A very short update that is long overdue!

 

John and Max at the Ranch

(I love this picture, so typical John!)

R.I.P. John Kutch

1954-2010

Just a quick update as I haven’t posted in a very long time.

As of the middle of May, I left the orphanage and moved to Karatu. A friend and I are in the process of starting a secondary school for girls in the Karatu district. It has been a wild few months, with lots of ups and downs, but an amazing adventure. The school will be for marginalized girls in the area and will be boarding only. We also plan on having a vocational school for those girls who are not academically inclined. I promise to post more details soon as we are in serious building and fundraising mode.

I had to make an unplanned trip to the United States in late July and I am still here. My ex-husband, John, was finally losing the battle with cancer. I came here to help take care of him and be with my children at this sad time.

John passed away on August 7th. He was a unique person, full of life, lots of quirks and one of the funniest people I have ever met. He kept me laughing even to the end. The children and I will miss him, but we know he is only gone in body, his spirit will be with us forever. He was 57 years old.

Zane came home from Afghanistan to be with John, but then had to return. A few days ago he was hit by shrapnel from a grenade and also sustained a concussion, however he is tough and seems to be doing pretty well. They are patching him up and sending him back into the field.

Max came for a couple of weeks before John died and then for a week after his death to help Kayce and I get the house ready for an estate sale. He has gone back to North Carolina and is awaiting his next deployment.

I am so proud of the boys, but have to say it is really tough being the mom of two Marines!

Kayce had quit her job and moved to Dallas last January to move in with John and help take care of him. This was a lot to handle for someone her age, or for anyones age for that matter. I am really proud of how she has handled everything. It just shows how strong she is and how she perseveres even through the hard times.

We are cleaning out John’s house, getting ready to have an estate sale. I am currently of the opinion that John could have been on an episode of the Horders  Lots and lots and lots of crap…truly amazing how much can fit into one space and not look too bad.

I am fortunate to be able to stay in the US for a couple more weeks. I have a lot of work to do and a few fundraisers to attend, then I will be back to Tanzania and the amazing life I am leading right now.

I did get my hair ALL cut off today. It was so long, the hairdresser cut off 10 inches just to get it to a point to cut it in a style. Not sure I like it, but it certainly suits my lifestyle better now. I now look like an old lady lesbian, with a kind of funky hairdo. Ha!

I have so many great stories to post. Once the land purchase has gone through, I will have time to post them all. It has been a great few months in Tz and a sad few weeks here, but one thing is for sure, the last few months have been a constant reminder how lucky I am to have my health, my children and a lot of wonderful relationships. I cannot wait to build this school and help the girls of Tanzania. It is a wonderful gift to be able to help so many people.

The Reader’s Digest condensed version of my first year in Africa…

I have been in Tanzania exactly 1 year and 8 days. These are the things that I know to be true….

• I miss my children, Kayce, Max and Zane tremendously!

• I am blessed with loving and caring for 69 children between the ages of 1 month to 14 years

• I have a huge Texas accent that makes my Swahili sound ridiculous such as when I say Kariboo it comes out like Cara boooooo

• I get sick a lot, but only with minor things such as Hook worm (4 times), Giardia (2 times), Diarrhea (52 times, that is very conservative) :0, Cold (1 time) 100’s of mosquito bites and thousands of wadodo (bug) bites, however I have never had Malaria (knock on wood), no ringworm and no funzas! I attribute my lack of Malaria to my consumption of boxed red wine ( just kidding)


• I have lost 38 lbs in the past year and continue to loose weight


• I have helped teach three children to walk


• Many children to speak


• One child to the ability to hug and love someone other than Mama India


• I have met and enjoyed over 140 volunteers and have come to love many of them, I have cried when they left and have formed a lifelong bond with a few


• I have laughed a lot and cried a little. The children think my laugh is hysterical, which then really makes me laugh even harder!


• I enjoy my day to day existence immensely


• I have become great friends with the Tanzanian Senior staff and they have taught me a lot about myself and the culture here in Tanzania


• I have learned to be patient and realize that Tanzanian’s don’t have the same sense of time as the Americans do…i.e. 20 minutes to a Tanzanian usually means 2 to 3 hours!


