Internal organs have terrible timing

In keeping with my body's tendency to stage revolts at important moments - see Mysterious African Fever and Underwear Based Head-Gear and The Good News Is, I'm PROBABLY Not Dying for my body's spectacular ability to generate inexplicable ailments during crucial stages of the well project - my gallbladder has had all it can take and it can't take no more. It will be making a break for freedom on Thursday (if not earlier via emergency surgery), and until then I'm unable to eat anything but rice cakes, which is not ideal blogging fuel. HOWEVER, we had an EXCELLENT board meeting this morning where we addressed various upcoming projects, including our partnership with the gorgeous and talented Bethan to install a water filtration system at the orphanage and hospital - very exciting, more on that to come - as well as our progress in getting Stevie, Ericki and Dainess ready (and funded!) for school. So blogging may be light for a little while as I recover, but rest assured that movement is happening behind the scenes. Look out in the next few days for a comprehensive post on the new water project (Water Part II: The Filtration - sounds like a summer blockbuster!). In the meantime, a favorite video that I don't think has been shown here before - the incredibly sweet Maureeni giving kisses. In related news, she and Miriam have apparently become attached at the hip and will not go anywhere without each other - real best friends.

On the plus side, this gallbladder situation has made me glad not to be in Tanzania for the first time in several months! So there's a silver lining!

Yes, I'm up at 4 am making videos of the kids.

Just a little something I thought you guys might enjoy - I was looking through the photo albums of some volunteers who have gone back to the orphanage several times over the years, and found some gorgeous baby photos of the kids. I thought you might like to see how beautifully they have grown!

Updates soon with our new project, the school situation, a reorganized site, more details on the board, and much more!

Had to share

So we have a very exciting project in the works that we'll be talking about soon - please excuse the quiet until then! In the meantime, possibly my favorite photo ever of my Z, taken by the fabulous Amy.

She takes my breath away.
And then here, helping feed baby Daniel -

Beautiful girl inside and out.

We're featured!

The Small Things is very lucky this week to be featured in the blog of Randolph Sellars, of Real Girls Kick Ass, which in many ways has the same goals of raising healthy and confident children of both genders. He has excelled in that in raising my wonderful  friend Meghan, an early reader and special fan of Simoni stories. Take a look! And if you're visiting from over there, thanks for checking us out, and be sure to check out how you can help. 

The siblinghood of the travelling hat

Just a sweet picture set for tonight, I've got some nasty mystery bug that's kicking my butt. Let's pretend this is more metaphorical than it is, shall we? Just as we, in our lives, must wear many hats to fulfill our true potential, so must... hats... be worn... by many cute Tanzanian babies. So saith Bekka.

Cut me some slack, if I weren't in Connecticut I'd be getting a malaria test right now.

On to the hat!

It began life in the possession of Baba Bekka, but it didn't stay that way for long...

Soon it moved on to the smart and gorgeous Farajah
 (with Eman Ndogo on her left and Ericki on her right)

Super sneaky Ezra, who stole the hat repeatedly

Determined Maureeni

Satisfied Neema

And the ever-fashionable Loveness. 

 Usually, I feel bad that the kids don't have anything that belongs just to them, but then I see pictures like these and remember how beautifully and happily they have learned to share (well, mostly), as well as how much joy they get from the small things in life.

As Emma and Emily put it so well, "Hopefully, the memories they have of their childhood will be a happy blur of all the support and love [and hats] which so many volunteers have given them." 

May we all learn to appreciate the things in our life so well.

Proof

Welcome baby Daniel to the Nkoaranga family! May you grow to be as beautiful and wonderful as your many "brothers and sisters," and may we have the privilege of helping you to be as happy and healthy as possible.

AND, here comes Miss Z, walking up a storm (albeit with a VERY serious face on) - you show those rickets who's boss! Also, notice sweet Neema clapping for Z in the background during the second half - so proud! 

On a good-for-us-but-hard-for-them note, let's give a warm but sympathetic welcome back to Emily and Megan, who have returned from their travels and I'm sure will update us as soon as their culture shock and jet lag have subsided to manageable levels. Lots of love and all my sympathy, ladies. 

Everyone doing their bit

I've now been away from the kids at Nkoaranga Orphanage for over a month, and I honestly feel like I miss them more each day!

Megan told me that Dainessi asked her, "Emma ni shuleni Uingereza" ("Is Emma at school in England?") at bedtime the other day. I was so touched that she still remembers me and I can only hope that I had a positive impact on her life.

It sounds a little clichéd, maybe, but I think its probably something a lot of volunteers worry about - whether coming into the children's lives and then leaving again does more harm than good.

