So thankful :)

As everyone back home celebrates Thanksgiving today, I can’t help but think about all of the things I am thankful for this year.  I love playing the “what are you thankful for” game at the dinner table but I think my list would take all day this year!  While I am so sad to be missing my favorite holiday and Aunt Ann Marie’s mashed potatoes, being in Africa has truly opened my eyes to what is most important in life.  At home, we take so much for granted and are usually too busy to stop and appreciate the little things that make our lives special.  This year, I have had the time to really appreciate all of those things and I must say- I feel very lucky with the life I have been dealt.  I won’t bore you with my entire “I am thankful for” list but here are some more stories from 50 of my little friends that are on that list.

It’s been a busy week of playing catch up!  Instead of coming back to the usual overflowing inbox of emails after a week and a half away, I was pleasantly greeted by 50 shining faces who seemed to have missed me a lot.  The kids climbed all over us and wanted to hear all about the beach.  We showed them a few pictures of what a beach looks like and I handed out the seashells I collected for them. Sadly, most of them wanted to know if the shells were chakula (food).  I think its safe to say that they didn’t fully grasped the idea of the beach!

The day before we left for Zanzibar, we put the finishing touches on the desks and moved them into the classroom.  The kids were ecstatic!  Some of the boys carried the desks into the room without us even asking while the rest of the kids were all jumping around the room and picking out their new seats.  They were so excited that they sang us a few songs as their way of telling us how thankful they were.

After being wrestled around by all of the kids on Monday morning, we had to go pay the boys school fees at Amani (Matt is also sponsoring a boy from our orphanage, John).  It was lunchtime there so the three boys came out to say hello.  They were all dressed in new, matching green tracksuits given to them by the school.  The director told us that they were so excited to for the tracksuits because they have never owned a brand new piece of clothing, everything has always been a hand me down.  He said as soon as the boys got in the office, they stripped down because they were so excited; the teachers had to tell them to put their clothes back on and wait a few more minutes! The boys were happier than I have ever seen them even though they were at a loss for words and a little shy.  Pascal did some video interviews with each of them individually asking what they loved about school and if there was anything they wanted to tell Matt and me.  They all said “Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to go to school” and gave us a kiss on the cheek; it was a very special moment.  I don’t know if I will get to say goodbye to them again before I leave but it was really nice being able to see how happy they are in their new environment.  Sending them to Amani is definitely money well spent!

The boys of Amani sporting their new, green track suits

I spy a Mzungu!

On Tuesday, we took the kids on a long overdue field trip to the Arusha National Park on a mini safari.  We rented two dalla dallas for the day, packed some peanut butter sandwiches and juice boxes for lunch, and were on our way.  We arrived at school around 8 and were surprised that we were not greeted by tons of excited children running through the field towards us like most days.  We saw the one dalla dalla and figured that the kids were in the school waiting for the other dalla to arrive.  But as we got closer, we heard the faint chants of “teacha, teacha, teacha!!” and realized it was coming from inside the dalla dalla.  The van was basically shaking from the 50 balls of energy that were inside.  They couldn’t contain their excitement…it was adorable!

After the other dalla dalla arrived, we split the class in two and drove the 20 minutes to the park.  We drove around for about 3 hours and saw tons of baboons, giraffes, zebras, buffalo, and white colobus monkeys.  The kids were so happy to see all these animals; the smiles were endless. One of the boys, Eliah, was sitting behind me for the whole ride and he kept grabbing my shoulders when he would get excited and then say “Asante sana, teacher!” and give me a kiss on the cheek.  I am so happy I was able to take them on this field trip because it’s crazy to think that these animals basically live in their backyard and they have never even come close to seeing them in real life.  I was pretty nervous about how this day was going to play out since the kids can get pretty crazy but they were actually very well behaved!  It will definitely be one of the days that I will never forget J

One of the teachers has been sick all week so it has been difficult to control the class without her.  The kids don’t listen to us when we try to teach and just run around the room.  Just to give you an idea, this is what a typical day with no teacher is like…The classroom with no teacher  So when they kids are acting up like this, I have no other choice than to make them run off all their energy in the field.  I know that sounds harsh but I swear, they like it haha- Laps in the field So on Wednesday, there was no teacher for the baby class and that’s what the day was like, the kids were terrible!  I think they were still riding the wave of excitement from the field trip so there were plenty of sprints across the field that day.  We also had two of my friends from the program who are doctors come and check out some of the kids.  Thankfully, they didn’t find anything too serious other than some skin rashes and surprise, surprise…ringworm!  We went to the pharmacy afterwards and bought all of the necessary creams to treat them as well as a bunch of band aids and other medical supplies.

As my time here comes to an end, I am trying to wrap up the last few projects I have in mind and spend as much of the money I have raised as possible.  Any money that is left over at the end of next week will be saved to pay for year two of school for Augustino and Edwin. I cannot believe that I only have one week left; three months sure does fly by! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!