We planned a day in Arusha so we could visit Isaac and Elizabeth's Day Care Nursery. Judy Davis of Lander, spent six weeks last year volunteering here, and became committed to the children by starting a non-profit called Sunflower Kids.
It was a national holiday (end of Ramadan) with no public offices & schools being open, which changed our plans a little. We were going to serve breakfast at 7:30 am, observe the classes in the morning and work with teachers in the afternoon, but instead we arrived at about 9:30 to Isaac and 16 students (on a regular school day there would be 100 students). We all just hung out getting to know one another a bit, playing letter/sound games, playing ball, and getting into the stickers!!! A substitute Mama was there to prepare lunch. Isaac took Godfrey, John and I on a walk around the neighborhood to see the church and the quarry. The quarry is a significant source of jobs and income for people in the community. Everything is done by hand from removing the large boulder sized rocks from very dangerous underground tunnels to breaking the large stones into smaller & smaller pieces with a hammer. People literally make a living breaking down rocks which are then hauled away for concrete and construction.
I need to send some stickers when Judi visits at Christmas because the kids found them and started having too good of a time decorating faces and taking pictures. I knew the stickers were probably not intended to be used in this way, but it was a holiday and we were having too much fun.
Church.
Underground tunnels.
As the oldest, it was Losheva's job to supervise the handwashing before lunch.
Lunch was a big pile of pasta with a much smaller amount of sautéed greens. Even though it wasn't Monday or Thursday (fruit day) everyone had half an orange which was surplus from the day before. The room was quiet and many went back for seconds!
After lunch, Isaac organized the neighborhood Masaii singing/ dancing group to entertain us, which really was such a pleasant surprise. We were requested to join in and so tried to shake & shimmy our shoulders like they were able to do, but we've got a ways to go! After the group picture, each man wanted to have a picture of himself with John & I.
These guys are amazing jumpers.
They jump straight up.
The men also requested to be tutored, if we were planning to stay longer or come back. Unfortunately, we were only at the school for one day. I would love to work for an extended time with the men, learning English, I assumed.
We took a duffleful of hoodies, which were collected from all the Lander Schools. It was loads of fun for everyone to find one they liked, have it zipped up and pose with teacher Isaac. There are many more which will be passed out tomorrow, when school is in session. After this, the kids headed home and Isaac took John & I on many home visits. We met the mothers, grandmother and in one case, parents of the kids who we shared the day with. We learned about why each child is at Hill Crest specifically, and saw close up the poverty of the neighborhood. Isaac and Elizabeth welcome many volunteers and have an amazing community going with Bibi Judi and other volunteers playing a huge role in the success.
Elizabeth and Isaac with their beautiful one month and two day old daughter, Sharon.