• There is no such thing as looking at something in black and white, here everything is grey


• I have come to know all 82 staff members by name and a lot of their stories. The mamas in particular. They are so special and work so hard, many of which have their own children at home.


• I am proud to say that not one pair of pants I have from America fits me and I even had to go to the market to buy second hand clothing, which is so cool.


• I have met people of all races and religions and especially different political philosophies and have realized that none of it matters here, because it is all about the children!


• I have worn makeup 6 times in the past year, 4 of which happened when I was in the states. What a freeing experience!


• I can drive beautifully on the “wrong” side of the road and haven’t hit a goat or cow yet!


• I don’t have many material things anymore, an am happier than I have ever been before with the exception of the birth of my children.


• I miss David, my parents, my sister Kimberly, my brother Paul and his family, I miss my friends from home, but somehow being here at the children’s village makes it all easier to deal with


• I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth and am in constant awe of its splendor


• I have come to realize that Tanzanians are a hearty group of people, there are over 120 tribes in this country and they live in peace. Death is an ever present part of life here and despite that, they are a very happy group of people.


• My sons, Max and Zane, are Marines and are both in the process of being deployed. Living here has taught me to appreciate even more than ever their sacrifice for our country and way of life. It has made me understand a little what it must feel like to live in a place where injury or death is all around you. I am so proud of them and know they are well trained and will come back to me again.


• I have learned how brave and selfless my daughter Kayce is and how much she has sacrificed and she does it all with a smile. She is such a good person and I am so proud of the women she has become!


• I have realized I have screwed up a lot in life and with my children, but in the end they have turned out to be wonderful people, accept my idiosyncrasies and love me regardless and unconditionally.


• And last but not least I have learned that I don’t need much in the way of material things, what I do need is to give myself and my love to those who need it, even those who think they don’t need it.

If the next year is anything like the last, then I am truly blessed, because this is the experience of a lifetime. My heartfelt thanks and love go out to everyone who has made this past year so spectacular and have supported me even though it may seem like it is a little “crazy”

I love you all!

Tracie

PS – For those of you who know me, I even get to watch Predator on my laptop in bed with a bowl of popcorn!!

3 Chickens! Kweli?? Or...one more night in Arusha :)

Ashley, me and Laura with her ever present Red Bull :)

After our wonderful trip to Zanzibar, we all ended up in Arusha for one last fling before Laura, Ashley and Anna’s flight home. The night before Laura’s flight home (they all were leaving on separate days) we decided to go out for Nyama Choma, which is awesome grilled meat with fresh pili pili or chili sauce. We hung out with our social worker Grace and the director of RVCV Peter for several hours at a local grill/sports bar/disco :) and then headed home...or so we thought.

Ashley had already consumed 1 whole chicken at dinner, prior to our adventure into the ancient art of Karaoke (pronounced here as cara-o-k) Peter had sense enough to drop us off at the club aptly named Collobus. One side is a disco, one side a karaoke bar with huge flat screen tvs and very loud and very bad speakers. We would go from dancing to singing, then singing to dancing. I think the highlight was when I sang “Its raining men” by the Weather Girls.NOT!  Halfway through the evening, Ashley wanted a little more nyama choma and it just so happens outside the club there was a lady with a grill and two tables so she ordered another whole chicken and ate it. Laura and I just stood by and watched amazed. Of course she was reenergized and had to go dance a little more, so off we went back into dance and sing. This was also the eve of my 49th birthday, so even though I was celebrating, I just cant do those late nights like the good ole days.

The lovely Nyama Choma grill - looks sanitary doesn't it?

At 3:00am I told the girls I was done for, so while we were waiting for our taxi, guess what happened?? Ashley ordered and ate one more whole chicken. Now, the chickens in Tanzania are smaller than the states, but I think three whole chickens in a 6 hour period is pretty damn impressive! Thank heavens the taxi arrived, we made it back to the hotel and called it a night. These are just a few of the pics from that evening!

Zanzibar

A view from our villa overlooking our splash pool watching the dow go by...

Zanzibar, what a spectacular experience


I just returned from one of the best vacations I have ever had in my life. I went with two of the most charming and wonderful girls I have ever met. Laura and Ashley both volunteered here at the village for 6 months and this was the end of their stay. Instead of us being very sad and going back to the states, we decided to go to the Island of Zanzibar and have a week of bliss before they had to go back to the real world of snow, people and work.

