A Day Around Town

One day all of the girls, Mwasiti, Happy, Princess, Maureen, and I went to town. At that time Princess and Maureen were still not used to riding in a car. They were scared to be in it, and were crying. Happy was so sweet, she acted like their older sister, she showed them that it is ok to be in the car, and that there was nothing to be scared of. The girls stopped crying and we started our journey to town, which is about an hour away from our house. We started singing songs on the way, counting the cows on the side of the road and seeing how many big cars pasted by us. It was fun, the girls really enjoyed it. It is such a blessing for these girls to have each other and be able to become a family to each other, since they do not have any. It is sweet to see how Happy, being our first child here at Small Steps for Compassion, has taken on the role of big sister and cares so much for Maureen and Princess!

We got to town and to our version of ‘Wal-Mart,’ only it is a quarter of the size, and it’s called Shoprite. We got a shopping cart and started looking for the groceries that were needed. In the beginning the girls were pushing the cart but after they found out that they could sit in it all of them wanted to sit inside. We would get the milk and give it to Happy to put inside and Happy would pass it along to Maureen and Maureen would pass it on to Princess at the end. It became quite a game for them, and of course there was lots of laughter.  The girls loved to pick juices and any kind of other groceries. They each got to pay for their juice boxes all by themselves, and they light up when the cashier told them “Asante Sana” which is Kiswahili for “Thank you very much!”  They were on cloud nine, so excited with the whole experience.

On the way back home without Mwasiti or myself helping them, the girls started to sing and count and before they knew it we were home. They helped us unpack and I could see that they could not wait for our next trip into town. Now I believe that being in the car is one of the girl’s favorite things to do. It is interesting how something so common for us in the United States, like riding in a car, can be so strange and scary to a child from Tanzania, if they have never had the opportunity to ride in one. I am blessed to be reminded of some of these privileges while I am living here in Africa.