I was super sore today and did NOT want to get out of bed. In the dalla dalla this morning Emily and I looked up the word for "hurt"--uma, so we could explain to the children that our legs hurt. This turned out to be an important word because during afternoon class little salina came up to me and said "tumbo uma", that she her stomach hurt. After class when she was still looking glum while the others were playing, I asked if her stomach hurt "kwa sababu njaa?" because of hunger? She sort of nodded so I bought two little bananas and we discretely brought her to the office and I fed them to her. She was so cute and I was so happy to be able to do even a small thing to help.
(Salina and her twin brother Bryson... they've got to be two of the cutest kids of all time)
But when we went back outside she promptly threw them up onto the dirt in front of her. Oh no. Pole sana Salina [very sorry/sympathy]. I rubbed her back and Moiva brought over some dirt to cover up the banana mess. "She is very sick" said Justin one of the school 'teachers.' Yes I can see that Justin. Faraja felt her head, it was warm, and said he would take her to the hospital this afternoon. Poor girl. I pray that the next pages of this journal are filled with the details of her speedy recovery.
Day 23--Siku Ishirini na tatu
Salina was at school today. She looked ok--they said they took her to the hospital and she's sick because she drank bad water. Sarah, another volunteer paid for her medicine.
After school today we went with Rajabu to do a community HIV talk. Rajabu is our translator, but he's actually more qualified than we are. He's probably the smartest most competant person I've met in Tanzania. He's been all over the country doing HIV talks and is employed by USAID and an Illinoise university. He really knows what he's talking about--he answers questions including cultural ones (there's still some stigma about HIV around here) better than any of us could.
Even just taking the dalla dalla back to town it was interesting to hear his thoughts on Obama and Africa's expectations and reactions to his presidency. People like Rajabu give me greater hope for the future of this continent.
Day 24--Siku Ishirini na nne
Today I bought food for the orphanage. 41,000 tsh for 15 kilos of rice, 10 kilos of beans, and 5 liters of cooking oil. But this means that Stella had to cook so I taught the baby class. They are SO difficult. In the afternoon Stella was just standing around talking to Simone outside while I struggled to even keep the kids inside the classroom (much less sitting and quiet). That really annoys me--when teachers slack off because volunteers are around. I've heard that this happens at the public schools too. When volunteers come in, the usual teachers just take more breaks. Very frustrating.
After school though, we took some of the older kids to the Tengeru market and bought them new tennis shoes. We bought about 4 new mattresses and blankets. I bought 100 bananas for 3,600 tsh. (About $3.50!) Granted the bananas are half the size of the ones sold at home, but still. We also bought 21 green peppers to add to the rice next week for about $2. And I got more andazi (african donuts) for a snack. 2 for 100 tsh. ($0.10) :)
Afte rall that I slept for at least two hours but it's all so exhausting that I'm somehow still tired. So now I'll nap more. Night!
Day 25--Siku Ishirini na tano
I was in a good mood from the time I woke up today and it made my day awesome. When a few kids started running towards us as we arrived at Farajas (as they always do) I ran at him too until we collided in a hug.
The kids in the big class were relatively well behaved in the morning during math lesson. While Yenna and I taught, Emily and Christian delivered mattresses.
After breaktime, we rearranged the desks into tables and had fun time! Each child got a colored pencil and a colored sheet of paper. Sarah helped some of the older kids make paper chains and some kids did puzzles. We hung the chains on the windows and the drawings on the walls. Then each child got a banana and then rice and beans.
After that we met Jenny (another volunteer--our housemate) at Craddle of Love. Craddle of Love is a very well funded orphanage for babies and toddlers owned by an American. The facilities are beautiful inside and out, but with so many babies, they are always in need of hands just to hold the babies and give the toddlers attention. We held babies in the intensive care unit. They were SO CUTE! Mine fell asleep in my arms. Jenny's had giant eyes with big pretty lashes. Then we fed them bottles and moved on to the toddlers. We took some outside to the swingset and play structure. This one little boy was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I basically want to take him home with me. When I tickle him he laughs and scrunches up and giggles and giggles. We helped feed the toddlers and then had to pull ourselves away or we would not make it home before dark.
[end journal entry]
I come home in two weeks and I can't believe it! Can't wait to see you all!