The main house where we ate dinner

I did a lot of research and new that I wanted a very nice place on the North Eastern end of the island so we could have the breeze off of the Indian Ocean. I found a wonderful boutique hotel, called Kasha Boutique resort, which consisted of 12 individual villas. Each villa had its own splash pool, veranda with two sofas, and the largest bathroom I have ever seen, not to mention a huge bedroom and living room, flat screen tv, air-conditioning and basically everything I have ever wanted and more. The couple who run the hotel were fantastic and gave us an incredible rate and one free night, so it made it affordable too!

Laura laughing at Ashley and I and our native cocktail

We basically were picked up at the airport, driven to the hotel (1.5 hours away) stayed at the hotel the whole time, swimming, snorkeling and just relaxing. The food was spectacular, the company even better and I am now ready to get back to work reenergized and ready to go. I didn’t realize how much energy taking care of 69 kids, working in the office and living without luxuries i.e. electricity etc… took out of me until I went away for 8 days. Now I know that I need to do this probably every 6 months and life will be even more perfect than it already is….! :)

We lounged in our pool all of the time and did nothing but enjoy the view

Life is great!!

The amazing place I live....

A few pictures of this wonderful place where I live...

A View up the hill

A view of the picnic trees

Photos courtesy of Tom and Don Scarborough

Bogo Light Photo Shoot with our Masaai Askaris

Dennis

One of my favorite things here at the village are the Masaai Askaris. They are the men who handle our security at the Rift Valley Children’s Village. They patrol the property day and night, 24 hours a day. Usually during the day they have a uniform they wear, however at bathtime they change into their Shukas, which is the traditional Masaai wear for the warriors as well as the women.

We have an arrangement with Bogo lights, if someone buys a Bogo Solar Light, then they donate a light to us. It is a fantastic arrangement as these are solar powered lights and are so much better and brighter than battery operated ones. I stopped using my battery operated flashlights within a day of getting my Bogo light. We had a professional photographer on hand to take a photo shoot and one of our volunteers, Laura, took pictures of him taking pictures. I think they are fantastic and just love the colors! The shukas they have on are what they wear on a day to day basis and not in anyway staged.

My First Tanzanian Wedding and Send Off Party

I wrote this about a month ago, however I was unable to post until now, POLE!!!

I had a wonderful local experience yesterday with my first Send Off party for our seamstress Monica. Traditionally the bride’s family gives a large celebration to send off their daughter to marry and live with their new husband. The wedding is then held within one or two days at the husband’s home or town. In this case the prospective groom lives very far away and the send off party and wedding are to be held here locally at TEC.

The invitation I received indicated the timing of the event was 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 pm. Having lived in TZ for a year now, I knew better than to show up at 2:00pm. Only a few of us were invited so we took a car down at 4:30pm. We drove up a huge mountain, only to get out of the car and walk down half of the mountain, which I must say was very steep and slippery. As we arrived the procession had just begun. It was the bride, the groom, the best man and the maid of honor. All were given very colorful leis made out of Mylar and plastic flowers. We were literally lifted up to the top of the leveled out area where the houses were build into the side of the mountain. Graceful, I am not! We were then escorted to a little tented area that was built from all kinds of fabric and decorated with lace, flowers and colorful fabrics. There was a head table and two benches on the side. All of the Wazungus (white people) were put in a place of honor on one side of the tent and the head mamas from RVCV were placed on the other side, this was a great sign of respect for us and the village. I imagine that most of Monica’s family was supported by her work with us and therefore they were showing us their honor and appreciation.

An interesting tradition of this particular event is that the bride looks very somber and sad and never smiles. If she smiles, it then it shows disrespect for her family because she should be sad she is leaving them, not happy that she is getting married. There were songs and the minister spoke for a long time, then four girls from our village sang two beautiful songs about Monica and Rift Valley that they made up. We were then served a soda and meal of goat meat, rice and fruit. I must say, it was all I could do to get the goat meat down, but it was rude not to eat, so I did my best and ate away. After the meal of the wedding party, the rest of the guests were served rice and beans. Then the dancing started and Nano (our Chairman of the Board) got up and danced with the group.

