Wednesday 4-30-14

Wednesday 4-30-14

                Ayla started waking up at midnight asking if she could play her tablet. “No, go back to bed!” She did but started waking up at 6 am. It took an hour to get her and Jove to eat six animal crackers in order to be able to take their anti-malarial pill. I asked them if they wanted peanut butter with them. Ayla said no thank you, and Jove asked for Nutella. I told him no, so he responded by saying “a great big NO”. Ayla broke down at that point by telling Jove that would make me sad because they wouldn’t see me for seven hours since they had to go to school. That poor kid just needs to stop worrying about everything. She is just strung so tight.

                I very much wanted to go to school today to help teach seeing that it is Asa’s last teaching day and I so love to watch him teach. He is a very good teacher as long as he is the one making up what is to be taught. But I decided to do the smart thing and stay at home again. I would have hated it if I couldn’t make it to the bathroom at school. So at the house I stayed. It turned into a decent morning though. I laid out on the back patio with some pillows and a blanket. I read my book and watched the birds flying around. The yellow birds came to tease me again. I think they knew I didn’t have a camera so they could come as close as they like without hiding behind the foliage. Little bastard! But they were very peaceful to watch and I still have the memory. I even had a rooster come to peck at the ground near me. There may be many things backwards about this place, and there are things I miss dearly (like fabric softener and a good washer and dryer), but if nothing else, this place is truly relaxing for me. Now if only the burns on my face would go away. I can’t tell which is worse, dealing with these constant chemical-like burns from the sun, or getting malaria. For now I suppose I will continue with the anti-malarial medication since the mosquitoes do so love me.

                I made some Africa style Jook (chicken, ginger, gooey rice soupish thing with soy sauce), the main difference is that we had no chicken. It was great for my sick stomach. After lunch I went into school with Asa to teach std. 2. School was a lot of the same, but that was okay, nice and easy since I was recovering from sick. We did reading, math flash cards, and then tried to teach fractions and multiplication. Many, if not all the kids had a lot of difficulty with this. So after trying to teach these concepts, we attempt to doing a small test. The kids actually tried to cheat. Asa had to yell at them. “If you cheat now, what is it going to matter? It isn’t! But when the time comes to take your advancement tests, you will not know the answers and you will not get to go on to std. 3. Is that what you want to do?” They seemed to get this, hopefully.

                The kids finally did great in school and so we walked them over to the duka and they got to use their money to buy a sucker each. They were very very happy. Next we went over to buy the wood to make the treehouse/fort thing tomorrow. The rest of the evening was pretty mellow. We did go up to the main part of the village to get some chips (French fries, sort of) to fry up at home to make potato egg frittatas for dinner. There were more kids over today than I have seen on any other day. At one point Jove came up with some of the bigger kids, they had found a turtle. It was pretty big. I think it was some form of box turtle. I went outside to check it out and the thing nearly pooped all over me. After that I set it down near some produce scraps. The kids all sat around waiting to see if it would come out to eat. After a good 30 minutes they realized it was too scared and so they all went and found other things to do. Turns out, at least for now, they remembered the lesson about being nice to animals. This made me very happy. Other than all of that, Asa, Mamaliz, and I sat around reading the std. 3 journal entries. These kids are awesome. They have their little stories they get to write about, but some teachers will have them copy articles from magazines or whatever they have. A few of them had entries about a temper-pedic pillow, one even had an entry about being a sergeant in the U.S. Army in Iraq. This was too funny.

Tuesday 4-29-14

Tuesday 4-29-14

                Today has been a pretty rough day all around. Ayla woke up very early with a bad cough and a sore throat. We gave her tea with ginger to help soothe the throat. The rainy season is starting to come to an end and so the dust is beginning to affect her. Hopefully allergy meds will help her. We all went off to school to have breakfast so we could check on how much of the porridge was being wasted. While at breakfast I got sick and had to run home. After a few minutes at the house I came back to school to see if I could manage to make it through. After just a minute at the school we realized that the buckets of pencils Asa had sharpened the night before were left on the table at home, so back I went again. After getting to the school for another time, I lasted only about five minutes. I was having sweats and then massive chills. I was sent home. So my day was spent with fever and other uncomfortableness. To make all of this sickness better, my anti-malarial medication makes me hypersensitive to the sun. I have burns resembling chemical burns all over my face. New burns showed up inside my left ear and on my left eye lid. These burns hurt so bad, I just wish they would go away. At school, Asa had issues getting the kids to listen at school. It was just something in the air today. So many of them would just not pay any attention or they would not stop pushing others.

                Mamaliz got concerned since I had a fever and so she had Dr. Sion come by the house to check on me. He is not sure what it is (not like there are tests here to figure it out) but he is pretty sure I do not have malaria or typhoid. It is most likely just something I caught from one of the kids or from the ground water. It is pretty much impossible to take a shower without getting any of the water on your mouth. The ground water is dirty with things and so you do not drink it at all. Well we don’t, the locals do and they just have worms and parasites. I was ‘prescribed’ some hydrating powder for my water that I can only assume is the way that urine tastes. I made it through some of it by adding crystal light to it, but I give up. I will just deal with being dehydrated.

                For now, it is back to bed and I will probably be stuck here at the house again all day tomorrow. I don’t want to get any of the kids sick, but I so enjoy watching Asa teach and tomorrow is his last day of teaching. Thursday is some holiday here and so no school, then we leave on Friday to start out trip to Dar es Salaam. He leaves on Sunday night but we are making a few stops along the way. We will be doing a day at a Safari thing for Jove’s birthday, I better feel well fast!

               

Monday 4-28-14

4-28-14 Monday

                We went to breakfast with the kids in hopes of getting them to eat the breakfast. They ate the porridge for the first time and decided it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be. We had some also; it was thin and at spots a little gritty, but good still. Good means a different thing here as one might have been able to tell.

