Pictures from week 6

Just a few more pictures from week 6. Enjoy!

This is where I meet Jason when the dalla dalla drops me off from work. We have a soda and talk about the day.

Baby Jessica was adopted this week! I will miss her but I'm so happy for her!

My boyfriend, Ibra.

I miss that sweet face.

Saying goodbye to Jackie before I realized that I was going with them.

All the kids that went to the SOS Childrens home. I can't wait to visit them!

Week 6 - Welcome Kidogo!

Fun Facts:

1. Jason and I bought ice trays! I know this doesn't seem like that big of a deal but we haven't had ice in a month. We celebrated with Gin and tonic.
2. When dump trucks slow down for the massive speed bumps people jump in the back and grab a ride into town.
3. What looked like a gray ferret with a white tail ran across our yard.
4. We eat Chipsy Maiaa (french fry omelets) and mishkaki ( beef kabobs) once a week from our favorite pub, Zion.
5. When you are getting on or off the Dalla dallas the conductor (guy who takes your money and tells the driver where to drop you off) says "chop chop".
6. Jason found a pummel stone at the market. My feet thanked him!
7. One of the girls at Cradle was playing with a rag and started to try and wash my feet with it. She is only about one and her name is Amity.
8. We found a new favorite Tanzanian restaurant called Mirapot. We had the beef and pilau (spiced rice) along with salad, beans, spinach, and lots of sauces. It was delicious and cost $1.50. Next time I am getting the fish!
9. Jason has learned not to be the first motorcycle to park in a spot because all the rest will park behind you. A kind man helped him pick his bike up over the curb so he could drive down the sidewalk to get out. This took place a week before he had to drive through the bushes to leave the DMV.
10. At Mirapot everyone left there chicken and fish bones just laying on the tables.
11. The waiters and waitresses wash the table a lot while you are still eating. At Zion Lisa, our favorite waitress, will often clean our table 3 times while we are eating.
12. Ginger, our goat, had her baby!! We named him Kidogo (meaning "a little" in Swahili). He is orange like his mum with white on his face and neck. Pictures are at the end of the blog.
13. My mom calls twice a week and the call usually ends with her calling card running out.
14. I have never seen a lawn mower in Africa. People just use machetes or curved knives.
15. One of the reasons we like renting is that we don't have to cut our grass.

I have wanted to start an NGO since 2005 right after my first trip to Africa. I decided to put it on hold until we moved here to be able to really see where I was needed. I named the NGO Walk in Love.

Walk In Love: Finding Inspiration

Ibraheim

I mentioned Ibraheim in my first blog about Cradle of Love. He is a beautiful little baby with the face of a beautiful old man. He has dark skin, dark eyes and barely any hair. When he laughs the world is a better place. Ibra came to Cradle when he was one month old. His mother died shortly after his birth and his father is unknown. His family did not want to give him up but they knew that they could not support him. They had to make a decision: keep Ibra and he would more than likely die or give him up and he would live. The staff told me that when Ibra was dropped off there was not a dry eye in the place. His family was holding him so tightly that everyone could feel how much this baby was truly loved.

Patricia

On Monday morning I arrived at Cradle and met our newest addition, Patricia. She is three months old but looks like a tiny new born. She has mocha skin,big light brown eyes and lots of curly hair. Her mother had dropped her off over the weekend because she was no longer producing milk. She didn't want to leave her but she knew that Patricia was already too small and malnourished. There was nothing the mother could do to help her only child anymore. The mother herself was starving and could not feed her daughter.

"Isaac"

I do not know this boys name but I will call him Isaac. This is a story that I cannot tell without getting choked up. I have told many people and every time I want to burst into tears. I met Isaac at the SOS Childrens Home. We were taking our older children to live there until they are 18. We can only keep children until 2 or 3 then they go to bigger homes. SOS is a beautiful place and I am happy that our children were able to get in. While we were settling our children in there was Isaac there with is mother. I would guess he was around 10 years old. He never spoke and neither did his mother. They just sat with the saddest expressions on their faces. After about 30 minutes Isaac and his mother were in one of the back rooms. All of a sudden I heard a blood curdling scream and the mother went running out the front door. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I can right now. This experience will forever be with me and haunt me.

