Life Lessons Learned

It's impossible to sum up my entire experience in Tanzania in one post, but I'm going to attempt it. It was the trip of a lifetime. I went there to volunteer my time and help out, but I ended up learning so much more than I ever could have imagined. I'm going to try to sum up the most important things.

The people
The Tanzanian people as a whole taught me so much. Every single person is entirely genuine and super friendly. They don't understand the concept of being mean. Everyone is friends with everyone. They also have almost nothing, and yet they know that they have so much because of the wonderful people around them and the love that they have from God. We met a lady who had a house built for her through houses for health. Even her new house was just a concrete rectangle, but she was so proud of it and of God's provision for her that she wrote "JESUS" in big chalk letters across the door. We were also given gifts of coffee when we went to one of the local parishes. It's really humbling to be given a gift by people who have so little. We gave them a small percentage of what we have and they gave us so much back.

The kids
The kids at the orphanage were the happiest kids I have ever met. They taught me so much about appreciating what I have and just being happy with where I am. They don't know that they are orphans or that they are any different from a normal kid because they have so much love coming to them from the sisters and staff members. Instead of parents they have a whole group of loving siblings who care for them and love them unconditionally.

They also gave me a huge appreciation for something I have always taken for granted, my name. It's mine. That is part of who I am. Some of the kids at the orphanage don't have last names so the orphanage becomes their last name (Neema). In Tanzania, names are a big deal. You have your first name, your family name, and your tribe name. These kids only really have a first name.

The sisters
The sisters have given their lives completely to serving. They all have a heart of service that cannot really be explained. They just want to serve God and their communities in any way that they can. They don't expect anything in return, they just give and give. I really can't explain how incredible they are. Pastor Urio once said to us "If you get the spirit of service, then you know your on the right track." He was so right about these ladies.

Pastor Urio and Sister Agnes
They just have so much wisdom about life. They taught me so much just from the few conversations I had with them. Even with everything running as smoothly as it is at the orphanage and everywhere else they run, they are still trying to come up with different ways to improve and looking for new ways to help the kids and the community.


There is so much more that I learned that I could never even begin to put into words. Natalie and I are staying in contact with the many wonderful people we met and are going to try to help the orphanage in any way that we can so if anyone is interested in helping out, let me know (shameless plug)! :) Thanks for sticking with me for the whole journey and let me know if you're ever going to Tanzania so I can tell you who to contact and hide in your suitcase.

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.

Coming to an end

Saturday

We woke up a little late and went to breakfast. Sister Grace saw that we weren’t drinking tea and ran out of the house. She returned through a different door to say that they forgot to boil us water, “pole sana” (very sorry). Soon after she left, Sister Regina came in, also apologizing profusely, and brought us water. I told her we were sad that we had to leave so soon. She said that they were all sad to see us go, but now we “know the Sisters, and the place, and the kids” and the sister know us and they hope that we will visit again. Of course we said we would.

After breakfast we took the dala dala to Moshi and both read the whole way there. We went to the currency exchange, the ATM, the Nakumatt (grocery store), and Kicheko (internet cafe). Then we went to a stand and bought Maasai blankets, which are called shuka. Before heading to lunch we went to the bookstore (which is run by the convent) to leave our bags. Luckily, Sister Jackie was there and she handled it for us. At lunch, Natalie and I both had mango and banana smoothies which were delicious. After lunch we visited a few more stores and stands and I bought all the things. 

We had to rush back to the bookshop because we didn’t know what time it closed. Sister Eileen was there. I had not met her before but she usually works at the orphanage. She had been on a one month break, but she knew Natalie. She told us she was going to Ushirika wa Neema and we could go with her. Oh, I forgot to mention. Natalie and I were going to spend the night at the Lutheran Convent (called Ushirika wa Neema). Sister Eileen took us to the dala dala stop where we also ran into Sister Grace (from the orphanage). 

Ushirika means sharing or togetherness and Neema means grace. When we got there we sat in a reception room with Sister Eileen and Sister Ofu (not her full name, but we never quite caught it) to wait for Mother Superior, who never came. Sister Ofu took us to the guest house which is beautiful. It’s a round building and we had an entire floor to ourselves. When you walk in, to the left is a kitchen area and to the right are some bathroom stalls. Straight ahead is a little dining room with a table, four chairs, a tv, and some other little side tables. Off of the dining room (which is a circle in the middle of the building) are four bedrooms. Each bedroom had a double bed, a nightstand, two armoires, a table, a comfy chair, a sink, and a shower. I was impressed. 

Soon, Sister Agnes came to say she’d visit with us after dinner. Sister Ofu brought us dinner and ate with us. She asked if Mother Superior had visited, but we didn’t know if Sister Agnes was Mother Superior, so we said nothing. Sister Ofu said she was sure she would visit later. A little while later, Sister Agnes visited and asked if we needed any recommendation letters or references for home and then told us more about Mary (the special needs girl at the orphanage). When we tried to go to sleep there were a ton of dogs outside that barked all night. 

Sunday

Sister Ofu brought us breakfast at 8:30. She brought us so much food! A huge bowl of mandazi and a plate of oranges. We didn’t finish it all. After breakfast we went for a little walk. On our way back we ran into Sister Agnes and she told us what was going to happen that day. At church we accidentally sat on the side with all of the sisters instead of the side with the people who attend from outside the convent, oops. The Massawe (Stephen and Haikael, Chad’s friends) family also happened to be at church with some people that we didn’t know. After singing some hymns we all got introduced and Stephen and his friend made speeches. Then Natalie and I went up and Natalie said why we were in Tanzania and thanked them for letting us stay. Next was Mchungaji (pastor) Mlaki’s sermon which Stephen kindly translated for us.

After the service, Stephen told us that it was easy to see that we’d come back to Tanzania just by looking at our faces. Sister Annalise took us for a tour of Ushirika wa Neema, which was fun even though we’ve already done it. She showed us the cow feeding room which was really exciting. All the cows are trained to go to their special spots. Next was tea with Sister Agnes, Pastor Mlaki, the Massawe family, and their friends. We thought it was lunch, we were wrong, that came later. We then talked with Sister Agnes and Pastor Mlaki. They thanked us for all of our work and said they really appreciated it. Natalie and I both teared up in our responses thanking them for how wonderful they all are and for everything they have taught us. As I said, we thought the tea was lunch, but not 30 minutes later, we ate lunch. Sister Agnes escorted us to the gate after lunch and we took 3 different dala dalas back to Machame. At dinner that night, Sister Loema pretended to be an elephant because there were elephants on my shawl. 

Monday

After breakfast we went to the baby house to discover that they were all wearing onsies! Moses was in pink, Baraka in sea foam green, Elisha in dark/light blue stripes, Shangwe in grey (with red and blue stripes on the cuffs), Ema also in grey (with red and white stripes on the cuffs), Fadhili in yellow (with primary color stripes on the cuffs), and Angela was in pink with handprints (although she was later changed into dark blue after throwing up). At some point during the morning I was playing with Moses. I would run away from him and then chase him and catch him and tickle him or flip him upside down. Sister Regina asked me to put him in my suitcase on the way home. I told her I would if I could. I shouldn’t be tempted like that...

Midmorning we went to get juice and on the way back we found thousands of ants migrating. We watched for a little while and then I dropped a fairly large rock in their path to see what they would do. We became quite a spectacle and some of the college students came to see what we were looking at. Sister Regina told us to be careful because those ants are dangerous. 

When we had been back in the baby house for a little while, Johnson (the premature baby) began crying. I got to go and get him and cuddle with him for a little while. He’s so tiny and cute. He yawns almost constantly which is adorable. A little later Baraka posed in the fireplace for me to take a picture.