When I told Emily about my concerns she made me see it differently (awesome person that she is!). I now think that what is important is that each volunteer does their bit to make their time with the children count: to try and boost the confidence of each little individual, to help them believe in themselves, to encourange them while they attempt to put their own shoes on for the first time, to pick them up and cuddle them when they fall over (or just whenever they need it!), dance with them, laugh with them....just generally let them know how much they are loved! And if everyone does that then, hopefully, the memories they have of their childhood will be a happy blur of all the support and love which so many volunteers have given them.

So that's what I hope, anyway!

And on a lighter note, the picture above is of little Dainessi, feeding Miriam and giving me a toothy grin - she'd just lost her first tooth!

Paypal, Pendo and Mama Pendo

First, quickly, Paypal -We were having some technical difficulties with the monthly donation script on the site, but it appears to now be resolved. Please let me know ASAP if you encounter any bugs!!

More importantly and excitingly, I just got off the phone with Jeremiah (the hospital secretary) and Mama Pendo (who runs the orphanage), and they told me that this past Friday, which was payday, the mamas received their first salary increase! They were thrilled and apparently making plans already to help their families - chickens, school uniforms, books, seeds, all investments in the future that wouldn't be possible without your help. So thank you, asante, nashkuru!

The kids are all doing well, new baby Daniel is gaining weight and strength, they have plenty of formula right now to keep him on until his body can really handle anything else, so hopefully we can keep him nice and healthy! Also, Pendo, Zawadi's sister who had some adjustment troubles at the orphanage, is apparently really thriving now - very happy, playing nicely with the other kids, gaining weight, and quickly catching up in school! It looks like she is on track to enter school in a year and a half, not this January but the following one, right on schedule, despite having never seen a book before age four and speaking almost exclusively Meru, while all the schools are in Swahili and English.

That's about all I have to report for today, except for a special thanks to Randy Sellars, who is donating a beautiful digital video camera, a HUGE step up from the video function on my little point and shoot! So next time we'll have even more videos to share of our (quickly!) growing babies.

Out of time

I'm leaving Nkoaranga today and I'm using my last seven minutes online in Africa to write this. I'm only here in the internet cafe because I've just put the finishing touches to the Volunteer Guide we're putting up on the notice board - last minute of course. Tonight, after I've finished packing up the hospital house (the White House) I have to go and say goodbye, which will be completely horrible. I really admired Emily for how well she did it last night, I just wish it wasn't my turn! We had a lovely afternoon with them yesterday though and hopefully I'll be able to say goodbye well. They ask after a whole list of volunteers every couple of days: wapi Bosk (Ross)? Wapi Andry? Wapi Bethan? Wapi Emma? Wapi Jasmine? Wapi Bekka? It kills me that I have to be the next person who leaves them, and that when I'm gone they won't have anyone to ask - guess we'll just have to make sure we go back!

The count down

It is now my final week and I can't believe how quickly it has gone.

Over the past few weeks, when the children have asked me how long I have left, I've been able to respond with 'four weeks', 'three weeks,' 'two weeks', and now it has gotten to the point of 'this week'. I know I will be back, but the thought of leaving them is crushing.

We went to USA river academy open day last week and were able to see the children's work and how well they are doing. We are so proud of them all. It was a really lovely day, but was also over-shadowed by the thought that we would have to say goodbye to them all. Seeing Aroni for the last time was heart-breaking and saying goodbye to him was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do; when we said goodbye, he turned to me and said, 'I want to come and live with you'- you really do connect with the children and become incredibly close. He's such a beautiful boy and I know he is going to do great things in this world.

Working at Nkoaranage Orphanage has been an incredible experience. I am so grateful that I was given the chance to get to know all of the children individually and watch them grow. I can go home knowing that I was lucky enough to see Ester and Neemas first steps, Gracy sitting up for the first time and Zawadi successfully overcoming rickets and managing to walk. I can also go home knowing that I was given the honour of cleaning Pray up on the common occasion of him pooing in his pants- you're not a true Nkoaranga volunteer until you have had the joy of mopping Pray up whilst he mess's about with the water taps and screams his head off with glee.

One of the best moments at the Orphanage is the point at which the children first learn your name and scream it down the corridor to you. You especially know you are making an impact when the toddlers start tottering towards you with a massive grin on their face, food all down their fronts, screaming your name at the top of their voice- the fact that at the age of 2 they are able to remember you is really special.

I know I will come back to visit as soon as possible, but in the mean time I'm going to work with 'The Small Things' as much as I can to help aid the orphanage in the best way possible. I'm so terrified about saying goodbye to the children but I'm so glad that I can go home knowing that I will still be involved in their lives and that the children are being looked after by such wonderful women, who truly love them.

You really do fall completely and totally in love with every single child; there isn't a single volunteer who hasn't.

Each child is unique and every single one of them is going to grow up to be a wonderful individual- they are going to do some seriously amazing things. They are going to be the legendary.