All and all it was an amazing experience and I am so glad I made the trek up the mountain for it.

Only in Tanzania

I have become a connoisseur of boxed wine while living in Tanzania, as that seems to be the wine of choice and stock in the local town of Karatu. We were trying out a new brand of wine when we noticed the “warning” on the side of the box. Only in Tanzania would they say don't drink and walk on the road! Enough said...

A new year...a new start

Gabriel and Emma (Emmanuel)

I cannot believe it is already the end of January! The past two months have flown by…the kids are back in school after 6 weeks of vacation. The school year starts in January here, and we have our first group of children who will be graduating next November and going off to boarding school. I know it is still a year away, but the way this past year has flown by, I want to cherish each moment with these children because before I know it, they will be off to secondary school and I will miss them dearly. Maybe not the hormones and going through puberty part, but certainly all of rest of it.

Our Social Workers Agael and Jonathan on a typical Sunday, just "hanging around" :)

Reading contest
We had a great time last weekend at Bougainvillea, a local lodge in Karatu. Over the vacation period, we had a reading contest and the top two prizes were as follows: 25 books read and the child could go swimming at the lodge, 30 books read, the child could have a grownup dinner in the volunteer house with all of the volunteers. We had two children who had dinner with us and that was so much fun. They chose the menu, which was fried chicken, French fries (which are known here as Chips) and cake. They dressed up for the occasion and even had their shirts tucked in! We had 7 children go swimming. I use the term loosely as NO ONE knew how to swim, but boy they loved the water. It meant we had to have several volunteers in the freezing pool (which was really fun, NOT) there was a tremendous amount of kicking and dog paddling and laughter. Lucy provided some serious entertainment as she would go underwater, frantically move her arms and legs and actually not move an inch. I still haven’t figured out how that is possible, but it sure was funny. After two hours she could swim about 5 feet, which was huge progress considering the fact she was stationary for the first hour!

I will try and write more in the future. One more month and I will have been here a year. Hard to believe… I have made some wonderful friends this past year. We have had a great group of volunteers pass through our doors and I am thankful everyday for all of them. Truly a great mixture of people and personalities…so for those of you I have met here at the village, thank you again for your help, but also for what you have brought into my life as well as the children’s!

Christmas 2009 at the Rift Valley Children's Village

Don and Tom and several of us at the village drove to neighboring villages to distribute gifts to all of the children (organized chaos!)

Cleaning of the Rec Hall by the kids!

New Pajamas for all - Taringire House with Bonnie and Don some of my favorite volunteers ever!

Wow, what a week! I cannot believe the planning and all of the preparation it takes to get ready for Christmas here at the village! First was decorating the trees. Each house has a tree with ornaments and stockings. The two new houses have never had Christmas before and were not quite sure why we were making such a fuss about a silly tree.

After Santa has arrived!

Next came the wrapping of presents. We have 82 staff and each one received a Bonnie Raitt t-shirt (generously donated from her last tour) and hat. We then gave the children of all of the staff presents. Each of our children receives two presents and a stocking that is filled with goodies.

Christmas Program in the rec hall

On Christmas Eve, each child receives a gift of pajamas, we put out a cookie for Santa and then they try and stay awake to see him. Christmas morning is total chaos with the opening of presents and the search for batteries! This year several of the older children really understood what Christmas is all about and made or bought gifts for some of the other children.

Preparing lunch

After breakfast, everyone goes to the rec hall for church. Then the frantic setup for lunch and the official program takes place. All of the kids get dressed in their new Christmas outfits, the mamas are cooking and the volunteers and running around looking for batteries and trying to put together all of the toys.

Fried Bananas

We all gather in the rec hall and each house performs a song. It was very cute and special and pretty hysterical regarding the musical choices, but great fun. We ended the program with lunch in the rec hall with everyone sitting on the floor or benches and a huge mess was made by all! Over all a great and very satisfying day. I will say it took me 3 days to recover from the pre-Christmas week activities, 69 kids is a lot more work than 3 kids, that is for sure! It was truly wonderful to be able to share and experience this day with these children. I love it here!