UUA-UUSC Supporter Journey to Tanzania and Burundi

Visit Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania; Bujumbura, Burundi, November 10–20, 2012

Join us for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to connect firsthand with social justice leaders on the ground in Africa!

To reserve your spot, please complete our online registration form.

Itinerary Highlights

First, travel with us to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to visit the Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP), a Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) partner. You will learn about the efforts of TGNP and grassroots organizations to overcome gender inequality, empower women and marginalized groups, and secure the human right to water. This is a unique and historic opportunity to directly support the efforts of TGNP and the people of Tanzania to include the human right to water and sanitation in the new Tanzanian constitution. While in Tanzania, you will see TGNP in action in several locations, visit with their network of grassroots affiliates, travel by ferry to Zanzibar, and visit other natural and historic sites.

Learn In Tanzania

• Collaborations between UUSC and TGNP to empower women and families in Tanzania
• TGNP's efforts to advance the human right to water and sanitation in the new constitution and governmental policies
• Ways that women are transcending institutional and social barriers by seeking political offices to ensure gender equality and equity in access to resources
• The success of TGNP women who achieved a national gender budgeting system
• The political history and culture of the Tanzanian people

Opportunities

• Enjoy sightseeing in Dar es Salaam, including visits to museums and markets
• Be part of history by participating in workshops that will inform the inclusion of the human right to water and sanitation in Tanzania's new constitution
• Meet the founding members of TGNP, one of Tanzania's most reputable nonprofit organizations lifting the voices of women and marginalized people
• Visit a neighborhood community group to learn about their victories and challenges with respect to access to sake drinking water
• Meet women who are fired up and, against all odds, won local elections
• Encourage grassroots organizations pushing for access to safe drinking water and sanitation in the midst of significant challenges
• Travel to Zanzibar and experience the Indian Ocean, historical sites, magnificent beaches, and local activists' efforts to shape their communities

Burundi

From Dar es Salaam we will travel round-trip to Bujumbura, Burundi, where we will spend the weekend with Rev. Fulgence Ndagijamana and Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) partner the Assembly of Unitarian Christians of Burundi (ACUB), a new congregation he has founded. You will witness the justice work the congregation is leading locally and join them for Sunday services.

In Burundi, you will learn about the following:

• The Assembly of Unitarian Christians of Burundi (ACUB), a UUA partner and growing congregation led by former Dominican Brother Rev. Fulgence Ndagijamana and located in the city of Bujumbura
• Several projects that ACUB has initiated to help build civil society in Burundi in partnership with the People's Church (UU) of Kalamazoo, Mich.
• Ways that ACUB is raising the visibility of liberal religion

You will enjoy these special activities:

• Attend Sunday worship with the ACUB congregation and experience the emergence of Unitarianism in Africa
• Visit the home base of a microlending program that serves approximately 60 families and includes training in basic accounting and literacy
• Learn about a cottage industry in palm-oil soap production, established with support from American and European UUs
• Witness a project that addresses high rates of domestic violence by designing and offering relationship and anger-management training for men

Optional add-on excursion to Kilimanjaro, November 20-24

Finally, you're invited to join us for an optional add-on excursion to Kilimanjaro to experience some of the most beautiful places in Africa for an additional cost. You can travel to Kilimanjaro, home of the highest mountain in Africa, descend into the Olduvai Gorge, and experience the Ngorongoro Crater, known as "Africa's Eden" because of its array of wildlife. You'll also meet community groups working to protect the environment.

Accommodations

Participants will stay in a secure three-star hotel in Dar es Salaam with excellent facilities and in best available lodgings in Bumjumbura. Meals will be provided at the hotel and at various restaurants in Tanzania and Burundi. In addition, while in Dar es Salaam participants will enjoy a special lunch with TGNP staff in their friendly staff cafeteria.

Participation Fee

$4,500 per person, including all ground costs—transportation, transfers, food, and lodging—as well as pre- and post-trip resources, translators, the guidance of experienced program leaders, and round-trip in-Africa air travel between Tanzania and Burundi. The optional add-on ecotourism excursion to Kilimanjaro is estimated to cost $1,500 per person and includes round-trip airfare between Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro, food, lodging, and local travel.

As a supporter who knows the power of experiencing justice issues firsthand, you can provide a similar transformative learning opportunity for an aspiring future activist or religious professional. Please support the work of the Unitarian Universalist (UU) College of Social Justice by making an additional tax-deductible gift.

Help us educate a new generation of justice leaders. Here is what your generosity can make possible:

• $500 allows a middle- or high-school youth to travel on a Civil Rights Journey.
• $900 enables an aspiring young social-justice leader to attend the National Youth Justice Summit.
• $1,600 pays for one seminarian or young adult to help build an eco-village in Haiti with the Papaye Peasant Movement, a UUSC partner.
• $2,000 allows a seminarian or minister to participate in a service-learning trip with a UUA Holdeen partner in India.
• $2,500 enables one young adult committed to a social justice career to participate in the yearlong Spiritual Activist Leadership Training (SALT) fellowship program conducted by the UU Legislative Ministry of California.
• $3,500 will pay for one seminarian to take a for-credit seminary course that explores international global justice while working with UUA and UUSC partners overseas.

You may restrict this gift for the purpose indicated. Otherwise, we will use it to underwrite UU College of Social Justice learning experiences wherever the need is greatest.

Your donation will be added to your total trip fee. You will receive a separate acknowledgement of your donation for tax purposes.

Thank you for your generous support of this work and for joining us on the UUA-UUSC Supporter Journey to Tanzania and Burundi!

Application Deadline

The registration deadline is September 10, 2012. To reserve your spot, please complete our online registration form, and we will contact you to confirm your registration. If you have questions or need assistance, please e-mail Eric Cherry, echerry@uua.org at the UUA's International Office:.