Kourtni: 15 June 2010

Dear Journal

This morning I woke on maybe the wrong side of the bed, I have been in so much pain with my leg still ( I don't know what it is but it is worse then the nerve damage I had last year) also my allergies have gotten worse so I was up most the night dealing with them. So sad to say I was a bit on the grumpy and down side but that changes so quickly when I see this kids so I watched as they got loaded in Big Blue to go to school. Rafiki, Timon and I were asked to go on the out reach program (FMSC); what it is is when we go to the elementary schools and feed all the kids especially those who are malnourished and in need of food.

The ladies went and fetched the water and got the fire ready so we could begin cooking 78 packets (each packet makes 6 servings). It took awhile to cook so the ladies were teaching us things in Shona and put their Dukus on our heads (the wraps that they were on their heads). We then went and met the head master- he is super nice and has such a great school and big dreams for all of his students- which is a huge difference then the school our kids currently go to. At break time (10:00) we begin feeding everyone- it started off with just the preschool and then we had grades 1-6 come out we fed over 570 kids and even had to turn a few ( more like a lot) of kids away cuz we were out of food. It is such a great humbling experience to feed these children that are so grateful and kind for something so simple. I sure do love it here and once again realize that I am so spoiled and take so much for granted!

When we got back Rafiki, Timon and I decided that we wanted some Naches for us so that we don't eat the ones that we bought for the kids so we went and bought some more. Hats wanted us to take a local with us so that if something happened we'd be safe so he sent Wonton with us. Wonton is such a great, funny, helpful guy. He laughed at my driving ( I did kill it a couple times), while we were out we decided to got to Murange to get a soda, .50 for a bottle but you have to drink it there so you can return the bottles. When we got back we read books to Volume, N, Dee-Dee and Rock ( he was home sick from school) Rafiki and Timon then let me take a short nap while they mad lunch- my leg is still killing me- they made yummy egg salad sandwiches.

After lunch the kids had to go do classes with Mr. B so we brought Giggles, Bugzy and Little Rat up to our flat to play for awhile, I then went down and held Baby Girl for ahwile who ended up falling asleep in my arms- nothing beats holding a sleeping baby even when she is almost 2 years old- i held her as long as I could but then had to put her in her bed so I could go take care of the other kids since they were done with their classes.

Hips, Queen, Lips, Froggy and Drama started singing and dancing for us, Mr. GQ came and sat next to me to do his homework- he was attempting to teach us Shona but it's not an easy language to learn so her just laughed and laughed at us. It was funny cuz Rafiki said "hey look it's the chicken bird that Zazu likes" (guinea fowl) I turned to him and asked him what it was he looked at me and said "doves." We started laughing so hard which again just made him laugh at us once again.

Then Little Rat and Baby Girl came out and sat on my lap, we played and watched the older kids. They all had to go take their baths so Volume, Baby Girl and I were walking back to my flat I said "look Baby Girl the moon (while pointing to the moon) Volume who was holding my hand looked up at me and said "Auntie Kourtn then said what moon is in Shona which I of course don't remember" So I copied her and with a big smile on her face she said "yay!" while we kept walking hand in hand. It was such a sweet tender moment to have her teach me something like that (she has become my little buddy). We played up in the flat til it was suppertime- I took them back down and we sat and watched as Hips, Hands, Lips and Braids were teaching Rafiki how to dance HILARIOUS we then ate our food, rice and beans, possibly my favorite meal here.

The 3 of us then came back to the flat Zazu and Scar were now back, I showed Scar the light up frisbee we brought and he was like " I want to go scare the gaurds, they will think it is a ghost" so we all went outside while he showed them. Then Timon and I taught them how to actually throw the frisbee, he then wanted to go down and show the kids, the too thought it was the coolest thing! I love how excited they get from the simpilest things! Something I could learn. We then told them all good night and brought Tude back up to do her homework. She needs an extra push and I am more then happy to be the one to do it. She is such a sweet, loving, kind girl and I want to help her be the best she can be! MY HEART IS SO IN AFRICA!

P.S. on a side note Scar is so funny!! The other day he was telling us that he calls himself "genuine authentic leather" also he has a scar on his forehead he said that the story is one that he will have to tell us tomorrow but the key points are: he could have married the chiefs daughter and that it gave him the opportunity to go to Europe and study abroad. He also said that he was considered a hero and that we need to put the pieces together and come up with the true story of what happened. He is such a great funny guy and I am so thrilled he is here for the kids!