Arusha

As part of orientation at Amani, you accompany a street educator to Arusha to see what they do, and to see where the kids come from. We went yesterday, one street educator, three new employees and myself. In the afternoon we went to a place where a group of kids are known to hang out. They sit by a traffic light and wash windshields when the light is red. It’s a large group, lots of older ones. The street educator just went over to talk with them, and after awhile one of the “leaders” started yelling and making all kinds of accusations. He wasn’t in favor of Amani because supposedly he was there when it started and has finished school and ended up back on the streets. It got a little scary, they were threatening us and it attracted a lot of outside attention. Somehow the street educator convinced one of the younger ones to meet us in the morning and come to Amani. There was another younger one there though. He couldn’t speak up in favor of Amani because he would have been beaten when we left. He was sniffing glue while we were there, his eyes were empty and he was not very responsive. The older ones are violent and very dangerous. Amani educators go to Arusha twice a week, and I’m sure they’ll work on convincing the other little one to come to Amani. It was hard getting out because they kept following us, a couple followed us almost all the way to the hotel.

Later that night we went out to look for more kids, the Amani street educators know where they tend to sleep. We found one boy completely by accident; he was sleeping all alone on a step. We woke him up and he said that his father had died and his mother had left. He’d been living with his grandmother and for one reason or another she could no longer support him. He’d been on his own in the street since December. He readily agreed to come to Amani. He was wide-eyed and scared looking and tired. We got him some food and he agreed to meet us in the morning to come to Amani, I didn’t like leaving him out there at night. We met another boy who was living on the street by choice, because if he went home his mother would send him to school. He kind of reminded me of the Artful Dodger (from Oliver Twist), he walked with a swagger and wore a suit jacket.

The next morning we met one of the younger ones from the group, plus the boy we found on the step, and a friend of his! I don’t  know the story of the latter, but he lied and said that the two of them were brothers, because he was afraid that he wouldn’t be allowed to come to Amani. But all three of them came on the bus with us back to Moshi (a couple of hours drive). When they arrived at Amani they spoke to the nurse, then got washed up and got clean clothes. Then they got to eat a big lunch and play with the other kids. When I was done for the day I went out and played with all of the kids and ended up playing a lot with Kelvin (sp?), the boy found on the step. Last night he was so scared and hungry and sad, it was nice playing football (soccer) with him and laughing and tickling him. Today I sat on a step watching some Amani boys do AMAZING gymnastics, with Joseph John on one side of me and Kelvin on the other. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time.

First week in Africa, and first days at Amani!

This was my first week at Amani! As internet costs a lot, I’m going to write ahead of time in word and then post it in chunks.

I love Moshi town so far. It has been like a vacation up until today. It’s warm, the people are friendly and the culture is relaxed. I really feel right at home, despite the lack of running water, random power outages, dirt-covered feet, and lizards in my bedroom. But I’ve come to learn that Amani is a full time job. Up at 6:30am, walk down the road to catch the Amani dalla-dalla, there until 4pm, pay for a dalla-dalla back to the hostel.

Monday- My first day!

I have a two week orientation, so I don’t actually start teaching until the 30^th. Today started with a department meeting conducted in Swahili. I made a fool of introducing myself, I didn’t really know what to say since they all already knew about me. Then I nearly nodded off, since it’s hard to pay attention when you understand a total of 5 words in a 2.5hr meeting. The staff eats lunch with the kids, today it was rice, and an entire cow. Every part included.

Later I observed the art class (the teacher stays at the same hostel as myself). It was chaotic. The kids were all hyper from lunch and were just out of control. She had to attempt to get the correct children for the class, line them up, and get them in the classroom while holding off other kids who weren’t supposed to be there. Then she had to lock the door or they would all run in and out. They knocked and yelled outside the door for the entire class. After class she had to go out into the yard and hunt down the kids who were supposed to be in the next class, which was equally chaotic.

But with all the mayhem, they were still adorable. They made animal masks, I observed two classes and one boy in each class gave me their masks. They are all curious to talk to you and introduce themselves. It’s hard because some don’t speak any English, and most are very limited. They’re very touchy, very eager to hold your hand.  A couple of them speak English very well, so we made a deal, I’ll teach them music if they teach me Swahili!

