Tanzania-Kenya-Ethiopia-Sudan-Egypt

So I had to leave my kids today. It was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do. They were all crying when i left and some were just sitting at the table just starring at their paper. It made me so sad, like I was leaving a piece behind me. Of course I will go back but who knows when it will be. I am hoping that it will be sooner than later but you never know. It was also a lot harder to leave the house than I thought it would be. I guess I am one of those people who makes friends easier, and I was starting to get to know everyone. The flight to Egypt was very long. I had to take a taxi to the airport, which was an hour. I saw mount Kilimanjaro though, it was pretty amazing. I then flew to Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Cairo. It was awesome to see the cities at night. My Friends apartment is cool too. I have a view overlooking the Nile River. Her roommates are awesome too! I didn't get into Egypt until 2:30 AM this morning (I am 7 hours ahead) After the initial excitement, I was finally able to sleep around 4:30 AM. I got up today at 8 with a general plan but no specifics. I ended up going to the Egyptian Museum which was amazing. I saw Tutankhamen's tomb and various artifacts throughout Egypt's History (which is very long) I wish I could have taken some pictures but you are no allowed to bring any camera inside the museum. Cairo is really overwhelming at first, especially when you are by yourself, but the longer I walked around downtown the more comfortable I got. Egyptian men are very friendly. I had people try to show me where things were when I asked how to get somewhere. I had one man walk me to this lunch place I was recommended to eat at (which was 30 minutes from where we were) then he ordered the food (which was amazing, beans in bread and then something else in bread) then he took me to tea, and then to get a SIM chip for my phone so I could have an Egyptian number. This was about 2.5 hours of his time. He was a student in University. He wanted to drive me to the hospital but I didn't trust all of that, I mean tea is one thing, but getting in his car is another. I made some excuse and got away. I knew I needed to go to the hospital here to get my foot checked out since the one in Tanzania is well below par, esp considering they never touched my foot. I went to Anglo-American Hospital. It is a private Hospital in Cairo. I walked in and did not have to wait at all. The doctor who did speak English took me right in. The cab driver waited for me, and translated when I first got there to figure out where I needed to be. After the first doctor saw me, another one saw me, then I had to get an Xray again. I ended up having a fissure fracture and now a new blue cast and a set of crutches. Here everything is pay up front as well. It was 250 Egyptian Pounds for the doctor, 50 for the xray, 60 for the cast, 30 for the medication, 75 for the taxi and 470 for the crutches. 1 USD is 5.6 Egyptian Pounds. I guess you could say it was an expensive day, but I fully promote travel insurance. I started crying at the hospital just out of frustration, and everyone got freaked out. The taxi driver told me it is very unusual to see people cry. Also, they do not have crutches at the hospital. The driver had to drive me all the way across town where I had to get fitted for the crutches. I was not prepared for the cost and felt overwhelmed and cried again. Once again the men freaked out, but they bought me a lemonade to try to make me feel better. The taxi driver waited through all this again. He was really nice. I was thinking, if a foreigner came to our country and this happened to them, would we be this hospitable to them...probably not...which is sad. In fact I felt people were more hospitable to me here then most people would be to me in my own country. It is a terrifying experience to be in a country where you know no one, cant speak the language or read the language and have been here 12 hours and now you are are crutches. But on the bright side I guess I will have strong arms. I am going to try to make it though the rest of Egypt. I am going to the pyramids tomorrow and Islamic Cairo. I am hoping I can still do Israel and Jordan but I guess time will only tell. At least here taxis are readily available and not THAT expensive. It is a cool city here though and I hope others do get the chance to explore it, if not for all the sites, simply for the amazing hospitality of the people!

Random Pictures

it never fails...

