Overload

That would be the perfect would to describe what I am feeling right now. My entire body is over-loaded with stimuli that I have yet to process from my first week here in Tanzania.

We returned to Mairowa earlier this week to visit the schools, build several chicken coops, and meet more sponsor child families. Visiting the bomas where the children live is very hard to explain. I can remember growing up and seeing commercials on television to sponsor starving children in Africa. Usually, the commercials would show images of children in rags with flies all over their faces. I had held the misconception that these commercials were hyped up; sort of "Hollywood-ized". I learned earlier this week that that is not the case. After visiting three separate bomas, and witnessing first hand the deplorable living conditions, I can attest that there is a solid reality in Mairowa that mirrows what I had seen on TV. There was quite a bit to take in from that visit and to be honest, I have not even begun to process it. I sort of feel like a sponge--I am continuing to absorb more and more but I know that at some point, I will need to wring myself out.

One thing that was facinating that I loved about Mairowa was the night sky. It too was beyond description. There were millions of stars; so bright that the sky shimmered like I had never seen before. The stars seemed to be dancing. And the Milky Way...we could see it in the evening sky. It formed a band of white across the blanket of stars. I could easily lose myself in the night sky had it not been for the fear that a lion might attack me while I stood and gazed upward.

Watoto wa Mairowa!

These are just a couple of snap shots of the children that we sponsor in Mairowa, the village where I will be doing most of my work. Today, the team spent the day with the children, doing everything from feeding them lunch to playing duck, duck, goose. What an incredible time it was. I could not help but smile the entire day as the kids were just so full of joy and energy.

A special treat for me was to meet MY sponsor child, Raphael. He's the cutie in the above shot with me. He is about 4 years old and super shy. It was funny...I was wondering if I would be able to pick him out from the over 100 kids running around. The moment I say this little toddler walking around and I said "Hmph, that is my kid!".

Just a wonderful day.

Karibu Arusha!

Welcome to Arusha! I arrived into Arusha late last night after a mere 24 hours of travelling. Am I a zombie? Yes. I wanted to take a nap today at 7:15am (I woke at 7:10am), during lunch, during snack, and yes, during dinner. Needless to say, it is almost 10pm and I am getting ready to hit the sack.

So, I know so many of you are bursting at your seams to know what it is like here in Arusha. I live in a lovely 4 bedroom home, complete with dining room, living room, full kitchen, courtyard, porch, guard, 2 full baths, garage and yes, the unheard of, INTERNET! Let me tell you it was quite a shock to see my "rustic" accommodations. I know many of you are thinking "wait, I supported you to go on a missions trip not to live in the lap of luxury". So, let me tell you about the village where I will spend the other 50% of my time. There is no running water, no electricity, no showers, no stores, no nothing. I'm quite positive if I had to live there full time I would come back mighty thin because there doesn't seem to be much food.

I met the staff that I will be working with today. They seem wonderful. I say "seem" because they all spoke Swahili and I had no idea what they were saying. They could have been saying "Welcome Erin, we are so happy to have you" or "Welcome Erin, you look like a mighty plump pig in that new outfit". Needless to say, I was greeted with many smiles. I think it went well.

I'm off

Ok, I am about to take off on the real journey over to Tanzania. I'm sitting at my kitchen table. Mom is crying and telling stories about how people are being executed in South Africa for smuggling diamonds out of the country, hidden in various unmentionable body parts. I had better make sure to steer clear of that, huh? Better home they don't travel the 1,000 miles up to Tanzania. Dad is looking at her like she is crazy. Is this what happens when you are married for 40 years?

Take off is in about 15 minutes. I'm signing off!

ESW

Great day

I dropped Wayne off at the airport first thing this morning (he had come out to see me for a week). For those of you who have not met Wayne, he is my biggest cheerleader in everything that I do. He is also the hardest one for me to say goodbye to. So, you can imagine that dropping him off at 6:45am was such a great way to kick off the day.

The day then got even better when the temperature soared to 50 degrees and the rain and wind kicked in. Yup, what a great day. Even the dog is looking rather pathetic and down-hearted.

I've begun the packing process. As I am normally a light packer, I thought that I would wait until that last day to pack up. Well, I think I gained some weight as not a single one of my suitcases would be considered light. The good part? None of it is coming home.

I meet up with the team from SBC Thursday AM in Amsterdam and we arrive into Tanzania late that evening. To my absolute delight, I will be meeting my new roommies that night. I'm pretty sure that they are cool as I have been secretly gathering info on each and they seem like a good lot.

OK, I'm out to try and trim a lb or two off the carry-on.

From Oregon to Arizona to New York....

OK. Note to all those road trippers: driving from Arizona to New York is actually longer than it appears. I just finished the drive: 2650 miles, 36 hours of driving, 6 tanks of gas, 19 Harry Potter audio CD's and 13 bathroom breaks. Uh, yeah, it's long.

The delight in the entire trip, aside from the thrill of calculating how many miles per gallon I averaged with each gas company (BP was the winner), was getting to stay with Jenny and Andrew. I had planned the first day to the T: leave Scottsdale at 5:30am, drive for 12 1/2 hours, and arrive into Texas at 6:00pm.

Jenny realized the first miscalculation, or better, non-calculation, around lunch. Texas is 2 hours ahead of Arizona. Arrival now pushed back to 8:00pm. Then, somehow, after stopping for only 21 minutes all day, the drive was almost 90 minutes longer than planned. I arrived, albeit a bit grumpy, tired, and stiff, into Wichita Falls at 9:17pm. At least I got a few hours with my friends. Just so good.

I did have one interesting thing happen to me. When I was finally pulling off the last interstate, just 15 miles from home and HUNGRY, I pulled up to a stop light. I was the third car in line. Lord Voldemort was just about to kill Harry Potter (Book 7) when BAM! I was attacked by a bicycle. No joke. Someone just decided to run into the side of my car. At this point, I am slightly bewildered. Am I in trouble? Did I hit someone? How do I report getting hit by a bicycle? I got out of the car and realized that the bike rider appeared to be lit. How many? No clue, but enough to run into a stopped car. He was okay and got on his bike and peddled on off, swaying from one side of the yellow line to the other.

Now, just one more travel adventure to go...