Welcome to my blog, The Starfish of Moshi! I will be traveling to Moshi, Tanzania in November 2012 to fulfill my lifelong dream of traveling and volunteering. I am extremely excited about my trip and hope to keep this blog updated with all my experiences and adventures.
First, I would like to explain why a 50-something from New Hampshire would decide to travel half way around the world by herself to volunteer. A couple of years ago my daughter gave me a book to read called "Half the Sky" by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The subtitle is "Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide". It's a deeply moving book with stories about women from all over the world who have overcome unbelievably harsh circumstances. It's main premise is that many women and girls are denied an education and education is the proven most important thing needed for them to pull themselves and their families out of poverty and abuse. After reading the book you feel compelled to do something.
I'm one of those people who every year donates to charities to help people here in the US and in developing countries around the world. It always made me feel good that I was helping other people. After reading "Half the Sky" I felt like I wasn't doing enough, I needed to do more.
One of the things discussed in the book is "The Starfish Story" written many years ago by Loren Eisley. You may have heard a version of it, there are many. Basically it's the story of a young boy standing on the shore surrounded by thousands of starfish. The boy starts picking up the starfish one at a time and throws them back into the water so they don't die. A man comes along and says to the boy, "There are thousands of starfish on the sand, you can't save them all. You're not going to make a difference". And the boy picks up another starfish, throws it in the ocean and says, "Made a difference to that one." The story really made me think. And that's why the name of my blog is "The Starfish of Moshi".