Yes it never fails...I am hurt again. It was really random how it all happened. I was fine after I got home from playing soccer and dancing, and I was fine when I went to bed, but then I woke up crying at 2:30 AM with excruciating pain in my right foot. I didn't want to wake anyone up, because what are you going to do at 2:30 AM...nothing. So I rolled around trying not to cry and eventually the pain got so bad that I had to go to the bathroom because I almost threw up. I then managed to make it out to the security guard to try to get a taxi but of course he was confused at what was going on so I hobbled back to my bed. I laid in bed in pain until I finally exhausted myself and fell asleep at 5:30 AM. I woke up again around 7 still in pain. The cook for the house who I am friends with insisted on doing some local treatment with water and salt and then she proceeded to rub my foot...it was probably one of the most painful experiences...in fact I woke up everyone at the house crying and screaming. There is a doctor in the house right now so she was of course like what??...no?? but she would not stop rubbing and contorting my foot. On the bright side she caused me so much pain that my pain now feels minimal. Anyway I ended up going to AICC hospital...a private hospital. So needless to say I got a very first hand view of the health care system. Everything here is cashed based. You have to pay 10,000 TSh to see the doctor. Then they give you a number for a room. You wait in the waiting room until that room opens and whoever gets in the door next goes first. I was sitting in the hospital forever because no one told me....I guess I got used to having my name called. I went in to see the doctor and he kept calling me mzungu (white person) which was really frustrating and unprofessional. He never once touched my foot, in fact he only "glanced" at my foot for maybe 2 seconds. He sent me to Xray, which I expected. I had to pay another 10,000 TSh for the xray, and wait 20 minutes to find a wheelchair to go back. There are no lead aprons, no "could you be pregnant" questions, no anything. In fact my house manager was standing right next to me while I was getting the Xray taken. After that I had to wait for the xray FILM to be developed, take it back to the waiting room and wait to see the doctor again. He glanced at it and said oh its a sprain, when clearly there was a fracture that even I and the nurse that went with me could see. As most people know I am allergic to NSAIDS, which makes it hard to take pain medication. They have no pain medication outside of NSAIDS and Tylenol. There is no such thing as codeine in this country. Then he told me to put some cream on and wrap my foot. I got sent to the pharmacy where it was another 6,000 TSh for an ace bandage that is child size and cream. After we got home the nurse that was with me looked up the cream in a drug book because I recognized on of the ingredients. And yes...the doctor...after I told him what I was allergic to....prescribed me medication I was allergic to!!! Smart!! I got my copy of the Xray (the next day) which was a hassle because they didn't understand and tried to make me pay again. I brought it home to the doctor from England that is here and it took her 2 seconds worth of looking to say "yep, it is def broken" The health care system here is amazing. I mean seriously, how do you not exam your patient, take a history, or even take the time to look at an xray, and then prescribe medication I am allergic too!!! They do not have boots here or anything! I am leaving today for Egypt, and they are supposed to have a good international hospital there so I was be visiting that upon arrival. Oh the life of Africa....TIA...AWA! on a side note it appears to a stress fracture since I was doing a lot of activity before hand and there was no real incident that occurred.

