Day 4

Today we visited a small orphanage with about 40 kids. We drove up a dirt road and the orphanage was at the end. The compound was about 50' by 50' and had brick wall all around and a gate to enter. It was mostly all open with an outdoor room for the kitchen and some brick rooms where the children would sleep. They were so excited to see the Cross Cultural Solution (CCS) vans coming. They ran along the side of the vans yelling 'Teacha Teacha' ('Teacher Teacher') When we got there we started pulling out balloons, bubble blowers, frizebees and the kids were so excited. There was balloons and bubbles going everywhere. All of a sudden there would  be a child or multiple children holding your hand saying Teacha Teacha play. There was a table where some of us sat down and drew pictures with the kids. I drew some pictures with the kids then I drew a map of the world and showed them where they were and where I lived. We would try talking in Swahili but the older kids (oldest around 13) would respond in English. The older kids knew more Swahili then we thought. There was a young women from Bermuda there who volunteered with CCS in 2006 and ever since she comes back every year for 2 weeks to volunteer at this orphanage. There are some amazing stories here. One of the volunteers is a nurse in her mid 20s and quit her job to come here to volunteer for 12 weeks with the hope of getting a job with Doctors Without Borders when she is done. It is such a special group of people. Everybody had such an amazing experience with the kids. It was hard not to step back every now and then and watch all the kids who from our world had nothing...only the old, dirty clothes that they had on but yet they were soooooo happy. Everyone of them were smiling and having fun. It was also interesting and pleasing to see how good they were at sharing and helping each other. Kids around 10 years old were helping the younger kids with balloons, drawing etc. The boys that were older, around 12-13 were collecting wood to fuel the fire that was cooking their lunches...they were also the ones that tidied up the yard after the kids.
In the afternoon 2 other volunteers, Nate (U.S. Lilly) and Mezan (Lebanon), and I went for a run. We met Amani who runs a woman's shelter in Moshi and he took us on a running tour. We ran through mainly dirt roads and small villages where he grew up and then through Moshi University. When we ran through the villages everybody was smiling and saying hello. Needless to say we STOOD OUT big time. Kids would come running up to us and run along side with big smiles. We would say hello and exchange names with a fist bump which they loved. :-) We ended up running 22km. What an amazing way to see Africa. Some parts of the run we were in what felt like the heart of Africa. What an amazing experience...it is like this whole other world that we see on TV but I don't know if we fully appreciate that it is out there or exists and is not this fictional program on TV. I will never forget this and still wonder how it will change me...for the better.