Ground Level

Although digging meter deep trenches for three full work days was pleasing, and not as monotonous as it sounds, I think all of us were glad to have a change! As of two days ago, we began mixing cement.  Here this is done by hand on the ground.  We layer sand, gravel and cement, make a big well in the middle and mix it like a massive cake!  It is back breaking work in the Tanzanian heat, but we managed.  We filled in our beloved, sweat drenched trenches with our home made cement. The cement makers would fill the buckets then pass the filled buckets along a chain of workers until the bucket reached the “fundies” (construction workers.) In two days, we have finished a wall starting at the bottom of the trenches continuing for 8 levels of bricks.  Tomorrow we prepare the floor so we can continue our build above ground!

Today, Pam picked for of us (Acacia, Kenya, Anne and myself) to help bathe and dress the children at the orphanage. After the kids ate lunch, we assisted them in brushing their teeth with their new tooth brushes. I helped Bryson brush his teeth, but as soon as be started biting the brussels off his brush I decided enough was enough. He wasn’t especially impressed when I took his toothbrush away.

Tonight we went to a restaurant here in Arusha called Khan’s. Khan’s is a mechanical shop by day, and a restaurant by night. It is a rather interesting thing they’ve got going on to say the least. They roll the shutters on the garage down at 4 and roll out the grills to cook lots of meat with interesting flavours...we had goat, chicken and beef last night.  We can now say we have eaten at a place recommended in Lonely Planet!  On our way to the restaurant, our Dalla Dalla driver got us lost, so he had to pull over a few times so we could ask for directions from a few locals. It is always an adventure when we pile our group into one of the local rides!

When we got home we had a brief meeting about what we should be packing for our safari....WHICH IS IN 1 DAY! Mrs. Grant also let us know that Mel, Gabby, Taighe, Thomas, and I, will be going to camp Joshua tomorrow to spend a couple hours with the kids; reading, talking, playing games etc...From there we will go to a fabric store, a t-shirt store, and then luckily back to our last day of work until after the safari.

I have been having the most incredible time here and I cannot emphasize enough how lucky we are to have such an awesome group and how glad I am that everyone is getting along! It has been going by far too quickly in my opinion and I am already planning my next trip back!

Kayla Burton