Church, Soccer and BBQ

I was really interested in the religious aspects of the culture here so I found a catholic church that is near by. Mass here starts at 7 and then every 1.5 hours after that. It is weird because in America no one hardly ever goes to early mass, but at this church it was full! Every seat was taken inside, with everyone squeezed together. Then at each of the 3 entrances there were about 50 people standing outside listening to mass. They have speakers that lead to the outside. They have an English mass but I decided to go the Swahili one because why not? At first when I got there everyone looked at me because I was white. But after I put some change in the collection basket everyone's looks changed. It was a really welcoming church. Granted I have no idea of what was said it was still an awesome experience. Also in order to get a seat for the next mass people started lining up outside 30 minutes early. It was awesome to see that so many people still go to mass and love Jesus. It was an eye opening experience into faith in different countries. The music was awesome as well. The people in the choir were dancing to the music and it was a very uplifting environment. Some volunteers have organized a soccer match between the mzungu and the locals in Usa River every Sunday. Normally we only have 7 or so volunteers so we get a couple locals. The match is really official. We shake hands before the game and have a ref, although there is a ravine that runs right down the middle of the field which is all dirt and rocks and corners that are knee high with grass. Most of the locals play without shoes or with only one shoe on. The ones that do usually have soccer socks but the bottoms of the socks are just holes so they have to pull the sock all the way down to have something covering their toes. It was funny because I anticipated getting killed in the game but we actually won. Also, I was anticipating only playing 1 maybe 1.5 hours, but no it kept being halftime, never game over and we ended up playing 4 quarters which last 3.5 hours! It was the longest game of soccer I have ever played, plus each halftime was only 5-10 minutes and we had zero subs. It was awesome though. Girls don't normally play sports so when they tell you that you play like a boy it is a great compliment here! After the soccer match or mpira in Swahili, the owner of the safari company SOK threw a BBQ to support Lukundane. While he was cooking the Tamiha cultural dancing group performed new dances for us. Some children from the orphanage came as well and we saw some new acrobatics being performed. The BBQ was so much food. Basically an entire cow, except the cows here are skinny so it is not really comparable to home. After the food we stayed around. I learned how to do a couple of the different cultural dances and I also learned how to play the drums. It was awesome. The children from the orphanage were teaching me the body parts in Swahili. We started a bonfire and danced into the night. It was one of those experiences that were priceless. While there I was asking abut some of the boys ages that were dancing because they seem so little compared to the girls. Apparently their families have been so malnourished for ages that the men are becoming shorter and shorter. It is so sad to see and realize that we have so much and waste so much, when they would kill for 1/8 of what we have and when we complain that what we get is not enough!

SNAKE PARK

Today was the day we took the children from my orphanage, Bethlehem, to the snake park in Messerini, Tanzania. Katie, Gabby, and I met up in the morning and went to the local market to buy food for our picnic. This was actually the first time I went into the food portion of the market and brought food. Everyone is trying to get you to go to their station, it is pretty overwhelming. We ended up buying 14 bananas, 5 mango's, 10 oranges, 2 packs of muffins, 1 pack of rolls, 1 loaf of bread, and apple and pineapple juice. All this to feed 12 children, Mama and her son, and then 4 volunteers. We figured it was better to have too much food then not enough, esp since this was a treat for the children. Once we got to the orphanage, the children went crazy. They did not know exactly where we were going but they knew something was going on since they were all dressed in their matching shirts from the orphanage. They started dancing and singing songs and were going crazy. It was a bit hard trying to get them all dressed and ready but eventually 1 hour later we were ready to go. We hired a dalla dalla to take everyone so that we wouldn't have to try to change buses in the middle of town with all of the children. It is a religious based orphanage so on the way to the snake park bible songs were on. They were in Swahili so I could pick out some words but not all, but they children loved it. They were singing and clapping the whole way. On the way to the snake park we pass Arusha Airport, which is just a small local airport. We ended up going around to the front of the airport and stopping since the children had never seen a plane or airport before. It was so exciting to them. They all tried to crowd against the window so they could see better, and they were screaming something which probably meant plane. I wish we could have paid some money and tried to get them to even look at the plane up close or take a picture by it, but we didn't even think about that until we passed it. One sad part is that we passed a small pond and the children thought it was the ocean. We eventually made it to the snake park, about 1 hour drive. The kids were so excited. It was pretty reasonable, price wise, to that mama and the children, but even though we are residents and have that stamp in our passport saying we are, because we are white we had to pay 10 times what we paid for the others. That is the one frustrating part of being here, that everyone looks at you and because you are white, you are rich, even though we all know that is not the case. We went into the park the children were mesmerized. Some of them were a little, okay a lot, scarred. Ibraham and Happy would not even go near them. When the snakes would move then all the other children would get scarred. We walked around to where the crocodiles were. All the children thought they were dead because they were not moving. Then one walked up close to the fence and ALL the children ran away and some started crying. It was so cute. We went around to all the other animals and then there is a part where you can hold a snake. All of the children did it, although some were not happy about it. You hold the snake around your neck. There is another part where you can hold a croc but only adults can do that, and I did. After all this we had our picnic. The children were so happy, because they normally do not have all the food that we brought. They didn't know where to begin. It was awesome to see all the smiles on their face. After lunch we went to a Maasi museum to learn about the culture. They were all really interested. After the museum, we went and saw the camels, and some of the children rode on the camels. It was adorable watching their faces when the camel went to stand. They were all intrigued by the camel. After this the children were exhausted so we took them back home. It was an amazing trip. I think that this provided an opportunity to learn about what is outside the walls of the orphanage and see some of the things that we take for granted in everyday life!

