Church and Baking cookies.

Every Sunday the children attend church, I was so keen to learn more about their culture and this would be the perfect way to get a better insight. Church started at 10am we met the children at the church they were all dressed smartly and already sat down, now their church could easily of been mistaken for a emptying building, the churches in England are mostly quite grand building which you would be able to notice was a church straight away, this was not the same in Tanzania but still they made it look lovely with colourful material behind the alter. It was a lovely atmosphere, we were welcomed but the church and we were asked to introduce ourselves and say where we were from. There was plenty of singing and dancing and it was such a blessing to see them so happy. After a couple of hours the children have a short Sunday school lesson, I sat in with the younger ones and they sand some more songs and recited some passages from the Bible. We then went back to the house for lunch which was Pilau (rice and meat) this was one of my favourite meals. At around 3 in the afternoon we did some baking at the house,then once we finished the baking all the children would come down and we would watch a film. It was lovely, hearing their laughter and smiles watching the film, this was a treat for them and it mainly only happens when there are volunteers to do it with them. It was Mother's day back home, and we were currently watching Despicable Me 2 in Africa surrounded by

beautiful children, there was a moment in the film where a little girl sings a mother's day song but she doesn't have a mum, at that very moment I looked around at all the children around me and started to tear up, I thought about how all of these children have either been mistreated, rejected, abandoned, or left on their on due to death, yet they have smiles on their perfect faces and are some of the happiest children I have had the pleasure of coming across. 

Lazy Saturday and Goodbyes.

When Saturday came around we were shattered, getting used to the heat and the early starts had taken it's toll on us, so we had a relaxing morning, tidying are room so we were a bit more organised and reading in the sun which was a lovely way to start the day. A bit later on the children came and joined us at the house as one of the volunteers Marie who is a regular at Living Water and donates a lot towards the developments was leaving so the family had organised for a cook to come in a put together a wonderful spread before she went. The food was simply amazing it was the best we had so far it was a lovely treat for us all. Watching the children eat such good food was a lovely thing to witness, don't get me wrong they have good food at the center and they have big portions! But it was nice to see them get some meat which they don't really tend to get. They sang and danced a goodbye song for Marie which was lovely to see. One of the family members had a 3 or 4 month old baby and the children just loved holding baby Nathan, they were so gentle and careful with him, and of course I had to have a hold of him! After the celebration we headed up to the center and took wool up so the children could make bracelets. The amount of times a child would start a bracelet then have to go do some chores and then would come back a while after to continue the bracelet saddened me. It would be lovely to take away all the chores that the children have to do but that's their routine and they just get on with it, which I admire about them so much, on a daily basis they clean their clothes, fold their clothes, clean the center which includes sweeping the floors, mopping the floors, picking up twigs and leaves, cleaning the toilets and showers, cleaning the classrooms and their bedrooms as well as get their homework done and have a bit of time to play. Children in England do not know how lucky they have it, they would not last one day if they switched lives with one of the children I was with. 

Cooking class.

With an early start and very little sleep it was hard getting up to go to Yakini but it was well worth the early start we had the best time teaching the children how to make sandwiches and fruit salad, a lot of children said they had helped cooking but hardly any of them had made a sandwich, we were working with roughly around 120 children which is hard in any situation but was worth the effort to see that they had enjoyed themselves. The children were so safe and sensible with the sharp knives it was a pleasure to teach them, and they enjoyed eating the food they had made themselves. My group was in charge of the fruit salad, we were set up on a station outside, and the children got to take it in turns to help cut up the fruit.  Sadly some of the younger ones wanted in on the action and the place got a bit hectic, but we asked the Headteacher to calm them down, he did so and we then cleaned the room with help of the children. The children at Yakini and the center have an amazing work ethic when it comes to cleaning and washing, they work together and they do it all with out moaning, which I know if that was me as a child I would have had something to say. Even myself as a child would not be expected to clean like they do at school, we would clear up after ourselves and that's about it, but they clean down the tables, brush then mop the floor, I watch in admiration, and tried to helped but they wouldn't let me.

