Sunday July 10, 2011 – Until We Meet Again

There is no passion to be found playing small, settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
- Nelson Mandela

I can’t believe I’m leaving today and my journey is winding to an end. I’ve had an amazing experience in Tanzania that I will hold with me forever. I’ve learned so much, grown as a person, and made friendships here that will last forever. Coming to Africa has changed my perspective on countless things.  I am so much more aware of the inequalities of this world and just how lucky I am to live in a country that provides me with so many opportunities. I am also aware of how I want to help those that don’t have the things that our country does. Although my impact here was small, the time I spent with the kids at Kidzcare and Boona Baana have not only given me the drive to continue helping Africa but in a way it also gave me an obligation to. Africa is a place of inequality, poverty, violence, and deprivation, yet I was able to fall in love with it. It was an experience I wouldn’t have changed for the world and one that no one can understand fully unless they have been there! Asante sana Africa! Until next time….

Saturday July 9, 2011 – Slumber Party at Boona Baana

We continued making the scrapbooks for the boona baana kids this morning and they are just about done. The other girls will give them to the kids after I leave and they will each have one for themselves to keep. Tonight we slept over at boona baana! The power was out until 11pm and since it gets dark at around 7pm every night without fail, we ended up having to use flashlights and then we played capture the flag outside with glow sticks! Once the power went on we went inside and watched a movie, the kids picked “Never Say Never” the movie about Justin Bieber! K, J, and I were falling asleep near the end of the movie and had to go to bed haha, but the rest of the kids stayed up for a bit! In the morning Mama B made us Chai and bread for breakfast. Saying good-bye sucked, for lack of a better word! I left my email with them, but it’s gonna be hard not seeing them anymore especially because we were with them three days a week every week!

The way to happiness -- keep your heart free from hate, your mind free from worry, live simply, expect little, give much.
-- Carol Borges

That night we went out for dinner for my last night. We walked to this hotel/restaurant called Mediterrano right on the beach! It was really nice there and their seats looked like canoes! It was nice to have one last dinner with my Tanzanian family and also to play peaches and pits for the last time with them (a tradition I’m going to carry on!).

The whole gang!

Friday July 8, 2011 - Daima katika moyo wangu (Always in my heart)

Went to Kidzcare again today, and it was so much fun. I’ve really bonded with them. Having to tell them that I was leaving to go back to Canada was hard and both little E and E gave me the longest hugs in the world. They didn’t want to let go and I didn’t either. I had no idea how hard it was going to be to say bye to these kids until I was driving away and the tears started falling. Still thinking about it now makes my heart hurt, but I’m so thankful that I got to be a part of their lives for these last few months of my life because it opened my eyes in so many ways. These kids have had so much heartache and obstacles in their short lives but you would never guess it by meeting them. Their perseverance, love for life, and glowing personalities will remain in my memory forever.

“In the harshest place on Earth, ... love finds a way.”
-- Morgan Freeman

Thursday July 7, 2011 – Saba Saba…A Tanzanian work holiday

Got the ingredients to make pizza’s with the boona baana kids tonight. Luckily Shoppers and the local duka were open because it is the Saba Saba holiday today so many of the shops and businesses are closed. The holiday celebrates the 1954 founding of the TANU or Tanganyika African National Union, a Tanzanian political party. Saba Saba means “seven seven” in Kswahili and in Dar es Salaam there is an International Trade Fair held every year on this date. Mary told us that they never go it and that we shouldn’t either because we would get mugged! One year she was walking down the street with her daughter near there and she got pushed down on the ground and they wanted money and she was so worried about her daughter, but when she got up her daughter was hitting the man, which made her even more fearful but nothing bad came of it. Also got pictures printed off for the scrapbooks were planning on making for each one of the kids so they have something special with pictures of themselves and some of us in them when we leave. We made pizzas with the kids and they had so much fun. We played peaches and pits with them and just hung out outside for a bit, talked, laughed, told stories, and took pictures.

Wednesday July 6, 2011

The fact is that there is enough food in the world for everyone. But tragically, much of the world's food and land resources are tied up in producing beef and other livestock--food for the well off--while millions of children and adults suffer from malnutrition and starvation.
-- Dr.Walden Bello

Went to KidzCare again today. Got to see the primary school that was just recently painted inside and new desks were put in. It looks really nice now and the teacher is able to use the paintings on the walls to teach because there are animals, body parts, the alphabet, numbers, and different things like that on the walls so less books are needed. We played with the kids and read with them and then A taught Jocelyn and I how to dance! Jenny brought pipe cleaners and the kids loved making flowers, bracelets, eye glasses, rings, necklaces, spiders, snakes and people out of them! Kara, E, E, D, F, and I had some girl time lying on the trampoline, singing and laughing. When we were about to leave E asked me if I could sleep over at their house with them, and I really wish we could have!