These three children and the circumstances that they and there families are in have moved me. I now know what direction to take Walk In Love. I want to help keep families together. Mothers and fathers love their children the same in the USA as they do in Tanzania as they do all over the world. The difference is that I/we, in the USA, would never have to give our children up that we love and want because if they stayed with us or our families they would die. I cannot imagine having to make that decision but I know which one I would choose and I know you do to. I know that if I could not take care of my children then my parents would and if they could not then my aunts/uncles would and if they could not then my cousins would. These are not options here. I would like to give parents and families the option to keep their children and loved ones.

Many of the children at Cradle have fathers but no mothers because they died during child birth. Many times family members will take in children but too often this is also not a possibility.

I want to help the fathers/families to keep there children by providing formula, diapers, daycare and eventually school sponsorship. I want to also have a program that sends the parents to a trade school so they can provide for their children with eventually no help. I want to have women empowerment groups to help women take control of their lives and the lives of their children. I will eventually have a home/s for women to stay at to keep the families together until they can stand on their own two feet.

This is just a brief description of what I want Walk In Love to be and will continue adding programs and details. I am making a Walk In Love Facebook group and I hope to see you all there!

Everyone can make a difference and there is no such thing as a small difference.

Week in review:

On Monday I was lucky enough to escort our 9 older children to there new home at SOS Childrens Village. This was all the kids in both of my classes so I had grow quite attached to them in the last 3 weeks. I was sad to see them go but I was happy they were going to such a great place! SOS is set up like a village and each child has a family with a mum and 6 siblings in a house. The mums do everything in the home and get to decorate so every home is different. It is located outside of the city with lots of room for the kids to play and run. They have a preschool on location and the primary and secondary schools are just a short walk from the village. The children living there were so happy and sweet. I volunteered to be the last person from Cradle in the room with our kids when we dropped them off. We wanted it to be gradual and not everyone leave at once. I was just playing with them when I realized that I was the only one left. I got up slowing and kissed Hidaya on the forehead and walked out. It felt like we were abandoning them but it is all for the best. We went to speak to the director about sponsorship and thanked him for taking our kids. Jason and I will be sponsoring Hidaya. Only one little boy, Dotto, is without a sponsor. The car was pretty quiet on the way home except some talk about getting drinks and chocolate.I plan on visiting next week. This was the night that I knew the direction that Walk in Love would go and I started planning.

I got to work on Tuesday and there were puppies in my classroom. The directors dogs, shih tzus, had had puppies 5 weeks ago and needed a place to put them. I didn't think this was the best place but its not my call. I held my classes, all new kids, outside. The problem was that all my new kids are very young, all 18 months and younger. I kept there attention for about 10 minutes then they were off running everywhere. After Tuesday I pretty much told them that I wouldn't be teaching until the classroom was puppy free. I will still go in but I doubt I'll make the hour trip every day just to play. So hopefully that will inspire them to find another place for the puppies but as of right now they are still there. Jason had a meeting all day and started the licensing process for the company.

On Wednesday I did some cleaning, laundry and went into town. Jason needed some socks and we needed to get some food. We bought all the essentials: tomatoes, avocados, onions, peeled garlic!, green beans, peppers, cilantro, bananas, bean, rice and carrots. I was really excited to find the peeled garlic and cilantro. I made cilantro rice with green peppers and onions that night for dinner with coconut rice for desert.

