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Published: September 17th 2007
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Greetings from a beautiful country! On the morning of the 7th we took a "bus" (more like our version of a 15 passenger van) to Arusha, Tanzania. Our luggage was stacked on the roof and we were crammed in like sardines. Of course I got the seat with the wheel well "hump" beneath my feet. Darn hump! We had to stop at the Kenya/Tanzania border to get our $50 Tanzanian visa. Once everyone had their visa, we got back on the bus and continued driving across the border. No one ever looked at our passports to actually ensure that we had purchased a visa! We met some nice people from Arusha who gave us some info. and saw some giraffes along the way. The bus finally delivered us to a restaurant where a contact from Tanzania Adventures was waiting for us. From there we went over our itenerary at the office and arrived at the beautiful Rivertrees Inn just outside of Arusha. It is actually in a small village called Usa River Village. www.rivertrees.com As you can see from the website, this place is amazing. Upon arrival we were greeted by the German owner named Martina. I had been in contact with her before our trip because she does a lot of work in the local village so I wanted to see how we could help. She sent me a list of items that local orphanages and others could use. Underwear and socks for the young children were on the top of her list. I guess it is harder to obtain those items than clothes or shoes. Martina joined us for dinner that first night and we told her about what we brought but I don't think she imagined two suitcases full! The next morning we brought them to her office and she was totally overwhelmed. Thanks to the generous donations of many of you, we had socks, underwear, books, toys and stuffed animals! She just kept going through it all and couldn't believe it. We decided to divide it up and she would distribute it to the agencies/people that needed it most.
That day's adventures began with a visit to Grace's house. Grace is a 20 year old Tanzanian girl that has two children, one five and the other 1 1/2. Martina has taken Grace under her wing because she was living on the street and not able to care for her children. When they were found, the baby (2 months at that point) was wrapped in newspaper. We were visiting Grace because Martina had heard that she was not feeling well. That is always a red flag because Malaria is so rampant here. Martina gave her some money and instructed her to go to the doctor. We later learned that she did indeed have Malaria and without Martina's help, she would not be able to afford the $10 medicine to get rid of it. The #1 prevention for Tanzanian people to ensure that they do not get Malaria is to have a mosquito net over their bed. They can not take the medicine that we do because over time it will destroy your liver. These mosquito nets are approx. $3, but millions of people do not have them.
After visiting Grace we were off to the "Bahati" house. Bahati means "hope" in Swahili. This is a non-profit group that Martina started to help local "at-risk" women. Many of them were essentially slaves, working for $5 a month. Some of them have been wrongly imprisoned for crimes that their husbands comitted. Several of the women were in such dire need for money that they were selling their bodies. One woman is 6 months pregnant. She was most likely raped but no one asks and she hasn't said.
The Bahati women create beautiful beaded jewelry to earn their living. When we pulled into the gate of the house, most of the women were sitting under the patio at two long tables creating beautiful necklaces. We joined them and watched in amazement. They were so fast! Only one of them spoke English so we weren't able to talk to them. Martina told us about each of their stores and as you can imagine, it was heart breaking. However, it was wonderful to see them in a better situation. If they have no where else to go, they can stay in the Bahati house. However, the idea is that they can eventually go out on their own and find a place to rent using the $85 they now earn per month. The government considers $40 per month a reasonable wage! Just before we left, I saw the pregnant girl pull Martina to the side to speak with her. She later told me that the girl was wondering if she could have a large matress before she had her baby. She is currently living in the Bahati house where they have bunk beds, therefore her matress is small. She wants a big one that she can put on the floor to be with her baby. A matress is $30................... Bahati is run by these women but overseen by Martina. They currently sell their jewelry in several shops in Arusha, in a few hotels and here at Rivertrees. The web site is not up right now but you can keep checking in the future at www.bahati-tanzania.com
After the Bahati house it was off to one of the orphanages. There are several in Arusha alone. This one was connected to the hospital and has 27 children under the age of 5. Many of the children's mothers died during child birth. We took two large baskets full of goodies and the women running the orphanage were very excited. This specific orphanage and hospital are funded by the Lutheran Church. When we arrived, we checked in with the main doctor and chatted with him for a while. We asked him what he needed for his hospital the most and he said 1) an ambulance 2) an incubator for babies and 3) medication for AIDS patients. They have an incubator, but it is broken. The children living at the orphanage were sleeping so we did not get to meet them all. However, one little five year old girl was not interested in nap time! When she came out of the room, one of the women handed her a pair of the undies and she got very excited! She roamed around for a while and then grabbed Yuri's hand and just stood there. I picked out a pair of socks for her and she immediatly sat down and started taking off the mis-matched socks she already had on. One large blue one and one short white one! I helped her put her new pink and white Nike socks on and then she was off........ to hold Yuri's hand again (: The entire time we were there, she never let go of those underwear. Martina later told us that the woman wanted to know if we wanted to take the gifts back until we could come back and see the children! What kind of people have donated in the past? I guess they want to see the children or they don't give? Not sure about that? Of course it would have been nice to meet them, but I'm sure very heart breaking as well. It's just nice to know that each of those children is going to have a new pair of undies (or maybe their first pair) and socks!
As you can imagine this day alone has helped put our world into perspective. It's sad, and quite honestly embarassing, to think about the things we have complained about it the past. Everyone here works SOOOO hard for things that we take for granted, and this work starts at a very young age. Children here rarely get to have what we would consider a "normal" childhood. The wheels are already turning about how we can help......
A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT DONATED ITEMS FOR US TO BRING. We have attached a few pictures of children at another orphanage that recieved some of your gifts. We were on the mountain when Martina visited so we were not able to go, but you will see that the children loved everything! These children are those of women that are in jail.
Ok, I'll have to stop now or I never will. I have a tendency to tell long stories but thanks for reading. Catch you on the next entry!
P.S. Some of the pictures are also from our Bahati visit.
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Anitza
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Pictures!
Aw man! I was waiting for the pictures! Sarah, you guys are awesome for taking the time and energy to go out and seek these organizations and help them like you have.