We got home around 6:30pm, had dinner and then Brooke and Marco, the owners of Boona Baana came over after dinner for coffee and pie to talk about our future plans with the kids and also about children’s rights in Tanzania because Brooke is a lawyer here and deals with a lot of cases involving children’s rights. It was nice to hear their ideas and know that we are going to be working on projects that they need and will be beneficial to the kids and to their organization. I learned that not until 2010 were there any laws specifically in place for kids and even when there were some in place they weren’t implemented much. Also, the government and social welfare systems don’t care about the children, they are greedy and in it for themselves. As for boona baana, we talked a bit about sponsoring and they stated they would like if the kids were involved with the money they are receiving in the sense that they would learn budgeting and learn some money skills. I thought it was a good idea. Brooke and Marco have had numerous amounts of volunteers throughtout their fourteen years of owning Boona Baana and they said they have had some good volunteers but they have had many bad volunteers also. We asked them what made a bad volunteer and Brooke basically said “there are two kinds of volunteers, those who want to fill a gap, and those who are fulfilled already”. The one’s that are there looking to fill a gap and there to try and get something out of it tend to complain a lot and don’t get as involved with the kids. They have a lot of volunteers that had completely different ideas of what Africa and even boona baana would be like before they got there and when they are there they can’t deal with the reality. Brooke also mentioned this website: http://foreverangels.org/ and it’s honestly worth a look! It’s a home in Tanzania for orphaned children. After they left we all went to a place called Joevic that has karaoke and was about a four minute drive down the road from us.

Monday July 4, 2011 - kuishi, upendo, cheka

Went on a jog this morning. Then went to slipway at 10am to get rest of the things I need for presents and stuff. Jocelyn and I shopped around and found this one store that had a sign for sale that read “Love many, trust few, learn to paddle your own canoe”, I thought it was cute! We went to novel idea again and I got another book because I’m a sucker for books! It’s called “Dead Aid” and it’s all about foreign aid in Africa and why it doesn’t work as well as we are lead to believe it does. We found this book in the book store that had a bunch of African proverbs in it and were flipping through and found this one:

Wise Kiswahili proverb: “If you play in mud you will get splashed” (HAHA…so wise ;))

Jocelyn and I made our own wise proverb of today: “If you eat peanut butter for breakfast you will get full” (We can be wise too ;))

Behind slipway there’s a market where you can buy lots of souvenirs. Jocelyn, Kara, and I found this lady that did henna so we got some done on our hands! It looked really good! It was the black henna kind so it kinda looks like were being taking over by some black creature like in Spider Man 2, but it’s pretty at the same time!

We went to boona baana in the afternoon and painted some pictures outside with the kids. Man am I going to miss them!

Sunday July 3, 2011

http://wamamakahawa.wordpress.com/

Went to this coffee shop today with everyone to do some work. The women who own it, hand roast the coffee themselves and it’s all from Tanzania.

One week left today L Hung out at the house in the morning with K, J, and J. We made lists of what Kara and I have to do in our next week before I leave and K’s parents come (and they all go to Arusha and then Zanzibar). Then we went to boona baana and had a good day there. All the boona baana kids (E, S, I, L, A, M, I) plus Brooke and Marco's kids (E, T, M, A, J) were there and some of the community kids (A, A, E, A), so it was good! We told the kids that K and I would be leaving in a week and I was really sad and E wouldn’t let go of me for the rest of the time after she found out.

Tonight after dinner we had a meeting with Cherie to discuss the article she gave us to read about NGO’s and whether they have positive or negative effects on the developing countries. What I got from the article is that NGO’s can be both positive and negative depending on who is running them and what they choose to put their money towards. Some of the larger NGO’s out there end up allocating their money in ways that benefit the company and employees more than the cause they set out to help. This was so evident in my time in Dar because you’d see the houses of people who work for NGO’s and their fancy rides and just wonder where that money came from. On the other hand though there are NGO’s like Boona Baana who are run by passionate people who’s hearts believe in what they are doing. The owners of boona baana do not live luxurious lives, in fact they own a house just down the street from boona baana and most of their money goes towards boona baana and also their own adopted and biological children. This is how NGO’s should be run, therefore it completely depends on who’s in charge and I realize that larger NGO’s need to keep their business going and support their workers but when an employee is taking in a one million dollar a year salary I think there’s been some wrong turns along the way. I’ve learned it’s important to research an NGO’s background before donating money to them to guarantee your money is going where you believe it’s going. I think that a few larger NGO’s have given NGO’s in general a bad rep, but all in all I think that most NGO’s do their part and have positive impacts on the people and communities they help and without them Tanzania and other countries wouldn’t be where they are now.  

