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Vipi!

I've found that Swahili is a bit like Persian...the greetings and farewells can last an eternity! I can now carryon a 5 minute conversation in Swahili, that doesn't go into any details beyond how are you, how are the kids, how was work, how was your afternoon, etc. Which is good and bad....it's fun to talk to people, but when you can do this, you run the risk of them thinking you know Swahili and then when they continue, you must explain that you don't understand a word they've just said. They've gotten used to us "Mzungus" (white people) though, and you often find people come up to you with a big smile on and quiz you on the greetings. They aren't hard to remember, because you don't have much choice in the response...you just have to memorize the question-answer pair. For example, hujambo-sijambo, hamjambo-hamjambo, hawajambo-hatujambo, jambo-jambo, habari za (insert many words like asubuhi, leo, kazi, watoto)-nzuri/ndjema, salama-salama, mambo-poa, vipi-safi, shikamo-marahaba. It's pretty entertaining. Also, even if you are doing horribly, the worst you say is "nzuri kidogo" which means "a little well." You can go for an hour walk alone along a street and be talking the entire time! The little kids are the cutest though...as we walk along the road by where our house is, you hear (long before you see) little kids yelling "mzungu" or if they are really little "gugu," followed by frantic running/opening of gates and then the appearance of the little ones. They love to walk or run with us, holding our hands the entire way. It's really sad, because the locals don't get any response like this from the kids. I've been told that it is because Tanzanians don't want to hold their kids or give them much attention, because they think it spoils the kids!

Anyways, the past few days have been good. we learned a bit about the Tanzanian political system and education system. 60% of the population lives on under 2,000 TZ shillings a day, which is about $1.80!! A teacher makes about $60 a month, while a member of parliament makes $100 a day. we now know why the mzungu price is about 10 times more expensive.

Life the past few days has been good. I spent an eternity uploading photos to the web, which you can find on: http://picasaweb.google.com/ehaidari. I've started volunteering at the Light in Africa orphanage with kids under 2 years old, and it has been amazing so far. I love them so much, and I really want to take one home with me. He is a little boy named Joel and is about 6 months old. He is so calm and sits and watches the other kids or entertains himself. He never bothers the other kids, but plays really well with them. He loves to play catch or hold my hands and walk in circles for hours. He is so adorable! I'll get a picture of him up soon. The other day I found out some sad news about another little boy there. His name is Frank and he is also very cute...he is very loving and will come running into your arms to give you a hug and kisses. One of the women who works there (Laura) told me his background...his mother died when he was 3 months old of aids, and no one knew for 2 days. The neighbors finally found out, and discovered him hugging his mother, and very emaciated. Unfortunately he is also hiv positive, but you would never guess. He is just as cute as can be. There's another little boy named Charlie, and he's a little ruffian. He loves to go shove the other kids over or hit them on the head with hard objects. It's sad though because he's just looking for attention, and he is only this way because his mother treats him that way. His mother is about 14 years old, mentally challenged, and was raped...by her father. very unfortunate. but, on a more positive note, on Friday Chadwick stood up on his own for the very first time! He is almost 2 years old, but looks much younger. He only cries when another kid does something to him, but he takes his own pain (hunger, falling and hitting his head, etc.) with a grimace and you don't hear a peep. They are all amazing kids and I love them so much! Anyhoo, I'm going to go get some reading done, but I hope you are all doing well!