We traveled to Mwika on Thursday, March 14. The road to Mwika is much improved -- paved and straightened a bit, with the result that the trip only takes about 45 minutes these days. We missed the big market day by one day; I just love the Wednesday markets in Mwika. You can get just about anything you want at that market!
First stop was the preschool that James Mbando founded a few years ago. Kathy and Stan's church supports his preschool. It is kind of like a Headstart school, only much more effective. The kids begin learning English, which will help them immesurably when they enter primary school. As well, the kids get the same high protein porridge, which enables them to grow and develop more fully. The preschool has alla kinds of various Montessori type manipulatives. We spent most of the morning at the preschool, reading the books with the kids, that Kathy and Stan brought in one of their suitcases. The other items they brought were about 19 soccer balls and pumps, so they could distribute the balls to the schools where we sponsor school lunches. The preschool kids absolutely LOVED the soccer balls and the books. Wish I had thought of packing a whole suitcase with little kids' books . . .
After school let out for the day, and we had lunch, we joined James on a 'walkabout' to the home of a woman who has a daughter who can't walk. Kathy and I were kind of dreading the visit -- I have been on too many visits to impoverished homes with disabled children. But this one was different. The mom is quite hardworking and the daughter is adorable. Deborah is about 7 nd is quite bright. Setting happened when she was born, and she is unable to walk. James has managed to get her a wheeled chair, but the family home is so tiny that her mom must take off the wheels to fit the chair through the door. Kathy and Stan have helped the mom send Deborah to a special boarding school for kids who are disabled; we are going to explore the possibility of including her mom in the microloan open gram. We believe she would be a good candidate for a loan, and she wants to participate.
W also walked on narrow paths, up and down, through the jungle and the shambas to James' house. He cares for his dad, who has diabetes, as well as his younger sister and cousins, snd his oen wife and child. He is an amazing entrepreneur and has amazing energy, as well as dedication to the children of his village and his country.
Friday we accompanied about 60+ preschoolers plus various adults, to Arusha National Park. We left early (by Tanzanian standards) and drove for a couple of hours to the park, in a large, chartered bus. No seatbelts, several kids per seat, lunch and water supplies in the aisles, and assorted adults standing the whole way! It was great fun! Interesting scenery and good roads. Once inside the park, we immediately spotted several giraffes which was exciting for the kids. We also saw a few zebras, waterbuck, Cape buffalo, baboons, ibis, black/white colobus monkeys. The kids were so very well behaved and interested. I kept imagining accompanying 60 American kids on a similar field trip and it just didn't compute. W were all pretty. Well bushed by the time we got back, but we walked down to the market place to see if we could find Mama Irene, me of our original microloan recipients. Too late, though. The market was pretty much finished for the day, so we settled for a cold beer at one of the local pubs.
We will be sorry to leave the Mwika guest house, as the chef is quite talented and has created some delicious meals for us. His pancakes in the morning are just delicious!
Saturday morning, just before we left, mama Irene came to visit. She is dong so well, and has changed so much since we first gave her the first loan. She is self confident, healthy, happy and her kids are all in school. Quite different from the downtrodden, abused woman I first met 6 years ago.
And so on Saturday, we left Mwika to return to Moshi. Tomorrow we will attempt to get things wrapped up, since we leave for Uganda in a few days,
No comments:
Post a Comment