I love...

Things I love about africa (at this moment! Hehe)
-when young kids in the street come up and put their hands on your head and then to your chest which means shikamoo and pole na kazi (respectful greeting and sorry for your work)
-the beautiful and varied landscape
-how everyone greets everyone, you’re never in too much of a rush to stop and greet a friend or acquaintance.
-Dancing in the living room with 5 little girls to bongo flavour music
-Teaching flavia to say bomba, poa and sadha
-Teaching all the little children who live near me that my name is sadha and not mzungu and now everytime I walk past they all scream “shadhaaa”
-Playing no-rules netball with the secondary students
-Sitting in the sun on my doorstep and wrestling Morey (the puppy)
-Walking into the hills and looking down on lugarawa
-Going for a nice stroll (e.g. 30min walk) to the bwoaw (no idea how to spell this word) which is the hydroelectric dam where lugarawa gets it electricity from. It’s a really beautiful walk. Lugarawians are really proud of the dam and it’s the place they take you sight seeing.
-Seeing an old bibi’s eyes light up when you shikamoo her or great her in her local language
-When the secondary students ask all kinds of questions about sex, reproduction, condoms and really listen to the answers
-The smell of a cake baking in an oven I assembled out of pans, rocks and a coal stove
-Eating the cake I baked with all the kids
-Feeling a part of the family, eating ugali with my sisters, Flavia, Fledita, Francisca, Joyce and my brothers Alpha, Elly, Goddy, Aaron (that’s how many kids are in living in the house at the moment, not to mention all the kids that hang out there during the day)
-Flavia falling asleep in my lap
-Being given free bananas, peanuts, eggs and pipi wherever I go
-Staying up late with the kids and sitting by the fire roasting peanuts on a cold night
-Arriving in Njombe at 9am after 6.5hrs on a bumpy bus to dump my bags in the chani hotel, sink into their heaven beds and watch a movie with my friends
-Walking through the corn and sunflower fields, the only noises the rustling of the leaves and the chirping of cicadas
-Having a conversation completely in Kiswahili and actually understanding (very rare!)
- being able to tell people i live in lugarawa, in tanzania!
- getting cheap rates because i have a residents/workers visa
- catching a rerun of timeless on a sunday afternoon - brings back so many memories of the other vols and training.
- being reunited with all the other vols
- walking through supermarkets wide-eyed, giggling, every now and then sqealing in delight when i see something not seen for 6 months.
- teaching a whole day of lessons in kiswahili by myself when my partner isnt here
- sundays when all the kids are dressed up after church, the whole day to relax and hang out with them.
- the children of tanzania!!
- standing in a kitenge shop and staring at the colour and patterns all around and realising you'll never be able to choose one!
- riding in the back of a pickup truck, nestled in amongst a singing african choir, chewing on sugar cane, as the sun sets over an unforgettable african landscape and the sky of stars, breathtaking in their millions, becomes my only view.

thats it fornow...love you allxxx

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