Tanzania - Week Five/Six

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Jambo rafikis!

Day 34 -
(To catch up on last time - we are at a project called CCF in Arusha which is an orphanage, helping them to make a vegetable garden) Today, at placement, we were asked to fertilise the soil - with manure (chicken shit and cow dung). Wasn't exactly into that but it only entailed shovelling it into a bucket and chucking it on the soil and then mixing it in with a spade so wasn't too disgusting... But the thought of spending the day LITERALLY shovelling shit is enough to turn any stomach.

Day 35 -
Halfway through my African adventure!
Today we began creating another vegetable patch for the orphanage - yay, more digging... In the boiling sun this was not fun!

Day 36 -
Today we dug 400 holes into the earth to plant the vegetables (to be cabbage I believe), and we then planted them and watered them ready to grow! In the afternoon, we went to a Maasai market and spent the time haggling (mainly just for fun - on items we didn't even want!).

Day 37 -
Today was our last day at CCF and we decided to paint one of the dormitory rooms because there had been a recent electrical fire in there and it looked a bit rubbish. So we painted that room and then spectated a netball match - the sport is much more chaotic and violent here than in England!
Afterwards we went to the hospital and got a malaria test each (after getting over 70 bites Mathias was concerned) but we were all clear!

Day 38 -
Today we went into town with Giggs and we were going to go to Lake Diluti but Jennie didn't feel very well so we decided to take it easy and go to a swimming pool and work on our non-existent tans (to no avail). When we got back Mathias had laid on a barbecue for us (for it was our last night in Arusha!) which was awesome - I pretty much ate my body weight in meat. It was nice to get everyone together to say bye.

Day 39 -
Today we just spent the day travelling to Moshi and settling in! This town is next to Mt. Kilimanjaro (you can see it very clearly and closely) but the town itself is very small and pretty dead - not much life inside!

Day 40 -
Today we went to see our first placement - a deaf school in Moshi. The conditions here are very good (The Leap have been with them for quite some time!) and the children board here but most have families. We began learning sign language (it is completely different to British, so my knowledge there was no use) and it is so much easier communicating with them than other Tanzanian children who just shouting 'Mzungu' (white person) at you!

Day 41/42 -
Today we started work at our placement by doing them teaching aids. We sat in on a few lessons but it is very difficult to teach in sign language (especially trying to teach English in sign language!) so doing posters for them would be useful. We spent the day drawing and playing with the kids - they are so much fun.

Day 43 -
Today we decided to paint the outside of the girl's dormitory because they were looking a bit shabby so we did that (we drew a large crowd of silent critiques who kept indicating that we missed spots etc.) When we had done all we could for the day (it had to dry before we could start on the edges) we went to say bye but the children were pointing at the wall as if to say; 'But you haven't finished yet!'

Day 44 -
Today we went to another school in the morning, next to where we are living. They are called Upendo Art Association and it is a nursery. We spent the morning playing with the kids and teaching them how to draw numbers.
In the afternoon we went back to the deaf school and finished the painting. We served the kids lunch and once they had finished, as a goodbye present, we gave them all sweets and pencil sharpeners (they use knives here, not the safest thing!) and said goodbye. It was hard to say goodbye as they kept saying in sign; 'but you'll be back tomorrow!' and smiling at us.

That's all for now! Lots of love xxx

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