Chini! Chini!

After having a fabulous Indian in town yesterday Max, Rachel (two of the other volunteers) and I piled into the back of a dalla-dalla and set off back to Buswelu. Dalla-dallas are mini-vans that function as buses connecting the villages to the town. Probably about 15 people could fit comfortably, but in the couple of rides I've had it usually seems to be between 20-25 people squished in together. The dalla-dallas are never in great condition, but this one seemed to have no suspension left what so ever. We were all sweating and slipping around as the dalla-dalla slammed into every bump in the road.

After our nerve-racking 1/2 hour, we arrived a short walk from the orphanage and stopped to see the children. Although it was a Saturday, all the community children had come for school so we spent the rest of the afternoon teaching. I took the littlest ones for my first lesson, thinking they would be the easiest. I had about 25 kids between 3-7. It started out quite well, but I think they realised quickly that I didn't know Swahili and then they all started jumping around. I quickly learned the word for sit down and told them chini! chini! which worked on some, but not all. I was trying to teach them numbers in English, so we counted to ten and then I had the kids come up and write them on the board. They were all very enthusiastic and tried very hard. Some were really shy but by the end of the hour they had all come up at least once to try and write a number. Some of them had far more fun rubbing the coloured chalk all over themselves than writing on the board! After their lesson, the girls and boys broke into circles and played catch with a tennis ball for a bit until it was time for dinner, when the community children went home and the children from the orphanage chowed down on their spinach and rice.

The other volunteers and I walked home around seven and it was already dark by the time we arrived at the complex. Kate and Zara (two of the Ozzie volunteers) had made all ten of us supper so we sat around and had pasta together. The rule with food here is eat lots when you can. We don't have a fridge so everything must be eaten when it's cooked. It's easy to get fruit, eggs, bread, rice and pasta, but veggies are hard to come by. Its my turn to cook supper tonight so I'll be trying to find something in the market later to throw together - fingers crossed!