                Same basic school stuff as usual; flash cards, attempt at getting chekechea to read, etc.  I did leapfrog letter factory with a small group of chekechea kids in the afternoon. They loved it. I did however have to send Vincent to the wall toward the end of the leapfrog movie; he just wouldn’t stop messing around. During story time I read three books. After each book I would ask the kids if they liked the book “yes teacher”, but when I would ask “what did you like about the book?”, only Jove would answer. Absolute silence from everyone else is what followed.

                 I got to go into std 2 for a while to get a feel of the class and where about they are since when Asa leaves I will be helping to run those classes. Ayla and Jove did great in school today. They both tried to answer questions and participate. The teachers informed Mamaliz that they are very pleased with both Ayla and Jove’s adjustments to going to school. They are now eating, participating, and not crying.

                Yesterday some kids came over and found a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. They are of a different world and think a baby bird is a toy. And so they would pick it up, pull on the wings and throw it up in the air. We told them to stop and they didn’t. They wouldn’t listen and so we sent them home. The bird ended up dying and Ayla made a small memorial sight with flowers and such. It was very sweet. In school today to needed to get them to understand why that is not okay, Asa picked up the smallest kid in the class and showed them how he is way bigger and stronger. How, if he wanted he could throw the child against the wall. They understood and thought it was funny, but hopefully the lesson sunk in. We read “be nice to spiders” to help with the lesson as well. As soon as we finished reading the book to the Std. 3 kids, we noticed a big brown spider in the corner of the room. We all decided to name it. A few of the kids offered the name ‘blacky’, but when it came to vote, ‘Bibi’ won out. So the classroom spider is named Bibi in honor of Mamaliz.

                When school was finishing up we heard Ayla leading the prayer in her class. She quickly became flustered and a different student took over, but she said she asked if she could. I thought it was sweet.

                After school Asa and I went up to the Monday market to get a few things to be able to make spaghetti for dinner. Since there is a language barrier we got overcharged for some stuff. But that kind of stuff happens since we don’t have a full grasp of the language or the money. While up there in the main part of the village we went to “I Love Stan’s” to pick up the kids uniforms for school. We are so pleased with him. He is learning English from his son Samweli and is very happy about it. It is very nice to see that he is trying so hard to learn and so pleased to pick anything new up.

                We ate pasta twice today, but we eat what is easy to make. For lunch it was a  simple garlic parmesan pasta for lunch and a great spaghetti marinara for dinner. Dr. Sion even brought over some beef that Mama Demoso brought over for him. It made the dinner very nice.

Asa ended the day by sharpening pencils that we brought home from the school. Poor Asa got blisters on his fingers from sharpening so many. What a trooper.

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Sunday 4-27-14

4-27-14 Sunday

                We woke up pretty well rested thanks to the actual real mattress (not just a slab of foam on a bed). The internet was finally working and so I was finally able to Skype with my little sister. It was very nice to finally hear her sweet voice. Next came going into the hotel diner for the complimentary breakfast. It turns out that we had to pay for the kids to eat because a double room only allows two people to eat. Breakfast was decent enough, but not that great. I can’t complain too much because I got bacon, and you can’t really go wrong with bacon. The eggs in Morogoro are some of the worst looking eggs I have ever seen. They yolks are this milky whitish yellow color. It makes the eggs very unappetizing, but they still taste okay when you haven’t been able to eat many eggs.

We caught a cab to the dalla dalla station to head back to the village. The bus wasn’t there yet so we waited. It took so long that we didn’t end up having enough time to go back to the market to get the last few things we needed. Hamna Shida, we will be going back in one week when Asa leaves. While we were waiting we saw them serving up this soup that looked green in color and was filled with white guts. This was most likely from a chicken. It was all of the guts, intestines and all. It was a rough sight, I can’t even imagine having to eat something like that. I am very thankful to be from a prosperous country and have the ability to buy food. We called Abdala to check on the status of the dalla dalla for us. Berega One will be there in 15 minutes. 30 minutes later, he will be there in 6 minutes. 20 minutes later, he will be there shortly. 15 minutes later we got on the dalla dalla. I sat in the back with the kids and Asa and Mamaliz were up front. The kids shared a seat. Asa had to help push the bus in order to help it get started. I had to keep reminding Jove to keep his arms and head inside the window otherwise it might get hit by another dalla dalla that came by too close. They drive scarily close to each other here. If his hand is even slightly out of the window he could get it hit off by a motorcycle or some other vehicle. People kept trying to get Ayla and Jove to buy the random crap through the window. Finally Ayla had Jove close the window so they would stop asking them. It was very responsible and grown up of her.

                The dalla dalla was packed with huge bags of rice and other items. Not too bad though since they didn’t try to pack more than one person to a seat. This is a common occurrence on the dalla dalla. People jumped on and off at a few points with the bus not coming to a full stop or even close. I suppose though since Asa had to push the dalla dalla to get it to start, if we stopped to let people off, someone would probably have to push again.

                I still have very bad motion sickness and so the drive was miserable. We finally made it to the river and so we left the dalla dalla and crossed the river. It was nice and low which was nice since it rained all the night before. The kids had a blast crossing. We will have to bring them over to play in the river soon. The truck from the day before was even gone. I guess they were able to unload all the charcoal and get the truck unstuck from the mud.

                Abdala met us on that side of the river to drive us the little ways up to the house since we had a lot of groceries. Asa had to help push that truck to get it started also. The ways of Africa, got to love it. We sat in the back of the truck and waved to the kids as we passed. I feel like a princess in a parade any time we are in a vehicle here. They all love it when we wave to them. So cute the reactions we get from them, and it isn’t just the kids (although they like it more), the adults seem to love it when we wave at them also.

                We made it home and unloaded the food and dirty clothes. I was getting cranky and so Asa and I walked to the pub to pick up a few beers for later. They even had some cold so when we got home we opened two up and shared them between the three of us. At the pub here they keep the soda cold and the beer warm and that is all they sell. So we were quite lucky to get the few cold beers. While sitting and enjoying my beer, one of Mamaliz’s adult students, David, came by to say hello. As it turns out David came to the house specifically to be able to see the pretty blond lady. I guess he fell in love with the last blonde that came to volunteer.

