The Last Few Days

Sorry that this is so delayed. Jet lag set in quickly and was mean.

Friday
After breakfast we went to get the dala dala to town. We ended up getting on one that was quite full because some really nice people offered for us to go first. We had to stand up and Natalie stood backwards so we were basically hugging for the first half of the journey. About halfway there a bunch of people got off and we could sit down. A man proposed to both Natalie and I at the same time through the window (polygamy is real in Tanzania). We said no.

In Moshi we went to the currency exchange, the ATM, and then looked at leather flip flops for over an hour. That's a long time. At least we both got some! Next we went to the diocese headquarters to meet with the people from Building a Caring Community (the special needs daycare). After that we headed to get some internet and then on to lunch. After lunch we were walking to pick up a dress for Natalie and I crossed the street, but Natalie failed to do so. I was approached by Eric and his friend Samuel. They were trying to sell me things to support Moshi's youth (I'm not sure...). I said "not today" and Eric asked me "then what day?" I ended up buying a bracelet that was "made of coffee beans" (it wasn't), but I liked it.

We stopped in a fabric store but it turned out to be the supply store for the stands and Gloria (who I bought my bags from) was there. We then went to pick up Natalie's dress and to get Maasai blankets. The guy asked me why I wasn't buying more credit for my phone today and we told him we were leaving soon. We went to the Nakumatt next (supermarket) and basically bought their soda section. We wanted to bring home soda that we can't get in the US (passion fanta for Natalie and Tangawizi for me). They're really heavy. Over 1/5 of our checked luggage ended up being soda.

We caught the dala dala back to the orphanage and played with the kids for a few minutes before going to pack. Sister Elly and Sister Regina came to drop off some quilts in the spare room. Sister Regina kept telling us that she didn't want us to leave. They said they'd bring us a scale so our bags didn't weigh too much!


Saturday
After breakfast we went to the baby house. They were in the process of all being changed into onesies. Elisha and Baraka both wore Natalie's rain jacket and my sweatshirt backwards. They liked to walk around with the hoods over their faces and try to find us and other kids in the room. Moses had to go back to bed because of bad behavior and then Mama Laiti came and sat with us. Angela fell asleep on me again which was really cute.

Immediately after lunch we took the dala dala to the hospital to give our left over medications and bandaids and such to Bob Kasworm. We ended up getting lost in the hospital. Our directions had been to leave it with someone who looked "official." We couldn't really find anyone. We ended up leaving it with a confused lady who was working in the pharmacy.

On our way back to the orphanage we went to Camp David Bar and got passion fantas. Later that afternoon we went outside with the kids. They were all being really grumpy so as they went around on the carousel I tickled them all. They enjoyed taking mine and Natalie's cameras and taking pictures. Derick was really good at it and began teaching the other kids which was cute. We went and sat on the mat outside with Mary and some other kids. One of the kids put her hat on me and then they all took turns putting their hats on Natalie and I. They thought it was hilarious to see us in their tiny hats.
While the girls were getting their baths, I made faces at the boys. They all, especially Israeli, love to copy whatever weird faces I'm making. It was really cute. The girls were all dressed in really cute dresses too.

Sunday
At church we sat next to Sister Elly who sings like an angel. Pastor Mlaki did his sermon partly in English for us which was really nice of him. After he preached he had Natalie and I come up to say something to everyone as it was our last Sunday. Natalie said that while we didn't want to go, we pray that we will all be together again sometime. I thanked them all for welcoming us and for treating us like their family. He gave us the verse Psalm 23:1 "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" and prayed that we would not want because God is with us. Sister Elly, Sister Regina, one male, and one female college student all came up to shake our hands.

After church Natalie wasn't feeling well so she went to sleep and I went outside. The older kids had all had haircuts (shaved heads). As soon as I got outside, Derick ran up to me singing "dada Rebekah" in a really high pitched voice. I went to go to lunch, but there was none. Lulu and Happiness decided to do my hair. Then the cook cake out and told me that lunch was ready. As I went in to lunch, all of the children sat outside and watched me through the window. The college students called them away after a minute or so.

After lunch Sister Anna had peanuts for all of the big kids (and Neema who happened to be outside). We all sat in the grass (even Sister Elly) and they ate peanuts. Neema sat on my lap. After peanuts, the kids did lots of races based on their size. They had to run to the end of the lot and back. It was cute because some kids forgot to turn around and run back and we had to yell and tell them. Pretty soon the middle kids came outside too. We tried to get them to join the race, but they just wandered around.

On the playground Ema helped Ester on the slide which was absolutely adorable. I also took a journey with some of the kids to the water boiler and on the way back Judica ran up to me and just clung to my side, hugging me. I went to bath time in the big house (because Judica made me). I made faces with Israeli again and played with Ema, Judica, and Jakob. After baths, Joseph ran up behind me and just clung to the back of my legs so I picked him up and tickled him. When I left I went to visit Mary who was still outside with Sister Aileen.

Natalie and I went to dinner and as we went to leave Sister Regina stopped us. She said that they didn't have a big gift for us, but they wanted to give us something to remember them by and to remind us how much we blessed them. Then we were swaddled in African fabric. It was really cute.

Monday
Monday was our last day. :( We finished packing and then went to the baby house where all of the cuddles happened. We walked around to find all of the sisters to give them letters that we had written for them. Then we went into the middle house. The kids were all kind of being brats. They were just going a little crazy.

After lunch we weighed our cases and gave our rooms one last sweep. Oscar came early so we carried our cases to the care and took a picture with Sister Elly and Mama Ester. Then we gave friendship bracelets I had made to all of the older kids. The kids woke Rebecca and Endika up from their nap so we could give them their bracelets and Rebecca did not want to put her bracelet on. The others showed her all of theirs before she would let me.

Lulu was being a doll and I held her for almost an hour (yeah, we made Oscar wait that long). She was wrapped around me and would not let go. I asked her if she would go home with me and then told her to say yes. She said it without hesitation which Sister Elly thought was hilarious. I also taught her and Jakob and Joseph how to say "I will miss you."We went to find Sister Regina to say goodbye and it turns out she was hiding because she didn't want to say goodbye. Sister Elly gave us kisses through the window of the car which was so sweet. We waved all the way down the driveway.

We went to a hotel Monday night where we had a last meeting with Pastor Urio to talk about our time in Kalali. Then we had dinner and didn't end up going to sleep until past 12. It was an issue because we left the hotel the next morning at 3am to travel home!

Tuesday
Traveling went really well. We were able to watch the sun rise behind Kilimanjaro on our first flight and set behind New York City on our last flight.