For my last day at Amani, I would spend it hanging out with the kids and helping out in the kitchen. I promised the Amani kids I would do another magic show yesterday so when I arrived, many of them surrounded me and kept repeating “mazingaumbwe.” My answer was “Soon, soon”. (I didn’t know this in Swahili, but they got the picture.) Joe and I wanted to make sure all of the kids were available so they could all see it together. I realized today that these kids love to imitate. Recently, Joe got a great deal for bringing them all to the circus. When they got back, they formed a club where they all practice tumbling and handstands. You can see in a couple of pics where they are practicing their circus maneuvers and some of them are really good! I’ll have to add that to my Outlook calendar. :-) So, after seeing my show yesterday, a couple of them came up to me today and tried to imitate my “mazingaumbwe”. One kid tried the coin disappearing trick with a leaf. Another got a small piece of paper, tore it in half, and gave it to me to magically put back together. It was pretty funny. That whole morning, I hung out with them in the main play area and participated in their banter until lunch.
I wanted to help out anyway I could so I thought some assistance in the kitchen would be a nice way to lend a hand. Amani is incredibly efficient with the way everything is run. Nothing goes to waste, including leftover food scraps which are collected and sold to a pig farm. And if you were wondering about cleanliness, everyone must wash their hands before touching food. I was assigned to do the chopping with a couple of the kids. Each of us had these big (very dull) knives to chop these leafy greens to go into the stew they were making; this image alone would make most parents freak out. But around here, that’s how things get done, as everyone participates without being asked. There aren’t a lot of adults here to monitor them on the weekends, so the bigger kids help out with the younger ones. Again you also have to remember these kids survived on the streets. They’re smart and they’re survivors.
During lunch, everyone sets up dining tables. Systematically, each table gets up one at a time to grab a plate of ugali (mashed corn – tastes like mashed potatoes), beans (just arrived!!) and vegi meat dish (it was suggested that I don't eat any of the meat – I didn’t ask why) and then go back to their tables, say a prayer and begin eating (with no utensils, just their hands). One of the youngest kids at Amani who is six sat next to Joe and me while we ate. I listened as Joe asked him how his weekend going in Swahili. I couldn’t follow too much of the conversation after that, but I could tell the little guy liked being near us. :-)
After lunch, they were giving out awards for (I think) good behavior (although I really couldn’t understand what they were saying). Note to self: I need to learn the language a bit better before coming out. It‘s not a difficult language, just takes a bit of time to pick up the structure. During this little gathering, they let me be part of their meeting like I was one of them. It was so cool that they started accepting me, as you can see in a couple shots. It was kind of surreal. I’m in Tanzania, hanging out with these children like we were in my own back yard. But that’s not what I’ll most remember about this trip. After they presented the cookie “awards,” one of the kids broke his cookie in half and offered it to me. Wow! That just blew me away. These kids have nothing, yet they are so gracious. Amazing! I said “Asante sana” but told him that he earned it and that he should get to eat it himself (don’t think he understood a word I was saying, but I think he got the message).
Up until this point the kids were anticipating the next magic show and they had many requests this time around. :-) The show would be held in one of the classrooms where we could kind of control the surrounding kids’ vantage points. However, it didn’t really matter because once the show started, there were kids viewing from the outside window, all around and even underneath the table (Got this whole thing on video; sorry no pictures). One thing this reinforced with me was how smart they are as some of them had some of my tricks figured out. Or maybe it was just because I hadn’t practiced enough. ;-) Anyway, the highlight of the show was the sponge ball routine (info: this is where you place a ball in your hand and one in theirs, you open up your hand and both appear in their hand – you keep doing this until there are like 6 balls popping out of their hand). I had them rolling on this one. It was awesome! Me and my bag of tricks in Africa! I’ll never forget it.
I left at the end of the day, and said my good byes. It was good in a way that my visit was so short because I can’t imagine trying to leave this place after developing connections with these wonderful children. My goal is to continue helping this organization from home, however I can and plan to one day come back and possibly teach one of their classes. Joe and his staff were amazing and so gracious, and I will never forget this experience. The little bit of money my family and friends helped me raise made a real impact at Amani. I’d like to end my last post on the last day of my Tanzanian trek with a bit of paraphrasing from the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson – “The difference you and I made here we made with something almost worthless in our society – a few dollars, but here, these dollars can move mountains.” Thanks all for following me on my journey.
Asante sana.
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