Week with the babies

Some Sad News

This week has been very sad for the sisters. Last Saturday night, they received word that Sister Neema at Ushirika wa Neema (the convent in town) had died of Typhoid. It is the first time in 30 years that a sister from Ushirika wa Neema has died. Sister Neema was very young; she was still in school. All the sisters at the orphanage are understandably very upset about the loss of their sister, and all of them except Sister Elly went to Ushirika wa Neema on Sunday after hearing the news. Sister Elly would have gone too, but she was “teacher on duty” for the college students for the weekend. All the sisters from all over the northern diocese of the ELCT returned to Ushirika wa Neema on Sunday and stayed there until after the funeral on Friday.

The sisters from the orphanage here are basically the only sisters who did not return to Ushirika wa Neema to stay for the week because the children require their attention. There are staff members who work alongside the sisters at the orphanage, but they do not live here like the sisters and could not handle the children by themselves for more than a day or two. The schedule for the staff members rotates so that each only works a couple days a week. However, a lot more staff were working Wednesday evening, Thursday, and Friday to make up for the absence of all the sisters. All the sisters from the orphanage left for Ushirika wa Neema on Wednesday afternoon. They returned on Friday afternoon. I saw Sister Regina Friday afternoon in the baby house and she said, “It was very difficult yesterday to bury our sister, but today we are mostly just tired.”

On Sunday night, I ate dinner with Sister Elly after we went for a walk to Machame Lutheran Hospital up the road a little. Sister Loema, who had recently returned from Ushirika wa Neema, sat with us while we ate and relayed what she had heard about the death of the sister.

On Thursday, the sister returned to Ushirika wa Neema from school. She was saying that she “had done what she came here to do” and she also had told her teachers and classmates, “You will come to Ushirika wa Neema but you will not find me there.” She was feeling sick so she went to the hospital on Friday. They took blood and sent samples for testing. The doctor told her she would have to wait for the results, so she said she needed to run home and say bye to her family. She was smiling and joking, but she kept telling them “kwaheri” (“goodbye” in Kiswahili). She went back to the hospital, got her lab results which showed she had Typhoid but it was not serious, and got the medication the doctor had prescribed. On Saturday, she got up and went about her day. She took her medication like she was supposed to and was cooking in the kitchen. Saturday night she was gathered with some friends from school at Ushirika wa Neema. They were hugging and greeting one another. She went to sit down on her bed. She slowly started to lean over like she wanted to lie down. One of the sisters came over to help her lie down. They called the sister who is a nurse and Sister Agnes (who also teaches at the college here a few days a week), but even in the time it took for them to come, Sister Neema was already gone.

The sisters believe she knew what was happening ahead of time and was ready to be reunited with her father in heaven because she was saying goodbye to people ahead of time.

The Babies

This week I am in the baby house, and since there are only 8 of them, 5 of which are walking and out in the playroom during the day, I thought I would give you a profile of each of the 5 older ones.

Mosess: He is always smiling and laughing, and when he does cry on occasion, it is usually only when he is tired and it does not usually last long. He likes hitting things (and people), and he likes rocking and otherwise repetitive motion. He will often sit against a door and lean back and forth against it to hear the sound of the door banging against the door frame. He will also bang on the window because he likes the sound. He has a very strong grip and when he doesn’t like something he will scratch the person who he thinks is responsible (which I know from personal experience hurts a lot, and the other children often start crying when he does this). He really likes bugs, especially moths. He often squishes them and hands them to me. He likes to spit on things and play with his spit. Recently he has taken to spitting on his hand and then trying to give me a high-five. Sorry, dude, but that’s not happening.

Ester: She gets very attached to people. She gets upset if I am playing with her and then try to play with another one of the children. She likes to run in circles around me and laugh the whole time she is doing it. She often copies what the other children do. If she sees me paying attention to one of the children who is doing something goofy, she will try to imitate it so that I will pay attention to her. She does not like to eat, and during feeding times, whoever is feeding at the time will feed her slowly while they feed the other four children so that she can swallow each bite and not spit it up. When she cries, she collapses on the floor and works herself up so much that is difficult for her to stop. She is very gentle and methodical with the stuffed animals. She will inspect their ears, eyes, and limbs slowly, and one day she lined up the three Beanie Baby teddy bears sitting in a row on the floor to look at them. She will usually hold a doll like it’s a real person. She will also inspect the buttons on my pants very methodically and then leave them alone when she’s finished. She is sometimes not so gentle with the other children.

Shangwa: He is the only one that is not walking independently yet, but he will pull himself up to standing and can walk if he holds onto a wall or person. He is very close to walking by himself. When he cries, he always plops down to a sitting position and rubs his hands over his eyes, face, and head. It’s actually really cute. The other children (especially Mosess) usually climb on top of him, and he cannot get away very easily because he is not as big as them and not able to walk completely. He retaliates by climbing on top of them when they are laying down. He likes to suck on the buttons on my pant legs. He likes to crawl over to me and use my legs as support as he stands up.

Elisha: She is very quiet and reserved. She cries very rarely. Usually if she is upset about something, she will just sort of wail for a few seconds without actually crying. She only has two little front teeth on the bottom of her mouth. She really likes to climb in the fireplace. She just started walking a few days before I arrived at the orphanage so she waddles when she walks.

