Move In Day

Nothing happened on Saturday as we had hoped BUT yesterday in the middle of church Phil came to say the boys were about to move in. Needless to say we rushed out of church just as a student, Frederick, was getting up to preach. I felt so rude but there was no way we could miss the boys coming to the house for the first time. When we got to the home we got some sodas and cookies for the boys and waited for their arrival. I do not think the boys knew where they were going - they walked in the door very timidly. We handed them soda and cookies and they lined up along the wall to eat and drink. They we so well behaved! After a few minuets we asked Kashenge if they knew this was their new home. He told them but there was no real reaction. I am not sure if they did not believe or did not know how to react. Then we told them to go pick a bed, it would be there very own bed. At that point they all raced for the same two or three beds and I thought a fight would break out but it did not. They worked it out and in a few minutes each had their very own bed. I went around and gathered names and ages which I will list for you.

Amos - 14
Chukru - 13
Amedes - 13
Kelvis - 12
Evans - 12
Juma - 10
Jackson - 8
Isreal - 8
Kelvin - 7
Collins - 4 1/2

There are two other boys that should be here but Kashenge said they were at church. They did not show up all afternoon so I am wondering if they will be there today. After they choose beds we handed out airplanes and cars and we all played. It was so much fun - boys are boys all around the world. Little Ruben had a great time playing with these boys that spoke a completely different language. After a while our group left to go eat but Gwen and I stayed. Mama Mursale had asked Gwen to stay for lunch so we did. I was a bit nervous to stay and eat but it turned out to be a very tasty beef stew over rice. I was concerned that there would not be enough to go around and I felt guilty about taking even the smallest morsel of food from these boys but it turned out to be more than enough for all of us. Gwen reminded me of the four loaves and two fishes story in the Bible. She was right!!

While dinner was cooking the boys had a shower and put on the new clothes the people from church donated. After their shower I got my Swahili book and started asking questions. Many of the boys can speak some English. Amos, the oldest, was fascinated with my book and he and I were reading and telling each other how to pronounce the words. Me telling him the English and him telling me the Swahili. We were joined by Amedes and all three of us were on one bed with our heads in a book. It was really cool. Both boys are very smart and Amedes likes to sing. At dinner each boy had their own bowl, spoon, and juice cup!! We sat all together on three beds and ate. After dinner we headed back to our hotel but I left the Swahili book for Amos. It turned out to be a really good day!!

I have tried three times to upload photos but Blogger is not cooperating. I also took a wonderful sunset photo of Mount Kilimanjaro from my hotel window. I will try to upload them later. We are all going on safari tomorrow morning and will not be back until late on Friday so I will not have access to a computer again until Saturday, November 3. We will be spending 3 nights in the Thompson Classic Camp at Ngorongoro Crater with Thompson Safaris. I hope you all have a great week and thank you again for all the comments!!

Beds Delivered

On Wednesday Gwen and I had breakfast at the Carters house to welcome Ruben, Leslie and Ruben. They were pretty tired from the long flights but they were settling in just fine. After that Phil dropped us at the orphanage and we did some cleaning. When someone laid the tile in the bath rooms it looks like they did not do the final wipe when they put in the grout so all the tiles are covered in this cement-like ugly brown gunk. We scraped with trowels, paint scrapers and steel wool to get as much off as possible. It still looks bad for US standards but it looks a lot better than it did. There is still work to be done on one of the bath rooms so we were only able to get one spic and span clean and ready to use. Then we swept and washed the floor in Mama's room and swept the main hall. We swept us so much fine red dirt but when we went back today it looked like it had never been swept - UGGGGHHHH!!! That is Africa. It is similar to West Texas in that the find dirt gets everywhere and it is a loosing battle to fight it.

