Hello all,
This is my first time writing any kind of journal so please bear with me while I work out the kinks.
My name is Michael Oliver and it took me nearly 7 years to finish college, and no I am not a doctor. There are many attributing factors to my lengthy stay in school: changing from Engineering to Marketing, moving to Chico for a girl, missing all my midterms to meet up with my brother at Oktoberfest (totally worth it by the way), and probably my biggest problem, lack of motivation. During most of my college life my brother, Indiana Jesse, who will probably be mentioned a few times, has been traveling the world. He has tackled almost every continent and always comes back with pictures and stories straight out of National Geographic or Hollywood. My eagerness to join him is what finally motivated me to power through that last year and a half of school. I finally finished and as a wise man once told me "It's the journey not the destination," I experienced a lot in college but I am dying to get traveling.
Initially, I was planning on moving home and saving up to live abroad, the most likely destination Australia. For some reason I have always been interested in Australia, maybe it was all the Croc' Hunter shows I watched as a kid or all the Ozzies I have met over the years but I have always wanted to work and live in Australia. The first month or so living back at home was a big adjustment and I was unsure how I was going to make money. All of a sudden things started to change. My brother had gotten a job with my friend's dad, Chris Wade, who had started a private charity. The charity sent Jesse to the Phillipines to work with starting a sustainable feeding program for local schools, among other things. The foundation is called the Wade Family Charitable Foundation(WFCF)and it works to help impoverished areas in foreign countries create sustainable businesses to ensure an educated future generation (put as basic as possible). Growing up, Chris was my soccer coach and my best friends dad, so over the years we have become quite close. When I approached him about working with the foundation he was very excited that I showed enthusiasm and committment to the foundation's ideals, so he offered me a job. A couple of weeks later in early March, he calls me and asks me if I would like to go to Africa in June to work for the foundation. Of course my answer was a resounding YES!!!
All of a sudden things started to go my way. I started to get offers to work from all sorts of sources: construction, set-dressing, landscaping. My tax return came in and it was huge. A company that I worked for 3 years ago sends me a check for wages that they owed me. I walked outside and the clouds parted...not really, but seriously everything started to go my way. The Universe was giving me a sign that I was going in the right direction. I thought why stop with the foundations trip, I could use the trip to Africa as a jumping off point for a much bigger adventure. The plan is to work in Tanzania for 9 weeks, spend 2 months traveling around East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda), then come home for Indiana's wedding, then straight off to Australia to live and work for a year, and from there no one knows.
The first part of my journey involves the foundation. WFCF is sending a team of 4, myself and Indiana included, to a small village in southern Tanzania called Kindwitwi. Our primary mission is to help the Kindwitwians set up a water trust, grain bank, and Building/maintenance business. Sadly, they do not have a satisfactory fresh water source leading to the village and have been forced into going to the river to fetch water and in recent years 2 children have been taken by crocodiles while doing so. We are there to provide knowledge, mentorship, and monetary support, when needed, to the village in a way that will set them up for a successful sustainable future. The trip will last 9 weeks but I am going to stay an additional 2 months to explore East Africa on my own.
The journey starts on June 3 when we fly from LA to Dubai and then down to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I am fully geared up and cannot wait to get going. This journal is to help those of you who care updated on what I am doing and seeing. Since I will be in Africa, I am unsure how often I will be able to write but I will try and write as often as I can.
Safari njema!
(Bon voyage in swahili)
Michael