                Mamaliz decided we should make pancakes for dinner but we could not get a recipe since the internet was down again. So I made roasted garlic mashed potatoes (tastes a little different when used with powder milk) and hot dogs. Not what I was expecting but turned out good anyways.

                When the time came to try to get the kids to do their journal, just like every night they turn it into an issue. Ayla tried to write about nothing but snails and how they are slimy. Jove could only think of writing about eating the mango that he just finished eating. Of all the things, that was all they could come up with. We finished off the night by polishing off our new knobs with some coconut oil. Now they not only look awesome but they smell awesome also. The actual term for the knob is Lunga.

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Saturday 4-26-14

4-26-14 Saturday

                We woke up and finished with the packing for us to head to Morogoro for the night. We had our coffee (because how can one start the day without a cup of coffee) then we walked to the river and crossed by foot. Upon arrival we saw there is a new truck stuck in the river. The truck was filled with large bags of charcoal. These bags can get very heavy and so they had to unload the truck in order to be able to get it out of the river. What do they do with the bags of charcoal one might ask, why, they rode the loads of charcoal across the river by bicycle. They did this as if it was a normal occurrence. At least the river was low.

                Abdala met us on the other side of the river to drive us to the dalla dalla (bus) stop. We decided to hire him for the drive so we could go to the Maasai market which happened to be going on that day. The Maasai market was amazing. It was the first time Asa was around people his own size, he fit right in. We bought some knobs and Maasai fabric. I believe I may get some of the fabric turned into a dress, but it is hard to tell if that will happen. There was an area where many goats were being slaughtered for food. They have the market and that night they have a feast of sorts with the goats.  Asa and Mamaliz wanted to see the slaughter area and Jove decided he wanted to go also. Ayla couldn’t handle it so I stayed behind with her. When Jove saw, he asked why they were killing the goats. Asa explained to him it was for food. Jove decided he was hungry for goat. What other kid would have that response to seeing blood pouring out of a goat’s neck.

                We were hoping to buy some Maasai jewelry because so much we see on them is beautiful. All the beads however are regular pony beads, very disappointed. Ayla and Jove make the same kind of jewelry at home. The kids thought the holes in the Maasai’s ears were very strange. They are very stretched out. The holes are about the size of a nickel.

                We got to Morogoro and went right to Ricky’s for lunch. We ordered a ton of food because we were all very hungry. Abdala was invited to have lunch with us since he drove us and changed his plans so we could see the market. The kids had fish fingers and macaroni and cheese. The kids did not finish and so they shared. Abdala had his first taste of Macaroni and cheese and fish sticks. This man is thirty something and had never had it. Of all the things we have witnessed, I did not expect to witness a grown mans first taste of food that I take to be so ordinary.

                After we officially stuffed ourselves, we went to the hotel. As Mamaliz stated, it was very posh, very pretty. Asa and Mamaliz went to the market for food stuffs while the kids and I went to the pool. Women apparently don’t swim here so I watched the kids swim. Well, Mamaliz did inform me later that I could have gone swimming, but they would have thought me a whore, even though my swim suit was a pair of Capri yoga pants and a sports bra. Asa found Obama gum at the market, so of course he had to buy some. Where else would you find Obama chewing gum? We even have an Obama bottle opener. On a short walk with the kids we found a millipede that must have been 10 inches. It was different from the other Morogoro millipedes we have seen, the feet were more brown than red. Asa picked it up with a stick and the thing stung/bit itself. Those bugs scare me a little.

                Asa and I decided to have a little childfree time. We went to the bar and a very nice gin and tonic. There was a bridal party there; I have never seen a bride so unexcited on her wedding day. When leaving, we saw bats in some really cool trees in the front of the hotel. They were right next to a bunch of weaver bird nests. I just love the scenery found everywhere here.

                While at the market, Mamaliz and Asa got some bananas. Jove ate eight of them in the course of about 4 hours. I have never seen anyone, let alone a child his size eat so many in so little time. That kid can pack it away.

                The majority of the rest of the night was spent in our room. The AC in the room was just lovely. We got to sleep with a nice heavy blanket and still be comfortable. Before falling asleep, the internet went out, and so we watched a very bad movie, but it was still entertaining enough to keep attention whilst making fun of the movie. The things that entertain you change a lot here. I tried to Skype with my little sister but the internet was so bad and kept going out it made it impossible. I was very disappointed since I was expecting better internet. I was really hoping to see some faces on Skype, but hamna shida (no problems).

                Asa and I had to split up and each sleep with a kid. There was just no way the two of us could have both fit in one of those beds, too tiny. But sleep came fairly easily thanks to the air conditioning. Very much appreciated.

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Friday 4-25-14

4-25-14 Friday

                The kids woke up quite a few times through the night. Fist it was Jove wanting to tell Ayla and myself about a dream. I think it was about little people that tried to eat your blood. Then Ayla had a hard time falling back asleep because she heard some loud bugs outside. So when 6:45 came around for me to wake them up, go figure they were both tired. Jove woke up better than Ayla, but Ayla still did okay. She had a hard time taking her medicine so from now on, I think I will start crushing her pill up and mix it into a spoon of nutella, or peanut butter. So the kids are off to school with Joan.

                We all walked off to school. I was to meet up with the little ones to walk up to the preschool with the kids. Before walking back, I saw Ayla and Jove. We spoke with them and turns out that since the last few days they didn’t try the breakfast, they didn’t give them any. They were a little disappointed because they wanted to try it today. But when lunch time came around we went with them to show them it wasn’t scary, and they ate their lunch up very well.

