatively short, especially because May 1st was a national holiday and we didn’t work.

On April 25th, we had the Italian Cultural Night, coinciding with the national celebration. We cooked gnocchi (strictly handmade, no shortcuts allowed), pasta with ragù, and baked tagliatelle in the oven. After dinner, we organized some games about Italian culture, which turned into a fun mix of competition, laughter, and mild chaos.

During the weekend, we actually worked, since on Sunday we hosted 100 children from an orphanage. It was a very intense but meaningful day, full of energy and emotions.

We also took Thursday off to travel to the mainland for a short break and a safari. It was a beautiful experience, maybe not “wow” in the cinematic, life-changing sense I had subconsciously imagined, but still genuinely special. Something I would definitely recommend trying at least once in a lifetime… even though I can already imagine myself doing something similar again, just in a different country.

Overall, I can say I’m quite satisfied with this second week, the experiences, the people, and the general vibes.

3 WEEK

What to say about the third week… let’s just say there isn’t much to tell.

I can say that I experienced something I never would have imagined or expected to go through. A truly “100% african” kind of experience, as I might put it.

Well, without going into too much detail, I caught malaria, so my week ended up being quite chill, one night in the hospital and the remaining days in my room in a sort of “quarantine mode.”

So I don’t really have a lot to share about my third week. But in its own way, it was still an experience, just a slightly different one than expected.

4 WEEK

This week didn’t really start on Monday for me, it started on Wednesday.
I was still in my little “quarantine phase” after being sick, so I had a slightly slower beginning to the week than expected.

This week was Road Safety Week. The focus was all about teaching children how to stay safe on the road.

One of the highlights of the week was our school trip. We visited a place where people go to get their driving licence, and the children watched a video about road safety and learned why traffic rules matter in everyday life. We also visited a car inspection area, where they could see how vehicles are checked to make sure everything is safe and working properly. It was a very nice day but at the same time very tough with 170 children out of Assalam. On the way back, we stopped for ice cream, and everyone was happy.

Our main project was actually something quite special: preparing a driving licence for each child. We created them one by one, with their photo, name, surname, dates of birth and to each we have associated a vehicle that they can drive like: boda boda, dala dala, airplane, boat, tuk tuk. It took a lot of time and patience, but seeing the final result made it completely worth it. At the end of the week, after the children passed a small “licence exam,” we personally handed them their certificates. That moment was probably the best part of the whole week.

Looking back, this week felt full in a different sense. Not a perfect week, not a cinematic one, but definitely a real one.

5 WEEK

We’ve reached the 5th week! And suddenly, you start to realise that there are only a few weeks left until the end! You begin to think about how sad it will be to leave everything behind, about the relationships that have just started to develop between the volunteers and the locals, and how much you will miss the everyday life and routine you were slowly starting to build for yourself.

It was a quiet week. In the mornings, we went to school and spent time with Grade 4. In the afternoons, we were given the task of packing, counting, and managing everything for a clothes distribution for two different villages on Tumbatu Island, which took place on Saturday.

So, in the afternoons, the girls and I were mainly busy with this activity, as well as with food packaging and distribution.

Also, Thursday was Math Day! Each class had to prepare something, and some of the children even performed little sketches related to mathematics.

1 WEEK

Jambo, I’m Kateryna, I’m 28 years old and I come from Italy, or more precisely, I’m Ukrainian, but I’ve grown up and lived in Italy for over 20 years now.

If someone had told me a few weeks ago that I would find myself in Zanzibar, I probably would have said, “yeah sure, maybe with a cocktail in my hand and zero worries.”
Spoiler: the cocktail hasn’t shown up yet, but the thoughts… those definitely have, and quite a lot of them too.

I arrived here with no expectations, just a lot of curiosity. And after only one week, I already feel that this experience is much bigger than I had imagined. Not so much because of what we do every day, but because of what it leaves inside you, even when you don’t notice it right away.

The strangest feeling is that time works differently here. Not faster or slower, just different.

One of the moments I will definitely carry with me was the first food distribution. It’s not easy to explain, because it’s not just “an activity.” It’s one of those moments when you stop and truly realize how different the reality here is from the one we’re used to. Not in an abstract way, but right there in front of your eyes.

There’s another “moment” that isn’t really a specific moment. It’s more of a feeling: that maybe, at the end of these two months, it won’t be a single scene that stays with me, but the whole experience. A collection of small moments that, together, become something much bigger.

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Ahh.project24@gmail.com

Fatma Sümeyye Şahin

Çengelköy, Kalantor Sk. No:6 Üsküdar/İstanbul

Project Coordinator

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