Choices

I feel quite settled in Buswelu and I'm really enjoying my time here. I've had my morning class for almost two weeks and we are starting to have a lot of fun together. After writing and drawing in their exercise books this morning I read them a story (one of my sister Abby's old Winnie the Pooh books) - which was really fun! They don't know many English words so I was basically acting the whole thing out and they loved joining in. Almost everything I said they would repeat with the actions - they especially liked the bouncing tigger bit!

Cody is leaving Hisani tomorrow and last night the volunteers and I had an incredible goodbye feast for him at Happiness' house. Happiness and her family have been so wonderful to the volunteers - they really have been so welcoming and kind and truly given us a home away from home.

One of the things I'm finding hardest is that the people I meet who are doing wonderful things here all want to leave. Grace, one of the teachers at the orphanage, wants to leave Tanzania because she doesn't think she'll find a man here who will respect her. Caf, also a teacher, wants to leave and go to Uni in the West because he can't afford school here (even if he could, the schools here aren't very good) and thinks he will be better off. I never know what to tell people who tell me they want to leave Tanzania. The ones that have (or can get) the means to leave are usually the ones that could help the country the most by staying: doctors, nurses, teachers. I've met some really wonderful people here and I wish that life was much easier for them, but I know that life in the West would be very different than what they imagine.