About us!

The Small Things

a nonprofit working to support the children and 
staff of Nkoaranga Orphanage, Tanzania

and its parent hospital

Ebenezer

Simoni and Zawadi

Peace with his mohawk and James Bond look!

Vicky, who also has a fantastic scowl when grumpy

Isaac being held by Loveness

Gracie and Eman

A quick refresher on what we do, for those who've joined us more recently! 

The Small Things was founded in June, 2011 and since then we have completed several projects aimed to improve, aid and support these beautiful children and the incredible women who care for them...

Project Maji (water)

One of our first projects was installing a well at the orphanage and hospital, since they were without water as much as one day out of three! Since then, we also installed sustainable water filters into the taps in the orphanage kitchen and maternity ward at the hospital, relieving the need to constantly boil water and wait for it to cool.  Clean drinking water is now readily available, meaning the children no longer need to go without when they are thirsty. 

 - Read more about Project Maji here - 

Light Up the Night

The electrical system at the orphanage was old and dangerous - we decided to raise the money rewire the whole orphanage, to prevent a repeat of the short circuit which caused a fire on Valentines Day, 2009, and would have claimed the lives of seven babies had it not been for the heroic efforts of Mama Cantate, one of the women who looks after the children.  In addition, installing solar panels means no more changing nappies by the light of gasoline lamps or candles.

- Read more about Light Up the Night here -

Project Education

Nkoaranga Orphanage only cares for children up until the age of 5.  If they did not have the option to attend school, there future would consist of being shuffled from orphanage to orphanage, and at best, becoming house servants.  The chance to attend school and receive an education really will change their lives! Project Education works with a fantastic sponsorship organisation called The Foundation for Tomorrow which facilitates the children to attend a high quality boarding school, as well as receiving medical care, pastoral support and extracurricular activities.  So far we have helped 7 children to start school!

- Read more about Project Education here - 

Staff

We have a few different projects that support and enrich our staff. We have directly hired four staff members - Mama Linda, who works with the children, Mama Kevin, a cook, and Mamas Agness and Brenda, who keep the orphanage and grounds clean. We've also started paying overtime for extra mamas to come in on the weekends, when there are rarely enough volunteers, and begun a one-to-one care program for premature infants, where an extra mama is hired to work explicitly with a premature infant until they have caught up in weight and health. We additionally provide English courses and run monthly staff-volunteer lunches to encourage communication. We have also provided management training to Mama Pendo, our incredible head mama. We love our staff! 

- Read more about one-to-one care here - 

Community Outreach

It is said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that's the rationale behind this project. In the summer of 2012, we ran a pilot business education and microgrants program, aimed at helping struggling families in the community providing care for orphaned and vulnerable children. All families in this project were living in dire poverty; in many families one parent had passed away, and in several others the family are caring for orphaned children in addition to their own. It was an amazing experience, and we learned a lot, while helping 14 incredible families. We are currently evaluating our options for future years, as to whether we should continue to run this type of project alone, or whether we would do better to team up with organizations that specialize in this type of work. 

- Read more about the program here - 

We hope you have enjoyed reading about who The Small Things are and some of the things that we do (or at least looking at the pictures!) To get involved, click here, and donate, volunteer, or just help spread the word!

Please join (or like!) us on facebook - HERE!

And if you would like to learn more, we would love to hear from you at info@thesmallthings.org or (firstname)@thesmallthings.org to contact one of us directly.

From all of us at The Small Things...

Thank you!

P.S. Here's a picture of Vicky wearing that scowl I mentioned earlier!

48 hours till I'm on that plane!

What a rush - two days till I'm in the air on the way to my kiddos, and less than three before I get to hold them again! I couldn't possibly be more excited if I tried. And to make everything even more fantastic, our wonderful partners at Speranza Tanzania (a great Italian group that works primarily with the hospital - have Google translate the page for you!) just shared photos of the incredible school supplies they were able to get a hold of. Some will go to the orphanage pre-school, and others will go to Nkoaranga primary school, just next door - over a hundred kids per class, very few materials, and in some classes they don't even have desks. Between Speranza Tanzania's haul and the stationary donated to Claire Wyatt to bring over, hopefully we can make their year a little easier!

