The Spirit of Africa

What a big day for glorious! Katie, Lene (my fellow volunteers) and I had been planning a field trip to the Snake Park for the last day of school as a gift to the kids. The day before the 3 of us went out and bought 65 bananas, 7 loaves of bread, two buckets of peanut butter, a couple cans of jam, biscuits enough for all 60 kids to have 2 biscuits each, and a soda for each kid.

We got home after a hectic day of home visits (going to each students homes to meet their family or guardian they live with...) which we had been doing every day after school that week. We got home late -- 5-ish, and the sun had already gone down -- and we had 60 sandwiches to make. We sat down at the table and everyone in the volunteer house offers to help which was SO appreciated! The first sandwich was made and the power went out. Oh well, seems to happen more often then not... It's a way for the city to conserve energy which isn't that bad of an idea. Still, we got all 60 sandwiches made in no time and it was off to bed.

We got to Glorious at about 9 or 10 in the morning and the kids were all sitting outside with their bag of new shoes, new uniforms, new socks and undies. We were so excited and so were the kids! Lu Lu, a volunteer who came with her sister Dali for two weeks, raised $600 before she got to Tanzania and while she was here she saw that the money should go to buying all the kids new uniforms, since they'd been wearing the same uniforms since 2007. They were all worn out and coming unraveled at the seams... A perfect way to use the money! Unfortunately, she didn't get to see the kids in their uniforms, but that didn't bother her as she just wanted them to have new clothes. Lu Lu also helped raise a large majority of the money for the shoes from home. She's done a lot of work.

So, we took the girls into the classroom 1st and changed them into their new uniforms and shoes, it was a bit chaotic but fun to see the kids so happy to have new shoes and clothes! I must mention that we tried to help out the families by hiring Rajabu's mother to sew the uniforms, Jacqulin's mother went out and found the shoes and got all the right sizes, and Mary, Juliu's sister ( the man who runs the orphanage out of his house) to buy the underwear. So, the money was going back into the families. What a wonderful way to get things accomplished and help everyone!

A couple of hours later the kids were all dressed, looking sharp and happy. We loaded all 60 kids in two dolla dollas that we'd rented for the day and headed to the Snake Park. There are no rules regarding seat belts since there are no seat belts in any dolla dolla. Actually, the only rule for a dolla dolla is 'cram as many people in as possible!'

After an hour ride in a hot car and only one car sick kid, we made it to the Snake Park. We started off with lunch, not knowing how the PBJ's were going to be taken. They were a hit, along with everything else in their lunch. We cleaned up and headed to see the snakes, birds and many other reptiles that inhabit the land in

Tanzania

. We saw all the snakes and birds and when we got to the alligators, which seemed pretty close to the fence and a bit more intimidating then the rest of the animals, the kids all kept close and didn't want to be pushed close to the fence but they all wanted to see. They huddled into a tight group and kept a safe distance.

Two hours and a more reptiles later, we pack the kids back into the dolla dollas and head back to Glorious where we passed out yet another bag of goodies for the kids.

Pete, a volunteer that arrived the day before brought Christmas cards for each kid and a Christmas package, they were so excited yet again!

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was my birthday and Alice's birthday as well! It was one surprise after the other. The kids sang us both happy birthday and Katie gave me a skirt that matched the kids new uniforms. :)