Jambo!

This morning I got up at 6:45am for a shower and breakfast as Vale and I were on morning shift at the orphanage. When I went in to the bathroom Vale kindly informed me that there was no water, and if I wanted to shower it would have to be the traditional African way..... Picking up a 5L bottle of water and pouring it over myself. Any shower is better than no shower, so, I took an African shower. It's not so bad picking up a 5L bottle of water, however, trying to pour it over yourself is a different story. It was a very quick shower for sure!

Breakfast should be ready for 6:30am as morning shift should start at 7am, however, Mama Queenie is very relaxed, as the Tanzanian's are, and makes breakfast when it suits her. We had breakfast about 7:30am. I had a bar again, Vale had my piece of toast, so she had two pieces this morning! We also had parachichi (avacado). Vale had hers on toast, but I just ate mine with a little salt. It's the first time I have felt full since I arrive on Monday evening.

We headed over to the orphanage around 8am. The children were cooking their breakfast with Andrea and Mathilde when we arrived. The have uji for breakfast, which is maize flour mixed with water, a bit like porridge, but so runny that they drink it from cups. After breakfast Vale and I washed the dishes in two small bowls. We then swept up the leaves from the garden. Next task was to make the beds.... There is one blanket per bed, or one blanket between 2 and 4 children. One child has a bed wetting problem, but as there is no running water at the orphanage we could not wash it. Occassionally there is running water, but not often and so water is very limited. Today there was one bucket of clean water, and that has to last the day, it wasn't even drinking water.

We played uno with the children. Vale went off to play outside, whilst I carried on playing uno. I learnt a few swahili words 'chezza' - your turn, 'lamba' - take, 'jana' - yellow and I can't quite pronounce the other colours, let alone try and spell them. As much as I loved to see the children happily playing uno, after 17 games, I had really had enough, so I sent them outside to get fresh air and play something different. The two youngest girls Mary and Prescila can't leave me or my hair alone, they love to play with it. They are also completely fascinated that I have my tragus pierced and keep calling all of the children over to see it. They also keep trying to rub my tattoo off, but don't quite understand why it's not coming off. I did some colouring with Mary and Prescile before playing duck duck goose outside with all of the other children.

School here starts at 7am, and usually the children return between 10 and 11am for breakfast, but this morning they didn't return. They also usually return between 12:30 and 13:30 for lunch, but again they didn't return, so Vale said that maybe the school provided lunch today. The children had Ugali and Boga. Ugali is again made with maize flour, but is very thick and sticky, so they pick this up with their hands. Boga is vegetables, which is usually a bit of cabbage. This is their lunch most days.

Once the children started eating Vale and I headed back to the house for our lunch which was rice and boiled potatoes in a tomato sauce. Bit more appetising than tea last night! It is currently approaching 4pm, Mathilde and I have walked to the main road this afternoon as we have both finished our shifts for the day.

After this we will have a wonder around the shops and markets before going back home. No idea what is for tea tonight, hopefully something edible. This evening we are all going out to Jack's Pub, which is where all the other Dada's have been going every Wednesday. After Jack's Pub we are going to ShakaBoomBoom which is a 'club' or as close to. I am looking forward to this evening, as normally free time is spent in the house, and there is nothing to do there, other than write in my travel journal, but that doesn't take too long.

Tomorrow I am on morning shift again, and will be doing some washing in the afternoon as the washing line is currently full! Friday is my day off, so that will be nice, means I can have a lie in, and I will probably come to the town again in order to update this blog.

There is no WiFi here. A couple of the girls that are staying here for a long time have internet on their phone, and so ANdrea is going to allow me to connect to her WiFi Hotspot this evening in order to check my whatsapp and check my emails on my phone.

The weather today has been very cold here, as was last night. It's not like Dar at all. Dar is about 28 degrees, here it's a mere 15-17. The mornings are very cold and cloudy, however, the sun does break through in the afternoons and so it does get a bit warmer which is good.

Hope you all have lovely afternoons and evenings. I'll be sure to have a drink or 10 for you all, hehehe!

H x