July 1, 2011 - The Definition of Resilience

Happy 144th Birthday Canada!

Went to the owner of KidzCare’s home not far from Mikocheni B. We had coffee and talked about the orphanage. Then her driver took us out to Kerege Farms to visit the kids for a couple hours. There were a few new members to the orphanage! This one little girl I met had lost both her arms when she was two years old to a pig. Her family lived in a village and she was sleeping in a crib-like bed with one arm hanging out when a pig wandered inside their hut and bit her right arm off. When she used her other arm to try and get the pig off her, the pig bit the other one off too and got a bit of her face in the process. Her parents died a few years later and she was sent to a boarding school that was very dirty, overly crowded and didn’t have a proper education plan in place. She would have had no future there. The owner of KidzCare found her with mud caked onto her clothing and took her in and now she will be staying here and going to the local school where she will be able to grow and use her abilities. She is a remarkable kid…by only watching me take a picture and then go back to look at it once, she figured out how to hold the camera, take a picture, review the picture, and get back to the screen to take another picture all on her own! She refused help! She even opened my zippered pocket after I put my camera away to try and get it (she loved taking pictures!). She has no problem fitting in with the other kids, she colors, eats, and plays games all on her own. She even wrote Kara, mine, and her names in the dirt and then later drew a giant heart in the dirt and stood inside it. I asked her if I could come in the heart with her and she said yes and then we just sat in it for a while. She is the definition of resilience and I can see her going far if she stays with KidzCare and continues to have the positive attitude she does! She is only nine, yet inspires me to strive for my best and use the abilities I have. We must be thankful for what we have because you never know when you will lose it. When I got home that afternoon I wasn’t feeling well and went to bed for about 4 or 5 hours with a fever, chills, achy skin, and nausea! Later that night it got really bad so my professor took me to TMJ hospital to get a malaria test, but I luckily didn’t have malaria! I must have the flu or a cold or something L

Of the world’s population, 10% of people have a disability, but in developing countries that number is as high as 80%. With disability comes stigma, discrimination, seclusion, lack of voice and marginalization to name a few. That’s hard enough without having to also deal with poverty, disease, and unemployment. The goal of the United Nations is to achieve equality for persons with disabilities and one way to do that is through mainstreaming disability in development, such as including policies in the Millenium Development Goals directed at persons with disabilities. http://www.un.org/disabilities/

In an article titled “Discussing the relationship between disability, education and employment” it was found that the common belief is that people with disabilities, even when educated, will not use their education or are less likely to enter the workforce. When you look at the statistics from a study done in Nepal, this is not actually the case, with the return on investment in education between 19.4 and 32.2%, which is quite high. They did find that persons with hearing impairments had the least return on investment in education corresponding to the lack of schools catering to those with hearing impairments. For people with disabilities, years of schooling has a positive effect on the probability of employment and factors such as age and type of disability also determine rate of employment. Although it is considerably harder for people with disabilities to enter the labour market, education does help and it was found there was a positive relationship between years of schooling and employment.

http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/newsletter/2011/july/trends.shtml#tre1

Thursday June 30, 2011 - Why am I here?

Being in Tanzania and working with the Boona Baana and KidzCare kids, I frequently found myself pondering the question of why I was here. Am I really making an impact? Am I here purely for selfish reasons? Am I doing more harm than good? Volunteering in an orphanage is at first glance an amazing experience that should benefit the kids, but when you are actually there and you realize that over the last two months you have bonded with these kids so much and soon you will be just another volunteer that has come and gone, it hits you hard. Maybe I am doing more harm than good by being in their lives for such a short amount of time and then leaving, but I’m trying to think positively about it and think that even just bringing smiles to their faces and doing fun things with them is worth it. I also plan to stay in touch with the kids and work to try and make a long lasting impression, one that won’t end on the last day I visit Boona Baana and the KidzCare home.

Group photo after having fun with pipe cleaners!

We found baby rats under those bricks!

