SassySeidler

Hey "Whomever Actually Reads This"! Here's my contribution to the Amani newsletter. I wrote it about my experience in Arusha with one of our social workers (see earlier blog). Confronting Homelessness A night on the street with Amani's Street Educator. During the day, Arusha is a pulsing tornado of hustling pedestrians and blaring car horns set against a glittering skyline of tin-roofed shanties and countless windowed storefronts. As night descends, the cars and people recede into the fading sunlight and out from the shadows come the children who call the streets home, searching for a safe place to huddle away from the night’s horrors. John Mbati, Amani’s Street Educator and a trained Tanzanian social worker, sits on the edge of a bed inside a small motel on one of Arusha’s labyrinthine side streets. He bends over ... read more

Flava Yo Tang Thursday was my day to head out to the capitol city of Arusha to walk the night streets in search of children. It was a day that I had been both excited for and fearful of. Excited because I had never really had an opportunity to walk in a third world's slumbering nightmare, and fearful because I was a white person who was going to walk in a third world's slumbering nightmare. But went I did, straight to Moshi's bus station in search of one of the larger vehicles. I wanted a larger bus because I have had the adventure of small van/big population/long road in my travelings of yore. I just wanted to make sure I actually HAD a seat, preferrably by a window so I didn't spend an hour or more ... read more

Mambo poa, rafikis? I have officially begun my time at Amani Center. Upon first arrival, one notices a bunch of smiling children running around with soccer balls and pencils. It looks like any other school, except most of the kids are barefoot. I started my orientation, meeting with all of the other teachers and visiting all of the classrooms. The first day was easy, I spent most of my time getting to know everyone and did not really spend too much time with the kids. The one thing that I noticed was...everyone speaks Swahili. My limited salutations were not going to fly here and I saw that I needed to get down to brass tax. The second day was more orientation, but I got to really get in there and know the kids. I hesitate to ... read more

Today is a dark day as I perform that which I swore I would never do. I am blogging. It just sounds wrong. But I am far too lazy to respond to individual emails and messages, so this was the easiest route. Do not fret, I will keep things short. So, join me on this magical adventure into the lowest form of written word, wont you? (FYI, this site will not allow me to do apostrophes, so I have opted to simply skip them. Its not poor grammar, so dont judge me). Also, editing on this computer is pretty much impossible, so keep your snide comments about my syntax and spelling errors to yourself! This is pretty much just stream of consciousness, pouring forth from an exhausted brain. Judgmental jerks. And on that note, lets begin. ... read more