Bonfire, teaching kids how to make smoresSaturday, August 21, 2010
8/19/10
Last Wednesday my friend Jennie arrived from
After eating we headed to the airport where David insisted I drive. I’ve driven a few times in Arusha, but was a little hesitant because the roads are so dark and it’s a long drive out to the airport. I decided it was better for me to drive because Tanzanians drive crazy, so I took the wheel and successfully made it to the airport even though there were a few close calls(just kidding….kinda). Waiting for Jennie in the airport was really exciting, the only times I have been to the airport is when I am coming or going, but I liked this better. Greeting Jennie as she walked out of the gates was really cool, it reminded me of the first time that I stepped foot in
Thursday during the day I took Jennie into town to show her around town, go to bank, use the internet etc. We went out to lunch and dinner that day, I made sure to let Jennie know that doesn’t usually happen so don’t get too used to it! Thursday night we went out to a bar in
Over the weekend Jennie got to meet all the kids that stay at the centre. They were excited to finally meet her because I had been telling them she was coming. It doesn’t take long for the little kids to warm up to volunteers. Within minutes she had this little girl Deborah sitting on her lap, eating a peanut butter sandwich! The older ones take a little bit longer to warm up to strangers, but not nearly as long as kids in the
We also spent some time searching for the movie Lion King. Ever since coming to
Monday all the volunteers went out to Kisongo to see the kids at
After reading Jennie, Chelsea(another volunteer) and I found some water balloons and started filling them up for a water balloon fight. We filled up two buckets worth, then got all the students, volunteers and teachers together, and we explained to them that the object was to get everyone as wet as possible but to not hit anyone in the face. We showed them the boundaries that they had to stay in, and everyone spread out and when we said go it was a free for all! It was really fun I nailed a few students good and even got some students to team up against teacher Peter, he was soaked by the end!
Monday night we had a bon fire with the kids at the centre. We just built a mini fire in the driveway, played some music and taught them how to make smores. The chocolate Jennie and I bough turned out to be too hard so we were trying to melt it in the kitchen then put it on a cracker. The chocolate turned hard very fast but the kids didn’t complain at all(even though they tasted so nasty I couldn’t eat mine), as they were all feeling a sugar high after eating at least three smores each(quite a bit for kids who don’t normally eat any sweets). They were all running around like crazy singing and dancing. They LOVE the song “Waka Waka” by Shikira, it was one of the theme songs for the World Cup. They literally ask to hear it over and over again, and they always dance to it, it is so cute! We did lots of dancing; they also loved this other song called “Yes”, by LMFAO. I’d never heard of it but a volunteer had it on her ipod and all the kids were in a circle every time they said “yes” in the song, we got some video of it, hopefully I will be able to post that soon although I’m not quite sure I will be able to figure it out J
The next night was the last night for the group of six from
Wednesday morning Jennie and I took some of the new LWCC kids to the hospital. They all have to be tested for HIV and if they are positive they have to go to a orphanage specifically for children with HIV. Once we got there we had to wait only a few minutes and then we took the kids one by one to get their finger pricked. They were so good none of them were scared(they didn’t know what they were getting tested for), and after the last one the doctor said that we just had to wait 30 minutes for the results. I had a slight panic attack in my mind because I had no idea that I would be the one who got the results. I figured it would take a few days and Anza or Dora would have to call to get the tests back. A million things ran tough my head as we were waiting, the most obvious thing, what the hell were we going to do if one of them was positive. Jennie and I did our best to just hang with the kids and not let them see how worried. Soon the doctor came out and handed me their slips, which all came back negative THANKFULLY….I still don’t know what I would’ve done or how I would have reacted if the results turned out positive. After that we waited for 1 ½ hours to be picked up TIA! I went and bought the kids some juice boxes and muffins at a little shop right outside of the hospital. I felt bad for them because we were waiting so long, plus they were very good patients and thought they deserved a little treat.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Pictures 2
I bought some flour to make bread with, and some peanut butter to make the kids peanut sandwiches, here they are eating them!
Miss. Helena with her pink lips from candy!
homemade hairstyle
Class party on the last day of school before the holiday.
