Settling in and Report Cards!

December 14 – Settling In and Report Cards

And so the jet lag begins to wane . . . it is still 5:15 a.m. and I am awake but there is much to do and now is my quiet time.  The children are amazing!  Gerehad, who spoke neither Kiswahili nor English when he came here in March calls out, “Mama this is a finger”, while pointing to a drawing of a hand he has just completed.  He is so, so, so intelligent and thanks to the McCann family in Australia, will begin school in January.  What a little boy!  Christina can spell her name!  Write it down!  It’s not perfect but it’s there and she and WE can recognize it!  Christina is intellectually challenged because she was born with hydrocephalus but one could hardly notice . . . and she is so very happy! 

At last you will have some GOOD photos.  Mama Picha (Cindy) and Kal are hard at work (it resembles one of those television reporting vehicles, or command central in their house next door with all of their equipment), and they are hard at it.  You will see in the photos that we’ve got the pros here!  Asante.  Cindy is moved by how tiny the children are . . . like you, she has been loving these children for a year without having a vertical reference for them and was surprised to learn that our little ones, are, well, little . . . younger than she had imagined . . . but she too will tell you, they are oh, so happy!

It rains every day here so far and the locals are concerned.  The short rains should have ended by now and created a window between them and the very needed long rains to come in April and now we worry that perhaps the long rains won’t come and that will be a shida kubwa (big problem).  You see, in February and early March farmers scramble to get their crops planted so that by the time the rains come they are established and able to endure the relentless long rains and then thrive afterward.  Time will tell.  And Katy . . . our Port Dover volunteer?  She is remarkable!  She is happy and healthy and dada kubwa to the children and they are loving it!  Katy is a wonderful teacher and we are lucky to have her!

We have only shidas kidogo (little problems) with respect to the health of the children.  Christina, Anna and Elizabeth have a fungus on their face, bottom and shoulders respectively and Zawadi (Joseph) is struggling with a nasty something or other on his face which has swollen his eyes and breaks out in pustules but all have attended Dr. Lyimo and are hopefully on the mend.  Little Mary continues to improve but came to me last night crying with stomach pain.  We suspect she may have an egg allergy which causes her to vomit, but last night was pain, not nausea and so we will watch her.

Report cards are coming in and if I may we have some stars . . . Emmanuel was #1 and Lazaro #5 in the same class of 35 students.  Margaret and Angela are shining with top marks (surprisingly so considering the schools they came from) which was a very pleasant surprise . . . Evaline struggles with spelling and English still . . . we need to decipher if it is aptitude or attitude, because she can study with the other girls.  For someone coming, if you could find some laminated cards/signs which illustrate something and then spell the word out, please bring as many as you can carry.  (ie.  A photo of a tree and then the word “tree”).  Aisha, Kelvin (who has confirmation on Sunday) and Ester all need to read more books and Jenny needs to work harder . . . she loves to play . . . not to study so much and the children must retain a 60% grade average at Young Roses School in order to remain.  She must work harder.

Well it is now 6:40 and the sun is rising and the chickens are going crazy because Lohai is feeding them.  It is our alarm clock here, for those who are still resting.  Primary school attends for three months and then has one off and so the children are not attending regular classes now but tuition or extra study.  They too are rising for chai, mandaze (doughnuts) and myai (eggs) before walking to school.  Ester will be motorcycled to class.  I will run . . . be well, sending love and thanks to all . . . watoto wazuri sana!  The children are very well! . . . because of you . . . Asante!

Habari kutoka Tanzania!

 December 11th from Tanzania!

We’ve arrived . . . safe and sound!  Racing out of town and just beating the snow and -15 c temperatures and after a two hour delay in Amsterdam, again because of the weather (they were unable to tow the plane to the gate because the snow and slush was making things slippery – I guess one doesn’t want a plane sliding past the gate and into the airport itself, hmmmm?) we arrived about 1.5 hours late.  No problems at all clearing customs!  We were greeted by Grace and Oddo, Peter, Raymond, Evalin, our homegrown volunteer Katy, and Yusuph.  11:30 p.m. in Kilimanjaro . . . stepping off the plane and onto the tarmac, into a 72 degree balmy evening.  It is about a 40 minute drive home from the airport and I stopped to pick us up a case of water and arrived somewhere around midnight.  A few of the children were asleep but most, bleary eyed with exhaustion had insisted on waiting up to greet us.  They had a song of greeting, welcoming us (Mama Cindy, Baba Kal and myself) and Cindy finally got the chance to touch the children she has loved for over a year . . . it was beautiful.  For myself, hugs all around, tickles and giggles and cuddles and then off to bed.  Neema had prepared sambosa . . . a favorite and we enjoyed them and then we retired.  Unfortunately I awoke after about two hours of sleep and began unpacking. . . my thanks, first to everyone who has so very generously contributed to our need to pack 19 bags, and second, to my daughter Amanda, who packed most of them.  We will enjoy a beautiful Christmas this year.

The children look amazing and are so very happy!  They grow stronger and bigger.  They speak more English and we are working on a special gift for all of you (thank you so much Katy for starting this project) but it is a surprise and so you’ll just have to wait . . . Liadi has lost his baby-ness since I left in September.  He is now a little boy.  Little Mary continues to improve.  She is still so very tiny but every day gets stronger and we just found out she has passed her national exam and will be going on to secondary school.  We couldn’t be happier!  All of the children are home now (except for Mary and Reward and some of our secondary school students who will join us soon) and already we are planning great adventures!  We want to take our family and the orphans of Mana OVC swimming over the Christmas break and we’d like to take Mana OVC on their first safari (our children went during my last visit if you remember).  School registrations and report cards are coming and as Mama, I couldn’t be happier for the children!  (As an aside, it is 5:23 a.m. I’ve been awake since 2:30, talked to home on Skype – set it up and call me if you’re so inclined – gave up trying to sleep and began writing.)  Once again the roosters are crowing in the background, an occasional dog barks, our own chickens which are virtually right outside my door do their thing and Lawrence, our security guard just put the fire on the make chai (tea) for the children before their tuition begins at eight.  He’s a coffee drinker, so I made each of us a cup and our days begin!  Cindy and I had a meeting last night and Liadi fell asleep in my arms – a bit clingy since I arrived – perfectly okay with me  - and is in my bed – just woke up with a bit of a cough, gave him a sip of water and he’s back to sleep – for those of you who know me well – I feel like such a Mom – it really doesn’t get any better than this does it?

We have some administrative problems we need to correct here at Tumaini House and we need to make some decisions on moving to Majengo Village and making it our permanent home.  There is much work to do so I’m off.  Once again, thank you . . . for loving these little ones who need us so desperately.  Have a great day!  P.S.  the photo is of the wall above my desk which Raquel and the children made as a welcome gift . . . some of the little hands say that they are thankful for Mama Dee . . . hmmmmmmmm!