Jambo everyone, I am practicing my Swahili hello!
The week has been going very well so far and I have gotten to see many things and spend time with some adorable children. First things first, Heath and her crew have had me for dinner twice this week and it was such a treat to have familiar, yummy food!
Wednesday afternoon after my volunteer time I was able to go with Heath and her friends Liza and Vincent to two villages in Arusha. The first village was to drive a woman and her baby home that Heath has gotten to know over the past several weeks. She is a street beggar and that is her only means for providing for her two daughters. This woman was severely burned as a child and lost her leg and is basically an outcast and cannot find work. Her husband is an alcoholic who comes and goes on rare occasions and has even tried to kidnap their older daughter from school in the past. She welcomed us into her home where she sat on the floor so that we could have a seat on their bed...she was such a sweet and proud soul despite her horrible circumstances. God is truly opening my eyes and heart farther than I could have imagined.
The second village we visited was to see the kids from this past weekend who Heath has become very attached to and her organization Takes A Whole Village http://takesawholevillage.blogspot.com/ is starting a new project in January to benefit several of the kids and send them to school and provide quality health care and a safe home. The conditions as I mentioned before are quite unbelievable yet these children have such amazing spirits and smiles that warm your heart. It has rained very hard for several days so we basically were wading through mud just to get to their homes. We stayed for about two hours or so and played with the kids and talked with the "mama's" and "bibi's" (grandmothers). I am so thankful to be experiencing so many sides of the life and culture in Tanzania, far beyond what I could have imagined.
Thursday I spent the morning at Camp Moses, playing with the kids and working on my educational artwork adventure ~ My little buddies there are getting to know me and get excited when I come to play and spend time :) In the afternoon I went to visit the kids at Camp Joshua which is on the far side of town and is located in the poorest village in Arusha. They have a special hour or so for volunteers on Thursdays so I played "football" with about twenty of the boys! (Great mental picture I am sure, me playing soccer!?) and stayed until school ended for the day. Afterwards I made many attempts to get to an Internet cafe before dark and the two I ended up at both had no connections, so I apologize for the delay in updates... Communication is tricky to say the least.
All in all things are going well! I am still adjusting and trying to find my way around... Still hoping to post pictures asap! Bare with me and thanks for checking on me and keep the prayers coming!
xoxo,
Mandy
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