Cape Town, part two

Things have been a bit more enjoyable, as I've taken several tours in the last few days and have enjoyed company and conversation with fellow travelers. Yesterday was an all-day trip down the cape, the highlights of which were a visit to Boulders Beach to see the African penguins, and of course a visit to Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of the continent of Africa.

Sunday morning I visited three of the townships on the outskirts of Cape Town. Although Apartheid has been abolished, the black/white situation here is very interesting, disturbing and affecting. Here in Cape Town you're white, black or what they call "colored". They also use the word Muslim to identify Asians. Most of the black and "colored" populations live in huge townships/shantytowns on the outskirts of all the large cities. They are made up of government housing, and more commonly, pieced together homes of wood, corrugated tin, tar paper and the like. The government housing has water, but most people in the shantys go to a community tap, and to the nearby block of toilets. Unemployment in this country hovers near 40%. People can't escape the townships w/o a job; and there's none to be found. It's such a different racial environment here compared to Tanzania. I have to say, I much prefer the latter.

Yesterday I finally got to Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Madela, as well as other political prisoners, were held from the 1960s until the early 90s. The second part of the tour (in the jail section) is guided by a former political prisoner. "Sparks" was imprisoned in 1983 at age 17 for his actions within the ANC. He's a lovely man, and it was absolutely riveting to hear of his life before, during and after his imprisonment.

All in all, this has been a good escape, but I'm missing my friends and children in Tanzania. Will post again when I'm back in Mwanza.

Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa

It's day 4 of my holiday to Cape Town. After being surrounded by friends, locals and children for the past 3 months, I feel rather lonely here (even though I think I needed this break).

Cape Town is sunny, and quite beautiful. My first two days were spent TCB (Elvis speak for "taking care of business"). I've lost about 15 pounds since my arrival, and none of my clothes really fit anymore. So, day one of my vacation was spent in pursuit of pants, tshirts and clean underthings. I would've had some new underwear prior to this trip, but they were stolen. My good friend Lauren actually mailed me undies, but somebody at the Mwanza main post office helped themselves to them, and left the dregs of the packet for me!

Anyway, I wanted to take care of my chores here first, so I could then concentrate on having fun from here on out. I've seen two movies (Babel & Volver), visited the Aquarium (wonderful), taken a wine/food day tour (yummy) and enjoyed many hot showers! Tomorrow I will be taking a full day tour to the southernmost point on the Cape, and Monday I will be going to Robben Island. This is the prison where Nelson Mandela (and other politcal prisoners) was held during apartheid.

Today as we headed out of town, I got my first view of the townships outside of the main city. It was rather shocking and quite a bit depressing. Miles and miles of tin & pieced together wood, all holding the black population of Cape Town. Apartheid may be over, but racial division is not. On Sunday, I've booked a trip to one of the townships with a local organization that pushes the money back into the township. I'll be going to church, and then visiting some local families to talk about their lives & situations. This may prove to be the best (or most touching) part of my trip to SA.

Will update again after my weekend trips.

Where have I been?

My sincere apologies for my blog absence this last month. The internet connections in Mwanza have been sketchy at best, and when I've had a free hour, it's taken the whole time just to access a few emails. I tried to access the blogspot site several times, and after 20 minutes of waiting for it to load, I gave up.

My other excuse was my health (again!). I fell ill in mid-February, this time with a nasty flu and stomach virus that kept me in the village for the better part of a week. It's been frustrating to deal with these nagging health issues, but I think I'm finally on the mend.

In this last month I've finished my teaching time in Mwanza, and feel very melancholy about things. Tanzania initially proved to be more than I thought I could do; now I feel sad that my time there is down to just a few weeks. Like the children in Romania, these kids quickly fall into your heart, your life, and your hopes - and it is very challenging to walk away.

My last few weeks of teaching were wonderful, especially with my beloved standard 3/4 boys. I taught this group of boys more than any other group, and they have shown themselves to be exceptional children, in spite of all the difficulties of living in an orphanage. My last week of teaching I received many letters from the kids, all thanking me and promising they would never forget me. I had quite a few weepy days my last week; again, I want to just pile all the kids in a plane and take them home with me.

