JAMBO today...happy Thanksgiving Day to Canada!! If i weren't here i would be up at our cottage on Lake of Bays...tonight preparing the roast turkey, the dressing fried up with onions, celery, poultry seasonings, thyme, sage and others...carrots chopped into little bits ooozing with melted butter in the big old wrought iron frying pan my dad once used....mixed with stale chunks of brown bread...amidst the laughter and craziness of kids and grandkids, Pyper and Finn racing at top speed through the old kitchen, little Eve toddling behind...Sierra stirring the gravy, oh i miss you all so much!
Back in Africa....today Sunday, a day of rest....by the pool at the Twiga tourist campsite i talk with safari goers from all over the world about our little orphanage that grew and grew, just down the road from the campsite. so often they plead to come with us, to show us something real of Africa, a great way to meet people - to raise interest and maybe funding...
Yesterday our big meeting with our staff at Majengo,with us at ICA...we'd just come back from the market buying 29 pairs of shoes and green, blue and yellow sweaters to match the colours of the Tanzanian flag...
We start by doing a go around with the cooks, cleaners, night watchman, secretary, teachers and the treasurer, so everyone knows what everyone else is doing - the details, which i am told doesn't happen ever..usually the higher up sec and treas keep the info to themselves but here we are trying to do something different, to keep the transperancy (sp?) and corruption down. This is partly for my notes, but also for anyone out there interested in the meanderings both positive and problematic the day to day of orphanage running: basically, everything is fine, the 15 new kids we brought in last April have settled in and adjusting well. At first they cried at the site of new children and adults to deal with, hid, ran away...but now are making friends. Big problem is that they arrive in the morning filthy and need to be showered down, and then back into dirty clothing, which makes them feel inferior to the kids living in the orphanage. We agree to send them home with a month's supply of laundry soap, oil, toothbrush and paste...and reiterate that our budget holds that we can buy uniforms for all the kids, not just our 28 living in.

Martha the treasurer took the older kids to a Masai village to get a sense of how the people live from different cultures so close to the orphanage..this was a great success; she bought lunches out of her own pocket and hopes that we can add to the budget Field Trips in the future. Witness the head cleaner complained that there was no locked up place in the whole orphanage for their cleaning supplies: brooms, mops, cleaners, etc. I suggested our locked pantry where we keep the dry foods, but learned the govt inspectors would see this as an infrigement...the two showers and toilets we built outside have never worked well, the owner will have to look into this, so we decided to put a locked door on one of the shower stalls for the cleaning stuff. Done.
I suggest that some of the Masai girls we have been sponsoring through Secondary school could offer us some weeks of free volunteering once they finish their exams.. the concept of giving back....all agreed.
Our two cooks would like us to add four big hot pots to their utilities...to keep rice and ugali, etc warm..with such a number of kids, they start cooking dinner at 3 in the afternoon, stone cold by dinner. The pots are $150 US each..so maybe one will do, for starters....
The new watchman needs mosquito lotion and army boots.
He has had two incidents since April: one a guy was caught peeking through the windows of our matron's bedroom in the middle of the night, and two, some guy got into the indoor kitchen area and stole his warm jacket, running across the field after him, the thief dropped the jacket, so all is well.
Grayson the teacher would like tricycles for the younger kids. He said they have trouble walking all the way to primary school, could we provide transportation..that means a car. Not likely i think, not now, anyway with our budget on the rise...
Shelves..the kids get into the shelves in the classroom, and when the teachers arrive in the morning they are in shambles...books, papers, crayons, chalk, spilling out all over the floor..need doors and a lock...i suggest it is good for kids to have access to books, but they assure me that in Africa kids read on schedule...i still think our books could be out in the open for some quiet kid to read..but...hey, this is their custom...
Killo our sec needs an office...he is embarassed to greet govt people in a room filled with children and food! They want our bougainvillea fence to include thorns, and a gate with a lock...to prevent older kids from running in and out, they don't now but they worry about the future...Water...often the community water is shut off. they are stuck with 28 + kids with no bathing, etc..they want a 2,000 litre tank dug into the back for auxiliary needs. Toilet needs fixing. Prefer hole in the ground to Western toilet...can we change it. All 6 solar lights no longer work. Can we invest in a big solar panel for the roof? $300. Can someone research installation, etc.
Chairs, the plastic ones we bought last year were demolished by exuberent kids...we need 5 wooden chairs. I suggest a sofa for the living space, to relax in..but they say the kids will slice open the cushions with razor blades!! Horrified i ask, where they get these? The school gives them out as pencil sharpeners, they stick them in their pockets, so often the cleaners find them there while washing clothes....Can we bring over 5 good pencil sharpeners for the school? the kind you screw onto the wall?
Sheets, towels. threadbaren...or with holes...clothes fades and ragged. desperately need clothing for older kids, aged 6-12....
and finally the English teacher we hired part time is too busy with her school..they are looking for a replacement...
three hours later, sitting on wooden benches - it was a great meeting...not so much to do...just these odds and ends...and things will settle in till we get back in Feb/March...
Friday we had the first two presentations of the loans given to the first two of four PLWHAs groups. I described this process of VICOBAS..small banks, much like the micro financing projects, but these are groups of people living with HIV AIDS..who have formed together to make four groups, each person buying up to 3 shares, pooling their money, and lending it out at 10% to each other or someone outside the group. the group monitoring the lending and savings. Well, we added seed money donated by my uncle David Pretty, thank you David!! he is a wonderful man of 85 years, was the president of North American Life INsurance in his days, has never married, without kids, and is now bequeathing his money to very worthwhile causes. He agreed that we could use $9,000. US to loan without interest these groups, for a six month period. The presentation was exciting!!
They have gone through a three day intensive workshop on everything about small businesses, the running of them, saving, the books, receipts, etc...lending... and are very smart and savvy now....very serious..and with full intentions to pay back the money in 6 months.
My only problem is getting it out. The one ATM in Tanzania that i have located which will accept my debit card is on the blink now, since Thursday...and i am unable to withdraw money, even for my own use! Nightmare. Where once at least i was able to catch a bus and race to the mobile bank in various towns, it is no use, so we wait!
and wait! African people have unlimited amounts of patience - compared to me anyway. I awaken yesterday to no bank, and no water in my little hostel. So you dole out a handful from your precious bottled water supply, add soap and do bare minimal washing. That for the day. Hot, dusty, but so busy now, no time for worrying about these small things. By nightfall it comes back somehow, with miracles.

At the presentation of the money Friday, each person stood up and spoke of their small businesses: bananas and vegetable growing...chickens and eggs, farming, welding, small shops, retailing clothing, etc. etc...cooking by small fires at the side of the road chipatis,roasted buns, breakfast foods...anything to make a few shillings to feed their families..With this loan, they dream of expanding these businesses, making more money, each and every one of them, mostly women, only 12 men in the total of 90, they hope to raise enough to educate each one of their kids, maybe build a small home someday.

we counted the number of kids dependent on this group..well over 150....and this was with just the first two groups...the numbers of kids will be over 300 when we finish next week with the last two groups' presentations...if i ever get the chance to withdraw what we have promised!

that's about it. last night at the Double M a big dance show...with mostly guys prancing and dancing, and being wonderful, huge crowds, lots of laughter and fun.
Have a great thanksgiving...to Canada...and to everyone else...
Bidai...see you later!
L