We will also be bringing over a water filtration system for each building, because currently students have no access to safe water during the school day - this is an extension of Project Maji, the filters were so well received that we got requests for more! Take a look at some of the amazing donations below...

They were able to collect all this with the help of a local church in Rome. Similarly, a wonderful family recommended donating to us during a Bar Mitzvah ceremony where Claire was the photographer. Claire's older brother Ben has also chipped in, running a charity golf tournament at his university to raise enough cash to buy 20 containers of premature infant formula - an AMAZING gift because it's just not available in Tanzania. Almost all of our donations come in from individuals, and every tiny bit helps. I can't wait to be back on the ground and see the excitement - and watch the solar lighting installation! - firsthand. 

Just for fun, here are a few of my favorite pictures that hadn't made the website yet. They're all going to be so much bigger when I get back, I figure this is probably my last chance to get these great shots out there! 

Morning snack - bread and porridge

Beautiful Frankie

Me and my boy Pray

Ester getting tickled by another kid!

Simoni grinning

Bethan and Maureeni

Maureen cuddling David

Zi looking skeptical 

Baracka shocked by camera flash

When you hear from me next, I'll be on the ground in Tanzania! Can't wait!

Water, water everywhere, and finally safe to drink!!

Water is and always has been a huge problem at Nkoaranga orphanage. In fact, the nonprofit grew out of my very first project here - a well. When we arrived two years ago, the orphanage and hospital were frequently without water as much as one day out of three. On those days, the mamas would spend most of their time hauling water in buckets from the local school, or, if it was out of water too, from the river - leaving them no time for the kids. Just the basic tasks of getting them washed, fed, and hydrated, already no picnic with thirty children, became exponentially greater. The doctors couldn't wash their hands, inpatients couldn't bathe, and people died unnecessarily.

Little froggy Frankie trying to get into my water bottle

With the help of some other amazing volunteers, some generous donors, and the donated labor of a local driller, we were able to get a well up and running within four months. The nonprofit grew organically out of that first project, and the understanding of what a huge impact could be made with comparatively modest resources. The key has always been listening carefully and respectfully to the people we work with - they do this work every day, and they know best what they need!

Could you say no to this face?

Although the well has made a huge difference, the water saga has not stopped there. Drinking water straight from the taps in Tanzania means playing Russian roulette with typhoid, dysentery, amoebas, worms, and a whole catalog of other fun creepy crawlies. That means the mamas spent countless hours and hundreds of dollars of fuel on boiling water for the bottles and for drinking, day in and day out. Because of the thousand other tasks awaiting their attention, and the hours it took for boiled water to cool, there would frequently be periods when the kids were thirsty and we simply had no safe water to give them. There is nothing more heartbreaking than telling a child no to such a simple request - and it made us determined to never have to do it again.

Zawadi trying out one of the bucket filters for the hospital from inside - is it comfortable, Zi?

With our own Bethan Crisp at the helm, we took on Project Maji - which many of you contributed to! - to install a plumbed in water filter in the orphanage and a bucket filter system in each of the hospital wards. Inpatients and laboring mothers, already extremely physically vulnerable, were all drinking unfiltered water, seriously increasing their risk of complications. We exceeded our goal and were able to get a few extra filters for other places in need - hugely exciting! Click here for all the details and a list of donors.

Emily delivering the bucket filter to some very excited kids at Mama Jane's!

