In the second week of the project, we were invited to visit the homes
of some of the participants in the class. It was heart-wrenching to
see the desperate living conditions some of them lived in. These are
beautiful resilient women who don’t give up despite their
challenges. They continue on. They attend learning sessions like
what Dave was facilitating. They take some of this information home
and whether or not it was applicable, they feel blessed.
I had to think of
the illustration about the starfish. You can’t rescue all the
starfish that are washed up on the beach, but you can make a
difference for the ones you do throw back into the sea. Naioth Foundation is working hard to make a difference in the lives of these women and their children and grandchildren.
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| It's such beautiful countryside as we walked to some of the homes. |
While Dave continued his teaching sessions, I was hanging out around the kitchen, learning about Tanzanian food.
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| Preparing pumpkin leaves for in a sauce. |
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| Peeled green bananas for sauce. |
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| Calmat - which looks a lot like New Year's Cookies (Portzelchi) |
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| If you're short, you get creative when stirring a pot of ugali. |
The one afternoon we went to Arusha with the pre-school teacher to go shopping for school supplies. She was thrilled to receive enough pencils, notebooks, crayons, workbooks, posters and more to outfit her class. The little ones had fun trying to carry the big box of supplies to the office!
In the end, we felt so loved and blessed. On the final day, the women gave us gifts as a memory of our time with them. They were sad to see us go. Some
felt like kindred spirits even though our communication was limited
with their minimal English and our non-existent Swahili. What a
wonderful group of women.
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| Dave's new shuka - the Maasai dress |
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| making me look like the true tourist |
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