Sorry I have been pretty terrible at updating this. But interestingly, you just settle into a routine here and day by day passes so quickly. I cannot believe that three weeks have passed already. Only one left to go!
Things at Save Africa are still going great. Day to day, we help with mathematics lessons in the morning, serve porridge, and then play with the kids and read them stories. They are little rascals all the time. Eating erasers and crayons, playing with flowers and breaking trees. It is always exhausting, but always rewarding. Recently, we took a young boy to the doctor. Many of the kids have sores on their arms, but it is often just because of not enough cleaning. They tested him for HIV, and fortunately he came back negative. He is on some medication now. The doctor is incredibly cheap here! Only about $20 for a consultation, blood work, and medication. Unfortunately, that is often still too much for the orphanage director to pay, so it is on us volunteers to take the initiative to take the sick children to the hospital. Here are my kids and staff:
The director also owns a farm where he grows corn, vegetables, and other crops to feed the kids and then sells the rest for profit for the orphanage. He wants to start planting vegetables because it is in season. So, next week I get to help plant! Which will be hard work, but a cool experience.
I am still thinking of a good project/donation to leave for the kids. They LOVE the chalk and bubbles that I brought. Also, they have been using the writing utensils and other supplies I brought. I am very happy that they appreciate it. I also bought lots of socks for the kids. Overall, I donated over 40 pairs, so that should help all of the kids that don't have them. I am considering sponsoring a child for school, which is about $550 for 12 years, but provides them with government, structured education, as opposed to the free schooling from the orphanage. I still have another week to make a decision!
Recently, one of the volunteers donated paint to repaint some of the classrooms. They have started a tradition of all of the volunteers putting their handprint on the wall. So, I did that today. I can say that I officially left my mark (hehe).
Otherwise, no knew news! I have been a little sick the past few days with stomach issues. We eat mainly carbs here, so I don't think my body is taking to that change too well. But I am just resting before I head to Moshi for the weekend. There, I will be base hiking Kili, visiting hot springs and a coffee plantation! I am going with a few friends and it should prove to be a fun weekend. I will post updates from it as soon as possible.
Asante sana for your continued support! I can't believe I'm a week away from home!
No comments:
Post a Comment