As of last week, the filter is permanently installed in the orphanage sink, meaning that not only can every child get clean water at the turn of a faucet knob, but in addition, that all the dishes and hands will be washed in clean water, limiting one more source of potential infection. Thank you from the bottom of our heart for helping us to make their lives healthier. In addition, the hospital now has filters in each ward (male, female, pediatric, and maternity), as well as in the local primary school, and at Mama Jane's, another nearby orphanage. In fact, they were so well received that we have been asked to bring over one for the secondary school and one for the outpatient department on our next trip! Lives WILL be saved by this initiative, and we are so very grateful for your support. .

Thank you from Stevie, Andrea, and David - and all of us!

And just for fun, here's a short clip of one of our biggest water fans - baby Filipo, at his favorite time of day.

Thank you letter from the fabulous Bethan Crisp

A MASSIVE thank you to The Small Things and most importantly, to all of the amazing supporters and donations we have had towards Project Maji. This has been a super quick and successful project but is going to be one that lasts a life time!!

I can't wait to return to Nkoaranga and be alongside the brilliant Bekka, witnessing the smiles and appreciation from the children and the mama's at the orphanage as well as the staff and patients of Nkoaranga hospital.

No more saying 'no' the children when they innocently ask for a cup of water! BRILLIANT!!

We are currently in the position where we are seeking out four additional schools/orphanages/hospitals who we feel would benefit from having a bucket filtration system, as, thanks to the great people at Business Connect, we have been able to purchase SEVEN bucket systems as opposed to the intended three. This is great news and means that we can massively improve the everyday health, wellbeing and lives of other children and patients around Arusha!

We cannot thank you enough for all of the help and recognition we have received and this has given me motivation and a boost to start looking at further possibilities of ways we can help the beautiful people of Tanzania...

AGAIN, THANK YOU TO: 

Pennie and Peter Branden

Amy and Steve Eppler Epstein

Leslie Gildhart

Sarah Patrick

Sorcha Bradford

Mary-Jane Wright

Sharon Hutchinson

Wayne and Sandra Leland 

Jane Butler 

David Cohen 

Dawid Mastalerczyk 

Kiana Thompson, with love from Auntie Kristina 

Tobias Foster, with love from Auntie Kristina 

Noah Foster, with love from Auntie Kristina 

The Ridler Family 

Jordan Louise Edwards

And a special thanks to Oyster Worldwide and Irene at Farrant Aquamatic Products Ltd

And a note from Bekka: I'll leave you with a little video that shows you just how far these kids can come with a little extra attention - for those who don't know, at 12 months Zawadi was really struggling, very sick with worms, badly malnourished, not from intentional neglect from the mamas but simply from the lack of adequate staffing to not only notice that she was suffering from worms, but get her tested and treated. Seh's come such an incredible distance since then - today at 22 months, she is walking, talking, and just generally being a genius in every way. I'm not at all biased, of course, just because I desperately want to adopt her and bring her home. TOTALLY objective. So here she is. 

We do amazing things when we work together. Thank you for being part of our kids' lives. And just because Project MAJI is over, doesn't mean we don't still need the help - we're constantly raising money to get the kids into school, the mamas paid a living wage, keep the chicken coop and garden going and the formula and vitamins stocked - basically everything we can do to keep our kids happy and healthy. Help us today! 

Our 99th post, and Project MAJI SUCESS!

I'm thrilled to announce that Project MAJI is now officially fully funded! In December, my wonderful co-sponsor Bethan Crisp and I will be installing one filtration system directly into Nkoaranga orphanage's plumbing, so that ALL the water used for cooking, drinking and washing dishes will be bacteria and protozoa free and safe to drink without boiling! Never again will the mamas or volunteers have to deny a child a drink of water because things have been too hectic to keep some boiling on a back burner.

We will also be installing three bucket filtration systems in each of the Nkoaranga hospital wards (male, female and pediatric), so that hospital inpatients will no longer risk their already stressed immune systems by drinking untreated water. The advantage of the bucket system in this case is that it makes the filtration system visible, and since hospital inpatients change every few days, it is important that they be conscious of the filtration process rather than risking dehydration by avoiding all the hospital water.