                For school, I went into the chekechea 1 again, and Asa lead the chekechea 2 group with Jove. I had so much fun with the little ones. I had them working on abc’s and their sounds, then we went to writing the alphabet and the numbers. I ended learning time with trying to get them to understand “how much” and “how many”. They were having a hard time with it, but these kids bairly speak any English, so I think they did pretty well. The last hour of school today was playtime. The kids love the wooden abc train cars that we had Mamaliz bring a year ago. We still ask what letter and what color when they play. Teacher Pascalina was very fun to work with as well. She wants to learn English better and so she was asking me pronunciation and names for things. She speaks very well, but learned British English and so she is trying to get bits of American English. Like eraser instead of rubber. Nothing like hearing a four year old ask “teacher may I have a rubber please?” Too funny. After playtime came lunch. All three of us went with the kids. I really wanted to try the ugali, beans, and greens that we are making the kids eat. Ugali is bland, but the beans and greens were quite tasty. I was a little surprised because most people will tell you that white people don’t like them. Well, I did like them. Ugali, I can leave that. The only plus to the ugali is that it is truly filling.

                The kids stay and play for another two hours after lunch on Fridays, and so Asa, Mamaliz, and I went home for a cup of coffee. Asa and I met up with Dr. Sion after the coffee to walk with him to the hospital. I want to donate blood as much as I can while I am here. They have a very small blood bank and they have no O negative. I am lucky enough to have that type, so off to the lab we went. We got there and turns out the lab techs and just left for lunch and should be back in an hour. So whatever, Asa and I walk to the school to meet the kids. They were going to just walk back up to the house with Joan but what we were right there, so why not. We watched the kids all line up and do military drills (attention, about turn, etc) then sing the Tanzanian national anthem. I did not have my camcorder but did get a few pictures. I very much want to get this recorded. The song is so pretty sounding coming from them. Turns out Jove really wanted to just walk back with Joan because he broke down into tears and we had to spank him in front of all the kids. He calmed down after a little bit. We came back to the house and told the kids to play with all their friends. After an hour, Asa and I walk back to the hospital only to find out there are still no lab techs and the lab is just open. Anyone could go right in and take anything they wanted. Crazy! We sat there and waited for a half an hour and no one came. So we wandered the hospital. While sitting we heard a rooster from inside the hospital, so we figured we would go try to find it. We did, along with finding some very beautiful bugs and the biggest snail I have ever seen. Asa pried the snail off to show the kids. We walk out and still no techs, so we head back home. The local kids thought the snail was gross and scary. Jove told them he wanted to eat it. We play with it for a while then put in on a wall where it would be happy. Asa went onto the hill and gave the kids turns on the swing, pushing the very high. Mamaliz saw this and so she went to take pictures. I will have them loaded up within the next few days. Lots of fun!

                We went to Bismillah café and had rice and beans with goat. It was very good. Ayla wasn’t a big fan of the goat, but Jove was happy about that because it meant more for him. We came home and the kids all still had a soccer game going on, so Asa and Mamaliz went to watch that. I came over and burned the trash. I felt so bad doing it, but that is what they do here and it needed to be done. Trash does not burn very well when it is all soggy and most of it is plastic. I do not want to have to do that again. It is just so horrible for the environment. It is just one of the many things here that are just so in the past or ass backwards.

                After the burning of the trash, I came in to get the kids set up with their movie. They wanted Alvin and the Chipmunks race around the world for their mellow out time before bed. As soon as I got it on, I noticed a few sets of eyes peeping in the window, so we invited the three other kids in to watch the movie with Ayla and Jove. It was Samweli, Tuma, and Yona. They all loved the movie. Once it finished Ayla and Jove took a bath and did their journals, book time then bed.

                While the kids got all cleaned up I attempted at calling a few people (mom and magan) on the landline. This however did not work. The phone connection was just way to crackled up. I could hear everything they said, but they could hear almost nothing I said. It makes it very rough to have a conversation. I figured I would attempt to call Dad using Skype voice only. It worked and I got to have a nice little conversation with my Dad. It was much needed. Now I know that at anytime I can call him or anyone else on Skype and it works so long as the picture isn’t turned on. I am one happy girl.

                Tomorrow we are going to head into Morogoro. We need fresh food stuffs and you just can’t get much here in the village. It means crossing the river by foot and taking the public transportation. It should be a fun adventure.

Thursday 4-24-14

4-24-14 Thursday

                Alarm is set for 7:00 to get up and dressed; the kids however woke up at 6:30. Jove wanted to tell me about his dream about getting poisoned. The poison turned grownups into a machine and you eventually were made back alive again, but kids did not. Ayla just cried and repeatedly said that she did not want to go to school. We got the kids dressed, Ayla still cried. Asa asked her what is wrong and Jove looked at Asa and said “I know Daddy; I asked her the same thing”. Finally we got sick of hearing her cry and told her “fine, stay home with Bibi and you will be in your bed the whole time”. I am just so disappointed in her about this. I understand she doesn’t like being at the school without us (for the hour before school starts and the hour and a half for lunch). Jove was great all through this however. He went off to school with Joan, happy as a little clam.

                We went to school and when I told Jove I was going to have to be in the other classes since Bibi was at home with Ayla, he broke down and cried a little. But recovery was quick. I peeked in and checked on him a few times. Again, he said he didn’t try the breakfast, but whatever, one day he will get hungry enough and will try to eat it. Ayla now says she will try the breakfast tomorrow but is going to decide to not eat lunch because it is just too yucky. Asa and I started in Std. 1 working on math flash cards. We then moved on to reading. They are all reading a story about an Amish community. It comes in different levels so each class has a different book. It is fun listening to them try to pronounce some of the words. They have a pretty hard time with anything past tense; walked comes out as walk-e-D. Next we did some dice math. They take anywhere between 6 and 15 dice and roll them then have to add up all the numbers. They find any tens first and it makes it a lot easier. I was never good at math so I admire this ability they are coming into. Last are word problems. These are much harder for them. Std. 1 is about equivalent to first grade, or at least in most areas. The word problems are with pictures of items they may buy at a market written on the board with how much these items cost. One kg of beans cost 300tsh (Tanzanian shillings), a banana cost 60tsh, etc. Your mother gives you 2,000tsh and you must but a pumpkin, 1kg of rice, and two bananas. How much do you spend and how much will you have to bring home to your mother. These are fun because sometimes (mostly with the std. 2 and 3) we will trick them and they will not have enough. Or my favorite is when they are told they drop a 500tsh note and a goat eats it. These are the problems they get because these are the issues they face every day.