In the afternoon we went back to the baby house. They were outside on the mat, still dressed in onesies. We managed to get a picture of all of the babies (minus Johnson who doesn’t come outside) with Sister Regina and two college students. I had my phone out playing music because the kids really like it and Sister Regina asked to see it. She held it in her hand and started to rock out to some country music. At dinner I wore my Maasai shuka wrapped around me because it was really cold. I was approved as a Maasai by some of the sisters.

Tuesday

After breakfast I went to school. When I got there they were working on memorizing something. When they finished that, Sister Loema asked if I’d like to teach anything. In the second I couldn’t think of anything so I said I’d think about it and come back tomorrow. Of course as soon as she said that was fine I immediately thought of some things. The kids spent about half an hour practicing doing things quietly (such as picking up and putting down chairs, sitting nicely in a chair, etc). Then they just went and played.

After playing for a while I went back into the classroom and sat on the bench. Judica (the oldest boy, he’s 6) came up to me and planted a kiss on my cheek. He grinned and then turned his cheek to me, tapped it and said “ata mimi” (roughly translated that means “my turn” or “me now”). When the kids got their mats out for individual activities they each got a chalkboard and a letter. They spent the rest of the morning practicing letters. I helped Lulu. Because she’s a lefty, she tends to write all of her letters backwards. If she knows which way to start she gets it perfectly, but that takes some practice. When their chalkboards were all put away, they all sat nicely on their mats so that I could take a group picture.

After lunch we went for a walk up to Machame Hospital and back. It’s a lovely walk, especially because the way back is downhill. When we got back the kids were outside and Israeli ran up to me. I put Andy’s hat (which I “borrowed” to come here) on his head. He was so excited and he ran away to show other kids. I turned to go get a drink from my room and as he saw me walking away he ran back to return the hat.

The kids played all afternoon on the carousel thing. As it span around I transferred the hat from kid to kid. They all look adorable in it, but Joseph takes the cake. When the kids went inside we went to our suite and played cards until the sun went down and we couldn’t see anymore. 

Wednesday

After breakfast we went back to school. They were learning numbers in English. Then Sister Loema asked if I was ready and Natalie and I attempted to teach them “Jesus Loves Me.” They almost had the first verse when some loud banging started outside. The kids were all distracted so they just went to play. We were able to take individual pictures of them all in uniform and got a good group photo. 

A little later in the morning, Sister Anna asked Natalie and me to stay forever. We promised we’d come back. She said she didn’t believe us and came up with an alternative. Natalie will go home for a little while, while I stay in Tanzania. Then Natalie will come back while I go home for a little while. Then I will come back and we will both stay here forever.

Midmorning we went outside with the middle house. Frankie put Sister Narumeshwa’s working boots on. They covered his entire legs and he couldn’t move despite the sisters trying to help him walk. Epiphani also fell off the porch. Well, she rolled down the steps. Natalie was in the middle of taking a picture of the child sitting in front of her and in the background of one of the pictures is Epi mid roll. I looked at some maua (flowers) with Ester, just before she completely lost it. She continued to sob for quite some time while I tried to calm her down. Finally, Sister Grace took her to feed her. 

In the afternoon we went outside and sat with the babies on the mat and Robin, Briney, and Paula (the afternoon volunteers) until the older kids came outside. The kids mainly stayed on the playground, but I also played catch with Derick and gave Ema and Debora piggyback rides. Mary was also outside most of the time. When the older kids went back inside, we went back to the babies. 

Thursday

There was no breakfast so we went straight to the baby house. They had just woken up and I knelt on the floor next to Moses. He climbed on my lap and just lay with his head against me. I just cuddled with him for a few minutes. It was really nice because he’s usually so hyper. After he got off, Sister Regina came in. She ran up behind me and wrapped me in a bear hug. She looked at me and said “you know I love you.” I replied “ndio, and I love you.” She then walked to the closet saying “I will miss you both so much. From the bottom of my heart.” I could have cried.

Next we did some dancing with Moses, Baraka, and Shangwe. Baraka’s outfit was all matching today. When I was sitting against the wall, Shangwe brought me a stuffed penguin she was chewing on and put it on my lap. A few seconds later I found a spider on my leg (thanks, Shangwe). I yelped, brushed it off and jumped up. Baraka helped Natalie kill it for me. Then I gave Moses some piggy back rides. 

At about 10 we went to tea and I spilled my juice twice. I’m so coordinated. Back in the baby house, Shangwe, Elisha and I were hood triplets. I held Fadhili for a little because he had been crying. He let me put him down and I cuddled with Angela. She doesn’t get held much because she’s so content to just sit. After half an hour or so Fadhili started crying so I put Angela down and then she started crying. I managed to put Fadhili in the crook of my leg and had Angela lying on my chest. She ended up falling asleep for about half an hour. 

For lunch we went to the college with Sister Elly and Mama Ester. There was chicken, but it looked like pork so I didn’t take any. Sister Elly asked me if I was a vegetarian and I realized too late that I should have said yes. After lunch Sister Elly came with us to the local market (Kalali Market) because Thursday is market day. I couldn’t take pictures because there were a lot of people. It’s basically a dirt patch. Natalie estimates it’s between 1500 and 2000 square feet (I’m bad at estimating numbers). There are some buildings (well, shacks) around three of the sides and the fourth side borders the road. Throughout the market are some wooden stands. Some are made of plywood, but most are branches that were chopped off trees with machetes. Some people have stuff set up on these wooden stands. others have plastic bags or fabric on the ground with their goods laid out. People sell a huge assortment of things: radios, used clothing, vegetables, fabric, flip flops, kitchenware, machetes, and more. Natalie and I both bought fabric. I wanted to buy a machete, but I didn’t know if that would fly. 

After the market we played outside with the kids. We chased a chicken, Ema had a piggy back ride, Lulu and Happiness played hairdresser with my hair (it looked beautiful), Elisha went on the swing, chupa chups were handed out, and the small children went on the carousel. We then went to the mat with the babies who were with Paula, Robin, and Briney. We took pictures with them because it was their last day. A group of local Lutheran pastors came to visit too. After everyone had left we taught one of the staff members from the baby house (we’ve never learned her name, next task) how to sing “Jesus Loves Me.” She heard me singing it a few days before and wanted to learn it because she liked it. It only took her 2 minutes and I wrote the lyrics out for her too. 

After dinner Natalie managed to lock Sister Elly out of her room. We pass her room on the way to our suite and Sister Elly likes to lock the door to the hallway. Natalie thought she was in her room, but she was at evening prayer. Anyways, about 15 minutes later we hear “NATALIE! REBEKAH!” and both went running. Oh Natalie.

The Story of Neema Orphanage

The orphanage is relatively new. It was started 7 years ago in August of 2006. It was started with only two children: one boy and one girl. The boy’s mom had some sort of mental illness and could not care for him. The girl’s mother died at birth. Since then the orphanage has cared for 110 children in total. Children come to the orphanage through the Tanzanian social welfare system. They usually stay from birth to age 3 and then they are reunited with members of their families. The orphanage's mission is to eventually reunite kids with their families and thus most of the children have families. However, they would never refuse a child or turn them away if they have nowhere to go afterwards. 

