Children's Village Blog
Returning to Tanzania

An e-mail, originally written to friends and family, by Louise Lamphere Beryl, a volunteer and Director on the Board of Trustees:

Good morning everyone!

Habari za asubuhi? So after 2 years, I'm finally back in Tanzania . I had forgotten how long the trip from New York to the Rift Valley Children's Village was (about 2 1/2-3 days) but it was all worth it when I got off the plane and smelled the saturated air rich with fresh crushed leaves, dust, and a slight hint of BO.

Memories rushed back as we (Caitlyn Fox, another volunteer, and I) made our way from the Kili airport to Arusha to Karatu and finally to the Rift Valley Children's Village (Children’s Village). The landscape was a bit drier on the plains, but in the hills, the vegetation was as lush as ever (I always thought it reminded me of a cross between the Lion King and the Napa Valley).

In two years, some things haven't changed (Karatu still looks like a bustling town in the wild wild west), whereas elsewhere there has been significant changes (for example, Bytes, the place where I used to email each week, burned down- it was arson by the way; and many of the coffee plantations have been ripped up and planted with corn).

One major change since I was last here is that the site of the Children’s Village has moved! In two years, 12 buildings have been built and 24 more children have been welcomed (if you include the original 17 from before that's a total of 41 children)! It's absolutely incredible. With the increase in size, I was worried that the feeling of family had been sacrificed, but much to my surprise, the magic has not been lost. The utter joy on each child's face makes this place one of the happiest places on earth. The 24 children are split into two houses: Serengeti House and Tarangire House-named after two of the national parks in Tanzania. Each house has 2 Mamas who live there 24hrs a day and 7 days a week. There are about 3 or 4 Mamas who rotate into each house throughout the year (they work for 3 weeks and then have 1 week off) to give the mamas some time off, and the system works well to give the kids stability. The houses also have a bedroom for 2 volunteers to stay. There are other volunteer rooms elsewhere on the property but not ones that are with kids (in total there are about 10 volunteers here right now-quite a change from the 2-4 we had a time two years ago). I'm in Serengeti house, which means that each morning I wake up to the pitter patter of little feet and whispers in Swahili.

It's a cute little alarm clock.

The daily routine hasn't changed much. The kids wake up in the morning and get either peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or cornflakes. Fortunately none of them are lactose intolerant so there are no special requests that I have to learn. The kids have developed the "habit", though, of not liking too much milk in their cereal. I think it's more like a fad because as soon as I told them that milk helps you build strong muscles and bones they were all asking for more milk. On the other hand I can't blame them too much for not liking it, because it's no longer boxed milk but rather powdered milk (yuck).

After breakfast, the Standard 2 kids go off to school in their cute uniforms of khaki shorts (for boys), blue long skirts (for girls), white button downs, maroon sweaters, and the safi ("cool" in swahili) zebra striped socks pulled all the way up (no joke). The younger kids go off to Kindergarten and the Standard 1 kids have tutoring with the volunteers for an hour before uji (sugary porridge) at 10:30. Right now I'm tutoring 4 kids: Nicola, India, Marietha, and Ester.

Fortunately they're roughly at the same level and actually quite smart for their age in Tanzania. They're all doing double digit addition and subtraction with carrying and multiplication. They're also reading in English, which for me is so exciting to tutor. It's like a whole new world for them; they get so excited. There's nothing better than the smile on their face after they've read a sentence or even a chapter.

They also beg me to do tutoring each day, which makes it even better.

After tutoring, the St. 2 kids get ready and we walk them to school.

I've gotten into the habit of also taking 18 month old Vicenti with us to school. He is just on the brink of talking in 3 different languages (Mbulu, Swahili, and English). In fact, the other day I pointed to a flash card with a fish on it and he immediately pointed up to the wall where there was a poster of a fish! And whenever there's a car that goes by he says either car or gari (car in Swahili.) Anyway, in order to take him to school, the Mamas help me wrap him onto my back with a khanga (a decorative sheet of cloth). He gets so excited that he bounces all the way there. India has also created a big playground in the back of school, which the kids absolutely adore, especially Vicenti who loves the swings and slide. At all times of the day, there are kids crawling all over the slides, swings, monkey bars, and climbing wall.

We then bring the Standard 1 and Standard 3 kids home from school for lunch and nap time. In the afternoon, I tutor Jane (pronounced Janie) who is in Standard 1. There is a significant gap in learning levels between each kid and of course between each standard. Whereas the Standard 2 kids are already reading, Jane in Standard 1 is having trouble recognizing her letters. She often just shuts down and doesn't respond to anything.

Fortunately, I found a deck of cards that have letters on them for playing GO FISH. She loves the game and it's a great way for her to practice letters. After tutoring, the kids play for an hour before the infamous (read absolutely crazy) bathtime. Essentially, twelve kids get naked and wash with a cold bucket of water 3 at a time (boys and girls have separate bathrooms though). Then it's time for a movie (their favorite right now is Power Rangers). Unfortunately right now there's not that much sun because it's July and thus the kids don't get to watch more than 15 min. before the solar power goes out (the whole Children’s Village is powered by solar power).

After they've eaten dinner around 6:30pm, we read them a story and tuck them into bed. They love to hug and kiss volunteers even if they've just arrived.

The Children’s Village is also running computer classes in the morning for kids going to secondary school next year and has developed a student teacher program for them to help out volunteers and teachers at the school. A girls group has also been started at the school to help the top girls from St. 4-7 learn empowerment skills. Needless to say, the Children’s Village has been growing by leaps and bounds and has been making a huge impact here.

The two other major highlights this week:

EARTHQUAKES (I've felt 3 for sure, but I think there have been at least 2 others that I haven't felt)

TEMBO (Elephant in Swahili) We saw at least three of them last night about 50 yards away. They've been coming around a lot because of the corn that's been planted. Unfortunately they've been wreaking havoc in the village. Two days ago they kicked and broke the water pipe that supplied water for the school and the village.

That's it for now!

love,
Louise