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July 6

I am now in my fifth week and I am starting to think of Moshi as my nyumbani (home). My Kiswahili is finally coming along and I am able to carry on a decent conversation with the locals.

This past weekend I went with 5 of my friends to Arusha to meet our friend Mnas and a Maasai warrior named Isaya. The two of them took us to Isaya's village where we spent the night with 6 Maasai warriors in their camp. The camp was located in the mountains and the temperature dropped to below 30 degrees at night. We camped in tents beside the Maasai hut. That night the warriors slaughtered a goat for us and then proceeded to drink its blood and eat the meat (much of which was raw). It was an amazing site as I watched the warriors chant and sing as they went through this ritual.

After the eating of the goat we ate rice and vegetables. Around one in the morning, the warriors did a tribal dance for us which lasted an hour. They jumped straight up and down and used their voices to project low monotonous sounds. The sound was the most amazing harmony I have ever heard; it put each of us in a trance.

The next morning we took an hour and a half hike around the mountains and then went into the village to visit Isaya's parents and sisters and brothers. I ended up buying three Maasai necklaces before we returned to Arusha. It was definitely an interesting and educational weekend. I felt as though I was right in the pages of National Geographic.

I have now started working at Light in Africa, an orphanage in Boma about 40 minutes away from our home. I had visited there a couple of weeks ago and decided that I had to spend all my time there. I take a dala dala (bus) there and back. The buses are meant to hold no more than 25 people although they always cram at least 35 in. The children at the orphanage are beyond amazing; they are happy and teach me something new everyday. The website for the orphanage is www.lightinafrica.com if anyone is interested in seeing or learning more about the kids I work with everyday.

I am working in the nursery where we have 8 infants. We have two newborns who are two weeks old, a set of 8 month old twins, a Maasai baby with cerebral palsy, a boy with a muscular disorder, a 6 month old baby girl, and a 9 month old baby girl. The babies with disabilities were abandoned by their families and left on the side of the mountain (Kili), one of the newborn's mother died in child birth, the other newborn's mother is too sick with AIDS to care for him, Tumaini (which means Hope in Kiswahili) was wrapped in a trash bag and dropped in a toilet hole, and Manka (which in Chagga means the second born) and the twins Ruth and Jemima were abandoned on the side of the mountain. Although their stories are heart-wrenching, they are all healthy and happy. The workers who take care of them love them as their own.

The other 82 children of the Light in Africa orphanage are all victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic here in Tanzania. The orphanage rents a special house for the children dying of AIDS and cares for those with HIV in the main orphanage. I have absolutely fallen in love with the children and spend as much time as I can with them everyday. Once I return home I will be sponsoring one of the children and hopefully keeping in touch with him/her for many years to come. Until then I am enjoying the time I get to spend with them.