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!
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!
We'll have an update on the water situation coming in just a few days - first, I wanted to share with you the incredible progress that's happened on the playground and in the garden, thanks to your support! For those who are unfamiliar, the garden is a large plot that was given to us by the hospital last January at my request, in order to help increase the food security and independence of the orphanage. The entire idea is to insulate the orphanage food supply against financial shocks - if they're low on cash in a given month, we don't want to ever take the risk that they'd end up low on food! This applies to the chickens as well. It also ensures that the kids are getting the highest quality calories - lots of veggies, leafy greens, protein from chickens and eggs, etc.
Garden entrance
Delicious beans
Tons of corn and a growing mango tree
One of the few lettuces that eventually sprouted!
Green tomatoes - give them a few more weeks!
One week's onion haul from the garden!
As for the playground, it was a total mess last year - with the death slide and the carousel of death as prime attractions (ok, my own personal nicknames for them... but they were dangerous!). Then a falling tree took out the trampoline... it was definitely time for a complete redo!
We got lucky and met Millie and Mikarla, who had already raised a significant chunk to redo the playground, on the advice of the good people at KATZ volunteers. They took care of redoing the slide, seesaw, and carousel, getting a new trampoline and some more swings, and we added a tire swing, monkey bars, and spinning table. Check out the before and after!
Before: Post-tree destruction, old seesaw, old slide
Pray on the old trampoline, post-tree
The carousel of death (or at least tetanus!)
The tree that started it all, and the death slide - that thing took out multiple kids' teeth!
Now: much safer slide, new trampoline, new swings, and turntable!
Kids playing together on the new see-saw
Pray, Abdulli and Maureen on the new tire swing
David, Asimwe and Abdulli on the new swings
Nelvin, the fundi who did it all for us, trying out the monkey bars
And a whole bunch of kids on the turntable!
And here are two videos - the first has Pendo and Tumaini singing and a good view of the new playground while it was in progress. The second has Dainess and Stevie going head to head on the monkey bars!
Thank you again for all of your incredible support - none of this would be possible without it.
