Jambo, Tanzania: Days of Service and Sunshine
July 1, 2026
Day 1
Travel day!!!
Day 2
Jambo from Tanzania!!! Lizzy and I are at the Kilimanjaro airport and are SO STOKED to get this party started!! Once all the students landed, we hopped into our bus and drove back to Arusha to Destination 3 Degrees, D3D, the hotel where we’re staying tonight. Once we got back, we were greeted with a hot home cooked meal of beef, fish, rice and vegetables. We had a quick Moonup, packed for the service section, and went to bed!
Day 3
Time to head to Mto wa Mbo! We woke up, ate breakfast, and hopped on the bus to our camp for the service section. Our camp is a stunning open air camp with the greenest grass you could possibly imagine, as well as the bluest pool that immediately caught our eyes right upon arrival. We met our kitchen staff, did some orientations, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the shade all together at a picnic table. Then, we headed to the pool to enjoy an aquatic afternoon. Heath was the first person to jump in the pool, which inspired more of us to follow suit and jump in. Adi joined a fun little workout circuit I was running, crushing the bootcamp exercises. Then, we had dinner, where we crushed bowls and bowls of soup before some fish and chips. We had our first campsite Moonup underneath the stars, and went to bed in our tents!!
Day 4
Today’s the first day of service!! We ate a fantastic breakfast, packed our bags, and left for the school! We team up with the Red Sweater Project at a local school. Today we introduced ourselves to some of the students, and went around the campus with them helping clean up the trash. Saige was the first to befriend one of the Tanzanian girls and they got everyone to feel open to mingle with each other. Ari was so curious to learn how to count to 10 in Swahili, and the Mungere schoolgirls taught her right away. Sophia showed the children how to braid friendship bracelets, and shared her string with them! We had some lunch there at the school, and then played some frisbee and hacky sack with the kids. After that, we said see you tomorrow and headed back to our camp for the remainder of the afternoon. Gracely was kindly braiding people’s hair after some went swimming, and people showered up in preparation for dinner. We had a lovely dinner, fireside Moonup, and said goodnight!!
Day 5
Second day of service!! We woke up, ate breakfast, packed our bags, and headed back to the school for day two of service. Today, we were working in the school gardens. We were prepping the beds with lots of water and digging holes for the seeds. It was beautiful to see the Moondance students teaming up with the students to accomplish the tasks. Jack and his student, Shela, were carrying the buckets of water together and watering the budding plants. After a solid couple hours of work, we stopped for a quick lunch, and then headed down to the soccer field for a sweet game of futbol! MJ was showing off her soccer skills, scoring the first goal of the game. We had such a blast playing all together. Once the time was up, we said our goodbyes, and left for the day. We headed back to camp for a tea time of snacks and various hot drinks. Lawren directed a game of “death sack”, a hacky sack game, where everyone was hyped and competitive right until the end. After a beautiful sunset, we had another amazing dinner, Moonup, and went to bed!
Day 6
Everybody woke up this morning well rested and ready for another great day at the school! Once we arrived, we got right to work on the gardens! Today we were watering the beds once more, and planting kale and cabbage seeds. Sawyer explained to the students which beds were meant for kale and which for cabbage, and ensured everybody had a child to pair up with. After planting the seeds, we had lunch, and then headed back down to the soccer field for another game of futbol. It was a great and heated game. Lawson was putting it all out there, passing it to the schoolchildren, having a blast, and when given a perfect ball, had the whiff heard around Africa, which gave all the students a good laugh. Once we finished the game, we headed back to camp for another lovely afternoon poolside enjoying card games and conversations. During tea time, William was stoked on Lizzy’s questions game, sharing his favorite things in life while also answering my questions about his go to spots in Nashville. We watched a beautiful sunset with a bright full Moon, and enjoyed another unbelievable dinner, where Alex was sharing with us his ‘ins and outs’. We had a solid Moonup, said goodnight, and went to bed!
Day 7
Grand Rising Moondance! We had another lovely morning at camp, enjoying crepes and eggs, packed our bags, and headed back to the school for another day of service! Instead of driving directly to the school, we drove to the neighborhood where some of the students are from to walk to school with them! Hayes, our founder, always loved the idea of getting a feel for the walk to school that the students do everyday, so today all students did their walk from their village to campus. It was so cool and beautiful. We got to see the actual homes that the schoolchildren live in, and their daily commute, while we could ask them about what their lives in these villages were like. Such a once in a lifetime experience. Once we got to school, we did another bout of work in the garden, played some more games together, and had a little dance party. We finished with lunch, and then got a super special experience – we headed to a boma, which is a traditional native Maasai village. We got a tour and a lesson on the Maasai way of life and got to learn more about the indigenous people to this land and how they live today. Afterwards, we headed to an art market where we got a tour of the traditional painting styles of Tanzania. After that, we went to one last cultural outing – a wood smithing market, where we learned about the woodworking art of Tanzania, Kenya, and surrounding African countries. On our way back home to camp, we did another activity Hayes found so important – a mandatory ice cream stop!! Everybody got some ice cream, Moondance’s treat, and we went back to camp riding that sugar high while blasting some good music. We had a quick tea time, an unreal tasty dinner, Moonup, and went to bed!
