My week at the Orphanage

Day 23 – 21st March 2009

Today I woke up the latest I have this trip – at 10.20! Amazing. You have no idea what a nice feeling a well over due lie-in is worth. I had a bit of a rough morning – being in another new place is taking a little bit of a toll on me and the prospect of doing nothing over the next two days scares me a little. I feel I need to keep busy to distract myself from missing people and being in a new environment. No power and no running water certainly didn’t help!

However, Karen texted me in the afternoon, whilst I was writing up the Jangwani profiles, to ask if I wanted to go see a film. I jumped at the chance. I went with Karen, her son Josh and Sophie to see the film Marley & Me – air conditioned theatre!!! It was an okay film – very sad ending and it dragged a bit, however, there were some hilarious moments in the film. The cinema is within an American style mall which is another one of those bizarre things about Dar, unexpected things in unexpected places. There were some clothes shops which we had a look in and one even took a card! I should mention here that card machines just don’t exist here; it’s all cash so I would be scuppered without ATM’s. It’s such a weird concept to me now I guess because we live in such a plastic society, I mean I used to pay for my tea in London with a card.

Once we had finished Karen drove me back to Mary’s and I spent the afternoon on the phone to Dad and Mum as well as finishing another book. That’s 15 now!

Day 24 – 22nd March 2009

The power was back thankfully last night! And we had running water so I have the much desired bath since the shower isn’t very good in my room. Last night dad got a hold of another Karen in Dar because I was feeling quite low yesterday and perhaps needed something to do today.

Now – the connection I’m not quite too sure of but I’ll try my best! One of dad’s clients is married to someone who has a sister in Dar es Salaam so we managed to get in contact with her. Funny thing is that she teaches Kindergarten at the school Mary’s kids go to but knows Karen Stanley (the family I have been staying with) because some children from Karen’s nursery, Tiger Tots, go in to her class. Small world, eh? Well anyway she invited me round for lunch today which was very sweet.

They have three dogs and three children. Megan who is 10, Jacob who is 8 and Louis who is 5 I think – all very sweet children and I found some common ground with Jacob over Star Wars. They also have the most adorable puppy, Tails, who is just a little ball of scruffy fluff. They commented on his likeness to ‘Hairy Mclairy’ – I have to agree! After lunch I played scrabble with them, losing narrowly to Karen. We then watched School of Rock before they eventually brought me back home. I had a lovely time there.

At 5 I started a new book then spent an hour on the phone with mum. I’ve also gone on to their internet since I think mine has run out of credit which is a bit of a shame. So my blog might be running....well no. It IS running late! I’ll talk to the usual people tonight and then bed to get a good night sleep in before the Orphanage in Bagamoya tomorrow.

Day 25 – 23rd March 2009

Today was my second time down at the Orphanage. Me and Robert went in Lugendo’s car (he’s been my driver quite a few times) however, I sat in the back this time – no seatbelts and just a bar to hang on to. Quite scary I’ll admit especially since the main road to the Orphanage is being resurfaced so it’s got almighty mounds of sand on it so we had to go the back way. Roads don’t seem to be built with cars in mind here! It was a rather scenic route though and I got to see this spectacular orangey-red bird, beautiful colour but I have no idea what its name is!

Once we got the Orphanage the plan was to stay a few hours while rob prepared some of the walls for painting. It was quite difficult with the children since I don’t speak very good Swahili and they know very little English. However, by the end of the session we’ve started to count to twenty in English which is really excellent. We then went back to the house (Mary’s) and I spent the afternoon reading and doing some more of the Jangwani profiles before an early bed for an early rise tomorrow!

Day 26 – 24th March 2009

I woke up early today and we set off around 10.30. We got to the Orphanage just after 11. Work begins on the painting of the Orphanage now since they’ve got a BBC camera crew filming on Saturday to do with Earth Hour. The idea is that everyone in the world at 8.30pm switches off their lights for an hour to promote energy efficiency. The idea is that the Orphanage will switch off all it’s lights but then turn them on using their solar panel energy – to show the use of renewable energy. Anyway, Darren (from Ireland) is staying at the Orphanage all week to get the painting done.

I stay for almost two hours before Mary and Rob drive me to Bagamoya. I’ve learnt something new today, “Gotchola” (that may well be spelt VERY wrong) means to draw so I spent the hours we had together drawing various things and trying to sing the Alphabet and counting.

