Haraka, haraka, haina baraka

Hurry, hurry, has no blessing.
Pole sana (very sorry in Swahili,) I know it has been forever since I have posted. So much is always happening here it is really difficult to keep up with everything.

The best way I can describe life here is dichotomy in action. The days feel tiresomely long, yet the weeks slip away without warning. Convictions I felt laid the foundation of my character have been inverted and yet somehow I find myself more solid than before. It can be frustrating to discover that everything you think you know no longer holds true. However, in moments of stillness I recognize that the end result is liberation from what had become habit of thought. There is near constant discovery taking place. I have come to truly grasp the depth of all I do not know. I have SO much to learn! Some days it is overwhelming as I am the type to want to swallow the world in one bite, but life here requires endless reserves of patience. I am growing more accustomed to the uneasy feeling that true understanding will take a very long time and will likely never be attained. These are valuable lessons that have softened the stubborn edges of my impudence.

I have delighted in finding some things that never do change. I have been here nearly two months and have fallen in love with each and every child I work with. I have the supreme pleasure of seeing all 69 children nearly every day and their faces never fail to bring a huge smile to my face. The capacity we have to love and feel compassion has no limit and I feel the growth within in me daily. The ills of any day, no matter how tragic and disheartening, can be washed away in the flash of a child's smile. The best part of my day is always the moment we drive through the gates at school when the children see the TFFT car and run to the edge of the grass, hands in the air, voices yelling our names. For this reason it is impossible to lose sight of the reason I am here.

The last month has been incredibly busy. I got my program up and running and have been busily working on a yearly curriculum. We made guacamole and you would NOT believe how much they loved it. Check out the TFFT Blog for updates on my program as well as other things happening here on the ground. We all do our best to update the blog weekly so there is a lot of information about the work we are doing and plenty of pictures of the kids.

I can't help it though- so here are some of my favorite pics of the kids from the last month.

Yusufu

Baloooons

Rachel

Helena

Josh with Lomanyaki and Aminieli

As my coworker and roommate Emily is always reminding me, "Rugby rules this town." This is very true among the expat community and they held a fundraiser that was loads of fun. The whole TFFT team came out in support.

Fratern (TFFT managing director,) Jessica (volunteer in Fratern's home village,) Josh (TFFT scholarship program director,) Me, Cheri (TFFT volunteer,) Emily (TFFT development director,) Meghann (TFFT executive director.)

Lazaro is our Maasai askari or night guard.

Good Hope orphanage is one of our partner organizations and many of our children came from this home.




Gotta love a fat baby!

Fun photo of a toad in the grass. What was more fun was watching the kids chase after it!

I urge everyone who is reading to take stock of the things that matter. Cherish those you love, appreciate the subtle moments and celebrate life everyday you are on this earth. I love and miss you all! XOXOXO

Parachichi planting

In July the secondary students along with class 6 took a special trip to Lou's house and planted avocado seeds. They have since grown and were ready to be permanently planted. The headmaster at Usa River Academy was kind enough to allocate us with a plot of land in their extensive garden for our trees. We had two great hardworking days and have the pictures to prove it!



Ombeni being very serious!

Lou's gardeners were a great resource. Not only were they extremely hard workers, here Kasanga is teaching the kids about avocado tree growth.

Mary happily digging.

Everyone was impressed by he muscle shown here!


We dug 19 holes for our trees on Wednesday so that we could plant the trees on Thursday. Mere hours before we were due to plant them a wildly strong rain tore through the area down trees and wreaking havoc. Lucking Usa River Academy was in good form, but our holes were quite full of water and the soil proved muddy. The result was a humor filled dirty day. Hey, no one said gardening was clean!
Evidence of the rain's effect.

Nice Mary planting her tree.

Josh and Joakim

The group gathers as Irene gets into the spirit.

The boys proudly show off their planted tree.

All of the avocado trees in a line

A final shot of Mt. Meru above the garden.

Special thanks for making these very special days possible go to Lou, Dezi, Kasanga, and Usa River Academy.

If you enjoyed this post it is an exact copy of a blog post I wrote for the TFFT Blog. Many of us contribute to the blog and I highly recommend checking it out!

Maji Moto

I spent Sunday with the girls out of Arusha. We drove a couple of hours out of town to an oasis called Maji Moto. The natural spring was turquoise and though we heard word that a momma croc and her babies were lurking in the shadows we managed to swim and return home unscathed.

Aoife, Lizzie, Sara, and Emily.

The swimming hole.




Can you spot the monkey?

The entire troop of monkeys were moving across the trees above our heads.

Happy baobab tree.

Sad baobab tree.

On the drive home we decided to stop at the polo club for sundowners. Prepare yourselves as the following photos are quite colonial. There is a huge schism that exists between the rampant poverty and the lingering evidence of the wazungu (white people's) colonial past. I have very mixed feelings about this and my place here and will dedicate a post to these thoughts at a later date when I have a better handle on both the situation and my feelings.

Pool house and pool.

Inside the club house.

Looking out at Lizzie and Emily

Kili revealed herself for the first time!

Not the best photo of anyone, but still we were having a lovely time.


And it ends as all days should, with more beautiful views of the African sky.

Daily Commute

In an effort to take and share more photos of my daily life I took a number of shots from the car on my way to Usa River today. It should not go without noting that I was dreadfully delinquent in capturing the true nature of the actual multi-use roadway.