I could not be more thrilled and proud with how willingly (and fast!) everyone stepped up to the plate to help make this happen. We will be sure to bring back lots of photos, videos, and responses from the orphanage and hospital once the systems are installed. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for helping to keep our babies, and all those who pass through the hospital, healthy and safe.

Special thanks for this project go out to:

Pennie and Peter Branden

Amy and Steve Eppler Epstein

Leslie Gildhart

Sarah Patrick

Sorcha Bradford

Mary-Jane Wright

Sharon Hutchinson

Wayne and Sandra Leland
Jane Butler
David Cohen
Dawid Mastalerczyk
Kiana Thompson, with love from Auntie Kristina
Tobias Foster, with love from Auntie Kristina
Noah Foster, with love from Auntie Kristina
The Ridler Family
Jordan Louise Edwards

And a special thanks to Oyster Worldwide and Irene at Farrant Aquamatic Products Ltd

I'll close with a favorite quote from the always wise and wonderful Margaret Mead:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Announcing Project MAJI!

I am taking a break from my physician approved immobility to let you all know that we are officially kicking off Project MAJI (water) today! Please check out the page and see how you can help bring clean, safe water to our beautiful babies at Nkoaranga orphanage and the thousands of impoverished Tanzanians who pass through the Nkoaranga hospital wards every year. This effort can and will save lives. Want to find out more?

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!

The Emily Song and so forth

So the past week has been... full? Always busy at work, of course - especially with a new baby, Joyce, who made me realize how BIG our last "new baby" has gotten. Ebenezer seems to have doubled in size, comparatively, overnight - and thinking about how little he used to be of course makes me think of Reziki, who came in at the same time. Still, I'm able to mostly be thrilled with Ebenezer thriving and not be dragged down too much by the comparison. And Joyce is ridiculously gorgeous, just a beautiful, beautiful kid.

This is a PG-13 blog, I'm assuming you can handle the lack of a modesty patch

Bethan has fully moved in, and we've been tackling lots of little projects - got the chalkboards done for the mamas and for the school, etc. Her focus is going to be on trying to get a filtration system in for the water, I think - a really important but manageable sized project that will save a ton of money and time spent boiling water every day, or worse, not boiling it and having the kids either end up dehydrated or be given untreated water by mamas who don't feel like doing their jobs (pet peeve much?)

Bethan looks like a model in the front, the others are various other wonderful volunteers

The other girls from Bethan's group have started working almost every day, which is really nice - and the kids adore them and have started really bonding. My particular favorite manifestation of this is in the "Emily" song, as recited below by Simoni.

I'm a little offended there's no Bekka song, but I'll take him coming out of his shell. Totally worth it. Today in addition to the extra volunteers, a man came by who is looking into adopting from one of the local orphanages with his wife - both work at the Rwanda tribunal, I believe. They had the very disheartening experience of falling in love with twins at another orphanage, only to have the father refuse to give permission for adoption, despite his complete lack of contact for the last three years - oh wait, no, he visited TWICE, clearly a very involved parent. Anyway, their loss will be the gain for one (or more) lucky kids. It made me realize that as much as I want Z to be mine, I'd be happy as long as she was with a loving family - anyway, they're probably looking for a baby, so we'll see what happens. As you can probably tell, I'm a little attached. Thanks so much for the comment on the last post, Marie, it helped a lot to hear from someone else who has been in a similar position.

As for medical supplies, things are slowly but steadily trickling in. So far we have a microscope and a few computers, as well as a source for vitamins. It looks like we're going to have to make retail purchases for thermometers, and we may not be able to help at all with blood pressure cuffs, etc, unless someone steps forward. Financial donations, as always, would be a huge help and make a big difference for the kids. On a related note, the kids have an unhealthy obsession, I don't know why, with Bob the Builder - apparently he transcends all physical and political barriers. All they have is one DVD and it's stuck in French. Don't ask me. Anyway, if anyone has additional BTB DVDs or hard plastic toys, it would be greatly appreciated - and I'll send you video of the kids singing the BTB song, BONUS! It's truly adorable.