There are five common ways that children come to the orphanage. First, if the mother has passed away during birth and the child cannot stay with his father. It’s usually because the father has to work and cannot care for an infant, but that is not always the case. Secondly, if the mother is mentally sick (as a result of birth, apparently this is really common) then the relatives with send them here through the social welfare system. They are delivered back to their relatives at age 3 (or before if the family so chooses). Third is children who were abandoned by their parents at the hospital. Fourth is children who are found in the trash or on the side of the street, etc. Finally, there are children who were born into a “hard environment.” There are a lot of incidences of rape in which the mother is too young to care for the child at that time so the children come to the orphanage so the mother can finish school or find work.

 

Children who were abandoned or do not have family can be adopted through the social welfare system. The people at social welfare make sure that the families that are trying to adopt have enough money and resources to properly care for the child. If children are not adopted they can be transferred to a different orphanage that is more suited for older children. Since the beginning of the orphanage, 5 kids have been sent to the Rafiki Foundation (which is a boarding school down the street) and 7 kids have gone to the Kili Kids Community Assistance.  

 

The orphanage gets lots of support from different places. There are some sources outside of the country (a lot in Europe, a few American churches, etc.) and some in country sources. When the orphanage was just starting out, people in the local town (the rotary club) provided clothing and furniture. People give support by providing money for building projects or paying for treatment for kids that need it. Ushirika wa Neema (the Lutheran convent in town) pays for food for the children. The orphanage cannot depend solely on support in case it goes away in the future. Because of this unreliability, they also have some self-sustaining practices. They have their own cows, chicken, and a pig. They use all of their own milk (pasteurized at a local dairy cooperative, it’s maybe a 5 minute walk away) and eggs. They also have a big garden where they grow their own bananas and vegetables. They plan on expanding the garden soon so that they can grow more food.

 

This is a truly amazing place.

An Unfortunate Countdown

Here’s what I’ve been up to the past week at the orphanage!

Saturday

After breakfast Natalie and I walked to the dala dala stop to meet Peter (our Safari driver) and Anna and Raechel (the other volunteers). All of the dala dalas that passed us were super full (even for dala dala standards) so Peter ended up taking one up into Machame to the end of the line and back down again to save us seats. Thanks Peter! When we got into Moshi, Peter helped me buy minutes for my phone. No one actually stocks the amount of minutes that Natalie and I have to buy (because they’re not making international calls) so we have to look all over. I ended up giving a lady 60,000 Tanzanian schillings and she went to get me the minutes. It’s strange that I can trust someone to take money from me and actually come back with what I need.

After minutes, Natalie and I bid Peter farewell and went to the currency exchange. Unfortunately, the exchange rate had dropped from 1623 to the $1 to 1615 to the $1. Next we went to kicheko to get internet (that’s when I posted last time). As we left Kicheko and walked to the Union Cafe for lunch, we ran into Matt (one of the Cornell students). Natalie and I don’t know that many people in this country, but of the few we know, we ran into one! It was really exciting to see someone on the street that we knew. When we got to Union Cafe, the 3 other students were there. Small world, right! We sat outside on the porch of Union and I ordered pizza, tea, and a chocolate milkshake. I realized that I may regret the amount of dairy I was consuming, but it was the best milkshake I’ve ever had. 

After lunch we did a little shopping. The street vendors are really nice, but always push you to spend more. We managed to get a few bargains and “rafiki prices.” A random man on the street asked me if we were from “Obama land.” Everyone here loves Obama because of all the aid that he has promised to Tanzania and Africa. 

When we got on the dala dala to return to Machame, Sister Jackie also got on. Someone else we knew also got on. It was our rafiki Rick. The one who walked with us to see Kilimanjaro. Natalie and I couldn’t look at each other for about 10 minutes for fear of cracking up. When we got off the dala dala, Natalie and I tried to carry the box of water we bought on our heads. Sister Jackie thought we were struggling so she carried it for us. 

There was a visitor at the orphanage when we got back so we dropped our stuff off and went to say hi. The visitor, Ines, was from Argentina. Her daughter had volunteered at the orphanage the year before. I asked her if she spoke Spanish (in Spanish) and she got really excited and we had a brief (and basic) conversation in Spanish. She said that she’s trying to learn English, but it’s hard for an “old woman” in South America because almost all of the countries speak Spanish, so no one cares to learn English. She was very happy when I told her I am taking Spanish at school. 

Soon we saw Anna and Raechel come outside with their suitcases. They were flying home that night. We waited outside with them for Nelson and then said goodbye. There were a few tears as they said goodbye to Sister Elly. Later that night the TV was on at dinner. There was an African dance show on called “dance 100%.” As hard as I tried, I couldn’t figure out the scoring system.

Sunday

Natalie and I were a few minutes late to church, but it’s okay because the college students were even later than us! Sunday was pretty uneventful because after lunch I lay in bed and read a book for 5 hours. 

We hadn’t seen the kids all day and we missed them so just before we went to dinner. We had never been to see them after they had eaten, and we probably shouldn’t again. They were all so hyper. They played with our phones (they managed to unlock Natalie’s but couldn’t figure mine out). They also managed to break the keychain on my key. We also picked them all up individually so that they could count the days on the calendar. Finally, anytime we tried to sit down, we were jumped on. 

When we went to dinner, some of the sisters were there and we watched a rerun of when Obama was here. When they played the US national anthem, Sister Elly put her hand on her heart and puffed out her chest in mock allegiance. It was really funny. 

Monday

It was the first day of school! Well, for me. The kids just had a 1 month winter (yes, winter) break. We thought school started at 9, but it had already started when we got there. The kids are so cute in their little green and white uniforms. They also wear woolen hats and socks which make them look like elves. The socks are also really slippery on the concrete floor and the kids were falling all over the place. 

The first half of the morning was mainly lecture based and kids listened to the teacher (Sister Loema) and answered questions. They also sing some songs and recite a few things. After that they have a small break while some of the older kids put away the benches and lay out mats. The kids each get their own mats and can choose an activity to play with. There are things like blocks, number cards, beans and cups for pouring, chalkboards, maps, puzzles, etc. Everything is educational. The kids all get their numbers mixed up because 6 is called “sita” and 9 is called “tisa.” Even I get confused sometimes. While the kids do their individual activities, we get to walk around and help them. 

After lunch I went to play with kids again while Natalie was napping. As soon as I got outside and sat on the middle house’s porch, Jakob and Joseph (the twins) climbed on my lap. They were twinning hardcore. They kept saying the same thing at the same time. They also loved it when I leaned them side to side so they were almost falling. They would say “ata Jakob” and “ata Joseph” together when it was the next boy’s turn. The kids from the middle house had their heads shaved this morning and they all looked really cute and funny as baldies. At one point I pointed at Elisha’s head and said “nzuri” (good) to Jakob. He responded with “ndio!” (yes)

They soon noticed the babies were outside and led me over to the mat they were sitting on. THe older kids are precious with the babies. I saw Judica, Naomi, Happiness, and Lulu holding babies on their laps. I also had Jakob on my lap, with Angela on his lap (BABYCEPTION!). Judica also went around and kissed all of the babies.

When it was time for the older kids to go inside, Jakob tried to have me go with them, but I had a baby on my lap so I couldn’t. Natalie and I went into the baby house for a while. At one point I had Baraka on my lap with Angela on his lap, adorable!

Tuesday

We went back to school after breakfast and they had already started again. I was wearing socks inside which I got a lot of “nzuri sana”s from kids for (good job). 

At school they learned the continents from a puzzle map of the world. They also saw a puzzle map of Africa and learned all of the countries that border Tanzania. Finally, they saw a puzzle map of Tanzania and learned about the capital region (Dodoma). Next they worked on colors. Sister Loema had rectangular pieces of wood painted different colors. Kids had to go and find something that matched the color. 

