An African Christmas

Spending Christmas in Africa was strange and amazing all at once. When I came here I thought I would be sad that I wasn't at home, but it ended up just being weird because it didn't feel like Christmas at all. Not even on Christmas Day. I guess Christmas for me will always feel like our house in Cambridge, like our Christmas tree with no leaves, like eating a whole box of chocolates before lunchtime, like sausage rolls and tikihi, like impromptu games of cricket using apples as balls, like singing carols and like family. Mostly like family.

Here there was no family, so it didn't feel like Christmas, but I loved it all the same.

Christmas Day started out with going to Neema House to give the babies their morning snack at 8am and then watching Christmas music videos on the TV. Then it was back home to talk to my family briefly before all of us volunteers went to church. There are six of us here at the moment - Kelly and Betsy are from the United States and Bim, Stina and Lovisa are all from Sweden. 

Church was lovely, complete with carols (something I had missed about Christmas this year) and a short message about the three wise men and how it is never too late to come to Jesus.

After church we came back to Neema and fed the babies their lunch and then gave them a bath. I spent that time feeding Baby Maxine, who is three months old now and since she reached 6lbs last week, has been moved out of isolation into the small baby room. The babies had a bath earlier in the day than usual because we wanted to dress them up in Christmas outfits. They ended up looking very sweet!

Baby Maxine didn't want to be put down even though there was 18 babies that needed to be bathed!

Christmas clothes!

Photo credit: Stina Granfors

It took five people working as fast as we could to get 18 babies into place for the group photo.

Photo credit: Stina Granfors

Finally - all of them sitting down at the same time!

Photo credit: Stina Granfors

Michael, Angelous & Gloria

Photo credit: Stina Granfors

Photo credit: Stina Granfors

Sweet Maxine

Photo credit: Stina Granfors

Ebenezer

Photo credit: Stina Granfors

Once the babies were in bed it was time for Christmas lunch - buffet style which the nannies loved. Lunch was rice, chicken, beef, vegetables, cookies and soda. The chicken was very fresh - it had been given to Neema as a gift on Christmas Eve and was only killed on the morning of the lunch!

On Christmas Eve, Jackie and Rehema, two of the Neema nannies invited Kelly and I to go and visit their houses on Christmas Day. Recently we have had a lot of donations of clothes that are far too big for our babies at Neema, which we had set aside in a big box to take to Aston and his children. We picked out a couple of items for each of Jackie and Rehema's children and took them with us. It was so lovely to see how happy the children were with their new clothes and lollipops. Jackie and Rehema both said that all children are very happy on Christmas Day.

What Kelly and I didn't take into account was that at both houses they would want to feed us. We ate pilau, salad and fresh fruit and had soda at Jackie's house first. Benny, who is 4 and Jennifer, Jackie's 12-year-old house-girl put their new clothes on right away. Then they all came with us to Rehema's where we ate more pilau, had some cabbage and drank more soda.

Benny, Joyce, Freddy, Noel and Jennifer wearing their new clothes.

Jackie and Rehema with their children.

Jackie and Rehema and everyone was so happy. Jennifer was dancing to the radio and all the children skipped the whole way home.

I have been to several of the nannies homes since I have been here, but it is always a sobering experience. How I live here in Arusha is nothing like how the majority of Tanzanians live. It makes me wonder if I could do it. In theory I probably would say I could, but really? Walking to get water every day, never having enough food, going to bed when it gets dark because there is no electricity? I don't know.

When we made it back to the house it was time to cook and get the house ready for our fourth, final and biggest meal of Christmas. The new directors of Neema and their children came to eat with us and we all made food that was either from our country or that we would usually eat at Christmas time. I made lamingtons - I know, Australian rather than New Zealand, but I wasn't brave enough to try to make a pav!

We decorated the table and had a lovely meal. Altogether it was a lovely Christmas day, even if we did eat four Christmas dinners within 6 hours and even though it was a lot different from any I have ever had before!

Christmas dinner.

xoxo,

-Hannah

Maji Moto

A few weeks ago Kelly, Sydnee and I took the day off to go and visit a hot spring about two hours out of Arusha. We went with some local guys who regularly spend time volunteering at Neema House and it was a really nice day. I drove us there which was interesting due to the fact that the car we took is a Prado 4x4 and I had never driven a car that big before. Most of the main roads close to Arusha are sealed and easy to drive on, but to get to Maji Moto you have to go cross country after you turn off the main road. We hired a local piki piki driver to show us the way for the last 15km. It took over an hour to just go that short distance! The road was so rough that at some points I thought we would never be able to make it over the rocks, but thankfully we got there safely.

The water at Maji Moto, which literally means "hot water", was thankfully not hot at all after the long drive with no air conditioning. It was one of the most beautiful places that I've seen since I've been here. Crystal clear water with vines hanging down into a deep pool. The water reminded me a little bit of New Zealand as our country is filled with beautiful clear rivers and lakes. The main difference is that New Zealand is not filled with scary snakes and animals. I spent half the time I was in the water surveying the area for pythons, only to later find out that pythons don't even swim in fresh water. What can I say? The very few Africa related fears I have are completely irrational, including the one where I get shot while sitting by the window on a dala dala.

The water was absolutely beautiful and there was small fish that would come along and nibble at your feet. It made them very clean, but was also very ticklish!

General hilarity ensued when Kelly and I tried to get dressed after our swim behind a piece of plastic strung between two posts stuck into buckets. First two young boys swum down the stream behind us to see if they could take a peek. Then just when Kelly was dressing I accidentally tipped one of the posts over which then knocked the whole plastic shelter down, causing much shrieking and laughter. I laughed more that day than I had in months!

Martin, one of our local friends, drove when we got onto the main road and it was a hair-raising trip, to say the least! I eventually asked to take over as I wasn't entirely sure that we would make it home in one piece with the current driver. Apart from that though, it was a lovely day and a beautiful spot that I would definitely go back to if I got the chance.

xoxo,
-Hannah