Leaving camp

Playing with the kids. They are so cute!


Little kids helping me carry water.


The 'mzungu' (aka white people) trying to carry water on our heads.


Sloshing water all over myself while the ladies laughed and laughed!!!


Saying goodbye to the locals and some fellow volunteers who left early. It was a sad day but we had chocolate cake baked in our brick oven!

After we caught the 'kuku' we tried to tie her up. She kept getting out though!

Villagers dancing and singing for us.

The mzungu dancing!

Villagers that came to dance and see us off.

The lady who held my hand while we dance into the next village.

Well, today was my last day at camp in Mghumbu. I would have happily stayed for 3 more weeks if I didn't want to do so many other things. The past 3 weeks have flown by, and I have enjoyed every minute. I think the last time I wrote I was heading out to view previous HAPA projects. It was a very long day bumping around inside a jeep, but we saw 2 school sites, 2 pumps and a medical dispensary that the ngo I'm working with helped build. It is really amazing that HAPA still exists, because they lost all of their funding in 2000 and had to start again from scratch. And the work that they do is so practical and worthwhile; building pumps in strategic places so women don't have to walk 15km ONE WAY to get water! A few days ago I carried a bucket of water on my head with local women, and it is HARD! They were all laughing at how much water I sloshed on myself and that I had to hold the bucket up there with my hand. I met a lady at the water pump outside our camp and she couldn't figure out how I was going to carry back 2 full buckets of water, as I only have one head (and as big as my head is, it isn't that big!). There has been quite a bit of progress on the school in my short 3 weeks: the tin roof was put on, the outer walls have been plastered, the floors have been levelled in preparation of cementing, and all of the windows and door frames have been built. Actually, this whole past week there wasn't much for us to do except haul sand for mixing plaster, as the majority of the work has been on the woodwork (doors, windows, and desks). It is neat to see how the village is coming together and helping with this project. Rather than us just giving them a school, they are earning it in a sense.

It was sad leaving camp this morning, as I have become quite attached to some of the kids. It's no surprise, as they are waiting at the gate for us as soon as the sun rises, and follow us to school, and just want to hold my hand or carry my water bottle or pet my hair! One girl in particular that I became attached to was Veronica. She is 5 and absolutely gorgeous, but she was so shy when I first arrived she would run and hide! Gradually she began holding my hand and giving me five, and yesterday I taught her how to count to 10 in English! So when I went to the gate to say goodbye today, I was a bit choked up and I just picked her up and hugged her. I would take her home if I could, and several more, they are all so adorable and just enthralled by us.
In the last week our camp has become a zoo! We have always had dogs around, as one of our guards has 2 dogs which attract more stray ones (as does our garbage pit!) But a few days ago somebody found a tiny puppy limping in our camp, and took pity on it, so we basically adopted her and named her Wee One Junior San (long story). Then a day later another puppy showed up and we tried to draw the line, but no matter how many times we took it out of camp, it found its way back. Newly dubbed Orphan Annie is twice the size of Wee One, so we have to make sure the little dog gets its food. On top of the 2 puppies, we have a pet chicken. Some of the girls bought it last week from a local (I think for the equivalent of $4) intending to eat it, but the girls left early and nobody really wanted to kill the chicken. I offered to, but I wanted help cleaning it afterwards and nobody would, so KukuBitch (kuku=chicken in Kiswahili), or Nugget, became a pet. She came into our tent every afternoon and laid an egg behind a bed, and woke us up at absurd times in the morning with her squaking (spelling?). I'm actually very surprised nobody killed her, the number of times it was threatened!

The villagers performed some songs that they wrote to thank us for coming and building a school. It was a lot of fun, as they got us to come dance with them. Then they wanted us to dance for them, so we did the cha-cha slide. It was so much fun! We danced all the way from Mampando to Mghumbu, which took over an hour! I was wearing one ladies kanga (colourful cloth wrap) and she held my hand. Even though we couldn't communicate through words it was a great experience.

Well, tomorrow morning I'm off on the 6 am bus to Arusha, and will set out on a 5 day safari on Monday with 4 other volunteers. Kilimanjaro should be after that, followed by Zanzibar, so I will try to keep you posted!