Nicole, Sick Babies and the Dala Dala

The past few weeks have passed quickly. I have had lots of things to write about, but little time in which to write them. We have a lot of sick babies at Neema House – four out of the eight in the big baby room were down with a stomach bug at the same time and there were more in the other rooms. That meant a lot of extra work especially with one particular baby who had to be fed 10mls of oral rehydration solution every 15 minutes for six hours, as he could keep nothing else down. I was very tired at the end of that day! The week before that the same baby had strep throat and the last two weeks most of the babies have had a bad cough and cold and three have had malaria. I've lost count of how many are on medication! It seems to take hours each day to dole out the correct medicine to the correct baby. Thankfully last week Michael employed a nurse who has been very thorough and so far is proving to be a great help.

Apart from the on and off sickness, which unfortunately is inevitable – when one baby gets sick, they all do – all is well. The lovely Nicole was left with me after her mum went back to America and we had a fun two weeks together. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, there is a local restaurant where Michael and Dorris often go in the evenings so that they can use the Internet (much faster than at Neema) and eat samosas (apparently their samosas are the best thing you’ve ever tasted, but as I don’t eat beef I suppose I’ll never find out). While Dyan was here we went there almost every night, but after she left our only way of getting there was to walk so we didn’t go so often. One time when we went there Nicole had “Chips Mayai” which is an African dish – essentially an omelette with chips (as in thick cut fries) in it. Sounds weird but it tastes just like eating scrambled eggs and fried potatoes at the same time! It's also good with tomato sauce (ketchup for the Americans) on top. I had it at Players before, as well as at other restaurants, but this time Nicole got sick.

You'll have to believe me when I say that chips mayai tastes much better than it looks! 

That was the same week that the babies all had the vomiting bug so we assumed at first that she had it too. Later on, we realised that it was probably food poisoning. I was sick as well, but not nearly so bad as I had only eaten a little of the eggs. We thought maybe it was just a one off thing and we decided to go back there a few days later after we went to the snake park. We got home and Nicole was sick again that night. We swore never to eat there ever again. However, after Michael and I took Nicole to the airport a couple days later we stopped there. I thought a drink would be safe, but apparently not! We wondered if perhaps the dishes aren’t being washed properly there. I'm not sure, but I can assure you that I won’t be going there again any time soon.

While Nicole was here we did a lot of things together. We went to the Maasai market where we bought souvenirs. The more times I go to the market, the more comfortable I am there. I can bargain with the shopkeepers without too much trouble and I’ve found that if I try and reply to their greetings and questions in Swahili, then they’re much more likely to give me a good price because they realise that I’m not a tourist. I tell them that they must not charge me "mzungu prices" (white person)! We bought paintings from a local artist and in return he sold us a small bowl and spoon set made out of bone for a very cheap price. We returned to his stall later to buy another, only for a different man to demand three times the price for the same thing!

That same day we went to Fifi’s Café as it was near the market and we had an interesting snack. We ordered lemonade, unsure whether their idea of lemonade was the same as American lemonade or whether it would be simply Sprite or some other lemon fizzy drink. It wasn’t either. Instead, it was straight lemon juice. Yow! Thankfully they also brought a jug of sugar syrup so we could sweeten it. We tried their coconut buns and chocolate brownie, but neither were spectacular so I wouldn't go back there in a hurry.

Two days before Nicole left we found our new favourite place to eat. Aldelien had said that a place called “Africafe” was good so we agreed to meet her for lunch there one day. Neither Nicole nor I were feeling very good after our second ill-fated trip to Players the night before, but Adelien was right… if we had of known how nice Africafe was then we would have been eating there every day!

Ironically, Africafe was the least African place I’ve eaten at here. It was very Western – both the look of the place and the food. It seems shallow, but it was heavenly to eat food that tasted like home. Nicole and I loved it so much that we went back on the day she left and all we could talk about for the two days in between was how much we were looking forward to it! Funny the little things that can make you happy.

Delicious meal at Africafe - the best I've had since "the last supper" mum made for me at home!

 As I write it, going out sounds simple enough – we go into town and eat and go to the Maasai market and eat some more and do this and that and so on. The thing is though that we don't have a car and even if we did I would not be brave enough to drive it. That fact means that I go everywhere on the dala dala – a risky (you are at peril from being crushed to death inside or one of the vehicles crashing due to the high speeds they drive at) but certainly interesting mode of transportation. Before Dyan left she wanted me to say that I would take Nicole on the “dali wali” (as she called it), but I wouldn’t as unfortunately most of the time it’s our only way of getting around. I did however keep my promise not to take her on a piki piki (motorbike). I've not yet been brave enough to try that one! The worst influence I was on her was encouraging her to eat Nutella straight from the jar in bed. We did take a picture pretending I was influencing her...

