Five Good bye's and a Wedding

Yesterday was interesting. We said good bye to five more volunteers yesterday who have gone back home to the US and Canada, four of whom were healthy. (sorry Blake, I'm sure the malaria will clear up with the medicine) Now there are only seven of us left at the house, and soon most of the rest will go. In a couple weeks there will be a huge group of new volunteers, 27 or so, and the house will be full again.

I spent a good couple hours yesterday drawing a map of Africa on a school room wall. Nikki is painting her nursery school room and wants to put different designs on the wall, numbers, letters, and in my case, a map of Africa. I've drawn the outline in chalk and today will go over the lines with black paint. Hopefully I'll get the chance to fill in the countries with different colors, and I also plan to do a map of Tanzania on another wall. It's fun doing these paintings on the wall, makes me feel like a Renaissance artist.

Last night we at CCS were all invited to a wedding. I'm still not entirely sure who's wedding it was, but Mama Thea, who's house we live in, was the organizer of the wedding. I believe it was one of her nephews who was married. We didn't go to the ceremony it self, but to the reception afterwards.

The reception was held in the YMCA hall in Moshi. We got there a little after eight in the evening and the place was packed. The walls were white painted cinder-blocks covered in white cloth, and white and green cloth was draped from the walls to hanging plants down the center of the room. Inside the cloth and along the walls were lines of small white lights. The hall has a ribbed tin ceiling held up with red rafters, and some of the green balloons had floated up and moved back and forth in the breeze. Most of the hall was filled with white covered tables, and most of the tables were filled with people. At the head of the room sat the bride and groom along with several other important people, behind them the wall was covered with white flowers and lights.

In the back were several rows of folding chairs for people who came late, like us. We sat down and were brought drinks, but after only a few minutes a table was offered to us and we sat down. The reception was like many I've seen, with the bride and groom sitting in nice chairs while lots of people take the mike to make sort, or not so short speeches. It was all done in Swahili of course, but from what Mama Lilian translated for us it was all pretty standard stuff. We had drinks, and when it was time for food we tried to get just a little but ended up with full plates.

There were several things that were a little different about the reception from one's I'm familiar with. The first being that they didn't start off by cutting a cake and feeding it to each other, but instead had a roasted goat (imagine a full roasted pig with the apple in its mouth but the head still had the fur and horns on it) which was cut into small pieces and fed by the bride and groom to the various family members. A cake was brought in later and the ceremony repeated. Also, the whole event was very late, we got there after eight and didn't leave until almost midnight, and when we left no one else had. I have the feeling they were there for several more hours. The bride wore a beautiful white dress like in a wedding back home, though the groom had on a white suit instead of a tux. And in one corner there was a small brass band, and one of the trumpets would occasionally punctuate something said by whom ever was speaking.

My favorite part had to be the presentation of the gifts however. What happens is that everyone who was invited comes up in groups, family members form the bride and groom's sides, friends, and co-workers. the bride and groom stand at one end of the hall with the best man and a bride's maid, and the group is announced and with their gifts dances in a line down the length of the hall to music provided by the band. You dance up, drop off your present, shake the hands of the wedding party and offer congratulations, then dance in the general area while the rest of your group does the same. Then there is a small speech given by some one in your group, and then you dance your way back out in a line again so the next group can do the same.

As I said, we left around midnight, and the dancing hadn't even started yet. All in all it was a very interesting experience, though I felt somewhat under dressed for the occasion. When I get a new camera cable I'll be putting up pictures so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Quick News

Ok, sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should, but things have been extra busy around here lately. I haven't been this busy since I first got here. I'm on the home base computer that has a habit of truing it self off at very bad times so I'll keep this short and to the point, or points as the case may be.

In excellent news little Parcely is home from the hospital and back with the Kili Kids and his brother and sister! His skin is clearing and he is eating again. We saw them all yesterday and all 23 kids were doing well. It's so hear warming to see them all running and having fun, they all have such sad stories. Every time we show up they run to us and hug us around the legs two or three deep. The two hours we spend there at any one time always fly by, and I never notice the language barrier. There is a Kili Kids web site for those interested in looking, which I can't seem to find just now, sorry. When I get the address I'll post it.

Today I was able to change my flight home until the first of June, so I'll be home on the second or third depending on how my flights turn out. There was a fee, and I didn't have the money on me today to pay so I'll have to go back tomorrow to get the actual ticket. Hakuna matata, it won't be any trouble.