Next they played some games. From what I could tell it was sharks and minnows and then they pretended to be animals. They did more individual activities on mats after that. I got to help Joseph with writing his vowels on a chalkboard which was cute. I also helped Lulu, Naomi, and Happiness pour beans between different cups.

After lunch Natalie and I wanted to get more pictures of the kids (because we don’t have pictures of some of them). However, they had just woken up from a nap and were a little groggy and then my camera died. We still had fun playing with them!

Later I called my mom and found out that Andy Murray won Wimbledon!! Wooo!!

Wednesday

I woke up early this morning so that I could get to school on time. I got there at about 8:30 and they were just starting. They all stood and said a prayer, then they sang a Lutheran hymn and recited the 10 commandments and the names of the 12 disciples. Finally, they sang the Tanzanian National Anthem. It is really good training for when they have to go to primary school and will be expected to do these things. 

T hey learned the regions of Tanzania. Some of the older kids know where every single region is on the map. We went outside for about 5 minutes and the kids observed some ants on the ground. When we went back inside it was individual activity time. I stacked some cups with Rebecca and Stephano, did number blocks with Happiness, poured beans with Elisante, learned letter sounds with Judica, and wrote letters with Jakob and Joseph.

After they took off their uniforms and were done, Sister Loema asked me why I didn’t eat tea today. I said it was because I was with her at school! She took me to tea and made me eat yams and drink chai with maziwa (tea with milk). Yams are about the consistency of potatoes and bananas and flem. It was gross, but I managed to eat it all. I went to find Natalie only to find that as I left she went to get her tea so I went back to tea and Sister Loema had me drink more juice. Soon after that it was time for lunch and Sister Anna was there. She made us eat all of our potatoes. I was so full!

We went back to our room to get our stuff together to go out later that afternoon and then went back outside to play with the kids. Robin, Briney, and Paula were outside too. They are three girls who started volunteering at the orphanage every afternoon. They are here from about 3pm to about 5pm. We played with the kids until they all went inside and then Natalie and I just looked at our pictures. As we were walking down the hill to leave the orphanage, a whole bunch of college students got back. We could hear them reuniting with each other as we left. We were picked up at about 5pm by the Cornell students. We went with Matt, Mike, Lodoe, Katrina, and 3 students from a local school (John, Calvin, and Meshak) to Protea for dinner and free wifi. I had beef stroganoff and it was delicious!

Thursday

After waking up we walked down to the college to say goodbye to some of the college students. Basically, the college students get a two month “break” but for half of it they are doing their field placement at the orphanage. So one group was working at the orphanage for the past month while a second group were at home. Today they switched and the first group went home and the second group will take their place at the orphanage. The first group have been in the houses every day since I have been here and it is really sad to see them go because I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again. We said goodbye to them all and were able to get a picture of the group. Two of the girls who we had the most to do with also asked to take individual pictures with us. 

After breakfast I saw that the older house was not at school today so we went to the baby house. They were being really cute again. Ema fell asleep in Natalie’s arms again. Baraka helped Shangwe walk (she’s just learning) by walking backwards in front of her and holding her two hands. It was really cute. I had to hold her sweater though because if I let go she’d lean too far forward and she would fall into Baraka causing him to fall over backwards (it may have happened a few times). Elisha and Baraka also both wanted to look out the window and as Natalie held them up to the window they would press both their hands and feet against it. They were just propped in between her and the window. She was holding them, but if she let go they would stay there. The entire morning, Angela was being a complete angel. While some of the other kids got a little upset, she did not cry once. She just chilled in a pile of toys.

Sometime through the morning Sister Regina came in and sat with us. She told us the story of the orphanage, stories of the kids in that house and a few of the other kids too. It’s really nice to know where they come from, but some of the stories were pretty sad. We kept playing with the babies until they went to take their naps. Then we went outside with the older kids for a little while. At 1pm we went down to the college because we had plans to have lunch with Sister Elly and Ester (one of the teachers at the college). We had chipati for lunch. It’s kind of like a thick crepe. Yum! We also had some vegetables and sauce with it. 

After lunch we walked up the hill a bunch of the older kids were sitting on a log. They all wanted to sit in a row on it, but couldn’t all fit. They were getting pretty upset, but Sister Anna told them all to get off. I grabbed too of the kids hand and skipped across to the playground with them. They loved it. Pretty soon a bunch of kids were begging to skip. I managed to pair a few of them off and get them skipping without me. We then went back to our rooms for a little bit because Natalie wanted to take a nap and I needed a little break.

Soon I went back outside with the kids. I took a lot of pictures because they were all being so adorable. A bunch of the kids had little cans and bottles and were filling them with dirt on one side of the playground and then ferrying them over to the other side of the playground. There is a piece of playground equipment that is flipped over because it’s broken. The base is hollow and they love to put dirt in it. Some of the girls were carrying their cans on their heads. They’re just “practicing” for when they’re older.

After playing outside for a while we went inside with the older kids and dressed them after their baths. They get really rowdy when we try to play with them inside so we went back to the baby house again. When Baraka was being fed he threw up all over himself and I got to help change him which was really fun because I haven’t done that yet. After changing him we put all of them to bed and came back to our suite.

Friday

When we went to breakfast, there wasn’t any! We went to the middle house because we hadn’t seen those kids in a while. They went outside almost immediately. After playing with them for a little while, we realized that Ester was eating mandazi and that’s what we usually eat for breakfast. We went back into the dining room and sure enough, there was breakfast. After that we played with the kids outside some more. Ester had a little fit at one point and hit her mandazi in the dirt. I tried to wipe it off and it didn’t work so the next time she bit into it she spat it out... on me. I ripped the gross part off and threw it away. Neema came over and pulled me to the pile of dirt she was working with. I sat in the dirt pouring in and out of a can with her for a little bit. Soon the kids from the big house came outside. They didn’t have school again. Apparently, the sister who teaches them is sick and lost her voice so she can’t teach them right now. 

After a little while two big trucks came into the orphanage. They were full of college students who are in Tanzania on a study abroad program through Duke University. These students are all learning Kiswahili at their respective universities in the US and came here for an advanced course. This program is funded by the US government They are visiting different places and getting practice. They came to the orphanage to talk to the kids and some of the sisters. We all played with the kids for an hour or so and we learned more about their program. When the kids started to go inside we went to a “reception” with the students. Natalie and I helped Sister Elly put out chairs and cups for them. She was very excited that she got to speak to them in Kiswahili. When they left we also helped Sister Elly clean up. It’s very exciting that she let us help because it means we’re less of guests now. When we first arrived, they would not let us do anything because we were guests, but they’re letting us do more and more which is very exciting. 

After they left we saw that all of the kids were walking behind the first house and we had never seen them back there so we followed. They were following Sister Narumeshwa to the dairy cooperative. She needed to pick up milk and the older kids wanted to go so we all went on a little field trip. We walked behind the first house and down through the orchard/garden. It’s a nice little path down a gentle hill. The kids loved it. When we reached the dairy cooperative the kids made a new friend in one of the guys that works there. They also got to poke around a little bit and see the office and look through the gate into the processing room which they loved. 

When we got back up to the orphanage, Natalie and I went to lunch. Just when we had finished Sister Grace came in and insisted that we eat some ugali. She also asked if we wanted some of the little fishies they have. I politely refused. Natalie had a small spoonful and described them as “very fishy.” I don’t feel any need to know what she means. After lunch we did a little laundry and then went back outside to play with the kids. We didn’t stay outside for very long because we wanted to see the babies. When we got into the baby house Robin, Briney, and Paula were there.

