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. 

A Choice to Serve!

In an attempt to start updating our blog, Ksusha Carr has agreed to start writing for us once a week. Ksusha is a beautiful woman who comes to us from Orlando, Florida. She herself was adopted from Russia, along with her siblings several years ago and has now felt a calling to come and work with Small Steps for Compassion. She has a huge heart, and loves our girls as her own! These are some of her words on her decision to come to Africa and live at our orphanage! 

The decision of coming to Africa was set based on my feelings. I felt like everything was given to me on a plate with a gold lining. Sometimes I would have to work for it, yes, but it was just still too easy. When I was little I always wanted to work at an orphanage somewhere far from my home, somewhere out of my comfort zone. Africa seemed the perfect place. I imagined Africa like the Sahara Desert; sands, small little houses with hay roofs and nothing more. I was wrong. Africa was and is the most beautiful country I have ever seen.

When I was on a plane looking down on my new home I was amazed, I saw what looked like little tornados and I actually did believe that was what it was. I saw brown color splattered all over Arusha. I was scared. From up above it didn’t look so good. I landed and it was too hot, but the air is what amazed me and first brought my excitement. It was different, far different beyond my explanation. The air was warm sweet and welcoming, almost like a hug! It is so hard to explain, but so wonderful. As I was sitting in the car on my way to my new home I was looking around and all of the colors of brown disappeared, I saw mountains, beautiful trees, many flowering plants and little villages with houses that were build out of mud. It was all beautiful. Nothing like I have expected.

The excitement overwhelmed me. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would jump out of my chest at any moment. I could not wait to see my little girl Happy (the little girl I would be taking care of) and my new house. As I came to the first gate, tears started coming down my cheeks, they were tears of joy. I loved everything that surrounded me here. I saw my house and was amazed of how gorgeous it looked. I call it my own villa. This was my new home. 

I had to get used to some adjustments; first, the fact that I am actually a mom at the moment was scary. Second, electricity shortages are a regular occurrence here.  And lastly, of course warm or any kind of water here is at times a deficit.

I have a little girl that I need to take care of that I knew almost nothing about. She made it easier for me though, the first day it felt like we belonged to each other. We fell in love. She was mine and I was hers. For the people that know me they know that getting up in the middle of the night sure is tough for me because I like my sleep, but I had to start doing that because Happy had dreams and I had to reassure her that everything was ok. With a little bit of time passed I got used to it and it made me feel beyond happy beyond something that I can explain. Someone very little, very precious was depending each and every second on me and I love the feeling.

Electricity here in Africa is on 60 percent of the time. Our electricity is our warm water, our communication with the world and light at night. Imagine 3 days with no electricity. Yes, I was boiling water on the stove for our showers and washing dishes etc. There was no communication with the rest of the world though. In the beginning it was rough but then I realized I had a problem of being addicted to those entire social networking sites, so with no electricity came something good. It taught me that I can live without it and most importantly that there were other things God had created in this world that I should enjoy.

Water is definitely a gift from God. Sometimes there are days where our water pump is broken that it would not pump the water inside the house. Now that to me was the end of the world. A day without water is a catastrophe. I was never used to not having water. I love my showers. In order to have at least some water I would have to go and fetch water into the bucket and fill it into one of the big tanks that we have here. Even though then it was not good enough, the water was standing outside so all the dust all the dirt and all the leaves got into it. With time I also got used to my dirty feet and I got used to that sometimes there will be time with no good water.

I have been here now for several months. We now have three little girls for me to love and care for. We also have another house mom here with me now, Mwasiti. Mwasiti is from Arusha and she has become a wonderful friend and we enjoy caring for the girls and our home! Life here is teaching me many things, and God is growing me into what He needs!

Good night hugs

On the second day of our journey in Africa, we saw both sides of Tanzania. The first part of the day we drove through the slums of Arusha. Some of the kids on the sides of the streets didn't have shoes and their clothes were completely tattered. Their houses were made out of dirt and logs. There was trash in the street. People were pushing cart, where normally animals would be. Kids were playing soccer with balls made out of trashbags and tape. Simply said, it was pretty devastating.
We made it to the orphanage and we met some amazingly adorable children. We handed out candy, and strangely they all sat down and quietly ate their candy. The gave us a tour of the orphanage and then we went to their school. We played with them on their playground and had an awesome time. We then gave them balloons and they had a blast. We got some great shots of the children while we where there and also had a very sobering experience. You can view some of the photos from Good Hope here.
And then we saw the opposite side of town. We went to this ultra luxurious resort called the "Coffee Lodge". Think 5 star resort and put it in Africa and add a field of coffee plants within view. Our meals were delicious and we all spent an average of $12 when it would have cost us closer to $30 in the states. The only people at this lodge were foreigners.
We finished off the day going to the Masai market. Imagine a close quarters flea market with very pushy salesmen at every booth saying, "You come into my store. Looking is free. I give you... special price." At least we got to negotiate pricing! All in all it was a very busy and eye-opening day.
Tomorrow, we finally have some time to spend with the children that live in the orphanage on Pete's property here at the UAACC. We had so much fun laughing and playing with the children! We danced with them to " who let the dogs out" whoo whoo whoo!,
Truly an amazingly fulfilling day...simplicity is so enjoyable. Now for the finale.............drum role please.........
Good night hugs,,,,The best part of the day!,,,,,,We also will be leaving here to go to the Bouganvilla Safari Lodge, Stay tuned!
To view pictures go to BLOG

The Real Deal

Day 2 is almost over, and things are feeling a little different than yesterday. Today, we visited "The Good Hope" orphanage in Arusha. Hassan was there to meet us at the gate and take us on a tour of the property. It is clear to see a difference between the accommodations at Havilah, and the property at "The Good Hope". Although they are almost ready to open a new phase of the orphanage, there seems to be a great deal of poverty in the surrounding area, which has a real impact on the children there.

