So the last few days have been really interesting. This week at placement has been really neat...I have been teaching them all about holidays and traditions that I do back at home. Today I taught them about Christmas and we did a gift exchange. I wrapped up the smallest presents...little candies, small bars of soap, tooth brushes...and they were literally so excited. The kids who got the soap looked as though they were on top of the world. It made me think back to all my christmas' and how much i had received and how I never had a look like that on my face. Its amazing what a 15 cent bar of soap can do for someone.
Also I was asking what they did for Christmas and they got so excited to tell me that sometimes they get new clothes and have special food..and how amazing they thought it all was..as Christmas is coming up I am going to try and keep the lesson my kids showed me in mind.
Walking home from placement today was interesting...mostly because i got peed on. Yes...a little girl peed on me. I pick her up and walked her all the way home and when i put her down i found this massive wet pee stain on my shirt. The little girl just giggled guiltily and ran away...Gotta love her.
Yesterday on the other hand was a much better walk home...I walk this little boy named Living home almost every day...he is the one with the really bad burns on his legs...I took him to the hospital 2 days ago to meet the doctor because he is finally getting surgery...thank God. Hes going on Sunday to get it done so I will be going with him. keep him in your prayers! Wow...I am getting super side tracked...back to the walk home. So anyways, we are walking home...and his parents passed by in a taxi ...and he started getting really excited. I had no idea why though and i couldn't just ask him because of the language barrier. so we get to the house..and usually his parents or siblings will come outside and say hi and talk to me...but today noone did...and living ran inside with hugging me bye...so it was all really odd, and just as i was walking away...his father comes out and asks me to come in the house...so i walk in..and the first thing i see is a little new born baby girl and Livings mothers arms. Turns out she was pregnant and I didn't even know. I was the first one outside of the family to see there little new born baby...and apparently in this culture it is a very big deal who sees the baby first. I felt so honored...I took a bunch of pictures of the family and I am making them a baby book for the little girl..whos name is Janet! It was unreal!!
Also...I got sick again today...which is super annoying ....but I am already feeling better so hopefully I won't be going to Nairobi again :P
Ok I gotta go make a pinata now!
Miss Y'all!
Monica.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Thursday, 20 October 2011
The Lion King!
Have you ever experienced something that is so beautiful that it literally takes your breath away? That basically sums up my safari. The beauty of the animals and landscapes of the different parks blows my mind…so many times I found myself in awe of how beautiful life is. It’s crazy that something that beautiful exists in the world. Way to go God, you’ve got mad skills!
We saw everything there is to see. Elephants, giraffes, lions, monkeys, antelopes, baboons, pumbas, snakes, zebras, buffalos, flamingos, hippos and tons of other beautiful creatures. I can’t wait to put my pictures on facebook so people can get an idea of what I saw. The landscape was absolutely beautiful…I felt like I was living in the Lion King movie…speaking about lions. The craziest thing happened…A lion came right up to our car…so close that my guide told me to roll up the window…I could almost pet her…and she went out our car to get some shade and took a little nap. This was after we saw the lion feasting on some sort of animal carcass. We saw lions mating, monkeys, mating, baboons mating…lots and lots of mating. We saw a giraffe outside of the National park just chilling by a tree…and I got pretty darn close to it..it was so awesome..if I had enough room in my suitcase it would have become my new pet.
Our first night we camped out right in a national park…and I am not kidding when I say we literally heard lions roar from our tent. Not to mention elephants and giraffes hanging out extremely close to us. Imagine waking up walking outside and seeing a giraffe..it was like a dream.
Oh and I went on a camel ride, no big deal or anything..but seriously, it was awesome.
The safari reminded me once again how truly amazing life is…and how it’s so easy to forget the beauty and focus and the hard and painful parts of life.
In other news…I went to the hospital yesterday…no it wasn’t for me. I am fine! It was for one of the little boys in my class who has been sick with severe bone tuberculosis since birth…he also has the really bad fungal infection on his head that looks really painful and bothersome…it broke my heart to see him suffer, and on top of all this his father left him and his mom because he was tired of the boy being sick…so now they are left with no money because the mom doesn’t work because she needs to take care of her son. I visited their house the other day and it was so tiny and primitive…she showed me over 70 empty bottles of medicine that the boy has taken…and she was saying that nothing has worked…he gets over 20 shots a week…20! I got stuck like 13 times when I was sick and I hated life..this boy gets 20 and is still so laid back and happy. Sorry for the sad rant…but I think there is a lesson to learn about this little boy. Although he has suffered all his life…he still is one of the most smiley kids in my class..so polite, so well mannered…it goes to show you that the suffering in life can be overcome..you don’t have to fall into a dark hole..and let your suffering be an excuse for bad actions, you can sometimes conquer it, learn from it, and be a better person once your through it.
Being back at my placement has been amazing, I am teaching my kids about the 5 senses this week, and next week I am teaching them all about different holidays and traditions! I am so excited for that. I’m going to be teaching them about Christmas traditions, easter, birthdays, Halloween and new years! Should be fun!