Shopping in Arusha

We spent the whole day shopping today, from 10am to 5pm we went around different shops and markets. It was so interesting to see the contrast in culture when we were shopping for fruit and veg all the stall holders would swarm around us trying to sell us their produce. It was a strange feeling to be the only white people that were in the market, I wouldn't have wanted to go there on my own, it would have been a daunting experience if I went there by myself. Thankfully Deo cam with us to make sure we didn't get ripped off by the locals. In the evening we went to a club called Viva Viva which was a lot of fun. It was definitely contrast to a night out in England and the attention white people get over here is insane, I would never have expected to get the attention we did but all in all was a great night and didn't get back to the house until 4am and had to be up at 7:30 to head out to Yakini that morning.                                                                   Getting ready for our first night                                                                                                      out in Arusha

Teaching

Living Water Children Center 

Today is our third day at the center and we had an early start to go up and join the children at the center for their class I sat in on a English class, all the children wanted me to sit next to them it was sweet, they are so welcoming and as soon as myself and Francesca another volunteer walked into the classroom they all stood up and welcomed us by saying "kariboo teachers".

David sat myself and Rachel down and told us about the history of Living Water, hearing about the work they have done is heart warming! When then went to Yakini where we were asked to teach an ICT lesson which was quite easy because it was pretty basic stuff we had to show them what to do, but it was quite daunting being thrown in at the deep end, the language barrier bothered me a little as the children can understand English and can speak it well, but when they would speak in Swahili it would exclude us, so naturally we thought they were talking about us. By the time we got back to the house it was 5:30 and we were shattered, after a nice relaxing sit outside we had tea which was delicious we had rice and beans which was probably the best cooked meal we've had so far here we headed straight to bed ready to see what the next day had installed for us. 

Myself teaching ICT

Homework with the children and Yakini

On our second day we decided to have a lie in with us having very little sleep the day before. Once we got up with had black tea and sweet bread for breakfast, the bread is made fresh at the house. We then went up to the center around half ten, which was just in time for their tea time, which would be the equivalent of break time back home in the UK. We got to spend some time with the children before they headed back to their lessons, which we sat in on, seeing the teaching styles was an eye opener it is very different to the schooling in England, there is very little activity from the children and not much involvement, they mainly get taught at. At the center there are about 45 orphaned children who are taught during the day with day students from the local village who attend the school.

Intermediate class at the Center. 

Then we went to visit the main school Yakini which also has Living Water children that board as well as paying students but mainly it's a private school for children in the area, it schools over 500 children. We were then showed the town of Arusha which was interesting we were able to change our money too, we came back to the house to write down information we have learnt and then the power cut out for three hours which was an experience in its self, we had to eat in the dark which was interesting it also meant no internet for three hours which was not fun when I want to inform family of everything. It was amazing to see how the women who cooked our food the 'dadas' just carried on with everything, they are so used to it as it happens very often apparently.

                              Children from Yakini.    

Finally arrived in Tanzania

So after three flights and 16 hours later I arrived in Kilimanjaro airport, after only 2 hours sleep whilst travelling I was exhausted! W were met with a sign with my name on by the friendliest guy called Deo (Just like in the movies), he was so happy to see us! 
We had a 40 minutes drive to Arusha, we drove down some of the longest and straightest roads I have ever seen! We picked up David who was the guy we had been in contact for the placement he was really lovely. Everyone we have met have been so happy and cheerful. After arriving at the center we just spent some time relaxing and met everyone that lives here we were taught a few phrases that I really need to remember! In the afternoon we went to meet the children at the center which is only a five minute walk from the house, the children were so welcoming, they call me Teacher Amanda, they loved showing us around the center and their classrooms and their bedrooms, they asked so many questions about England's Queen and and Princesses. We were offered lunch which we had to accept as it is seen as rude to reject a gift it was interesting to try but wasn't very nice we had maize and a meat stew which wasn't a very nice texture!
We met all the other volunteers in the evening who were so lovely too us, and offered to take us shopping so we could buy snacks. Tiredness hit me rather harshly, so we headed to bed rather early that night, it felt amazing to be in a bed, even with a mosquito net up.             


Photo on the left is the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.