Friday, August 6, 2010
8/4/10
This past weekend was very eventful!Saturday during the day a few volunteers and I went to the Masai Craft Market.Masai is a local tribe here in Arusha they are nomads who believe all the cows belong to them, and the more wives, cows, and kids the men have, the more wealthy they are considered.The Masai Market has many homemade goods made by the tribe.When you pull up to the market the women are sitting outside in the front making beaded bowls, necklaces, bracelets, etc.Its fun going to the market, but only for a short time, each shop you walk by the owner welcomes you to come in, and if you don’t they literally beg you to come in, it can get old very fast.
After the market we meet up with one of the teachers at the school we work at, and he showed us his nursery school that he owns, and talked with us about his plans to open up his own school.When we asked him how soon he wanted to open up his school he said that he hopes within five years!He is still collection money to start the building.The building process can take a long time to complete.Most people here pay as they go, so a building can sit for six months without making progress if the person building it hasn’t got money to pay.Pole pole is the motto here, it means slowly, slowly, and it applies to just about everything…no hurry in Africa.
After meeting with teacher Peter, my roommate Anna, and another volunteer Lisa from Germany went to this volunteer network meeting in downtown Arusha.I had met the leader of the group through a friend a couple of weeks ago. It is basically a way for volunteers to meet other volunteers, and learn about other places that people volunteer at. I actually knew someone who Erin and I met on our first trip to Tanzania. His name is Stu, he is from Australia and volunteers at a secondary school in town. He also started his own group for single mothers in Arusha, which I will blog about later, it’s a great group I just meet all the ladies yesterday. The meeting mostly consisted of people from Australia, there was another girl from the US, who is from Nashville, but goes to school in Boston. It was nice to meet other volunteers and learn about other places around the town, and always fun meeting people from different countries…..I learned that the Queen has her pictures on Australian money…who knew(we consistently end up talking about the Queen...the one from England not Oprah :)!?
Saturday night was my roommates birthday, so all the volunteers went out to a local club.It’s always fun where locals and volunteers go and dance to a mix of local music and the same music you would hear from a club at home. A good time was had by all. Sunday morning was a very early morning for me I was invited by Diane, (not sure if I have mentioned her yet, she works for the family I stay with, but is originally from Canada, and now lives and is married to a Tanzanian) to go to her husband’s(Malik) village. I was excited for two reasons, one I hadn’t yet met Malik, two I was excited to go to a village outside of Arusha. The name of the village is Maruvango. We left around 8:30 and didn’t get to the village until about 10:30. Half of the ride is on a paved road, and the second half is on a horrible dirt road, where you have to go pole, pole. The weather was pretty chilly and misting all day, but the village was so pretty. The trees are and small plants are a very deep green there are many Acacia trees, and some of them have green trunks to them. Scattered throughout the green leaves are beautiful bright tropical flowers. The first thing we did was go to Malik mother’s house. Malik built his mom a nice brick house and his also in the process of building his own house not to far from his mothers. We sat in his house where we were offered coffee, and hard boiled eggs(which tasted amazing)! After meeting family members and neighbors we went to the church where the village was having a ceremony for a couple joining the congregation. It was a nice ceremony, which I understood nothing of because it was all in Swhalli. Diane explained a few things that went on, my favorite part is the music. They sing and dance around the church and the music sounds so beautiful. There is also a part where the couple joining the church brings a goat in to present to the church as a gift. The goat is later auctioned off in a auction ran by the church, where people bring eggs, beans, corn, fruits to donate and the church has an auction to make money. After the auction the whole village is invited to the couples house where a meal and been prepared for lunch. We had a brown rice with cooked goat, white rice, veggies, fruit, cooked banana(traditionally cooked in most Tanzanian meals and sooooo good), and roasted goat. Everything was good except for some of the goat. I pretended in my head that I was on survivor so I could eat it, I literally swallowed chunks whole it was not as good as the last goat I had, and you can’t leave any food on your plate, everyone joins the clean plate club! Overall the day was an amazing day, the people in the village were so friendly and very excited to talk to the Wazungus(white people).