I've been having a wonderful time with my students lately. They have always been good, but now I've been having success in teaching the standard 2 students simple division and telling time. They have picked it up amazingly fast. I only started both on last Monday and they already have the basic idea. They can tell me the hour when I draw a clock on the board, and the minutes in 15 minute intervals. Tomorrow I'll introduce more of the minutes to them, and I'll try to show how division and multiplication (which they already know in the basic form) work together. I must admit, I have much more appreciation for basic math after having been teaching it for several months. The simplicity of it is so beautiful a nine year old can grasp it.

Last weekend we had a little adventure. All 12 of the volunteers currently at CCS decided to take a small trip up Kilimanjaro for a night. We made the arrangements and were picked up on Saturday morning. Our first clue should have been the state of the van and truck that picked us up.

I was in the van with three other volunteers and as we got passed the paved roads and onto the dirt roads things got interesting. We stalled out several times and were slightly worried that we would be stuck. But we made it to our first destination, an hour hike to a waterfall. The hike was pleasant and cool since we were higher up the mountain. It was rolling country side that could almost have come out of Europe. It being the rainy season the water fall was impressive to say the least and we could only get so close with out getting covered in the spray.

Back in the truck we made our way farther up the dirt "road" toward the Kili View Lodge. Unfortunately the last stretch of road was just a bit too steep and a bit too wet and our trucks tires were a bit too bald and we had to walk the last 500 meters. Fortunately I didn't bring much with me. At the lodge itself they tried to put us into too few rooms with too few beds, fairly standard practice, but after a bit of discussion led by Dave (aka papa Leo) we got it all straightened out. We were the only people there and more rooms weren't really a problem.

The view from there was incredible. We were able to look down on Moshi, and up to the peak of Kili (even that far up we were still well below the tree line and vary much in the rain forest area). The night was cool and rainy, and our beds were extremely comfortable. In the morning we awoke to find ourselves in one of the clouds that often sticks to the side of Kili. I could see the peak vaguely through the cloud, which was ironic that Kili was out but we weren't. We were served some excellent coffee that I had too many cups of and after breakfast we came back home. Because of the rains the road was even worse going down and we had to walk back to where the van and truck had stayed since yesterday. We slipped and slid down the mountain, but made it safe and sound in the end. It was the kind of trip where you need a vacation to recover from, but it was a good time.

That's about all I can think of just now, and it's getting late and I want to try calling mom again before bed. I've been sent a camera cable from home so with any luck there will be pictures again on the blog soon. I hope every one is good back state side and abroad.

Not coming home just yet

As I said a little while back I was given a gift by my parents to take a trip after my program here in Moshi ends in May. I thought about it for a while, and many possibilities came to mind. I could see more of Africa, I could stop over somewhere in Europe on my way home, I could even go on another safari while I'm here in Tanzania. But after being away from home for so long, and being here with the volunteers and my school for so long as well the thought of traveling on my own really isn't very appealing. All those places I thought about going are still worth the trip I'm sure, and god willing I will someday get to see them.

So I have come up with an alternative. For the same money that I could spend a week in Amsterdam I can spend the better part of a month here in Moshi. I'll move into one of the hotel's in town and work during the days at my school and possibly at the Kili Kids orphanage. Kili Kids is going to have a gap of volunteers in a couple weeks and I may be able to help fill it for at least a little while. I'll be able to be around my friends from CCS and will be in a familiar place.

I'll be home some time in early June, I'll be able to say once I get my plane tickets changed. I miss everyone at home, but one extra month wont be that long. It's hard to believe that I have been here for almost two and a half months already. I'm sure the next month and a half will fly by as well.

I'll see you all when its warm out.

A Day in the Life

About a week ago I joined Mr. James, the head master of my school, on one of his out reach programs. Mr. James works with various programs in the area to help support people living with HIV-AIDS in the villages out side of town. Last Tuesday Mr. James, a couple other volunteers from the school, and I took a dala-dala up to Marangu, about an hour north of Moshi.

Up in Marangu, which is higher up on Mt. Kilimanjaro but still very much in the jungle, Mr. James works with a program called the Hope Foundation. We were introduced to the woman who runs the foundation there and were served tea and fried banana. The Hope Foundation runs an orphanage there and helps to support the local people with HIV-AIDS.

We met with a woman named Esther at her home, and brought a bag of donated clothes for her children. Esther was her husband's second wife, the first had died after having four children. Of those four children two died of AIDS. After his first wife died the man married Esther. He died one year later, and Esther was pregnant. When her son was born she had herself and her son tested and they were both positive. Esther has to work to support her son Gideon, and one of the children from the first marriage who still lives with her. The older of the two children from the first marriage is away at school, the younger who still lives there is also positive.