While we were at the house today the beds were being delivered along with the mattresses. The mattresses are just sturdy foam - they are comfortable but they do not last long. That is what everyone here sleeps on. We arranged the beds, put on the blankets and arranged Mama's room. The kids just have mattress covers and blankets but Amy gave Gwen a flat sheet to put on Mama's bed so she will be a little more comfortable. Gwen had made Mama an apron and some house clothes so we hung those on the back of the door. Leslie brought some nice towels and soap from the states so we laid those out on the bed like a B & B.

Neither shower is draining right and one toilet is not flushing properly so the workers will be back tomorrow to make those repairs and it looks like the kids can move in on Saturday. The second bath need to be scraped clean from the ugly brown grout and washed down but that can be done once they move in. Hopefully the next time I post I will be able to tell you they are in the house. Keep these kids and Mama in your prayers please. They are not used to living in a controlled environment so this could be a bit of an adjustment.

God Listen

On Tuesday Charles Ngoje, the preacher of the Moshi Town Church, took Gwen and I out to Nedja Penda, a bush village where the church has planted a bush church and school. We drove about 20 minuets east out of Mohsi on the "Interstate" (a two lane black top road with speed bumps) then turned south. About 10 minutes later we turned off the black top road onto a two rut dirt road of dry, red, sandy soil. The road wandered around bushes, cactus, and Baobab trees past many single room homes until we came to a red brick building. It was just past noon and the children had been let out of school but when they saw Charles' car they came running back to the school. At school we met the teacher, a young man of about 25 to 30 years of age, his name is God Listen. Yes, that is his given name. The mortality rate of children is very high and many parents will give their babies names such as this to give them a head start in life. Charles tells me of people with names such as God Help Us and God Love. God Listen is a soft spoken man but those children listen to his every word. He had the children gather in the front of the room in two lines, girls in front and boys in back. Then they sang a song. I don't know the song but I heard Yesu (Jesus) and Mungu (God). I asked how much it costs to go to this school and Charles tells me these children go for free. I asked if the government pays God Listen's salary and Charles says no God Listen does this for free. PLUS not only does he not get paid, he walks 3 hours each way just to be able to teach these children how to read and write and teach them about Jesus. What dedication - walking 3 hours each way in 90 + degree weather because you know these children need a teacher and you are called by God to teach them. I was speechless at that point. God Listen is listening to God!! We can all learn a lesson from God Listen!!

School in Nedja Penda

Gwen Teaching the Children

Mama's Story

Mama Mursale is the lady who will be the house mother for this orphan home. Gwen and I had the chance to meet Mama Mursale and ask her a few questions. We met her at Kashenge's office. Gwen saw her coming up the street and she was very animated as she walked but as soon as she walked in the door she was quiet and withdrawn. I am sure it can be intimidating when two strangers have come half way around the world to ask you questions. Kashenge told her who we were and that we wanted to get to know her better. He asked if it would be OK for us to ask questions and take some notes. She quietly said "ndiyo" - yes in Swahili. She responded just the same to most of the questions we asked. Mama Mursale is a Muslim from the Machama tribe and she has two children, ages 2 and 5. Kashenge had asked her husband and her to be the house parents many months ago. Her husband was born with a heart condition and he became very sick and died a couple of months ago. How ironic - this woman who is assisting children on the street will be able to use this facility to provide a home for her own children now that her husband is gone.

Gwen asked what we could do for her, she gave the typical mother answer, "please get my kids into school." As long has her children are taken care of that is all that matters. Mama Mursale can read and write and she can understand some English so she will be keeping records of the children. She will also be cooking, cleaning and in charge of discipline. Gwen asked if she needed any help doing these things and she said no, lets get into the home and she how it goes first. We are not sure how long she has been with these children but it is apparent that they trust her and have some type of bond with her so thankfully she is still able to take on this task in spite of loosing her husband. After meeting Mama Mursale we feel this will be a win win situation for both her and the orphans of Moshi. They will have a caregiver and a safe home and she will have some purpose and ability to care for her own children.

Tanzania has a program where these orphan children can go to public school at one quarter the normal cost. Once the kids are in the home they will be tested and placed into school. Mama Mursale's children will also be eligible for this program so her oldest son will be able to start school without delay.

