KATIE
ON AN
ADVENTURE
WHO I AM
Who am I? What am I doing and why? These might be questions that a lot of people asked themselves on a Sunday morning. I will answer these questions in order to try and introduce myself as best I can so that you may get to know me a little better.
I am Katie Michael, eighteen years old and former student. After I was born 28th of November in Freiburg (Germany) we first moved to a town called Bad Bentheim and later to Harsewinkel. There I went to school and successfully passed my A-levels.
In my freetime I try to combine sports with going out with friends and other activities. Because I always need as much diversity in my life as possible I have got a fairly tight schedule.
Thanks to my crazy, chaotic and adventurous friends there is always a lot going on.
Several times a week I spend my time in the yard with the horses. For ten years I went riding on a regular basis and although it means a lot of work and spending a lot time I somehow do not get tired of my hobby.
Whenever I get time I like to go jogging while listening to loud music and enjoying the nice weather.
After I have had enough exercise I need something more peaceful to do. The outcome of this is a quickly scribbled sketch, some drawings, digital image editing or even some strumming on the guitar.
As a person some people might call me "the tiny troublemaker" or something similar. I am definitely tiny with a height of only 59 inches. Also, my character cannot be classified as truly normal. There is always something going on in my life and if not I arrange somthing to happen. Of course I have got the same jolly sense of humour as the British.
I guess I owe my more or less noisy demeanour to my British Granny. I never fail to attract people´s attention. So never underestimate little people!
At least twice a year I visit my Granny in England. This migth have triggered the "travel bug". Not only regular visits to England but also spontaneous city trips and getaways with family and friends are part of planning my yearly schedule. One thing that cannot possibly be left behind is my camera. I always find something worth photographing even if it means to crawl on the floor for a better perspective.
All in all I guess I am a fairly outgoing and curious person who loves to get to know new things in life. So if you got any questions or if you would like to contact me you can send me a message by pressing the button below. I am looking forward to your emails :)
THE COUNTRY
Name: United Republic of Tanzania
Size: 945.000 km²
Capital: Dodoma
Population: about 41 Mio.
Density: 38 people/ km²
Language: Swahili/ English
Currency: Tanzanian shilling (TZS)
time zone: UTC +3
Tanzania is the country of an endless diversity in regard to the landscape, the culture and the people. The country is situated in eastern Africa and does not only offer tropical beaches, savannah and volcanos but also well-known superlatives such as the Kilimanjaro with a height of 5800m, the huge Serengeti or the Victoria lake which is the origin of the Nile.
With a size of about 945.000 km² Tanzania is four times bigger than Great Britain. Even the climate is of significant difference. Average temperatures of 25-35°C and air humidity of 70-85% are common.
There are about 130 different ethnic groups living in Tanzania and 128 different languages that are spoken. Nevertheless, the influence of the former colonial power of Great Britain in matters of politics and language is omnipresent. Since 1961 Tanzania has gained its independence and is now ruled by a democratic government.
One of the most famous tribes wordwide is probably the Massai people. Those former nomadic shepherds live in the area around Arusha and the Serengeti nowadays, although their territory has been severely diminished in the past centuries.
Still, Tanzania is one of the poorest countries and the field of agrarculture is one of the biggest economic branches.
Also, pottery and wood carving are popular activities with colourful mugs, beautifully carved doorways or even music played mostly on drums for religious rituals belong to everyday life.
For further information you might like to do some research online.
THE PROJECT
What should one do after finishing school? Of course it would make sense to go to University but surely not directly after going through all the hassle of A-levels. Of course one wants to go out exploring the world to either get independence but also to do something completey different from learning and working. The overall plan was to go abroad. But there are plenty of places to go to and a variety of projects being offered.
The project had to be varied, interesting and exciting because you only do that kind of trip once in a lifetime. After a lot of research on mostly very confusing offers by different organisations and after applying for several scholarships I found an organisation which is based in Munich that specialised on projects in Africa, Thailand and Nepal. There I finally found a very interesting project in a national park in Tanzania.
Of course there were similar projects to be found but they were always too expensive, the matter of costs was not transparent or the organisations did not seem to be trustworthy. I telephoned the organisation straight away and had a very pleasant chat about my plans, intentions and questions.
Slowly my plans began to develop and were put into action.
In addition to all the general preparation I also had to write an application because the government in Tanzania is responsible for placing me in one of the national parks. That is why my project is comparatively cheaper than others.
On 10th of October I will start my trip to Dar Es Salaam. There I will take part in an introduction workshop and in a four week course on animal care in a zoo. I will learn about what to do around wild animals and about nurturing them.
Of course I also did not want to miss out on a language course in Swahili. I thought to myself that other people use these trips to improve their language skills and because I believe that my English is adequate enough to survive in Africa I wanted to learn a whole new language. So I will take 20 lessons in Swahili!
Once I ticked all these things on my to-do-list I will finally travel to the national park in southern Tanzania.
There I will do all sorts of work that needs doing such as maintaince work on hiking trails or putting up signs. Taking care of sick or wounded animals and educate people about protecting their environment will also be part of my responsibility.
All in all I just hope that the projects will turn out to be a great experience and that it measures up to my expectations. If there are any more questions about the project or the organisation I am travelling with feel free to contact me by hitting the button bellow :)