We all took the babies outside on a mat for a little while. We told those three about some of the kids stories. One of them had also brought a book for kids that are primary school age. Although these kids were not technically old enough it had bright pictures that they really liked. By the time we brought the babies back inside for milk, the three others had to leave. Natalie and I stayed with them until they went back to sleep and then returned to our rooms because all of the kids were inside. 

 

A final note

It's Saturday when I'm posting this and I realized this morning that we only have 10 full days left, including today. I can count that on my fingers. We were talking to Sister Regina this morning about how sad we are to leave. She said that they are all sad to see us go soon because they know us so well now. She said that they just think about the fact that because we have been there for so long, we know the place now and we know the kids and we know the sisters and they can only hope that we come back to visit. We assured her that we would visit sometime in the future.

Until next time...

The Saga Continues

I didn’t finish Saturday last time I updated this because I did not have time so I’m just going to start from where I left off. 

Saturday (continued) 

Soon after Helga left, the group of people from Nebraska also left. Just before they did we were talking to one of the guys and said we hoped to return to climb Kilimanjaro in a few years. As I turned and pointed to where the mountain should be, IT WAS THERE! That may sound strange because we’re living on the bottom slopes of it, it should be visible. However, Kilimanjaro likes to hide behind a layer of clouds and does not often reveal herself so that was a very exciting moment.

We saw that the German couple was about to leave so we went to talk to them. We asked how they were involved with Johnson (the premature baby). Barbara (the woman from the couple) answered for them both. The boyfriend works at a nearby hospital. Barbara went to visit one day and asked to see all of the babies. Johnson was in the first crib closest to her. She learned that he was born prematurely and his mother abandoned him there. He had lived at the hospital for 2 months and was fed double what the other babies were fed to try to get him to gain weight. Barbara fell in love with this little baby and tried to find any relatives for him to go to. Every attempt failed. In Tanzania you cannot adopt a child unless you have lived in the country for two consecutive years first, so they could not adopt him although they wanted to. With nowhere else to go, they brought Johnson to this orphanage because they heard it was really great (which it is). They plan on supporting Johnson when he leaves the orphanage and making sure he gets a family and goes to a good school. Barbara was very upset to have to leave him. 

Johnson is in the perfect place. Children here are really taken care of. The children living here have a better childhood than a lot of other children in Tanzania have. Many children do not get the opportunity to “be a kid” because they have to work with their families. The kids at this orphanage get an actual childhood. They may not have biological families, but they do have a family. They are not only part of the physical “family” here at the orphanage, but they are taught that they are part of God’s family. 

After the German couple left, we began walking back to our rooms. We were stopped by a congregation of sisters. It was Sister Agnes, Sophia (Pastor Urio’s wife), Sister Elly, and Sister Melissa (who runs Uhuru Hotel). They were discussing the new dining hall. Sister Elly described the plans for us. They want to tile the floor, add cabinets for dishes, counters with sinks for washing hands and dishes, cabinets for spices in the kitchen, and a baking counter. They may even add small tables so that the older kids can come and eat in the dining hall. 

Sunday

I planned on taking a shower on Sunday morning, but there wasn’t enough water pressure for the water to actually reach the shower head. There’s a bath faucet a lot lower (I’m not sure why, there’s no bath) and I managed to get water out of that one, but it’s less than half of my height. It made for an interesting shower to say the least. 

As it was Sunday, it was church time. Church at the orphanage meets at 10am in an upstairs room of the college. One of the college teachers, Esther, led the service. There were only 4 sisters there and a handful of students because it’s still break for the students so many of them are at home. The service was all in Kiswahili, but Sister Paulina told us the numbers of the songs so we could sing along.

After church we went to town. We walked a little ways down the road and waited for the dala dala. In case you don’t know what that is, I’ll explain. A dala dala is a van that acts like a taxi, but with lots and lots of people. I suppose it’s more like a bus than a taxi, but it is not the size of a bus. They are usually 13 seater vans, but if you have any less than 30 people it’s not a full ride. When a dala dala runs out of seats, people pile on top of you. They stand in any available floor space and hang out the sliding door on the side. At least three people fit in the front seat with the driver. Once every inch of space inside is taken, people stand on the back bumper and hang onto the roof. It’s a very interesting mode of transportation because you’re in such close proximity to so many interesting people. The old lady sitting next to Natalie was trying to talk on her phone, but she was holding it in her fist about 5 inches from her mouth. A boy sitting a few rows in front of us had a huge scar on the back of his head and I’m going to pretend it was from a lion, but it probably wasn’t. A girl named Anna also sat next to us. We attempted a conversation, but she didn’t know much English and we knew even less Kiswahili. 

We got off the dala dala at the Kncu (pronounced kin su) stop. From there we walked a little ways to the Uhuru Hotel. We went to the Green Bamboo for lunch. The waiter came over and took my order and then left without saying a word to Natalie. We thought it was hysterical. He casually just didn’t take her order. She flagged him down a little later and gave him her order. It took over an hour for our food to come. African time. 

While we were there we saw the Massawe family (Stephen and Haikael). They are such a treat all the time. They came to say hello for a few minutes. I also managed to connect to wifi for a little bit, that’s when I put up my last blog post. However, as we were about to leave, my iPad broke. It just stopped working. We tried restoring it from Natalie’s computer when we got back to the orphanage, but it didn’t do anything. I’ll have to wait until I get home, I guess. It’s a good thing that it’s still under warranty!

We took a taxi to town and tried to go to the currency exchange and buy more minutes, but both stores were closed because it was Sunday. So we went straight to the dala dala stand. I managed to fall asleep in the first few minutes of the ride. How? I have no idea. It’s so bumpy and you’re packed so tightly that it should be impossible to fall asleep. This ride was even crazier than the first! There were so many people. Just when I thought no one else could get on, 4 more managed to climb in. Surely no one else can fit now. Nope. Here come 2 more. The driver also didn’t always stop. He’d just kind of slow down and people would run and jump on. Don’t worry, I had a seat and the van came to a complete stop when I got on!

We sat in our common room when we got back and I began making rafiki (friend) bracelets for all of the older kids. I decided to go with blue and brown because those are the two colors I have the most of and the kids won’t be able to fight over who gets what color.

Monday

Monday was exciting because we spent the morning in the baby house. We sang them a bunch of songs. They loved the songs “open, shut them” and “10 little fingers” because of the hand motions. Ema (pronounced “Ee ma,” short for Emanuel) fell asleep in Natalie’s arms which was adorable. 

Aimee (the girl from Nebraska that we went swimming with) picked us up at 3. We went with her back to her house. On the way she gave us some grilled corn. It isn’t like sweet corn and it tasted like popcorn. We picked up four Cornell students who are working in the area from her house. We also tried passion fruit for the first time in her kitchen. They look gross, but taste delicious. After Aimee’s house, we drove to a school. At the school we tried to pick up one of the teachers, but she said we’d be getting back too late and wouldn’t come. We took 3 students (Samuel, Joshua, and Msisi) instead. We were headed to a hot springs!

We drove for well over an hour to get there and approximately 45 minutes of that was not on a paved road. Natalie and I were in the bed of a pick-up truck with the four Cornell students. We kept coming up on these huge patches of dirt and saying “Hey, look! It’s the hot springs! I guess no one told Aimee it’s dry season!” Eventually, we did get there. These springs are in the middle of nowhere. They’re a “hidden gem” as Aimee says. You had to drive into a little patch of trees that look like nothing and suddenly, there you are! It was a lot of fun.

