I am happy to be back home from Tanzania. I enjoyed my time there and even left a piece of my heart there forever. My experiences there have changed me and who I want to be. But there is no place like home and I can say that I am so grateful for our country and the leadership we have had- even though we may not agree with everything our government does it is so much better here than in Tanzania.
Here is my list of "luxuries" most Americans have-but Tanzanians don't:
Running water in our homes that you can drink without fear of getting sick from it
Reliable electricity
Toilets you can sit on and flush
Toilet paper, Kleenex, and disposable diapers
Movie theaters
Fast food
Safe buildings with building codes
High quality "free" public education for k-12 for all-and laws requiring all children to go
Garbage pickup
Toys for children
Pets-dogs you can pet without fear of getting rabies or other diseases
Quality products
Emission laws
Paved roads most places
A daily hot shower
Welfare programs for the needy
Modern medicine you can rely on
"Quality" television reception and many choices of shows
General knowledge of AIDS, how it is spread and how to avoid getting it
Credit availability
The list goes on and on....
Things Tanzania has that I wish we had:
Lions, elephants, giraffes and zebras that will walk right up to your car
Little to no materialism
Happiness for the most basic things
No stop lights
No PDA in public whether gay or hetero- it is the law and if caught you have to pay a huge fine
Happy friendly African children who love white people and wave and yell MZUNGU! Then if close they like to give you five and bones and hugs
But some of the richest people I know live here in Tanzania. Nia and Jonas Tiewe established a company called TAFCOM. They help people who no one else will- people who been affected with AIDS. They are rich in love and service and spend their lives making a difference with what they have and what is donated. They care for the most desperate- they listen to their tragic stories and try to cheer them up, they give of themselves physically and emotionally and financially knowing they will never be repaid. They share what they have hoping that it will be enough. I came hoping to make a small difference -hopefully I accomplished that but I came home feeling like they made more of a difference in my life- I want to be different and more like them in many ways- more appreciative of the small things in life, more willing to share what I have been blessed with physically, financially, emotionally and spiritually, more contentment with life as it comes, more willing to listen to others and give them support and encouragement. This is what I hope to become. Thanks for reading. More pictures to be added soon:)
Peggy
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Last Email! -July 1
This will probably be my last email before we leave to come home!
Today was our last day at placements. It was kinda sad.. actually
really sad! The teachers were so nice to us and gave us both
kangas.. which are a type of cloth women wear that has a
meaningful saying on it. The kids were as cute as ever and so
so hard to leave. I made my class cards and they probably didn't
even understand haha. I read the cards to them so hopefully they
got the message :) I wish I could just bring them home so you
could meet them all! We also gave each of them their picture so
they can keep that memory of what they looked like as a child.
One of the many things we take for granite. Yesterday was such
a special day. After lunch me, Jen, and Dana went back to the
Tuleeni Orphanage that we visited on Wednesday. They seemed
surprised to see us again. We brought some of our clothes and
thread so we could teach them how to make bracelets. They
picked up on it super fast! We probably only spent a couple hours
with them but we grew so close to them. I had the opportunity to
talk with some girls my age there. It's like we became best friends
by the time we left.. They made me and mom a card and were
constantly asking if mom was okay since she was sick at home.
They also sang to us and put my name in the song before we left.
It was extremely hard to leave. The little kids were so adorable.
I can't describe how incredible those teenage girls are.. some of
them have been there for 4 years and take care of all the little ones.
Mama Faraja takes care of them but has her own home where she
spends most of her time so the kids are on their own a lot. The girls
all have such big dreams and ambitions which I think is really cool.
Three weeks definitely went by fast. I'm excited to see everyone but
I will miss it a lot here. I've met some incredible people and have
become close with many. I have learned so much from them. This
experience for sure had more impact on me then I probably had on
anyone. I will never forget this experience. I love you all and cannot
wait to see you!!!
-Erika
Today was our last day at placements. It was kinda sad.. actually
really sad! The teachers were so nice to us and gave us both
kangas.. which are a type of cloth women wear that has a
meaningful saying on it. The kids were as cute as ever and so
so hard to leave. I made my class cards and they probably didn't
even understand haha. I read the cards to them so hopefully they
got the message :) I wish I could just bring them home so you
could meet them all! We also gave each of them their picture so
they can keep that memory of what they looked like as a child.
