CanadiansforAfricaBlog

Thursday we worked at the home in the morning and left for lunch. Before we left the work site, two women who had been working with us at the house presented us as a group with a gift …. A chicken and a duck! At first we thought that the gifts were for the family that would be living in the house … but then we realized that the gift was for us to eat! That was definitely a first for all of us!

Although this was a bit out of our comfort zone, we realized that this was a great gift on their part … they literally have nothing to give … and these birds cost money for them! They were honoring us in a way that we could not fathom. We were overwhelmed! And so, I climbed into the back of the vehicle, holding onto a chicken, and Danica holding onto the duck …. and we drove away. They were cute … we named them appropriately “Mzungu” meaning a white person (the duck was white) and “Rafiki” for the black chicken, meaning friend …. Thankfully, we did not dine on them before we left, but we left them with the centre where we were staying!!!

Bill Shaw arrived Thursday afternoon and joined us for the celebrations. He will be travleing with us for the safari and then staying on for another 2 weeks to meet with officials for planning future construction sites and plans for Save Africa Now. We were excited to have him join our group! In the afternoon we welcomed Juma, Haruna, Sabina and the other orphans to see thier new home for the first time. Even though they
will not be able to move into their home for another couple of months, this was the first time that they have seen the house. They were overwhelmed … and so full of gratitude and thanks! One of the smallest rooms in the new home is larger than the tiny place they are packed into right now! This will feel like a mansion to them! We celebrated with sodas, many photographs, small gifts and much laughter … what a wonderful experience! When we sang a blessing to the group that will reside in the home, Sabina (the grandmother and
caregiver) broke down and cried … overwhelmed by the changes that will happen for them … New hope … new life … literally being saved from the despair they are currently living in! It was a wonderful afternoon …. but so hard to say goodbye! For them, there is much hope for the future, and yet … it is hard to see us leave
them! It was an emotional day for all of us!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Bill Shaw, Juma and Haruna, Save Africa Now, Tabora. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.