Outside of work, I've very much settled in to the village life in Mwanza. It's not always easy (collecting rainwater to bathe with when the water went out!) but it's so rewarding, and infinitely more calming than life at home. When I walk up the dirt road to teach, almost everyone greets you; little kids yell "mzungu" and come up to hold your hand. How often do we greet our neighbors (or strangers) on the streets at home? We are always too busy - hurry to work, hurry home, hurry to soccer practice, get to the store - it's all just a big rush. The slow pace of life has taken some getting used to, but I think it's done me a world of good.

After finishing teaching, I'm off to Cape Town, South Africa for a week's holiday. I will return to Mwanza for a bit more work at another orphanage, and then will leave for Malawi on March 31st. I can't wait to see the babies, but I dread my final goodbye to my friends in Tanzania.

Halycon days again

Well, I'm finally back to rights after suffering that second bout of Malaria. I did catch a case of ringworm from one of the children, but that's nothing that a little cream couldn't fix!

We've now been working at the second orphanage, Watoto, for three weeks now. Watoto is operated more like a large family, and there is a lot of affection both given to and received by the children.

They have 12 nursery (3-5 years) children, and they are a delight to teach and be around. Everyday we arrive is an occasion; 12 excited children racing to hug, kiss and play. My heart nearly bursts with all this love. It is a challenge to teach the little ones, as their English has only just begun, but they are such dedicated little learners (well for 20 minutes or so).

Last week we were all drained, so on Friday afternoon we had a field day instead of classes. We walked them over to the local soccer pitch, and proceeded to teach simon says, red light green light, and jump rope games.

I continue to build good friendships in our local community, and have spent a fair amount of time with two men, Furaha and Nelson. They are both students in their early 20's, and are absolutely solid friends. I've attended their church, and am constantly trying to work on my Swahili with them. I've met the other family members, and have been invited to stay at their home if ever I need a place.

The hospitality in Africa is quite lovely. You get twice as much back as you give. Initially I felt hesitant about meeting locals. Some of it was the language barrier, but you also have trepidation about being asked for money, or marriage. Most of the time this does not happen, and the good friends I've made here will last for the rest of my life. I just wish I could scoop them all up and finance a vacation/learing trip to America for them.

In other news, our compound has been without water for a week. A large main about 5 miles away burst, and they simply are taking their time fixing it. We collect rainwater in buckets, transfer them to water bottles, and each of us is allocated 2-4 bottles a day to wash, do laundry or cook. We flush only 1-2x a day, so that is not very pleasant. Frankly, I'm rather impressed with my ability to go w/o power, water and other creature comforts. This trip really has adjusted many of my ways of thinking - and I'm only 1/3 of the way done.

In other news, I've got a boyfriend. His name is Faryad and he is from Pakistan. He is a manager at the local fisheries here. We met on Christmas and have been dating ever since. His job contract is up in May, and he is heading home then. My commitment in Malawi ends in May as well, so it seems logical to head there before going home. His family lives in the Hunza Valley, under the shadow of K2 (Himilayas). They have a working farm there, and I just think it sounds fabulous.

I've tried again to post photos, but am still struggling with uploading. I will keep at it!

A trip to the hospital, and more...

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. Unfortunately, 10 days ago I was diagnosed with malaria (again!) as well as a stomach parasite. I'd been feeling rundown, and had some internal (aargh) issues. i went to the small Hindu Hospital, and the doctor put me on an IV drip for the day. I had 7 different bags of medicine, and was sent home with 10 pills to take each day. Not exactly how I like to spend my time!

At any rate, I've recovered from my illness, and hope I can avoid a third bout with the pesky malaria. The hospital is small, and somewhat rough around the edges, but we received fine care. Needles and tubes are new, and the nurses did a great job putting the IV in. However, you know you're in Africa when you have geckos and ants running amok in your room. We lost power several times during the 12 hours I was there, so they would simply bring a kerosene lantern in!

We've started teaching at a new orphanage, and it's been a fun change from the more serious schooling that takes place at the Hisani orphanage. The Watoto orphanage is run in a more family friendly manner, and the kids receive (and give) much more affection. So far this week I've taught the little nursery school kids, and standard one. They are delightful and funny, and so excited to learn. When I pulled out my copy of Animalia (a great kids book) they literally screamed with excitement over a new book.