One of the many things we take for granite. Yesterday was such
a special day. After lunch me, Jen, and Dana went back to the
Tuleeni Orphanage that we visited on Wednesday. They seemed
surprised to see us again. We brought some of our clothes and
thread so we could teach them how to make bracelets. They
picked up on it super fast! We probably only spent a couple hours
with them but we grew so close to them. I had the opportunity to
talk with some girls my age there. It's like we became best friends
by the time we left.. They made me and mom a card and were
constantly asking if mom was okay since she was sick at home.
They also sang to us and put my name in the song before we left.
It was extremely hard to leave. The little kids were so adorable.
I can't describe how incredible those teenage girls are.. some of
them have been there for 4 years and take care of all the little ones.
Mama Faraja takes care of them but has her own home where she
spends most of her time so the kids are on their own a lot. The girls
all have such big dreams and ambitions which I think is really cool.
Three weeks definitely went by fast. I'm excited to see everyone but
I will miss it a lot here. I've met some incredible people and have
become close with many. I have learned so much from them. This
experience for sure had more impact on me then I probably had on
anyone. I will never forget this experience. I love you all and cannot
wait to see you!!!
-Erika
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| Every day the kids eat/drink porridge |
Thursday, June 30, 2011
June 30
hi everyone. i hope my email got sent last night that i sent out because it took a lot of time to compose and also the computer wasn't doing what i was wanting it to do.
The internet here is just like everything else-it kind of works some times--that is the way the electricity is and other things also. It is funny because you see Obamas name on many things here. it must be a brand- you see obama pencils and school supplies and obama pants and yesterday i took a picture of the Obama Hair Salon. In a small town when we were on our safari there was a Hilary Clington Shop- it was funny. Our driver said last week it was Obama but was changed to Hilary Clinton because she was in town.
Well, i found the girl i want to bring home with me! About 8 of us went to Tuleemi orphanage in Moshi. It was a small compound surrounded by a tall fence and a gate. We went in and there were about 20 smaller children running around and I also noticed several teenage girls. They were very friendly. We went around and played with the kids and talked to the girls. This 14 year old girl named Rose came and sat down me and started asking me all kinds of questions. She had the typical African hair style for young girls-a shaved head and then she had the most beautiful smile of straight white teeth. she asked me many questions about where i live etc and i asked her many questions also. She asked me about my family and i happily told her about everyone then she said- i don't have any parents. i said oh, i am so sorry how long have they been gone and she said 4 years. i asked if she had any brothers or sisters and she said-no just me. i said well now this is your family and you have many brothers and sisters and she said yes that is true. it broke my heart though because i could tell she longed for her real mother. i wanted to just tell her she could come home with me. we talked for quite a while and then she wanted to show me her room. the compound had a long cement building about 6 rooms long and there were 1-3 bunkbeds in each room. she shared her room with another girl about her same age. there was a sewing machine in the room so i asked her if she knew how to sew. she said she did and showed me a rack of skirts etc that she and the other girls had made. she said do you want to buy anything? So erika and i picked out 2 items and paid for them. after a while all the kids started getting in a big circle and we all held hands and took turns leading songs or games. like princess Pat and duck duck goose and ring around the rosies etc. they had some funny games like meatsie meatsie. some one would stand in the middle and call out animal names and everyone would either say meatsie if you could eat that animal or be quiet if you can't eat that animal. if some one screwed up then they would go in the middle. we played games like that for a long time. we got to meat their mama. she was an amazing woman who had taken in 48 orphans. the older boys and girls live in her house with her. all the children go to school if they are of age and she has 9 employees. i don't know how she does it. a bunch of us want to go back today and teach the teenagers how to tie the embroidery floss bracelets and then give them all our floss and instructions that we brought with us. erika is going to take some of her clothes that she doesn't want any more. i would also like to make a donation to them.
it is incredible how much need there is here and i am finding out that there are many people who are making a difference but it only scratches the surface. This is just one country in Africa and i am sure many of the others need just as much help. But for the most part people are used to how things are and they accept it and try to survive the best they can. i don't think they collect taxes of any kind- i will have to ask some one-but i am grateful we do have taxes so that we have money to pay for good roads etc. Remember what Don said-that it is a privilege to pay taxes.
love you all. we will see you soon.
