Blog Update: Safari Njema

I’ve been back in Moshi for a few weeks now. My parents, two Amani volunteers (Laura and Jennifer) and Laura’s friend Joe visiting from New York and I went on safari for five days to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. The trip started off pretty rocky when my dad collapsed outside Laura’s house. I thought for sure he was having a heart attack but he was just extremely dehydrated. The first park we went to, Lake Manyara, was really lush and green with big Baobab trees dotting the landscape every now and then. We saw a lot of bald butted baboons crossing the road and a whole family of elephants. I loved the elephants wrinkly paper like skin. We camped out the whole time we were on safari although the first night was the nicest with actual beds and a campfire. It was a lot of time to be in the car but still worth it. The Serengeti was the best place to view lions, and zebras and impalas were everywhere. We also saw cheetahs, leopards, monkeys, hippos (smelled awful), hyenas, giraffes and a rhino.

The last day of safari I was really sick and by the end of our trip I had definitely lost weight. I had what I can only guess was something between giardia and ecoli for four days. I felt like a dog that needed to be put down, which was pretty unfortunate luck since I’d been reading about Zanzibar since January. My parents went on a spice tour in Stone Town and then we spent three days in Kizimkazi on the south of the island at this place called Karamba Resort on the beach.

I didn’t realize how much I missed the kids while I was gone and I’m so happy to see them again. They are real pests some times but at the end of the day I really love them.

There’s a new little boy at Amani named Naftari who’s around four years old I would guess. He wasn’t speaking at all at first but has opened up a little. I want to find out more about him from the social workers because he doesn’t say much and I’m wondering what happened to him. He’s super cute but super quiet. I don’t think he had ever colored before because I sort of had to explain to him how to use the markers to decorate the teddy bear on the paper. Today he was running around and ran straight into the wall so he had this big whopper bump on his head, so Christina (the new special ed volunteer) and I put ice on his head and wrapped a big kanga around him. He couldn’t really see out of it to well while he was playing since he’s just so darn small. It’s great to sort of see him realizing how to play and have fun. He was chatting for a bit the other day when I showed him how to use a kazoo. Eventually I had to kick him out of the playroom because that kazoo was really starting to get to me. *

We have a new roommate named Anna who was living in Dar es Salaam. She’s working at Amani also as the health educator, which is desperately needed.

On Friday I went to visit the two little girls who left Amani (Zulfa and Amina). I’ve missed them a lot so it was really sweet to see them. They would always be running around in kangas like little fairies in the morning. They are living with Suzie, a night mama at Amani, whose husband runs a nursery school right next door to the house. The kids in nursery school are adorable. Amina and Zulf were really shy at first but opened up later on. They were so quiet and focused on practicing writing letters I was really proud of them. They showed me their beds and brought me some chai. I gave them a My Little Pony coloring book and crayons and some paper, and two little black cloth dolls wearing little dresses. Zulfa named hers “Whitty” and was combing the little gal’s hair a little rough. It’s amazing what different people they are out side of Amani- so quiet and collected. Not that Amani isn’t great but there are so many kids the little girls really had to be aggressive and assert themselves.

That’s about it for now. I still get a little lonely here sometimes but all in all things are going well. This week I taught art classes on drawing trees with the older kids and made paper dolls with the younger ones, which turned out really cute. A volunteer who was living in Moshi went back to Germany and donated his guitar to Amani so that is pretty great and I’ve started teaching the kids some chords (they’ve already broken a string!).


*I wrote this a few days ago and Naftari has disappeared with his older brother James. They might be in Moshi or Arusha but I haven’t heard anything.