That's all for now - family, friends, are you still out there? I haven't heard from most of you in a while, pretend you care what's going on and send me a darn comment or an email.

The internet is going to kick me off before I think of a witty title. Medical supplies. Read it.

Ok, so, we finally have a full list of requested supplies for the hospital and orphanage, which is very exciting - my parents' visit is creeping closer, less than six weeks now! I hope they realize that they aren't ACTUALLY going to have space for, you know, clothes or other luxuries - too much important stuff to bring. If anyone out there has or knows someone who might have access to any of these items, please let me know as soon as possible - this is going to be a huge group effort to try to drastically increase the capacity of the hospital to provide care through a few well packed suitcases. Go team go!

General supplies

Used laptops of any description or vintage

Stethoscopes, preferably Litmanns 

Digital thermometers and disposable plastic covers (LOTS of covers)

Children's vitamins with iron and Vitamin D (My recommendation: Schiff's Multivitamins, $8.18 for 180 tabs, which will last the orphanage approx. 2 weeks)

Blood pressure cuffs, preferably digital

Medications - particularly diabetes, hypertension, and antibiotics

Braces, particularly ankle and knee

Lab supplies

Microscope

Colorimeter

Glucometer and other diabetic testing supplies

Reagents for culture and sensitivity

Water bath machine

Specialized supplies

Delivery kit

D/C kit

Dental kit

Hand drill/electric drill

Min orthopedic fragment set

Small orthopedic fragment set

Kuntcher orthopedic nail set

Sign orthopedic nail set

I know it's a lot to ask, and I know we won't get everything, but I'm really counting on help connecting with the various people and organizations who can make these things happen. Also, please look around your house and see if you have any salvageable old laptops, as they really will make a huge difference.

On an unrelated and less needy note, things are going really well here - the water has been consistently on and functional for over a week with not a single hiccup, a huge accomplishment for Tanzania! Possibly even more impressive, my immune system appears to have returned from whatever vacation it was on, and it's been a full two weeks since my last inexplicable fever - hooray for the bare minimums of basic good health! The kids are all healthy, not a single case of malaria (today), which is downright thrilling, and weight checks show that they're all gaining weight - even Z, who has almost doubled now from 4.5 kilos when I arrived to a full 8 now. Next stop: thunder thighs. Working on it.

Chickens are, um, chickeny, and Tweety appears to be roostering the hens, meaning we may have an excess rooster in the person of Yosemite Sam, meaning the kids will be snacking on drumsticks soon. Hopefully that doesn't destroy the whole, you know, compassionate and responsible vibe we've been trying to cultivate with the care of smaller creatures thing. Eh, at least they'll get protein in exchange for their trauma. As my friend Peter says, "They're not throwing rocks to hurt them, they're just trying to tenderize them!" In a month or two we'll have home grown veggies to accompany Chicken a la Childhood Trauma, as the garden is now irrigated, bedded (?), and ready for planting. There are dirty jokes to be made there but I will refrain, as I'm a responsible adult admitted to graduate school now. Or something.

Right. So. Let's go medical supplies! Woo hoo! Pretending this is exciting! Please help me not look like a total fool with empty bags in April!

Waving not drowning. I think.

I know in my head that realistically, everything is going well, but I've been really struggling the last week - between kinks in the water delivery system and the complete disappearance of the responsible technician, to getting lists of requested supplies to bring over in April, to getting seriously into the huge task that is the vegetable garden, I'm feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. For what it's worth, I've started and will continue to add to a Wish List in the "Help" section, and if any of you happen to have any of the items, I would be endlessly grateful.

