Boona Baana

Well since i last wrote we have visited Alisha and Connie at their placement in Ikwiriri, it is about 4 hours from where i am living and is a nice rural village, those girls have it tough, they are teaching year 7 and 8s in a school with almost non existent english, and classes of around 60. There wasnt much to do in Ikwiriri so we mainly just spent the weekend talking and Alisha has convinced me to go to Rwanda in December to go see the mountain Gorillas!
When walking from the "main road" of Ikwiriri to the girls house you walk through lots of little mud brick houses and there are so many little kids called out MZUNGU SHIKAMOO and MAMBO it was so cute, and i was so jealous of Alisha and Connie, we even had about 5 or 6 village kids pop in to visit.
On the way home it was a rough ride, the first part was 3 hours, and meg and i were both in the fold out aisle seats with barely room to move, then for the last hour we swapped buses and spent the majority of the time standing because there was no spare seats! it was a relief to be home!
So the last few weeks at school have been really hectic!!! teaches not coming to classes or leaving early or coming late, so it was up to meg and myself to take alot of classes and pretty much always the grade 1's, it was also around the time of their exams which was really bad timing!
During one of the grade 2 PE lessons i had all the girls trying to hold my hand, they were comparing the colours of my palms and theirs, they thought they were the same... when really mine looked soo pink and theirs were really dark, but they seemed excited by the fact that they were the same.
So after a stressful week of taking on a more teaching role we had 2 volunteers from Lushoto come and visit, Chris and Anamieka. So on the Friday night one of the teachers Mr Mlyuka took us all out for a few drinks and to see a live band so that was really fun, but some of the African girls who we were dancing with wanted my number so they got my number from my phone, and the next day i had one of the guys from the band calling me!!! just contstantly, so one of the other boy volunteers answered and told them to stop calling, they have only called once since then. Anyway so that weekend there was quite a lot of volunteers in Dar, there was Chris and Ana, then the Morogoro people; Marie, Ross and Phoebe, the Waamuzi group; Angus, Candice and Alex and the Ikwiriri girls; Alisha and Connie so it was a good weekend, on the saturday we had planned to go to the beach... well all the others went but i didnt make it.. i went to get money out from the ATM which was in a little glass booth, as soon as i went in there it was soooo hot, and the ATM was so slow, anyway i was able to just get my money and stumble out of the ATM where Ana was able to help me sit down in the shade, i was pretty close to fainting, so i assume i was just dehydrated from the night before and i just took a Tuk Tuk home so i could rest. i didnt drink much at all, and wasnt even feeling hungover, so just dehydrated i think. So Saturday night when i was feeling better i met up with everyone and we all went out for tea which was really nice, but thats all we did, some of the others went out for drinks, but Meg, Ana, Chris and I had a pretty early night.
Sunday after Chris and Ana left (they left around 6am) Meg and i met up with Alisha, Candice and Alex and we went to a Kanga market, Kangas are just pieces of material that you can make into skirts, dresses, bags.. anything really. anyway so Alisha, Candice and I were walking through the verrrryyyy crowded market when i noticed a guy had grabbed onto my shoulder, i thought he must just be trying to sell me something... but a guy was holding onto Alisha aswell and Candice had to physically push him off her. but Alishas bag was open, nothing taken, but Candices phone was missing, so its kind of lucky thats all they got, especially since we have no idea how long they were following us for or anything.. but we were a bit shocked and didnt stay around too much longer.
Meg and i have also started "afternoon" classes where we take 5 or so people who really struggle with English and try and help them to improve, but since its been soo crazy with the teachers being pretty unreliable we havent had a chance to do it too much. but what we have been able to do its actually really challenging because these are the kids who struggle most in their class so really one on one time would be a lot more suitable, even reading a simple book is difficult because you need to help the one person who is reading, and they need you individed attention, but you still have 4 other kids to help as well, so i will need to think of a better way to handle that... any suggestions would be appreciated!! There is one girl named Hayrat who cannot read a single word, cannot even sound it out, she got 8% on her English exam, Meg was with her when she found out and she just burst into tears apparently, we knew she struggled, but not that much, so Meg and i really want to focus on her next term and help her as much as we can!
Since having Lushoto visit us, who are really isolated and have no electricity or running water, and Ikwiriri with no running water, i am so jealous of their placement and so pissed off with mine!!! its nothing what i wanted, i had requested rural and i got the one of the two placements that are in major cities, mine being in Dar Es Salaam, not the capital of Tanzania, but it may as well be! its like Melbourne in a comparison. I just keep thinking if i wanted a housekeeper and running water and electricity and all my meals cooked, my bed made for me, then why would i come to a developing country? obviously if i was given the chance to change placement i wouldnt... but if i could go back in time, i definately would request to be somewhere else! i think meg may also feel the same about this, but i have really been trying to focus on the positves of our placement, its easy to do.... until you speak with someone from the other placement about their experiences!
But we have finally been to Boona Baana, an orphanage closeby, its nothing like i expected (maybe i should stop having so many expectations??) but its a house, with 6 kids living in it, around 8-16 maybe, there are 3 younger children around 10 and then a few older ones. But they have women there who cook for them. Some of the kids also go to a school in Mikocheni, Hekima Waldorf School, so i would like to go have a look at the conditions they are in. We have only been their twice, but i plan to go back in September, reguarly. there is one girl, Eliza, who i think would be really willing to learn more, we looked at her exams and she needs help in basic areas, like when to use A and AN and spelling, so hopefully we can really help her with that.
During the week we had one particular misierable day, well the day was miserable, but it actually made me quite happy, haha it was raining to heavily, i have never seen rain like it, and it would just pour rain, then stop and be fine, then pour rain again! i took a video of it, but i dont think it really comes through on the camera. i have taken lots of photos of the kids! and vidoes of their assemblies which are always really fun, singing and dancing!
I have been meaning to try and upload photos but maybe when i get back from travelling. The Morogoro people should be arriving in Dar minute, then we will all go to Zanzibar tomorrow!!! i cannot wait! but thats all for now really, if you can think of anything i havent mentioned, just let me no and i will include it next time, but i probably wont write again until September.
Baadaye. xox