When we arrived we realized that Natalie was absolutely covered in dirt from the truck ride. She looked hilarious because half of her body was 10 shades darker than the other half. There was no bathroom at the hot springs so we had to rough it in the trees behind a tarp that was hung up. We used a tarzan swing to get into the water. It’s called a “hot spring,” but the water wasn’t hot. It was definitely warm though. I would say around 75F. One of the Cornell students tried to dive off of a log that was in the water and ended up diving head first into another submerged log. He may or may not have broken his nose. I also kicked that same log and bruised my foot. Despite the numerous injuries, it was definitely worth the trip.

On the ride home, I sat in the cab of the truck (because I was one of the few who remembered a change of clothes) with two of the Cornell students and one of the local students. Aimee bought us all some sugar cane from a boy on the side of the road on the way home. How many of you can say you have eaten raw sugar cane? It was exciting. Except, you’re basically chewing on a tree and then spitting it out. The way you eat sugar cane is you peel off the outside layer and the inside is really really sweet. But you don’t actually eat the branch, you just suck out the juices. How they make sugar cane into sugar, I have absolutely no idea.

We went to the Green Bamboo at the Uhuru Hotel for dinner and Natalie and I both got eaten alive. When we got back to the orphanage it was 11pm and we were locked out. The gatekeeper had already left for the night. Natalie called Sister Elly and woke her up. Luckily, Robinson (the gatekeeper) lives across the street and noticed us struggling to get in. He showed up even though he wasn’t working and he came to open the gate as the man on guard arrived from the inside. It makes me feel very safe to know that it’s that difficult to get into the orphanage.

Tuesday

We woke up exhausted from our late night at the hot springs. Natalie and I are usually in bed, asleep by 10. So it was weird to get back at 11 and not sleep until later than that. I tried to shower again and we ran out of water again (we always run out because we share water reserves with the guys that are mixing concrete to finish the building we’re living in). I was exhausted already and all I had wanted was a nice (and warm) shower. I was fed up at that point with being in Tanzania. All I wanted to do was go home, take a nice shower, and sleep in my bed. I wanted to not be covered in a layer of dust at all times. I probably sound like a spoiled brat. But when you’ve been in a country like this for a month and are constantly dirty, despite “showering” (if you can call it that), it is easy to get upset about running out of water.

However, I remembered something my brother said to me when I was planning on coming. I was originally going to come to Tanzania for a month and spend only two weeks at the orphanage. He said that I should stay at the orphanage for a month because then if I hated it, or wanted to come home, I’d have to put on my big girl pants and live the life. Staying here for a month, I do have to actually live the life. I have to suffer through it. Sometimes I won’t have enough water to shower. That’s fine. I’ll just have to be a little dirty and go about my day. After I realized all of this I felt a lot better and I love it again. It was only about half an hour that I was upset, but it felt like longer. And living the life isn’t bad at all. I love it!

We went to play with babies after breakfast and that also made me feel a lot better. Almost as soon as we got there, Mosses (Moses) got a hold of my key. He, Elisha, and Baraka all took turns trying to unlock random doors with them. Angela fell asleep on my for a while as well. That was super cute. By the time we left, I had been holding her for over 2 hours straight.

While we were in the baby house, some doctors came. Apparently, they come on the first Tuesday of every month which is really comforting because it means the kids get checked up on often. They especially wanted to check up on Johnson because he was not here yet last time they were here. One of the doctors asked what Elisha’s story was. His mother died during a c-section. It’s really sad because if she had lived somewhere else like the US, she probably wouldn’t have died. 

Later in the day, after lunch and a nap, we went to go back to the baby house, but the other kids were outside and we got distracted and never made it. We played with the older kids for a little bit and then went into their house to help dress them after their baths. Only Sister Jackie was in the house (whereas there’s usually 2 sisters) so Natalie and I had to select their clothes for them. We did our best, but when we were done Sister Jackie redressed a few of them. We attempted to start a round of “Twinkle twinkle little star” with the kids, but only Judica sang along. Ema (Emanuel) hummed the tune though. Soon it was time for their dinner. Before they can eat, they must all bow their heads, close their eyes, fold their hands, and say a prayer. It was so cute. We sat with them for a little bit, but pretty soon Sister Jackie came back and said: “Because you are here, the children no eat. Be free!” Basically, we got kicked out.

After dinner, Natalie and I decided to go to the sisters’ evening prayer which happens every night at 7. Sister Grace led us in singing a song, reading a passage from James, and singing another song. 

When we returned to our rooms, I counted the bug bites on my legs from our dinner at the Green Bamboo. The grand total was 44, but I found more the next day.

Wednesday

We went to the middle house on Wednesday. Calvin (pronounced Kelvin) peed on the chair he was standing on and created a puddle. Ester was being completely adorable. WHen we arrived, she had only just been moved to this house and wasn’t talking. On Wednesday, she was saying “dada” whenever she interacted with me (which means sister) and was saying “tena” a lot (which means again).

We found out a little bit about Mary, the special needs girl in the middle house. They think that she is about 10 and 1/2, but are not completely sure. She was abandoned about 5 years ago at a nearby hospital by her father when she was about 5 years old. Luckily, Mary has a great place like this orphanage to take care of her, but I don’t know what will happen for her in the future because she cannot stay here forever. The sisters would never kick a child out if they had no place to go. 

At lunch we ate with Pastor Urio (who happened to be visiting from town) and Sister Anna. We talked a lot about how Obama and Bush were in the country. They all love Obama and are excited for the money and aid he has promised to Tanzania. 

Later in the day, Ema and I played with some dirt. He had me sit on the ramp while he put dirt into a little bottle. He would pour a little dirt into his hand and then transfer it to my hand. He would then lead me as we counted the bushes in Kiswahili and he told me which bushes needed dirt. After I while, I let him pour a little dirt on my skirt and then he would brush it off. Ester did not like that at all and she yelled at him.

Some of the babies were on a mat outside the back of their house and some kids from the middle house came to sit with them. When it was time for the middle house to go inside, the staff brought Elisha over and he identified the kids from his house for them. He was very pleased with himself for the great job he did. 

Thursday

Happy Independence Day! It’s weird because we did absolutely nothing to celebrate it.

After breakfast, Natalie and I went to the baby house. They like when we sing, so Natalie and I had a little High School Musical singing session. Ema fell asleep while I was rocking him and Fadhili. Elisha fell asleep facedown on the floor for over an hour. He only woke up once when Mosses scratched his face. When he woke up, he looked up, scooted away from Mosses, and went back to sleep. Shangwe also fell asleep on Natalie’s leg. With all the sleeping you’d think it was a really quiet morning. It wasn’t. Before they all fell asleep they were just screaming bloody murder. 

After lunch, I was drawing pictures in the dirt with some of the older kids. They kept asking me to draw specific things, but I couldn’t understand them. I really wish I could speak Kiswahili. I just kept drawing mtoto (child) and kipepeo (butterfly). I also drew a few cats because there are a few cats that live at the orphanage, but I’m not entirely sure they knew what it was. 

Frankie and Elisha from the middle house both peed on the playground. When Elisha did it, it was at the top of the slide and then he slid down leaving a huge wet streak behind him. The other children all slid down after him. Neema was also just being completely adorable outside as she played. Natalie and I helped give baths to the older kids when they went inside.

When we left their house, we saw the mountain was out so we decided to take a walk up to the hospital so we could see it better. On our way out of Kalali (the village the orphanage is in) we met a guy named Rick and his friend Joseph. They walked all the way with us. They told us that they were guides, but we’re not sure if we believe them. Either way they were really nice. We walked really far and it was all uphill. They gave us our contact information on a really old Kilimanjaro National Park brochure and told us to let them know if we ever wanted to climb Kilimanjaro with them. The mountain is truly beautiful. It was incredible to see it clearly. On the way back, we stopped at the hospital for a sprite.