-Mom
The internet here is just like everything else-it kind of works some times--that is the way the electricity is and other things also. It is funny because you see Obamas name on many things here. it must be a brand- you see obama pencils and school supplies and obama pants and yesterday i took a picture of the Obama Hair Salon. In a small town when we were on our safari there was a Hilary Clington Shop- it was funny. Our driver said last week it was Obama but was changed to Hilary Clinton because she was in town.
Well, i found the girl i want to bring home with me! About 8 of us went to Tuleemi orphanage in Moshi. It was a small compound surrounded by a tall fence and a gate. We went in and there were about 20 smaller children running around and I also noticed several teenage girls. They were very friendly. We went around and played with the kids and talked to the girls. This 14 year old girl named Rose came and sat down me and started asking me all kinds of questions. She had the typical African hair style for young girls-a shaved head and then she had the most beautiful smile of straight white teeth. she asked me many questions about where i live etc and i asked her many questions also. She asked me about my family and i happily told her about everyone then she said- i don't have any parents. i said oh, i am so sorry how long have they been gone and she said 4 years. i asked if she had any brothers or sisters and she said-no just me. i said well now this is your family and you have many brothers and sisters and she said yes that is true. it broke my heart though because i could tell she longed for her real mother. i wanted to just tell her she could come home with me. we talked for quite a while and then she wanted to show me her room. the compound had a long cement building about 6 rooms long and there were 1-3 bunkbeds in each room. she shared her room with another girl about her same age. there was a sewing machine in the room so i asked her if she knew how to sew. she said she did and showed me a rack of skirts etc that she and the other girls had made. she said do you want to buy anything? So erika and i picked out 2 items and paid for them. after a while all the kids started getting in a big circle and we all held hands and took turns leading songs or games. like princess Pat and duck duck goose and ring around the rosies etc. they had some funny games like meatsie meatsie. some one would stand in the middle and call out animal names and everyone would either say meatsie if you could eat that animal or be quiet if you can't eat that animal. if some one screwed up then they would go in the middle. we played games like that for a long time. we got to meat their mama. she was an amazing woman who had taken in 48 orphans. the older boys and girls live in her house with her. all the children go to school if they are of age and she has 9 employees. i don't know how she does it. a bunch of us want to go back today and teach the teenagers how to tie the embroidery floss bracelets and then give them all our floss and instructions that we brought with us. erika is going to take some of her clothes that she doesn't want any more. i would also like to make a donation to them.
it is incredible how much need there is here and i am finding out that there are many people who are making a difference but it only scratches the surface. This is just one country in Africa and i am sure many of the others need just as much help. But for the most part people are used to how things are and they accept it and try to survive the best they can. i don't think they collect taxes of any kind- i will have to ask some one-but i am grateful we do have taxes so that we have money to pay for good roads etc. Remember what Don said-that it is a privilege to pay taxes.
love you all. we will see you soon.
-Mom
June 29
The safari was incredible. We saw just about all the African animals except for leopards and cheetahs. We saw a whole pride of lions eating their fresh prey. They hunt at night and this was early in morning. There were 2 male lions about 6 female and 8 cubs that we could see. Many of them had bloody paws and faces from eating. Then they would go over to the river to drink. We watched for at least an hour. we saw some elephants way up close and some giraffes and thousands of zebras and wildebeasts. The hippos were in the water so we didn't see them too well. The rhinos are shy so they won't come close to you- I'm not even sure it was rhinos -even with binoculars they weren't very distinguishable. Rhinos are on the endangered species list and the rangers have to account for all 6 of them in the park each day. So we had an incredible experience.
