JAMBO!! A week since Diana, Matt's mom, and Jamie arrived - it has flown by!! Yesterday, Diana exclaimed that so far it'sbeen a 'trip of a lifetime!!' and to think that only a short two months ago, she was just tooafraid to make this trip! Bravo!! They descendedintoa hot steamy evening, as she related later, waiting in line for their visas at the Kilimanjaro airport, dripping with sweat, she was thinking, Oh My Gawd. What have i gotten myself into!!!
Off to Arusha with Abdul driving, overnight at the Naz Hotel, where a tiny baby lizard scampered up the white washed walls of their room, oh no i thought, a few culture shocks...the selection in Mto wa mbu of rice and beans, greens and more, rice and beans and greens not to their fancy, but easily remedied as they discovered a mean vegetarian quiche made from scratch envelopped inside a delicious cheesy pastry about a mile out of town at a nice safari campsite, with a pool to rest and recoup. It's allowing me to compare through them, what we have at home, vs what we have here..the plumbing in our small but clean bathrooms, tiled from the floor up to the ceiling, on the fritz more than not, outside the rooms at night non stop people talking, greeting each other, calling across the dusty road from one to the next, the mooing of cows, donkeys,goats as they make their way along, the tv on in the courtyard incessantly bleating in Swahili, music, dancing number, sometimes annoying. On day one,
WE visit the church in Arusha packed with 100 little kids dressed in blue and green uniforms, all pre schoolers, lined up singing songs and eating porriage scooped out into plastic coffee cups by wonderful volunteer women in the very poor slum neighbourhood - where Pastor Naiman has chosen 18 of the most vulnerable to start his own orphanage just down the road, over tea, rice, a short of beef stew, talking of maybe taking this on....and on to Mto Wa Mbu...our little village with dusty streets, shops and stalls lined up on both sides of the main road, a bar called the Double M where we sit outside and have lunch of what else but rice, greens, beans, and more beans...rice and greens..
That first day, we visit Majengo, meeting the kids with lots of songs, a dance with Glory tying skirts made of grass around the waists of the older kids, moving rythmically in a circle swinging their hips and singing, the drum beating, meeting the staff, and the next morning sorting out four suitcases of clothing, toys, school and medical supplies-thank you Yvonne for putting all of this together!! and presenting it all to Majengo the next day. Wonderful!!
I am thrilled to greetthem here, to see for themselves the incredible work they are doing back home in Warren, where every last cent of their fundraising has gone, this place Majengo is a dream, compared to the other facilities around the village. WE spend a day jammed into my small office, with Charles at the computer, Peter, Killo and Martha going through last year's budgets...each and every item at a time...
The food...maise, rice, beans, sugar, cooking oil, and what they call the daily run, where fresh vegetables are picked up, fruit, milk..the cooks asking for one glass a day each to combat the harsh firewood and charcoal pollution rising from open fires, morning noon and night...Each and every item discussed in detail by this committee of 7...how many litres, pots, boxes...per month, per year... clothing, uniforms....last year we had 10 kids at primary school, but this year, 19... each one with school needs, some living in...and what about the 6 who were at pre school last year, but who now are in primary, but living out, are we responsible for assisting these kids as well with uniforms, books, school fees?..we all agree yes, leaving spots for 16 more pre schoolers at Majengo....more kids...more uniforms, more food....more budgeting, but isn't this what we are trying to do? To add new kids every year....2010, with new figures we have expanded from 40 kids last year, up to 55 this year. The village leaders who know all the families in the area, who know the most poor and vulnerable, the families with orphaned kids they have taken in but who are struggling with children of their own..these are the kids we are hoping to help....
Diana and Jamie are learning a lot..skyrocketing learning curve,2understand theprocess of budgeting, all the items we did't include during our first year, and now, adding new things, knowing from experience how much we need for how many kids, and making a very precise budget. It is all good...

A three day safari up to the Ngora Crater and over across the wide plains into the Serengeti, what an incredible experience! Our first night, at dusk, opening my door, four giraffes and a band of zebras grazing just outside the lodge, sillouetted amongst African trees, the Ndutu lake sparkling in the background. And that very night, awakened around 1:30 by loud insistant grunting, uh, uh, uh....lions, male lions, a lot of them out there, not too far from where we were sleeping!

