For La Salle Student Nicola de Pass, This Was Her Kind of Trip: Putting Smiles on the Faces of Children in Africa

Halfway around the world, Nicola de Pass saw sights in Africa she had unfortunately seen in her native Trinidad:

“There are children who have no parents or are not well off, and all they need is some attention, love, and caring. This is what I really wanted to bring to them,” said de Pass, a junior at La Salle University.   “The situation in Tanzania is similar to some [situations] at home.”

De Pass and other La Salle students traveled to Tanzania last summer as part of a University program, Project Mapendo.

“My experience in Tanzania can’t be described in words,” said de Pass. “Given the life-changing experience it was, it is definitely something you have to fully experience to understand. I loved every moment of the trip while feeling every emotion there is to feel,” she said.

De Pass, a resident of Westmoorings, Trinidad, who is majoring in nutrition at La Salle University in Philadelphia while on a student visa, met the criteria for the program, having traveled internationally: she has visited several Caribbean countries, and in her freshman year at La Salle she traveled to Argentina with the University’s field hockey team. She also participates in student volunteer organizations such as the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program, Neighbor-to-Neighbor, and Neighborhood Tutoring.

“After hearing about Project Mapendo, I instantly knew that it was the thing for me,” said de Pass. “I love kids — anything with them is always very fulfilling, especially when they are less fortunate and you could help to put a smile on their faces.”
           
“It was a trip I thought would help broaden my horizons,” de Pass said. “I wanted to see a lot more of what was going on in the world. It was definitely a great opportunity that I had to take advantage of.”

The La Salle students had to help raise funds for the trip, which including holding an auction and writing letters. “We also had a weekend retreat, where we all grew a lot closer and really started to bond as a group,” de Pass said.  Beginning in October, 2007, the students met weekly to learn about Tanzanian culture, history, and Swahili.

A typical day for the La Salle group in Tanzania started at 8 a.m. with breakfast, which was normally a roll and jam made at the hostel where they were staying. At about 9 a.m. they would listen to a lecture on Tanzanian culture, or they would go sight-seeing. For lunch, de Pass’s group would go to eat with the boys at Bunju, the center where they taught. The boys who came to the center were children who had lived on the street and were looking for help and a better life.

“I taught computer classes,” de Pass said. “We taught them basic skills for the computer such as typing and how to use Microsoft Word and Paint.” The boys, she said, were very creative when it came to Paint. “I’ve never seen such great work done on that program,” said de Pass. “These students are so talented but have real difficulties putting their talent into play as they have so many barriers in their lives.”

After teaching, the La Salle students would either play “football” — what they call soccer — with the boys or talk to them about their own lives. “We’d also teach them English, as they had a burning desire to learn the language,” de Pass said.

The trip lasted three weeks. “I didn’t want to leave at all,” de Pass said. “I wish I could have spent more time there, both with the students in the school and the great group of people that I went with.”

De Pass hopes to return one day. “I love everything about Tanzania — the warmth of the people, the great happiness they all express despite their misfortunes, and their exceptional desire to learn,” de Pass said. “I would love to see the same boys I worked with when I was there. They still call from borrowed cell phones and leave very loving text messages, begging for us to come back. I highly recommend this trip or anything similar to everyone.”

---Kristine Witko