This week is the first week of holiday for the kids. I have really been enjoying it because I get to plan my own lessons with the kids. Monday I did reading assessments with the new kids.I assessed the kids when I was here in February but there are 12 new kids since I was here last. I like doing the assessments because I get to work one on one with the kids and it’s a good way to get to know them. Yesterday I worked with the younger ones, I brought up different colored balloons and we learned colors, and played different games to learn the colors. I also played some music from The Lion King and the kids tapped the balloons through the air making sure it didn’t hit the ground. After that we worked on alphabet sounds, which are a little tricky because they pronounce some of the letters a little differently then we do here, but we managed! While I was working with the younger kids another volunteer who arrived over the weekend, was working on math with the older kids. This afternoon we had a party for the kids. We went to the market in the morning to buy fruits and veggies, and had a big cookout at the center where the kids live. It was a fun afternoon of playing games, eating good food, shaving some kid’s heads and having a dance party!
Early this morning my roommate for the past 3 ½ weeks left with her traveling friend Tom. They are going on a 40 day safari all over East and South Africa. It was sad to say goodbye and it is very weird to have a room all to myself. Although we all have plans to come back to Tanzania and climb Mountain Kilimanjaro!A new group of volunteers arrived last night, they are Americans who grew up together but now live in various cities.Two of the girls have been here and stayed with the family before, the rest are new to LWCC.
After the market we meet up with one of the teachers at the school we work at, and he showed us his nursery school that he owns, and talked with us about his plans to open up his own school.When we asked him how soon he wanted to open up his school he said that he hopes within five years!He is still collection money to start the building.The building process can take a long time to complete.Most people here pay as they go, so a building can sit for six months without making progress if the person building it hasn’t got money to pay.Pole pole is the motto here, it means slowly, slowly, and it applies to just about everything…no hurry in Africa.
After meeting with teacher Peter, my roommate Anna, and another volunteer Lisa from Germany went to this volunteer network meeting in downtown Arusha.I had met the leader of the group through a friend a couple of weeks ago. It is basically a way for volunteers to meet other volunteers, and learn about other places that people volunteer at. I actually knew someone who Erin and I met on our first trip to Tanzania. His name is Stu, he is from Australia and volunteers at a secondary school in town. He also started his own group for single mothers in Arusha, which I will blog about later, it’s a great group I just meet all the ladies yesterday. The meeting mostly consisted of people from Australia, there was another girl from the US, who is from Nashville, but goes to school in Boston. It was nice to meet other volunteers and learn about other places around the town, and always fun meeting people from different countries…..I learned that the Queen has her pictures on Australian money…who knew(we consistently end up talking about the Queen...the one from England not Oprah :)!?
Saturday night was my roommates birthday, so all the volunteers went out to a local club.It’s always fun where locals and volunteers go and dance to a mix of local music and the same music you would hear from a club at home. A good time was had by all. Sunday morning was a very early morning for me I was invited by Diane, (not sure if I have mentioned her yet, she works for the family I stay with, but is originally from Canada, and now lives and is married to a Tanzanian) to go to her husband’s(Malik) village. I was excited for two reasons, one I hadn’t yet met Malik, two I was excited to go to a village outside of Arusha. The name of the village is Maruvango. We left around 8:30 and didn’t get to the village until about 10:30. Half of the ride is on a paved road, and the second half is on a horrible dirt road, where you have to go pole, pole. The weather was pretty chilly and misting all day, but the village was so pretty. The trees are and small plants are a very deep green there are many Acacia trees, and some of them have green trunks to them. Scattered throughout the green leaves are beautiful bright tropical flowers. The first thing we did was go to Malik mother’s house. Malik built his mom a nice brick house and his also in the process of building his own house not to far from his mothers. We sat in his house where we were offered coffee, and hard boiled eggs(which tasted amazing)! After meeting family members and neighbors we went to the church where the village was having a ceremony for a couple joining the congregation. It was a nice ceremony, which I understood nothing of because it was all in Swhalli. Diane explained a few things that went on, my favorite part is the music. They sing and dance around the church and the music sounds so beautiful. There is also a part where the couple joining the church brings a goat in to present to the church as a gift. The goat is later auctioned off in a auction ran by the church, where people bring eggs, beans, corn, fruits to donate and the church has an auction to make money. After the auction the whole village is invited to the couples house where a meal and been prepared for lunch. We had a brown rice with cooked goat, white rice, veggies, fruit, cooked banana(traditionally cooked in most Tanzanian meals and sooooo good), and roasted goat. Everything was good except for some of the goat. I pretended in my head that I was on survivor so I could eat it, I literally swallowed chunks whole it was not as good as the last goat I had, and you can’t leave any food on your plate, everyone joins the clean plate club! Overall the day was an amazing day, the people in the village were so friendly and very excited to talk to the Wazungus(white people).
