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Published: October 6th 2009
Wow...where to begin?! I guess I'll start where I left off...so my ride pulled up about an hour late and eagerly hopped out of the car to help me with my bags, forgetting to put the car in park, which then rolled into a tree. No big thing...more embarrassment on his behalf than any thing else. Once inside the car it was clear that the car had been through far worse than a ding in the bumper. (it reminded me ana, of the story about your journey in cambodia in the van with no dash board) Anyway, we start off on our long drive to Karatu, leaving kilimanjaro behind us, and as I'm in the back seat sweltering with no knob to roll down the window, the driver presumably picks up on my distress and kindly offers me a knob from the console, "miss, drop window?" The ride was much more pleasant from there on as I watched the massai herd their cattle through the countryside, and I arrived at the childrens village hours later, greeted by many happy children running to hug and swarm all around me. One little girl, about 5 years old, held out her hand to me and was trying very hard in her heavily accented broken english to tell me something...she repeated herself a few times and once I figured out to open my hand for her, she put a mushed up ball of brown something in my hand...I was momentarily stunned, and unsure of what to do..."you like shocolat?" Chocolate! I had to hug her...just as much out of relief as gratitude. It definitely made my day. The rest of the day yesterday was spent trying to settle in, and get acclimated to the altitude (I had no idea how high we were, nestled in the Rift Valley, beautiful mountains all around us). Many of the kids in my house who are older were not around during the day because they went to a funeral for a boy in their school who was murdered by his brother. Naturally, I was horrified at hearing this, but when they all came back for dinner they seemed like regular happy kids...curious to meet the new girl living in their house. Last night I got to know the other volunteers, watching the moon rise over the mountainside, sipping wine and chatting about life here in the village. They all seem very nice, and from what I understand life here in the childrens village is quite a privileged life by most African standards.
Today, has been draining...it is just after lunch, (we are seven hours ahead fyi) the kids who are not in school are finally napping. Morning playgroup was pretty chaotic...15-20kids and three volunteers, but no structured play or anything like it. It's tough mainly because they range in age from 1-7yrs. (the older few are not mentally or emotionally ready for school). They watched sesame street in swahili and played legos, chalk, and basically ran wild the rest of the time. I tried teaching them some games...duck, duck, goose, simon says, mother may I....but they were a little young. Ring around the rosie we played over and over and over again....until it finally ended with ten kids piled on top of me, rolling around on the dirty ground. Fun times! I'm ready for a nap before the older kids get home from school and the fun begins again. I miss you all and hope life in America is treating you well!
Love, Amy
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anonymous
non-member comment
i'm glad to hear the kids are so open and welcoming! amazing! how was the wine by the way?