                We tried to go over emotions with them thanks to a book that my friend Alyson let us borrow and we were bad and never returned (sorry Aly). The book is “the way I feel” It helped her girls get through a lot of tough times and it helped Jove and Ayla so much, so we figured bring it here. Some of the emotions in the book are happy, sad, angry, jealous, disappointed, etc. The kids in std. 1 had a hard time of it because they either don’t know about that emotion or are not allowed to feel that emotion. Either way, it was fun to try and explain these. We had the kids show us the face of someone that would be mad, happy, sad, etc. Man are these kids just the cutest!

                Next it was time to switch over to the std.3 classroom. The class lesson starts out the same as it did with std. 1, flash cards of math, then reading. I had to leave during the reading to move over to chekechea to read them some stories. Story time is great for them because it allows them to hear all of these words from a native speaker. The accent is pretty thick here. Jove was very excited when I went into the classroom. He jumped up and gave me a giant hug. I had him sit back down like everyone else. I am trying very hard to make sure that Ayla and Jove are not treated specially. I want them to know and understand what it is like for these other kids. Not everyone is as fortunate as us. So, I read them two stories; “baby elephant, the story of tembo” and “curious George”.  The first ended up having a lot more facts about elephants, so it was a little boring for them, but “Curious George” made up for that, I think. They are still very shy about answering anything I ask them. If I ask them if they liked the story, they get really quiet and let nothing come out of their mouths. But if one of the other teachers ask them the same question they always answer “yes”. I think I enjoy being in Std. 1, 2, and 3 more. The little ones went out to play after story time. Jove just sat there. I told him to be a good boy and play and then eat his lunch. He said he would, but he did not. Mamaliz says it isn’t the best of food, but it is food, and it is what the kids all eat, so Ayla and Jove can eat it or be hungry enough to truly enjoy eating dinner. I came home for lunch to check on Ayla. She still was too pouty to go to the second half of school and one of the chekechea 1 (3-4 year olds) got sick so I took Ayla with me to help out over there. We spent the next hour helping there. We practiced with colors, numbers, shapes, etc. Ayla and brought a Curious George book with her and I think that we taught a few of them what a monkey is. They don’t know much English, sometimes have accidents in their bottoms, always seem to have snot running down their face, but in spite of all that they were so sweet. They were amazed by my arm tattoo, like everyone else here. I am famous for it. I have random people come up and ask to touch it, or know who I am simply because of that. Well, I decided to use it for learning. I tested the kids on colors by having them tell me what color a part of my tattoo is, or I would ask them to find me a particular color. I think it was pretty inventive.

                Once they let out at chekechea, Ayla and I walked over to the main school building to pick Jove up. He was in std. 2 with Mamaliz and Asa. He did not want to leave however. He was to busy coloring in the back of the room. Sweet boy! So Ayla and I went home on our own to get beans started up for dinner. Of course, as we start our walk back up to the house it began to downpour. It has been raining a lot today. So we got more than a little wet. Just a nice rinse of our clothes and skin, we are after all usually dirty hereJ. Our laundry was done this morning also by one of the village Bibis. She is coming now three times a week since the five of us make so much dirty clothes. It is extra money for her family though and that makes it fine by me. The rain is making it difficult for the clothes to dry outside, but again, just an extra rinsing can never hurt.

                So, they got home from school and turns out Jove did try some of the lunch. Again he said it was kind of good. They stopped by Bismillah café and picked up a lollipop for Jove since he was so good today and some half cakes. A half cake is kind of like a buttermilk donut with no frosting on it. It turned out to be a very good thing because my dinner of Quinoa and Beans turned out to be a bust. I guess I didn’t check them close enough because it all had grit and some rocks in it. Yuck! So we had the half cake, animal crackers, and a mix of peanut butter, nuts, and raisins. Asa and the kids are now playing their tablets while I journal our trip. Not too bad of a day. I would be nice if the rain would stop though so the clothes could dry.

                Tomorrow we may still have two teachers out from stomach pain and so I am going to be with the little ones again, Asa is going to take the chekechea 2 and 3 room where Jove goes, and Mamaliz is going to be with the older kids. We shall see how it goes. Today, Teacher Pascalina tried to give me complete control of her class. I guess when anyone white comes in they just relinquish control. I hope I can get them to fully understand that I do not want or need complete control. I just want to help wherever I am needed. Here is hoping tomorrow goes well.

               

Wednesday 4-23-14

4-23-14 Wednesday

Today was the first actual day of school. We woke Ayla and Jove up at 6:45 to get dressed and ready. The kids all go to school early to eat breakfast there. We want Ayla and Jove to have the same experience as the rest of the kids (we do not want them treated special because they are the white kids) and so they were to walk to school with the other kids and have breakfast. They did not like this idea but surprisingly did not cry about it when the time came that Farida and Joan showed up. Asa, Mamaliz and I showed up at school about an hour after the kids left. I went into the preschool and they went into Standard 1. Jove was in preschool and he was very unsure at first. There were a few tears, but he eventually settled in. I had him and four other kids at my table, so that helped he was with me. We did flash cards of numbers, letters and their sounds, animals, etc. I had them practice writing their names, letters, and numbers. They all did pretty decent. Apparently all children write their lowercase j backwards. It is not just Jove. At 11:00 it was story time, and that is MY time. I had a few books and I went in front of the chekechea (preschool) and read ‘the three little pigs’, ‘snow white and the seven dwarfs’, and ‘mama elisabeti’. The kids were all very shy in answering any questions about the stories, but Jove raised his hand and told the class about how his favorite part of Snow White was when she came back to see them at the end of the story after her prince came. He was finally opening up.

