(July 12, 2009)

It’s Sunday morning here in Moshi. Most places in the city are closed for the day, and the homebase is pretty quiet. A large group of the new volunteers went on safari this weekend, and a large number of the old volunteers are packing to go home. I can hardly believe we left home almost two weeks ago; time has passed quickly, and yet it feels as though we’ve been here for much longer. In another two weeks, all but a few of our group will be leaving, and a new batch of volunteers will arrive.

We’ve been busy this week. We walked through Rau, a somewhat rural village just outside of Moshi. We stood under a giant Baobab tree and got to sample Baobab fruit (I didn’t know there was such a thing). We hiked to a waterfall, shopped in the market, and had drinks with a couple young Masai men. There are a many different tribes in Tanzania, and two main religions: Islam and Christianity. All coexist peacefully. If you sit on the porch you’ll hear church bells and calls to prayers, goats and roosters, cars and cows.

On Wednesday we started at our placements. Cross Cultural Solutions works with the ‘forgotten’ people: Tanzania is a very poor country, and our placements are with the the poorest of the poor. Street children, orphans, those sick, those imprisoned. So this week Stephen has been doing home visits to check in on patients with AIDs, malaria and tuberculosis. He’ll continue there for the next three weeks, and when he’s not visiting homes, he’ll be helping out at the women’s group in the daycare center. I’ve been at Juvi. There are fourteen or fifteen kids there now, three girls and the rest boys, all between the ages of 10 and 17. The kids are sweet and smart, funny and lovable. You certainly wouldn’t know that they’re in a detention center. The challenge of teaching them, playing with them, and keeping them occupied for the next three weeks – all on my own – is both daunting and exciting.

Hakuna matata – no worries.