A highlight of our day was reuniting with the children that remembered us from our visit in April! The children greeted us with the same big smiles that have stayed with me for the past 5 months. As Hassan showed us some of the new classrooms that are being built, Sonya handed out balloons to the children, which absolutely made their day!

After leaving "The Good Hope", we made our way to the Cultural Center in downtown Arusha. There, the group was able to see different artwork, jewelry, and Massai weapons and sculptures that showed them a little more about the culture and history of the people of Tanzania. We had a wonderful dinner at the Coffee Lodge, where everyone shared the diverse food that they had there.

After doing a little "bargain shopping" at the Massai Market", we went back to the UAACC for dinner. Pete was gracious enough to share his documentary "A Panther in Africa" with everyone. There was a lengthy discussion about Pete's history and how he came to do this wonderful work here in Tanzania.

We have an extremely talented photographer with us, Jessica Lorraine, who has taken some AMAZING photographs while we have been here. Please check out some of the photos at her BLOG

Here we go!

We only have seven days...So, we hit the ground running! We walked to the property to show the group where we will be building our children's home. Next, we had the privilege of taking our group to Havilah orphanage and then onto the Cradle of Love. The group was overwhelmed with emotion. We see the great need and have realized that our dream can become a reality and that this group can help make it happen.
It has been a long and productive day. After brainstorming and reflecting on our day we shared our personal experiences and how this day has impacted us! Such an amazing day!

One step closer

Getting ready to head out to Tanzania on Tuesday... Please keep our mission in your prayers as we make another small step toward getting our orphanage built!

Day 12 - Good Hope

Comments…

We have a small April Fool’s confession…all the comments posted by Mario and Zach were in fact done by Ashton and Christian. Uncle Doug still doesn’t know, but will when we read this post to him.

Shae, Thank you so much for your diligence and encouragement. It is much appreciated.

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Today was a great day! We headed out first thing in the morning to go to the Good Hope orphanage in Sombetini.

(Turns out Easter is a Celebration for Many Religions. This is a Sikh Parade in Arusha.)

We weren’t exactly sure where it was, so we met Juma and Ali (the director of Good Hope) at the Shoprite grocer! We were all excited to go in and get some treats and check out all of the goodies they have there. The food has been good here...but Chicken can only be cooked so many ways; when you are eating it two times a day. They do not eat a lot of variety here, and they do not waste…anything! So things get a little repetitive; we were excited for our grocery stop!

Back in the car with our treats in hand we headed to Good Hope. The orphanage is in the slums, and the area reminded us of the D.R.C. But, in truth it was more like the nicer areas in the Congo.

When we arrived we were immediately greeted with big smiles and hugs.

We quickly jumped right in and started reading and playing with them; it was fun showering the children with the treats we brought for them.

One little girl in particular (Rachael) was so excited about her “Bag of Blessings” that she would not put it down! She carried it everywhere with great pride.

Two of the volunteers at Good Hope were there from Australia. We decided they are saints! As mentioned earlier, the conditions there are very rough and dirty! They had been there for two weeks and had another two to go - Callie and Dio are college students on their holiday. After their time at the orphanage they will head to Greece for a cruise…they expressed how hard it will be for them to leave here, and wish they were staying longer after seeing what they’ve seen and knowing what they know!

The cooks were in the kitchen preparing a special Easter dinner for the children. They were very proud of the feast they were preparing and requested that we join them. We were getting ready to leave to meet James and Debby (Volunteers at Havileh Orphanage) for our Easter lunch, but did not want to offend them, so we all grabbed a plate and dished ourselves up a small amount to taste.

Juma let Ali know that we were meeting others for lunch, but that we would love to taste their feast! They had prepared Goat, rice, and cooked banana. Now, remember, this is in the slums; they do not have clean water there and they shop for their food at the street vendors. We feared that this meal would be introducing our bodies to all new types of bacteria!

After lunch, we said our goodbyes and then headed off to the Coffee Lodge to meet our friends for our Easter lunch. We really enjoyed our time at the Good Hope orphanage. We feel tremendously blessed by all of the little faces that have touched our hearts.

After a very enjoyable day, we headed back to the UAACC. When we arrived, we hopped right out of the car and headed to the area where the children stay and began playing with them. They were so happy to see us! We think it was one of our best nights here. We spent our last few hours with the kids reading, playing basketball and jumping rope. The cameras were left behind; we just laughed and played. We all cherished every second of our time left with these precious children that we have grown to know and love!

We’re feeling a little blue that our time is running out here…