This was Jason's first full week of work. He works from 8-5 Monday - Friday right now until he starts flying. Once he starts flying I expect to see him even less! He had a couple of meetings and I'm not really sure what else he did. I had a very nice week. I went to Cradle on Tuesday and met our new twins, Princess and Prickett's, family. There father, grandmother and two aunts came in. They were holding the twins the whole time and whoever wasn't holding the twins were holding other babies. It was really sweet! They even stuck around for feedings and helped feed al the kids. The father looked pretty sad but always had a baby in his arms. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. His wife had passed away 5 days earlier while giving birth to his daughters and he couldn't even take his daughters home with him. I do believe that they will one day go home tho. The fact that the family is already visiting and stayed for over 2 hours is a great sign. They obviously love those little girls! With the twins I noticed it was really difficult to get them to take a bottle. The nurses told me that because the twins had been in the hospital for 3 days before coming to Cradle and that they had gotten used to being spoon fed milk and had not learned to drink from a bottle. This sounded very odd to me so I asked why and came to find out that even the hospitals around here can't afford to have bottles.
Tuesday was Claires last day at Cradle so when it was time for her to go I just went with her. We went to a nice cafe called Tanz Hanz closer to Usa River. Tanz Hanz is a cafe set up by a local rehabilitation program. They help a lot of people in and Arusha. I had the best chocolate banana milk shake and Claire had pineapple cake (or cakie) here. In Tanzania they add an i on to the end of about anything and if you do not know a word in Swahili then sometimes just add an -i. For example when Jason and I were trying to get to the bus station, I asked the bajaji driver to take us to the busi stationi and he knew was I was saying! They also add the -i onto names. When Jason was getting his sim card the lady looked at him and asked Jasoni Packardi? Anyways, after Tanz Hanz Claire, the kid and I all went to look for potential rental sites for Neem House, the baby orphanage that Claire will be the onsite director for. This is the same project that I hope to be the outreach program for. In Tanzania finding real estate can be very tricky. All we knew about the property was that it was an 8 bedroom house and that the rent was around $800 per month. When we got there it looked like a construction zone. They had no plumbing or electricity in the main house but had what looked like a nice little house to the side. When we went into this building it was actually the bathroom. A girls side with 3 toilets and a shower and a boys side. It was very odd and Claire and I just cannot figure out what the building was supposed to be to start off with. I was a huge house with a lot of property but didn't understand it and never found a kitchen. So the search continues!
On Thursday after working I met with Claire and Micheal, the off site director for Neema House, to talk about a possible partnership. The meeting went well but I am still waiting for my answer. I would like to work with Claire and Micheal but if it doesn't work out then I will just go forward on my own.
On Friday I got my very first Walk In Love woman sponsored! The woman, Joyce, is actually Barran's, our property manager, wife. She came to visit last weekend and after spending an evening with her and Barran we found out that they have 3 children, one with special needs, but only one is living in the house with Joyce. Joyce, Barrans parents and the boy all live about 3 hours away. Barran goes home once a month to visit and give them his wages. Once I heard this I decided that Joyce would be our first WIL women. After a little more time she said that she would like to go to hair school and find a job so that there family can all live together in Arusha. I contacted my cousin, who is a hair dresser, to see if she would be interested in sponsoring Joyce and she said yes! When I told Barran he started clapping and immediately called Joyce to tell her the good news. Now whenever he calls Joyce he hands me the phone so I can talk my very limited Swahili to her. I am so happy for them!
On Saturday we joined Claire, her children, Mama Musa and Susan for a day at the Cultural Arts Museum. None of us had been and we were excited to learn a little more about Tanzanian history. The museum is huge and beautiful but one of the first things noticed was a big sign that said "most items are for sale, ask for assistance" so I thought that was weird. Once we really started looking around at all the art we notice that it was all made in the 20th century and it all had a price tag on it! So much for an art museum, we were just in a big, very expensive, souvenir shop! I said while we were walking around that I bet there was just a shop out back where people were making these items and there was! We walked around back and there was pile of these "rare" masks and sculptures and men behind making them! But T.I.A, This Is Africa. We went to eat lunch at a place called the Pancake House. It was pretty nice and there were monkies everywhere! There was also a trampoline for the kids and Jason to play on. It ended up being a very nice day and I look forward to spending more weekends with our new friends!
Easter Sunday! Jason and I woke up early and started the cooking! We were having a traditional American BBQ, for Easter! We made potato salad, pasta salad, deviled eggs, veggie platter with ranch dip (thanks Mom!), chicken, hamburgers, and hotdogs. Barran and Tom came over later and make some beef kabobs and sausage as well. In all we had 9 adults and 3 children. It was a very nice day/evening. We miss our friends and family at home but we are so lucky to have already made good friends here to spend holidays with.
Claire and her children haven't had water for a week so after dinner the kids got a quick shower and put there pajamas on before going home. They looked so cute!
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