On ROAM’s recent service expedition to Arusha, Tanzania we got to experience the local city market there and shop for single mothers in the surrounding area. Off went ROAM and its volunteers to the famous city market to shop for these 15 hand-picked single mothers, and thanks to the help and bartering magic of our local friend, Angel, we got in and got it done! She showed us her special and experienced tips and tricks on how to bargain in this market, and it was a culturally immersive, and eye-opening experience for all of us! We were thankful to have Angel, our local accounting pro, show us the ropes.
Thanks to Give Blockchain, in a short amount of time, we had acquired loads of rice, sugar, oil, cleaning supplies, and other basics for this group of mothers, in addition to clothing for their children and hygiene kits. These life-sustaining basics would get them through at least a month! Some of these mothers walked long distances to receive it all, even a two-days’ journey, and seeing their gigantic, relieved smiles as we presented everything to them was simply pure happiness and a memorable highlight of our expedition. Once again, ROAM didn’t save all of Africa that day, but what we did in the market was reminiscent of a quote from Mother Teresa who said, “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop”.