Day 8
Last day of service 🙁 Today we woke up ready for one last great day working with the school. We started our day at the trailhead of a beautiful waterfall hike, where all the students hiked up together to a stunning spring with the most incredible waterfall. We chilled out by it and enjoyed the nice wet breeze, got some group pictures, and hiked back down. We hiked all the way back to the school, where we played, had lunch, and sadly had to say our goodbyes. We are so grateful to have been able to spend time with, befriend, and connect with the students at the school through the Red Sweater Project. Shoutout Sheb, Ashely, my boy Sylvester, and all others involved. We then headed to “Safariland” for a quick stop, another mandatory ice cream stop, and arrived back at camp. We then did the NOLS leadership grid exercise, played some fishbowl games, swam, showered, listened to music, enjoyed tea time, and had one last amazing dinner here at Migombani. It was pizza night!!! Such a special send off. We had a wonderful Moonup with our friend from the kitchen, Samuel, and headed to bed!
Everyone is so stoked to start the Kilimanjaro trek in two days. We can’t wait to update y’all then!! Stay Wild!
-JP
Kili 3 Shoutouts
Sophia:
Hi mom and dad!! Everything we have done so far has been so cool. We have been working at school helping with their plants for the upcoming school year and the campsite we are staying at is so beautiful!! Love you
Sawyer
Hey y’all, I am having so much fun in Africa and love the group. I am really excited to climb the mountain, tell granddaddy I say happy early birthday. Miss y’all
Lawson:
Hey Mom, Dad, Caroline and Layla! I hope y’all are doing well back home, Africa has been a lot of fun and I miss and love y’all so much.
Gracely:
Aye yo mom, dad, wk, dis bih, and Mac! I hope yall are having fun back home! I’m having the best time here and cannot wait for the weeks ahead! Love and miss y’all!!
Ari:
Hi Mom, Dad, and Web! I hope the rest of the trip went well and Webs hike was successful! I’m having the best time ever and am eagerly waiting for the summit and the amazing safari that comes after! Love you all bunches!!!
Saige:
Hi mom, dad, and Bryce! I hope your vacation is going amazing and I can’t wait to tell y’all all about my amazing experience! I am having the best time ever and I am very fortunate, thank you so much! I miss and love y’all!
Lawren:
Hey y’all! Tanzania is the coolest country yet, and I have so much to tell y’all about. Hope Morocco is amazing and yall hate having a blast. My bag is currently in Cape Town, South Africa, so I think that’s progress towards getting it. Love and miss y’all
Jack:
Hey y’all! We are having a great time so far doing the service work and the group is awesome! Tanzania is super cool and we are all on edge waiting to see Kilimanjaro for the first time. I love and miss y’all!
Adi:
Hey y’all! I’m having a lot of fun here and the scenery is beautiful. We’ve been preparing to climb and doing service work.
William:
Hey y’all. Hope yall are having a great time in Spain and back home. Y’all are gonna love Africa so much next year and I can’t wait to see see y’all in a few weeks
Heath:
Hi mackie mom dad carter and James,I hope everything is good at home, Mackie I hope the concert was fun and you didn’t get to bruised at the lax tournament. I love all of yall very much. Mackie I can’t wait to see you, I miss you very much! I love you bunches.
Alex:
Hey mom hey dad it’s your son, Alex, i know it’s boring at home without me. Alright that’s all see y’all in two weeks.
Mj:
Hello mother and father, Tanzania is the coolest place everrrr 🙏😎🏔️🦁 !!!!!!!!!! I have been drinking 13lbs of water a day to prepare for the mountain so I’m feeling great.Also my bag is found 🙏🙏love y’all
(Tell Brooklyn (x2) and Ella I said hi)
Safe Arrival!
June 25, 2026
Hello Kilimanjaro Families!
We heard from our leaders this morning that the group has landed safely! The trip is off to a great start, and we cannot wait to hear more stories from their adventure! Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next week! This will allow you to follow along with the trip. You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ
