Sunday May 11th 2008: Getting involved

Throughout the weeks I have been maintaining my blog, some of you have given donations. The bulk of it was used last month to purchase food after a shortage and I thank you again on behalf of the Amani centre for children with disabilities.

I am reaching out to my friends and family today to raise awareness about the Amani centre’s pressing need for donations.
Although Amani has partners in the Uk and Netherlands, it needs to increase its network of supporters as every month the organization struggles to make ends meet. This is mainly due to the rise of costs in food and fuel, and expansion of the centre.


To the right side of my blog are links to the Amani center’s websites and a BBC article about it, which invite you to read. But here is also an overview of the current activities:

Establishment:
The Amani Centre was founded in 1992 by Josephine Bakhita who herself is a mother of a late intellectually disabled child. The headquarters and school are based in Morogoro municipality at Chamwino along Dar es Salaam – Iringa highway.



However in order to bring its services closer to the rural communities the Centre opened outreach Centres at Movorero and Mikese – more rural areas 80Km and 30Km respectively out of town.

Amani Centre Vision:
To ensure that persons with mental and multiple disabilities within Morogoro Diocese are identified, registered, and assisted to get such basic needs as health care, physiotherapy basic education, food, shelter, safe and clean water on a sustainable basis.



Amani Centre Mission:
To ensure that mentally and multiply disabled persons rights and needs - both in and outside of the Morogoro Diocese - are being acknowledged and respected.

Amani Centre program:
Since it’s establishment, the organization has worked with children with a range of disabilities both mental and physical. The size of the target group within the region of operation is vast.
Through Amani’s outreach clinics and awareness raising - 3,667 children have been identified within its catchment area as having some aspect of physical or mental disability. Of these, many have had relatively minor disabilities and sight problems, and we work closely with the Disability Hospital in Dar Es Salaam to refer for corrective services.
Nevertheless this still leaves a vast number of children with mental and multiple disabilities within the region who are the focus of our Community Based Rehabilitation.
The support of this marginalized group is essential within a poor country like Tanzania. The experience of Amani - on both personal and professional levels - is that giving birth to a disabled child in this economic situation has severe effects for the family as a whole. Not only does the disability bring stigma and isolation; it also incurs further burden and cost to already impoverished families and makes it difficult for the mother to work. Medical treatments, therapies and nutrition are expensive and these services are often located up to 200km from the family home, thus incurring additional travel and subsistence costs – which prove too often to be impossible to match.

Therefore families with Disabled children are amongst the poorest in the society, and those most in need of emotional and practical support and education from our community based rehab services.

The Amani Centre, among other things is involved with the following activities:
- Building safe and loving communities of intellectually disabled youth,
in urban and rural centres. Whilst we strive to enable disabled youth to live successful and fulfilled lives in their own communities, this is often not possible and conditions in which some of members have been found are heart breaking. There are thus currently three such residential communities run by Amani: one in Morogoro town, and two in rural sub-centres; they are aimed at serving those intellectually disabled and multiply disabled youth who are unable to live with their own families for some of the sad reasons documented above. Here, the children and youth are enabled to experience the love of a faith based community, freedom, skills and knowledge learning, as well as to practice independence and build relationships with other community members. Much more of how these communities function is written in a further document entitled ‘the Amani community’.

- Day care for the disabled
One of the main daily focuses of Amani’s work at it’s Headquarters in Morogoro. Those physically and Mentally disabled children who are able to walk to Amani Centre are taught and cared for by a special needs teacher, several community workers and voluntary youth. The centre has three classrooms and an excellent school hall. This allows mothers to have a break from their children and allows the children to play and learn together in a safe and controlled environment. Children can also receive healthcare and physiotherapy during their school day – as necessary

- Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR)
This vital aspect of Amani’s work is done through regular home visiting and outreach to children and their families who cannot travel to the Centre in Morogoro and Mvomero. Community workers and the physio visit them in their homes (normally on bicycles – which can be up to 7 miles away!) to deliver medication, counseling, physiotherapy or educational exercises relevant to the child’s disability. They can also deliver simple provisions to the neediest of families, and help create equipment for physically handicapped children out of local materials. They also update themselves on the health and development of the child since the previous visit. In this way, the children are rehabilitated most importantly within their own communities, neighbors and relatives can all be involved in the rehab; furthermore monitoring of the conditions and appropriate referrals to our partner disability hospital in Dar Es Salaam can also be made.


- Health and Physiotherapy
The Amani Centre’s Head Quarters in Morogoro houses an impressive physiotherapy room with equipment from a UK donor charity. We have been able to distribute several wheelchairs to the children we serve in the local community. Several children come for outpatient physiotherapy, however, many of the neediest children who would benefit from using the equipment and skills on offer are unable to get to the centre as there is no transport available and mothers find it impossible to carry the bigger children on their backs …although some do try!



- Secondary education support.
The Centre supports girls from poorer backgrounds and families of children with mental disabilities, with the aim to return and support their respective families.

- Farming and Vocational Trading for Disabled youth at Mikese and Mvomero (rural outpost farms).



Disabled children and youth either live on site or come from local villages. This enables the children to learn valuable skills and can therefore help their communities and families. The courses being given include tailoring, mat- making, poultry and goat keeping in which the disabled children are involved with the guide of voluntary local youths.

- Income generating activities schemes.
Amani Centre conducts different small income generating activities for the sake of its sustainability, such as craft production and small scale farming in it’s two rural outposts.

- Public awareness and capacity building
This is of great importance to Amani’s ethos and is carried out by Amani Centre awareness group – via drumming, singing and dance, as well as talks and demonstrations. Mothers are invited to the Centre with their children and friends to be taught how they can care for and love their children as they would any other healthy child. Amani also has a very good local public profile and carries out talks and awareness raising in local schools and religious groups and within whole villages.

- Outreach
Whilst Amani has done well to create awareness and identify the disabled population in the more urban surroundings of it’s headquarters – many rural areas remain untouched. It is here that many of the worst cases of disability, poverty, mistreatment and neglect are witnessed. Amani collaborates with partners to run outreach clinics in rural areas to register, administer healthcare and make appropriate referrals for all manner of disabilities.


How to make a donation:
If you are interested in making a donation, even $10 or $20 would make a difference. To give you an example, it cost $360 including transport to buy rice, wheat flour, sugar, oil and beans for the center (about 45 people) to last us 1 month. $20 is less than you would generally pay for dinner in a restaurant. $10 represents maybe 3 coffees to go.

Donations so far have been deposited into my savings account through Paypal. Signing up to Paypal is free and can be done by going to www.paypal.com or to login: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run

It’s a great way to make secure online payments and transfer money. You will find my account by typing in my email address: didine1031@gmail.com. I have been taking the money out of my savings in Tanzanian shillings and giving it to Amani. Paypal states exactly what was deposited so I know what is donation money and what is my personal money.
The Amani center is a Non Profit Organization and Non Governmental. I am working on finding out if the donations can be tax deductible and will keep you updated.

Please specify if you’d like your donation to go towards a certain aspect of Amani for example education, physiotherapy, food or day care.

I personally think what is urgent right now is to fight the food crisis. There are different ways: donating money for food and fuel, but also, Amani has been trying to raise money for a tractor and irrigation systems for the Mvomero farm to increase its self sustainability in the culture of crops. Currently all the farming is done by hand and the water supply is obsolete. To own a tractor and improve their irrigation system would have a great long-term effect.
Another example: the youth that lives and works at the center in exchange for secondary education, often struggles to buy notebooks at the beginning of their term.
Also Amani has been trying to raise money to buy a new van as the one they used to pick up disabled children for daycare has broken down for good, thus preventing many children from coming to daycare for the past 6 months. Part of the money has been raised, but there is still a ways to go.

If you have any questions, please email me at didine1031@gmail.com. If you decide to donate, I will give you a personal update as to where your money was used.

Monday May 5th to Saturday May 10th 2008: The right of passage

Ok so you are going to think I am getting lazy with this blog and skipping days as I just combined a whole week into 1 post.
But the truth is I slept a lot this week and feel like it was a blur. Before I explain why, I just want to say this is not as bad as it sounds, and I know I said that already with the post about the bus crash. But it’s true.
When I first arrived in Tanzania, I was so careful about mosquito bites to avoid getting Malaria. All the other volunteers said you can be as careful as you want, you will most likely get it as everyone does here. So I remained cautious but knew it would happen eventually. Luckily, mosquitoes don’t even like me, but seriously, EVERYONE has malaria. They don’t tell you at the Center for disease control. What they also don’t tell you is that there are different grades. 1 or 2 parasites is ok, doesn’t even sometimes need medicine, 3 or 4 starts to get bad, 5 or 6 you get delirious.
I don’t mean to underestimate the seriousness of Malaria as I know how many adults and children die from it, but at Amani, it’s like they take turns. How are you today? Oh I have malaria. And the next day it’s another one. And so on and so forth. And they just go on with their lives having very low-grade malaria every so often.
Anyway, I finally was diagnosed with Malaria this week. I guess the snotting and sore throat wasn’t from the cooking in the smoky hut after all. The night sweats and headaches too. I got tested and have 2 parasites.
Let me tell you, Malaria is a strange disease unlike anything I have ever experienced because I have done so much sleeping this week and feel so lethargic, it’s ridiculous.
Needless to say I didn’t get very much done and on top of it all, Mama Bakhita’s computer crashed and I cannot connect to the internet from her laptop. We have still managed to get some things out but I feel bad and hope all our/ her files are not lost.
So yes, this is the reason why this week is a blur. The one thing that is clear is that I feel like I am officially in Africa. I know it sounds strange but it was like a right of passage to get Malaria. To put things into perspective for you, it’s like getting the flu. As long as you get tested every 2 weeks, you have very low chances of getting high grade Malaria as it takes that amount of time to really develop.

Sunday May 4th 2008: Too much talk and Chickens

Attention vegetarians and chicken lovers, this posting might not be for you.
Today the GAP volunteers living at Amani (Michael, Leoni, Claire, Rachel and Nicole) can’t stop going on about how they are going to buy live chickens at the market and kill them.
I decide to join them as I haven’t been into town for a while but make it clear I will not take part in cutting a chicken’s head off. No thanks not for me.
So after lunch in town and the best omelet I have had so far in Tanzania, we head out to the market and get 4 chickens.
On the way back in the Dalla Dalla, Michael and Claire are holding the 4 chickens which have been attached by the legs but 2 let loose and it gets quite amusing as they try to regain control in the mini van.
We get back to Amani. I go up to my room waiting for them to finish killing the chicken but the girls just come back up and say they were unable to go forward with their plan. The only ones who killed the chickens were Michael and Leoni. So I head back down to help with the cutting. I end up cutting almost all the chickens and getting an anatomy lesson. When that is done, all the Gap students are gone and I am given the task to cook the 4 chickens, legs included.
The work in the kitchen here is unlike anything you have ever done. The food is all cooked with firewood and in this instance, for hygiene, we have to boil the chickens first which takes over 1 hour as the coals are not taking fast. We have to manually tend to the wood and coals. The hut is filled with smoke and very hot. My eyes are watering and I can barely breathe but all I can think of was how do these girls do it, I can’t be a pansy AND where the ---- are the GAP kids, this wasn’t my idea in the first place!!!
Anyway, I finally get some help after giving Rachel the evil eye. Seriously! I learnt a lot in this kitchen but feel like a sweaty mess. Finally the food is served! I get my favorite piece while still snotting from being in the smoky hut. We get some beers and down them with our food. It turns out to be quite the meal. So it was a great idea after all but moral of the story: don’t say you are going to do something and brag until you actually get it done.