Geographic observations/differences between Arusha and Dar es Salaam:

Arusha is situated inland and its climate is much cooler than in Dar es Salaam. As we were driving there was a noticeable transition from drier, yellow grass and trees to more green and luscious ones, especially higher in the mountains as the climate is not as dry and hot. There was also less garbage, less people, and cleaner air.

Tuesday June 28 and Wednesday June 29, 2011 – Mimi akaanguka katika upendo na Arusha (I have fallen in love with Arusha)

June 28 went to the cultural museum in Arusha today but it turned out to be a souvenir store with a bit of museum stuff to look at, but mostly an art gallery. After that we walked down to some local street markets and I ended up buying some kanga, which is the African fabric that all the women wear. They make skirts, dresses, scarves, hats, you name it out of this stuff. It`s really pretty and colourful. We walked around until it started getting dark then headed back to our hotel. That night six of us piled in a taxi (four sitting in the back with Alex lying across all of us and one in the front, haha) and then went to this local bar called Empire State Bar for their Reggae Jam Night. It ended up being a lot of fun!

Feeding the babies mashed avocado! 

On Wednesday we had a WildTracks coffee plantation tour planned so the company picked us up from our hotel at 9am and then headed up towards Mt. Meru. If you ever go to Tanzania please come to Arusha, it`s gorgeous! When we got to the village of Nkuaranga in Mt.Meru we met our guide for the day and then he took us to a small shop where part of money from this tour went towards buying some kg`s of rice, pasta and fruit for an orphanage we`d be visiting shortly. We walked a short distance up to the orphanage and were warmly welcomed by the Mama. Our guide told us this was an orphanage of about 24 kids. The primary aged kids were out at the school, but we got to sit, play and cuddle with all the babies that were there. When I walked in, there was about six babies lying on the floor on an old mattress and then toddlers playing around the room. There were some volunteers staying there that helped take care of the kids but there was nowhere near enough volunteers for the amount of kids. It was sad to see and the experience left a strange feeling in my stomach. The kids were dirty and smelly, but none the less happy. I picked up one of the small babies and cuddled him or her (we weren`t sure who were boys and who were girls because they were just dressed in plain clothes. The baby was so content and I think really enjoyed the cuddle! Their lunch came out and we fed them some mashed avocado. I`m not sure if it was because they were babies or if it was because I knew that this was a really good orphanage and the thought of what else is out there in the world was…let`s just say more than depressing.

The gorgeous flowers along our hike/walk!

We then visited the primary school just for a bit before we headed up the mountain through a beautiful, lush forested area. There were countless banana trees and nature galore! I was in my element. We went to a coffee farm owned by a local and got to see how the coffee looks when it`s on the bush and then the rigorous process it takes before the coffee even reaches the point to when it can be roasted. Let`s just say I will appreciate every cup of coffee I drink from now on because the work that goes into making it (especially from places like Tanzania and fair trade coffee companies alike). They showed us the different stages they must do with the plant before it`s ready to be planted again and then grown to maturity and ready for the beans to be picked and then sorted and then dried and roasted. We saw three different natural pesticides they use, which (and I may be naïve but I had no idea) are actual plants! I was so impressed with how much they use nature to their benefit and a bit envious. These plants have special compounds in them to ward off bugs and insects, so this coffee and the all the coffee I bought is 100% organic! Also I had a bandaid on my finger that day and immediately the owners son noticed and told me they don`t use bandaids there and he took me to this plant that is used to rub on cuts and then it stops them from bleeding and helps them heal! There`s even a very soft plant they use as toilet paper and one`s they use as a medicine against malaria (its actually a tree and they scrap off the bark). I`m a sucker for nature and can really appreciate it so I was just loving every second of learning all this. Oh and the flowers up on this mountain were breathtakingly gorgeous! I think some of the beauty might have come from the combination of run down poverty stricken houses in the backdrop of luscious green forest and being in this village made me feel like I was in another world (and it was another world compared to Dar!)

Fixing the coffee plant to prepare it for re-plant

For lunch we walked to the owner`s of Wild Tracks house and had a traditional Tanzanian lunch and the coffee from the farm we just visited on their patio. The food was the best I`ve eaten yet and when I mentioned how wonderful the rice and everything else was she explained that the rice came from a lady down the street, the banana`s or ndyzi also from down the street, and everything else also local! After lunch we saw them roast the coffee and the process all the way to the coffee being sealed in airtight bags and put in cloth bags and tied with dried banana leaf string! I even got to package the coffee that I bought! I loved seeing the whole process and knowing that what they do is so amazing. This company also employs locals and gives them fair wages, which is such a great thing in Tanzania because so many people are exploited and taken advantage of when it comes to employment. Today was an amazing day that I will never forget! Asante Sana Arusha!