This last Saturday, I had the privilege of going to dinner with a local friend at his families' house. They live across the bay from Mwanza, high up on a rocky hill. We had a delicious, simple meal of Tilapia and rice. After dinner Mboka (my friend), his friend Zach, his brothers and myself all hiked up a bit further to sit on a rock and watch the sunset. I was the only Mzungu (white person) some of the children near his home had seen, and they kept pointing and waving at me. There were wild monkeys in the area as well. It was a spectacular night.

On Sunday my housemate Katie & I attended the local church with our friends Nelson and Furaha. They are local guys in Buswelu (our village) who we've gotten to know through previous volunteers. Church was long (3 hours!) but quite moving with amazing singing. As special guests, we enjoyed a lunch at the reverend's house. Moments like this keep making my trip better & better, and I realize I will have a very hard time leaving my new friends.

I've ordered a photo disc, which should be ready in two days. Next posting will have pictures!

Halfway there!

This weekend marks the halfway point for my volunteer work in Mwanza. I really can't believe how fast the time has gone by. We have now said goodbye to the two volunteers on the previous team, and have welcomed four new volunteers (all women) to the compound.

This week also marks a change in teaching for us. As of Monday,we will be teaching at two orphanages, Hisani & Watoto. The Watoto children do not know much English, so the teaching will be more basic, and focused on language and vocabulary. They are quite lovely children, and I'm really looking forward to the change.

Of course, it is hard to step away from the Hisani children. I've tried to explain to them that each week they will have different teachers, but they don't quite understand why some of us will leave for a week,then come back. As we are the first team to teach at both, the burden falls to us to try and "make it work". Having only rudimentary guidance from our organization, this has been challenging (to say the least). I'm trying to just take a breath, and hope that we can figure out this process.

As in Romania, when the administrative side of things proves problematic, I need to head to the children. They always make you feel better. There are a few older kids at Hisani who I've really started to bond with. Eric is about 12 or so, and is always happy to engage in a game or book with me. He's very bright, and I told him the other day that I know he will be a big success.He replied that he would like that, and will try really hard.

I always try to compliment the children (not superficially) but to remind them that they are special, talented, and beautiful. Unfortunately, the local staff at Hisani are not overly kind or demonstrative with affection. I've seen that the children really need to hear positive comments, and are very happy to receive hugs. I do think it confuses them because only the volunteers seem to show this. I have visited other orphanages, and I know that the leadership does not need to be this way. It's something I will address at the end of my trip.

Joyless is a girl in Standard 3, about 10 years old. She is somewhat solemn and serious. Whenever I see her, I put my arm around her and say "how is lovely Joyless today?" Initially, she somewhat bristled, but the other day when I hugged her, she leaned into me and gave me a big smile. More than teaching Math or English, it is these moments that give me strength and keep me going, especially when other systems are seemingly not working.

Daladalas and more excitement

The daladalas are a continuous source of laughter, frustration and fear for us volunteers in Mwanza. The daladala is a minibus, and besides walking, is the primary source of transportation here. Imagine an old van circa 1980 something. Now imagine that van stripped of all interior parts, save for a dingy upholstered ceiling and three rows of bench seating covered in vinyl.

Now imagine cramming around 32 strangers in the van with you, and that is a typical daladala experience. The roads (well trails almost) are incredibly bumpy, and I have thought I would lose a kidney on more than one occasion. With the average temp being around 82 degrees, you also get the joy of completely sticking to your vinyl seat. When you get out 30 minutes later, your clothes are wet, your nerves raw.

Most of the time it's a great experience. You live like the locals, visit with them, and save money as the daladala is about $0.35. (A taxi would be $5.00) Last week we ended up on the bad daladala, with a driver who is notorious for being drunk. Once we got off the village roads, and got to the highway that leads to town, he drove at breakneck speeds and we came about3 feet away from going head on with a large semi truck. There were two terrified women with babies, and all the passengers were yelling at the driver, who only drove faster. Tom, one of our volunteers, yelled at him to pull over, and we got off on the side of the road. I've never been so glad to escape a vehicle in my life.

In other news this week, I've got a few more local friends, and it's nice to feel like you're more a member of the community, and less of an outsider. I've received my second marriage proposal since coming to Africa. Unfortunately, they seem to come from men who have just met you and have a sign from God, or in a dream, that they should marry you. They seem genuinely surprised when the answer is no!

