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!
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