Field Trip to the Botanical Gardens

Last week we had the opportunity to send the children on yet another fantastic field trip! This time, we went to the Botanical Gardens in Arusha. With a super star team of staff and volunteers available, it was the perfect time for a trip off-site for all of the pilot house children and fourteen of the oldest children from the orphanage. We were so grateful to have such wonderful group who was able to volunteer their time to facilitate such an exciting trip.

The day began with the usual chaotic and excitement of a day trip. All hands were on deck, with everyone arriving at the orphanage early in the morning to get all the children dressed in their play clothes. The children ate their lunch, and of course, last minute potty runs was a must!

Such funny, adorable girls! Ester, Maureen kubwa and Miriam; dressed and ready for the trip!

Raring to go!

The children were so excited and thoroughly enjoyed the car rides too; a bonus! They love pointing out the goats and cows on the side of the road, singing songs, observing the people, and especially the piki pikis (motorbikes) and big trucks! 

Excited to get going!

Our Marketing & Fundraising Intern Ashley played a game with the Pilot House kids where they pointed things out in both English and in Swahili. The kids' English is excelling now, so they were able to also teach Ashley the names of things like tree (mti), cow (ng'ombe), mbuzi (goat) in swahili. We're so proud of their progress!

As soon as everybody arrived at the Botanical Gardens, they all b-lined for the playground slides, tunnels, swings and teeter totters! Until they then noticed the mechanical train, and that was that! They all rode the train together which was such a lovely sight to see.

A big happy "Hi!" from Baracka!

Something Brighton said or did certainly tickled Ebeni!

Fantastic smile from Queen. She is such a happy little girl who clearly loved the day!

As always, the trampolines were a huge hit. The older kids loved to jump as high as they could, and thought it was so funny falling on each other. The little ones were a little apprehensive but eased into it (especially Shujaa).

As they were playing, the grounds staff started blowing up the inflatable playgrounds, including climbing walls, slides, and a ball pit. While we all waited, it was snack time. That meant peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and bananas made by the volunteers. The kids don't typically have PB and J's so some of them loved it! In fact, Isaak from the Pilot House ate two and a half! Maureen mdogo,on the other hand, was skeptical about the gooey sandwich. Once refueled, the kids took advantage of the inflatables and had the time of their lives.

Ball pit fun! 

Watching the children play together is so heart warming. 

This looks a little terrifying! But it went down well with all of the older children who completed it! Loveness, Agape and Isaac were the first three to make it to the top. (Very brave!)

After a long day, the kids were getting tired so we headed back with 90% of them falling asleep in the car within minutes! As soon as everybody arrived back to the orphanage, the kids took a nap as they were exhausted after having missed their normal nap time, while the volunteers all treated themselves with a local meal to complete the perfect day.

So, a massive thank you goes to Ashley Hoy, Sarah Zack, Claire Weider, Bette Nunez, Mary Beth Zack, Chris Bradley, Amanda Houser, Ali Anger, Mac, Rehema, Frank and Teacher Emerte for making this day such a success!