Tuesday

I started the morning helping the cook. First I prepared the spinach, with the help of a girl who didn’t speak any English, maybe 12 years old, and an adorable 5 year old, I think called Basi. There are two little ones, their older siblings attend Amani, but they are too young so they just kind of hang out there and wander. One boy and one girl, both adorable. It was nice and calm and quiet sitting with them preparing spinach and then peeling garlic (I might still smell like garlic). Myself and a visitor also washed all of the dishes.

After tea time I talked with nurse Rovina, who has been at Amani for nearly ten years. Pretty much a school nurse deal, except she brings the children to the hospital when necessary, and has to bring two of them to the hospital every month for HIV medication. Next I had some time set aside to read Amani volunteer handouts, lots of reading!

Lunch was ugali, it has the consistency of mashed potatoes, and you eat it with beans and spinach. It was interesting, filling, and something you have to experience, but I can’t exactly say that I liked it.  After lunch I was back in the art room while waiting to meet with the director, who never had time to see me. The kids were pretty hyper today, and at one point a fight broke out in class. It was a tough class.

You can’t tell how old the kids are. Many have been malnourished, so they are small, and they have all grown up on the streets, so that act younger than their age. There is one boy who is 16 but he looks maybe 10. I have been warned that he can be violent and not to let him touch me, but he has been very well behaved so far.

I forgot to bring a bathing suit! Everyone went to the pool the other day and I couldn’t swim. I don’t have short shorts either because I was told to bring modest clothing. I went to the new “western” grocery store today because I heard there were bathing suits there, but they were too expensive. I’m going to stop by Mary’s tomorrow to have some shorts made. A bunch of girls from the hostel are going to the hot springs this weekend so I’d like to join.

Wednesday

Most of Wednesday was meeting with different people and talking about the reunification process and other things. In the afternoon I observed a class, but it was all in Swahili so it wasn’t all that interesting.

Thursday

This morning I presented my ideas for the music club to the education coordinator, it’s beginning to take shape. It looks like my class will be at 4pm, and maybe a second class at 5pm, depending on how many kids can sign up for the class. I’d rather be done at 5, since it would be harder to get back home at 6. Then I met with someone to learn about the action learning cycle. Now I am back at Hostel Hoff, I’ll go back to Amani at 4 to see what the night caregivers do.

This is Peanut, he lives at Hostel Hoff :)

This is Africa

All settled in Moshi town! I'm sitting out on the patio in the heat, with a dog stretched out by my feet. I had a mango from the tree out front for lunch today, there's also a banana tree. The whole town is without water, I bathed in a bucket last night. It's so hot here though that you really need to bathe every day, I guess that's not going to happen.

My baggage all made it here fine, I was a bit worried about that. No one was there to meet me at the airport, and it was a bit stressful, but there were a lot of taxi drivers there who took care of me, one of them used his phone to call Salma, got no answer for quite awhile, but eventually she did, and the driver arranged everything for me! People are very nice here, there was only one rude man there who tried to get me to pay him to use his phone, and when I said I had no money he laughed and said "so what are you going to do?" and was kind of an jerk.

I got a brief tour of town this morning, got a sim card, but didn't put any money on it! That was stupid, and you have to wait ages to top up. I will have to try to find the place again later....I did wander into town on my own today! I was hesitant, but I gave in and did it, and it's so small that you can just wander around and not get lost.

Hostel Hoff is pretty nice, they have some tents in the back that I might try to get a bed in if one clears up. There are all kinds of people here doing different volunteer jobs and staying for different amounts of time. They all seem to be here to travel though, talking about all the places they're going, and going out to drink etc. I don't have the money to do any of that, so it's a bit strange. I wasn't expecting that type of environment. I think I'm headed to the shop with some people, so I'll update again later.

Oh, and regarding the title...when something doesn't work, ex. no water, no internet, people just say "This is Africa", it's kind of like eh, it happens, what can you do? No worries.

Marafiki wa zamani - Old Friends

I think I'm starting to get excited! Its about time!

I may have just found a cheaper alternative in regards to accommodation, but I'll have to check it out ahead of time. Make sure it's close enough to Amani, safe, and has interwebs. I would have my own room, so that would be really nice. I am staying at Hostel Hoff for the month of January though, it is very westernized, and comes with built in friends! So that will be a nice transition. The only thing I would worry about if I stayed at the Kilimanjaro Inn is that I wouldn't have as many people to hang out with. I also need to ask if I can book long term, since online it only seems to show 31 days at a time. Lots of "ifs," but it seems worth checking out when I arrive.

