Habari yako?

It is been a while since i posted last time. A lot has been happening here and there is much to talk about. I probably won't be able to share everything with you in this post so expect another one later this week, maybe even two more!

About a week and half ago I had a difficult time here with some of things I saw. Down the road from the Nursery school is a secondary school run that provides a free education for about 147 students who either an orphan or comes from a low income family, or both. This is actually the school that I volunteered at the first time I traveled to Tanzania. When I arrived there I was told that one of the students was very ill and at a free hospital in Moshi called Mewenzi. I was told that the student was infected with malaria and, at the time she was brought to the hospital, was vomiting blood. After I was done volunteering for the day one of the women who helps me at the nursery school took me to visit the student in town. The hospital is quit big and is very spread out. There are concrete buildings spread outside in no specific order. All of the buildings were connected by concrete paths. If I would have went alone I would have surely ended up walking in circles. When we arrived in the ward were the student was being treated I saw that the room was flooded with patients. There were about 2-3 patients per bed. It looked like a photo of a refugee camp. It was hard to see at first as it is hard to accept how the differences in the world I live in at home to their own. On the upside, all of these patients were here because they didn't have to pay. The girl I was visiting was being looked after by her younger sister. The sister had run out of money and could no longer pay for her sister's medication or food. I didn't hesitate to help them by payng for the rest of the medication and food. Soon after I did this I left in silence.

This was a hard situation for me to swallow. At times it is easy to be pulled down by how much more there is needed to be done. The reality is that this is the what the lives can be like for a some of the people here, but not all. There are Tanzanian doctors, teachers, pharmacists, and more. Yesterday I ate lunch at Nursery school teacher's house. It was a great time! She lives with her husband and they have two children. Their house had a tall fence and steel gate, a garage, living room, dining room, 3 bedrooms, and a bunch of other rooms. Her husband works at a bank in Tanzania and has spent a year in Germany taking classes. The living room had two couches, a table, chairs, stereo, tv, vcr, and dvd player. The teacher, Lilly, chose to become a teacher because she wanted to stay active. It was great to learn about her life and I was very happy to be invited into their home. They were living without having to fight to live. If one of their children were to get sick, well then they could afford to take them to a hospital other than Mewenzi.

No matter what the socialstatus of a person is here I must add that the spirit of Tanzania is very much alive. I had read that the people of East Africa have been rated some of the happiest people on the planet (i wish I could give you the source for this). I have not witnessed any cases of depression, exhaustion, or anything else. I have yet to hear anyone complain. It is not to say that there are no problems here but the outlook on life is different. This is something that I hope I can absorb as much as I can before I go home. And someone might ask how an orphan out of money and severely sick with malaria can live a life of happiness. Well because today I saw her back at the Secondary school, attending class, and happy and thankful to be well. Of course she thanked me but I don't think there were any words i could have used to thank her for how much she has done for me.

Check back again soon for another post as I am starting to tie up my volunteer projects. As this is my second time in East Africa and I have only seen Tanzania, I have decided to embark on an adventure to travel overland in Rwanda and Uganda. I'll be on that trip from December 5th to the 15h. I will return to Tanzania for a few days and then i fly home on the 19th!