Fresh Start

Hey Everyone!

I'm in Arusha right now and things are going great. I've spent almost 2 weeks here and Tanzania has been amazing! I'd had quite a ridiculous experience in Tanzania and I'd like to first discuss the work Sue and I are doing here.

Our days are fairly structured. On MWF, we go out to Arusha to a set location and serve food to the street kids of Arusha. At times, up to 50 kids show up to get food. The ages range from 11-19, some having spent an entire decade living on the streets. We bring a soccer ball so they can play the beloved sport of futbol and those who don't play soccer usually sit on the side and talk to us. We hope to start English classes next week, with the goal of giving these kids a chance to life by knowing and being able to communicate in English (as many jobs here cater the the mzungu, foreigner, population). I remeber the first time I went out, the image that shook me up was when kids would find dirty plastic bags and ask for us to just put extra food into the bags so they could eat it later. We were each assigned a child to provide more individualized attention to the kids and I was assigned Hamza, an 11 year old boy that has been living on the streets for a year. He is a very very nice kid that decided to leave home because his stepmother beat him while his father was away farming Tanzanites. He loves ndeges (airplanes) and his favorite color is, surprisingly, pink! I'm very excited to mentor him and really want to help him find a home.

On T,TH. we go to the Good Samaritan Orphange to play with the kids there, an orphange which houses babies, toddlers, and young kids. We usually bring art supplies for the kids and spend some time playing games and drawing with them. Some of us also spend time helping the one mama that has the watch over 30 kids with basic chores like folding laundry. I've become close to one child named Moses. He is 8 and is quite a intelligent child. I remeber the first time I saw him, he was quite shy and none of the other volunteers were talking to him, so I approached him. He was looking at his math homework and I soon discovered he had quite an interest in school. His English is amazing for his age and I see a lot of potential in him. Last Thursday I was outside the orphange playing frisbee with one of the other kids when Moses runs out of the house and gives me a big hug with a giant grin on his face. I'm glad he was happy to see me :]

I will post more later!