Happy New Year

A year ago I hadn't even begun to hatch my plan for volunteer work in Africa. Now, I've celebrated a New Year here. Amazing how life can change.

The last week was quite enjoyable, as we finished Christmas celebrations and began to get ready for the New Year. As a treat for the kids, our team took them to Tunza Beach on Saturday. We hired two daladalas, and picked the kids up in the early afternoon for a day at the beach on the shores of Lake Victoria. Even though it was slightly rainy, that did not dampen their enthusiasm for swimming. I've never seen such an excited group of kids in my life.

After swimming, we tried to teach them volleyball (to mediocre success) and then bought all the kids sodas and chips (french fries). It was a fantastic day, and for those who have donated money, you will be happy to know that is one of many things you have helped finance.

New Year's eve found most folks at a party at the Hotel Tilapia, a somewhat posh (by Africa standards) hotel on the shores of the lake. We had a great meal, danced and enjoyed the company of people from every continent, except Antarctica.

I had a unique experience yesterday, being invited to the home of a local girl named Sarah William. She has just finished secondary school, and wants to have English friends. She wrote me a shy letter about 10 days ago, and we finally managed to catch up with each other yesterday. She sent her niece to fetch me, and I walked about a mile with her to Sarah's home. The whole family (minus Dad who was working) turned out to meet and welcome the Mzungu (white person). I looked at about 100 photos of the family, and then was treated to a meal of beef and cooking bananas. It was quite a treat to be taken in at their home, and next weekend I will return the favor by taking Sarah to lunch with me in town.

The amazing experiences continue...

Christmas in Mwanza

Am now fully recovered from Malaria, and life has definitely taken a turn for the better. It's amazing how good health can change everything.

Christmas with the children at Hisani was absolutely wonderful. We arrived at the compound at 9:00 in the morning, and helped give out their Christmas breakfast treat, which was hot tea and ample fried pasty triangles. All the kids had new t-shirts to wear too.

We all walked to the nearby Catholic church for Christmas Day mass. My heart was warmed when one of the older Standard 3 boys held my hand the whole way. His friends teased him, but he steadfastedly refused to let go. His name is Godfrey, although we call him Kulwa. The love of kids is just wonderful.

After mass, we went back to Hisani were the children had a huge Christmas lunch with rice, beans, vegetables, fruit, chicken, sweet potatoes and a whole bottle of soda.
After lunch, we gave out their presents of candy, snacks, pencils, stickers, and cards. I think every child ate every piece of candy that day! Later, we put on music and had a big dance party with the children. It was so much fun.

That night a group of volunteers went to Tunza Lodge, on the shores of Lake Victoria, for our own celebration. We had a great meal, played pool, and reveled in the fact that we're in Africa for the holidays. We're taking the children there on Saturday for a special beach outing. They can swim, play volleyball, build sand castles, and generally have a good time. We will buy them sodas and chips (french fries) as a treat too.

As I come close to marking one month in Africa, I'm beginning to see how impossible it will be to leave this place. I'm always dirty, there are always bugs. mice, and constant stares, and yet I feel very content and happy. Live for the moment!!!

Sickness, unfortunately...

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. Much has transpired in the last week.

The end of the first week of teaching went quite well. The Standard 3 kids are so sharp, and all scored very well on their quiz on Friday. I'm impressed with how well they know and understand geography. Friday was an adventure for me too! It is grasshopper season in Mwanza, and the kids catch them by the handfull. They kept trying to put them down the back of our shirts, and quite often succeeded.

Anyway, they are for eating here, and after the girls pluck the legs and wings off, they saute them up in a giant pot over the fire. Yours truly decided that she needed this experience, and so I ate one - and even chewed it. It wasn't really that bad, but i didn't like the fact that it still had its eyeballs.

The weekend was fun, as there were two new volunteers arrived from Spain, working at a neighboring orphanage. We've got quite the international contingency, and it's a real treat right now to have some girlfriends to chum around with and talk to.

