Birthday!

Today was a very long, and in many ways very wonderful day. From the mundane to the sublime:

So many blondes!

Last night I had a lovely evening with the girls I volunteer with - an Italian friend who works at the restaurant took over a corner of the kitchen and cooked up the most incredibly delicious handmade pasta I have ever eaten - if I had to choose a last meal, that would definitely be in the running! Later Giulia and the girls surprised me with a cake, and we had a really nice night celebrating - although a bittersweet one since the party doubles as a goodbye to Giulia, who leaves next week.

In my jewelry classes, things are coming along beautifully - we now have more than two full racks worth of jewelry, and have a few retail opportunities to pursue. I'm learning more Swahili from my adult student Elizabeth, and the girls continue to keep me endlessly impressed and entertained.

My "mature" student Elizabeth working.

Rack of metalwork

Rack of beading

At the orphanage, our projects are progressing beautifully - the chicken coop is up and running with six chickens, two of whom are of laying age, and the kids are thrilled - Zawadi even said "kuku!"All has gone smoothly, with the exception of one brief prison-break that necessitated a fence hop that resulted in a large rip across my derriere and a pulled down shirt for much of the afternoon, much to the amusement of the kids! Very exciting. Zawadi has actually been doing much better in the last week or two - possibly since the worms were taken care of - she now has several words, including chakula (food), asante (thank you), and now kuku (chicken), and she's even considering the possibility of walking. Today was wonderful, our great kid volunteers Abby and Jacob, along with their parents John and Sue, made me an adorable birthday card, and the kids spent all day saying variations of happy birthday Bekka, including merry Christmas Bekka and you're pretty Bekka, neither of which I objected to at all!

My stunning Abby-creation

The first of the six captives

Helping get the space ready

Ok, sort of helping!

And the best news saved for last - today a man who came to Tanzania with a missionary trip three years ago and just kind of never left showed up at the hospital because he had heard that we were looking to drill a well, and he happens to own a drilling rig and wants to do it for us for free - we pay only for the materials, essentially halving our costs, and ensuring that we will be able to make it happen, and soon! Of course, this being Africa, the survey company's equipment failed yesterday and we don't know yet when they will be back to finish the final piece of work before drilling can start - but this is an incredibly exciting development, and means we may even (knock wood) have a little money left over to put towards school funds, food, playground renovations (cough cough deathslide cough), etc. All in all, the best birthday gift I could have asked for.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been so generous, especially my incredible parents, brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and the five Daves - and also to the, in a way, even more amazing donations from total strangers, you are truly amazing people and I can't thank you enough. I wish I could be home and here at the same time... hey, entire extended family and network of friends, how do you feel about blackouts, hot weather and really cute babies? And really, really expensive airfare?