Friday

After breakfast we went to the middle house. It was a tad strange because the male students are back from break so they were working today. There have only been females working until today. They’re really nice and take excellent care of the kids though. Neema was being adorable as per usual. Megan and Elisha both put the front wheel of the bike into a toy school bus and then rode around like that which was cute. 

The kids went outside really early. So early in fact that the staff forgot to give them their milk. We had to round them all up and give them their milk on the porch. Almost as soon as we got outside, Stefano (from the older house) took my hand and gave me a tour of behind the middle house. We saw the cooks, the kitchen, Robinson (the gatekeeper), and the clothes lines. When we returned back in front of the house, we walked down past the baby house. The babies were outside again, but lying on a mattress this time. A few of the older kids were already down there playing with the toddlers. 

Judica went up to each of the infants lying on the mattress and gave them a kiss on the forehead. Josef saw me tickling one of the infants and tried to copy me. Ester held Fadhili in her lap for a while to give a staff member a break. These children are just the cutest things. 

I tried to teach Happiness some colors in English, and I think she understood. I pointed at a leaf and at her sweater and said “Green. Semma green” (Semma means say) and she would repeat after me. After a while she started pointing at different things and having me tell her the colors. She also dragged me around to all of the flowers to tell her what colors they were. 

Some time after lunch, we went with the other volunteers to the Camp David Bar (which is a 2 minute walk from the orphanage) to meet Peter (one of our safari drivers). He was taking us on a hike. We walked up the road a little and turned left onto someone’s property. We went behind a barn and then down a really steep hill. We went along an irrigation track for quite some time. We were walking on a rock wall that made up one side of the track. It was less than the width of two balance beams. This irrigation track was built into the side of a cliff. So we were basically walking on a balance beam over a cliff. After a while, we descended the cliff. We then crossed the river (at which point I lost the walking stick Peter’s friend had given me). We went up through the jungle on the other side of the river. Peter’s friend found me a new walking stick at that point. We soon went back down to the river and walked through it until we got to a waterfall. It was incredible. Peter said it was probably 80 to 90 feet high. Somehow, through the whole trip, Peter and his friend managed to keep their feet dry. Whereas I gave up and just walked in the river.

We took the exact same route on the way back, but it seemed a lot harder. The hardest part was the really steep hill we first walked down. We had to climb all the way back up it. We stopped at the bar for a little while after the hike to talk to Peter, but we made our way back to the orphanage to clean up and eat dinner. The hike gave us a huge appetite. Natalie and I also tried to go to evening prayer at 7, but no sisters showed up. 

I really can’t believe I only have a little over two weeks left. I miss home and want to see everyone, but I also don’t want to come home. I will miss the children and all the other people so much when I have to leave. It’s weird to describe how nice everyone is here. How can everyone be so nice? In the US or other countries that I have experienced, people always have other people that they dislike. Or will get mad at each other or fight. People in Tanzania don’t do that. Everyone is friends with everyone. No one would ever do something that would make someone else mad. It’s incredible how kind and heartfelt everyone is.

School starts for the older house on Monday and I’m very excited about it. Friday evening we asked Sister Loema (who teaches their class) if we could go to class and she said yes. I can’t wait!

Until next time...

African Time

I have now been at the orphanage for almost a week, but before I talk about that, let me tell you about the things we did around Moshi on Tuesday.

Tuesday

We first went to the headquarters for the Northern Diocese for a briefing on BCC. BCC stands for Building a Caring Community. It's basically a daycare for special needs children. They take special needs kids during the day so that parents can work, go to the market, etc. They have 11 centers in different areas for people to use and the resources are actually very good. There was quite a bit of equipment that I recognized from touring special needs facilities in the US. They also have OT, PT, and speech therapists available for the children. This organization is not solely focused on day care, but on educating parents so that these children can receive better care at home as well. We were able to visit one of the centers and all of the kids were very well looked after and super happy to interact and play with us. 

After visiting BCC we went shopping in Moshi. Since I can go into Moshi at any point for the next four weeks, I did not buy anything. I did, however, get to go in the Willy Wonka elevator. Chad took Kristian and I on this elevator and it was a tad sketchy. The building we were in had 12 floors, but they called the first floor "ground floor." The elevator started on the "1st floor." Elevators are made for handicapped people, but here the handicapped people would have to walk up a flight of stairs to use the elevator. Also, the elevator only goes to "floor 8" simply ignoring the floors above. Now as to why the elevator is sketchy, if the previous explanation wasn't enough. The elevator was a square attached to half of a glass octagon. As soon as the elevator starts moving, elevator music comes on. Then while you're going up you look at the building across for, you. It looks about the same height that you'll be going, except the top two floors are completely unfinished. You suddenly wonder if the top of your building is finished and realize that you'll soon find out! Luckily, the building was finished and we returned to the "1st floor" safely. 

We next continued on to the Amani Home for Street Kids. They house over 80 children and have classroom facilities for those children. Street children are not orphans, but have left their homes for various reasons including divorce, abuse, poverty, and even peer pressure. The home has both male and female social workers who go and find street children in Moshi and Arusha. The ultimate goal of the home is to reunite children with their families if the situation is safe.

For lunch we went to a restaurant called Indoitaliano. Natalie and I split a "sausage pizza" which turned out to be a hot dog pizza. After lunch we went back to the hotel, packed, and loaded the buses. The entire group came to the orphanage to drop us off and say goodbye. A few tears were shed on both ends as we said goodbye and of course Sue shouted some motherly advice out the window as they drove away. Natalie and I went to our "suite" to unpack, came to dinner, and then returned to finish unpacking. It was a very long day.

The orphanage! 

I am now officially at the orphanage. It is a hard adjustment and I have been a little homesick. The hardest thing to adjust to is African time. Even when we were on the vision trip, we were basically still moving on American time. Ours days were structured and we went from one place to the next without a break. African time is a much slower pace. Things are done slowly with lots of time in between. If you say that something with happen at a certain time, it likely won't be for an hour after that. While it is a difficult adjustment to make, I am beginning to settle in. 

The orphanage is made up of four houses, plus a college, and a new dining hall (which is still in the process of being built). The college is for students studying child care so they do their field placement at the orphanage. One of the houses does not have any children in it, but contains living quarters for some of the sisters, the reception, offices, prayer rooms, and a few guest rooms where Anna and Raechel (the other volunteers) are staying. The house next to that is the baby house where children under the age of 1 and 1/2 live. The middle house is kids from around 1 and 1/2 to 2 and 1/2. The final house is kids from around 2 and 1/2 to age 5. There are a few rooms attached to the dining hall and that is where Natalie and I are staying. 

When you enter our "suite" there is first a little common room which we share with one of the sisters who lives in the building. After passing through that you'll see 5 doors. Three of those are bedrooms, one is the toilet, and one is the shower. One of the rooms is unoccupied and Natalie and I each have one of the others. Another adjustment to make is that the concept of "homey" does not really exist here. Tanzania is a lot less materialistic than the US so they just have less things in general. Where the US would have pictures hanging, they have a blank wall. Where the US would have carpeted floors, they have concrete. It takes a little getting used to, and I decided to decorate my room a little by putting a scarf over the nightstand, tying a different colored scarf over the back of my chair and putting up some birthday cards that were sent in my suitcase from home. 