We sat in her home, a dark and cool concrete room with a tin roof, on little stools. Her son Gideon is about eight now, and you wouldn't know by looking at him that he is sick. Gideon sat on one of the other volunteers lap's while we talked, and the other child stood behind her mother in her blue school uniform. Esther cried a little as we gave her the clothing, and as Mr. James read her letters from her pen pals in America. Mr. James asked us if we wanted to say anything, but I didn't know what to say.

Later we went to visit the kids in the orphanage. There are 28 children at the orphanage we saw that day, 11 of whom are HIV positive. Mr. James had letters for one of the positive girls who was about 11 and in grade 4. All of the letters came with stickers, and one was a letter that played music. One thing you don't expect to here in a situation like that is "Who let the dog's out."

After running various errands with Mr. James I got back to the CCS house a little after 5:00. I sat on the back porch and read a book. Megan and Nikki got home around 5:45 and joined me there. They had just come back from visiting the kids at the Kili Kids orphanage, but first they had gone to see little Parcely in the hospital.

Parcely (actually spelled Parcel but pronounced like parsley the food) has been in the hospital for a couple weeks because of a rash all over his body. The rash is a reaction to his AIDS medication. We had visited him several times before, each time he had gotten a little worse, and this time was no different. Megan showed me pictures of Parcely, covered in a white lotion and with a feeding tube in his mouth. His lips are so chapped that he cant open them. They bleed sometimes. The girls told me that he could hardly hold him self up because he was so weak.

That was a long day. Some day's are just like that here. But you get through them. Going to my school or to Kili Kids always helps my mood. And if you get too depressed you wont be any help to anyone. You take these things one day at a time.

Much about nothing.

This is one of those days where I really don't know what to write about. Lot's going on as usual, but sometimes it almost becomes so commonplace that you don't notice it. Of my original group of volunteers only two of us remain, Megan and I, and Nicki from the last group is also still here. other wise everyone I have met here has left, and the three of us find ourselves surrounded by strangers. Soon enough they will be friends, but for now there is a disconnect as they go through their orientation.

Last night after a game of charades, which is the almost nightly past time here at CCS, John became very sick. Nicki and I stayed with in the room with him as he slept, partly because of worry, and partly because we were enjoying our conversation. John leaves today to fly home to Australia, and after two months of good health this is terribly ironic timing to get sick. I have to admit that I'm a bit worried he may have malaria, but he is determined to get on that plane and go home. If you have to have malaria it would be nice to at least be home. Thats sick John to the right, and yes, I put an American flag sticker on his face. In order to be fair I have also added a much better looking picture of John from the next day when he had mostly recovered from his one night sickness.

My parents have given me a gift, they want to let me go on a trip before I leave that they will pay for, within reason. I'm extremely excited about it, but now I have to decide where I want to go. There are so many options and I really don't know where to start. Should I go somewhere in Africa? Even here in Tanzania, another safari maybe (I would love that). Or to Egypt, my dad has always talked about seeing the pyramids and I would love to do that. I could go to South Africa or Morocco, or a now more stable Kenya. On the other hand I could also pick a destination in Europe to stop over in on my way home, Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Paris, and Madrid all sound quite intriguing. I can't thank mom and dad enough, but this will require some real thinking. I'd love to go to Australia but even with my parents help I don't think I'll have enough money for that.

Anyways, that's enough babbling for now, I'll have something more substantial to say next time. For now, good bye to all my friends who have gone home, safe journey to those still travailing, and may God hold you in the palm of his hand till we meet again.

PS: John, you will never find all of the American flag stickers I hid in your luggage. :-)

Pictures

At first I was going to give another long and well thought out post, commenting on some subtlety of life in Tanzania, but then I though to my self I'll just put a bunch of pictures up instead. So with out further interruption, we have the children of TCC;

Because right now we are technically on a break from school the kids only come in for half days. Only about 20 of the usual 80 kids come, and they don't have to wear their uniforms. We start with math, then move on to English. Above we have Davis studying, several of the children being John Cena before class (WWE wrestling, which they love), And Debora and Dorthy, Teacher James' kids. Below are Zena on the see-saw with her file balanced on her head, little Fatuma also on the see-saw, and Mohamed with his sticker page. Stickers are very important in teaching here.

And just for good measure, a couple picture of Kilimanjaro, now with snow from the rainy season.