Brockley, where I've been staying with friends in London.

I just realized that I leave London Wednesday night, not morning, so I have another whole day here! I've been around some of the places I used to frequent, and walked by where I used to live. It's a very strange feeling, I can't really describe it. It feels normal, being with all my old friends, going to the pub, chatting for ages in the kitchen. But, it's strange that it feels normal, so much in my life has changed since I left London in June of 2010.

I booked a flight home! I didn't realize until right before I left Massachusetts that I can take at least 3 travel weeks during my 6 month volunteer time. If I had realized that before, I would have just booked a round trip flight, which, as it turns out, costs half as much as what I ended up booking...but oh well, no changing that now. And if I had booked round trip I wouldn't have been able to stop in London! I booked a flight for July 1st, stop in Kenya, then Rome, then Washington D.C., then I will be in Boston on July 2nd! Just in time to go down the Cape for the 4th of July and get some quality family time.

I really did have a wonderful Christmas this year. Maybe knowing that you're going away makes seeing family that much more exciting, I'm not sure, but I just had a wonderful time! With my family as well as John's.

I'm at a different friend's in London now. From Wednesday-this morning (Monday) I stayed with British friends, the same people that I used to live with. Now I'm with an American friend who did the same study abroad program that I did back in 2009-10.

I am missing everyone, but the way I see it, January will be over by the time I'm settled in Moshi town, so I'll have two months until John visits. Then after he leaves about 2 months until I get home. Slightly unrealistic, I know, there are a couple weeks unaccounted for there, but I think it is a healthy way to look at things.

London

Arrived safely in London, I'm staying with some friends for a week.

Got to the airport in Boston, went to check in at British Airways, only to find out that American Airlines sometimes disguises themselves as British Airways, and even though I booked British Airways flight 1503 I was actually on American Airlines flight 156. And even though it says that terminal E is for all international flights, that's not true, my whole family had to take a shuttle with me to terminal B.
So British Airways has individual TVs where you can watch movies, TV shows, play games, or watch a map with the flight progress, all kinds of stuff. AA has TVs in the aisle of the plane, I could see about half the screen, and the movie was in Spanish...I was pretty bored, but ended up sleeping for at least half of the flight. There were adorable kids behind me (that woke me up at least twice). They had to replace a brake on the plane so we sat on the tarmac at Logan for ages, and the little girl behind me kept counting down to "blastoff", "8 7 6 3 1 5 2 3 5 4 3 2 1 Blastoff!" Then would sing a song about little drops of snow.
The flight was uneventful, landed at Heathrow pretty much on time. But, as usual, there are about 5 people at the border for British people, and 2 for "all other passports", which means it takes ages to get through. Then Sam and Max met me at the airport, and it takes a ridiculous amount of time to get back to where they live. Sat around and caught up and went to bed pretty late. I'm not adjusted to London time yet, I forced myself up at 11:30, but my body thought it was 6:30am, gah.
I don't really have plans for the week, just wanted to see everyone again. I think we're going to Hamleys toy store, and I forgot a watch, so maybe I'll try to find a cheap one while we're out.

Goodbye

I leave early tomorrow morning. I just found out that I can't add an extra piece of luggage, even though British Airways assured me that I would be able to 24hrs before the flight. That extra piece of luggage has all of the supplies for Amani...I am not going to get any sleep tonight.

I'm homesick already. This is the point where you ask yourself why the heck you're putting yourself through this. Again. I remember how awful the first couple of weeks in London were, but I also remember that come the end, I didn't want to leave. So, I'm trying to think of that. I at least got to see tons of family on Monday, I had a great time.

I will update when I'm safe and sound in London!

LexList

My Mum and Dad went to Newport, RI for their anniversary back in November and met a woman there named Tari. While I haven't really had time to contact her, Tari is really excited about helping out Amani. And her son Lex has raised $210 for the kids at Amani! He is 13 years old, he collected 4200 cans and bottles to raise the money!
Thanks so much Lex, this brings us to the goal of $1000 for the music club at Amani!


Here's a link to his website Lexlist