Update #7

Two months of living with a host family and working from home have come to an end. Rich in experiences and impressions, I have mixed feelings about it. But more on that in my next blog post, where I will reflect a little bit.

But first, let me tell you about the past two weeks in Sanya.

In the penultimate week, the Fundi suddenly remembered several things (worth 200€) that he still needed and simply forgot to put on the initial list. But because I really wanted the house to be finished, we bought everything on the same day.

Then I was sick for five days and only went to the orphanage once to deliver potatoes, tomatoes, and a chicken that Grandma brought for me (quasi as medicine). There I was surprised with the news that some bags of cement were missing. Grandma, the Fundi, and the guard apparently thought, well, since there is cement, we can also use it to improve the pigsty. Two days later, they all came to me and apologized for not having replaced the cement yet. After 5 days! Within 15 minutes, it was there. I don't even want to ask myself if they would have done it if I hadn't noticed. Somehow, we still needed 2 bags, maybe our tilers just miscounted. In the end, it didn't matter because it was enough.

One day before my birthday, one of the children suddenly disappeared. In the morning, she left the orphanage with the others, but didn't show up at Grandma's or come back in the evening. We suspected that she was at her grandmother's in West Kilimanjaro, but we couldn't reach her. So the next morning, we went to the police. They made a note in their big book and that was it. A few hours later, luckily, we received the news that she was indeed at her grandmother's. What a relief that was..

Just in time for my birthday, the house was (almost) finished. Glad to have completed it, I celebrated my birthday in the garden of my host family. But the morning started just like any other, no one congratulated me and the Fundi was of course not at the orphanage. On the way back, I bought a lot of soda for the children and at home, we prepared a small sitting area and moved the music system outside. With an hour delay, all 14 orphanage children + Naomi and Wity arrived. There were also 10 more children from the neighborhood, some of whom I saw for the first time. The traditional birthday celebration began with an introduction and presentation by Baba Hope. Then Mama Hope handed me a huge cake, I cut it and the children sang. This was followed by feeding them cake and soda. In addition, my family had made popcorn and mandazi (fat cake without powdered sugar), and I even received a Maasai necklace with matching earrings as a gift! After everything was eaten and the children probably had a sugar rush, I opened the dance floor and they danced to their favorite songs. It was really sweet and they all enjoyed it so much that they asked Baba and Mama if they could come back again.

The next day, I stayed at the orphanage overnight. But before that, a former volunteer came with her mother and a lot of donations. It was perfect because we didn't have the money for the electricity connection, for example. So we spent the whole day shopping and ordering cabinets, beds, mattresses, and a solar panel. For dinner, we had rice and beans from lunch, luckily they had brought meat. Otherwise, it would have really been just rice with a dollop of beans. After that, everyone played a bit before I sent them to brush their teeth. Apparently, that is only done in the morning. The boys all lay down in bed with their clothes from the day. The girls were wearing pajamas, but two of them were just lying on the dirty foam mattress because the sheet was in the laundry. The new mattresses are really urgently needed. Someone (a social worker or Grandma) also said that the lights in the rooms have to be on all night in case something happens. What nonsense! I turned it off and most of them liked that too. I don't know if it stayed off because I spent the night in the office. Falling asleep with squeaking rats was not really nice.. but I managed. The next morning, we got up at half past 6 to clean the orphanage. When we wanted to have breakfast, most of the children were already at Grandma's again. Originally, she even called the guard at 5 o'clock to order them to come to her. Fortunately, Naomi didn't allow that. But it is frightening that most of them even want to go to her. We brought them back and had Nutella banana and peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast. Then the shopping trip continued. This time it was groceries and we were able to inspect a sample bed. I also bought a lot of fruits and vegetables for my family because I wanted to have a kind of farewell dinner in the evening and I cooked. We had salad, oven-roasted vegetables, chicken, and a fruit salad. Everyone found it delicious! It was sweet that Mama Hope immediately made oven-roasted vegetables and a fruit salad the next day.

Then it was Christmas! In the morning, I went to the orphanage and the preparations for the Christmas church dinner were already in full swing. There was Pilau, rice, french fries, vegetables, watermelon, mango, and cake from Mama Hope. After the meal, the pastor and Grandma said prayers and thanked us (or rather God) for the support. Then I handed out Christmas presents to the children, each one received a backpack with crayons, pencils, Fanta, gum, and a spoon. The joy was great and I was able to say goodbye right away, as I will already be a 'visitor' in January. Late in the afternoon, I was at home and to my surprise, there was nothing Christmassy. Baba was on a 24-hour shift, Mama baked cakes for 5 hours, and I watched TV with the cousins. In the evening, I had dinner with Mama alone at the dining table, the others sat on the couch and the TV was on. So everything was as usual. It was really strange.

On Monday, I packed my things comfortably and took the bus to Moshi after lunch and a photo session. The hostel was great, and it just felt good to have all the freedom again.