Hello everyone!
I want to apologized for not keeping up with my blog, the days in here are very busy and most of the time is spent with the kids. I have only have a thirty minute allowance of internet use per day.
Let me tell you that this country, Tanzania, has stolen my heart. It is a beautiful country and the people are the most gentle, respectful and loving people I have ever met.
Shanell and I arrived into Nairobi, Kenya in the evening. We spent the night in a beautiful hotel near the airport. At 7:30 AM we were at the lobby of the hotel with 5 gigantic bags full of donations. People were looking at us like were either crazy for bringing so much stuff for a holiday, or we were moving to Africa. We had a 6 hours bus ride to Tanzania. We crossed the border and had to get our visas stamped and approve by the Kenyan border patrol and on the other side of the border by the Tanzanian border patrol. We were the only white people at that moment surrounded by all the locals and Maasai people. It was the coolest experience, everyone was very nice and helpful.
Driving through the roads of Kenya and Tanzania was an education of its own. The villages that we drove by, the people walking miles and miles for their daily routine, the Maasai kids on the fields taking care of 20 to 30 full grown cows or goats. I saw kids no older than 3 or 4 years old guiding these animals. It was surreal to see this form of work be done by a child. Beautiful faces……full of dirt and huge smiles. Always waving when you drove by. We were such tourist…taking pictures of everything…I mean everything. The local people that were riding the bus with us just smiled and shook their heads.
The roads are very bad, the trip should have taken 4 hours , but instead it took six hours. We were so tired by the time we arrived to Arusha, where our Safari driver and guide were waiting for us. They waited two hours for us, due to our road delays, I felt so bad. They were so sweet, they arranged lunch at the hotel for us. The food was amazing, very tasteful. The food was very similar to my puertorican cooking, I was in heaven .
After a 30 minute break we got into our Safari truck and drove another 2 1/2 hours to our final destination, a private tent camp, were Shanell and I spent our first night. I have never seen anything like this before. It was a private property. Beautiful grounds, filled with an amazing vegetation, Acacia tress,, flowers, Oh my God….. the birds were Beautiful!! Bright colors and their songs were amazing ….I was in a dream. The property had a building with a huge kitchen for food preparation, and a couple of small rooms were the manager and groundkeeper slept and kept their belongings. The grounds were full of tents, set up in a manner that gives each guest privacy. We were under a beautiful Acacia tree. The tent was pretty big and inside they set up one full side bed off the floor, for Shanell and I. Our cook set up our table in a beautiful open area near a wood burning fireplace. I have never in my life eaten as well as I have in here….just amazing flavors, soup, breads, main meal, desert…mmmmm. This was the most comfortable evening of our next 4 nights. From there we set up at 6:30 AM to Serengeti National Park, even before entering the park we were surrounded by baboons, walking like nothing next to the truck was a family of giraffes, crossing in front of us a huge family of elephants, with the baby ones holding on to the mama's tails. Our mouths were wide open in disbelieve of what we were witnessing in front of us. It was truly amazing.
We have seen every animal that there is in East Africa. Lions walking by our cars, Cougars hanging from a branch right above us, hippos, rhinos, zebras are everywhere here…wait until you see our pictures, we have around 250. From there we went to Ngorongo Conservation area, a caldera of an extinct volcano. We had lunch down at the crater, in front of a hippo pool.
After our Safari we finally arrived at the Children's Village. An amazing place that is surrounded by coffee plantations and by the Ngoro Ngoro mountains.
Wednesday 12/10
This place is paradise, I have died and gone to heaven. Mrs. India Howell has created a little Eden in Tanzania. From the main road it takes a good 30 to 35 minutes to reach the orphanage. One lane dirt road in the middle of 3 coffee plantations, owned by people from India. One of them supplies beans for Starbucks, believe it or not. The people that live around the plantation are the workers that pick the beans. This is one of the poorest regions in Tanzania, the owner of the plantations provides brick houses for the workers that are around 15 x 15 in size. The housing is supposed to accommodate around 50 workers, but there are more than 300 hundred leaving in them. I went for a power walk with one the other volunteers that has been here for a year and half, she took me on her route that she runs every day, through the workers houses and coffee trees. We interacted with the local people, they are so nice, sweet and respectful. One of the young mamas came out of her hut to show off her new baby, the baby was beautiful. The people here are truly beautiful, physically and from the inside.
