We left Morogoro on Thursday after school by bus. It was a very crowded bus and reminded me more of a daladala since there were so many people sitting in the isles (which I've found is not so very common with the big charter buses that travel long distances). Needless to say, it was an uncomfortable ride and I was very glad when we were approaching our drop point. The only problem was that the conductor didn't understand where we wanted to drop. My Swahili may not be so great, but Anne has amazing Swahili and we were still having problems. In any case, somehow by the grace of God, they understood that we wanted to go see Berit (who is known all over Tanzania because of her work) and they dropped us off right at the road that leads up to IOP. We arrive late, so we didn't get to do much that day.
On Friday, the five volunteers, some of the girls from the orphanage, Anne, and I all went to a place called Isimila. This is a beautiful canyon not far from Iringa town that recently (if I remember correctly) has become a national park. Luckily for us, Berit knew of someone who would be willing to guide us through the park and she had set everything up for us. I took just over an hour on a daladala to reach Iringa town and then we had to get on another daladala for about 30 minutes. Literally, we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere. There were like two buildings and a bunch of farms and one dirt road. We walked down the road for less than a mile and reached the entrance to the canyon. There we met our guide who showed us the small museum there and then we walked through the canyon itself. Really it was quite beautiful and so peaceful since we were the only ones there. The canyon reminded me a lot of Bryce National Park because of the tall columns in the middle. Here are some pictures of what we saw:
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| The girls from the orphanage who came with us! |
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| Yup, that's right. It's a chameleon!! :D |
On Saturday, one of the girls who grew up at IOP gave us a tour around the entire IOP site. Having already been once before, I knew all of the programs that they offered, but it was cool to see that things have progressed since I was there just a few months ago. Anne asked her to give us the tour only in Swahili so that we could practice. I was amazed how much I could understand, but it does get tiring listening and trying to translate Swahili so much. The whole tour took maybe 3 hours or so!! That's a LOT of Swahili.
In the afternoon, I remained at IOP and Anne went to town to meet some friends. I stayed behind and helped one of the girls with math. She's in secondary school and is struggling a lot, so Berit asked if I could try and help her. Also, the volunteers put on a series of activities like a treasure hunt for the girls and I helped them with that. I forgot to bring my camera, so I unfortunately didn't get any pictures, but we had a lot of fun none the less.
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| The girls danced to welcome us to IOP |
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| A sitting area for the girls to rest in. |
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| This is the chicken house that was under construction the last time I was at Ilula. Now it houses a few hundred chickens! |
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| A picture from up at The Lord's Hill High School |
Before church on Sunday I jogged, and unfortunately twisted my ankle (again!). Seriously, my ankle is so terrible messed up now from running on the uneven surfaces. It's so easy, even when walking to accidentally make a wrong step. Luckily, it's not a bad twist and it doesn't hurt at all. So, I was able to walk up to where Kjirstin and I planted our sunflower seeds the last time we were in Ilula. It was SUPER exciting to see the results of our hard labor!!
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| Me and the sunflowers that grew from the seeds I planted last time I was in Ilula |
For Sunday School, Anne and I got to teach the lesson. Berit had a puzzle with pictures of the story of Noah. So we used that to help us tell the story. I told the story in English and she translated it into Swahili. It was really fun. After we told the story and talked about the lessons we can learn from Noah, we took the whole puzzle apart and put it back together with the kids. It was really fun!
Also, I was asked to sing during the special music part of the service when the choirs are coming up to sing. Last time we were there, I was caught off guard when Berit asked me in the middle of the service if I would sing, but this time I was more prepared for that to happen. So, I sang a song that is based off of 1 Corinthians 13 which is really nice and a particular favorite of mine.
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| Telling the story of Noah |
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| Putting the puzzle back together again with the kids! |
After church, Anne and I returned to IOP for lunch and then prepared to go. We waited at the bus stop at Masukanzi for over an hour while the guy who works there tried to flag a bus for us. But, all of the buses which were passing by were full and once it got to be about 4pm, I was feeling like it was getting too late because most buses were going all the way to DAR which is about 8 hours from Ilula. The guy even tried to wave down mini-buses and private cars for us, but we were still not having luck. Suddenly, a guy stopped in his truck and offered to take us. Normally, I'm not a fan of the idea of riding with a strange person, and I know that it's especially important to be careful here seeing as I'm white and all. But, somehow I felt OK about the situation; I'm not really sure how to describe it any other way.
Really and truly, I think this man must be a very wealthy Tanzanian. The truck was practically brand new and very clean, he had a super nice phone, and even mentioned visiting his sister who is now living in Austria. Honestly, I don't think we could've asked for a more comfortable ride back to Morogoro. He didn't play the music too loud (which is quite common here) and he didn't ask too many questions or for our phone numbers or email addresses (which is something that strangers seem to always ask me for). It turns out that he went to secondary school at the Seminary where Anne is working and they talked about the people they both know there which was kind of a cool connection.
When we arrived in Morogoro, it was dark already and he even drove all the way out to the seminary to drop Anne off before dropping me off at my house. He refused to take the money that we offered.
I was simply amazed by this, and I feel like he must have been an angel sent by God just for that purpose. I mean, who does something like that and doesn't expect anything in return, even when offered? The whole experience really blew me away.
Well, that's about all for now. It's May tomorrow which only leaves me 1 1/2 months here (and only 5 of those weeks will be for school). Somehow I thought it was never going to end, but now it's becoming more and more real every day. Even the kids are starting to talk about it now and I wish they wouldn't just because I'm not sure I'm ready to face the fact yet. I just keep telling them "But we're together now, so let's enjoy what we've got left instead of mourning over the departure." I'd rather go out singing than crying!
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine
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