                Next came lunch. Again, the children stay at the school and have lunch and the teachers leave. So Ayla and Jove went with the rest of the kids and we went home. We were home for maybe five minutes and we got a call about how they were crying and were not eating. We let the teacher know to keep them there. If they didn’t eat then they didn’t eat and would eat dinner easily. Lunch was ugali (tastes like a thick flavorless cream of wheat made from ground corn), vegetables, and beans. Ayla claims she tried it but did not like it. Jove said it was kind of yummy.

                After we got back from lunch, I brought Ayla into her classroom because she refused to leave Jove in the preschool. She was fine after I talked with her for a few minutes. The preschool gets out earlier and so we only had a half an hour after lunch. It was much of the same.  We all cleaned up the learning materials, then one of the kids led in prayer (St. Mary’s is a Christian English school). Jove and I walked home and got our beans for dinners started up cooking. Well, I got the beans started while he had a snack (I told him it was only for today because after this I want them to eat their breakfast and lunch at school) and watched Star Wars Lego Movie. Asa, Mamaliz, and Ayla got home an hour later.  During the time before they got home I got to do more laundry by hand. I do so miss my washer and dryer and I only have to do underwear. I do wish I could hang the stuff outside on the line, but again, these people are too modest and so undies have to hang in the bathroom.

                We made some fresh eggs with our beans, along with corn tortillas. It was very good. Mama Ruth even brought over some ugali later on so that we could all try it and show the kids it isn’t anything to fear. We got them to try it and the first thing they say is yuck. Then they said they wanted to try it again and sure enough the keep eating it. They liked it, they actually liked it.

                Oh, and before we ate, we needed to get more anti malaria meds, so we went over to the hospital with Dr. Sion to get the meds and tour the hospital. I did not expect anything different but even so, it is hard to not have seeing that hit you like a ton of bricks. Everything is just so minimal and needing. There were a few wheel chairs that were made out of plastic lawn chairs with mountain bike wheels attached to it. Crazy! They have a very small amount of blood in their stores, no O negative. Three people have died in the last few months because of having no O neg. I guess in Tanzania it is a rare thing to have that blood type. Well, I am and so I am going to try to donate tomorrow or the next day and donate as much as I can while I am here. The children’s ward was so sad. We wanted to bring in toys for their play area, but Mamaliz says that she brought many toys over there not long ago. Well all of those were gone, we saw no toys. She let us know that the families steal the toys and that even the nurses may be taking them. It is very unfortunate. But, I am only one person and there is so much we can do. I do know that while we are here we will do anything and everything that we can do to help.

 

4-22-14 Tuesday

4-22-14 Tuesday

                Today started out nice and easy, had coffee and oatmeal (just like we do every other morning), took our anti-malaria pills, and relaxed. After a short period of relaxing we decided to take our length of rope we had and make a swing in the back yard for the kids. It took some time and effort. Asa climbed up the tree and sawed some of the dead branches off so they would not be in the way. While doing so we found some giant termites, gross! We tried to string a pipe through to use as a seat, but while Ayla was swinging the pipe snapped in half, pole sana. We have also tried to wrap a piece of wood around the rope a few times, but the wood keeps falling out. The kids for the most part are just sitting in the bare rope or standing on the rope and swinging down the hill. It was a hit. We will continue to work on it once we get a piece of wood for the seat in order to make it better. Our goal is to make a tree fort in that same tree for the kids to play in while here, then after we leave all the rest of the kids will have a fun place to play behind Teacher Liz’s house.

                Ayla was supposed to get her hair braided early today. We walked up into the village to Ruth’s Saloon (no this is not a typo, it is actually called a saloon, not a salon), but the men that were in their told us in their own way (since we don’t speak much Swahili and they speak no English) that the power is out so we cannot get her hair braided today. Whatever. On the way back home she let us know that she really only wanted the braids so that she could take them out and have curly hair. It worked out that they wouldn’t do her hair. I can’t imagine sitting there for hours while she got her head tugged and pulled just for her to want to take them all out later that same day. So, I did two French braids in her hair and she was very happy.

                While up in the village to attempt to do Ayla’s hair, Mamaliz sent us with a note to bring to Bismillah café requesting this very tasty spicy tomato stuff to put on their pillau rice, and we really wanted some at the house. Well, there was a misunderstanding and so we ended up with a dinner of the pillau rice with cow and the spicy tomatoes. It was okay though because none of us were really feeling up to cooking.

                Lunch time came around and we had to find something to make with the limited food in the house. Each day here is like when you haven’t been able to make it to the grocery store in weeks back home. There are always beans and rice, but otherwise there are odds and ends. We discovered Mamaliz has been out of America and places that know food for so long, she no longer has much idea about food. It is quite funny. Canned tuna cannot be made into a patty with flour, let alone oatmeal flour. It just would not be good. But Asa and I did manage to pull off a decent creamy tuna pasta. They kids loved it.

                After lunch, came our last day of vacation school time. This whole first week has been their vacation from school, and so any time we were at school it was extra time. The kids had the choice of what they wanted to do. We had play areas, math, reading, etc for them to choose from. It was only two hours in the afternoon and some of the kids played with the cars, legos, and Lincoln logs, but the vast majority wanted to practice math with Teacher Asa. He has a way with the kids. After about an hour and a half, we told all the kids to go play for the last little while. Nearly all of us went out front and kicked around a football. These kids love them some football!

                Asa went to some of the dukas (store) trying to find where to find some nails and wood. Frankie (our local handyman) ended up taking him into that area of the village and Asa was able to discover the local ‘home depot’. It is a very small mud hut, but they are the ones you go to when you need any improvement/tool type items. That will definitely be a handy place to know.