Saturday May 3rd 2008: The most unforgettable bus ride ever…so far

This morning the bus leaves at 6:30 am and I sit in the front in the second row. I start a conversation with a middle-aged man next to me who speaks very good English. His name is Michael and he is from the region. He is an accountant for the local government.
At 7:15 am, we are still talking and I think to myself, this 9-hour bus ride will be nice. When suddenly we start to swerve a little. As I look up, I see we are about to crash into another bus. Our bus is going so carelessly fast (typical here) that it doesn’t have enough time to avoid a stopped bus ahead of us, but has just enough time to swerve to the left and crashes into the side of it.
Everything happens very fast but at the same time I feel like I am seeing it all in slow motion as Michael and brace ourselves for the impact. We take the shock in our knees as we hit the chair ahead of us.
When we stop, people start climbing out from the windshield of the bus, which is smashed. Passengers are moaning and bleeding, mainly from head injuries. I feel shell-shocked and give way to others who are injured. One man has blood pouring out of his mouth, another woman is crying, so I feel like I am ok compared to them. They manage to open the door and I finally get out.
I ask where the driver is as his side of the bus is smashed. He has been taken to the hospital.
Once we are out I pour some water on people’s hands, which are covered in blood. I realize the I pod pouch I was holding before the crash is gone. I go look for it and come back realizing this is the least of my worries now. A young man comes up to me and points to his lip asking me repeatedly “Is there leakage Is there leakage”. I see there is a small hole going through his mouth right below his lip. I tell him “pole sana” I am sorry and give him a large bandage leaving him feeling powerless.
Eventually I sit down on the edge of the road. I am the only white person. I get up again to look at the front of the bus and the surroundings. I realize we were so lucky. Not only the bus is smashed, I nearly took the front seat which would have sent me flying through the windshield. Also, we stopped on the side of the ditch without falling into it and 30 meters ahead of us was a ravine without any rails. So maybe the driver wasn’t so bad after all.
I sit down again and my right leg starts to throb and swell. I am told another bus is coming to take us to Morogoro. I am able to walk so I know my leg isn’t broken and I will just have a bad bruise. This whole time, I am getting texts from Ken and can I just say to the world: I love you Ken.
I spend the rest of the journey chatting with Michael but keeping an eye on the road. At one point we nearly get into an accident again with the new driver and the whole bus starts shouting at him. That part is actually funny.
When I get back to the Amani center, I get a very warm welcome. A little autistic girl named Hussina who recently joined us gives me a big hug and I am so pleased to see the change in her since I left.
I catch up with the other volunteers and Mama Bakhita and share the tales of my journey back to Morogoro.
I feel like leaving the Amani center for a week made me appreciate even more the life there. It’s a peaceful place and by the way, Amani means Peace in Swahili so it is quite fitting.
Even though I loved everything I saw this week and traveling with Heather and Dan, it was also tiring going from one place to another. Anyway, this is all part of traveling.
I am just very thankful to be alive today. I will never take a HOOD bus again!!!! They are maniacs.