Update on the Orphanage. We have finished painting 3 rooms and the bathroom area! Now we are working on the 4th and the big safari themed mural in the big room..Its looking pretty awesome!
Ok I have a long day ahead of me so I gotta go! Missing everyone back home, I Hope everything is going great!
LOVE,
Thursday, 13 October 2011
A crazy couple of weeks.
To put it lightly I have had a crazy couple of weeks. Let me try to fill you all in.
So it all started on Thursday night (the 29th of September) at 2:30 am...I woke up to this really strange chest pain and it didn't go away for the rest of the night...in the morning I finally got up to go for breakfast only to find out that eating or drinking anything was extremely painful. I went to the hospital that day and the doctor thinking it was phemonea gave me a bunch of medication and antibiotics. Days went by and the medication didn't help..in fact the pain was getting worse and worse, I was hardly eating anymore.
In another attempt to get better I went to another hospital to get checked out by another doctor..once again he diagnosed me wrong and gave me the wrong antibiotics and in addition 2 injections that actually made things worse. I saw him three times and nothing had changed. By Thursday I had completely stopped eating and drinking because the pain literally became unbearable. Wednesday night, Thursday, Friday and Saturday i pretty much had nothing to eat or drink...and apparently you need food and water to survive so I became extremely sick and was quickly dwindling down to nothing. By Saturday I was almost blacking out, feeling nauseated, always light headed and extremely weak. In a last final attempt I went to see a Canadian doctor to try and find an answer...we met at a coffee shop...gotta love the good hospital facilities in moshi..of wait, there are none. So the doctor told me I needed an IV in me asap and told me which meds to go buy..I am the luckiest person in the world because my roomate is a nurse...Honestly I don't know what would have happened to me without her..she picked up the IV stuff at the pharmacy and set up an IV right in my room while i was lying on the bunk bed..acouple things were sketch about this...first, we were not in a proper place for any of this at all, 2 the needle that was available was big and i was so dehydrated that all my veins were tiny, and 3 I have this irrational fear of needles. I was so Dehydrated that the tightness of my veins broke 2 of the needles and I had to get pricked like 4 times. She managed to finally get it in...and I was able to get 2 litres of fluids in me...which honestly probably saved me from something pretty serious.
The next day she tried to put another IV on me because I was still dehydrated but at this point I was so dry it wasn't working. 2 of my veins completely blew (leaving me with some pretty cool looking bruises) and another one was close to doing the same..all the needles broke and I wasn't able to have an iv for Sunday.
Here is where things get wild. I get a phone call from my health insurance company late Sunday night saying that the insurance doctors talked about it and think that I need to be medically evacuated to the nearest well functioning hospital. So at 4 am I packed up all my things thinking I was going back to Canada after this was all done and went to the airport...Jenna...my roomate came with me..thank God. We got flown by a private plane from Tanzania to Nairobi Kenya..wild. I must admit that part was pretty cool...but i was literally to weak to even look out the window..so it made it hard for me to enjoy it. So i get to this hospital...and right away Im getting treated by this amazing doctor...they finally were able to get an IV in me which helped a lot.
I was in the hospital from Monday to Wednesday...and by Wednesday I was finally better. Able to eat and drink like normal..Thank god for that.
Getting back to Tanzania was a mission and a half though. The insurance didn't cover the ride back so me and Jenna had to somehow find our own way back. Let me tell you something about Nairobi, its insane..super dangerous and nothing comes easy. You can't even ride in a car with your window open without fear of being robbed. People will rob you infront of the police and they will do nothing about it. Scary stuff. Jenna was able to find us a bus to take back...but of course we almost missed it cause the hospital was almost 2 hours late dismissing me. and of course we had to get into 2 sketchy cars to find the bus...and of course we had the worst seats in the bus sandwiched between a man with really bad body odor and a lady who had her pants undone and sang the whole ride. It was unbelievably hot but no one bothered to open a window. Poor Jenna had gone through hell and back in Nairobi dealing with all the stuff on the outside of the hospital..if it weren't for her I would probably still be in Nairobi having no clue what to do. Finally after 5 hours we arrived in Arusha which was an hour and a half away from where we were staying and our friend picked us up..and finally we were home.
So that concludes the crazy story of Monica being sick in Africa. Here is a tip...if your going to Africa..don't get sick, The health care in most places is absolutely awful. It made me really appreciate Canada's health care system and the security it gives. A simple fix turned out to be so complex because I didn't have what I needed To get better in Tanzania. Not going to lie..i was extremely scared...but God has a way of working things out. I was supposed to come home to Canada..but I asked to be able to finish my mission..I still have so much to do...and so many people to help. Nothing is going to stop me from doing that. I learnt the hard way though that at times you need to be selfish...and take care of your needs..by as long as I am better...all I have for the next 5 weeks is going to the people of Tanzania.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for me and supported me through this hard time!
LOVE,
Monica!
