ChristyF

Kesuma, founder of Kitumusote (www.kitumusote.org/) came to the United States and I had the opportunity to show him around San Francisco for the day. So much fun! And, we happened to run into another Maasai visiting from Kenya too!... read more

A couple of our volunteers left a day early so I replaced them at the orphanage so I could see the kids again. My last visit was later in the day so this was a totally different experience to come in the morning before they all wake up. I’m so impressed with the volunteers who were on this project each day. To wash and cloth that many children in such disarray is a feat. There are clothes everywhere in no particular order, half are not even dry, and you almost have to try to catch a kid to get them dressed and bathed. I was trying to help a little guy put shoes on and he kept trying to put the wrong shoe on the wrong foot. I continued to try to show him that he ... read more

(remember, we're pretending it's August and I'm in Africa) Pete Our group took a field trip to see Pete O'Niel, a self-exiled Black Panther from the US. He and his wife Charlotte moved to Tanzania 37 years ago from Kansas City, where he was the head of the Kansas City Black Panther chapter. He and his wife have developed "United African Alliance Community Center" outside of Arusha National Park. Kids come to the compound to learn music, sewing and other trades, arts and crafts, languages and computers and they also work on community projects such as building a well for running water for the surrounding community. After a tour of the complex and a visit to the music class going on, we sat down to talk with Pete about his work, watched a documentary about him, ... read more

(So if you've talked to me or seen me in the last couple days, time to be childlike and PRETEND I'm still in Africa.) :-) For my second weekend in Tanzania I decided that I wanted to see more animals and take a little break from the group setting so I booked a weekend at Hatari Hotel in Arusha National Park. The driver from Hatari, Rashid, picked me up at CCS and took me for a afternoon game drive through the park on the way to the hotel. Rashid is a VERY safe driver (read between the lines: very SLOW driver) which worked out well for driving through the park. On my last safari we barely saw giraffes and they were very far away. Arusha National Park definitely took care of the giraffe sightings. The minute ... read more

Shija works closely with Geofrey, a former Benedictine Monk, who is now focused on supporting blind people in Tanzania, beginning in Arusha. Shija took me on my first Dala Dala ride to the Blind Center Geofrey has developed. Dala Dalas (their version of busses) . . . They are minivans CRAMMED with people in it. There is a driver and a conductor. The conductor rides standing up and usually has his head stuck out the window searching for customers. They are marked by a striped color as to which direction they will head (where I work and live is the Green Dala Dala). They pull over and will ALWAYS have more room for people. And if two Dala Dalas show up at once, which happened to Shija and I this day, look out. They will argue ... read more