Guest Blog: 10 things we have learned in Nkoaranga, by Ditte

Ditte and Christine, two of our current volunteers from Denmark, arrived in Nkoaranga in early January. This great blog is a list of ten very useful things to know about volunteering in Nkoaranga! All our volunteers leave saying what an amazing experience it was, but it's also good to be prepared for all parts of living as a volunteer in a small, rural community on the mountain slopes of Meru in East Africa, where, yes, power cuts are an inevitable part of life!

10 things we have learned being in Nkoaranga:

Soon we will have been volunteering at Nkoaranga Orphanage for 4 months and what an experience it has been. We have had the most amazing time with other volunteers, TST employees, mamas and the most beautiful children that we will really miss when we return to Denmark. However, there are some things that we had not thought about before we went away and now we have had time to look back, here’s what we have learned during our incredible trip.

1: The one thing we did not expect to miss was the liquorice!

Down here, far from home comforts, you will find small joys in little things, such as ice cream or chocolate. Though these are good, one thing we have really been missing here is Danish liquorice. You can get everything else here but liquorice is not available anywhere. We can’t wait to have it again, so we wish that we had brought some with us. The same goes for any treats from your own country.

2: Think of a hobby and use your time wisely

When you’re not working, the time here both flies and goes at a snail's pace, so a hobby that you can occupy yourself with would be a nice idea. Especially when there are long power cuts.

Kisses for Christine!

3: Contact lenses can be difficult to use in Africa

So, when you 're down here and it’s been 30 degrees for a month without rain, it begins to get very dusty. I had problems with my contact lenses and then decided to just give up with them. I wasted space in my backpack with contact lens fluid, so glasses would clearly be preferable here!

4: We wish we had taken a kindle or e-reader

We brought some books in paper form but wish that we had taken a kindle with us; it takes up less space and is easier to get new books without having to go to town. They are especially good during power cuts!

5: I should’ve brought a Swahili dictionary

I thought that my English would be OK and I could easily pick up a bit of Swahili. That's one thing I regret, because English is not enough and, though most people know a few words, not everyone speaks it. A Swahili phrasebook, both before you come and during, would be a useful idea. It’s just a great feeling putting the kids to bed and being able to say goodnight and sleep well in their own language.

Our volunteers are unbelievably useful with so many children looking for cuddles, love and someone to play with.

6: Balloons are like gold! 

I brought balloons because as a child I loved them, so it was only natural to bring them to the pilot house. I just wish I had brought more because the kids LOVED them and we had so much fun playing "balloon wars”.

7: You’ll get to experience some really unique things.

We have gone on some great trips during our 4 months. For example we went to a local church service and a wedding, (we wish we had brought some nice clothes for these type of things!). We went to some beautiful hot springs and canoeing on Lake Duluti, which were not bad also! We also visited the nice town of Moshi, which is a 2-hour bus journey away.

8: You will get ridiculously attached to the children at the orphanage

We didn’t have the faintest idea how close we would get to the children. When we think that we will soon not be the ones to wake them up in the morning or put them to bed at night, we realise what a tough goodbye it will be.

Vicky Mouse having cuddles with Ditte

9: It's not only the children you’ll miss.

We will also miss the lovely mamas. When you look at what a great job they do and see the touching, caring moments between mama and baby, you realise what an important part of the orphanage they are and just how much you can learn from them.

10: You will make new friends in the Volunteer house that you will miss when you leave

We didn’t think about how close you would get to other volunteers, but when you spend so much time with each other you really get to know them. You will definitely miss them when you go home, even their bad habits. The coolest thing of all is that they are so different and come from all over the world, so really help expand your horizons.

Ditte with our lovely Lulu!

Those are some of the things we have learned from our trip to Nkoaranga. Some things will probably be useful for you and some might not. But despite these things, this is an experience we would not exchange for anything in the world. We have come to love Africa and especially the children at the orphanage and we will definitely come back and see how they are doing. We will definitely recommend Nkoaranaga and the lovely children to our friends and any one else who might be interested in being a volunteer!

Nkoaranga Valentine's Party Field Trip

The children and staff of Nkoaranga Orphanage and The Small Things would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to all those who made the Nkoaranga children their Valentine last week through the "Spread the Love Auction". Thanks to your generosity, we were able to send them all on an exciting field trip to a big play park on Tuesday! Every field trip is a big success, but this one in particular looked brilliant! So much so, that I found it extremely difficult to choose just a small batch of photos from the tons of amazing snaps that were taken from the day!

The night before the trip, Emma, one of our on-site interns, and two volunteers prepared 40+ peanut butter sandwiches in the office and cling-filmed them ready for the kids the next day. With an early start of 8.30am on Tuesday, our volunteers, The Small Things' staff and the Mamas all lent a hand and helped to get the children ready. 