Painters Have Arrived

Finally I am able to get some photos uploaded. There are not as many as I would like to include but this is a start.

Below is a photo of me scrubbing Mama's wall. The dark brown/gold color is some unknown substance that we were washing off so the paint would stick.


Below is Mama's room with a coat of primer. Today is Friday and when Gwen and I arrived at the home the painters had already primed Mama's room and were just finishing the primer coat in the bathroom.

Below is the photo of the framing work for the Boys and Girls bathrooms. You can see the toilet tanks hanging on the wall and the squatty potties on the ground.

Below is a better photo of the squatty potty. The white is the primer. I have no clue what the final color will be.

Below is the finished water storage tank. There are many times where city water has no pressure so this storage tank has a float meter that will keep it full so the children will have water even if the city water is off or too low to flow.

We really had hopes that the children would be able to move in by today but earlier in the week we realized that would have to be pushed back until Monday. Now I am not sure what to expect. I feel positive about the progress that has been made, it has been slow for US standards but I strongly feel it has been very quick for Tanzania standards. Since there really is not any physical work Gwen and I can do we are just coasting until the kids get into the home. Anyone who knows me knows coasting is hard for me. We are having a good time walking around Moshi. At this point we have walked a great majority of the central town and we prefer the quiet local streets instead of the tourist areas. Here in Moshi there are young boys who make a living at approaching white people with goods to sell. I say white people because most of them do not approach Gwen until they find out she is American and they they are on her just like they are the rest of us. The local term is flycatcher and most of these boys are 14 to 17. There is one I will buy from before I go home because he goes to the church but I keep thinking about what a hard way that must be to eek out a living. We have befriended one of the flycatchers named Saleem - he followed Jenifer everywhere she went and inquired about her the first day we showed up with out her. He has finally learned that we are not going to buy so now he just greets us. I fully expect he will try again to get us to buy but he has slacked off for now.

Making Progress!

Slowly but surely we are making progress on the orphanage. Monday Gwen and I went to the home to start cleaning Mama's room. The boys we hired to clean had not started anything probably because the mason workers were not finished and it is useless to clean anything while workers are still there. But Gwen and I were stir crazy and had to do something. Mama's room has a door so we could close it off from the mess of the rest of the house. The walls of the room were covered in some yellow-brown gunk! We bought buckets, scrub brushes, a broom and soap and started to sweep. Just as soon as I started sweeping one of the boys who lives there for security while it is empty came and nicely took the broom from me and he continued to sweep. I am not sure if this is a cultural thing or he was afraid I was taking his job. Either way, I just let him sweep while Gwen and I prepared the buckets of soap and rinse water. As soon as we started scrubbing he took one of the brushes and started scrubbing too. There was no sense in fighting his so we just let him scrub. We brought in the ladder and with the help of Chua, the general contractor, we asked this boy (named John) to start scrubbing the high parts of the room down to the teal green paint under neath. Chua also asked him how much he expected to be paid and John asked for 5000 Shillings, about $4 US. We agreed. Gwen and I scrubbed the lower areas while John scrubbed high and low. John was a good worker! Without his help there is no way we would have finished that room, which was very important because the painter should be there today.

This afternoon we meet Mama. We have arranged a translator to meet us with Mama at Kashenge's office (Kashenge is Phil's partner in this work) so Gwen can start to get to know more about Mama. Gwen has already purchased material to make her an apron and house coat.

I have been trying to upload more photos but it is not wroking today. The good news is the metal front security door has been installed, the frames to the bathroom doors are in and the mason guys were working on building the stand for the water stroage tank. Hopefully painters are there as I type. We will go by on our way home this evening to see what progress has been made today.

Prayers Please

Friends and Family - thank you to all of you for your support and kind words by e-mail and posts!! Those encouraging words mean a lot. We are experiencing some frustrations and can use your prayers - please ask God to help us to work these out like Christian women should.