lukundane

On Friday I went to an event created by the founder of Tamhia orphanage called the widows project and lukundane. All the proceeds from this event go to support the orphanage and the widows in Usa River, Tanzania. The event was pretty awesome. There is a cultural dancing group that performs for almost 3 hours with different tribal dances from all over Africa. In this group there is a band with traditional Tanzanian instruments and then 3 male and 3 females dances. The students from the local vocational school prepare the meal for us as part of one of their daily lessons. They fixed soup, croutons, bread, rice, cabbage, chicken, and some other items for us. It was pretty amazing. They have a bar there which serves beer, banana beer which is 10% alcohol, and coke. Everything that exists at lukundane was built with the help of volunteers donations that they were able to raise. This event occurs every Friday. There are 4 children from the orphanage that are allowed to attend based on behavior so it becomes a real treat. We buy the food for the children as well as a coca-cola. They love it. After the dancing everyone just sits around and hangs out. When it starts getting later in the evening a bonfire is built to help keep warm because it gets surprisingly cold here at night and in the morning. It was a pretty cool thing to see. Also, Mount Meru looked pretty awesome today. We have not been able to see the summit recently because of all the clouds, but they broke today and the top looked awesome.

Tamhia supplies donation

So today was an amazing day once again. I had so many people donate supplies and my orphanages is small compared to the amount give, that I brought some of the items to another orphanage so other children will be able to have things as well. I brought the extra supplies to Tamhia orphanage in Usa River. At this orphanage there are 54 children. The children were so happy. At first all the children gathered around all the supplies in the room and they were just looking at it. They were no sure what to. Slowly each child started to pick up different items to look at. Eventually all the children were picking things up and looking at them and were amazed at everything. They were flipping through the coloring books say the names of the different animals and making the sounds that the animals make. The scissors and glue also amazed them because I do not think they have ever seen those before. After putting up the supplies they started to act out the different animals. After that we went to a local project that the volunteers at Tamhia have put together. It is a self-sustaining animal zoo, kitchen, lounge, and bar. There is also a sleeping area. Every Friday people are allowed to come visit. The money from admissions goes to support the project and the orphanage. This provides a source of income and a place where the children and other locals can learn about animals. There is a pigpen, monkey cage, snake cage, guinea pig cage, fish pond, amphibian pond, and much more being built. It really is amazing what has been done. It is bringing so much to the community and hopefully it will continue to grow in the future!

