The Immersion Trip By Oisín Mulhall

We were all very tired but our 10 day Immersion trip had begun. After 13 hours journey from Dublin through Amsterdam we had finally arrived in Tanzania and our temporary new home in a convent on the outskirts of the town of Arusha. Sunday was our first full Immersion day and our first "new" experience was a Tanzanian mass. It lasted 2 and a half hours long and all said in Swahili,the native language of Tanzania.We spent the rest of Sunday getting to know the place.The town was very different to what I thought it would be.We were warmly greeted wherever we went. Monday was our first day in the Christian Brothers School, Edmund Rice High School. It was huge! It even kept its own cows and grew much of its own food.We met our partners and were shown around the school. The students were very curious about who we were and where we came from, particularly one very inquisitive first year class. Throughout the week between attending class we continued to field such queries.

Except Friday, after school each day, we would go either to an orphanage, the local young offenders’ remand centre or to the "Food,Water, Shelter" project. Everybody in the group made a real connection with people there. It was a rewarding experience for all of us. Friday afternoon, a special basketball match was

held between our host school’s best players and us. We lost narrowly but it was good fun. That evening a special talent show was held for us. Our act, which consisted of hurling and football demonstrations and singing, wasn’t the best but everyone seemed to enjoy it. We spent the next couple of days winding down. On Saturday, we went on our safari with our partners.This was an unforgettable experience for us all. Seeing animals in the wild was incredible. On Sunday we met an Irish priest, Fr. John, who lived a few miles away from Arusha town (he had given us Swahili lessons earlier in the year).We also visited a local Maasai village and played a game of soccer with some of the local boys ( we won 4-2, yours truly scored a cracker) and stayed the night there. Over the final few days, we attended Rwandan Genocide trials.We also visited a Maasai craft market, where we got some presents for home and a few mementos of Tanzania before heading back North and home to Ireland. This was an amazing experience. I would urge any student presented with a similar opportunity to grasp it. On behalf of the whole Immersion Team, I would like to say a big thank you to those who have helped us make this trip possible.