Kili- here I come

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It is now Sunday evening, and my marvelous time as a volunteer in Africa is already coming to an end! Amazing how fast the time flew! I have loved every minute of it, and will miss the wonderful staff here at the CCS home base and the great people who were volunteering with me! Hopefully our path will cross again down the road!
The last week at Magareza Day Care was super special! Due to exams in the elementary school we did not actually have the kids on Wednesday and Thursday, and so Vicky had insisted that i should take the two days off... well, i was not going to have any of that! If i am only here for three weeks, a day off, was not an option, expecially since Vicky was going to coem in to get some cleaning and "garden work" done! So on Wednesday, i actually was able to recruit to other volunteers, Janice from B.C. and Molly from Virginia, to join me, since their school also had the two days off, and so dressed in old clothes, and pants for once, we went to the school to meet Vicky and we started scrubbing and sweeping and cleaned the floors and the desks of the perpetual dust that is around everywhere! . Vicky was so impressed that the "mzungus" did not mind getting dirty, that she actually "paid" us the next day with a huge bucket full of cucumber! Just awesome, and needless to say that our cook here at the home base was thrilled! Thursday then, I went back by myself for the yard work.... and it actually turned out that we were plowing, raking and fertilizing a small field behind the school, so that the kids can eventually harvest the chinese abbage and cucumbers to sell at the market to make some money for the porridge time and to buy some more school supplies! What fun, field work, dusty, hot, and yet so much fun! . After it was all set and done, Vicky was so excited that she offered that we go to the prison canteen for a refreshing drink! So i had to drink TWO Kilimanjaro beers, on an empty stomach, and you can imagine that it did not take long that we were just loving and i have no idea why! By now, the headmaster of the school had heard that the Mzungu teacher was plowing the field, and so she came and joined us for a short while to chit chat. And then on our way back to the school we crossed path with the director of the prison, and he too, was thrilled that we got the work done, and so all in all, i had the most amazing day! Not every day do you have the chance to meet the Warden of a huge prison, work along side amazing people, plow a field and now that your work will make a difference for the little ones!
So after a great day on Thursday, it was quite sad to say good bye to the kids and the teachers on Friday picture=xxxx]. Friday night was the perfect end to the three weeks here, since Denis, Janice, and Nancy and iIere invited to dinner by our "driver" and friend John and his family. A lovely young family, great dinner, and when he and his wife started signing and he played the piano after the dinner the evening was complete! Tanzanians are super friendly people, and they truly love to show their house, have visitors over, and share their proud culture! I feel very fortunate to have made some very special friends here in just such a short time.

The weekend was really mellow to prepare for my Kili climb, and so with the exception of walking to and from Mochi ( about 12 k roundtrip) on Saturday to run some errands and stop for coffee, i just read, hung out, washed the laundry to get ready for the climb and enjoy the weekend. So this will be it for a week or so now , while i am on the mountain!

enjoy, baadaye and kwa heri

SL

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Photos

the clean up crew
Janice and I in front of the classroom with our brooms

taking a short rest
the teachers hard at work

the field
Yeah! this is fun!