Bagging my coffee!

Please check out their website at: http://www.wild-tracks.com/coffee_english.html

Monday June 27, 2011

The crater was my favorite! There were so many animals there and I was really glad we did it last because it was like a finale!! We saw a hippo out of water and we even saw lions up close and personal....there was one so close to our jeep that if I bent over I could have petted her! Today I learned that ostrichs can run up to 70kms/hr! It was an all around amazing day today and not much went wrong with the vehicle to boot! Today was our last day on safari, it was the best four days EVER and I wish I could keep going for another four days. In summary I think we had: three flat tires, one broken clutch, three times that the jeep overheated, stuck in the mud twice (once where we had to push), one roof that wouldn’t close so we got soaked, and three nights four days of pure African safari bliss! Maisha ni nzuri....a.k.a....life is good!

Sunday June 26, 2011 – Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater

We are Masai!

Nzuri Sana!

Woke up bright and early, had tea and then headed out for a morning game drive. We ended up seeing three leopards, a bunch of elephants, zebras, wart hogs, impala, antelope, male lions and female lions, giraffes, ostrich, hippos, monkeys, and a bunch of neat looking birds! It was raining for a bit and our jeep got stuck in some mud and we couldn’t get out so we all had to get out and push! Our feet got really muddy and we were all soaking wet and so dirty, but it was a blast! Went back to camp around noonish to pick up our stuff and have lunch and then we picked up our fixed popped tire and headed towards the crater. Our guides tied our luggage and tents to the top of the jeep and part of it was in the way of our roof top shutting properly so when it started to rain again we all got absolutely soaking wet inside the jeep and water was literally pouring in! Water was even getting in through our windows on the side of the jeep and they were shut, but the seals on them were old and didn’t work properly. Shortly after our vehicle decides to overheat! We were broken down for over half an hour until another vehicle stopped to see if we were ok. One of the girls from inside the vehicle was from Abbotsford, BC, of all places (small world!). We were shortly on the road again, but just when we thought that we had dealt with all the bad luck coming our way, we got another popped tire! A different group stopped to help us and then their radiator over heated, lol, so our guides helped them! Luckily everyone is so nice! Unfortunatley from all the breakdowns we wouldn’t make it to our camp by dark. We quickly stopped at a Masai village before getting to camp because there was one on the way that lets people tour their village for a small price. We didn’t get to stay long because it was getting dark but I’m glad we went because it was really neat to experience! They took us inside their huts, which by the way the women make out of acacia trees and cow dung! Their huts consist of an entrance room with a small fire in the center, a room just big enough to fit one cow, a room for the kids to sleep and a room for the parents or grandparents to sleep. The fires burn just enough to keep the huts nice and warm and they had tiny little windows that let enough light in without letting the warmth escape or the wind and rain to get in. Masai are nomadic to they travel around the country and make new villages as they go. Then they took us to see their primary school where they teach their children right there in the village and then they tried to sell us necklaces, bracelets and jewellery for ridiculously high prices! We got to camp and it was pitch dark out so we quickly set up tent and had dinner. It was freezing cold because we were camping at the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. I didn’t sleep well because the ground was so hard and my feet refused to get warm, but I didn’t mind because I WAS ON A SAFARI IN AFRICA!!!!!

I slept in the one on the right!

Inside the house of a Masai warrior!

Masai children coming back from school (in the back)

Saturday June 25, 2011 – Serengeti a.k.a the place where you can’t see the end!

On the way to Serengeti we stopped to get some red bananas from a local because red bananas are famous in Arusha. We pulled over to the side of the road and 5 ladies ran over to the car, all selling a different type of banana! The red bananas were good but they kind of made my tongue numb, haha! We also saw a lion in a tree on the way to our game drive, which is actually pretty rare so we were lucky to see it. Then we drove through a little town and stopped at a drop hole bathroom where we had to pay 200 tsh to use it and it was flooding and I got hopefully what was water all over my feet! Jenny let me use one of her wet wipes so I was ok…this is one thing I won’t forget to pack when I come back to Africa! We later saw zebras, elephants, donkeys, baboons, buffalo, impala, and ostriches. We also had our second flat tire in Serengeti, haha. Normally on a safari you have two guides, one as the cook and one as the driver, but we had three because one guy was training to become a guide so that was good for helping fix tires and all the other bad luck we had coming our way!! Our guides names were Richard (trainee), Said (cook), and Hassan (driver). Jenny couldn’t say Hassan’s name right if her life depended on it, haha! Soon after we changed the tire it started to pour and we got drenched because our roof wouldn’t shut properly because some of our luggage was in the way and we couldn’t fix it because it was on top of the roof tied up really good! It makes for an unforgettable adventure though! That night we set up camp and had a delicious supper. It was kind of cold that night but nothing compared to what it would be tomorrow night at the Crater!