                Power finally came back on after being out for 24 hours. This was much to my enjoyment. My computer was almost out of battery and how else am I to write my journal and load up pictures. I know there would be no way I could hand-write these journal entries. As it is, I have to go back many times to check for spelling and grammar, and I probably still get many things wrong.

                After we finish our accidental dinner of the pillau and cow, we teach Mamaliz how to play rummy. Turns out she doesn’t know any card games. She lives here by herself the majority of the time, so it makes sense, but still. I am usually pretty good at rummy; this is why Asa will often not play with me. Poor guy, Mamaliz whooped both of us in the game. So much so, that we didn’t want to finish the game. With our game of rummy we all split one square of the dark chocolate bar I brought. It had a fruity taste to it and man was it tasty. We truly learned to appreciate a tiny piece of good chocolate.

 

Monday 4-21-14

4-21-14 Monday

                Today we had early school, so morning was just getting up and getting the kids ready and out the door. Normally this would be not a big deal, the kids however stayed up too late last night causing the kids (mostly Jove) very whiney and difficult. We made it to school and got the classrooms all set up. There were only a few kids at first, but more and more came as the two hours went on. Mamaliz and I started by organizing the library. The other teachers have some issues putting books back where they belong. We now however have all of our English books reorganized into a science section and a section for each standard 1-3. Asa spent all of his time doing math with any child that would come up. Mamaliz continued with the library, and I went outside and kicked the soccer ball and threw the football with the kids. Ayla and Jove had some issues with the ball games because they are not used to competitive games where everyone is going after the ball. A few of the kids, such as Angela, would pass them the ball frequently so they wouldn’t feel bad. It was very sweet. I had so much fun kicking the ball around with them.

                After school was finished we went to Monday market to pick out some fabric for Stan to make into dresses for Ayla and shirts for Jove. We also picked up a few veggies. Due to the Berega Bridge being out the market is much smaller than it normally is, but pole sana. The rest of the day was fairly simple. We hung around the house and the back porch. The kids played hard outside with all of the kids. We were going to get Ayla’s hair braided up by Mama Ruth, but she was playing so hard we forgot, so we will do it first thing in the morning. I cannot wait to see how she looks. I organized a lot of the photos from the past few days in order to be able to load to Facebook. Simple dinner, baths for the kids, and early bed.  Cranky children are just not something I would like to deal with again.

                Games the kids played…

Spanking game with sandals or with the pink ball

                We look outside and see the kids in the mosh pit all sticking their butts out at each other waiting for another child to spank them with either a shoe or a pink softball. We even got a minute long video of this. It was so funny. Kid will find a way to play and communicate even when they don’t share a language.

Baby game…

                All of the children surrounded Jove and were making him be the baby. So Jove is doing the baby part by whining and other annoying baby habits. Right after they finish, a few girls show up, maybe six years old, each carrying a baby sibling on their back. You would think the kids would then want to play baby with the real babies, but no, that is the point when the baby game is no longer amusing. Too funny.

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Sunday 4-20-14 Easter

4-20-14 Sunday

                Pasaka Njema! Today was Easter, and so there was no school. It allowed us to have a lazy morning. Coffee on the back porch drinking coffee and watching the birds fly up and the cows led by the Maasai meander by. Around lunchtime we walked up to Pismillah Restaurant and had some pilau (rice dish) with a little cow in there. It was quite tasty, so long as the spicy tomatoes were added; otherwise, it was a little bland (as is much of the food here).

                Once we made it back to the house we sat on the back porch again and this beautiful bright yellow bird flew up. This is a bird that Mamaliz has been trying to photograph for quite some time, and as usual it teased us. Any time the camera came out it would duck behind some foliage or fly off to a farther tree until the camera went away. The noise it made sounded almost as if one was trying to whistle with a mouth full of water. Very, very cool!

                Asa and I took a walk by ourselves for some quiet alone time. We walked down the hill and through the wooded areas. We came upon many cool rocks, bugs, and plants. There were many people we passed as well. Some of the kids were playing a game of chicken with us; How close can you get to the Mzungu (white person) without getting your picture taken… It was very funny. The closer we got to the main path the more people we saw, and they were nearly all dressed in their finest. There were bright colors and vibrant patterns everywhere. By comparison, I looked quite drab in my brown cargo pants and Cambridge Academy tee shirt. In fact, whilst walking away, many of them would begin laughing. I can only assume it was at my clothing choice or my tattoo. Both are common source of strange looks and giggles.

                “I love Stan” (tailor shop) got taken over by the ‘church’ for Easter service. Everyone was dancing and singing. Kids were running around everywhere. Asa and I got a nice cold beer and relaxed in an area where we could watch everything happen. The pastor yelled angrily at the crowd for about ten minutes. When he was finished we looked over and Samweli was next to us. Asa asked him why that man was yelling. Samweli responded by telling us that he was telling everyone about God. Samweli is such a sweet boy. We gave Samweli a little money to go buy candy for a bunch of the kids. He did a great job going around and passing out to everyone. Around all of this happening, an older man came up and showed me a beautiful purple stone. I admired and gave it back. He continued to try to speak to me and kept giving the stone back. He told me “no money” and gave it back for the tenth time or so. I finally accepted it with a grateful “asante sana”. He however, continued to find me after that to show me more stones and ask what Asa and I thought to be for our/my phone number. I am still not completely sure what he was trying to get across. I will take a photo of the stone for my dad or brother to identify.

                We walked back down to the house since it was getting close to time to cook dinner. We decided to have a late dinner so we could bring the kids up to watch the festivities. Jove had the first melt down because I wouldn’t listen to why he was swinging a stick at the other kids. We walked back to the house and had a talk. He calmed down and so we walked back up. On our way up whom do I see, Ayla and Asa walking to he house because Ayla has now had a breakdown. She is being too shy and won’t play with any of her friends. She only wants to hang on Asa. Jove and I watch for a little while then come back down to bring Asa the keys to the house so we can start up on dinner. We eat dinner and visit while the kids eat and watch a movie. Ayla and Jove stayed up until 10pm, which is way too late, but pole sana. From now on bedtime for them will be 8pm. I do not like cranky kids. All in all another great day.

