Thanks for your patience everyone. My schedule has been crazy since being back and I'm now just getting back to working on the blog again. I also have to apologize for all the grammar and typos as I have been at a rush to get these posts out. This blog is a bit of a work in progress and I hope to continue to edit the posts once I get all of the pictures and video loaded. Enjoy.
The next and final part of my journey in Africa had me excited and somewhat nervous as I really didn't know what to expect. With your help, I was able to raise $700 to give directly to the Amani children. Pretty cool, huh? So I would like to thank you all for supporting this effort. There are so many great charities out there and very worthwhile causes you could have donated to instead of this one, so I appreciate every dollar you contributed. The great thing about doing this is that I'm able to check out the home first hand and get to see how the organization is run. Most of the time you don’t get to see how your money was used or how efficiently it was spent or see the benefits of a donation. This experience allowed me to capture that information and show it all to you first hand.
As I arrived in Moshi and at Amani, there didn’t seem to be anyone around as I walked from the front and around to the back where I saw many kids playing and a couple who greeted me in Swahili. At this moment, I felt like I was a new kid at school on his first day. But this was the weekend, and there were only a couple of counselors there when I arrived. I eventually found my way to Mr. Rogasian who is the essential support coordinator at Amani and would be there to give me some background until Joe arrived.
The Amani Children’s home was created in September 2001 by three local Tanzanians who saw the need to start a home for street children who have been surviving on the streets of Moshi town. They rented a two-bedroom house and opened their doors to 6 children who had no where else to go. Over the past decade, the number of children living on the streets of Tanzania has grown rapidly due to the effects of poverty, HIV/AIDS, breakdown of the family, and other factors. The home was called “Amani,” which means “peace” in Swahili. For the hundreds of children who have been helped by Amani since its inception in 2001, Amani has truly been a haven of peace. In the beginning, there was only one bed and a couple of foam mattresses. Now, through the hard work of a few dedicated individuals, Amani is home to 150 children at any given time where they provide food, medical care, education, counseling, and assistance reuniting them with their families. If you would like to find out more about this remarkable organization, please visit their website at www.amanikids.org.
My purpose this weekend was to help in any way I could and to learn more about the organization where I would be volunteering. Joe Ventura, who is the communications coordinator, had been a great resource for me to communicate with and coordinate my visit. After my arrival, Joe gave me a tour of the home and introduced me to Mr. Kulwa who was responsible to maintaining all food supplies. Since 2001, Amani has become more and more self sufficient by growing their own corn and planting vegetables in their local garden. However, they still need essentials that they can’t provide on their own such as Rice, Beans, Sugar and cooking oil. Joe informed me that because the majority of their monthly budget goes to food, this purchase would be the best use and most beneficial way to help the children. So, Mr. Kulwa and I took a taxi to the market place in Moshi and we bargained for the best price for as much food as we could buy with $700 (converted to shillings). We had to rent a truck to carry it all back with us to Amani and as you can see, we got a truck load!
Back at the home, a few of the kids came to help unload all of the rice bags. They were quite heavy and I was surprised that some of the kids were able carry them on their own. You can see everyone helping out in the photos. While we were unloading, they told me they were so happy to have this food come to them now as supplies were getting low. I couldn’t have come at a better time as they were literally down to two bags of rice. They were so incredibly grateful for what they were receiving and continually thanked me for my help. What I later found out is that the amount of food we bought will feed 93 children for two whole months! That’s pretty amazing, considering how much food they go through each day, and a tribute to the way Mr. Kulwa was able to stretch every dollar. I have to tell you all that it felt amazing! Thank you again to everyone who contributed. This was definitely the best part of my entire trip and a great way to cap off my final two days.
Before I left the US, Joe asked me if there was anything I wanted to do with the kids while I was there. It could be anything -- helping teach class, playing games, music, sports or whatever I could bring to the table. I took the time to learn a little Swahili like: Jambo (hi), Mambo (how are you doing), Poa (fine), Jina lako nani? (What is your name?) to help me communicate a little. But I wanted to give them something that was a little different or entertain them in a way that didn’t require them having to do anything. I just wanted to be there for them. Most people who visit play soccer and basketball and games, which is great, but I wanted to take their minds off their day to day life and show them something a bit different.
In case you don’t know, as a kid I used to perform and compete in magic shows on stage (Yes I know, magic is not cool these days ;-)) and thought the kids might like to see some tricks. Now, I haven’t done any performing since I was 13, so as you can imagine, I was a bit rusty. I was grateful that Barry and his wife from Barry’s Magic shop in Rockville MD hooked me up with a few tricks for the children right before I left the U.S. Hopefully, I’d get my groove back by then and the kids would be entertained.
I didn’t have any idea whether or not the kids would like a magic show, so Joe asked me to go sit at the gazebo after lunch and he would go tell all of the kids in the break room (where they were watching cartoons) if they wanted to come see a magic show. The next image I saw was priceless. I wish I had had my camera while this was happening but there were like 50-60 kids running straight at me full stride to get a good seat. It was hilarious. The word was “Mazingaumbwe” which means Magic. So, being that I didn’t have an extensive Swahili vocabulary, I tried to make do with what I could. The kids were awesome; they were all laughing and saying “do it again” in Swahili. It was so much fun, I can’t really describe it. After that, I felt like they accepted me as part of their group which is pretty amazing after only having been there a day. Tomorrow, I would return and help out in the kitchen, do another show and make some more friends. It gets even better.
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