This morning we dropped by the Rau Day Care Centre on the way to the Chemka Hot Springs. We met with the children and their teacher and gave them a donation of story books, toys, pens, crayons and puzzles. The watoto (children) stood up one at a time and introduced themselves. They were very cute! We blew up balloons for them which they loved. The children at the Rau Day Care Centre are from poor homes and many are affected by HIV. The children can be sponsered for 15€ ($18.62 AUD) per month. Most of that money goes towards the child's food and education and the rest goes towards the general running cost of the centre so those children who do not have a sponser do not miss out. Then, when the child goes to school the sponsership money goes directly towards school fees.
After visiting the day care centre we went to the Chemka Hot Springs. We drove through small villages over a very bumpy dirt road. We saw many local people including a lot of Maasai women walking donkeys along the way. All of a sudden we stopped and in the middle of this dry, dusty area was a beautiful spring surrounded by lush green trees. It was unexpected. The spring was so clear that we could see the bottom even though it was deep. There were quite a few local men and boys around which made us all feel a little awkward and uncomfortable at first but they weren't going anywhere so we stripped off to our togs and jumped in. Turns out we had nothing to worry about...they pretty much ignored us! The water was not exactly hot despite being called hot springs. It wasn't cold but it wasn't warm either although every so often I could feel warm water rush by. There was a strong current so we found an underwater tree branch to rest on. When I was trying to climb out of the spring some little black fish where nibbling on my legs and feet. Unfortunately I am very ticklish so this made it hard for me to climb out on the slippery rocks! I eventually made it out and we all sat on sun chairs and hammocks under a big tree and had a picnic lunch. Some of the girls went back in for another swim after lunch but I had a nap.
In the afternoon we jumped into the van to head home. This is when we realised Beatrice (our house mother) was drunk. Turns out she had drank 3 large sachets of Konyagi. Konyagi is popular in Tanzania and is 35% alcohol! For the first part of the trip she was singing loudly (and badly), then she had the driver pull over at a local store so she could buy more Konyagi, then she had the driver pull over at a road side stall so she could buy potatoes. She also had him pull over two other times so she could pee behind a bush. She definately made the trip home interesting!
Tomorrow I am back to work again. Sarita and Aynsley are coming with us to visit Pasua Health Clinic for the day.
I miss you guys. Nakupenda (I love you) <3
No comments:
Post a Comment