This week is the first week of holiday for the kids. I have really been enjoying it because I get to plan my own lessons with the kids. Monday I did reading assessments with the new kids.I assessed the kids when I was here in February but there are 12 new kids since I was here last. I like doing the assessments because I get to work one on one with the kids and it’s a good way to get to know them. Yesterday I worked with the younger ones, I brought up different colored balloons and we learned colors, and played different games to learn the colors. I also played some music from The Lion King and the kids tapped the balloons through the air making sure it didn’t hit the ground. After that we worked on alphabet sounds, which are a little tricky because they pronounce some of the letters a little differently then we do here, but we managed! While I was working with the younger kids another volunteer who arrived over the weekend, was working on math with the older kids. This afternoon we had a party for the kids. We went to the market in the morning to buy fruits and veggies, and had a big cookout at the center where the kids live. It was a fun afternoon of playing games, eating good food, shaving some kid’s heads and having a dance party!
Early this morning my roommate for the past 3 ½ weeks left with her traveling friend Tom. They are going on a 40 day safari all over East and South Africa. It was sad to say goodbye and it is very weird to have a room all to myself. Although we all have plans to come back to Tanzania and climb Mountain Kilimanjaro!A new group of volunteers arrived last night, they are Americans who grew up together but now live in various cities.Two of the girls have been here and stayed with the family before, the rest are new to LWCC.
Friday, July 30, 2010
7/30/2010
I cannot believe that I have already been in Tanzania for over three weeks. I really don't know where the time has gone.
Here are some highlights from the past couple weeks:
We got to shave the kids heads. Last time I showed pictures everyone thought they were all little boys, but they all have shaved heads, its less maintenance and kids spread this weird infection on their heads to each other so shaving their head makes it easier to see if a child is infected. Shaving their heads was fun, for a few of them I would shave it into a mo-hawk just to see how it looked, it was cute!
A lot of volunteer left this past week. It is not only hard for the kids to say goodbye but, its hard to the volunteers who are staying to say goodbye too :( There is an immediate bond with most volunteers, you get close real quick. You spend most of your days with them and nights too and you get used to having them around. Two of the girls that left will be coming back at the end of August so I am happy I will see them again. Anna, one volunteer from England who I share a room with will be leaving on Tuesday, we've pretty much shared a room the whole time I've been here so it will be weird to have my own room.
Last week was examination week for the kids. This is one of my least favorite weeks, there is not much to do because the kids take tests all day for4-5 days. After school they have a lot of energy and they enjoy playing games to get that energy out! This week was the last week before the kids go on holiday in August. Yesterday was closing day at Yakini school, we had an awards show, and the kids sang many beautiful songs. During holiday, the boarding students will go home, with the exception of class 4, and 7 who will stay at school the whole month to prepare for their national examinations that are in exactly 37 days according to the teachers! The students, and teachers take national examinations very seriously. Last year the students did very well which put Yakini on the map for a good school to attend, the students this year are feeling the pressure, and are expected to do very well. I look forward to helping the students prepare for their exams during August.
This weekend is a busy weekend. On Saturday I am going to visit a school that is in the process of being built by a teacher(teacher Peter) that I have been working with at Yakini school. Peter is really excited about showing all the volunteers, and we are excited for him. He is the only teacher that I think would be able to teach in America, he understand the importance of hands-on learning, something that unfortunately, many teachers here don't practice.
After visiting Peter's school, I am going to a meeting with various volunteers from around Arusha. It is a group that meets once a month, as a network among all the volunteers around the area. It will be great to meet more volunteers and talk about the work they are doing. It is just a casual meeting that is at a restaurant, and all the volunteers bring a book to exchange. I am excited because I just finished the book I brought, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I need to start a new book asap. After the meeting we are celebrating a my roommates 18th birthday, she is from England and their 18th birthdays are like American's 21st birthdays so I am sure it will be an interesting night!
