Pumbas and Waterfalls and Children Oh My

This Saturday I lived every child's dream of roaming alongside Pumba and Simon from the Lion King.

Well, not the cute cuddly characters from the movie, but the real life versions that live in Lake Manyara. I also did not see any Simbas/lions. But they were there!

16 of us piled into three safari jeeps and off we went. Even the jeeps didn't go more that 60 or 70 km/h on the highways. Everything is slower here. TIA once again. After about 2 hours and a camel sighting later, we got to Lake Manyara. We popped up the top and cruised/bumped/jolted around. We saw baboons, which actually climbed onto our jeep, elephants which are really really stinky, zebras, monkeys, HIPPOS, giraffes, and pumba's, or warthogs! No lions, but I was still extremely stoked on everything. A pretty amazing/exhausting day overall, but amazing and I have some pretty cool pictures from it too. That new zoom lens was definitely worth it. I couldn't imagine doing more than a one day safari though, not too keen on sitting for that long at a time, even if the animals are cool. On the way home we stopped and got some red bananas, which are even more delicious than the normal African bananas.

On Sunday we all got up bright and early for what we thought would be a nice stroll to the Maasai village and waterfalls. This hike kicked our butts from 9 am until 530 pm. For my Loran-ians, take Algonquin and times it by like 10. It was spectacular though! We hiked up a mountain then back down it and up a river to a waterfall, then back up a mountain and part of the way down it again to the Maasai village.. We went to Moses' family's house, and they fed us fresh lamb, delicious! Back down was a cinch, and I will for sure be doing this hike again when my family comes and visits. Side story - all they eat here is carbs. That is all. Carbs and oil. Carbs drizzled in oil, carbs fried in oil, carbs soaked in oil. Mad craving some vegetables, we headed out for some Mediterranean food, and I was more than glad to scarf down a greek salad.

Today was my toughest day here by far. It was the first time I wavered a bit in my confidence in staying here for so long. I had my first full day at the orphanage. When I went for my first visit on Thursday, Mama Wambura, the head of it all, was unable to come and see me so today was supposed to be my first time meeting her. I got to the orphanage just after 9 in the morning, and was met by one of the teachers. She gave me a quick tour and said Mama W would be with me in a bit. I sat down and she handed me some volunteer handbooks that previous volunteers had written up. After reading these I realized that I wasn't just there to play with kids, but to run the place. When it became apparent that Mama W would be busy for a while, I was told I could just go play with kids. I went into their classroom and immediately got tackled by the two youngest boys, Bryson and Nelson/Jason/Logan/Angel (not really sure what his name is), who were just sitting to the side of the classroom. Side story - Bryson was found abandoned in a dark room, and was completely malnourished for the first year or so of his life. Because of the darkness of the room, he has problems seeing still but we have been told by doctors that he should catch up developmentally soon enough. Nelson/whoever I'm not too sure about the back story. I was told by my co ordinator that his mother had cut off half of his penis, and today at the orphanage I was told that it just never came out when he was born. I talked to the nurses that live in the same house as me and they said that when I see for myself and am able to tell them about it, they would come and take a look and see if there is anything we can do medically/surgically to help him. At first I was a little wary of them, and their drool, but quickly grew to love them hanging off of my limbs. I helped them with their porridge snack and cleaned up after, then was greeted by two other volunteers who have been at the orphanage for about a month now. With Bryson on my lap we chatted about all that needed to be done for the orphanage, and how extremely dependent they were on volunteers and white people in general to fund them. For the last month these two girls have been fundraising for the orphanage and just tidying everything up. They really are relying on us to do everything from finding sponsors for the 100+ kids at Camp Moses's (my orphanage) brother orphanage for older students, Camp Joshua, to writing newsletters for the locals and proposals to North American companies for funding. As the discussion was getting going, my lap felt a little warm, and sure enough I lifted up Bryson and I was soaked in his pee. Yum. This wasn't the only time it happened today either.

The other volunteers and I decided to go for lunch just down the street, which was just the icing on my cake of a bad day. It took us 3.5 hours to do this, 45 minutes to wait to order, 1 hour or so for food, and another 30 or so minutes at the end for our bill. Not only was it long, but interesting as well. My BLT came with just the B and bread soaked in oil. Yum. I only ended up spending a little more time at the orphanage in the afternoon, coming up with a plan of attack on what is most important I do in the next little while. On my dala dala ride home there were some creepy school boys who were obviously saying rude Swahili things to me, and just made me really uncomfortable. Then, when I made it up the hill to the house, our gatekeeper wasn't there and I had to wait outside the gate for 5 or so minutes, feeling like a stupid Mzungu who couldn't even get into their own house. I finally came in and just collapsed outside, and started to cry. After talking with others who also had their first days today, we all figured we were in similar situations. I think I'm more overwhelmed than anything else, but now that I've seen how much there is to do, I know I can really make a difference.

I never actually met Mama Wambura today. TIA.

After dinner we went into town, and on our third try found somewhere that sold ice cream and was open. Ice cream really makes the world go round. I've cooled down a bit, and thought seriously about what is wrong with the way things are here. White people are looked up to and never questioned in their authority. They believe we are the answer to all their problems, and this needs to change. They rely on funds brought in by volunteers and other Mzungu's, not on themselves. What I hope to do while I'm here is find ways to make them self sufficient. Pigs for sale?

A bad day in Africa is better than a bad day anywhere else. Watch out Camp Moses, your white person wake up call is coming.