Time for a little R & R

I have made two new friends within the nearby town of Njombe. These sisters are native Californians who moved to Tanzania 2 years ago and are currently working on establishing a rural training center for the locals. Charming and sweet, Chevy and Curry provide wonderful company and offered to myself and Hannah an opportunity to join them on a trip to visit friends in Zanzibar. As work at Sunrise Children’s Home has proven to be an all-consuming and arduous responsibility, we gratefully accepted the invitation for a few days of respite.

 I was so thrilled for my first opportunity to get out and explore what life is like in Tanzania outside of my small, isolated village. I desperately needed a break from the 24/7 work at the orphanage. I never realized how overwhelming it could be to have your home and your job to be in the same location and never have a day off when you can just relax with no responsibilities. My mind and body definitely required sometime away, to decompress and unwind.

 This little last-minute trip provided the perfect location for such a mini-vacation. Zanzibar is truly a taste of paradise. The ocean was a spectacular turquoise and a perfectly tepid temperature.

 The city of Stone Town was a beautiful composite of African, Arab, and Indian cultures mixed with Western influence.

Everything we saw, from the striking architecture to astounding nature all around, was absolutely incredible and I just wanted to soak up all of the colors and flavors.

We attended Sauti za Busara, an annual music festival that had all sorts of African music groups from traditional tribal dances, to Arab influences tarrab music, and of course Swahili contemporary bands as well.

We got a chance to visit the gorgeous Jozani National Forest and check out the Colobus Monkeys. 

And the food, oh the food was the best! I had long since wearied of the bland meals of ugali and potatoes, so I thoroughly enjoyed all of the savory and spicy meals that were readily available all over the island. 
Of course I loaded up on spices in the market, so that way I had plenty to take back with me to the orphanage.

While I definitely enjoyed seeing and tasting everything that Zanzibar had to offer, I had a very peculiar realization a few days into the trip; I was experiencing culture-shock. And not culture shock in regards to the comparison of the USA and Africa, but of village to city. Stone Town is not a large city by any means, but I had grown so accustomed to the quiet, simple life in Uhekule village that was overwhelmed by all of the people and colors and sounds of the city. It was like I was on sensory overload. It was such a completely bizarre feeling for me to experience, because I usually embrace the hustle and bustle of cities, especially one as unique and exciting as Stone Town. Even with all the beauty that surrounded me, after a few short days I was ready to go back to the peaceful, unobtrusive village life. I missed my home, and not my house in the states, but I missed the children and the routine at the orphanage. I realized that not only have I unpacked and settled in physically, but also mentally and emotionally.  Sunrise Children’s Home of Uhekule Village is my new home now, and I know and feel that this is exactly where I am supposed to be.

Items Needed at Sunrise Children's Home

Many people have been asking me what we need here at Sunrise, so I have compiled a list of items that we need, many of which are not available in town.

 I will add more as I think of them and of course as the needs arise!

• Dental floss (floss picks are great for kids!)
• Gold bond powder (the kids have lots of itches!)
• Pepto Bismal, Immodium AD, Tylenol, etc (the kids have tummy issues sometimes)
• Antibiotic ointment
• Deodorant 
• Wash cloths
• Nail clippers
• Umbrellas
• Ponchos (for children and adults)
  
• Work gloves (with grip) 
• Coat hooks (these can be easily screwed into the walls)
• Nalgene-type water bottles (Needed to store boiled and filtered water in)
• Clothespins
• Notepads (post-its, small legal pads, etc)
• Ziploc bags (gallon and quart sized)
• Coloring books
• Markers
• Glue sticks
• Play clothes for boys and girls (sizes 6-12)
• Girls' tights (sizes 6-12)
• Boys' belts
• Granola bars
• Jerky
• Foil salmon/tuna packets
• Soup mixes
• Sauce packets (gravy, teriyaki, tomato sauce, anything!)
• Puzzles
• Toys (little balls, jumps ropes, matchbox cars, anything that lights up, etc) 
• Disney or Veggie Tale DVDs (Every weekend we all huddle around my laptop for movie night, the kids love it!)

It’s best to send packages through USPS, using the padded envelopes. Bibi Kay just picked up 7 boxes of supplies from the Post Office yesterday and was charged almost $100 in duty taxes. If items are sent in the padded envelopes instead, there is no duty and they can arrive in as little as 2-3 weeks (boxes can take anywhere up to 3 months). However, some of these items are larger, and may require boxes to send them, which is just fine too!

Sunrise Children’s Home
Attn: Bibi Kay
PO Box 746
Njombe, Tanzania

Thanks so much for all of the support!!

Topsy Turvi Taxi

How many people can you fit in a taxi? In Tanzania, they cram as many people in a vehicle as possible!  Taxis here are very different than in the states. They operate more like shuttles, picking up and dropping people off all along the way. You can get a private cab, but for a fraction of the cost you can share the ride, as well as your personal space. Today we took a taxi to town, and got to experience firsthand how tightly people are packed into these cars. We were in a minivan, a Toyota  Road Tourer, that is supposed to seat 8 people, but there ended up being 14 adults, and 2 babies squished together. 3 people up front plus the drive, 5 passengers in the middle seat, 4 more in the back seat and the 2 kids, with one more person behind seat on top of the luggage! Let’s just say it was a tight squeeze, and each time the van stopped for someone on the side of the street, I didn’t think it was possible to fit another person in the loaded down vehicle, but each time, the driver instructed the riders to move here, or sit like that, and somehow all the doors managed to shut with all of us inside.

