Valentine’s Day at HAPO

I really should not have been surprised at the big fuss made over Valentine’s Day in Tanzania. They love love. They blast Celine Dion songs on crowded smelly buses. Their favorite national song, Maliaka, is a slow balad about an angel. And they present gifts on bended knee (no joke!). So of course the children LOVE love.

Each child made a Valentine’s Day card and when we asked them to write on their heart what they love they all named each other. Even I got a Valentine from one of the OVC’s, a shy, sweet girl who spelled my name “holee”.

Here are a few more photos of the watotos getting into the spirit of the day…

Game Night

Rather than listening to the crickets and bats, or reading the last article left in Star or Glamour (junk food reading to escape to a totally different world for a few minutes), we got together a group of locals and expats for a night of games. We played games suitable for “children over the age of 8″ in a group ranging in age from 20 to 72 like Clue, Uno, and Jenga.

That’s Siwan just testing her mettle and Ruth’s reaction.

And that is Ruth’s adorable puppy who kept us company during game play.

Visiting the Children’s Homes

Last Saturday, me, Siwan and Mama Sekasua piled in a taxi and visited all 12 homes of the children to talk to the parents and drop off a few treats (a bar of soap and 1 kilo of sugar). Most of the children are living with their grandmother or some other elder relative as the majority have been orphaned by AIDS.

The picture above is of me and one of my faves, Ashura. They’re not sure about her age or birthday but none of her hard times get her down. She’s a giggly girly girl who loves flowers, fashion and pretending to paint my toenails.

Below is a photo of a traditional mud hut home. Each home has approximately 2 rooms; one for sitting and one for sleeping. There is no electricity, no running water. But they do have backyard courtyards where a group of families share a bit of land to grow vegetables and store buckets of water for washing and cooking.

Tanzanian Twister

Okay so it’s not a tornado, but the kids did seem to get whipped into a frenzy of fun playing twister. And lucky for us, there are only a few new Swahili words we had to learn to play the game: right, left, hand, foot, red, yellow, green and blue. I’ll spare you the translations this time but if you’re dying to know just leave me a comment and I’ll post it. Or if anyone knows of a good translation site please send the URL.

Mama Kubwa (Big Mama)

This is a typical shop in town, well if you can call a bunch of used clothes hanging from trees a shop.  Notice the pear-shaped hangers that all clothes hang on, the ideal shape for a Tanzanian lady. Clearly the message from Milan has made it to Tabora. A shapely frame indicates a healthier lady -  and the better for having a slew of babies, my dear.

Fast Times in Tabora

We ran into more power problems. While I’m still a bit nervous about using kerosene cookers and lamps (remember the cow that knocked over the lamp that set the barn on fire that burned Chicago to the ground…) we opted for candles and leftovers. Oh yeah, fast times in Tabora with Kilimanjaro beer and travel Monopoly to fill our dark nights.

Pom Poms (British) in Tanzania

These are not your all-American, cheerleader-toted, rah-rah pom poms my friends at home may be thinking of. No, in the UK, as I’ve learned since traveling to Africa, “pom poms” are puff balls of yarn or “wool” for the UK readers. But the kids, not knowing a large plastic scrunch ball from a small raggedy creation, could have cared less. The process of making something from scratch comes second nature to them. And the fact that at the end they get a colorful toy? They loved it!

Rainy Day at the Drop-In Centre

It rained cats and dogs (thankfully no panyas)  so we moved around the tables in the office to get the kids set up to do indoor activities.  We tutored a bit more that day to help them get on top of their school work as many of them are behind from their former days spent on the streets instead of at school.  We also conjured up some serious coloring crafts to help the kids master motor skills, creative problems skills and give them an opportunity to feel proud of their achievements – while learning reading and writing basics like the alphabet as seen here.

There was a Rat…

There was a rat who ate the wires that cut the power where we live. They brought a cat to catch the rat who fatally scaled the kitchen walls where we live.

This was the bedtime story I heard from the Sekesua’s son, Daniel, who was sure we’d be thrilled to hear of the rat’s doom. Between panya (rat) and paka (cat) we were able to piece together the action movie that happened while we were away for a few hours. I’m still unclear how the rat didn’t die from eating the wires and exactly how they got a cat to do the job but it suffices to say, the power is restored and the panya droppings have disappeared. Yay!

The people who look after our home have also agreed to fix the holes where more rats could easily enter – the giant hole under the sink & the water damage in the ceiling.

And with this kitchen overhaul underway I persuaded the fundi (mr. fix-it) to investigate the drawers for current or past-tense creepy crawlies.  Below is my close-up of the roach cemetary we found. Ick!

Pikipiki, Vrrm Vrrm

The Sekesua’s son, Daniel, showed up at our place on a motorcycle or pikipiki to check into our 2-day blackout. I was more interested in stealing his bike than getting my hair straightener working that day.

Say “Chicken”

In Tanzania, you don’t say, “Say Cheese” you say, “Say Chicken”. Here, Andrew, the Sekesua’s adorable grandson and my pupil is in a camera war with me where we fired off pictures of each other. By the way, half the photos I post have been taken by the kids. They’re great little photographers.

Hard Work for HAPO

Along with helping entertain the watotos, I’ve also been spearheading efforts to get the organization’s marketing materials in order. On Saturday me, Siwan, and the HAPO founder Dr. Sekesua hashed out a funding proposal to provide financial and material support to a Phase II set of kids; to expand the number of children from 13 to 40 within the next year. Much of the information in the proposal will go into the website I hope to launch in the next few weeks for the organization. If anyone has any questions about how the organization works, its objectives, and its tactics please feel free to contact me via email, or snail mail (HAPO, C/O Holly Rich, PO Box 886, Tabora, Tanzania, East Africa).

Malaria Test Day

Here is Siwan’s genuine shock as she was pricked without warning. No, “sit down, now hold out your finger, this might hurt when I prick you but it will just take a second”. Not even an introduction of names. Just a woman in white a test tube slide and a needle. Yikes!

Thankfully, even though she had been feeling sluggish and had a neck ache, all of which are possible symptoms of malaria, her test came back negative. Henceforth all minor ailments are referred to as “that which is not malaria”.

The Day’s a Wash

I woke up last Saturday to a huge downpour and no electricity. I’d read all the trash magazines we’d received from abroad and with nothing to eat and nothing else to do I decided to do my own wash. I don’t even wash my clothes myself in New York and here I am scrubbing my disgustingly dirty clothes in buckets! And yes, that’s a real smile on my face. Who knew washing coud be fun.

More Rains Down in Africa

In one of the many big rain storms we set out buckets to catch water just in case we ran out of water in our tanks and needed to: a bucket shower – stand in a dry shower and dump water on yourself using a pitcher dipped into the bucket of water; manually flush toilets – dump buckets of water into the toilet bowl to make it flush; wash clothes – one bucket for washing, one for rinsing.

I still can’t quite figure out how water works here. There’s a tank on the ground that supposedly the city fills on a regular basis. When or how much is still in question. Then there’s an electric switch to pump the water to the top tank that towers above our 1 story house.  Again there’s no way to gauge when we should pump (unless we run out of water in the house) or how much (until we hear it overflowing). When the power goes off we often have floods in the backyard because we can’t pump the water to the other tank. Surely there must be a better system. Any ideas?