It's a Whole New World

Yesterday, was our last day at the LOAMO School, and even though saying goodbye was heart wrenching, there is always more love than there is pain. The morning started off great with a Spanish lesson. It was incredible to see how quickly the kids were picking up the language. We played “Around the World” in order to have interactive practice with Spanish. Meek, who was one of the boys in my class, picked up Spanish so quickly that I started to run out of questions to ask him as he steadily progressed around the room very close to making it “Around the World” on his very first try. The next subject we moved onto was spelling. I made 2 teams and had one person from each team come up to the white board, and whoever could spell the word faster won a point for their team. Although the words were challenging for them, they were able to sound them out and get the word correct.

It is incredible to feel that after only two days at the school we were able to leave an impact on not only the kids and teacher’s hearts, but they were able to leave an even bigger one on our own. Although I was the teacher in my class, I felt as though I learned the biggest lessons. I learned that often the most intelligent kids are the ones who act as though they do not care about their education, I learned that no matter where in the world you are you will find that best friends will always be tied to each other’s sides, and that the people and places with nothing are usually the ones who have everything.

Today we went to the Save Africa Orphanage. For the majority part of the trip we were cleaning out the orphanage which was much needed. Schariar, Ava and I started out cleaning the bathroom which was coated in mud. We used my limited supply of baby wipes using every one until it spread more dirt than it did soap. Our next major job was to organize a washroom in the girl’s room which had been converted into a storage room. The first time I stepped into the room I could barely move around, it seemed impossible to move what appeared to be as 1,000 pieces of clothing along with other miscellaneous objects out of that tiny room. Finally, after moving bag after bag of clothing out of the washroom into the bedroom, it was time to organize. We moved clothing that was not in a bag into less damaged ones, which required a considerable amount of creativity considering we had no trash bags of our own. Once the rest of the supplies had been organized, we began to put the supplies back into the bathroom until we realized that the floor which we previously thought was dirt was actually tile. So we got a broom out and began to sweep. Once the floor was cleaned we positioned all the donations into a neater arrangement. We were then left with the satisfying feeling of accomplishment, hoping that the supplies that used to be tremendously unorganized could now be used at the orphanage, and that the kids may have a fresh set of clothes to wear in the future. After picking up trash around the Orphanage we received an opportunity to play with the kids.

            As I walked out of the door a little girl, named Rose, ran up to me. She had her little arms stretched out as high as she could, so I swooped her up and did the same thing. With little Rose up in the air high above me I saw her little eyes light up with glee as she threw her head up and looked into the bright blue sky. As I put her down her smile which lit her up head to toe set a fire in my heart. As she ran away to her little friends I turned around and joined in with a group of little boys who were playing soccer. It was astonishing to see all the tricks they were able to do with a soccer ball. Of course, they were better than me, and to them it was hilarious to see a mazungu who was twice their size not be able to play as well as them.

            Hearing all these stories about the lives of some of the kids in Tanzania has made me realize how lucky I am to live in America. However, at the same time I feel as though the Tanzanians are the lucky ones. Everyone in Tanzania is so full of everything that Americans are lacking. All their actions are chosen through love, not hate, not envy, not anger, not jealousy, not greed, but love. These last couple days that we have been here have been so life changing, and eye opening and I am so excited to see what the rest of the trip will bring.