This week so far has been one of the most special weeks of my life. I found 2 students on Monday who I will be sponsoring and sending to school and feeding for the year. It is only around $25 USD a year to send a child to school here, and possibly the single most important part to the child’s development in the community.
Brenda is 4 years old and her mother is too young to support her. She lives with her Grandmother who virtually has nothing and is getting old and will soon be unable to pay for education. I was able to meet Brendas Grandmother yesterday at school, she told my teacher is was God’s blessing and an answer to her prayers. I walked Brenda home after class and her Grandmother invited me into her home. The Grandmother offered me tea and showed me some pictures of here family. Brenda’s home is very small, made out of cement and has no running water and a hole in the ground for a bathroom. The grandmother thanked me over and over in Swahili (asanti sana) and all I did was thank her back for allowing me to help her and Brenda. It is a memory that will stay with me forever.
Prince is also 4 years old, definitely a little rowdy, but I have managed to get him to listen to me lately! His father recently passed away and now lives just with his mother who has virtually no source of income and is trying to do whatever she can to keep Prince in school. Presently she cannot even pay for Prince, so teacher Mama Leah is letting Prince stay a bit longer just from her beautiful pure heart. I got to meet Prince's mom after class on Monday and have Mama Leah let her know I was going to sponsor Prince. After Mama Leah spoke Swahili with Prince's mom for a couple minutes, Prince's mom began breaking into tears! I just smiled and didn’t really know what to say. She looked at me and grabbed me, it was possibly the most amazing moment/feeling I have ever experienced and I really cannot explain to you how it felt. She kept crying and extending her arm out to me, and although I could not technically understand the words coming out of her mouth, I knew exactly what she meant. Just simply amazing stuff, and if that was all I experienced here I would go back home happy.
I have officially extended my adventures to April 9th. There is just simply not enough time in 3 weeks to see what I want to see. Around March 21st I will be heading to Zanzibar Island for 5 days and then head to Dar es Salaam for some volunteer work there. Dar is on the coast of the Indian Ocean and beautiful. You can snorkel/scuba/boat there for fairly cheap. I fly back home out of Dar es Salaam April 9th.
Last Saturday a couple volunteers and I went to the Moshi forest to see waterfalls. We went to a waterfall that was pretty damn high up, maybe 40-50 feet up that we could jump off of. Local forest children started jumping off with us which made it even more of an experience. We also got to hold a chameleon that a local had caught in the forest.
<a href="http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/?action=view¤t=marathon002.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/marathon002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Holding a Chameleon (was told after they can be poisonous): <a href="http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/?action=view¤t=marathon003.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/marathon003.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
John the Aussie and I in the forrest:
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Yesterday after lunch I bussed it to Arusha with a couple other volunteers. Arusha is about 2 hours away from Moshi.
Mt. Meru in Arusha: <a href="http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/?action=view¤t=marathon006.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/marathon006.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
I was able to visit the UN Criminal Tribunal and sit in on the Rwanda Trials. The genocide trials are being held in Arusha, Tanzania by the UN and are open to the public. I sat in a room divided by a bulletproof window and viewed the trials live with ear phones for sound. They were trying an identity protected witness, who was hidden from the public by sheet, about who he knew and what secret meetings took place in 1994 right before the genocide took place. It was extremely interesting and amazing to be able to sit in and see live history being made.
UN: <a href="http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/?action=view¤t=marathon005.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/marathon005.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
After the trials we went to the Maasai market. There were just tons of shops with some great art. It reminded me a bit of Mexico though because a white person is just a target to them with a money sign on their foreheads. We were just getting hounded to look at their stuff. Still a great site to see.
So I am out of time, but tomorrow I am starting my 4 day safari through the Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater and Lake Manyara. It should be amazing because the Serengeti is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and the Crater is supposedly around the cradle of mankind since human remains have been found dating back many years. I will upload pictures next week. It is such a pain to upload pics here, takes like 2 hours!
Hope all is well in the States, hope everyone is staying positive, or at least trying to with the news I have been reading about our economy.
I miss you all and best,
Chris
PS I have Tanzanian kids to my left, maybe 10 years old, playing Grand Theft Auto video game on the computer here in the internet cafe... what is this world coming too
Maasai Guard Zac at the Moshi House: <a href="http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/?action=view¤t=marathon001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/cwklein/marathon001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