Friday May 2nd 2008: Visit to Ilkurot Masai village

After returning from Ngorongoro crater, I want to visit a Masai village as this is the homeland to their tribe. But almost give up as the price for the cultural tourism programs are ridiculous. I finally find a decent one to visit a Masai Boma specifically from Ilkurot. My guide will be Masai and comes to pick me up at 11 am. This is the only way you can see how they live unless invited by a friend. They are very private people and for example will rarely allow people to take pictures of them.
We spend the day walking. First we got to the Masai market where I get some fabrics. Then we take the Dalla Dalla to the Masai highlands. The views are breathtaking and it feels like we are high up. We run into the Sheppard and his children. My guide Jeremiah is great and explains to me many things about Masai culture, old and modern, how he started this cultural program for Ilkurot. We sit down a bit and then visit a manmade sand cave used to gather sand, which is then sold. The Masai are known to have a keen sense of business and this is one of the recent trades they have become involved with. I’ve noticed how much erosion there is in the region and how soft the soil is so it is very easy for them to dig very long tunnels into the hills. We walk into one which is maybe half a mile long. It’s both fascinating and scary as we go deeper into the darkness. I pull out a little flashlight and we cross a mother holding a bag of sand accompanied by her son who is holding an oil lamp. I wonder how safe this is. I thought I was going to visit natural caves but I guess this is just as interesting in a completely different way.
It has now been hours since we left Arusha for Ilkurot and our last stop is a Masai Boma (compound) where I visit a healer. He is away but his 1st wife is a trained healer too so she asks me what I would like to know. I have some questions but honestly do not feel like taking Masai medicine. Even my guide says maybe it’s best that way as it could make me sick from not being used to these types of cures (often made from cow blood)!
At the Boma, I most enjoy being around the healer’s children who are adorable and curious. The mother asks me if I want to take the youngest back to America as that would make her very happy and all I can do is smile and laugh as I can understand the question but also don’t quite know what to say.
I go back that evening with happy grin on my face. Today was great. We spent hours walking and I feel like I learnt something.
I go to bed early as I have to catch the bus tomorrow at 6:15 am. Am taking a Hood bus directly to Morogoro this time.

Tuesday April 29th and Wednesday April 30th 2008: Ngorongoro crater

The crater is one of the most famous animal viewing places in Africa and part of the World Unesco heritage site of Ngorongoro conservation area. The crater formed 2.5 million years ago when a mountain imploded. Since then, it has been a haven for animals due to the grasses and water that lie at the crater floor. Wildebeest, flamingos, lions, elephants, etc… all live and thrive and eat each other there.
So on Tuesday we leave Arusha in the afternoon to head out to our campsite where we will spend the night before visiting Ngorongoro crater on Wednesday.
The campsite is nice and the tent lofty. The showers are apparently warm but I feel too tired to take one.
We join a Dutch father and daughter who have also signed up for the Safari and they show us their pictures from their day at Lake Manyara national park. Seeing them makes us even more excited and hopeful to see the big 5: Lion, Rhino (nearly extinct), buffalo, cheetah and Hippo. Dinner is very good and we go to bed content.
On Wednesday we head out for the crater very early. It’s foggy and grey so as we drive down so don’t get to enjoy the view of the crater which is 20 km wide. On our way the only people we cross are Masai who are allowed to let their cattle graze in the conservation area. . We meet with a Masai man who gives us fuel before going down any further into the crater. The road down the cliff is very bumpy.
Once we are there, it’s hard to describe how beautiful this natural site is. Cliffs that form the crater edge surround us, but inside, it feels like we are a small dot in a vast plain.
As the day goes by, we encounter 2 lions after a kill who are sitting around the carcass of a wildebeest. We are so close to one of the lions that it is unbelievable. They don’t seem to care and I understand as they are at the top of the food chain so how could we bother them? We see many herds of gazelle, antelopes, buffalos and interesting looking birds including ostriches. We drive by a pond where Hippos are rolling in the mud. Just before stopping for lunch we find 4 lionesses waiting for a dead hippo’s body to float to the edge of the water. For some reason, they will not swim into the water. The stench of the carcass is more or less bearable depending on where the wind is blowing.
Just before leaving the park we see 2 black rhinos who in return stare at us. We are the only ones to have spotted them so it feels like a special moment.
We leave the crater so happy and fulfilled. On our way back, we manage to catch amazing views as by then the sky has cleared up.

