Arrival in Shamba

Monday, the day we would leave for the Shamba Center. We packed enough clothes for about one week (meaning one T-Shirt and one pair of trousers as there were no showers anyways) and the rest was stored at Babas house. At 10 am, so the plan, the van we hired (here called "Dalla-Dalla") was going to pick us up and bring us to the Shamba Center. We eventually left at 1 pm when the van finally arrived. A truck with paint, cement, rice and other necessities and materials left for Shamba earlier. Knowing that we would have to walk another 2 hours from where the Dalla-Dalla would drop us, we decided to have lunch before leaving. Ordering and Paying the food took us another two hours. One thing that everyone had to acustom to was that here, everything works in its own pace (means: incredibly slow!).
After a very bumpy about 2 hours ride on the van, we eventually started our walk around 6 pm. Just in time for the sunset. Trying to reach Shamba as soon as possible, the walk rather turned into a run to the school.
We arrived in the dark but all our tiredness was forgotten when the students came to welcome us. "Karibu Sana!" - We welcome you! from everywhere. We were brought to the office, where we could leave our luggage and rest. Our first meal that was served consisted of rice and beans. Something that we would get use to very quickly in the following week. After the meal, students and staff introduced themselves through speeches, songs, and dances. Again, we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of everyone. We went to bed early that night, exhausted from the long journey but very excited for what was to come in the following days.
The Shamba Center in daylight.