I decided to go to Cradle on Thursday even tho I didn't have a room. I went to the nursery first thing like I do every morning. I was happy to find that Ibra was awake and ready to be fed. When he takes his bottle he immediately starts sweating. I don't mean he get a little sweaty either, I mean the sweat is dripping from his face mid feeding. Next I fed Kareem whom I have never fed before. He is one of our tiniest babies but his hair makes up for it! After lots of cuddles and loving I finally make it up to the big house. I decided to spend my normal classroom time with Noel, our baby boy with down syndrome. I try to spend a little time every day with him but its difficult with all the kids around so I decided to take him on a walk to the park, just him and I. When I started pushing him on the swing he started to laugh louder than I had ever heard him laugh. He was laughing and kicking his legs and clapping! It was a great moment with Noel. He is such a sweet little boy but he gets left out a lot. After the swings I took him on a walk. Even tho is is almost 3 he doesn't walk. He has barely any muscle tone and will not put any pressure on his feet. I sang songs and he clapped his hands. We stopped to watch some carpenters work and watch the cars go by. He is very curious and likes to stop and look at everything! When we got back to Cradle I took him into the nursery to look at the babies through the window. I noticed that his put his foot on the wall and pressed. This was a great sign and I decided to take him into a room and try some physical therapy with him. I don't really know much about physical therapy but I got him to press against the wall and did some stretches. I loved my afternoon with my sweet boy Noel! After work Jason met me at our normal spot. We usually sit and have a soda while we talk about our day before heading home. Today we decided to go into town and grab some lunch. We went to Mirapot for the first time. It is a small Tanzania restaurant. It had a pretty good lunch rush but we weren't part of it because Jason decided to order chips, french fries, instead of anything else that was already prepared on the menu. While we waited we saw people walking in and getting food immediately and walking out. I overheard the mama saying something about chips about 30 minutes after we ordered and then the waiter walked out with money and a few minutes later walked back in with oil. I told Jason it was a good sign, at least they were ready to cook them now!About 10 minutes later I got a plate full of pilau (spiced rice), beef in yummy sauce, beans, cabbage salad, spinach and different sauces. The chili is my favorite! Jason got the same except chips instead of pilau. It was the best Tanzania food we have had since arriving! It was such a nice day that we decided to drive around a for awhile. We were driving around enjoying ourselves when the strangest thing happened, a Tanzania police officer on a motorcycle was pulling us over! We had never seem a Tanzanian moto cop before! We were pulled over for not wearing our helmets. Normally I have a helmet on but Jason forgot to grab it when he left to pick me up. The cop took Jasons drivers license and we followed him to the police station. We went to sit in a room with a lady and the cop that had pulled us over. I'm not exactly sure what he said but it is either "you have to be mentally retarded to drive without a helmet" or "driving without a helmet will make you mentally retarded". They also said it was a 60,000 shilling fine and we had to pay right now. In the middle of all this another bigger man walked in and started barrading us for not wearing helmets and we must pay 30,000. While this man was trying to intimidate us another officer walked up and held hands for the remainder of the intimidation, which was no longer intimidating once he started holding another grown mans hand! This is normal in Tanzania but still makes me giggle. We ended up paying the 30,000 and left.

I am typing this blog on Friday because Jason has been working all night long. He is working on a business plan and a proposal to an investor for another air craft. While Jason was working and I was typing this blog Ginger, out goat, went into labor. Baran came to tell us immediately because we are always asking when it is going to happen. I could only watch for a minute because she was bleating so loud and Baran said she would probably die. About 30 minutes later she had her kid. Mom and baby were fine! We named the baby Kidogo, which means "a little" in Swahili. He is standing on his own and feeding. Baran says they should both be just fine! We were supposed to go on a date tonight but we will just go tomorrow night. I am thinking Mexican food and The Descendants.

Well the weekend came and went without a date but Jason did finish a business plan and investment proposal that his bosses were very happy with. We were going to try and go to the movies this evening but the only movie we wanted to see is no longer at the theatre. We will try again next weekend!

I hope everyone is enjoying the blog!

Aubree and Jason

Welcome Kidogo!

Kidogo making friend with Kitty

Ginger and Kidogo the about 12 hours after birth.

Week 5- FACT

Jason and I have taken this week to digest and take all the new and exciting changes in our lives in. I am still enjoying my work at the orphanage but I will be asking around in the community where the needs are and hopefully get Walk In Love up and going by next year. Jason and I discussed opening a children's home because I have heard a lot of complaints about the current children's homes in this area. We are only in the baby stages here and will definitely keep you all up to date!

Jason has been having meetings all week with his new employers. He looks mighty fine in his uniform!:) He went to get his hair cut and it took 2 hours and cost $6. We are hoping to buy some trimmers so we can just cut his hair because in his contract it says that his hair should be short and neat. So much for that ponytail I had dreamed of!

We will hopefully be getting a car pretty soon. We definitely need one with the rainy season quickly approaching. Jason will be working with clients and I know they don't want him showing up wet and muddy to work.