Early morning excitement before the field trip!

Emma explains:
"We got all the kids in their best clothes and shoes and they all looked adorable! They were all chanting 'Sa-fa-ri, sa-fa-ri' (trip trip trip!) and getting really excited. After they'd got dressed, eaten and had their faces cleaned, we walked down to the cars. With 9 kids and 4+ adults in each car it was a squeeze! The kids loved just driving down the Nkoaranga road and all screamed every time we went over a bump. We sang nursery rhymes like Old MacDonald and our ABCs as well as some Swahili songs. Some of the kids were pointing at animals, people and transport outside the window and shouting the names in swahili (Pike Pike! Bicycle!)." 

Best friends Miriam and Maureen, during the chaotic period of getting all the children ready to go go go!

Everyone arrived at World Garden in Mishono where they have a 'Fun For All' kids' play park. There were slides, swings, tunnels, a bouncy castle slide, a trampoline, merry-go-rounds and various play ground equipment. All the kids loved it, especially the older ones like Baraka who were brave enough for the big slide.

Baraka LOVED the big slide! He did eventually start sliding down it, rather than running! But he showed no fear and had a great time experimenting and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

It's a nice playground, in that it's all enclosed and safe enough to let the children do their own thing without constant supervision, so each child could go off and play where they wanted. Even the grown-ups had fun on the playground equipment!

Helga, one of our volunteers, also enjoyed the playground!

At about 12:00pm, it was time for the peanut butter sandwiches! (Always a big hit with the kids). They all stayed another hour or so to play afterwards.

Civilised chats over a yummy lunch.

Shalom about to tuck into her sandwiches.

The whole day went really well. There were no big issues, no injuries or illnesses and the kids were very well behaved. Even the rain held off until we got to Nkoaranga. In one car on the way back, five out of nine children fell asleep and that night they all went to bed early at around 18:30 as they were so knackered from the day!

The great photos taken of the day can do the rest of the talking!

Franky getting a turn on the dinosaur.

Happy Miriam.

A smiley Vicky Mouse!

Miriam, Fanueli, Shujaa and Franky all manage to squeeze onto the dinosaur!

Shujaa chilling out on the trampoline.

A funny bouncy-castle moment where Peace just couldn't roll down properly!

 

Fanueli is loving the ride, Fillipo isn't so sure!

Deliberating. Who will go first?

Well done Brighton!

Well, he did try!

Again, a big thank you from all of us and we hope you can all feel the love from Tanzania! Here are some of the cards from the Pilot House children from this Valentine's Day. It's been a great celebration all round!

When you meet these kids, you'll know...

Over the next two weeks we get the chance to look at Nkoaranga through fresh eyes. These two guest posts from Olivia and Romany are full of great insights into what life at the orphanage is like, given by people who are still glowing from their first experiences of it.

This week we start with Olivia's guest post. I think she puts the messiness and frustrations of the orphanage into balance with its joys and its surprises perfectly. She really captures the way volunteers grow to love the children and how quickly they can worm their way into your heart; reading it transported me back to Tanzania.

"When you meet these kids, you’ll know. You’ll know why you came. Why you spent so much money, why you left behind whoever it is that you miss already, why you collected all your vacation days carefully and then spent them all at once. You’ll know why you’re taking cold showers and walking around with some toddler’s pee on your pants. You’ll know that you made the right choice. You’ll know that the governments that make the adoption process so difficult, at both ends, are your newest enemies. You’ll know that your capacity to love is greater than you thought it could be. When you meet the kids, you’ll know that you’ll never be the same again.

I had no idea what to expect in Nkoaranga, but the orphanage, hospital, dirt road, dukas (shops), piki-pikis (motorcycles), and fresh fruit and vegetable stands that make up Nkoaranga quickly became my new M.O. The beautiful children, with their runny noses, wet pants, fighting, happy hugs, and general confusion, quickly became my new home. 

I guess Brighton finally lost his fight with naptime, halfway through his struggle with his pants!

Like any home, it wasn't all fun and games. There were moments when it seemed like every single kid in the orphanage was crying. I couldn't blame them. They all get bored or sad or lonely, just like the rest of us, and when they do, there aren't many comforting laps or arms to go around. There are two to three mamas in the orphanage at all times, but they’re usually busy with the cooking, laundry, cleaning, changing diapers, etc. And sometimes we all just need a cuddle… but especially if you’re a baby or child. I was inspired by how adaptable children are; but there are some things a child can never adapt to. Not having a lap to call their own—that’s one of those things. A child needs the love and attention a parent gladly gives and nothing can change that. For me, this was the most heartbreaking thing I saw.