Just as well it was just Sprite we were drinking. :)

Anyway, we had many interesting experiences on the dala dala. At one point the one we got into was so full we weren’t sure how we would fit. Nicole sat half on the seat, half off, directly beside the door that was wide open as we rattled along at breakneck speed. I sat back to back with the driver on top of the engine. The engine was so hot that by the time we got into town I was positive that my skirt was about to light on fire. Nicole was sure that she was going to fall out the door, although soon enough so many people crammed in that there was no way she could possibly have fallen out. There must have been 30 people in that little van, with the condo (short for conductor - the man who collects the money and shouts out the window where the dala is going) actually standing outside, with only his feet in the van. A large man got in and leaned over the top of Nicole and I and we spent most of the trip with our heads stuck in his armpits – not a pleasant place to be on any day, let alone a hot one!

On another trip the driver didn’t want to stop at our usual stop in town and he kept asking, “Wapi? Wapi?” (Where? Where?) and we kept shouting back, “Hapa!” (Here!) but to no avail. When he finally stopped we were miles away from where we were meant to be and had to walk all the way back. I’m not sure if he was just being stubborn or we were having some sort of communication error. Either way, it didn’t matter in the end - I am used to having to walk places here! It's good too because the people who sell things on the street are starting to recognise me so they don't try and harass me into buying their wares. 

Another time we were standing on the corner in town waiting for a dala to come along that would take us back home. I saw one and waved (apparently not the right kind of wave because the condo mimicked me and laughed), only for that vehicle to be packed full. We tried to say no, we would wait for another, but before we knew it the condo hoisted me into the front seat with the driver, and Nicole into the back. I was fine because there was plenty of room in the front, but I was worried about Nicole because of the time when she almost fell out the door so I (without thinking) said to the condo, “She’s afraid she’ll fall out.” He thought this was the funniest thing he had ever heard and from then on he took it upon himself to personally look after her. When she had to climb out so that other people could get off he held her hand the whole time. Then when she was climbing back into the dala, he assisted her by grabbing onto her bottom! At that point I felt very bad – my “young charge” should have sat in the front and I could have dealt with the too-friendly locals. We got close to our stop and so I said to the driver, “Can you stop here?” He replied, “Yes, we are stopped. This is a traffic jam.” Confusing answer, but never mind. “No, can you stop at PPF?” I said. He just laughed and said, “Oh I suppose I could stop in the area.” Frustrating, yet funny at the same time! He looked like he was about to go past the stop so I shouted and the condo poked his head out the back window and motioned for me to stick my head out the front window so that I could talk to him. He told me that they didn’t want to let us out – they would take us to the end of their run and then bring us back home. “HAPANA!” (NO!) we shouted, “We have to go to the airport!” At which they all laughed, thinking it was the funniest joke they had ever heard and stopped to let us out.

Front camera of iPhone + bumpy road + risk of getting phone stolen = very blurry photo on the dala dala!

We’ve had many funny experiences like that and I’ve only been here for two months. I still have six months of riding the dala dala to look forward to! (Note the slightly sarcastic tone, although it is true that it can be fun if you're with other people). Once last week I was on the dala by myself and I sat next to a Maasai man. He was talking to me, asking where I was from (as in where I live in Arusha) and I was trying to tell him about Neema and our 27 babies. After I got off the dala and was walking the rest of the way home I realised that I didn’t tell him that I helped look after 27 watoto (children), but that I had 27 watoto. No wonder he looked surprised! Sometimes I think I will ever learn enough Swahili to even have a simple conversation. Although in saying that, the other day a man asked if I wanted to buy a newspaper and when I replied with, "Hapana asante," (no thank you), he asked if I was a resident. I was very proud of myself when I was able to reply with, "Ndiyo. Ninaishi Arusha," (Yes. I live in Arusha). Baby steps!

The same day as the bottom-grabbing, refusing to let us off the dala, incident Nicole left to go home to America. It was very sad. We went to Neema so she could say goodbye to the babies and especially to her Joel. He’s so sweet. Every day when we went into the toddler room he would shout, “Cole! Anna!” That was the closest he could get to our names. It was so sweet. Then when “Cole” left he would say, “Anna, Anna, wapi Cole?” (Where is Cole?) She’s been gone for close to two weeks now and still he sometimes asks where she is. Last night I showed him a picture of her on my phone which made him grin for ages even though he's unwell at the moment (he has malaria). Before I took the phone away he kissed the screen. It was very sweet. Helena, our other two-and-a-half year old looked at the phone and said, "Cole!" Then she looked around the room and said, "Hamna Cole" (there is no Cole). It was both sad and sweet at the same time.

Joel and Helena aren't the only ones who miss her. Now there’s no one to call me “Miss Buns” or to laugh with about the horror movie cornfields, Emmanuel, the "Weenie Man" song, or the scary kiwi that lives beside my bed. There’s no one to give me a fright by standing over my bed in the middle of the night or to whisper creepily, “The cupboard is open,” or shout, “SOAPY!” at inappropriate moments. Thank you Nicole for being such a lovely lovely roommate. It was fun living with you for a few weeks and I hope and pray a million times over that you will come back in December and we can have more good times then. Sending you a thousand hugs from the babies and more from me too.

Bye Nicole!

xoxo,

Hannah