Life So Far

Hello again!
Almost 2 weeks have passed now since I landed in Africa, and so more news on escapades and adventures of life in Africa must be made public to the wider world, and so here it goes.

I think last time on the blog I finished with stories on porcupines and ice cold showers (it's like being an ice cube, in a fridge, at the North Pole), and many more events have happened since my last blog. Porky the Porcupine is our resident camp pet, and he must avoid the daily prowling of the local cat aptly named Simba. So far Porky is uninjured, and fine but we shall have to see how the events unfold. The showers themselves have improved vastly since our first week. From having to lie on the floor under an ice cold tap in the morning, which is still cold no matter what people say, we have improved to standing under an ice cold shower, which is actually a shower not a tap :)

Now after that we can get into the events of the last week. The end of last week, passed very quickly, with the whole camp breaking their backs to get the inside of a classroom we are refurbishing finished. I am proud to say we have finished the classroom, and are now focusing the majority of our attention onto the cementing and plastering of the half-finished dining hall we are hoping to complete whilst here. We have succeeded in building a disabled entrance into the hall, as well as cementing all of the inside, and we have now moved onto the outside of the hall.

The biggest problem with this is that there is nothing under which to hide from the sun. It is HOT! I knew that Africa would be mildly baking, but every afternoon when we return to work after lunch, the temperature rockets to at least  35 degrees and its incredibly hard to keep up your work rate under that heat. I have burnt only twice so far, since I have been working. My neck, which is now nicely brown, and my hands which are also brown.

Although we knew the importance of drinking plenty of water whilst here, many people have had to return to camp due to dehydration, and sun stroke. The rest of us have doubled the amount of water we drink now, and so for now we are safe.

The weekend was the hardest part of the trip since the first night. With no work to do, and very little to occupy the mind, my imagination wandered back home, with thoughts of family, friends and how much I was missing them. This was Saturday, and so on Sunday I was determined to be active enough to take my mind off England, and back into Africa. Therefore, although Sunday was tough with half the camp going off to Camp Kidia, up Kilimanjaro for a week, we decided to visit a local orphanage called Tuleeni Orphanage Centre. It was a very emotional day for everyone left in camp. The children there range from 4 to 18 years old. There are 48 of them and 12 beds. Many of them have lost their parents to disease, however only one to AIDS, and the child herself was HIV negative which was brilliant, but very difficult.

The children there told us of Radio 1 who had apparently visited the camp whilst climbing Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief. It was a strange, out of the blue connection to home. The great news is though that the majority of the children are working hard at school, some even studying to go onto to university. I was persuaded by the kids to buy a traditional African style shirt handmade by the children, which I thought made me blend in like a local, but the children found hilariously funny.

This week things have picked up pace and emotions are in check, so much so that I am deeply into the African way of life now, and it is easier now to stop myself thinking of home. Work has continued on the dining hall, and another classroom. I have also managed to teach English to a class of 6 year olds everyday since I have arrived which, although it means waking at the crack of dawn, is extremely fun, satisfying, and also allows you to have a wicked view of Kilimanjaro as you walk up to the school :D

Yesterday we journeyed to a local market, where you could buy literally ANYTHING. Food, clothes, cars, hats, bracelets, animals, you name it, it had it. All of us decided to buy some custom made clothes for ourselves. I bought 2 pairs of shorts and 2 pairs of trousers which shall be ready on Saturday. Hopefully with them and my shirt I should become one of the locals :D

On Saturday, we are going to visit a tribal village of the Chagga people, go to Marangu Gate, the gateway to Kilimanjaro, and some waterfalls which sounds like a very relaxing day after a tough week at work, and so until next week :)

Josh

P.S. I have still left lots of stuff out unfortunately because I'm being nagged by the people outside to get off, so I apologize for the quality of the writing. Hakuna Matata.