Bethlehem supplies donation

Today was an awesome day! This morning I started out running and along the way some local children saw me and were waving at me. I stopped to say “mombo” (hey) and “tano” (give me five). After that the children started running with me. After about .25 miles they died out. I kept running and looked back and they had started running after me again so I stopped and let them catch up. They ran about .5 more miles with me until the school bus came. It was a great way to start they day. I finally made it to Bethlehem orphanage to see my children. I brought with me all of the supplies that everyone donated! When I arrived most of the children were gone to school until 11am. There were 5 children there at first, and then two of the older children left to go to school, before the others arrived home. So that Wittness and Eluide would be able to have gifts too I gave them a couple items before they left. They were very excited and happy. Their faces lit up when they saw some of the items. I also gave mama her present too. I give her a collage picture from that I filled with pictures of the children and me. After the other kids arrived home from school I had them all sit at the table in the “everything” room. I put all the items in front of them and they started going crazy. Literally crazy. They were so happy. They stated singing happy birthday to themselves, and then some other songs in Swahili. It was pandemonium for almost 1 hour. They had no idea what to touch, grab, or look at first. There were some magnifying glasses that were donated that the kids had never heard of or seen before, which they were enthralled with. They were also amazed by all the colors that come in a box of 64 crayons and then 72 colored pencils. Of course, the new coloring books and stickers were a huge hit! Life out here is great. I have never seen children get so happy at what we would consider basics in America. Mama was also really happy. I really cannot express the shear joy on the childrens faces. It felt like I was able to make a difference, and bring something to someone in the world. Also I would just like to say that I tried to take some group pictures with the group and their supplies but they were so excited that it took almost 20 minutes just to get the picture I got! While I was there I noticed some ringworm on the many of the children’s heads so my friend and I went to the pharmacy the buy some cream for their heads. I am not sure how long the children have had it, but I am assuming awhile since they gave it too me the last time I was here. I feel bad that they have had to live with it almost 6 months or longer because ringworm itches, a lot. It doesn’t help that they have to sleep two to one tiny bunkbed. Mama right now has bought a plot to build a new place but does not have the money right now to start building. She is working on trying to fund raise, but it’s had with the bad economy and her lack of resources. Al she basically has is the volunteers. Katie, Gabby (two other volunteers) and myself have organized a trip to the snake park for the children this coming Saturday. It is an hour dalla dalla drive to the snake park in Messerini. Once there we will see the snakes, alligators, lizards, and turtles. Then we are going to take them on a camel ride, and to a Masi (the northern Tanzanian tribe) museum. We are going to stop at the sore before and buy food and have a picnic out at the snake park. The children are going to love it. I am not sure that they have ever been exposed to the kinds of things that they will see there. Right now they are in school right now, but it is government school equal to our public school in theory but not reality. They go to school for 3 hours a day where private school goes for 9 hours a day and they are taught most of their courses in English so they are able to learn. In government school only one class is taught in English. People may say well who cares if they know English, but in countries like Tanzania, in order to get a good job or have the chance to succeed in life English almost becomes a necessity. Besides English, the children are exposed to many more subjects and ideas. It is really hard for someone to go to private school here, as it may be cheap to us or our idea of what a private school costs, it is every expensive here where the average income is less than 1 USD per day. In order to go to private school most children need to get sponsored. Right now only one child is sponsored. All the rest are still looking! The older the children get, the harder it is to transition from government to private school simply because of the vast difference in education that is received. I hope that one day all of the children will be able to attend private school, since many of them are very bright, and a leg up would make a huge difference. If anyone is interested in sponsoring a child, just let me know and I will give you the specific information. Tonight I am off to the movie, or cinema as they would say there. We are having some girl time with some of the volunteers and seeing I am just not that into you. Oh and I had a new dish today for lunch. I ate at the orphanage with mama and the children and we had rice with lentils, avocado, and cabbage mixture. There is also a really, and I mean really hot pepper that mama convinced me to add to my food. I took a piece the size of a pencil tip and added it in and my mouth was literally on fire. The worst part is that we had to water to drink at lunch so I just sat there with my mouth burning. I suppose it was actually pretty funny considering everyone around the table was laughing. But now I know, NO MORE OF THOSE “PEPPERS” I wish that I had more time here. It seems there is never enough time. The longer I am here the more project I see that need to be done. Right now our current project list includes:
1 Taking the children to snake park
2 Getting rid of the ringworm on the childrens head
3 Taking children to local clinic to have them tested for diseases and deficiencies
4 Getting children sponsored for school
5 Getting rain boots and jackets for the children. It rains a lot during rainy season
6 Getting money for the new orphanage.
The list could go on and on. They need so much!