Not much happened this week so Jason and I put together a list of everyday things here in Tanzania. Enjoy!

FACT:

1. Tanzanians only obey traffic laws at round abouts.
2. Tanzanians will carry a suitcase on their heads even if they have wheels.
3. We eat rice and beans every day.
4. After we shower our entire bathroom is soaking wet so we have to take off out pants outside the door to use the restroom the remainder of the day.
5. We use a comforter at night.
6. I take 2 mini buses and walk a kilometer to get to work. It costs $.50 and takes an hour.
7. We never spend more than $3 at the fruit and vegetable market.
8. We live in Moshono, work in Usa and do everything else in Arusha and Njiro.
9. The baby next door never stops crying.
10. We have 3 roads that lead to our house. Depending on how much it rains determines what road we take.
11. Sometimes we get lost in our neighborhood.
12. When we are in Arusha town we are hassled and followed by men trying to sell us safaris.
13. Our electricity usually goes out by the end of the week.
14. The largest Tanzanian bill is $10,000 shillings which equals 6 US dollars.
15. Lucille, our maid, cleans our house twice a week.
16. If everything goes well we will be opening Walk In Love Childrens Home in 2013-2014.
17. We do not wear shoes in the house because our floors are made of cement, painted red, and it gets very dirty. We both have shoes outside the front door and backdoor.
18. We have 2 zebra striped audimons (foot rests, I don't know how to spell it) in front of our green couch.
19. Baran, the property manager, lives in an apt. separate from the house on the property. He is only off 2 days per month. He calls Jason, Master and me Queen. And he knows everything!
20. If we don't use a helmet when we are on the motorcycle then passing drivers will wag their fingers at us.
21. I was in a dalla dalla last week with 29 people. There are only 14 seats.
22. If we have no electricity then we have no hot water.
23. We save $35/ week because we boil our water instead of buying it.
24. We boil 6-8 liters per day.
25. Beer is more expensive to buy at the supermarket than it is at our local pub.
26. We drove the motorcycle through a coffee plantation on the way to the airport.
27. I have 2 sim cards for my phone. Jason bought it on the street for $20. He is currently looking for a blackberry.
28. I fix all of our meals and Jason does the clean up.
29. All the white shirts I brought at now yellow.
30. It took exactly one month for us to reach all of our short term goals in TZ.
31. We have been on two dates: once to the cinema and once to the casino.
32. The Mexican food is great here!
33. The Italian food is not.
34. If anyone hurts themselves of has bad luck then everyone around says pole (pol lay) which means sorry in Swahili.
35. It took 2 hours and $6 for Jason to get his hair cut.
36. We buy foldger cans of coal from our elderly neighbor even though we have tons of it in the shed. She smiled at us for the first time yesterday. Breakthrough!
37. Our neighborhood is very diverse. We have mud huts, mansions and everything in between.
38. To most people the road to our town would be ugly, dusty and rundown but to us it is comforting.
39. The children in our neighborhood will run to us and say "How are you, I am fine" and run away.
40. We plan on eventually adopting while we are here
41. We have our own address, PO Box 12304 Arusha, Tanzania
42. Arusha is at the foot of Mt. Meru and about 40 miles from Mt. Kilimanjaro
43. We saw a folding KC Chiefs chair outside of Moshi.
44. We see people wearing vintage KU Jayhawks and MU Tigers Shirts/Hats/Sweatshirts all the time
45. The company Jason works for own 4 lodges and airstrips in the Serengheti. They flew in 2 presidents in the last year.
46. Jason saw a guy driving his motorcycles with a love seat on the back.
47. Men with huge wheel barrels run up and down the streets. Sometimes passing us!

Week 4 - Jason gets the job!!!!

We had a life changing amazing week! Jason got offered and accepted a wonderful job with a high-end safari company. His official title is Pilot and Flight operations manager. This is an up and coming company and Jason will be helping to establish it and help with all the licensing and paper work the month of April then he will be the first officer in C-208, Grand caravan. This is the perfect opportunity for Jason and he will have so many opportunities to grow with the company. He signs his 2 year contract on April 1, but the owners have already discussed there interest in working with him for many more years. This gives us the opportunity to live a nice life in Africa for many years to come.