I am glad to report good progress on the home. The plumber was there on Monday and he was in the process of repairing current plumbing, installing the squatty pottys and their water tanks, installing the showers and sinks for each bath room. The electrician had completed the necessary wiring for the interior lights and the exterior security lights. Beds were ordered last week from a man who lives in what the locals call "Little Baghdad" - a type of ghetto. He has made beds for Phil in the past and really needs the work. The beds should be complete sometime this week.

The saying "you pay for what you get" holds true all around the world. The men that were hired to clean have not yet done it so Gwen and I plan to do some cleaning on Monday. It just might be possible to have the kids living in the house by the end of the week. Once the kids are in the house Gwen and I will be spending a lot of time there doing our best to get to know these children who do not speak any English. Our goal will be to try to obtain some information about their past, where they came from, what happened to their parents, and get a feel for their attitude and mental health. We will also try to obtain their shoe size and clothing size by taking some measurements. We look forward to that work and just feel like we are coasting until then.

Jenifer leaves us tomorrow and we are sad to see her go but she misses her family. Again thank you for all the support!! I will try to get more photos posted soon. Everything here is dial up so my photos take forever to up load!

Church on Sunday

I have to tell you all about church on Sunday. The Moshi Church of Christ meets in an old theater. The stage is decorated with blue and white material, the podium is down front and everyone sits all spread out - just like at home. There were about 50 people there and the service was in Swahili but they had a song book so we could sing along in Swahili. Thankfully the song leader would also say the song numbers in English. The singing was great!! Many of the song names were familiar but the tunes were different. We sang those Swahili words just like we knew what we were singing!! Toward the beginning of the service there was a time when visitors stood to introduce themselves. Each of us stood and tried to use our best Swahili but our best is not very good. Everyone was thrilled we even tried to speak Swahili. When someone would pray I could pick out words like "Baba" which is Father and "Asante" which is thanks so I got the general meaning of the prayer. I sat next to Francis, a man who works for Phil, in church and he translated most of the sermon for all of us. He told us the Bible verses and in a whisper told us about what the preacher was saying. This preacher could find a job in any respectable Southern Baptist church!! There were times when he was very animated. During the announcement time they announced we were visiting from America and in English apologized that the whole service was not translated into English but they hoped the Spirit was speaking to our hearts. We decided that the spirit was speaking to us through Francis - he was our spirit for the day. After church everyone came up to introduce themselves - they wanted to practice English and we wanted to practice Swahili - it was all very interesting and I look forward to church next week. Maybe we will know a song or two in Swahili before we return.

Tuesday, October 9

Greetings from Zanzibar!! What are we doing in Zanzibar you ask? Aren't you supposed to be remodeling an orphanage?? Yes-we are remodeling an orphanage and our intention was to actually do some of the physical labor in order to get more done with the limited amount of funds. But you know that old saying about intentions....we learned that day labors would do the cleaning and painting we intended to do for about $2 per day. This $2 gives someone an honest job that will feed their family - and when I say family I mean not only the wife and kids but the extended family that most likely lives with them also. Two dollars does not buy our Starbucks coffee in the morning. How could we not hire them? This also gives some of the men in the neighborhood a bit of ownership in this orphanage. They will be able to say, "I helped work on that orphanage." And hopefully be there to help when the "mama" needs something. Mama is the lady who will run the orphanage - she will live in the home and be in charge of the children - she will receive free room and board for her services. The lady chosen for this job is now living with the children in the hall so they already know her. Her husband passed away a few weeks ago so this will be just as good for her as it is the children.

Monday we stopped by to see what has been done and the workers had begun making a doorway from the bathrooms into the main home and they began to brick up the old gate in the back courtyard (it was a security hazard). Once the masons are done the plumber and electrician will come - hopefully they will be there by the time we return on Thursday.