WE saw everything, 17 huge elephants lumbing across the 12 mile green on green plainsof the Ngora Crater, amongst zebra who can see mixed with thousands of wildebeasts running like crazy in long lines galloping with their babies aside making their yearly migration south along the Serengeti. Giraffe everywhere, tall and graceful, elegantly chewing the tops of trees, baboons scampering in huge families, ostriches with long legs and necks bopping in and out of tall grasses,we saw a brand new just born baby zebra still encased in its mucus birth bag lying on the ground, alive....the mother waiting for our truck to take off to finish the job of birthing a few metres away....hyenas, sculking and black vultures high up perched in bare dead trees without leaves, with knarled branches and limbs, very old,sculptures in their own, waiting for the next kill....hovering...

Incredible...for me, my third safari, but for Diana and Jamie....each moment, each beautiful vista spread out with rolling green hills, bands of lime green colour swept across ranges of moss covered trees, speckled with black animals far in the distance, the bright red cloth of the Masai boys with sticks herding cows and goats from hill to hill in search of water...they rush to the safari truck handing out bottles of water and bananas as we lumber along...

Diana loves it, every minute of it, watch out Warren....here she comes!!

And Matt arrives tonight with friend Brian who i have never met from BC...
Arusha for me today, I jumped onto a local bus and speeded into town early to hit this internet cafe, and to walk through the markets i love so much. Women selling fruit and vegetables atop sheets of plastic and lined up in little pyramids, or in creatively festive rows, big fat carrots, bright red tomatoes, mangoes, oranges, bananas and pineapples jammed into and filling up the back of huge pick up trucks, tumbling onto the ground, venders selling costume jewellery, belts, colourful sheets of bright fabric, shoes of every sort set out in pairs, runners, flip flops, black school oxfords and stilletoes with high heels sculptured, copied from the latest pages of Vogue..t shirts, stationery stores, sheet selling shops, towels, matresses, kitchen goods lined up along the road, pots, dishes, cutlery, Western toilets, sinks, cars, trucks falling apart, motorcycles, busses jammed with people checking cell phones, texting, taxi guys running along beside....it is all safe, you just keep moving amongst it all, savouring the new smells, sounds, grinding of trucks, the school kids arms linked in matching skirts and sweaters even in this heat, dancing amongst it all.
Matt here for four days only. So much to do, i can't wait till he comes...Majengo, one year later....the other night Diana, Jamie and I met four people at the pool, telling them of Majengo they wanted to visit. So without notice, we all stroll over...Glory the teacher/matron is out at the hospital with two with malaria, Grayson has finished his day and gone home...the two cooks are out in the kitchen frying up some kind of big puffy delicious cake buns and Witness, our cleaner who spends her days washing clothes, cleaning and showering 28 kids, is inside, as they all coming running up to greet us. The visitors are blown away. Everyone is showered with hugs..huge smiles, on gorgeous little faces smiling, so happy to see us....we move outside as Matilda, one of the Masai girls we support at Secondary school, shows up belting out songs with the kids....we are all taking pictures, joining in on the songs....not staged, this is the way it is. Jenny, one of our visitors said, after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, and doing a five day safari, that this was THE HIGHLIGHT of their entire trip to Africa....1!! and i would say that Diana and Jamie felt the same. We were all blown away.

And last night, over drinks with Peter, Charles, Grace his wife..Peter, talking about the vision we had a year ago....putting this place together, all of us, working so hard, the renovations, building the outdoor kitchen, the bunk beds, sheets and towels, benches and desks, setting up the pre school....and here we are a year later, with a place running so smoothly, with a group of staff who work so hard at keeping these kids healthy, happy....how open it is, how honestly it is running... how unique this place is...the vision...

How it has become a reality....

It is a miracle...to me....I needed that talk, i needed to remember what it is we are doing here, what we hope to achieve..to make grow....thank you Peter for bringing that back to me...and now, tonight Matt..the guy who really has been responsible for keeping this whole thing going...I pinch myself, what was i thinking!! a year ago, raising all that money to renovate that house, to furnish it, to move in all those kids...but never giving it a moment's thought about how we would finance the running costs!! Not one thought!! Maybe i think to myself, somewhere up there the universe knew that someone would come along and make that happen, as i said, magical!!
WElcome to Matt....and Brian....i can't wait to see them....
For more days of everyone being here...Matt and Brian, his mom Diana and Jamie... and then off they go Sunday night....
I'm here till Easter....another big chunk of time on my own with Charles, Peter... pulling together everything we will talk about these next four days, infrastructure, micro financing, our budgeting, Pastor Naiman's new orphanage....
Just a tiny slice, a small chunk inside this continent, Africa....I am always thinking, it is never enough, never enough, so many here needing so much....but i am reminded everyday, that each little bit means so much, so out there, thank you again!!
over and out!! with 45 seconds to post this blog!!

xxLynn