The last week with the kids....

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Hi All,
This week I am doing my travel blog a little differently. Because this was my last week in Moshi and a lot of stuff has happened I am having to divide my blog in two. The first will be now - yay and the second half will be arriving Sunday or Monday depending on how busy I am.

Monday was just like any other day at KiliKids with the usual hustle and bustle of a heaving classroom. Tuesday I asked for the morning off to go to the market to buy the kids Christmas presents as it’s too difficult to do it during the day when the heat is blistering and every man and his dog is at the market. So that went pretty well and I managed to get all the kids sizes with A LOT of bargaining. Whenever I would walk up to the stall I would here the shop keepers whispering “shjkijhsdkjhaas MZUNGO” which meant something to do with me being white. I am also getting quite good at numbers in swahili now so I could hear what the actual price was and then what price they had decided to charge me which is generally about 10x the price. That served me quite well.

Wednesday was a FANTASTIC DAY. Another volunteer Natasha and I took the kids out to a waterfall in a place called Marango which is beautiful and the kids could swim in the shallow pool below. We hired a daladala (minibus) to take us all at around 10 in the morning. When we arrived at Kilikids to leave they were all lined up with their best clothes on wearing their best smiles for the day out. I can’t even express how excited they were to be going on a trip. So we loaded them all up and the whole way all that could be heard was a chorus of singing voices from the kids of course all in Swahili. True to African fashion, around 20 minutes before arriving the daladala pulls over - its tire is punctured - great. ‘Don’t worry’ the driver says ‘the entrance to the falls is a five minute walk in that direction’ is arm stretched out enthusiastically up this mammoth hill. So off we went walking for what seemed like an hour with all the kids complaining ‘meme choka’ - I’m tired. When we eventually reached the gate we were all nakerd so sat the kids down in the shade and bought them all a drink each while we waited. After a massive sense of relief at having arrived at our destination we were then told that the actual waterfalls were a an hours walk away and that we would have to get the dala to the waterfalls. At this point we rang our driver and he was still waiting for a spare wheel to arrive. I wasn’t willing to wait at this point as we promised the kids waterfalls, they were going to get waterfalls. I walked up to this large looking vehicle which looked like a prison truck and bartered for how much it would be to take us all to the waterfalls. We finally got the lift and on arrival gave them some fruit salad I had prepared the day before and sat down for some lunch. The kids couldn’t wait to then strip off and fling themselves full throttle into the pools. They were having a great time and it was lovely to watch them smiling and laughing and splashing each other and me. The dala arrived just as we were thinking of going home and this time there was no singing on the way home just the sounds of sleeping satisfied children.

Sophia and I had originally arranged to have my going away party on today (Friday) but after teaching yesterday she asked if I would mind coming in the evening with Natasha instead (its her last day too as she has come back for the last week or so) as all the staff were going Christmas shopping on Friday and there would be no need for me to come in. I of course agreed to come in and decided that I’d give the kids their presents while I was there for my final goodbye. I tried to promise myself that I would do my best not to cry. When we arrived they had laid out the table with pink cloth and plastic letters which read: Goodbye Aunts Natasha and Meghan thank you and welcome again. The children had prepared a song and dance which was great. We then made a few speeches which were just amazing and even then I managed to choke back the tears. Sophia gave me a letter and the kids made me cards and gave me a big piece of material as a present which I think I will make into a dress. After this I decided it was the best moment to give the presents. As I unloaded them from my bag and called out their names, ‘Amina, Neema, Evance, Laurent…’ they came up one by one beaming with anticipation. They didn’t open them until everybody had received theirs and once they had there was a massive frenzy of paper and shoes flying around the place with screams of joy and happiness. Everybody loved their shoes and there was no fighting over who’s were better (which I was slightly concerned about). After the presents we gave them juice and lollies and Natasha gave them some flip-flop shoes for hanging around the house in. All of this made the evening more of a happy occasion than a morose one which is why it was easier for me not to get upset. It was only until the real final goodbye when a couple of the kids started crying and clinging on to me did it really hit me and the tears started to flow. I am seeing Sophia again tonight for a drink and a proper goodbye.

Another thing that happened this week which I think is worth reporting is some stuff going missing from the hostel. Some of the rooms are in the process of being painted at the moment and ours being one of them. So I think it was Monday we were asked to temporarily move into another room which was fine. When our room was finally restored to its normal form I noticed that the lock to my drawer was next to the door with a screw driver next to it - the lock had been removed from its hinges and the drawer left open. Of course I panicked and ran to the drawer to see what was missing. $50 had been taken and Alice’s rucksack was also missing. I reported this to Amanda (the current manager of hostel hoff as Sarah has gone home) and she immediately called the painter back for a ‘quick meeting.’ We then challenged him about the money which of course he adamantly denied. Amanda then calmly asked him for the money back that she paid him for the work job which she would then give to me as compensation. He said he didn’t have it on him so we got one of the Masai to go to his house with him to collect it. When arriving at the house he gave over the money but the masai noted that alice’s bag was also in the house but wasn’t sure if it was hers so returned and described the bag to Alice. It turned out it was the bag so Alice jumped into the taxi back to his house to retrieve the bag. Fundi (the stealing painter) had run away at this point so she had to deal with his wife. When Alice arrived she noticed the wife was wearing my earrings! The ones Mel gave to me for my 18th birthday! When Alice returned we noticed more stuff had gone - alice’s spare phone, my makeup bag, two pairs of earrings, someone elses walking boots etc etc. What we did in the end was say to the wife we have a list of things that are missing and if they are not at the hostel by tonight we are calling the police. Sure enough all of our items were safely returned to the hostel but what a palava! Aparently the wife had to go round her village and neighbours buying back the things her husband had sold onto them. I did feel bad as they obviously don’t have a lot of money but in hindsight it really is the principal of stealing and if we let them get away with maybe they would think it ok? Of course the painter is not allowed back to hostel hoff!

Tomorrow I am going to a party in this village called Chimbwe which is the foothills of mount Kilimanjaro. Its an annual affair which sees over two thousand kids from the surrounding villages come together for a Christmas party. I am running the egg and spoon race. I have no idea what the day entails but this is why I am dividing this blog in two and will let you know my overall thoughts on the first part of my gap year which is drawing ever so closer to an end!

Lots of Love,


Meg xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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