Archive for December, 2008
Out of Africa
Cold shower. No shower. Warm beer. No beer. No food. No electricity. Toilet is a hole in the ground. Tent side swiped by wild bush pig. Feet caked in mud. Robbed by a monkey. Lions almost attacked us. Pickpocketed. Cooking water drunk by an elephant. Stale butter and carrot sandwiches for 5 days straight. Felt up by a toothless driver on the daladala bus. Wiping snot from a child’s nose with bare hands and no soap. Gunfire in front of our room. Sleeping on the bathroom floor. 2 stolen cameras, 2 stolen shoes, 1 dead donkey, 2 dead puppies, children throwing up all over each other…Best time of our lives.
The end is near…
I peak back at Emele as we head to Dar from Zanzibar, the tears slowly but steadliy streaming down her face, the trip has touched her heart and for the first time in her life she has no strong desire to return home. Though perhaps more weighted on the beauty and people of Zanzibar, the [...]
Back to Zanzibar-Christmas in Paradise
We left Arusha and the children on December 22. While it was hard to say goodbye those we have grown so close to, we felt there was no better way than to spend Chrismas than on the beach in Nungwi. We brought one of the volunteers we got to know well with us, an Irish [...]
Armed & Dangerous
A conversation weeks earlier… Has the house ever been robbed? Yes. Did the guard stop them? Yes. What happened? He shot at the thieves. When was that? 1997. We had been walking the path from the house to the center for weeks by ourselves so when David, our family coordinator insisted on an escort last [...]
A visit to Moshi…FYI: Toto was way off
We’d both played the song enough times to make anyone not part of our dynamic duo sick of Toto’s, “Africa”. But we thought we’d clarify a misstatement. Kilimanjaro cannot be seen from the Serengeti. In fact, though Arusha is just 74 km away from it’s base, it’s view is blocked by Mount Meru and can [...]
Time & Simplicity
With just a few more days, it’s slowly beginning to sink in, that we’ll be leaving soon and with that the simple routines we’ve fallen into. Our typical days has us up at the center by 10, down for lunch at 1 and back up around 3 after the babies have eaten and napped. From [...]
Groping, Near Death Experiences & Marriage Proposals
Led Zepplin, Glory to God, All Aboard, Obama Mobile, the colorful printed names zip by atop the daladalas honking for your attention as they make their way to and from the town center. Costing a mere 200 shillings, the equivalent of 15 cents, they are the main mode of transportation. Our residence, located in the [...]
Dining Time
Each day, prior to dinner, all the children gather in the dismally lit classroom of the center to sing what we assume are religious songs in Swahili and pray. The entire process varies in length, sometimes lasting 30 minutes, others 15. Typically led by Namnyaki, it seems like a endless repetoire at first, though we’ve [...]
“It’s Africa”
It’s hard to believe that Christmas is less than a week away and to think in two weeks time we’ll both be back in the lives, that though our own, seem so far away. Emele had brought a bunch of magazines, mostly of the gossip variety. She put it down after a few minutes and [...]
Rwanda Tribunals
The sound of the TV can be heard from the kitchen. A glance into the living room reveals 2 pairs of eyes glued to a tiny tv screen. Hotel Rwanda is playing. Both Emele and I have separately wanted to watch the film, but it’s graphic nature and the fact that we are so very [...]
15 Years and Lifetimes of Difference
Monday is Namnyaki’s 15th birthday, she is both so young and yet so beyond her age. As the head girl, her responsibilities are many. We watch her amazed and bewildered at how easily she juggles the role; calling the small children for their baths, directing the others to laundry, we both try to help with [...]
Spanking the Monkey
It was our final day on Safari and the last destination was Tarangire National Park, a spot known for its concentration of Elephants, Emele was vying to see a hundred elephants, and while we didn’t get to see them all at once we stopped counting well after 100. We stopped to eat lunch at a [...]
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