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Saturday 4-19-14

4-19-2014 Saturday

                Today was a little less eventful. It started unfortunately, very early. Jove woke up at around 2 am vomiting. He did not call for me or anything, I just heard a noise and got up to investigate and found him in the pitch black bathroom. He refused to eat dinner the night before saying the pumpkin rice soup was yucky so it was just a water vomit, but still. That lasted until around lunch time. We let him know that because he was sick in the morning he would be unable to go to school because we did not want the other kids getting sick also. This, he was not happy about in the least. He wanted to play with his new best friends, Joan (pronounced Joanna) in particular. So whilst Mamaliz, Asa, and Ayla went to school, Jove and I hung at the house. After a half an hour of explaining to him the reasons again and again as to why he could not go, and letting him know I do not appreciate it when he tells me he does not like me or he wants me to vomit, he calms down and we snuggle on the couch and watch Wreck it Ralph on my computer. I fell asleep so quickly that he got bored and began to color.

                Prior to them leaving for school however, we did get in a very nice walk around the village. We went farther away from the area we are staying, by the school, hospital, and church. It became dirtier and the children a little more bedraggled. Even with the added dirt and holes in the clothing, they were just as adorable and sweet. Mamaliz would ask if they wanted a picture, meaning, “would you like me to take your picture and I will show you on the camera”. She actually prints up copies of the pictures often and gives them to the adults that are photographed, and because of this there is a reputation and many come out to get their picture taken. There were plenty however, that when asked, would run away as if the camera was going to attack them.

                We began organizing the toys and the shoes donated by Cambridge Academy Queen Creek families. We were very lucky to have so much to bring to these kids that have so little. I am very much looking forward to seeing their faces when we give them the shoes. I have already seen them with the toys and they were so happy. We separated  the toys and kept some here at the house for when school is not going, and others went to the school to help with learning. They are just the sweetest most innocent kids. I would have never figured so, living in what I would have believed to be such harsh conditions. I was wrong. Yes, life here is hard, but it is just a different kind of life. I am just so lucky to be a part of it, even if for a short period of time.

                The day was ended with our dinner guest, Dr. Sion (Shawn), whom Ayla and Jove have named Dr. Heart Star, coming over for dinner. We made lentil mung bean soup with a beet, cucumber and onion salad. Dr. Sion even made homemade naan to add to the meal. After dinner the kids taught him how to play Mancala and Jove was so excited that he not only beat Dad but he beat Dr. Heart Star also. So, it may have been a little less eventful, but no less wonderful. I am truly thankful to be here.

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Friday 4-18-14

4-18-14 Friday

Today is our third day in Africa. Our first day, Wednesday, we arrived very early in the morning to Dar es Salam and we went directly with our driver Abdala on our way to Morogoro. This was about a 4-6 hour drive, it was a very long and rough drive but we made it. We stayed at Mama Perina’s which is a local hotel. We had a shower, which even though it was cold and barely a trickle, it felt amazing after three days with no shower and constant traveling. There was good food and fun people at Mama Perina’s. The following day we made our 2.5 hour trip on to Berega. Asa slept some in the car, as did Jove. Ayla sat and listened to music. Lots of singing followed. Once it became light outside the trip became much better and I fully woke up because I finally had something to look at. Everything was green and beautiful. There were floods on the sides of the road due to all the rains with Masai leading their cows on occasion. Amazing to view! When the time came where we were approaching the river I became nervous of crossing by foot. The Berega bridge was washed out a few months ago by a flash flood so any crossing must be done by foot. Abdala assured us however that he could make it across by driving. I had my doubts seeing that there was a truck stuck almost on its side on the far side of the river. Abdala floored it and we luckily made it across. The locals that were surrounding the buried truck were not too happy about this, so we paid them some money for fixing the road so we could get across.

                We had eight military sea bags filled with food, shoes (thanks to the wonderful parents and teachers of Cambridge Academy Queen Creek), and of course our small amount of clothes. Lots of unpacking followed. We only had a few bags of quinoa and such explode. The almond butter was the only one that caused any trouble. After a while, once all was done, we went for a walk so Mamaliz could show us the village. I tried my best to say hello to everyone. Sallama, Jambo, Mambo, etc. After a very short time we had a trail of many children. We walked with them, spoke with them, and explored a little. On the way back came the highlight of my first exposure to Africa. There were two Masai men walking and Jove wanted to say hello, so I went with him. I said hello and they gestured to my tattooed arm asking if they could feel it. Sure why not. I pull up my tee shirt sleeve to show them. They both gingerly touch my arm as if it might just burn them or something. They seemed completely amazed that it felt like normal skin. They busted up laughing. I am at a loss of words to have been allowed this experience. The night ended by tucking the kids into their bug net tent which they shared. I have never seen them fall asleep so fast. Dr. Shawn came by to share dinner with us. We had rice with eggplant, cashews, and tomatoes. I am changed forever.

                Jove had his first fight today. Playing at school in the afternoon, I left to go to the house with Asa to patch up his busted up toes, when we get back Mamaliz says she found Jove hitting this kid and throwing a ball at him. She asked if it was solved, to which he replied yes and tried explaining. Once we got to the house we finally let him explain. Well he claims the other kid threw the ball at his face twice and it hurt really bad. Then the other kid hit him first so he hit back. He told us he had to fight him back. Ah, they grow up fast here.

                 So, I got to do my first load of hand done laundry today. Granted it was only chupi (underwear), but still. We have a village lady that does laundry so we will use her in order to give her family money. She will come twice a week, maybe once depending on how much laundry we make. The people here are a very modest people and the sight of underwear is unacceptable.

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