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.