There were funny moments. SO MANY funny moments. There is a local volunteer names Franky who is deaf, and we all love him! He would help us so much, was so good-natured and so good for the kids. It was funny to glance at him during those moments when the cries echoed off the walls and bounced off the floors (often right before bedtime, when every kid was just knackered), because he was just smiling along as always, watching the bedtime movie, oblivious to the sanity-stealing noise surrounding him. Another one of my favorite moments happened during a crazy crying session as well. That day, all the kids were dressed up in loads of plastic rings, necklaces and bracelets that had been donated, so the other volunteers and I started singing Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and waving our hands to show off our imaginary diamond rings. Soon about 15 kids were dancing and singing around us, and showing off their own ringed fingers. They were all ridiculously cute. The funniest were definitely the boys, especially the more tough and wild ones, dancing around waving their hands like girls and trying to sing, “If you like it then you should have put a ring on it!”

Each kid has an incredible personality, an intricate mix of fun and beautiful and vulnerable, sometimes spiced with mischief, in another kid seasoned with nurturing, in yet another with impulsiveness, in another with curiosity. Each kid is so unique that when one of us volunteers would tell a story about something funny or frustrating or crazy that happened at the orphanage that day, the rest of us could guess which kid the story was about. As a volunteer, you can’t help but fall in love with the kids. When we weren't at the orphanage with the kids we were talking about the kids. And now that I'm home I try to vicariously introduce the kids to people who ask about my trip. As I knew before I ever bought my ticket to Tanzania, they've changed my life a hundred times more than I've changed theirs."

Thanks to Olivia Lee Lessard from the US for this great contribution to our blog.

Next week we follow on with the impressions of Romany Stott from England, who went out to Tanzania with her friend Bethan, one of our board members and regular bloggers. It looks like she too has caught the Nkoaranga magic and really got to know the kids well in a short space of time.

Safari!!

I have now been back in Nkoaranga for almost two weeks now and have so much to write about - it has been fantastic.  But for now, I want to tell you all the 'safari' (trip) which we took the kids on!  We had decided that it would be really fun for the kids to visit an outdoor play area which Bekka found near Arusha.  Aside from being a little nervous about the possibility of huge downpours, everyone was really looking forwards to it!

The trip started off with all the younger children piling into the dala dala (local bus) which we had hired to take us there.  We were really sad that we were unable to take the children who had already been in school with us, due to them being picked up by TFFT for school that afternoon (we'll be writing about this year's kids starting school soon!), although to be honest it was probably a good thing space wise.  I think the kids were just as excited about the trip the playground as actually playing there: they sang songs, calling out the names of everything they saw out the window, waved at people walking along the roadside, and yelled in excitement at every speed bump!

The playground was great, really big with LOTS of swings, trampolines and see-saws spread out over a big grassy area.  It was perfect for all the kids to run wild and try everything!

Peddling backwards seemed to be much easier than going forwards!

Simoni pulling a goofy face

Zawadi loving the trampoline

Neema and Holly on the swing

When the rain arrived (it had been threatening to for some time), it was time for a little break and we all sat under two thatched umbrellas and the kids tucked into some peanut butter sandwiches, juice and biscuits, thanks to Christina, Therese and Emma for providing these!  Needless to say, everything was enjoyed immensely.

Baracka (left) and Pendo (right) tucking into their sandwiches and juice

Neema getting excited over the food

After that it was time for some more playing before the final excitement arrived - a big blow up slide!  Although there was some initial craziness as EVERYONE pushed to get up both the steps and slide and slide down five kids at a time, once Megan was installed at the top of the slide to keep some kind of order (thanks Megan!) there was a constant stream of kids climbing up and delightedly sliding down before heading straight back up again!  As the kids became more confident we saw lots of inventive ways of getting down the slide - I think they enjoyed flinging themselves down and finding that they just bounced!

Queuing to get to the top... 

...and David and Baracka grinning from ear to ear
as they slide down!

Finally it was time to head home.  We all climbed back into the dala dala and all the kids got lollipops...and needless to say, everyone was very excited and got very sticky!  Aside from lots of calls of 'MAJI MAJI' ('water') every time we passed a river (or puddle at the side of the road), everyone was quieter - tired but happy!  We got back to the orphanage just in time for dinner - what an amazing day!

Thank you for your continued support which lets us make days like this happen!

Update from Kristina - This week at NK

Baby Peace is sitting up and eating solid food - where does the time go? I'm thrilled to say that I'll be out there in just 11 days as another pair of hands - I can't wait! Thanks Kristina for the updates, and thanks to our fabulous incoming Danish volunteers Stine and Peter for funding a significant portion of the new dryer purchase. We appreciate it and can't wait for you to meet the kids this summer!