Sunday morning I will be up early to go with my friend Diane to visit her husbands village. Diane is originally from Canada and as been working for the Kimaro family for about a 1 1/2. She lives in Tanzania and has been married to a Tanzanian named Malik for about 7 months now. I am excited to meet Malik and to see his village, I will let you know how it goes!!
Here are some highlights from the past couple weeks:
We got to shave the kids heads. Last time I showed pictures everyone thought they were all little boys, but they all have shaved heads, its less maintenance and kids spread this weird infection on their heads to each other so shaving their head makes it easier to see if a child is infected. Shaving their heads was fun, for a few of them I would shave it into a mo-hawk just to see how it looked, it was cute!
A lot of volunteer left this past week. It is not only hard for the kids to say goodbye but, its hard to the volunteers who are staying to say goodbye too :( There is an immediate bond with most volunteers, you get close real quick. You spend most of your days with them and nights too and you get used to having them around. Two of the girls that left will be coming back at the end of August so I am happy I will see them again. Anna, one volunteer from England who I share a room with will be leaving on Tuesday, we've pretty much shared a room the whole time I've been here so it will be weird to have my own room.
Last week was examination week for the kids. This is one of my least favorite weeks, there is not much to do because the kids take tests all day for4-5 days. After school they have a lot of energy and they enjoy playing games to get that energy out! This week was the last week before the kids go on holiday in August. Yesterday was closing day at Yakini school, we had an awards show, and the kids sang many beautiful songs. During holiday, the boarding students will go home, with the exception of class 4, and 7 who will stay at school the whole month to prepare for their national examinations that are in exactly 37 days according to the teachers! The students, and teachers take national examinations very seriously. Last year the students did very well which put Yakini on the map for a good school to attend, the students this year are feeling the pressure, and are expected to do very well. I look forward to helping the students prepare for their exams during August.
This weekend is a busy weekend. On Saturday I am going to visit a school that is in the process of being built by a teacher(teacher Peter) that I have been working with at Yakini school. Peter is really excited about showing all the volunteers, and we are excited for him. He is the only teacher that I think would be able to teach in America, he understand the importance of hands-on learning, something that unfortunately, many teachers here don't practice.
After visiting Peter's school, I am going to a meeting with various volunteers from around Arusha. It is a group that meets once a month, as a network among all the volunteers around the area. It will be great to meet more volunteers and talk about the work they are doing. It is just a casual meeting that is at a restaurant, and all the volunteers bring a book to exchange. I am excited because I just finished the book I brought, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I need to start a new book asap. After the meeting we are celebrating a my roommates 18th birthday, she is from England and their 18th birthdays are like American's 21st birthdays so I am sure it will be an interesting night!
Sunday morning I will be up early to go with my friend Diane to visit her husbands village. Diane is originally from Canada and as been working for the Kimaro family for about a 1 1/2. She lives in Tanzania and has been married to a Tanzanian named Malik for about 7 months now. I am excited to meet Malik and to see his village, I will let you know how it goes!!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Pictures
Game day Friday....playing tug-of-war!
Our BBQ/bonfire outside where we live
Cooking "magic food" for our neighbors in the village we live in. The "magic food" was grilled cheese and pasta.....I didn't do much cooking but I definitely at and it was delish!
Class 6 working on writing about their favorite activities at school
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tanzania Trip 2
So far things have been very busy in Tanzania! There are nine volunteers staying with the Kimaros minus myself(3 from Canada, 2 from England, 1 from Norway, 1 from US, and 2 from Germany). There is also a group of 14 teenagers from the US doing a program through various high schools across the country. They will be leaving this Sunday and then a new group comes in for 10 more days. I have gotten to know a few of the high school kids, we have been running a few times in the morning. They are on a different schedule then the volunteers because there are certain things they have to do with their program(cook their own meals, attend swahalli lesson etc).
