Cute kids, poor organization

The Dymphna Special School is a cute school with wonderful kids, but unfortunately the staff are too poorly organized to adequately make use of their resources. If you go, be prepared to start your own classes and projects on your own initiative. Of the 6 hours that the students are at the school, maybe only an hour and a half is spent in instruction. The school has many resources that are currently sitting on the shelves gathering dust because the teachers are not adequately trained in how to use them. The rest of the time the students play and the teachers sit and chat. This is a great opportunity to learn Swahili.

I would strongly recommend staying in Arusha, and not at the school. The school is in an isolated suburb that is too dangerous at night to walk. That means that you must be indoors by the time it gets dark, and you will not have any chance to partake in any socializing. (Taxis are very expensive, and there is no safe transit to the house.)

The cooking is good, but the variety is very limited. Unfortunately all the cooking is done by the house girl, and there is no chance to interact and learn about Tanzanian foods and cooking

There is no running water. For showering you will be brought a bucket of luke warm water twice a day. This was amusing for the first few days, but remember it is very dusty and dirty in rural Africa. It took me weeks after returning home to scrub off the mud that had become ingrained in my skin!