Old laptops for the hospital (currently functioning with a grand total of three old desktops)

Children's vitamins with iron and Vitamin D (My recommendation: Schiff's Multivitamins, $8.18 for 180 tabs, which will last the orphanage approx. 2 weeks)

Thermometers and thermometer covers (Many many covers!)

Stethoscopes (preferably Littmann)

Blood Pressure Cuffs (preferably digital)

Diabetic testing supplies

Medicines for hypertension, diabetes, antibiotics

Orthopedic supplies including braces

The old laptops and children's vitamins are particularly relevant here, since many of us have older laptops lying around that could do a lot of good in the hospital environment, and the vitamins are cheap, have free shipping, and we need a LOT of them as each box of 180 tablets will last only about 2 weeks. If you have the opportunity to help, donations can be sent to:

Nkoaranga Orphanage c/o Ross Russell Family

23 Montowese Trail

Wallingford, CT 06492

Thanks, guys.

Mysterious African Fever and underwear-based head adornment

First and foremost, ladies and gentlemen, WE HAVE WATER. We are waiting for the results of the quality testing to see if it needs to be boiled before drinking, but even if I drop dead of mysterious African fever this minute, it's ok because the kids will have water and chickens. Chicken water. That is my legacy. My parents must be so proud?

On a related note, I think I'm less likely to drop dead of mysterious African fever than I was before since I seem like I might be recovering (shhh, don't tell my body because whenever I say this it retaliates with swift and mighty vengeance) - of the last four days I've had two very low grade fevers that only lasted for a few hours, and other than that I seem to be reasonably functional. I mean, for me, that is.

Also in the wake of the Great Tree Fiasco of 2011, the hospital has gone a little crazy with cutting down trees that MIGHT conceivably be dangerous. Of course, they do this with teenagers with chainsaws and ropes cutting down 300 foot high ancient trees mere feet from my house. So yesterday was interestingly punctuated with assorted crashes, booms, and bangs as the young gentleman pictured below dismantled one of the largest trees I've ever encountered. While multitasking!

Why yes, he IS texting while dismantling a tree mere meters from my bedroom.

 For those of you who worry about your kids texting and driving... Welcome to Africa.

However, to prove that wherever you go kids are fundamentally the same, I'm going to share another delicious tidbit from yesterday, which fully, fully made up for any unpleasant crashing sounds or, I don't know, four full days with no water, little power, and no showers.

Simoni

That'll do, pig, that'll do.

Bits and pieces

Today is a much needed organization and consolidation day, so most of what you will notice is changes to the format and a complete redo of the renamed help page, plus the addition of a new photo gallery page so that you don't have to stare at them every time I get a shot I'm particularly proud of. The biggest change is a new project - yes, already - since the water project is within an electrical hookup and a water quality test of being finished (YAY!). I'll copy what I wrote already, since, as we have already established, sometimes I am lazy.

I am hoping to raise money to hire a staff manager and hospital liason, to reduce the already incredibly intense workload on Mama Pendo and to have someone whose entire focus is making sure policies are followed (i.e. mosquito nets are used daily and in good repair, vitamins are administered and sick children are given their medicine in a timely manner, each child eats from an individual bowl and spoon to avoid illness). They would compile this information into weekly reports to quantify progress on these goals. They would additionally serve as a liason with the hospital and make sure the hospital is fully aware of the needs and problems of the orphanage. Through conversations with the hospital administration, it appears that it would be possible to find and hire an appropriate candidate with a degree in social welfare or similar for about $3000 USD per year.

This is probably going to be a long term project, and I'm currently looking into the implications and procedures for putting together a nonprofit for the purpose when I get back to the US. Of course, if by some miracle LSE decides to accept me, that would put a slight crimp in those plans. So part of the problems involves the (always interminable) acceptance decision wait.

Keeping it short and sweet today. Looking forward to that water!

Cohesive narrative is overrated. Also, I went to art school.

GOOD NEWS: The cannula of death has been removed for the last time, leaving both hands comprehensively and quite colorfully bruised but otherwise unharmed.