A few nights ago all the volunteers, high school kids, and Kimaro family had a big BBQ. At breakfast time there were about 10 chickens tied up in front of the house, and by lunch they were plucked and sitting in the kitchen ready to be grilled! Christian( the second youngest son) made a bet with me that I can't kill a chicken, so I've got that going....I will keep you posted.
Sunday night was the World Cup Finals. Avi, a volunteer from Canada really wanted to go out to watch it, and the rest of us were on the fence about going out. We ended up going and I am so glad that we did. We went to a local bar with Ray(the Kimaros cousin). It was packed there were no places to sit and pretty much everyone was standing up for the game. A few people had those obnoxious horns that you hear throughout the game on TV and they kept blowing into them throughout the night-many people were annoyed but I thought it was funny and a part of the atmosphere. I decided about 5 minutes into the game that I would cheer for the Dutch, but when they lost I wasn't too upset. The bar went crazy there was a group there from Spain, that went nuts, it was a really fun atmosphere, and I am glad that we decided to go out to watch it. How many times will I be in Africa to watch the world cup?!?
My first week here David(the oldest son) and I have been working on the Living Water Newsletter, that gets sent out about every 4 months. I am almost finished with, and then I should be able to post it when we are done. I have also been working in a variety of classrooms at two different schools. Once I get the newsletter done I will be able to focus more on some writing and reading projects, which is what the family wants me to spend the majority of my time doing here. The volunteers have also been working on homework help after school, and making sure all the kids get their homework done. It actually amazes me how many of them take the initiative to start their homework with no adults asking them to.
I have really enjoyed meeting all the volunteers. We spend our evening sitting around eating dinner and talking about whats "normal" in the various countries that we live in. One of the boys from England, Tom, asked Sachie(the other volunteer from the US) and I if Oprah is like the US version of the Queen. We started cracking up, and then that started a whole group discussion on how more people probably like Oprah than the Queen. It is really interesting to hear about different cultures and to learn their views on Americans (that we are fat, and that Bush sucks.....but we already knew that :) we spend a lot of our nights discussion the differences in our cultures, and were we grew up, and stereotypes that people have on other cultures, it is very interesting!
A few nights ago all the volunteers, high school kids, and Kimaro family had a big BBQ. At breakfast time there were about 10 chickens tied up in front of the house, and by lunch they were plucked and sitting in the kitchen ready to be grilled! Christian( the second youngest son) made a bet with me that I can't kill a chicken, so I've got that going....I will keep you posted.
Sunday night was the World Cup Finals. Avi, a volunteer from Canada really wanted to go out to watch it, and the rest of us were on the fence about going out. We ended up going and I am so glad that we did. We went to a local bar with Ray(the Kimaros cousin). It was packed there were no places to sit and pretty much everyone was standing up for the game. A few people had those obnoxious horns that you hear throughout the game on TV and they kept blowing into them throughout the night-many people were annoyed but I thought it was funny and a part of the atmosphere. I decided about 5 minutes into the game that I would cheer for the Dutch, but when they lost I wasn't too upset. The bar went crazy there was a group there from Spain, that went nuts, it was a really fun atmosphere, and I am glad that we decided to go out to watch it. How many times will I be in Africa to watch the world cup?!?
My first week here David(the oldest son) and I have been working on the Living Water Newsletter, that gets sent out about every 4 months. I am almost finished with, and then I should be able to post it when we are done. I have also been working in a variety of classrooms at two different schools. Once I get the newsletter done I will be able to focus more on some writing and reading projects, which is what the family wants me to spend the majority of my time doing here. The volunteers have also been working on homework help after school, and making sure all the kids get their homework done. It actually amazes me how many of them take the initiative to start their homework with no adults asking them to.
I have really enjoyed meeting all the volunteers. We spend our evening sitting around eating dinner and talking about whats "normal" in the various countries that we live in. One of the boys from England, Tom, asked Sachie(the other volunteer from the US) and I if Oprah is like the US version of the Queen. We started cracking up, and then that started a whole group discussion on how more people probably like Oprah than the Queen. It is really interesting to hear about different cultures and to learn their views on Americans (that we are fat, and that Bush sucks.....but we already knew that :) we spend a lot of our nights discussion the differences in our cultures, and were we grew up, and stereotypes that people have on other cultures, it is very interesting!
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