This is the Cessna 208, the plane that Jason will be flying.

I also started working at Cradle of Love this week. I absolutely love it! The only thing that I don't love about it is that it takes about an hour to get to and I have to take 2 dalla dallas (mini buses) and walk about 1 km between them. It's fine right now but I am not looking forward to the walk in the rainy season, which starts in 2 weeks. Jason has been nice enough to take me on the motorcycle to the last dalla dalla stand when it is not muddy. I am currently working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9-12 but once Jason starts his job I will probably just work every day. I start the day by holding babies in the nursery, teaching the older kids, then playing with everyone outside. We have 15 babies under the age of 6 months at the orphanage right now. There are so many babies that are abandoned in and around town that we have taken in 5 in the last week. The government will search for relatives of the abandoned child for 3 months and if they do not find any the baby is placed up for adoption. Many of the babies do have families but unfortunately they are unable to take care of them. A lot of the mothers died in child birth and the family can simply not afford formula so the babies go to live at the orphanage until the families can take care of them. This usually happens by the age of 2. If the families cannot take them home then they will go on to older orphanages in town. Right now we have 54 children but next week 9 of the older kids will go to live in the older orphanages. Unfortunately, all the children in my current class are leaving. I am already very attached to them and will miss them very much.

This is Ibraheim, he is a favorite baby of mine and I try to hold him everyday.

I love Lily!

This is Happy, she is one of the children that will be leaving. She is my super sweet helper!

I love Lily!:)

I can't remember this little chunks name right now, but he is always a happy baby!

Playing in the yard.

This is my Sassy girl Clara. All of the children have sad stories but Clara's is especially painful. She was rescued when her mother tried to sell her and her brother for human sacrifice.

This is Rahema. She was the first baby to come waddling up to me with her hands in the air and a smile on her face! When I went to Cradle for my first visit I held her the entire time. She is so cuddly! She is one of the lucky ones. Her father comes to visit her and will be taking her home in July.

Sweet baby Jessica!

What an amazing week! We are so happy to be in Africa and doing what we love. This is why we came here and loving every second!

Week 3 - We have visitors!!

This week wasn't very exciting but we were happy to have some visitors. I will be starting tomorrow, Monday, at Cradle of Love. I am really excited to work with the kids and will take lots of pictures for next weeks blog!

This pictures are in reverse order of the actual events.

We were so excited when we got a text from George and Melissa on Sunday asking if they could stay with us this week! We met George and Melissa at the hostel we were staying at in Dar. They just finished climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and want to catch a safari out of Arusha. This picture was taken after more than 24 hours without electricity. We moved outside to play some card games. Melissa and I dominated, of course!

Fixing a midnight snack. We were pretty excited that we actually stayed up until midnight!

George and Melissas first night. We made pot roast and they brought some South African wine. It was delicious!

Eating rice and beans at the outside table.

Kitty attacks!

Jason messes with passed out kitty

Kitty passed out in the heat

New addition to the family, 8 chicks!

Jason and Alex playing in the yard

Ginger just waiting to have those kids!

Starbucks coffee thanks to Jesse and Lisa

Now thats a tasty chicken!

Flipping the chicken

Poking the chicken

Jason starting the fire from a safe distance

We made a grill!

I put onions, garlic and butter under the skin then rubbed the outside with butter and chicken masala seasoning.

Our view of Mt. Meru

Its only the start of the rainy season and our roads are already almost impassable. The best part is that all the bushes on the sides of the road are thorn bushes so when passing you are trying not to get stabbed or fall in the puddle. I had three local boys standing in the middle of the puddle giggling while I tried not to fall in. We will definitely need rain boots and rain pants if we plan on going anywhere for the next 2 months. George suggested we get some waiters aka water proof overalls. Its probably for the best!

We had another great week in Tanzania, but next week if it back to the business. I will start teaching at Cradle of Love and Jason will be frequenting the airport. He plans on going to Dar at the end of the week to take his tests. I hope George and Melissa stick around so I won't be by myself but I'm sure they hope they will be on safari by then. George has contacts with a local NGO that specializes in basic medical care for the locals. I will probably try to visit this week to see if its anything that I can help with. Hope all is well at home!

Lots of Love,

Aubree and Jason