Friday 25th July

Africa
August 1st 2008

Published: August 1st 2008

The morning of Friday was the same as any other. Boring breakfast of bread & butter & work until 11:30. The children were really hyper & naughty on Friday, probably because it was the end of the week. On a Friday they always have an extended break time & spend the last 2 hours doing “outdoor activities,” beating each other up basically. They always fight, even the boys hit the girls which isn’t heard of at home. One boy stabbed another in the eye; luckily he didn’t hit the eyeball, just underneath it. I was so scared when he did it that he would be blinded. I screamed at the boy who did it but they both thought it was hilarious. After breakfast before we left for work I spoke to Ibrahm. I asked him if he could come to school with me & speak to my teacher. I wanted to paint the walls of the classroom & make it look really bright and colourful just like in my dream. Ibrahm drove down to the school on his own at about 10 & spoke to the teacher in Swahili as she doesn’t speak very good English. She was very grateful when he told her what I wanted to do. She said that she was thinking for a while about moving her bedroom to the current classroom & putting the classroom stuff in her bedroom. She showed me her room, it was huge & it’s so sweet that she was willing to give it up. She really does want the best for her pupils. Ibrahm told her that I’d be there Saturday afternoon with paint & I’d help her move the classrooms around. Previously Sheila & Trev said they’d help too so I was very excited to get it done. Ibrahm left after playing with the children & Peter the bus driver was there before I knew it. He beeped his horn when he was ready for me & I said goodbye to the children for the weekend. I told the teacher I’d see her tomorrow & I jumped in the van. When we got back I packed a bag as we were going on a hike. We then ate lunch & the van picked us up at about half past. The hike wasn’t arranged by CCS, we arranged it ourselves. The previous group said they did it & that it was amazing so we organised it. Most of us went apart from 10ish; it was a very good day. It was only $40 & definitely worth it, although I don’t know where that money went. The hike was called a coffee/waterfall hike. I heard some brilliant stories & I was excited to go. We parked the vans & walked down to the waterfall as our first stop. Our guide - Godbless, told us that it would take half an hour to walk there. It ended up taking 2 hours; it was hard work but brilliant scenery. About half way through the walk a stampede of children came towards us all of a sudden. They were all the local children who had finished school so they came running out, excited to see the mzungus. Godbless told us that some of the children had never seen a white person before! There were about 200 screaming happy children. It was amazing to see but I was scared they’d trample on us. I didn’t get my camera out in case they went crazy. Most of them went home but about ten stayed with us for the rest of the walk & took us to the waterfall. We asked them all their names & made friends with them. There was a really lovely girl called Witness. At one point when there was a tricky bridge we had to cross she held each of our hands & helped us across it. She was only 7. We could tell when we were nearly at the waterfall as we were getting wet. It was huge, much bigger than the one in Moshi. It was really beautiful, I didn’t think to take my swimming stuff but there was no need anyway, it would have been far too dangerous to go in there. We took loads of photos & stayed at the waterfall for a while, I loved it, wanted to stay longer. The walk back up was a hard one. Sheila & I stayed at the back & chatted to the guide while we slowly walked. All the others were waiting for us at the vans. After 2 hours once we walked up the hill from the waterfall to the vans we walked down to where the coffee beans were. It was a nice relaxing 5 minute walk to a house with a coffee plant by it. The Chagga locals that lived there danced for ages for us. They sang & danced while we walked. Our guide pointed to an old lady sat on a chair in the front of her house. He told us that she was his grandma & a few weeks ago her husband ages 108 died. There were children & people all around her, guessing they were her family. We picked a few coffee beans & took them to a man who had a machine that peeled them. The guide told us how they made the coffee & then we went into a small room & drank it! We didn’t drink the stuff we picked, it had been prepared earlier. We had it with banana & beef soup, sounded quite disgusting & not many people had any. All the Chaggas came in & ate it. The coffee was actually really nice. They didn’t have any milk on the table so it was just really sweet black coffee. The Chaggas then sang & danced again for us. At first we were just standing & watching them then we all joined hands with them & we were dancing. I got some brilliant pictures of the whole day. The guide told us we should give the dancers money. I didn’t want to so I didn’t, I thought it was rude to ask for money after we paid £20 to go. The woman who was collecting the money was probably related to the guide anyway. After dancing & picking beans & saying “Asante” to the locals we got back in the van & drove back. A few people stayed at a lodge nearby that we got invited to go to at last minute. None of us had our stuff so we didn’t go there; they got dropped off by the van before anyone else did. We (Sheila, Trev & I) then asked if we could get dropped off in Moshi to a restaurant recommended by most people. We thanked them lots & gave Godbless a tip, he was a brilliant guide. Sheila had booked the golden view hotel for us to stay in but it was pretty basic & very cheap so we didn’t end up going there. We just had a meal & went back to the home base. We were really dirty & I had mud all down my legs because of the hike. We didn’t have time to go back & change so the restaurant must have hated us. The restaurant was a mixture between Italian & Indian & was called indoitanliano. I had a beautiful pizza & chips that tasted like they were from Risca chip shop. I was so bloated after the meal, I ate loads. We stayed for a while & just the three of us chatted. When we got back everyone was just ready to leave. They all went to La Liga, a local nightclub. They looked all dressed up & ready for a fun night. I was exhausted so we played a few games of cards & had an early night. There were only us 3, Bridget, Jim, Harry & 2 other girls at the home base. It was very quiet. Bridget must have been gutted; she thought we weren’t staying home & that we were staying in the hotel, bet she wanted the room to herself. While playing cards I must have got bitten. I’ve developed a huge growth on my face. It’s so ugly & it’s still here today. (Thursday 31st) It’s red & massive. Bridget’s given me some cream for it & it’s gone down a little bit. It’s a shame I’ve got no hair to hide it with, Chetch is going to piss herself when she sees me, it’s so minging. The home base was pretty boring with no one here so we went to bed at about 10 & had an early night - for a weekend. Thanks for reading tena (again)

Caitlin : ) x

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