Tanzania - Week Four

---

Jambo! Hope all is well back home 😊

Day 23 -
Today we had a 'lie-in' (until 9) and went into town. We met a lone backpacker in an internet cafe called Uri from Israel, and we all went to have lunch. We then went to a hotel to chill out in the sun and do some swimming (I would've set work on our tans but mine is non-existent!)
After dinner, we went to Njiro to the cinema and watched Battle Los Angeles which was... interesting?

Day 24 -
Today we were going to go to Lake Diluti but it was pouring it down (damn rainy season) so we decided against it. We have lunch then went to a Maasai market in town to buy souvenirs, testing our haggling skills. Priyanka is too good at it - getting things ridiculously cheap! I can manage to get things for a fair price that I would honestly buy it for so I'm not too fussed. In the evening, we tested out a Tanzanian spirit called Konyagi - it is gross. It's like a strong vodka that does not taste good!

Day 25 -
Today we just chilled out in the sun - it was Easter Sunday so not much was going on (we accidentally slept through church... oops!)

Day 26 -
Today we got up and headed for Manyara! It took us about 2 and a half hours to get there from Arusha and when we arrived it was gorgeous! We were staying in a place called Kiboko Lodge (ran by a lovely man called Eli!) We're staying in safari tent which is basically a big tent but it's based on a wooden structure - really gorgeous, and it's right by Lake Manyara National Park so it's covered in forest and animals just stroll by!
In the evening we sat by a fire (this is possibly where my 70 mosquito bites originated from!) and toasted marshmallows (Mbassa called them 'strange things'😉.

Day 27 -
Today we got up and went to our placement called Watoto Care - an orphanage for those without family and street children in poverty. This orphanage takes care of 40 children (22 board with them) of all ages. They are not a government funded project - their only source of money comes from the chickens they own (only 1 now due to the others dying of various diseases) and the director Chris' paintings (which are really good!) so they do not have much money at all.
All of the dormitories are under construction at the moment - so it's like a building site for the children. There are 3 dormitories and only 6 beds - so there are around 4 children sharing 1 bed. They also have no mosquito nets which is really sad. A double decker bed costs around 60 pounds so when I get back to England I'm going to do some fund raising for the orphanage so each child may have a bed.
Most of the children do not have parents - and this is due to HIV/AIDS. Those who don't board live with relatives and the orphanage provide them with money to help feed/accommodate them. During our time here, we will help renovate a dormitory so they can hopefully get some more beds in. At the same time, there is another group of men making an inside bathroom (currently the toilets and shower is outside over a lot of rocks etc. which is not good for children who need to go during the night!)
We started by cementing inside a room - I soon found out I am rubbish at cementing. Genuinely. But after a while we finally managed to get it done (with help from George!) It is a lot hotter in Manyara than Arusha but we managed to work until about 5.
We then went back to the camp and had dinner and chilled until bed. The one bad thing about these tents were the amounts of insects we found (cockroach a-plenty!) and we also found a creature that looked like a cross between a massive spider and a scorpion (it had a tail??) so we decided not to use the toilet that night...!

Day 28 -
Today I woke up early to go help Fidel make breakfast. After breakfast we went to Watoto Care and started plastering the walls - this was easier than cementing but we did get George and someone from Watoto Care going around after us making it all much smoother (we just did the hard bit for them...) This took us the day to do - and we also started preparing sand for the next day (we were to do the floor!).

Day 29 -
Today we swept out the room of dust (there was A LOT and we had to use spades to do it... not easy!) and started to redo the floor by making a lot of cement (really wishing we had a cement mixer, would save me a job!) and we managed to spread it out and get it smooth. We managed to finish this before lunch.
During lunch we spent the time chatting with the staff at Watoto Care - they are all really nice and chatty, and clearly care about the children and have their best interests at heart. They were all taking lots of photos and videos of us to show the children (they were currently on their Easter holidays, staying with relatives so we didn't actually meet them]).
After lunch we decided to make some steps up to the room we had just finished because it was quite a step for an adult, let alone a child!
We were meant to finish the project today but we decided to come back after our game drive tomorrow to paint the room (we didn't want to leave!)
After placement we went to a Maasai market but it was much more expensive than in Arusha so we didn't buy much.

Day 30 -
Today we went for a game drive in Lake Manyara National Park which was good but I wish we had done this BEFORE Ngorongoro and Serengeti because they are so much better! We saw a lot of baboons everywhere though, which we hadn't seen before! This national park is more of a forest setting, making it more difficult to see all the animals so we didn't manage to spot many!
Afterwards, we went to Watoto Care and painted the room. After a few coats, Chris (the director) gave us some more colours for us to write our names on the walls. They didn't have any good paint brushes (mine was basically a stick) and it was dark so it was hard to see what we were doing, and it was all runny, but we drew a few things for the kids!
Afterwards, they asked us into another room and had laid on a meal for us to say thank you for our efforts which was a lovely surprise! Apparently the last team of leapers only spent 2 days there and left early so didn't get much accomplished, but they were happy with our efforts! After the meal, they even gave us all a present each of a traditional African woman's clothing which was so lovely of them!
After a tearful goodbye, we went back to a confused Fidel (wondering why we were so late - it was about 8 o clock and we were usually home about 5!).

Day 31 -
Today we woke up early and met our tour guide Allen and got on mountain bikes and went for a bike safari! We cycled around Lake Manyara National Park and saw many animals along the way. We stopped at a place that made banana beer which was interesting - it sounds better than it actually was! It was warm and sweet but had a top of some grainy stuff which was not nice...
We also stopped at a wood carving workshop run by the Makonde tribe that migrated from Mozambique - in their wood carvings they portray their emotions so it was all very interesting. We also stopped at an arts work shop and learnt about Tinga Tinga paintings and Maasai knife paintings.
We also stopped at a guy's shop who was called Rasta Kosh. He taught us how to make Maasai beady bracelets and we got to make our own! It was really time consuming and really hurt your back because you were constantly bent over concentrating hard! He was impressed with mine too - even said he would sell it to the public, so it couldn't have been that bad!
We then cycled back to the camp, had lunch and Priyanka went and bought the orphanage some supplies and we took them to them and they were very appreciative, it was very good of her! We exchanged email addresses etc. to keep in touch with them all so I'm happy about that!

Day 32 -
Today we had a lie-in then went to a swimming pool at a Maasai-run hotel which was lush - it was just by the Great Rift Valley and overlooked an amazing view. There were lots of monkeys about drinking from the pool too which can't be good for them but it looked cute!
We then travelled back to Arusha, and in the evening went round to Mathias' house and chilled out with everyone, he had some relatives round so it was nice to meet them all.

Day 33 -
Today we woke up late and went to placement - an orphanage called CCF which is ages away from us (took like 45 minutes in the car!). It is an orphanage for street children and the leap has been helping them for many years - so there isn't a lot left to do! Here we will be helping create a vegetable garden for them to grow their own produce - it is hard work in the burning sun!

That is all for now, I will update you all soon.
Lots of love!
Beki xxxx

---