A very special orphanage

The last few days here have mostly been filled by minor shopping expeditions, adventures in trying to get money from African ATM's and school work for the kids.  I must say that I'm also very much enjoying the opportunity to get some reading done in the evenings on the Kindle.  I've downloaded most of my favorite authors and have been going through them sequentially and so far (since I got the Kindle before we left), I've read 23 novels!  That's way more than I've read in the last few years put together and as many of you know, like Shawn, I LOVE to read (just haven't had the time).  This ebook thing really makes a huge amount of sense after some practice with it and I'm already planning on donating the hundreds of books I have sprinkled around the house once I've got electronic versions of them.  I've got more than 300 on the Kindle/PlayBooks and NetBook already.

But enough about me and my sometimes addictive reading habits...  yesterday we had an opportunity to visit with a unique orphanage about 30 minutes outside Moshi (about 15 minutes from Kenya).  On the HASH that I mentioned a few posts ago, Jen met a great young lady named Theresa who apparently made her fortune in Silicon Valley a few years back and decided to come to Africa to see if she could give back to the world.   She started about by funding about 2000 kids in orphanages in Zaire but found that she was just marginally reducing the pressures on the community and decided to try a different approach here in Tanzania.

She approached about 20 different tribal villages and asked the elders to recommend one child that was "most vulnerable" that she could assist by providing room/board and a great education to.  She ended up with this group of about 25 kids ranging from a few years old all the way up to 14-15.  She setup a small gated compound with a class room, multiple rooms (3 to a room) for each of the kids, a large enclosed area for playing, a room for a library, and some outhouses (she didn't want the plumbing to be too different from what the kids would be used to and have to go back to eventually).

The facility itself is very nice, kept very clean (by the kids themselves) and the kids are relatively well dressed (have good school uniforms and play clothes consisting of shorts/long skirt, a tee shirt and sandals (either goodyear or croc type).   They had about 300 books in the library but mostly of the "Cat in the Hat" variety recognizing that the kids when they came could speak no English.

Her philosophy is to take these 25 or so kids and give them an exceptional opportunity by really making a difference in their lives so that they will end up with good jobs and can go back to their villages and do the same thing - i.e. have 25 ambassadors making a real difference.  In theory it sounded like a very good idea so we were keen to see how it is working out.

We walked over to her house which is beside the Pamoja Women's Clinic (about a mile from our guest house) in Shantytown.  When we arrived, she was finishing up lunch with 5 of her senior students who have been away at Secondary School (boarding) and were returning to the Orphanage and then their home villages for the Christmas break (they are off now until mid January).  These students were well dressed and their English was very good.  We learned that Theresa also does special outings for those of her students who excel at something and that this lunch was meant as a treat to celebrate their completion of the first term.

Her place was a nice cement block house behind a gated wall.  Inside, as many of the nicer homes are here, we found wooden wainscoting and wooden boards (like cedar paneling) on the ceiling.  The colour schemes here are very familiar to us as they closely match our kitchen/living area and many of the local decorations fit in quite well.  She also had an older 7 passenger 4x4 Toyota van (it had been used as a Safari vehicle as it had a pop up roof).  Her oldest student, Emmanuel (16), was to be our driver.  I got to ride up front and had a good conversation with him.  His English was quite good and he was finishing what we'd call Grade 9. I must say his driving was quite good as well - if a bit fast but that's par for the course here.

The Orphanage is out the road that goes off toward the coast and Dar es Salaam from Moshi but continues rather than branching off south up to Kenya (it goes to Mombasa on the coast).  We arrived after about 30 minutes at a nice clean compound with very colorful mosaic painted on the outside showing it was a children's care facility.  Large artwork showing kids studying, eating, playing, etc on it.  We had passed the primary school about 2 miles back on the same side of the road.  That was a very large compound (probably 25 acres) with many buildings and a large 5-6 storey apartment building that was the residence for those boarding).  This was considerably better than what we'd seen in Moshi, and it became clear why Theresa had located her Orphanage here.

We then went into meet the kids and the house Mom who runs the place (normally there are two but one had returned to her family as they had needed her).  Theresa doesn't stay there as having Muzingu around is an invitation for break-ins and theft (and most of Theresa's work is getting permits, arranging for shipments from patrons in North America and volunteer placement/assistance).

The facility was (relatively) nice with painted concrete floors, clean walls, and LOTS of pictures of the kids as well as a wall with newspaper clippings of current events and profiles on significant African men and women that have made a difference.  They are clearly trying to make a good impression on the kids to try to get them to follow the example.

We were then taken into the library and shown their collection of books and their computer (not connected to the Internet).  Shawn was to spend some time with some of the older kids showing them how to use the computer while Jen, Rachel and I would take a child and have them read 1 page of a book to us and we'd read the next to them and so on.  Once they completed the book, we'd ask them questions to test their comprehension of what they learned.   They have a big chart on the wall with each of the kids names on it with a star for each book (some books were considered hard so had multiple stars assigned to them).  We each got a child who picked out a book they'd never read before, took some chairs and sat outside on the front porch with them.

I wasn't expecting a lot after seeing many of the kids at the other orphanages even those these kids were clearly better English speakers but holy smokes were we impressed.  You have to remember that they don't start schooling here until they are 7-9 years old.  The little boy that picked me out  was about 10 (he had come up to me in the hallway earlier all by himself and introduced himself to me and stuck with me through our tour).  He picked out a book called "Do Tarantulas have any teeth?".  It was a science book aimed at kids and dealt with just about every poisonous creature there is.  It had about 100 pages with large colorful pictures of some of the creatures.  I was quite impressed with his reading abilities (and remember that we have two very good readers ourselves and have read to them since they were babies).  He was quite fast and sometimes mispronounced words but when I'd give him the rules of thumb for that word (e.g. he'd say "bit" for "bite"... I would say if it has that final "e", that turns the "i" into an "eye" sound... and after a few tries he'd get it... and apply it to other words like that - we even found an exception to the rule!).   We must have read for about 90 minutes (it was a long book - but very interesting for both of us).  His comprehension was pretty good although he would often steam right over words he didn't understand so I'd have to slow him down a bit to ensure he understood).

