Wow…Lil and I have been in Tanzania nearly 2 weeks…it feels like we’ve been here forever and at the same time, time just flew by.

We started this part of our African trip in a small orphanage in rural northern Tanzania near Kilimanjaro. The orphanage is small and run by Baba, an African man who started this orphanage about ten years ago. In reality, Mama Helen is the real strength behind the operation as she is the one who cooks, cleans and generally plays the Mom role to the twenty-one children. Our understanding is that she needed a place for herself and her children and he needed someone to take care of the doing and so they joined forces.  What can I say, our experience here has been very mixed emotionally. The kids are lovely and got my heart from the minute I met them. Their ages range from five to sixteen. But the politics around them has left both Lil and I, very upset.

Without getting into the details the minute we got here we felt like we walked into The Clash of Civilizations… the African vs. Western mind-set–the Swiss foundation that has been funding this place vs. Baba. As someone who works with people I found it fascinating to watch the drama unfold but as a human being I found it and still find it heart braking. I wish I could say that its clear who and what is to blame…but as often is the case when it comes to humans nothing is that clear cut. Both sides made mistakes and unless a shift occurs it will be the kids who lose out. And that is the saddest part in this story.

For our part we tried to give directly to the kids by giving them treats everyday, chocolate we picked up in Paris, tee shirts in Toronto, new plastic shoes as theirs were falling apart, pens, pencils etc. Yesterday we got them The Lion King DVD and made them tons of popcorn, a treat many never had, along with a bunch of soda pop.  We often sit and just let them fondle us touching our skin, playing with our hair, taking my bangles on and off.  In whatever form we connect it is often very tactile. I love sitting with them rubbing their back and singing to them.

They all speak a bit of English and some are quite good. When the Swiss foundation came on the scene they took the children out of public school, which have up to sixty children per class, to a private school with English being a big part of the curriculum. English is an important language in this part of the world especially since tourism has become a major part of the economy.  But as I said unless some resolution happens, English school is out for these babies. The thing is, sending them to school is not expensive, it’s about $ 350 US a year per child. I am sure between Lil and I, we can raise the money for many of them to continue. But making sure the money goes to the school and their needs being taken care of is part of the issue.

For my part I am glad I am leaving tomorrow as I am getting attached to the kids…in reality if things would clear up here I could see myself coming back and spending time with them on a yearly basis…

On a different note, we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to first base the other day. It was three-hour climb straight up. Lol, in the last ten minutes, I had to keep reminding myself that I am not my back pain. I am much bigger than my pain (grin). We got to the base camp, took pictures only to turn around and go down for two hours. I am not sure which part was worst the going up or down. Thank god we were both laughing hysterically as we were going down calling on all the gods to get us down already. Richard our guide, who was laughing right along with us, thought we were two middle-aged crazy Muzungus (white people).

I like the people here; they seem genuinely friendly, curious and shy at the same time. Out of town in particular, they will often greet us in English, and try to speak with us. I feel like we made a couple of new friends here and that feels great. One family we met is a young mixed couple, a lovely Tanzanian man with a charming American wife.  The one thing that’s different here from many other places I have been to is taking pictures. I almost got myself killed taking a picture in the market. I was trying to take a picture of the market and one older woman took exception to that…oh my. I had to do some quick thinking and was eventually rescued by Lil and Paulo our driver and new friend. Crazy part is she wasn’t in the picture. I try to be very sensitive to picture taking of specific people and try to keep my picture taking to streets with people or scenes.

…please forgive the format I don’t know what’s going on with Word Press but I couldn’t get the pictures to do what I want hence the horrible way they came out in the Paris part. And in truth, I haven’t had time to sit and try to figure out what’s going on.