A curious buffalo

Elephant bum!

Hyenas are shockingly cute! Who would of thought!

Friday June 24, 2011 – Safari Time!

We got a complimentary breakfast at our hotel which was chapatti, mandaazi, watermelon and the tea I’m obsessed with, African pride tea! We got picked up at 8:30am for our safari and stopped on the way to buy some Masai blankets to use as a blanket at night in the tents. It took about three hours to get to Lake Manyara because on the way our tire popped so the guides had to replace it. Shortly after we got to Lake Manyara our jeep broke down. It was the clutch and it took close to 2 ½ to 3 hours to fix. Luckily we were stopped in an area where there was a ton of baboons and they came up really close to us and we got some good pictures. We had lunch while we were waiting, but they forgot I said I was vegetarian so all I could eat was a chapatti and a deep fried muffin! Jenny and I were eating our lunch on the roof of the jeep and we thought we were going to get attacked by a baboon because this one came running up really fast to the car because it smelt the food! Another vehicle came to get us and take us to the hippo pool while the jeep finished being fixed. When the jeep came back we went for a game drive and we ended up seeing wildebeest, giraffe, zebras, vervet monkeys, elephants, dik diks, and waterbucks. It was so dusty driving in Lake Manyara so we were all very dirty by the end. We went back to have dinner and to our surprise we got to sleep in a lodge on the first night. We thought we’d be camping for all three nights but we stay in a lodge the first night and then camp the other two nights. Our cook Said was amazing, he made us homemade cucumber soup, popcorn appy, hot chocolate, tea, mixed veggies, fried potatoes, fish, and mango and oranges. To our surprise the showers at the lodge were also hot, which was nice since we wouldn’t be showering for the next two days!

Thursday June 23, 2011 - Off to Arusha

Woke up at 4:45am to catch the bus to Arusha. We thought it was supposed to be a 9 hour bus ride but it ended up being closer to 12 hours. It was a gorgeous scenic ride so that helped with the length! We stopped for a pit stop about 3 or 4 hours in, but it was just on the side of the road with no bathroom and a giant bus load of on-lookers so none of us went. Luckily we stopped for lunch a couple hours later and there were drop hole bathrooms. There was a concession that consisted of purely chicken and chips, so I got the only thing I could which was chappati and mandaazi, which are both deep fried goodness. On the way to Arusha we passed by a town called Moshi and it is apparently the cleanest town in Tanzania. We got to Arusha and went to our hotel, the Caanan hotel, to drop off our bags and then went to the safari office to pay for the rest of our safari. The climate in Arusha is way cooler than it is in Dar and I was actually a bit cold. It is also way less populated. Had a late dinner at our hotel which had a restaurant with a menu that had about 25 different dishes on it but they only had the supplies to make about 3 of them. So everything we asked for they said they didn’t have, haha, so being a vegetarian the only thing they had that I could eat was a green salad. About forty five minutes to an hour later they bring out our food and my green salad was a mixture of mango, banana, and avocado, haha! It was good though and it was only 2,000 tsh! We were happy with our rooms, they were only about $10 a night and the showers were hot, it was clean, and there was electricity at night time to charge our cameras, oh and the toilets that flushed! Although, the double beds were just slightly bigger than a twin bed so Moriah and I had to cuddle, haha!

Wednesday June 22, 2011

Woke up bright and early to do some laundry by hand before our week trip to Arusha tomorrow. Today the power went out shortly after 8am so a few of us went to sea-cliff to use their internet but when we got there the internet wasn’t working there either! So I went to the book store ‘novel idea’ and ended up buying a book called “The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight Against AIDS” and read it while having coffee. So far it’s really interesting. Then I went to boona baana today because I won’t be able to go tomorrow when I’m supposed to be going because we leave for Arusha in the early morning tomorrow. We brought a cake over for the kids to decorate and they thought that was pretty cool!