Day One - Sunday 21st October 2012

“Today we arrived in Dar Es Salaam, capital of Tanzania.  Our flight left at 7.20 pm from Heathrow on Saturday evening.  Although I spent the entire length of the flight sleeping because I have the flu, many of the others stayed up and watched movies.

We landed at around 6.35 a.m. local time.  Immigration was not a problem and we found our bags successfully.  But as soon as we left the airport, the heat hit us like a tidal wave.  On average at this time of year in Tanzania, the temperature peaks at around 30 degrees centigrade at midday, roughly double the temperature in the UK now.” Annette

As we left the arrivals hall, at about 7.30am, we were greeted with a sea of smiles as many people were at the airport to greet us.  Students and staff welcomed us with the Kiswahili word 'Karbiu', meaning warm welcome.  After quick words of welcome we boarded cars and went to our hosts family for some rest and refreshment. 

Mass at Loyola High School
We met up again for a welcome Mass.  Excellent music enabled us to reflect prayerfully, as we prayed for each other's schools and the success of the exchange.  Miss Bacon did a reading, and Mr Dell thanked the Tanzanians for their kind welcome.

After Mass we have a supper in the school and two Loyola students, entertained us with song and music.
A great start to the week!

More to follow