Monday of this last week (the 18th) I woke up feeling lethargic, feverish, and with a rather rumbly tummy. I got worse over the day, and Katy (a volunteer here with Hisani) was ill too. Tuesday we decided to go to Hindi Hospital (the private hospital here in town) and get tested. Lo & behold, a moderate strain of malaria in both of us. Thus we were housebound and sick for this whole week. That is why you have not heard from me in so long.

The hospital is an experience unto itself. Cement floors, open to the outside, people sitting around everywhere waiting to be seen. They keep good hygeine standards, and fresh needles, etc., when they took the blood draw. It is just so very different from home.

Today is Saturday the 23rd. I'm feeling better and have braved town to email, and collect some last minute items for Christmas this weekend. We've cobbled together sweets, school supplies, stickers and toothbrushes for the kids. There are also some Lion's Club toys that they should be receiving. I will email next week to tell you how those tidings went.

Folks keep asking for photos, but being quite ill this week has taken all my energy. In order to post photos, I need to bring the memory card to town, get it burned to a disc, then make sure I have a computer that is able to upload the photos. Today, it took 10 minutes just to access my blogsite. You can see why adding photos might not be the easiest thing in the world.

I hope I"m done with sickness. I was downright crabby by Friday, and insisted I go out to dinner or else I would eat someone's hand for my meal. The doctor insists we have no meat or dairy, just bread and rice. Well, when you've got an allergy to wheat, that doesn't leave many choices!

Africa continues to fascinate me, and sometimes sadden me. The kids are lovely, and I am becoming more attached to them. The neighbor kids are wonderful too. Always they cry "Mzungu" (white person) and come ripping up our road to hold our hands for a walk. Most people are very friendly; lots of people want money. The money that was so kindly donated is of course earmarked for the kids at Hisani and Watoto. However, I will also be making a donation to the local street kids center. They sleep on the sidewalks during the day (too dangerous to do that at night) and prowl around at night. They seem to need the help most of all.

By the way, I would relish any letters or cards from home. Email is great, but not very personal. If you wish to write, please send letters to:

Lorna Jackson
Volunteer Africa
c/o Hisani
PO Box 1817
Mwanza, Tanzania
East Africa

I'm here until February 24th, and mail takes about 2-3 weeks from home. Just be sure to send by early February (at the latest).

I wish my dear friends a very Merry Christmas. As always, thanks for reading and keep the good thoughts coming.

First few days of teaching...

Teaching:

We started our teaching duties on Monday. I was assigned Standard 0 (little 5-6 year olds) for morning lessons; Standard 3 (about 9-10) in the afternoon. My first morning with the little ones was a nightmare! We had moved to a covered classroom to keep out of the sun, but that only increased bad behavior from the little ones. Every time I turned my back, they were chasing each other, slapping each other, or trying to ride each other. Marwa, our boy with polio, is in Standard 0. As I did not know the routine with him (they forgot to tell me) he did not get to the toilet in time, and so he started sobbing after he peed his pants. Two other kids hit each other, and all the while I'm trying to gamely teach them body parts in English. It was exhausting, frustrating, and of course I felt awful about Marwa.

Thankfully, these last two days have been decidedly better. I lesson plan at night, and find that the extra time then is well worth a more organized day following. Right now were working on basic math in Standard 0, and fractions and world geography in Standard 3. Next week I will get new classes. We all end up teaching all the standards once or twice in the 11 weeks that we are here teaching.

The Orphanage:

Hisani is about 1/2 acre of land or so. There is a main building with a living type room, and dorms for the kids. The bunks are handmade, stacked 3 high. They sleep two or three children per bed. Most kids have a couple changes of clothes, and maybe a pair of shoes. They have a squat toilet inside, and two outhouses. They are building a showerhouse, but right now they just scrub in a bucket in the courtyard. The children eat porridge, ugali (a Tanzanian dish, basically a cornmeal type stew), and then they get some vegetables and fruit. They are very sweet (most of them) and have the best smiles in the world. Their life is not easy, but I don't know if they know this.

The volunteer compound:

We actually have quite a nice house, by local standards. We do have running water (no hot) and get electricity a couple times a day for a few hours at a time. We have some tatty old furniture, and a hodge-podge of eating utensils/cooking ware. Enough to get by.

