Week Six

To begin with, I am so sorry it has been so long since I have updated this blog! I have suffered many obstacles in the past few weeks which prevented me from getting to the Internet. To begin with, Easter is a very important holiday here and so from Thursday to Tuesday of Easter weekend, EVERYTHING was closed in Tanzania. I know longer have Internet access at my house and even after the Internet cafes re-opened, because of rainy season the internet has become very unreliable and usually cuts out as soon as rain begins to fall (which is all the time!) Being cut off from my usual form of communication has been difficult, but nonetheless I am continuing to have a very wonderful time here in Tanzania.

I spent all of the days that my school was closed for Easter break working at the Kili kids orphanage, which was a blast and allowed me to get to know the older kids who were home from school. We threw an Easter carnival for everybody and had face-painting, three legged races, bean bag tosses, ect! The kids had never done anything like that so watching them enjoy these type of games for the first time was a real treat! Here is a picture of me and one of the older girls, Wittiness, she painted a heart on my cheek for me! And did quite a good job at it, I told her she should be an artist!

On Easter day I went with the orphanage to church. An African church on Easter is quite an amazing place to be! The music was so celebratory and exciting. The service consisted of nothing but singing and dancing with overwhelming joy, it was very different then what I am used to on Easter morning at First Presbyterian, but I cant imagine a more spirited atmosphere to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. The kids were adorable too! Getting to church with 23 kids is a challenge, but it was worth it to watch them enjoy the service. I had a wonderful surprise too, but I will divulge that in my next post!

After church I was invited to the home of the John, who drives me to my school every morning. I loved getting to see his home, it was very humble but a very happy place. All six of his adult children live with him in the small space with their children. The meal was absolutely fabulous, and I felt honored to have the opportunity to experience a true Tanzanian Easter feast!