Monday April 28th 2008: Leave Moshi for Arusha

In the morning we shop for presents and manage to do some decent bargaining. Then we all take a random and run down bus to Dar Es Salaam.
Upon arrival in Arusha we are again harassed by flycatchers who follow us up to the guesthouse where we are staying. They wait for us and when we leave to look for a safari package to Ngorongoro crater, they are still following us. The thing is that flycatchers are notorious for stealing your money so that is why we have to be so cautious in who we chose for our safari. But we manage to find a good tour operator to take us down Ngorongoro crater.

Sunday April 27th 2008: Moshi

Moshi sits at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. It is a much slower pace city than Arusha. There is tourism and shops but over all it is a low-key place. Today we visit the local market called Central Market. It is lined with mixed stands going from fresh vegetables, to rice and grains to cell phone to clothes.
Everyone speaks good English and looks wealthier than in Morogoro. There are many Masai but they are dressed differently than in the south.
In the beginning of the day we feel weary of men coming up to us as we assume they are safari touts. But we quickly realize it is a mistake to think that way, as some people just want to make conversation. So we do just that.
We end up running into another westerner from England named Dan who was with us on the bus. He is looking for travel mates to do a safari and Kilimanjaro. I want to do a safari from Arusha and Heather is climbing Kili. So we decide to pursue our travels together and meet for dinner.
Before dinner, we do go back to the hotel room, which has views of Kili and manage to see it at sunset. During the day you cannot see it as it is always covered with clouds. I take a snapshot and before you know it, it is gone as the city has too little electricity to even light it.
We head out to another delicious Indian eatery for dinner and enjoy a nice conversation. It turns out Dan is 18 and has been traveling for 7 months all over Asia and now Africa. I feel like I wish I had done that at his age or in my twenties.
When we get back to the hotel room we watch a CNN special on the world food crisis and I am shocked to think CNN is not that bad after all. Or is that just everywhere else but the States? Anyway, the world food crisis is frightening.

Saturday April 26th 2008: 9 hour bus ride to Moshi, home to the Kilimanjaro

Early in the morning we take a Scandinavia bus to Moshi. We decide to play it safe and not take a cheap Hood bus as we have heard so many horror stories. This meant we had to spend the night in Dar as Scandinavia buses don’t run from Morogoro to Moshi. But once we settle in the bus, we are happy with our detour through Dar as we feel very comfortable, are served drinks and watch 2 movies. The 9 hours just fly as we watch the lush green scenery go by. We also know we will take a normal Hood or Abboud bus on the way back which will be very uncomfortable, and dangerous, so this is our way of pleasing ourselves at least halfway.
Of course we are also very excited as Moshi is known for its great coffee shops and we are dying for a true cup of locally grown Arabica.
On the way I can tell we are arriving in a much wealthier part of Tanzania as the land is cultivated and the houses look in better condition.
We arrive in Moshi at the bus station, immediately swarmed by flycatchers. That is the term used to describe the safari touts that try to sell you packages as Moshi is the departure place for Kilimanjaro climbers and only 1 hour away from Arusha, the departure place for the best safaris in Tanzania including the Serengeti. What they do is they try to spark a conversation, ask you where you are from, what is your name, etc… but there are 10 of them almost stopping you from getting to where you are going so it takes a good bit of patience and cultural etiquette not to be rude as we would be if this happened in our home countries. Heather is exhausted so I take on the role of “Let’s get to the hotel and the coffee shop!”. She has been fighting Malaria so it’s only understandable as this disease just drains all the energy out of you.
We finally find a coffee shop opened (it’s Sunday) and it lives is up to our expectations. Absolutely the best coffee I have had in a long time. Smooth and strong at the same time (no this is not a romance novel). We are content.
In the evening we have a great Indian meal. There is a large Indian community in Tanzania and Moshi has many Indian eateries.
Once we are back in our hotel room, we enjoy catching up on some world news on the BBC.

