Welcome to the J-Term 2017 Tanzania Blog

Karibuni! (Swahili for "Welcome!") Welcome to the blog for the 2017 J-Term course Paideia 450: People and Parks--Pastoralism and Conservation in East Africa. On January 2nd, sixteen Luther students along with professors Lori Stanley and John Moeller will depart for a three-week stay in northern Tanzania. We will be studying the national parks movement in East Africa and its impact on multiple Maasai communities. Our internet access in Tanzania will be very unstable, so blog posts may be rare while we are in country, but expect updates when we are back in the US as well. We will do our best to keep our readers informed!

Meet the Bloggers

Emily Osborne

My name is Emily Osborne, and I am a junior English major with minors in biology and chemistry. My hometown is Esko, MN, which is located just south of Duluth. I aspire to attend medical school after graduation to become a family practitioner or an OB-GYN. At Luther, I play trumpet in an all-female brass quintet called The Golden Tones, and I sing in Collegiate Chorale. I am also starting a student organization next semester titled GrandPALS, which will pair Luther students with residents at the nursing homes in Decorah. In Tanzania, I am very excited to observe and experience medicine, music, and intergenerational relationships in the Maasai communities that we visit.

Martel DenHartog

Supai & Takwenya ("Hello" to men & women in Maa)! My name is Martel DenHartog, co-blog coordinator on this course to Tanzania. This first post is to provide some background on Emily and myself, but as the course continues, we hope to share our own experiences as well as those from other members of our class. 

I am a sophomore biology major from Boise, ID. I run cross country and track for Luther, and I'm excited to see how training in Tanzania pans out--maybe I'll find some local Maasai to run with! I came to Luther looking for a place to grow personally and academically, and I believe that experiential learning is the best vehicle for this. That is why I am excited to study in Tanzania. This course drew me in because not only is it a part of the world that is completely foreign to me, but I think it gets at something that can be applied worldwide--the conflict between people and the planet. So in the coming weeks, I'm looking forward to delving into this issue through our journey across the globe. 

Baadaye! ("Later" in Swahili)