Tanzania Welcome Letter

 May 11, 2026

Dear Eli, Evan, Henry, Michael and Miraclin!

Less than three weeks and you will be here with us! We can’t wait!

I’m sure all of you are very busy wrapping things up and perhaps even starting to pack your suitcases as you try to get everything done to prepare for your travels. Still I’d like to encourage you to take a little bit of time, if you are able, to “smell the roses”, and by that I mean to take yourself back to thinking about why it is that you’re coming to join us. Sometimes we get so busy packing and thinking about the logistics and the mechanics that

we can lose sight of the big picture of everything. That can happen to everyone – everywhere, anywhere, and in any organization. And so we know it can happen to us in Village Schools. So take a few moments over the next couple of days to take a little time out and to focus yourself on why it is that you’re coming.

Most people who come to Africa as tourists come to see the animals (and admittedly you might see a few zebras and some elephants and giraffes as you travel across the country). The business people who come this way are, quite obviously, hoping to make fabulous profits while they’re here. They’re all hoping all the way that they’ll enjoy themselves – that they’ll eat good food, experience some new things that they can tell their friends about, and maybe they’ll meet some interesting people along the way. I honestly hope that each of you will also find our food here in Tanzania to be very good, that you will have experiences that you will want to share with your family and friends back home one day, and that your paths will cross with some very interesting people. But fundamentally you’re coming here for a different reason than almost everyone else who will be on the plane with you – you’re coming to serve. You’re each going to be serving in different ways and you’ll be involved in different projects– but the key thing is that you’ve come to serve!

Serving with Village Schools is very different though from serving from other organizations! This is primarily because Village Schools is a Tanzanian organization – it’s been put together and built by a group of Tanzanians who believe with all their hearts that it was simply wrong that so many young people in their country never got to go beyond primary school. They believed that God gave them a mission to accomplish – to work towards the day when every kid in every village would get to go to school. Lots of people have dreams, but only a few people get to see their dreams come true. For those who started Village Schools way back in 2005 they had the dream that within 20 years they would somehow build 56 schools – and they feel really blessed that they’ve been able to see their dream come true. Their efforts have actually resulted in something extraordinary happening. It’s 2026 and they have 98 schools open – and they’re not just here in their own country, they’re in villages in four neighboring countries as well. 98 schools! 19,800 students! 900 teachers! What you are coming to see and be a part of is a huge organization of people who have come together to work together. You’re going to be met at the airport by one of them – his name is Andrew – and he was my student a decade ago. As I write to you he’s on a trip to Zambia where he and his friend Yotam are helping the leaders in Zambia by providing computer training for those who lead our schools in that country. He works full time in our IT department and can do a lot of his job no matter where he travels to. When he gets back to Tanzania next week, we’ll stop in to spend a few days with his family and his co-workers in the Education Department at Bukimau – and then he’ll be hopping on a bus to come down to meet you, introduce you to the big city of Dar es Salaam and travel with you across the country. You are all adults and we know that you could figure out on your own how to get from the airport to the hotel and you could wander around Dar es Salaam sight-seeing by yourselves and you certainly could find places to eat and eventually make it to the bus station and travel across the country by yourselves. But that’s not the Tanzanian way. You are all coming as their guests, and so Godfrey and Emmanueli (our leaders here in Tanzania) want to send Andrew down to the city to do what is right and proper in our culture here – to recognize that guests are a blessing and to treat them as such! I’m eager for you to meet Andrew and to have him introduce you to this country! Have fun and enjoy yourselves!

I do want to share a few things with you regarding your arrival at the airport though. Occasionally, the ticket agent when you check in will ask to see your visa for Tanzania (it rarely happens, but it might happen to you!). If it does, just say that you will be getting your visa at the airport upon arrival and that you have your $100 cash ready to pay for it. Most ticket agents know that this is the way it works in Tanzania, but you never know, you might have someone new to their job who doesn’t know. So be ready to answer them, and if you do have a problem contact me by WhatsApp (1-281-381-1505) and I’ll try to help.

When you land in Dar es Salaam:

1. You’ll go downstairs and the best thing to do is to have your passport ready with your $100 bill on top of it and when the immigration officer sees that he’ll already know that you know that you need to get a visa and he’ll direct you to go to the right instead of the left. It’ll be a long line. The less said the better. You’re just coming to Tanzania on a visit to see the country. All of you except Henry have round trip tickets and while it has only happened once over the last 20 years, the regulations do say that you have to be prepared to show a round trip ticket, so please print it out and have it somewhere easy to find if they ask you for it. They might also ask you how long you’re staying (say about two months), they might ask where all you’re going (say Dar es Salaam and maybe other places), they might ask what hotel you are going to stay at (say Silver Paradise, and if they ask for the phone number of the hotel say +255-689-691-002).

2. After the immigration officer gives you back your passport it will have a little piece of paper in it and you need then to continue on to join a new line with the NMB bank and that is where you pay the $100.

3.After you pay it, then you will get in a third line and show your bank slip and they will then stamp your passport. After that you go to look for your luggage (it will be waiting for you\ because this whole process takes a half hour or longer).\

4. It has, by the way, occasionally happened that luggage gets lost! If that happens, then there is a help desk to fill out the form to ask them to look for your luggage. You will give them the name of Godfrey Hiari (0715-220-220) as the person to contact to get the luggage. It will be the airline’s responsibility to get it to the hotel and they’ll take care of it, but Godfrey will follow up on it.

5. After that you have to put your luggage through security and customs. Very rarely they might open your suitcases and ask about things you’ve brought. If they ask you about any of the school supplies you are bringing, just tell them that you are going to visit a school and they are gifts for the students and teachers. I wouldn’t be too worried about it.

6. After that you will come out the glass doors and you’ll find Andrew with a sign that will have all your names and from then on everything is easy!

The most important thing for you to do on May 28th is to walk and to drink a lot of water and that’s what Andrew is going to make sure that you do. He’s a very interesting guy and hopefully he’ll tell you a lot about himself and a lot about Village Schools – and he’s going to start teaching you Kiswahili. Some of you are arriving on the 3am flight from Addis and some of you are arriving on the 11am flight (sorry we couldn’t get you all together!) so when you get to the hotel you’ll be just turning all of your luggage into the reception desk until check-in time and then he’ll take you exploring. Have fun. On the 29th you’ll be traveling with him across the country and you’ll have to get up really early in the morning to catch the bus across the country. So plan on going to be early so you can get up early.

See you soon!

Mzee (by the way no one here calls me Steve or even Vinton – I’m only known by everyone as Mzee – the Old Man – and my wife is just called Mama or Bibi (Grandmother) by everyone, so you might as well start calling us that too. Andrew will begin introducing you to Swahili and teaching you how to enjoy life in this country!