BAD NEWS: That's because after five days of twice daily injections, it doesn't actually appear to be WORKING, so I have some form of mysterious African fever virus rather than mysterious African fever bacteria. Which is nice to know but, really, I would just like it gone and that doesn't appear to currently be an option.

GOOD NEWS: The pump arrived from Dar es Salaam and is being installed, the pipes are in, and so it's just a matter of running out electricity until we have sweet, sweet water available all the time.

BAD NEWS:The cannula in my hand has prevented me from really teaching jewelry this week, so my students might not actually remember what I look like (hint: I'm the pale one).

GOOD NEWS: The old students and about seven new students are doing really well and producing a LOT of work, I just need to find some way to sell it without further overcommitting myself. So maybe that's bad news. Eh, whatever.

Sometimes I take pictures in black and white. That totally justifies thousands of dollars on art school.

Grumplestiltskin, killer trees, and Africa is still out to get me.

Ohhh, where to start with the last week or so of my life? Lets start with the not so fun stuff - my fever started spiking again, after disappearing for a few days (silly me! Thinking Africa would let me off so easily!).I went to the hospital and they decided that the best course of action is to drown my body in hardcore antibiotics so that on the off chance that, despite everything, this is some kind of lingering bacterial infection, it will DIE. Thus, I have a beautiful hand accessory, seen below, which the kids seem to think is a portal to fun-land aka the most fun they've ever experienced. So THAT'S an adventure.

 

However, the moderate up-side of the twice-daily injections is that I've moved up to the house on the hospital property, which is beautiful and right next door to the orphanage, convenient for brief visits when I miss them after all of two hours. Seriously, I have a problem.

It's wonderful being so close to the kids, who can occasionally be distracted from my cannula for whole minutes by the newest additions to our orphanage family, five baby chicks - the black one is named Sylvester, the mama is Bugs, and the others are still too indistinct to name. The four dwarves? ANYWAY. It's an excellent bribe to keep the kids behaving, because they are PSYCHED about getting to come anywhere NEAR the vifaranga, since, obviously, they are kept at as far a distance as possible most of the time. Fences within fences.

 Zawadi especially needs lots of distracting because at sixteen months she is (FINALLY!) teething. She has earned the nickname of Grumplestiltskin, until that horrible wailing noise goes away any time... well, all the time. This was the reaction to my heinous action of trying to get her to smile to show her teeth. I'm awful. Also she's apparently decided to condense all her milestones into one very busy month, since she's now fully crawling, not just wiggle-worming, and pulling up to standing - she even walks with hands to help her, although, like everything else in the world, that currently makes her cry.

I am Grumplestiltskin! Hear me ROAR!

So yesterday, after finally taking a day to rest to attempt to recover from the hell that is this illness, I decided to check up on the orphanage quickly before heading down to the hospital for my daily injection. This is what I found. 

Yeah. That's a tree that was previously leaning OVER the orphanage, and apparently one of the mamas observed it leaning and the ground cracking above the roots - it literally was minutes from crushing the entire main room of the orphanage with most of the kids inside - and they managed to shoo the kids to the other end of the building and get some workers to come and fell the tree in the OTHER direction, across the playground and completely obliterating the fence. The kids were freaked but excited, with the exception of poor Simoni who I found wandering the halls, pantsless, muttering to himself about the big tree and DANGEROUS and bad tree, where is the fence? Poor munchkin then tried and failed to put his pants on becuase he was so distracted and upset, and started crying because really, what else adds insult to injury like being unable to put on pants? So we cuddled and eventually went outside and touched the tree and verified that no one was hurt and the tree wasn't going to hurt him now. 

Sigh. My poor little scraps. Still working on conceptualizing the whole "leaving" thing - pretty sure it just can't happen. We shall see. 

PS: Pump is on its way from Dar es Salaam, pipes are installed, and we are at most a week away from GLORIOUS WATER! Woo hoo!