HABARE! Walking the long stretch of hot dusty road across the rice field yesterday with Job, the chef magnifico who teaches me Swahili with great patience everyday, and his brother Michael an artist who just finished 2 hours of simba! tempo, elephant, and twiga! giraffe drawings at the orphanage, amazing to scan at the new cafe and create a calender..we're heading along the three of u amidst kids playing on the sidewalk just in front of us, when a bike wizzes by at top speed almost hitting me, but knocking straight over a little guy just ahead, flop onto the ground, screaming he is now, holding on to his right ear with blood spurting out everywhere; we race up and put a handkerchief on the wound only after seeing it like a Van gogh as if someone took a sharp pair of sizzors, and sliced his little ear at the top, almost clean off, i almost fainted, the speedy bicyclist retreads his tracks, while everyone gathers around, women with huge buckets of bananas on their heads, another on a bike with an entire bush of some sort of tree, and branches attached to the back, brothers, sisters - we get the little screaming one up off the ground and set him on the back of the bike with his bigger sister in a pink flouncy dress on behind and off they went poly poly to the hospital...i almost got hit last night in the dark with another bike, looking one way carefully when he came blasting along - forget purse theft! something else to worry about.

In the midst of all that drawing yesterday, and Charles has still not resurfaced, maybe i will be here forever like Delta Dawn waiting without the red rose, a carload of safari travellers unloaded spilling out with lots of exciting news of \obama, will he really win? They were from Washington, the wife having worked in the White \house with Bush, obviously not Democrats! Worried, bewildered, they ask, what does he stand for besides HOPE!! wELL I guess i can see their point, but what's a bit wrong with hope after what we've been through for the last eight years! Someone knew him from Harvard, said he was brilliant, so with all that light, why not! I say!!

In the midst of this, accompanying those from Washington was one from Harare, Zimbabe, a big man with bright blue eyes, sunburnt skin, with blonde hair and a safari hat who insisted i come to visit again, that it was indeed still continues to be a big huge beautiful country with yes 10 % corruption, the rest filled with beautiful and good people who are suffering, yes, and what of that 9000% inflation, which we both agreed was not a good thing; plus two from L., taking pictures playing with the kids...when two more showed up, one from Austria, the other from Israel....she'd been working at the orphanage in January before i came, been travelling when she met him....we agreed to meet this morning for breakfast -

Complex, perplexing. i took notes; testing, medicine, precocious sex playing, fierce punishments, where to begin. Firstly the testing of the kids for aids. \how to organize that, they can't at the orphanage, not enough staff...so we'll take five kids at a time over to my ICA for testing with Elizabeth a nurse, and Sabina a social worker, but first a treat, breakfast at the local Double m, and then during the prick, we give cookies, and afterwards balloons that they can parade back to the orphanage hopefully forgetting to mention the slice of wretched scary time they endured with the needle....We start Wednesday am...five kids, and five in the afternoon and move right on through to the weekend to finish all 35. We'll take records, histories - medical and family of each kid...and keep them at ICA.

Then there is the issue of medicatio - seems that whenever they get a headache,a little scratch, a hot flash from the heat, two aspirin are shoved into their little bodies, drowsy, drugged, they calm down from whatever the ailment and doze...talked to the nurse and social worker who agreed to talk with staff at the orpanage, of medicine, of hiv aids prevention, of the testing, of talking to the kids about sexual practices all around the hiv aids subject, as some of the bigger kids from 7 on are mightily happily involving themselves, despite nasty punishment practices endured as a necessary evil for their fun.

Seems all over Africa, and for a long time all over everywhere and in lots of places still all over everywhere, the beating, cane ing, whacking, hitting, slapping, spanking of kids....they just put their little hands out with their heads down, expecting the worst when they get caught. The staff is doing this; it is done in the primary schools - remember public school back when, i was shut up many times in a locker at the back of the class standing in that metal cage for mornings, had a book thrashed on my head, and spent hours sitting under my fat grade five teacher#s desk, Miss Turner...But we don't do that anymore, the slapping hitting, violence towards kids, and in turn as they get older, they hit, slap, swat, spank - the only practice they know, and on it goes..So we three at breakfast agreed the most important criteria for our helping out, especially financially, will be for them to change this one big punishment practice - strive to turn the orphanage into a safe place for the kids, shift their punishment from beating to sitting in a chair in a corner of a room, thinking about the offense, whatever it may be.

We walk back to the orphanage under the canope of great flying birds, after a meeting with Elizabeth and Sabina finalizing the Wednesday testing and the meeting they would have next week to discuss it all with Juliette and the staff, the kids. Juliette, the interim director of the Orphanage is thrilled...about the table and benches coming in today, about the new furniture coming in next week - the shelving storage units, and shelves for the kids..and now we have ordered two new bunkbeds for the kids..But finally, in a round about way, the punishment discussion: the ONLY criteria for all of these goodies, was the very important subject of the shift in punishment..on the ending the violence. Period. It is a huge thing to ask of her. She has a staff of 3-4, who have been thrashing since they opened a year and a half ago and she is being asked to regulate with new methods..with the promise of new furniture, uniforms, shoes, and money, looming like a big grand prize in the sky as a reward for this changing....She is going to try...she promises.

Lunch of a gruel, consisting of maize chunks and beans, called makande....holding hands and singing jINGLE BELLS in this immense heat and i am out of there, a mile walk past all the bars, shops, shoe shine boys, Masai women selling beads, snuff, and on to the internet cafe...
A note on Swahili....i can only learn by writing everything down, and then memorizing each word, each and every syllable, with reference to something i know..like TUTA ONANI BEDAI....this means 'see you later!', but the only way i can remember it is thinking first of Biship TUTU...but switching the u to and A..then i think of OH NANNY!! like a granny but my own grandmother was called gran so that goes through my head as well...and its not nanna, it is nanni....and then on to the dreaded Bedai..which when pronounced sounds like BAD EYE....so you see, before i can execute a simple see you later phrase, i have been all over South Africa, remembering huge rallies in Toronto with Biship Tutu and Nelson Mandela...then on to my dear grandmother racing right back into my mind vividly after all these 40 years and then on to eye problems i have had over the years, stys....red eye, the usual..so you see how difficult it all is.
GINA LAKO NANNY....you can imagine this one too, beginning with Gina Lollabrigida....on and on.....meaning merely 'what is your name?' so you see my Swahili is coming along very poly poly, which means slowly slowly, or said only once, poly, meaning sorry....

This handsome little guy in the picture showing his brand new school uniform with a big smile, is my little Elia who i tried to adopt last year but to no avail, having, unless you are Madonna, to live here in Tanzania for two years or more. My heart turns over when i see him and he knows it. He hangs around me, singing Imagine me and you...i do!' He is, i learned this morning one of the prime movers and grovers in doctor playing at the orphanage of course....

Sympatico is down, so i can't return emails today, but wanted to wish my good friend heading into the hospital tomorrow the very best; thinking of you! Be well...

Can't imagine all that snow, but this kind of heat stretches hot on the other side of the sun...talk soon!