Last night, the Umoja Staff (me, Liza, Jessica, David, Linda [our visual art director] and Tiana [our dance director]) entered into a verbal agreement for a two-year contract on the BEST potential new home for Umoja that we've seen yet. We made the decision to go for the house very quickly.
We'd been engaged for a few weeks in a long decision process about another potential house. It was in a fabulous location, close to where the U.N. is conducting their Rwanda genocide tribunal, and we had received three bids for a renovation project. But almost all of us were getting cold feet about spending all this money on a place whose structural integrity and quality we couldn't really vouch for.
But two days ago, our long-suffering realtor, Rose, found us the perfect place, probably less than 200 yards from the fixer-upper headache house: a big compound with lots of parking, a main house and servants' quarters in excellent condition, tons of rooms, a lovely garden, and a former basketball court which is virtually a ready-made space for outdoor dance classes and even an in-the-round performance space. (The weather is so good almost all year in Tanzania that planning year-round outdoor dance classes isn't considered crazy.)
This afternoon Liza and Linda will attend the contract-signing meeting, in which (hopefully) our offer will be formally accepted. It's so exciting! And scary! Being part of an organization with six staff, basically unpaid, teaches you how much courage, work and foresight it takes to try to start an organization. A learning experience, certainly.
Cross your fingers for us. I'll update again.
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2 comments:
Wow. That's really cool. If it all goes through (we'll be praying), send us pictures. Or, better yet, bring them with you next month (how cool is that?!)!
love,
bj & dm
Sounds very interesting. How does one get involved? I also live in Arusha.
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