Tuesday Dec 16:
Today was another day of breakfast, chores, taking care of
the kids and wrapping presents J That is one thing in here, everything is plan and is
the same routine everyday….which is good for the little ones, not so good for
us. Still night comes and we are dead tired.
This evening was a little more exciting that our regular
evenings. Jessie is leaving tomorrow, so India has invited all the volunteers
to her house for dinner. We all got dressed up, even put on make up…it was so
nice to feel pretty again. We had cocktails in India’s veranda, I had two
glasses of African red wine….mmmmm!!! very good!
Dinner was divine, we had steak, potatoes, vegetables and a
mango salsa that was to die for…I got the recipe.
That night India warned us about a couple of leopards that
are roaming around the orphanage. One of them jumped on the roof of her house
and scared the shit out of her and her two dogs. Her dogs were so afraid that
they started to go around in circles.
So, the new rule is not to be alone in the dark outside. We
have to wait for one of the Massai warriors to walk us to our houses. The
Massai warriors are very nice and respectful, they roam around at night with
their spears watching out for elephants, leopards, buffalos.. etc.
That night as you can imagine I did not sleep well, every
noise in the roof was freaking me out,
and believe me we have many animals in our roofs from bats, to rats and birds
that make a very awful noise at night. That night we were Ok, no leopard on our
roof, but the next night….HOLY SHIT!!! I was so scared the damn leopard was on
my roof. That night Shanell took Tylenol PM and she was completely out…..I was
just praying that the roof was built correctly and strong enough…..what a
night, it lasted around 15 minutes and then he jumped off our roof, I went to
the window to see if I could see him, but no luck it was too dark. It is so
cool!!!! I don’t have to worry about robbers, rappers or killers…..my worries
here are buffalos, elephants and large cats…OH! and hyenas. One got tangled in
our fence two weeks ago but she managed to escape before the Massai came to
kill her.
All for now,
Besos xoxoxo
Wednesday 12/17
Today we said good bye to Jessie. We did our chores, played
and wrapped etc. Nothing out of the ordinary. I went for a 10 mile hike with
the secondary girls that come to the orphanage on their vacation time from
school. India pays for all of them to go to secondary school with the help of
sponsors. Secondary school is from grades 7 to 12. The government pays from grades
1 to 6, after that the parents are responsible to pay for the remainder of the
education. Around $300 to $400 per year. The schools are far away so the kids
live in the school and they come home on the holidays. The sad part is that the
average person here makes around $100 to $200 per year. Teachers make $30 to
$40 a month, and that is consider very good. The average family has 6 to 8
kids, so it is impossible to send out kids to secondary school. Most of the
kids in the surrounding villages of the orphanage are the coffee pickers, so it
is better for them to send the kids off to work on the field. Before India got
here, the attendance in the elementary school was around 10 percent. Out of 400
students, only 30 to 40 will go to school. When India got here she took over
the lunch program and provided the kids rice and beans, maize, fruits and
vegetables. The attendance went up to 99 percent. Amazing!! This will be the
only meal that these kids will have for the day. It was great for the parents
to send off the kids to school because that meant one mouth lest to feed.
When we walk out of the orphanage gates we are amongst the
poorest region in all Tazania due to its isolation, the only means of work is
coffee picking. Production of coffee has drooped but the population continues
to grow, without jobs, food, health care. It is heart breaking to see, just 30
feet from us. Our kids are royalty compared to the surrounding village kids.
India has done as much as possible to help the whole community, but it is impossible
to help everyone. She has re-built 3 of the 6 classrooms in the elementary
school, provides teachers that come here and volunteer for a year or longer,
provides the hot lunch and vitamins for every kid and twice a month runs a
clinic for them. She is an Angel!!!
All for now,
Besos xoxoox
Thursday 12/18
Nothing new, our routine continues to be the same. Just
loving the kids and taking care of them.
I do miss Johnny and C-rod so much that my heart aches every
night I go to bed without seeing them. I borrowed a cell phone from one of the
other volunteer and made a call home. It was so nice to hear their voices…OH my
GOD!! I was in tears after I hung up the phone. I’m so in love with my family!
Johnny is the best man in this universe. I have been blessed with a husband
that is so unselfish and so giving, that is willing to stay home with C-rod for
a whole month, while me and Shanell are in here. He has lots of work and then
he comes home and takes care of my baby. Johnny you are AMAZING!!!
I thank God every day for putting you in my life. I’m the
luckiest woman in this world.
I promise to love you and take care of you until the end of
my life…forever yours,
Brenda!!!
Friday 12/19
Today the village soccer team “Kiran” had their final game.
The orphanage provided the transportation. Two trucks full of people, around 30
on each of them, the majority of the people are just hanging out of the truck
holding to another and for dear life, it is so funny to see. The team came
tied, so they will have to play another game…not sure when. I was not able to
go to the game, but two of the other volunteers that have been here for over a
year went with the guys. They tell us that the majority of the time, the
loosing team gets so mad that they run and chase the umpire and beat him up L
More facts about the culture here:
1)Boys and grown men hold hands with each other
and it does not mean anything other than they are best
friends or family members
2) A baby born left handed is consider a sign of the devil,
so at very early stage they make the babies use their right hand. Another
reason is that using the left hand here to eat or shake someone’s hand is
consider rude and disgusting. Left hands is only use to clean yourself after
you use the bathroom…funny
3) Albinos in Africa are very rare, but they are a few.
Their skin is believe to be magic.
Albinos in here are in danger of kidnapping. The cut off
their skin, or burn their skin for magic purposes. We have a little girl that
is albino. She is from the village in front of us, every time I go for a walk I
see her. It is very unnerving and surreal to see her among all of her siblings
and other village kids. They are all black and she looks like snow…her face and
body is full of scars, it breaks my heart to look into her face. But, it seems
that the tribe sees her as just another member of the tribe. I saw her
yesterday with a bucket full of water on her head walking to the village with
another girl. She looks like she is 9 or 10 years old.
4) Teachers beat the students with a stick if they don’t
know the material or the answer to a
question ( India put a stop to that when she got to school, at least at our
school)
5) At graduation the give a prize to the best student and to
the worst student of the class
6) Aids is cured by having sex with a virgin.
7) It is very rude to not greet or acknowledge every single
person that you come into contact with. You have to say “Shikamoo”(not moo but
a long o sound) to every person that is older than you (means I respect you)
8) When you see someone working you need to say “Pole Sana”
(I’m sorry for your work)
It is so sad to witness and really hard to understand their
reasons for these believes.
Every one in here is trying to help and to break down the
ignorance. The best weapon for this problem is education.
