Wednesday 12/24:

Shanell and I are getting ready to hand out pajamas to our kids after they finish their dinner. They all get new pajamas so they can look beautiful on Christmas morning. Tonight all the volunteers are having a holiday dinner at Indias house. Today was a pretty special day, we went out for three hours giving out gifts to all the kids in the near by villages. It was amazing to see the kids faces, their big smiles and the gratitude they showed. Dinner was at Indias house.

Thursday 12/25:

We had a great day with our kids and all the staff. They made a feast for 100+ people and we all had lunch together in the rec. hall.

Guess what is the traditional Christmas food for the Tanzanians?
I died and went to heaven:
ARROZ CON GANDULEZ = they call it PELAO
GUINEITOS EN ESCAVECHE = forgot the name :)

I could not believe my eyes when I saw them cooking all my puertorican dishes, the only difference is that they use intestines with the guineitos and we use moyejitas.
That evening we had another dinner at Indias. We had turkey, smash potatoes, graving, broccoli and wine :)
There were around 18 people on the table, name tags used for the seating arrangement...very formal and beautiful. Dr. Frank from California was also there, so I got to talk to him for a little while, his wife went back to America to spend the holidays with her family.

Friday 12/26:

One of my mamas, Mama Sophia, has been very sick for the last 5 days, Malaria. I have been taking care of her and giving her Tylenol every 4 hours to reduce her fever, I feel so bad for her. Today she was sent to the hospital, (endito). She is like a teddy bear. This is not the first time she gets malaria. Three weeks ago she started a treatment for her first episode of Malaria. It seems that she got it again and the medicine she was taking was not strong enough to treat the new episode.
I started Shanell again on her Malaria pills that we brought from home, after the nightmare she was so freaked out that she refused to take the pill. I made her take it now, it would stink if we come down with malaria just before we leave, and it looks very painful. It is funny people here are not that afraid and none of the long term volunteers take the drugs due to the side effects and what it does to your body if you take it for too long, they talk about it like is a bad flu. The medicine they use to treat it starts to work in 24 hours.

Saturday12/27

Today we have to fit all the kids in our house for shoes and clothes for school. My house has been kind of crazy the last couple of days during nap time. Yesterday I had to go to their rooms 4 times and tell them to stop playing and go to sleep...they did not listened.
Since Mama Upendo is on vacation for two weeks (she is the rule enforcer of the house) and Mama Sophia has been sick, that left a new Mama, Mama Celina and she does not have the handle on the kids yet. So, today in the volunteer meeting, I mentioned to Sara what was going on in my house. Before I knew it, Sara went to the house and grounded all the kids. They lost movie time, and were not allowed to move from their beds until dinner time. I felt bad, but at the same time it need it to happened, they were getting out of control.

I'm now counting the days to see my guys, I miss them so much, next time they are coming with me. This is definitely an experience that C-rod needs to have... an eye opener experience. I do love this country and I can understand how ex-patriots leave their home behind and move here. It is an AMAZING place, that needs so much help and support......little things, basic things that we take for granted every day.
Yesterday, I meet a woman that is a former volunteer of the orphanage. Her name is Meredith, she came here 4 years ago to volunteer with Indias and fell in love with the country. So, every year she comes and stays for 6 to 8 months helping India out in the orphanage, and now is working with Doctor Frank at his new clinic in Karatu. Anyways, last year she started the process to adopt a baby. The process here is very hard and you actually have to live in Tanazania for a year to be able to adopt. They make it so hard due to the risk of kidnapping. Kids here are taken to be use as slaves in other countries, it is amazing and so sad that practice still goes on. So, anyways she finally got approved and instead of one baby she decided to adopt two. She was here last night, the babies are so beautiful, the boy fell in love with me. I had him on my arms all last night and this morning. His name is Colton and the girl is Adison. This Sunday I'm off , so I will be going to Karatu with one of the other girls volunteers, we are going to try to meet with Meredith and the babies.
She is currently living in Karatu, waiting for all the final paper work to be able to take the kids to her home in Ohio. It could take 4 months to another year :(
Ok, this is it for now,
Besos xoxoxo

Sunday to Wednesday – 12/28 :

I had a relaxing day yesterday out of the orphanage. Britget and I went to one the tourist hotel and met up with Meredith (the adopted babies mama, that lives in Karatu) I had my baby boy with me all day. We had lunch and got Johnny and C-rod the coolest necklace.

Monday, 12/29:

Was also a working day, this time was trying on all of the clothes that the kids owned and marking on a sheet of paper what fit, what was too small or broken. I got all the boys done. Tomorrow I will do the 4 girls. This afternoon I started a game of baseball, before I knew it the whole orphanage was playing. It was so much fun, but my team lost.
I just took a shower, it is 5:30 PM and I'm worn out. Shanell just got out of the shower and put a movie on, “Mrs. & Mr. Smith”. We only get to watch it until the solar power goes out....hopefully one hour. We are at the volunteer house and the kids are at their homes watching their kids movie.

Tuesday, 12/30:

Only 4 days for us to leave the orphanage. We will leave Saturday at 10:00 AM drive to Arusha (2 hours) them take the shuttle to Nairobi, Kenya (6 hours) I got us a hotel for Saturday night in Kenya. We will be pick up by a driver that will take us to the airport the next day, our flight leaves at 9:30 PM On Sunday January 4^th. I’m not ready to say good bye. And to make it worst, a brand new baby arrived this afternoon. His name is Emanuel and he is 21 days old. His mother died during surgery. He was left with his father, which is an alcoholic, and four other brothers. The baby was the only one that India could take, because the other kids were older than 8 years old (I feel so bad for the other boys).

Emanuel is a beautiful café con leche color baby. The other kids from the orphanage say he is:

“ sooooo white”

He is staying at my house, so I get to hold him and baby him. He kept us up all last night crying.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

No big plans for new years on this side, maybe (hoping) to have some red wine :)

Today we worked all day getting a new house ready for new kids that will be arriving in the next couple of weeks. The baby is the first to arrived of that group. Another house will be ready for another 12 kids by the Summer (total of 24 new kids). That will be the last of the bunch.

Five houses with twelve kids each and Indias house with 6 kids, the originals kids, that are now entering teenage years. It is PARADIZED!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ALL!!!!!!

Love,

Brenda Liz