Like night and day

So this past weekend I went to the other side of Tanzania - ok, ok, it was three hours away, but it FELT like a really long way - to see the children's center that India Howell, an MPS alum, is running out near the Ngorogoro crater. In addition to a children's village for almost 70 orphans, they also run a local school, a program for orphaned kids living with relatives, a medical clinic, and a microfinance program. I'm tired just THINKING about it. Plus 9 of the kids live in her own house and are essentially her own children. So yeah, she's a busy lady and I really appreciated her taking the time to talk to me. Below, a picture from the ride up - it was basically savannah as far as the eye can see with occasional breaks for Maasai villages and glimpses of herdsmen (or little boys!) with their cattle or goats. Still, the most exotic animal I saw on the way up? A few camels. Guess I'll have to wait till next week for the safari.

Right. I'm in Africa.

The orphanage itself is so incredibly beautiful and well built, the kids are happy and healthy and gorgeous, and it both made me incredibly happy and also broke my heart, because I know that no matter what I do, the kids at Nkorangua are never going to be able to be taken care of like this. They live in small family style houses with kitchens, no more than 4 to a room, 12 to a house, with volunteers in each house as well as mamas. They have a huge amount of space to play, a baby house, a huge rec building, etc. At one point in the tour I actually teared up a little - yes I am pathetic.

Happy healthy kids

Not the most flattering picture of me ever taken

Very slightly better.

 Part of the reason it was so hard was that last week I had to take Zawadi for a second round of antibiotics for her pneumonia since the first round didn't work, and they ended up having to admit her. I'm holding this poor tiny munchkin, trying to comfort her while crying myself, while they stick needles in her for literally half an hour trying to find her tiny veins, before finally giving up and injecting her leg. It took me about another hour to sing and rock her to sleep afterward, and she panicked every time someone came near the door, afraid they were going to give her shots again. Unfortunately, she did have to go back for three more doses in the next few days, but I wasn't there for that. Looking at her chart, she's already had pneumonia once and malaria twice, there's really almost no chance that she's not HIV positive, and I hate that there's nothing I can really do to guarantee she will get the kind of care she needs, not in an over-full orphanage where kids pass germs instantaneously. Some of the gorgeous, happy, healthy kids India showed me hadn't walked till 18 months, or hadn't spoken until 2 years... but Zawadi will probably never get the kind of attention these kids have had since then, the kind that has helped them catch up. I just feel kind of helpless.

Whatever, even if she can't walk, she is the cutest little worm-wriggle-crawler in existence. Lets end on a happy note.