Jambo

A big hello from sunny and beautiful Tanzania!

A driver met me at Mwanza airport yesterday and drove me the 1/2 hour or so to the orphanage. The airport is on the outskirts of Mwanza, and the Hisani Centre is in a village called Buswelu on the other side of the city. 600,000 people live in and around Mwanza, but you would never know that from looking at the structural dent people have made on the landscape. There is a small centre with buildings, but most of the surroundings have been built in to the hills and lots of people live in lean-tos and huts. The rock formations (at the bottom of this page) are incredible. They jut out of the landscape all over the country.

My initial impressions have been just shock and awe. It is so incredible different than anything I've experienced before. The noise, the smells, the colours. Everything is bright and colorful and everyone here seem so strong and beautiful.

I arrived at Hisani just before noon and the children all gathered round to meet me. The older ones were at school, so it was all the little ones that came up and talked . Two tiny children (TINY!) picked up my massive 30+kilo bag (more than 60 pounds) and carried it inside. They've learned to say 'Hello Madam' and their name and age in English, and so they introduced themselves one by one and asked me my name and how old I was. We had lunch and I unpacked everything for the orphanage. The children loved the toys, they had never had baby's toys before and seemed really pleased with them. I have some brilliant pictures of them playing with them. The kids love having their pictures taken and seeing the pictures afterwards. They all seem really small for their age, but are incredibly strong. Robbie, a 13 year old boy who seemed more like the size of a ten year old to me, picked up my suitcase and carried it on his head the entire 15 minute walk from the orphanage to the 'volunteer village' where we are staying. I couldn't believe he could manage it!