After the internet cafe yesterday, Lael, Delia, Mathilde and I went to Paradise Cafe for a drink. It's so nice at that cafe as you can really relax there. We go to the market most days on the way home to stock up on parachichi's and other fruits.

In the evening, Vale and I were on evening shift at the orphanage, my first one. We left the house around 18:30 and had not had tea as it was not ready for us, but when we arrived at the orphanage the children had already eaten, so there was no tea for us there either. Luckily I had eaten a parachichi about 17:00, but still, it is not good to not have any tea. Vale and I spoke to Kabalo who said that we should eat at the house, but we said to him that this is impossible as Mama Queenie does not cook dinner until atleast 19:30, and usually 20:30.

The evening shift was tiring! WHen we arrived the children were singing a lot of African songs, they have beautiful voices; they were all laughing and enjoying themselves. I took a video of this, so will upload for you all to see later in the week. It bought a tear of happiness to my eyes. For children that have so little, they really enjoy life, they are also so happy and always laughing. After the singing the children were so hyperactive. We split them in two, half played uno and half played memory. At 20:30 we put a few short movies on on the iPad and they went to bed at 21:00. There are two new girls at the orphanage, Salma and Ruthie John. There was no room for Ruthie John's brother and so Kabalo turned him away, this is very sad that the children have been separated, and I think that Kabalo should have thought this through. They only had eachother, and now, they do not have that. Apparently, when Ruthie was left at the orphanage she burst into tears, which is completely understandable.

The bed situation is different to what I first thought; but not much better either, there are three beds for 7 boys, and three beds for 9 girls, one of them being a double bed where 5 of the girls sleep. Vale and I shared Mama Ana's bed.

This morning Ana turned on the light at 6:45am, an early start for a Sunday! Vale and I got up and headed outside in preparation to make the fire. Pendo got up with us and helped us make the fire. Whilst Vale was watching the water, I hung the children's clothes out on the line. They were outside last night, but due to thiefs, all of the wet clothes had to be brought in. Despite the clothes having been cleaned, they are far from being clean. They are very dirty and still smell alot.

For breakfast they have uji; you mix one pot of water with three cups of maize flour and one and a half cups of sugar, it is like a very thin, runny porridge. Anna always helps with the uji and she is one of the more domesticated children in the orphanage as Mama Anna always asks for her help. After breakfast I gave all of the children a flannel and t-shirt. Felis arrived last week and he had no clothes, he was so lovely and thankful, his smile beamed from ear to ear and said thank you for most of the morning. I gave the olders girls a crop top and the boys also got a pair of socks each. Unfortunately, one or two of the girls were very ungrateful, and told me 'no' that they did not want the t-shirt or the flannel, they wanted the socks. I was very surprised and taken back to see them act in this way, but I could not give everything to everyone. Majority of the children were very thankful and gave lots of hugs which was ever so lovely to see!

I bought some neckalces from Ema, the oldest boy in the orphanage, he collects the beads and finds string to thread them on to. They really are pretty and such a skill. They have clasps and everything! It's amazing what you can find when you look.

All of the children, except Salma, went to church this morning. Salma is muslim. They all dressed in to their best clothes and shoes. We headed back to the house around 10am. There was breakfast for the other dadas, but no breakfast for me, I do not know why. I just had chai. So I had a banana and a bar.

After a quick shower we all headed in to town with Rama. Rama is a guy from Dar es Salaam he works for the organisation that Lael, Delia and Mathilde booked their trip with and was visiting in order to obtain feedback. We went to Paradise Cafe for a drink and were there for an hour or so giving feedback. We all have the same opinion in that the children are lovely, however, there is no staff at the orphanage, only Mama Anna and she is not a proper Mama; she does not see to the children when they cry, she does not play with the children and shows them minimal love. This means that the volunteers take on most of the responsibility at the orphanage. When we stay there, there is no supervision other than ourselves, we are not fluent in swahili and it's very difficult to try and understand what is wrong with a child. There is also no structure for the children or for the volunteers. We never know when we will have food and so the structure for the shifts at the orphanage does not work as it doesn't fit in with the food times. The dadas are not happy at the house. Kabalo is a very sly person, and it's a great shame! We are all disappointed in that the website states there are over 50 children at the orphange, but there are only 16. Although the children are lovely, and it's an amazing experience to work with them, we have all arrived on false tendencys.

Lunch for me was rice, cabbage and veg which was great, especially as I had not been given breakfast! The other dadas had spaghetti.

In the afternoon Rama and Andrea went to Shalom, another orphanage in Karatu and ANdrea said that it was perfect; there was staff there, there was a clear structure and lots of children. The other dadas sat in the garden eating parachichi as it was warm. The neighbours came and sat with us although Mathilde got very angry and started raising her voice at them. I don't understand Mathilde, she does not like people calling her Mzungu, she doesn't like that she has to say hello to everyone, she doesn't like the fact that her feet are always dirty, she doesn't like it when there is no water, she always has to wash her hair, she doesn't like it when the children touch her hair...... I often wonder why she is here, volunteering in an orphanage if she does not like these things. She's very self centred and always has to be right, because she has read everything in a book and she knows better than everybody else. It's sad but some people are like this.

I also made a mistake.... the african showers are to lift 10L bottles of water over yourself, not 5L!

This evening we went for dinner with Rama. We went to a restaurant on the main road. Lael, Delia and I shared a whole chicken with some chips and cabbage whilst Andrea, Vale, Mathilde and Rama shared 2kg of beef with chips and cabbage! The chicken was okay, some bits were nice but other bits were chewy. It was cooked on a BBQ in the street. Lael, Delia and I all tried the beef, which again was slightly chewy, but I think it was nicer than the chicken!

Start of a new week tomorrow. Rama is going to speak to Kabalo, and so hopefully, there will be some changes to the orphanage. Lael and Delia have decided that it is best for them to leave Jericho Orphanage and are going to a community in Mogorogoro (or something like that) which is three hours from Dar. They are going to be leaving a week Tuesday.

We decided the shift plan for next week today. I am working the evening shift on Monday and the morning shift on Wednesday as then I can pack up all of my things ready to depart on Thursday. Lael and Delia said that they would join me to Arusha, and we can look around and go to the markets there before I head to the airport. It's very nice of them to come along with me and I am very appreciative of this, as it means that I will not have to travel alone. They are going to stay in Arusha on Thursday evening and head back to Karatu on Friday.

H