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Published: August 6th 2006
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So tired...
Babies are a lot of work... Well my previously miserable, depression filled and boring days of Arusha have finally been put behind me. Monday morning I made the ardruous walk across town from room 205 of the Arusha at Night Annex Hotel to the more modest, downtown, appartment style dwelling that is the Lutheran Center. After four days there, I’m not entirely certain what it is the “Lutheran Center” does, but they managed to be good hosts, and quiet. Although I had planned an entire day for this epic transition, the whole thing was over and done with in a matter of minutes. Thus is the reality of a prison-style sentence in a no-good town.
My first order of business was to get DHL and the receptionist at my guest house prepared for the iminent arrival of my lovely green ATM card. I walked down to the DHL office and was pleasantly surprised to find my dear fathers handwritting on an envelope already waiting for me. With no proof of identity in my possesion, or even a question as to who I was, the receptionist handed me the parcel and I made my way back across town with an improved mood in tow.
In the
Buffet Police
This guy isn't a big fan of my appetite. Lately, for some unexplainable reason, I've been eating copious amounts of food. The guy you see in the picture frequently looks in horror as I drain the contents of his buffet bin by bin at the nearbye college. next few days I found myself (much against my will) becoming a local Arushan. The internet café I made home for myself was well equiped and the staff at my favourite restaurant always welcomed me with a warm smile. The used book vendor across from my hotel greeted me every morning with his new arrivals, and typically we’d make a well calculated book trade somtime around 11:00AM daily. Simon (father of three) is actually quite a creative young entrepenuer deciding one day to setup a table and create an English book trade service where for a mere 1,000 shillings one can exchange a book. The first day I made a serious error by “waiting it out” when I then realized the books actually came and went quite quickly -so long Michael Crichton. Conveniently enough, Simon ate dinner at the same restaurant as me each night so our relationship although intitially strictly businesslike, took an exciting turn into the personal realm where we realized that book trading was not all we had in common.
Day in, day out, my routine rarely faltered until I decided that with an ATM card I could actually leave the city. My approach was such
Monkey Standoff
They're always watching us... The babies hate them, one of the few English words they know is "MONKEY!" which happens to be their warning for each other when the monkeys stop staring and start bullying. that I was cautious about venturing far from town since after a brief discussion with the High Commission a couple days ago they said that it was possible my new passport might arrive next week. While I don’t want to get my hopes up, I didn’t think it prudent to be two days away by bus once I received word of its arrival from Canada. Consequently, I made efforts to find something that would occupy my time until it shows up.
I basically mass emailed a dozen or so organizations in the Arusha area with a generous offer which was: me. Davona, a woman who apparently answers her email instantly got back to me right away with directions to her baby compound. I call it a baby compund since I’m not sure how else to describe it (more on that later). While I wasn’t sure exactly what I was getting myself into, she assured me I’d be of great help and even asked if I might be able to fix her computer. So, not long after I braved a cramped dalla-dalla ride 22km outside of town, right past Davona’s place and onward to Usa River (the driver didn’t stop
So many babies...
It's like an assembly line in many ways. when I asked him to) plus the voyage back via the dalla-dalla where I finally reached Davona’s place after a 30 minute delay. It was interesting to note that my newfound status as a “volunteer” almost prevented me from getting ripped off by the bus driver, but not quite.
I found my way to the “Cradle of Love Baby Home” where dozens of infants and toddlers immediately swarmed my legs expecting something exciting to happen. I quickly realized I don’t have as much experience with little kids as I thought. Most of them sit around on my lap with blank stares expecting me to entertain them. Then they need food, and frankly, the more I think about it, the more work they are -especially with so many. In fact, as much as I’d like to claim I’m here at the Internet because I want to, it’s really only because I conveniently snuck off during nap time.
My recent daily routine involves sleeping in, then visiting the babies, maybe feeding a couple and then going for lunch (which amounts to sneaking into the local buffet). After lunch I usually go play with the kids for a few hours, storytime
Bottle Time
Sometimes I'm so useless the kids have to feed me... with Uncle Jason typically transforms into gallons of drool, discussions about gumdrop tugboats and lollypop treeforts before we all fall asleep and get woken up for the “official” nap time. Occasionally I’m called to duty, and with all my strength and courage I manage to fend off the local dastardly monkey gangs from the kids. They typically swager in with their enormous blue scrotems sometime in the early afternoon, and what their aims are I’m not entirely certain, but they do typically succeed with their terror tactics and throw the kids into fits of tears when scores of them ascend on the baby home and try to get in through the windows. After all the excitement I go back to the neighbouring college to sneak into the buffet once again, and then sneak into the computer lab to use the internet. At that point, in complete exhaustion I return to my guest house and collapse in bed.
The kids at the baby home are all awesome, some fight cry but its never very serious. There is of course a dark history with each child, one that includes HIV, abandonment and other terrible things, but truth be told the kids
Too much milk
It's not uncommon to find the babies overindulging. are kids, they’re typically happy and great to be around while they each patiently wait for adoption.
So far, there’s still no sign of my old passport, or my new passport but I’m hoping next week I’ll get some good news. My entire life now revolves around waiting for the Canadian Passport office (and babies) -my fingers are crossed.
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Shin
non-member comment
Hey Jason ... Looks like you'll be heading that direction, fatherhood when you get back :P. Anyways, hope you get your passport soon. Im off to Japan for 3wks :) Say Hi to everyone there. Give Jord a "NUT-Shot" from me +Shin