Friday April 25th 2008: From Funga Funga to Mvomero and then off to Dar Es Salaam

This morning I wait for the truck to come back from Funga Funga to pick up Amos, Heather and the other boy whose name I don’t know. When the truck arrives, only Amos and Heather are in there. I find out that the other boy wishes to stay in Funga Funga as it is close to town. He likes to beg and go out for drinks. Mvomero is in the countryside, so there is not much nightlife, and the Amani centre is a religious organization so there are strict rules to abide if he moves there.
So, with Heather, Amos, Mama Bakhita and myself in the pick up truck, a new mattress and equipment in the back, we head out to Mvomero. 40 minutes later we arrive. As usual, we get a very warm greeting. We show Amos his new room. He smiles but you can tell he feels a bit shy and shell shocked as this is a completely different environment… in a good way. Mvomero is a beautiful and peaceful place. The Amani property is surrounded by mountains. There is a garden and a little further away fields. I really love it there. As Heather and I approach our departure to take a bus to Dar Es Salaam, Amos has already struck up a conversation with one of the local able youths who works at Mvomero. So we leave, curious about how he will adapt but also excited about our journey up North via Dar Es Salaam.
As usual, the Dalla Dalla ride to the bus station is scary. 2 of them (ours included) are racing and taking over each other with very little space.
We get on the bus to Dar Es Salaam and arrive at night only to be greeted by aggressive taxi drivers who grab our bags. My first impression of Dar as we drive to the WMCA is that it is a grim city and for the first time since my arrival in Tanzania, I feel a real assault to my senses and actually quite unsafe. I realize I am very happy now to have a travel companion. Heather is 24 and from Canada where she works as a nurse. She has a good sense of humor and so far we have had a good laugh and have bonded over our love of coffee!
We arrive at the YMCA and take the cheapest room, a whopping 7 dollars a night. The room is basically a dirty dark closet and we laugh as we have also just had a harrowing cab ride to get there.
We please ourselves by having a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant overlooking the grim harbor. I order a Thai beef salad and chew on the spiciest pepper I have ever had. My nostrils don’t quite recover all through dinner but it still feels nice to relax.

Wednesday April 23rd and Thursday 24th 2008: Fundraising push

I spend most of these 2 days working with Mama Bakhita on various things including getting fundraising information from the US and French embassies. I also write several emails to members of a conference in Bangkok, which Mama Bakhita attended a year ago. We contact them in hopes they will be able to refer us to charity organizations.
This is a 2-day push before I leave for 1 week up north on a travel break. But I still haven’t worked on any sewing as it seems I am more needed with secretarial duties and fundraising work.

Tuesday April 22nd 2008: Visit to the boys in Funga Funga

As promised to Dr Ken and Dr Anne, Heather and I go to visit the 2 boys they are sponsoring and wish to remove from Funga Funga. They warned us that is was quite a horrid place. It’s a retirement home run by the government. In deed, when we arrive there, we realize it is shockingly dirty and smells like neglect. The main hallway is long and dark. You can see into bedrooms where the walls are smeared with stains. The whole place smells like urine. Most of the residents are elderly and look sick and malnourished. The 2 boys are young and were placed there I guess because no one else would take them.
We only met with Amos as the other boy is in town, most likely begging. Heather checks on him and his urine bag that hasn’t been changed in too long. I ask him questions about his life story. He is extremely friendly despite the tragic life he has had so far and I feel struck by the genuine positivism that shines in his eyes.
Amos is 23 years old. He has been paralyzed since 2005 after a car accident in the hills of Morogoro when his truck rolled over in a ditch. His parents died 2 years prior so he is an orphan but does have a distant family member who check on him. He comes from Kiroka and doesn’t have secondary education but loves to draw, study and write.
On the way out, we meet an old man in his late eighties who fought for England in Kenya.
After the visit, we go to get new urine bags for Amos for his arrival at Mvomero at the end of the week.