The bugs continue to vex me. Last night we waged war on 2 giant cockroaches. I swear they hissed at us, and were stubbornly defiant when Tom bashed them with a magazine. After he severed one, the leg kept twitching. I yelled so loud, our Masai guard (whose name is Jackson!) came running in, spear in hand, to make sure everything was okay. When I finally went to bed, I was woken up out of dead sleep to a mouse making noise in my cupboard.

We eat fairly well, and drink bottled water. We have a girl who will cook for us a few nights a week, and the food is quite good: rice, beans, cooking bananas, sweet potatoes, cabbage, maybe some eggplant. Breakfast is usually bread or fruit, and lunch is whatever you can forage.

I feel tired and lethargic all the time, but I blame that primarily on the heat, and the incredible amount of mental and physical energy it takes to accomplish things around here. Walking to Hisani is a feat unto itself. A little over a mile, often in sandy and muddy conditions. It's lovely though, little kids running everywhere, people carrying things on their heads, bicycles etc. It's actually quite rural and peaceful up in our village, compared to the relative city frenzy of Mwanza.

More soon.

Mwanza, finally!

At long last, we arrive in Mwanza to finally begin the work we came here to do. Got up at 5:00am to take an interior flight from Dar to Mwanza via Kilamanjaro. You could see the mountain from the plane, and that was quite a wonderful sight.

The Mwanza airport is quite rudimentary; they do have a paved tarmac, but baggage claim consists of guys pushing your bags through a slot in wall, whilst you wait upon a cement platform. Hilarious.

Fred (the director of the Hisani orphanage) met us with a taxi. They couldn't get the trunk to open, so all our bags had to go pushed across our laps. That's 6 large suitcases upon us. Egads.

You would simply not believe the roads here. I swear the potholes are easily 2 feet deep, and I'm certainly not exagerating.It's amazing what they can maneuver a car through here. We are located in Buswelu, about 30 minutes outside of Mwanza. Once there, our first stop was Hisani, to quickly greet the kids and have a quick tour. (I will go into length about the compound in a later posting.)

The kids are gorgeous, smiling, and I instantly felt better about everything, just by seeing them once. They come rusing at you with, "hello madame, my name is...." I think I shook all 46 hands. Now to remember the names.

After this brief visit, we headed to our home for the next three months, which is quite a step up in comfort compared to the hostel in Dar. Mind you my toilet has no seat, but at least I have one! We do have electricitly (albeit spotty) and apparently the water consistency has been fairly good. I have my own room and bathroom, so that's a nice treat as well.

There are giant birds that look like Great Blue Herons. They perch at the tippy-top of trees, and snort like pigs. Really. I'm not kidding. There are quite a few geckos, green and somewhat iridescent. I'm finding quite a kinship with them, and like to make squeaky noises at them when they run. It's like my own little cartoon come to life.

The two volunteers who preceeded my team (phil & tom) have taken us into Mwanza for a basic lay of the land, lunch, and a laying in of supplies. We are all taking an hour at the internet cafe, which is how I'm able to send you this info! The cafe is well run, and has about 20 computers. I'm sure I'll be putting in some serious time here in the next few months.

I definitely have a spring in my step, now that the physical "journeying" is over for the time being. Part of my difficulty last week was pure loneliness. My two teammates are both 18, and have already started a romance. So, basically I was alone for the first week, without someone to talk to. Now that we're at the compound, I have Phil & Tom for company, so that should be very nice. When Phil & Tom leave in early January, another team of 4 volunteers will arrive, and then my team will become the "experts".

In the next week or two I hope to have some photos uploaded, and give more information about the sites, smells, tastes and sounds of this part of Africa. Right now, it's almost too much to describe.

First week in Africa

Well, I have now been in Tanzania for 6 days, and what an adventure I've already have. Getting our visas at the Airport took the better part of an hour, and the power was lost twice in the airport during this time.

The heat is overwhelming, overpowering, and just plain awful. It is usually about 85 degrees with what must be close to 100% humidity. I'm managing, but just barely. I wish I'd packed an entirely different wardrobe, but not much I can do about that now.

We are staying at the Salvation Army Hostel in Dar es Salaam. It is a large compound with a school, kitchen, job training and the like. We stay in a cinder block style bungalow with a bucket shower, rudimentary beds with nets, and a lone fan dangling by a mostly exposed wire. We have red ants, mosquitoes, geckos, cockroaches, beetles, and giant millipede type things. I'll bet most of you wouldn't think I could last a day with this!

