Our first project – challenging but rewarding

We have moved to Kurinsini onto the Salvation Army’s compound, you feel safe here as its guarded 24 hours a day however not safe from the resident cockroaches, lizards, mosquitoes and spiders to name a few of the locals!! Yes people, this feels like real Africa, lol.

The accommodation is huts that have a separate room for the shower and toilet. Cold water showers is something to get to used to, I admit but not so bad when you are desperate to escape the heat of the sun or humidity. The beds are not so good we’ve only had one decent night’s sleep since being here due to the poor mattresses however there are cooked meals here and everyone is so lovely, a local pub up the road which is a gem to savour a cold beer or the local drink Konyagi (careful though this stuff is lethal and they drink it neat!) but the real bonus to this place and I mean real plus side is the school they have on the compound – Matumyini (School of Hope) for disabled children.

It’s the ONLY school of its kind in Tanzania where most of the children that attend live here. The children’s disabilities range from disfigurement, to lack of use of their limbs – to no limbs.

Jason and me were very nervous about working with them purely down to our insecurities/ignorance(?) and were worried the children may sense our discomfort with the situation however since being here, this has dissolved, the children are truly amazing and so full of energy and life, they don’t let their disabilities affect their lifestyle and always ready with a smile and a respectful greeting to their elders of ‘Shikamoo’ (I hold your feet) to which you reply ‘Mari haba’ (no English translation for this word but is the required response) – It is so incredible to watch Jason playing football with young boys that have no feet or artificial legs! Jason and me have found such joy working/playing here and I feel like now I see past the disability to the child and personality within. And believe me there are some characters here! ;D

This is John and Jason. John spoke very good English and was so cool.

The mornings we help in the workshops where they make prosthetic limbs and special shoes and conduct physio-therapy sessions, then in the afternoons we hang out and play activities with the children. So far we have helped to finish off a prosthetic leg for a young boy named Frankie who walked out of the workshop wearing it that afternoon… and assisted in physio sessions for a couple of children in wheelchairs.

We have had some interesting conversations with the workers here – Professor Mugini who makes the shoes for the children here and anyone else from across whole country.

Another man, named Tilliya who makes the limbs and improvises marvellously with donations of used limbs that he sometimes receives to re-work, so as to give it purpose for a another child and Edward who is the physio-therapist who one day gave us his philosophy on giving the children the professional text book help they need however adding love and positive thought to make them feel valued and continue fighting..

Image of us in the workshop. Prof. Mugini next to Jay, next to him in greenish shirt is Tilliya then me. The girl is a pupil at the school, I think... !

The sad reality to this place that we learnt, is some disabled children are out-casted by their villages who believe them to be bad luck or useless to the community, where individuals here, in particular Nathan’s mum (Crystal’s mother-in law) has worked towards placements for disabled children in the next level of education after this school – Matumyini, in mainstream schools to make society more inclusive of those with disabilities and change the mind set of people. For example Albino children are at risk of being beaten up/killed as people have prejudices against them, believing them to be magical in a bad way.

There is one shed that is stacked full of wheelchairs (not used) from different countries, however because of consumerism the parts to the wheelchairs are unique to the manufacturing company, (so if you wanted to fix it you would have to go back to the company it was made in ie: Germany, France etc) so even the skilled Tilliya in the workshop cannot get any use out of them.   

But life continues..

It is wonderful, that even though you don’t speak the language you can still converse through playing games – So far the children love football and playing cards! One afternoon, Frankie was even helping Jay to play his hand, as Jason was getting tired of losing!! The girls love to sing and dance, our current favourite tune is Shakira’s world cup anthem - They even know the dance moves! They have so much love and any chance they have, they love to hold your hand, cuddles and generally relish your attention.

Our only regret now is that we have to leave soon, tomorrow we leave for Morongorra. Wish us luck we have to take the bus…eek! Although thankfully Im told, it’s only 3 hours drive…

While we were in Kurinsini, we made good friends with Michael from Wisconsin USA, (photo below) a top bloke who knew the good places to hang out, his hut was THE ultimate bachelors hut on the compound, complete with DVD projection screen, drinks and wi-fi!!!!

Micheal has been there for a couple of months studying Swahili and introduced us to his friends including a Massai Warrior named Sitosi, who we had dinner with one evening – very interesting… and a Lieutenant in the Tanzanian Army who also is a basketball player, the man was tall!! (picture of Jason playing cards with the boys at the school)

Jason with our new friend Michael from the USA

 We had an interesting dinner guest in Sitosi (on the right) a Massai Warrior who was working as a security guard on the compound - cos like, who's gonna mess with him right?!! He fights lions for a living back home!!