Shanell and I are living in the Serengeti House. We have 4 girls and 8 boys to care for, they are so cute and very curious. They love football (soccer)....the know all the players from the teams of Barcelona, Argentina and beyond… The house has two mamas that live with us, mama Upendo and mama Sofia, in the mornings we kiss and hug. Even though they do not speak English , Shanell and I manage to communicate somehow, if not we ask the kids for help :)
Thursday 12/11
Today was breakfast duty, so Shanell and I woke up at 6:30AM to prepare and serve the breakfast for the kiddos. After breakfast the kids have their chores to do: clean floors, clean the table, clean toilets, showers, dishes etc. It is amazing to see how respectful and hardworking these kids are. Have you ever seen a 4 year old cleaning a toilet, or sweeping……I have a lot of respect for these amazing kids. After we are done with breakfast, which is around 7:30 AM, Shanell and I come to the volunteer house to have our breakfast.
Today we worked at wrapping presents for birthdays in December and also helping the kids make Christmas cards for their sponsors. After naptime we went to the gym area and play with the kids for a while before they had to take showers. After showers is dinner time, then they do all their chores, cleaning up after every meal is required. They have a chart on the wall with a calendar and their names next to what chores they have to do. No complains , no buts…they just do it.
Every night the kids have an hour and half to watch a movie. Today we are going to watch School of Rock . Bed time is at 7:30, after reading the kids a story, tucking them in and kissing them good night, we then come to the volunteer house for our dinner. There are 3 of us right now, but next week 3 more people will arrive to work with us.
By 8:30 I'm fast asleep…..never slept so well in my life, I'm so tired that that I just close my eyes and I’m gone, until 6:30 AM. We do it all over again J
Friday 12/12
Today Shanell and I spent the whole entire day with the kids, playing soccer, basketball, drawing , coloring, taking care of cut and scrapes and breaking arguments. These kids are so lucky they have a dream life. India has done an amazing job, creating a home and a family environment. Every day we are getting closer and closer to the kids. It is very hard not to fall in love with them. Our kids, in our house are so sweet and they love us so much, you should see all the pictures and letters that they have given us. There is a little girl in one of the other houses that is 1 1/2 year old, her name is Natalie, she is so beautiful. I had her for half of the day today....I ate her with kisses :)
Her story is very sad, her mom died of aids and they don't know if she is HIV positive yet. She came in September, without knowing how to crawl, now she is walking all around the orphanage. All the kids take turns taking care of her, it is so beautiful to see how they love and care for each other.
Anyways, I have many stories to tell, I'm so grateful for everything we have. Shanell has change so much...she is a different woman.
Ok, go to run dinner time, everyone is here
Hey guys it’s Shanell, just wanted to say I miss you and I wish you were here, you would have the most amazing time with these kids. They are very well behaved and respectful- for the most part. They all have really tragic beginnings and it is so great to see how much caring for them and showing them love helps them move on. C-rod would love playing soccer with them and dad you would love drawing and being creative with them.
Love you and will see you soon.
Today has been a very busy day. The kids are out of school for Christmas. Shanell and I are up at 6:30AM every morning serving breakfast and caring for the kids. Today we worked in the volunteer house wrapping birthday presents and Christmas presents.
Got to go, we have a volunteer meeting right now ;(
Saturday 12/12
Well, today is Saturday around 8:52 AM. We did breakfast, and now we are going to spend the rest of the day with the kids. Today they will be go to bed at 9:00PM instead of 7:30, and they can watch a second movie before bed.(only on Saturdays) for the rest of the week is one movie from 5:00 to 6:30.
Also, today is when they celebrate the birthdays for the month of December, so I'm very excited about that. We will also have a slippery slide.
OK, go to go family meeting for my house ;)
love you
Sunday 12/13
The slippery slide went fantastic. The kids had a blast, we took two big blue tarps and put them together to create a giant slide, went out on the field looking for a small hill to place the tarps on. When the kids got up from their naps everything was set up and ready to go. It was so beautiful, seen these kids have so much fun. Shanell joined them on the slide, I was in charge of the video camera….so, I did not have the opportunity to get wet.
Monday 12/14
Today, after our breakfast routine, we were in the volunteer house most of the morning wrapping presents for Christmas. That is going to be our schedule for the rest of the week, to get all the kids presents wrap on time. Around 200 + presents, these kids are so fortunate to have people that love them and care for them. Thank you so much to all of you!!!
This afternoon 3 more volunteers arrived, it was nice to have a table full of people. To listen to their experiences here in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya. Everyone has been here previously, Shanell and I are the only new ones to Africa.
Will continue to up-date you soon, go to go to the school for a review session, tutoring while on Christmas vacation :)
COCOOO!!! :)