Most of our days involve lengthy Swahili lessons. It's a bit much with the grammar, but otherwise is okay. The food has been simple, but good. Here at the compound we drink only bottled water, but once we arrive in Mwanza we have some sort of filtering device in the house.

The biggest crisis so far (besides sweating through all my clothes three times a day) was the bout of heat exhaustion yesterday. We rode the daladala to the center of town. A daladala is a small van/mini-bus that they cram at least 25 people into. I had to crouch down the whole time, all the while fighting off the curious hands of the man sitting across from me. It was easily 90+ degrees, and after 20 minutes, my legs started to shake. By the time we got out, my face was as red as a tomato, and I couldn't decide if I wanted to vomit or pass out.

Thankfully, we cut short our trip to the fruit market ( to practice bargaining) and got me under the shade with a cool bottle of water. It was quite scary actually, and I've decided that even though I want to go "local" , I would also rather pay $3 for a taxi and avoid the whole process.

I have so much more to tell, but our time on the internet here at the compound is quite limited. Once in Mwanza (starting this Saturday, the 9th) I should be able to spend an hour or two at least once a week.

I am hanging in there, trying to stay strong and positive. This is such a big leap for me.

Halfway there....

Am sitting in Heathrow, killing some of my six hours by checking emails and updating this blog. Packing was a NIGHTMARE, to say the least. I repacked each bag about 4 times, contstantly trying to get them smaller and more manageable. In my defense, one entire bag is full of supplies for the kids, so that means that I fit seven months of supplies in one modest sized duffel bag. Pretty impressive for a girl who normally overpacks everything.

Sat next to a great guy from London named Alex. We both know common people in Seattle. Very Six Degrees of Separation indeed. His friend runs safari tours in Kenya, so I will look that up as well.

Three more hours, then off on the plane to Tanzania. Will arrive around 8:00 on Sunday.

By the time I write the next update, I'll be there....

10 days to go...

Am fully in panic mode now as I scurry to prepare for this journey! I seem to have enormous decisions facing me about what to pack. Do I take the extra T-shirt? How much shampoo will fit? 6 pairs of socks, or 7? These are the questions that nag at me each day. And with a baggage allowance of 44 lbs (for 7 months!) I think things will only get worse.

In addition to packing woes, I'm trying to figure out where to put my car, get my taxes filed early and deal with other strange logistical issues. Frankly, getting on the plane will be a great relief. If it's not done then, I guess I won't worry about it!

My Volunteer Africa team was just informed that we will now be supporting a second orphanage, this one mostly younger primary school-age children. I think this brings the total number of kids to about 100. I've got a huge pile of teaching aids and toothbrushses; just hope it all fits!

Departure date is December 1st. I hope to have one more pre-departure post out before I go

Volunteer Africa

What will I be doing in Africa, you ask? From December 4th - February 28th, I will be volunteering with Volunteer Africa at the Hisani and Watoto orphanages, both located just outside of Mwanza. Teaching is the primary duty; heaven help me that math is one of the most important subjects. It has been years since I touched algebra and/or geometry. I keep reminding myself that any little bit of help I can lend is better than none at all!

The month of March will be a travel month for me. I hope to go on a safari, go to Rwanda to see gorillas, head to Gombe to see the chimps, and I guess go where the day takes me.

April, May and part of June have me at the Open Arms Infant Home in Malawi helping to care for children affected by HIV/AIDS. After Malawi, I hope to travel a bit more in country there, and then go to Mozambique for a bit of exploring.

I plan to head home sometime in late June/early July!

Home from Romania; preparing for Africa

My second trip to Romania was as fantastic as the first. My three weeks at the Failure-to-Thrive clinic in Tutova touched my mind, my heart, and my spirit. I remain even more dedicated to pursuing adoption in the next few years. I don't feel quite as sad upon my return home (as I did last year). Perhaps it's because Africa is looming in my near future. Each week now is a flurry of paperwork, banking, collecting teaching aids, and spending as much time with family and close friends as possible.

(Pictures: Lorna and Sylvia at the clinic; in Brasov town square)