Yesterday two of the main hotels in Bagamoya burnt down – which was a bit worrying but thankfully the one I was about to book in to was okay. The place is called ‘Travellers Lodge” and is very picturesque. It’s not a traditional hotel as such; all the rooms are little huts with two double beds and a rather big bathroom. They all come with a veranda and they look out over the Indian Ocean which is nice. It was a bit nerve racking being completely on my own but I manage to get through the afternoon by keeping myself busy and then having dinner. The huts are air conditioned which is also rather lovely – it’s nice to be not so hot, nasty and sweaty all the time!

Day 27 – 25th March 2009

I had a bit of a bad sleep, I couldn’t get to sleep because the air con was really loud and when I turned it off it was too hot! However, I did get some sleep and got ready and had breakfast ready for the taxi to pick me up at 9.30.

Now... The taxi was a bit of an ordeal, I must admit I dislike them more here. The guy didn’t speak a word of English for a start! Because the road is still not finished we had to go down the back road, he went right instead of left and then got stuck in the sand. Had to dig himself out. Turned around and went to the beginning of the road and refused to go back in so I had to phone Mary to talk to him in Swahili. Finally he yielded and went back down the road again.

FINALLY got there and I spent a few hours with the little ones. We counted and “sang” the alphabet as well as some colouring. Today I started something I had picked up from Karen’s nursery – I drew a cartoon letter, ‘A’ for example, which they had to colour in and then write it ten times underneath. They all seemed to get on well with the concept so we got up to E which is good.

I left around 1 because they were about to have their lunch and it looked as if it was about to rain and the taxi would never had made it back down that road if was wet. Once I got back to the hotel I was feeling really ill, I tried to get my mind off it by doing the Jangwani profiles and finishing another book. I’m out of fiction now so I’ve started on my philosophy books. Still annoyed that my internet won’t work but I can’t really do anything about it till the weekend.

I then attempted some dinner since I was feeling really bad by this point and spent the evening watching BBC Lifestyle because I’m really cool – Masterchef goes Large and The Great British Menu. I then got ready for bed, phoned my family and Sam before eventually drifting off with the air con on low so it didn’t make so much noise.

Day 28 – 26th March 2009

I had a nice lie in this morning since I was still feeling really rough. The taxi (thankfully a different one!) picked me up after lunch and took me to the Orphanage. I spent the afternoon with the four kids learning numbers, attempting to write out the alphabet and singing baa baa black sheep! Also because I stayed till around 6 I met some of the elder children when they got back from school. I also spent some time talking to Darren who’s from Ireland. He’s been staying at the Orphanage so he can paint the place but it was nice to speak to someone my age (ish) about our experience which was lovely.

About six I left the Orphanage before it got dark and back to the hotel for some dinner and sleep. I spent the evening watching The Great British menu again and had a lovely dinner of chips and a chicken sandwich. When I was back at my room I did some more of the Jangwani profiles before settling down to sleep.

Day 29 – 27th March 2009

I didn’t get to sleep till very late last night so when I had to get up at 7 it was quite painful! However, I got showered, dressed and checked out of my room before getting the taxi to the Orphanage. It was a nice drive down since it wasn’t so overcast today. I was there at the Orphanage up until 6 so it was quite a long day!

I again did similar things with the kids that I had been doing all week to keep continuity and they’ve become much more confident with their counting which is lovely to see. I also sat and played with them and spoke to some of the older children when they got back. All things are go because everyone was trying to get everything ready for the Earth Hour TV segment they were planning for Saturday evening. Darren had his job cut out for him trying to get all the painting done! Also it now looks good and something the children can be proud of. Once it came to going I didn’t say goodbye since I will go back with Dad and not ready to say bye just yet!

Once I got back to Mary’s I put some more clothes in my case and we drove to Gwyneth’s Guest House since I would be staying there over the weekend. (I met Gwyneth on the second day I was here). I’m the first ever guest so that’s rather exciting! It’s a wonderful place with proper air conditioning. It’s called ‘Haven Guest House’.

Okay I’ll start from the beginning. It’s a compound of five houses. The first house is the one I’m staying in, the Guest house. Three will be rented out as houses and the fifth house is a restaurant/pub which is wonderfully English meets Africa and it’s just a really nice atmosphere. So now since I’ve had such a long day I’m going to snuggle up in my duvet (!!! You have no idea how lovely that feels after sleeping under sheets for so long) and sleep till tomorrow morning!

- Love, Emma xxx