I had a vague idea that at some point in our travels I wanted to do some kind of family volunteering. Africa seemed like a natural place to get involved given the vast inequities. I wanted us to get closer to the problems and gain perspective. Ideally I wanted us to make some kind of positive impact, but really how much impact can a family have in ten days?
I looked far and wide and found nothing. I came very close to giving up. In fact I had given up, then late one night in Catalonia I dove into the Internet again with fingers crossed. Somehow in that Hail Mary of a search I found Go Make a Difference (Go MAD), a UK-based charity operating in Tanzania. We’ve been here almost a week. It is much more than I had hoped. Due to the huge local efforts and efficiency in their operation, it absolutely feels like one makes impact out of the gates. There is so much to tell, and I’m so tired, that it’s hard to know where to begin, but I also feel if I don’t write now, while it’s sort of fresh, that the essence of this time will slip away.
We’re on the shores of Lake Victoria, in a town called Musoma. The lake is riddled with so much make-you-sick-stuff that it’s a look-and-don’t-touch lake. That’s mostly fine because our days are absolutely packed. But I need to back up because the journey here was a mini-adventure in itself. We stayed overnight in Nairobi. Justin and the kids went to Decathlon in a mall. I went to an ENT at the hospital. I’m happy to say my ear has been excavated, video-ed, and I’m now truly on the mend. Going to the Nairobi hospital was not on my 2025 Bingo card but I can chalk it up to a cultural excursion. I will never complain about the same-day-no-reservation-walk-up specialist appointments in the developing world. The next morning we boarded an EasyCoach bus that took us 8 hours to the Tanzanian border. No bathroom on the bus so hydrate accordingly. It did stop a few times, briefly. No AC. Hot but windows opened. Occasionally there was a breeze. The fact that we survived the journey without any complaints is a testament to a deeper strength I didn’t know we had. We certainly didn’t have it six months ago. The bus ride let us see more of the country in all its glory. Nothing like the tribal country from where we had come. More people. More commerce. More chaos. We saw none of the tribal dress and accessories that were prominent throughout our northern Kenya journey. This was such a different part of Kenya, and yet of course, it’s all Kenya.
It was also far more lush and consistently green. Such a change!
Eight hours later the bus stopped in a very busy town next to a big gate. The border. The folks from Go MAD picked us up at the border in one of their Land Rovers and drove us ninety minutes to their volunteer base. The landscape became even more lush with rolling hills. In the late afternoon light everything looked so lovely.

The founder was a house builder for many years in Ireland and England. He designed and built a volunteer lodge and workshop that reminded me of a wonderful farmhouse. Beautiful and appropriately rough too. In the summer they have as many as 50 volunteers rotating every few weeks. Right now, 7 gap year students have just arrived (most are staying three months), plus a few adult volunteers and our family. They have 40+ local employees. Their efforts in the community are vast and all focused on need and impact mostly related to health, sanitation, wellness, and economic sustainability for the locals. Projects range from building goat sheds and water tanks, to maintaining and scaling a tree plantation, hosting boys and girls events, visiting the local leprosy colony, visiting the local midwife clinic and providing supplies, construction services and more to these local groups. It was founded in 2008.
The reach of their efforts is staggering. They have had so many years to hone their approach to everything. The volunteer experience is exceptional and tough. They expect hard work. They expect introspection and reflection. Every morning there is a “thought of the day” after breakfast for 15-20 minutes which is a thought provoking discussion. One morning I talked about a few learnings from our travels. Other mornings we talked a bit about the history of Africa, privilege, social media and mental health. Some evenings we had Swahili class. Sunday night is movie night. And all of that is just around the edges of what are typically very busy days. It is neat to be spending this kind of time with 18 and 19 year olds. It sure does remind me of that magic carefree time at the dawn of adulthood. I’ve been super impressed at how they’ve all jumped in and adapted to this environment and program. For several of them it’s their first time outside the developed world. That bus ride from Nairobi was not for the faint of heart!! Quite an introduction to Africa!!
In our first two days we built a goat shed from start to finish. The sheds protect one of a family’s most precious resources (goats) from death by snake (cobra) or theft or any other bump in the night. It was humbling hard work. Our family is now better at hammering and handling power tools! In fact we had tool school before we went to the job site to learning the finer points of sawing, hammering and power tooling. Kids were naturals.
Day 1 was a half day to secure the foundation posts with cement:
Day 2 was a full day to built the rest of the goat shed:
Hazel is a construction superstar and new big fan of power tools:
We got to see the goat shed put to use before we left:
Another day we visited a home and built a fire safe outdoor oven. Why? It almost pains me to write it, but small children sometimes fall into their outdoor cooking fires. We also fixed a door on a goat shed and brought a mattress, per a family request. There was a new baby (less than 24 hours old, born at home) and the mother was up and about doing work and taking care of other kids.
There were countless moments that remind you deeply of the comfort of your life, the privilege of your life, and that nothing more than luck is the difference between having access to clean water, education, sanitation or not. A local woman’s clinic had been expanded to include a full-time night nurse and simple accommodations for women to rest pre and post childbirth. These upgrades had saved more than 30 lives in one year since the 1 in 10 deaths in childbirth had fallen to zero. Amazing. Yet still conditions so vastly different from the Stanford Palo Alto Hospital where our kids were born. Light years apart. It’s an awakening to realize that even your worries are a privilege.
From left to right: Delivery Room, Doctor’s Office, Childbirth recovery bed with mosquito net.
These women and mothers had walked miles to come to the clinic, with their babies, to get vaccines. Under the shade of trees, the midwife taught them about family planning. The listened attentively and asked questions. All the kids and babies were remarkably peaceful and quiet. A couple of the mothers had ten children. They wanted to know why I only had two kids. They wanted to know if my parents got a dowry when I got married. A few were breastfeeding. A few Dads were hovering in the background, having done the walk with their wives. Sometimes you just take it all in, not trying to process or judge or wonder. We had brought some supplies. We asked what else they wanted. “Mosquito Nets”. Did I mention Musoma, Tanzania is the world’s epicenter of malaria?

There is so much beauty in the region. I feel really lucky to be here and to share this experience with the family and with others. Grateful for leaders like Graham (founder) and Claire (former volunteer and now a major force in the operation) whose life work is so deeply in service of others.
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