Home Sweet Home!!

I finally made it to Arusha last night!! It felt so great to step off the plane on to tanzanian soil. The two best parts were that somehow we got our expired visa extended so we did not have to pay the 100 USD visa fee again, and my friends were waiting for us outside! The ride to the house is about 1.15 hr and only cost 35 dollars in a taxi, could you imagine how much that would cost in the USA!!!, and when I got to the house my favorite tanzanian food chips mayai was made. I ended up going out to local bar to catch up with some old friends and meet some of the new volunteers. It is different here since the last time I came. I do miss all of my old friends that were here the first time with me :( but I am excited to meet new people from all over the world. I just got done exchanging money so I went with my friends to their orphanage in Usa River, which is a city about 45 minutes from here. It was actually two of the volunteers last days so we had songs and cultural dances performed to us by the Tahmina cultural group. There are now 54 children at this orphanage. We went to school today and learned the letters W X Y Z in both capital and lower case letters. We also played some soccer and jumping around. It was amazing just to be with children again, who just want your love and attention. There is not much at the orphanage, so me and 4 other children played a game where you dropped a wash rag on the ground and then we tried to get it. It was pretty fun. We also played hand slapping games like I did as a child, wherre you would sing "Mrs mary mack mack mack all dressed in black black black...." and also patty cake. It was pretty fun. Basically the high light of the day, which is saying a lot. It did however take forever to get home. The dalla dalla (bus) me and my friend katie were on ran out of gas but we made it to a gas station but it messed the whole van up so basically it took almost 1.5 hours to get home. It was aweome seeing all my friends and staff and just being here. I wish and hope more people are able to have the same experience. It is really life changing. I am going to Tahmina orphanage again tomorrow and then will be at bethleham orphanage on Thurdsay. I am hoping to throw in the rwanada war crime trials in there at some point as well. Well I am running out of internet time...talk to everyone soon

At the airport...again

So I am sitting at the airport...AGAIN...waiting for my flight. I feel like I have lived in airports recently, not that I am complaining at all....it is the opportunity of a lifetime and I feel very fortunate for being able to do everything I am doing. Me, being the constant procrastinator that I am, woke up this morning still needing to finish packing....in my own defense I did pack most of it last night! I am very thankful for everyone who was able to donate items to the orphanage. Even things that seem small in America are very appreciated in countries where having chalk or magnifying glasses, and pencils for school are not always an option. I would like to say that I was able to fit everything in the the bag and it was 50 lbs exactly! I will take plenty of pictures of the children so you are able to see the difference you are making in the lives of people who are strangers to you but family to me. As I sit here waiting it brings back old memories and hopes for new memories that are even better than before. I am a little nervous to go back. Things will be different. Many other volunteers will have come and gone during my time away, the children will have grown, and times will just be different. If there is one thing I have learned from all of my traveling is to have NO expectations...and that literally means NO, NONE, zip, not even your basic I hope to have a good time expectations. If you go in this way there is no disappointment. You take everything for what it is and form your own thoughts and opinions about the experience. You can't think about the past and hope that it will be the same, because it won't be the same. You can't think of how you imagine it to be, because it will never be that way. I am going in with no expectations. I am living my life, helping those that need it most. I know I will make a difference. Even if it is not seen immediately, in the long run, I am changing the world and people. It may only be a couple of people who I am able to impact, but who knows how a positive impact on a few can turn into multiple people. Think of all the people you know. If you smile at one person and they are having a bad day, you could change their attitude for that day, and then think how many people that person will talk to during the day, who will now be shown a positive attitude due to you. It continues to branch out. You have the power to be a positive aspect in peoples life everyday....make the most of it. As I embark on my journey I ask that you please keep me in your thoughts and prayers, as well as all the other volunteers all over the world who are trying to be that positive force and make a difference, no matter how small, in the lives of others!

(all the donations)

(done with nursing school)

(done with work)