Baraka: He sucks on his right index finger to comfort himself. His bottom jaw sometimes trembles when he cries.

All the children like to walk between my legs. All the sisters and female staff wear skirts or dresses so it is a treat for them that I wear pants most days so they can walk between my legs. They all like velcro, zippers, and buttons, and they will play with these if they are on my clothes. All the children like it when I grab their hands and lift them slightly off the floor and then set them back down. I do not pick them up and hold them very often, because it is often difficult to set them back down without them throwing a fit. The staff member and the sister who are assigned to the baby house are often busy doing all the things that need to be done to provide for the children, so they do not have very much time to just play with the children and hold them. With that being said, it is very special for them that I am here to just play with them during the day, and when I pick them up, they do not want to be put down.

The Highlights From This Past Week

Sunday (6/2): I went for a walk with Sister Elly to Machame Lutheran Hospital, which is up the road from the orphanage. It’s a steep walk up the hill, so we each had a Sprite from the hospital shop. There were two other wazungu (white people) at the hospital! They were medical students from Holland, and they thought I was the new student that was supposed to be arriving at the hospital that day. I took a couple pictures of the hospital, and on our way out, Sister Elly pointed out the peak of Kilimanjaro through the trees. It is very rare to get such a clear view of Kilimanjaro with no clouds, so we kept walking up the road until we emerged from the trees. The view of the mountain in front of us was breathtaking. The pictures I took don’t even come close to the real thing!

Monday (6/3): I was at tea at around 10:30 in the morning. The oldest kids have a break from school this week, so they were all outside playing with the kids from the middle house. I was just watching them play out the window when, next thing I know, a cow comes strolling down the hill from the direction of the cow area. It had a rope tied around its neck, but there was no one holding it so I thought it had gotten loose. Then another cow came into view with a rope tied around its neck, but there was a man at the other end of that rope so I knew they were supposed to be out and about. The kids were very excited about the cow. Right before lunch, I thought I experienced an earthquake. I was sitting on my bed when I felt my room start to shake slightly and saw my window shaking. It only lasted a few seconds, but I never did figure out what it was. Monday night I did some belly dancing in my room because I found I still had the music and steps on my iPod and I had nothing else to do. (My mom and I took a class together a few years ago so I learned a dance then.)

Tuesday (6/4): This was the day for the doctors to come give all the kids a check up. Two women doctors came into the baby house while they were eating lunch. They saw each child and made sure they were healthy. They both spoke English very well, and they had iPhones, which are the only ones I have seen in Tanzania. The youngest baby had gone to the hospital in the morning with a high fever and vomiting but was back at the orphanage that evening. I don’t know what was wrong.

Wednesday (6/5): I finally took my camera out to get some pictures of the older kids. They get so distracted by the camera that I just hadn’t taken it out in front of them yet. As soon as they saw that I had the camera, they started to gather around me and ask for pictures of themselves and to see them on the screen. Some would just stare at their pictures, and others would try to push buttons on the camera. Their favorite button was the delete button (I don’t think they were actually trying to delete photos but it’s right next to the screen). Happiness actually succeeded in deleting one of the pictures of herself and almost deleted a second but I caught her before she deleted more than that. I went back to the baby house after the older kids went back inside, and Emanueli was crying in his crib. I sang to him, and he stopped crying and stared at me for a while. He eventually started crying again while I was singing, but it was worth a try. I think he was just hungry, because he got fed shortly thereafter.

Thursday (6/6): All the sisters were gone all day because they had left Wednesday evening for the convent in town. I ate all my meals at the table outside my room instead of the usual dining room because I was the only one that would have been eating there. Thursday evening, I found a praying mantis on the wall next to my head. I know they’re harmless, but it’s still a little startling to find one next to your head when you didn’t know it was there at all.

Friday (6/7): I took a nap on Friday afternoon and when I woke up, I discovered I had squished a moth with my face while I was sleeping. It was laying in pieces on my pillow and the powder had come off its wings onto my pillowcase. While I was in the baby house in the afternoon, Ester fell and hit her face on the floor and busted her lip open. The shower I took Friday afternoon was much like the first shower I ever took at the orphanage—very cold and a little bit lacking in water. My other showers have usually been more pleasant (except for the one with the spider).

Today I am back in town at the Lutheran Uhuru Hotel to use the internet. I managed to make it to town by myself today! I got specific instructions from Sister Paulina before I left the orphanage, and the first van to come by only had one other woman in it. I think it was not a regular dala dala because it had a safari company logo on the side. It probably did not have a tour group, so the guys were making a little extra money taking people to town. The maximum number of people we had at one time was four people, so it was a very comfortable ride compared with last weekend! I don’t think I will be so lucky on the way back to the orphanage this afternoon.

I compiled some pictures in a slideshow that I am trying to upload right now, but with a slow connection it might not upload before I have to leave (it's saying it will take another hour or more and I have to leave in about 20 minutes, so most likely I will not be able to post it today). If it works, I will add another post with the video, and if it doesn't, I will post it next weekend when I am back at the internet!

Natalie