Let me tell you a bit about Zanzibar. I am thrilled to be able to return to this magical place. There are many things I was not able to see when I was here in March so I am grateful to be able to have this chance. When we made the decision to use day laborers that left us with more free time than we intended and Phil suggested we make a short trip to Zanzibar. We flew over early this morning and will go back to Moshi tomorrow afternoon. Today we saw the "slave caves" where slave traders kept slaves hidden underground after the slave trade was abolished on Zanzibar in about 1870. We also took a spice tour to see how the many different spices are grown which Zanzibar is known for and ate lunch on the north coast. It poured rain almost all day. None of us have seen this much rain in years. It kept things cool until the rain stopped and the sun came out then the humidity followed. Tomorrow we are going to visit the museum and the sultans palace before we fly back home.

Saturday, October 6

I am happy to tell you we were able to have power and water turned on at the orphanage. The plumber was there to make repairs to the faucet and talk about repairing the "squatty pottys" that are now just a hole in the floor. I do not expect much to happen over the weekend but Chua, the general contractor, was at the house last night going over final bids and plans. We have made some last minute changes to the shower situation and the water storage tank but I think all is moving along well. Phil is very good at making sure the money is spent well. He has hired Chua because Chua is better equipped to work with the local "fundis" (workers) plus the price is always hire when a Muzungu (white person) is doing the negotiating. We are trying to just do what is needed to make the place livable for now and our goal is to have the boys into the home by the end of the month.

We woke up to rain this morning!! It was so nice since yesterday was at least 90 degrees. When we arrived back at Base Camp (Phil's home) yesterday the power had been off since noon and did not come back on until after 9 PM. The only thing we missed were the ceiling fans. We joked about the power going out when it was sunny and hot. On Whidbey the power only goes out when it is windy and 40 degrees. The power was on most of the night but went off again about 7 AM and was still off when we left the house at 11:30 AM.

Mount Kilimanjaro from Phil's Front Gate

Phil's Home

These are some of the children who will be living in the orphanage. Right now they live in that doorway you see behind us.
When we first arrived most of the children were eating lunch in the "hallway" they live in. This 4 x 7 foot space houses 14 kids.

Front of Light of Children Orphanage BEFORE

Interior BEFORE

Back Courtyard and outdoor kitchen BEFORE

Pit toilet BEFORE

Thursday, October 4

Gwen, Jenifer and I arrived safely late Tuesday local time after two very long flights. Wednesday we walked around town to familiarize ourselves with Moshi and today we finally met the children who will be living in the orphanage. Right now 14 children live in a 3 x 7 foot hall way of a home. When we arrived they were eating lunch of rice and beans from a single bowl. We took many photos that I will try to upload later with the help of the Internet Cafe owner. Then we went to see the building we will renovate. It is a large open structure that used to be a bar. Phil and Kashenge have negotiated a 5 year lease for 50,000 shilingi a month, about $44. The owner is a Muslim man from Dar es Saalam and he is thankful the building has been taken from the devil and given to God. There is no power or water yet. Our first task is to clean the interior to get it ready to paint. There are 6 men now living in the empty building as security and with Kashenge's help we have hired these men to clean the building for 8000 shilingi, $6. Before they can start we must get the water turned on, but the previous owner did not pay the last bill so before the city will turn on the water we must pay the last bill. We will do that first thing in the morning - then the plumber will repair the one faucet so cleaning can begin. Cleaning should be done by Monday and painting will start. Phil is trying to get a local paint store to donate paint. Thankfully we have brought donations to begin this work. Our goal is to start with only the necessities so we can make sure the children are living in the house before Gwen and I leave Tanzania on Nov. 5.

We also are going to be able to travel a bit. On Tuesday we are going to Zanzibar just for one night to tour the old slave trade buildings. Then on Friday we will take a day safari to Lake Manyara.

We are all healthy and very happy to be here. Phil's home is very comfortable and secure. He has three guards - Francis, Fra and John, who also work around the house. The first morning we were all up very early and so was Kilimanjaro!!! The sky was clear and blue and there is a perfect view of Kili directly from Phil's front gate. We got some great photos!! She is a spectacular mountain!! I will write more as time allows.