My shoulder was pressed against the window and my half my butt was sitting on the armrest and cup holder on the side as we jostled down the exceptionally bumpy and pitted dirt road. I was just thinking to myself that perhaps all of the bodies crammed together actually served as a shock absorber, as the ride seemed much less tumultuous than when we ride with Bibi Kay in her 4x4 truck. I’m sure the driver’s vast experience on the roads allows him to careen through the maze of holes and humps with precision. I was a firm believer in the driver’s supreme driving skills until we plummeted down into a giant rut, and then the van shuddered to a stop.  After multiple attempts to restart the van, we all piled out and watched the driver assess the damage. There was a major oil leak, and someone found a piece of metal in the road, apparently something vital. So the driver called a couple of his other taxi friends and they picked us up. This time we squeezed 8 adults and 2 babies in a tiny 5 seat sedan for the rest of the trip. The most amazing thing is that the entire, I never heard one peep from either children. Tanzanian kids truly are the most well-behaved!

Busy life in Uhekule Village!

Everyday is new adventure here in Africa. I thought that perhaps village life would be simple and slow, well I was most certainly wrong. Life here is simple, in the context of food and work, however running an orphanage is not so simple, and definitely not slow. Everyday we are running around taking care of the 100+ things that need to be done before the kids leave for school, before they come home for lunch, before they get back from school, and before they go to bed. It's amazing how many things we cram into a single day! But each day I learn so much and every day is a mini adventure in of itself.

Last week started out on a sober note, one of the mama’s in the village passed away at only 30 something years old. I did not attend the burial service, but Bibi Kay and I did go to the home afterward to pay our respects. It was quite different from any memorial service or wake that I have ever heard of or seen. We entered into the courtyard, which as with most traditional-style homes is surrounded by the other rooms of the house (kitchen, bed rooms, etc). After slipping off our shoes, I had to stoop to go through the doorway into the main room where the dirt floors were covered with large empty bags as a makeshift rug. The tiny room, no more than 10x10 had about 20 women in it, all sitting side by side, or laying down along the walls. We solemnly shook each woman’s hand, offering the only condolence that I knew in Kiswahili “Pole Sana” or “I’m very sorry”. Bibi Kay gave a card with the customary monetary gift to the young daughter, and then we made our rounds to the other rooms, also packed with other grieving relatives and friends. It was a very sobering experience.

When we returned home, we were greeted by the children and an outbreak of fungus. Apparently fungus is a common occurrence here, especially among children, and it is somewhat like a rash, however it starts with little bumps that itch, and when the kids scratch them they quickly spread and turn into open sores. We had treated a few of the kids a couple of days earlier with an anti-fungal cream, however all of the children had caught it. Every night we go with our latex gloves, anti-fungal cream and Neosporin to slather on the kids and hope that it will go away. Later on in the week, Dr. Richard stopped by to examine the fungus, and simply prescribed the same medication that we were already using. Dr. Richard is the medical officer in the village, who actually is not a licensed doctor, and it’s quite obvious that some of his skills are severely lacking, however he sees all of the orphans for free, and as he is the only one person with any medical training at all in the village, his diagnosis will have to suffice.

Throughout the week, I received another taste of African medical treatment, when we visited the Anglican Hospital in Njombe town. Evelina, one of the students who is being sponsored to attend secondary school, had been taken there for Malaria, Typhoid and Amoeba. It was a first time experience in a third world hospital (Although I remember the stories from the time that Ruthann Staples had to go to one in Mexico!), and I hope that I never have to go to that hospital. It was dark and a bit dank, and I question the cleanliness of the rooms and beds. There was no privacy, multiple patients all in the same room, with no partitions. Hospitals do not provide food or water, so family members often have to take time off work and go to the hospitals to make sure that they are fed. Evelina had received quinine for the Malaria, which I have been told is no longer allowed to be used as a treatment in the USA because of the negative side effects. However, she was up and smiling, and seemingly doing much better.

The very next day I had my second experience with hospitals in Africa, however this one was much nicer. We took 5 of the children to Ikonda Hospital to see the dentist, about a 2 hour ride along a very long, bumpy road from Uhekule. The inside looks almost like a western hospital, all tiled and very clean. The dentist had a modern chair and equipment, and even washed her hands in between the patients! The only thing that made it obvious that we were still in Africa was the fact that the only other white people besides BBK and myself were a few doctors from Italy, and that the bathrooms were outside and the normal pit latrine style. All of the children need extractions, and a total of 7 teeth were pulled, with notes that a couple of them would need to come back for additional extractions. Apparently, they do not fill cavities or do sealants in teeth here, if you have a rotten tooth, once it begins to cause pain they just yank it out. I am so glad that I have good teeth and saw a dentist in America before I left! After seeing the dentist, we took one of the girls, Elenesta, to see a doctor so that he could examine what I believed was a hernia. I was instructed to go straight to the doctor’s office, cutting in line in front of the other patients who were waiting (I’ve noticed that this is a common occurrence, that I am given priority over the locals). The doctor diagnosed her with an umbilical hernia, however said that it was not an emergency, and that many people live for years and years with this issue. The only way to repair the hernia is through surgery, however unless it was causing additional issues, he said to leave it alone for the time being. I suppose that’s just how they do it here, although I wish it was something that we could take care of. Medical care here is relatively cheap, the total cost for the 7 extractions, and prescriptions for all 5 kids was only 14,900 TZ schillings, the equivalent of about $10. I could hardly believe it. We had spent about 3 times that just on the fuel to get to the hospital! But I guess that's life here in Africa.

I have so much more to say about this past week, put my time is up for now. I'll post more later!