In terms of orphanages, this place gets 5 stars. The kids are treated really well and the sisters and staff really do care for them. I have never seen happier children. As well as the sisters, stadf, nd college students caring for them, they all take care of each other and comfort each other if one of them is upset or falls over and gets hurt. Not all of the kids are orphans in the American sense of the word. Here that can mean that a child is missing one parent or that the parents simply can't care for the child. Many of the children have one or both parents living but the family is in a situation where they either can't care for their child or can't afford to care for their child. After these 5 years at the orphanage, a lot of the children actually have homes that they can return to. Some kids don't even stay until they age out. Very few of the children have to be adopted as even those without living parents are placed back with their extended families. The orphanage keeps very good contact with families so that they know the best place to put a child after the most expensive and time consuming years of care are over.

Wednesday

Natalie and I went into the middle house on Wednesday. We went to breakfast around 8:30 and then straight to the kids, they're so cute and so happy. They just want to play. I wish I could attach pictures of the kids, but unfortunately I can't until I get home. I got hit in the head with a tin can by the youngest girl Ester. She was only moved into this house 3 days ago to make room for a new baby named Johnson. I also got to feed Ester her milk before tea time which was fun.

After Natalie and I cam back from our tea, Kelvin (one of the little boys) peed all over a chair he was standing on and then he and Ester both slipped in it. After they were changed we helped feed them porridge for lunch. I fed Ester again and that was a treat. She loves to hold food in her mouth until she sneezes or coughs and then it goes EVERYWHERE. 

Later that afternoon, Natalie and I were picked up by a girl named Aimee. We met her at the hotel a week or so ago. She has been coming to Tanzania for about four years now and works with different students. She also started her own nonprofit organization. We went with her, two Cornell students, and some local school kids to a hotel called Protea to go swimming and get dinner. The pool was absolutely freezing, but dinner was good and the hotel had free wifi.

Thursday

Thursday morning I did not feel well so I slept until 10:30. I went to tea and then Bob Kasworm (the guy from Machame Hospital) came to see us. Anna's mom had emailed him that there wasn't much to do so he came to help us out. He told us he would take us to Moshi on Friday. 

After he left, Natalie and I returned to the middle house to help feed them lunch. I fed Ester quite quickly this time and moved on to Elisha. He was just being very difficult. He sat on top of the table and thought it was hilarious to scoot away as I tried to put the spoon in his mouth. He was still very cute though because when his lunch dripped on my skirt, he tried to wipe it off for me. After lunch all the kids were napping so Natalie and I retired to our rooms for a little bit. We returned outside when the oldest kids did and we brought bubbles. They loved it! They each got a turn at blowing the bubbles themselves and I began to learn their names. 

It got hot as we played outside so Natalie and I went to get water and when we got back we helped to dress the oldest kids after their baths. When we finished, Aimee was at the orphanage with volunteers from the hospital to show them around. We went with them to each house. It was my first time in the baby house so that was really cool. By the time they left, it was dinnertime. We had to eat in the dark because the sun went down already and the power had been out in the whole town all day. The power was off and on the rest of the night.

Friday

Friday means the end of a week! Even though we haven't been at the orphanage all week, it feels like an accomplishment. When I woke up early this morning to take a shower, the power was out again. That meant no hot water. Right when I was going to actually get in the shower the power came back, so I turned the heat on and waited another 10 minutes, only for the power to go back off. Luckily, there was enough hot water for my entire shower!

Natalie and I went to the baby house for the morning. There are 8 babies. The two girls are Shangwe and Angela. The boys are Moses, Elisha, Baraka, Ema (Emanuel), Fadhili, and Johnson. They're all so cute!! After they went down for their nap, I did some laundry. I poured the detergent on the clothes instead of into the water, so my clothes still have tide in them...oops. Also, our entire "suite" smelled like tide. Then we went to lunch. We kinda hung out for a while after lunch. All of the kids take naps after lunch so we get a break. We found a cool bug and named him George, but we lost him somewhere in the common room. 

As we were about to leave our suite to go meet Bob, Pastor Urio showed up with 3 German bishops. Bob picked us up around 3:30pm and drove us into Moshi. We could see Kilimanjaro out of the window almost the entire way into town. Anna and Raechel stayed at the Union Cafe with Bob once we got to Moshi, but Natalie and I journeyed out to to to the Nakumatt (supermarket) and to find wifi. At the Nakumatt I was very excited to find a bunch of inexpensive British foods (TZ was once colonized by the British). After the Nakumatt we went to "kicheko dot com" Internet cafe. I tried to upload a blog post then, but it didn't work. It felt strange to be sitting outside on a street in Moshi, Tanzania on the Internet on our apple products, but there you go!

Bob picked us up from the cafe to drive us back to Kalali. On the way back we stopped at the "highway supermarket" for Anna and Raechel to buy a case of water. It was very entertaining to watch as communications failed and they nearly walked away with a tank of propane. The mountain was still out and we headed back up towards its lower slopes. It's sheer size and majesty is overwhelming and I just stared at it.

Saturday

Natalie and I thought Saturday would be a relaxing day because we had nothing planned. We were very wrong! After breakfast we returned to our suite and found George in the common room. We decided to bring him downstairs because he was injured. He flew away! We didn't know he could fly so that was exciting!

When we got downstairs, two HUGE buses pulled into the orphanage full of 23 students and their chaperones from an international school in Germany. 23 is a lot of people and some of the kids get overwhelmed easily. A few of the kids hid behind me because they already knew me, which I thought was cute. The students brought a huge amount of donations for the orphanage. They stayed until about an hour before lunch and the whole time they were here, Natalie and I played with the kids outside and answered questions. 

After lunch, Natalie and I went for a walk. We walked down through an "orchard" of banana trees attached to the orphanage and came out by the Kalali Dairy Cooperative. We walked down a small hill and past Kalali town center where the market is held on Thursdays. Town center may be a bit deceiving as a description because it was just a bunch of empty wooden stands. Natalie and I found a path that cut straight down the hill we were walking down instead of looping around by the road. We were feeling adventurous so we decided to take the path. It was really steep and slippery and we both nearly fell a number of times. A guy was waiting at the bottom watching us and as we neared we could tell he was making sure we made it down okay. He pointed out a better path to take as we got closer and we thanked him when we reached the bottom safely. 

We walked a little farther down the road to a bridge over a river with some cows crossing it. Apparently, the diocese owns all of the land from the orphanage down to that river so then we turned around and began walking back up the road. About halfway up, we got really tired so we sat on the side of the road for a little bit. A guy on a motorcycle stopped to talk to us for a few minutes. When we walked farther up the hill a guy called Frederick stopped to talk to us. He told us a little about the history of Africa, and by a little, I mean a lot. He must have talked for 20 minutes as flies munched on my legs. 

When we returned to the orphanage there were more visitors! A German couple and a bus full of Nebraskans. We returned to the room for a few minutes and when we returned Stefano and Elisante, two of the older boys ran at me and gave me huge hugs. I sat on the steps with about six of the older kids and after a few minutes I heard "dada, ona!" which means "sister, look!" They all began showing me their jumping skills. 

Soon we saw Helga, a little girl from the middle house, all dressed up. It turns out she was going home! It was very sad to see her go. The staff in her house called her name as she was about to leave to say goodbye and she ran at then and jumped in their arms screaming. She obviously doesn't know her family very well and she cried as they took her away from the sisters. Even though she's going back to her family, it's sad to see her go with people she does not know very well. But the sisters definitely made sure she would be safe wherever she was going. 

I have more to say about Saturday, but I'll have to post it next weekend because we're leaving wifi soon! Until then...