On monday I went with our room mate Jen to TAFCOM. It is a small business started by a husband and a wife to help families affected by AIDS. There are many tragic stories. We went and visited 4 families. The one that sticks out most to me was an 80 year old woman who struggles to care for herself but her neighbors- a husband and wife both died of AIDS and left 3 children who are HIV positive. No one wanted to take them in so this sweet old lady who struggles on her own took in these three kids. When we visited her the roof of her mud house had fallen in and the timbers had hit some one so there were repair men there trying to fix it. But Bea was smiling and said it was a good day because she actually felt good and so did the kids. She was a real sweetheart and would just look at you with her loving eyes. We couldn't communicate in words.. Nea and Bea talked for a while. Her home was just mud and she had a small fire on the dirt floor. The children were sweet but quiet. We gave her a gift of sugar and some money. There is so much desperate need here it is incredible. our poverty in America is like Tanzania's middle class.
love you all
-Mom
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| Baboons |
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| Hyena |
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| Wildebeast |
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| Baboon butt check |
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| Sleeping elephant |
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| Lion Pride- a rare sight! |
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| Buffalo |
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| Pumba the Wart Hog |
June 28 (short email)
Our welcome dance
"Give me some money"
Mother & son with Erika
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| Maasai children |
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| Our guide who knew some english |
no time! -June28
Well, I only have about four minutes to type since it took forever to
load at the internet cafe and our taxi will be here any minute! Our
safari was absolutely amazing! We also got to go see the Maasai
tribe which was a very interesting experience to say the least..
I'll have to write about it more later.. Yesterday we had a batik
making class and made sweet pictures! Today we get to go to
an orphanage and then we are having a big dinner in some park
and learning a cultural dance! Can't wait! We have a pretty planned
week.. tomorrow we're spending all day in arush which is an hour
and a half drive and then thursday and friday placements and
leaving saturday.. bittersweet. anyways we're alive and well!
love you all and can't wait to see you at the ranch!
-Erika
load at the internet cafe and our taxi will be here any minute! Our
safari was absolutely amazing! We also got to go see the Maasai
tribe which was a very interesting experience to say the least..
I'll have to write about it more later.. Yesterday we had a batik
making class and made sweet pictures! Today we get to go to
an orphanage and then we are having a big dinner in some park
and learning a cultural dance! Can't wait! We have a pretty planned
week.. tomorrow we're spending all day in arush which is an hour
and a half drive and then thursday and friday placements and
leaving saturday.. bittersweet. anyways we're alive and well!
love you all and can't wait to see you at the ranch!
-Erika
Thursday, June 23, 2011
June 23
Yesterday they didn't have us go to work instead we went to Marangua for the day. we started out at some local "shops" and then we took a tour of some underground Chaaga tunnels where they used to hide from their enemies. We had to stoop down really low-almost crawl to get through them. They taught us all about it-how they would have guards to stand watch for 6 hour intervals and kill the intruders and hide their bodies then at night they would chop up the bodies and float them down the river--cool huh? Then we went on another hike to a waterfall. this time it was a huge steps going down but not that far-probably only took us about 30 minutes and we saw another beautiful waterfall which was runoff from Mount Kilimanjaro. We went down a few more steps and most of our group went swimming. Erika wasn't planning on it but kind of fell in with her clothes on. Ha ha-i think on purpose. some of the other girls offered her some dry clothing after. then we had to go back up those huge steps to get back. My legs were just shaking because of our last workout but at least it wasn't very far. I could feel my asthma again but I survived. After we went to a museum of Chaaga tribal stuff and then went to a beautiful hotel for a refreshment-outside. The hotel was majorly luxurious. Our guide wanted to show me his house so I got some other people to go also-and some protective cadets followed us for protection and Joseph showed us his humble abode which he built himself. He was very proud of it. Most people don't have running water or electricity here. They cut their grass with a machete and the don't have dishwashers or washers or dryers. Everything is done by hand.Even if you had them the electricity is not reliable so why have it... Well I need to go but we are leaving on our safarai tomorrow so we won't be able to talk to you for a few days...don't worry! Maybe by Monday we will talk again. The internet won't allow us to upload pictures sorry.. Love you all very much and we miss you. It is another world entirely here--they are at least 50-60 years behind us. It's crazy but they have many good happy people.
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| A banana tree with a banana flower hanging below |
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