My little reading buddy.

At the end, it was clear he got it and then we took the book to Theresa to get some stickers.  You should have seen his face when he realized it was worth 5 stickers!  She tested him on some items out of the book and it was clear he got it all.  Although he's 10, you have to remember that he only started school at most 2 - 3 years ago.  He was doing better than most Grade 3's at home for sure.  I was quite taken with him and he had a smile that would melt your heart.

About 30 minutes before we'd finished, most of the other kids had already had their turns and had taken the soccer ball we'd brought and had started an impromptu game.  This first started out as each kid keeping the ball in the air as long as they could with only their feet.  If one dropped it or it strayed out of reach some other kid would reach in with his foot to keep it in the air.  They were an exceptionally talented bunch!  Then they formed teams (somehow... no uniforms so other than the direction they were going, it was impossible to know which one was on which team).  Unfortunately they were so good at this and moved so fast and so surely that both Shawn and Rachel didn't feel comfortable to join in.

We watched this for about 5 minutes and then I thought that I'd have a look at the computer that we couldn't get to power on.  I took it outside in the sun, and within about 2 minutes, I had 20 kids looking over my shoulder at what I was doing.  It was clear that they'd never seen the insides of a computer and were fascinated.  I pointed out the various components (CPU, memory, CD  player, hard disks, adapters, power supply, motherboard, etc.) and the functions of each.  I then would point to items and they'd parrot back the name and what it did.  I was quite impressed.... but unfortunately the cause here was a dead power supply so I couldn't show them much... but then I got the bright idea that my BlackBerry Torch was also a computer and I could use that.

You have to picture this, I'm sitting on the step of the front porch and I have at least 15 kids leaning on me, sitting on my lap, all pressed together as I'm taking apart my Blackberry and showing them the processor, memory, battery, sim cards, keyboard, etc.   They were all quite fascinated.  Then I put it back together and showed them how it could play music (they wanted to hear ABBA), video's (showed them a video of Rachel learning to snowboard I had on it), the internet and then they saw a game (Mega Assault Tower) I had downloaded for Shawn/Rachel at one point and wanted to see that.

I'd never played it before so was pretty clueless at how it worked so was picking through it enough to get to Level 1.. then I passed it over to one of them.  They are each reaching in and dragging new weapons on to the battle field, pressing the shooting button, and having a blast.  I never imagined one little BlackBerry could be used by 15 kids at once!   I was very surprised at the level of cooperation amongst them... without words, they'd pass it around, and have one person on one function, another on an another and no fighting or hogging.  It was really something to watch.  In the meantime, I've got two of the smaller ones snuggling onto my lap and putting their arms around my shoulders.  You could hear the little grunts of contentment as I'd reciprocate and make room for more.  I don't think you could have put a drop of water between us all.  Even as I was sitting there, others would be reaching in and touching my leg, feeling my muscles or touching my hair - remember all kids have their heads shaved.

Shawn walked by at one point and said he wished he had a camera... so did I... not to show off but as a way to remember this moment always.  We played like this for over an hour until it was time to go...  I then showed them the camera function and took their pictures...  they'd line up and were pleased as punch to see it as it was taken and then a bunch of them said they wanted to take pictures of me with them in it so they'd line up taking turns taking pictures (generally three people taking the picture and three on or beside me).  It was magical how infectious they were.

Then it was time to go and this little girl came up to me and put her arms around my waist and gave me a big hug.  I put my arms around her shoulders and then she reached up like she wanted a real hug so I picked her  up and gave her one.  I don't know if I've ever been hugged so hard... by this time my eyes are watering up a storm.  These little urchins had made a huge impression on me and Jen/Shawn/Rachel have similar impressions.

The great little hugger!

Its very clear that Theresa is making a HUGE difference in these kids lives.  We met one kid about 15 or so that gave Theresa his report card and he was 1st in his class of 81 people.  Not boastful in the least but you could see she (and he) was beaming with pride - and deservedly so!

These kids spend a lot of time at the Orphanage and the older ones look after the younger ones but they all go back to their villages on a regular basis to maintain ties with their communities.  You look at these kids and see the future of Africa in them.  It is astonishing what's she's accomplished here and we were privileged to be able to join her for an afternoon with them.  Later this week, we're going to take some of the older kids to swim at the local YMCA.  None of them know how so we're going to spend 3 afternoons teaching them how to float, etc so they can help the others as well.  We are really looking forward to spending more time with these incredible children and the young (40 perhaps) lady who made it all possible.

I really think this is a model that should be replicated... providing subsistence living like the other orphanages surely helps but it will never take the pressure off as those kids will more than likely just grow up to to the same things as their parents did (spawn them and abandon them due to death from HIV, separation, etc.).  THESE kids, have a real chance to make a difference and break the chain.  She's not taking more in, and has committed to run them all through this program until 2020 when they should all return to their communities and start doing the same thing (in some fashion) for other kids there.  After talking with Emmanuel and some of the other kids there, I have no doubt that this will happen.

We're off to the Pamoja Women's clinic now to finish up with those kits (we found the missing ziplocs) and then make arrangements to go help a young pregnant HIV positive woman tomorrow build an outhouse!  With love from Tanzania...