So it all started on Thursday night (the 29th of September) at 2:30 am...I woke up to this really strange chest pain and it didn't go away for the rest of the night...in the morning I finally got up to go for breakfast only to find out that eating or drinking anything was extremely painful. I went to the hospital that day and the doctor thinking it was phemonea gave me a bunch of medication and antibiotics. Days went by and the medication didn't help..in fact the pain was getting worse and worse, I was hardly eating anymore.
In another attempt to get better I went to another hospital to get checked out by another doctor..once again he diagnosed me wrong and gave me the wrong antibiotics and in addition 2 injections that actually made things worse. I saw him three times and nothing had changed. By Thursday I had completely stopped eating and drinking because the pain literally became unbearable. Wednesday night, Thursday, Friday and Saturday i pretty much had nothing to eat or drink...and apparently you need food and water to survive so I became extremely sick and was quickly dwindling down to nothing. By Saturday I was almost blacking out, feeling nauseated, always light headed and extremely weak. In a last final attempt I went to see a Canadian doctor to try and find an answer...we met at a coffee shop...gotta love the good hospital facilities in moshi..of wait, there are none. So the doctor told me I needed an IV in me asap and told me which meds to go buy..I am the luckiest person in the world because my roomate is a nurse...Honestly I don't know what would have happened to me without her..she picked up the IV stuff at the pharmacy and set up an IV right in my room while i was lying on the bunk bed..acouple things were sketch about this...first, we were not in a proper place for any of this at all, 2 the needle that was available was big and i was so dehydrated that all my veins were tiny, and 3 I have this irrational fear of needles. I was so Dehydrated that the tightness of my veins broke 2 of the needles and I had to get pricked like 4 times. She managed to finally get it in...and I was able to get 2 litres of fluids in me...which honestly probably saved me from something pretty serious.
The next day she tried to put another IV on me because I was still dehydrated but at this point I was so dry it wasn't working. 2 of my veins completely blew (leaving me with some pretty cool looking bruises) and another one was close to doing the same..all the needles broke and I wasn't able to have an iv for Sunday.
Here is where things get wild. I get a phone call from my health insurance company late Sunday night saying that the insurance doctors talked about it and think that I need to be medically evacuated to the nearest well functioning hospital. So at 4 am I packed up all my things thinking I was going back to Canada after this was all done and went to the airport...Jenna...my roomate came with me..thank God. We got flown by a private plane from Tanzania to Nairobi Kenya..wild. I must admit that part was pretty cool...but i was literally to weak to even look out the window..so it made it hard for me to enjoy it. So i get to this hospital...and right away Im getting treated by this amazing doctor...they finally were able to get an IV in me which helped a lot.
I was in the hospital from Monday to Wednesday...and by Wednesday I was finally better. Able to eat and drink like normal..Thank god for that.
Getting back to Tanzania was a mission and a half though. The insurance didn't cover the ride back so me and Jenna had to somehow find our own way back. Let me tell you something about Nairobi, its insane..super dangerous and nothing comes easy. You can't even ride in a car with your window open without fear of being robbed. People will rob you infront of the police and they will do nothing about it. Scary stuff. Jenna was able to find us a bus to take back...but of course we almost missed it cause the hospital was almost 2 hours late dismissing me. and of course we had to get into 2 sketchy cars to find the bus...and of course we had the worst seats in the bus sandwiched between a man with really bad body odor and a lady who had her pants undone and sang the whole ride. It was unbelievably hot but no one bothered to open a window. Poor Jenna had gone through hell and back in Nairobi dealing with all the stuff on the outside of the hospital..if it weren't for her I would probably still be in Nairobi having no clue what to do. Finally after 5 hours we arrived in Arusha which was an hour and a half away from where we were staying and our friend picked us up..and finally we were home.
So that concludes the crazy story of Monica being sick in Africa. Here is a tip...if your going to Africa..don't get sick, The health care in most places is absolutely awful. It made me really appreciate Canada's health care system and the security it gives. A simple fix turned out to be so complex because I didn't have what I needed To get better in Tanzania. Not going to lie..i was extremely scared...but God has a way of working things out. I was supposed to come home to Canada..but I asked to be able to finish my mission..I still have so much to do...and so many people to help. Nothing is going to stop me from doing that. I learnt the hard way though that at times you need to be selfish...and take care of your needs..by as long as I am better...all I have for the next 5 weeks is going to the people of Tanzania.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for me and supported me through this hard time!
LOVE,
Monica!
Monday, 3 October 2011
doing the little things with love.
I promised my dad I would write a blog post tonight...so here I go!
Things have been pretty good lately! I am sick though...I had to go to the hospital on Friday because of these really bad chest pains I've been having...the doctor was not sure what it was...maybe bronchitis, phemonea...not to sure to be honest..it really sucks...and I'm in quite a bit of pain...but on a positive note...i got to see what a hospital in Africa looks like. Very interesting. Very sad. not very much equipment to work with at all..very basic...so many patients were just in beds in the halls because there wasn't enough room for them...it was hard to see.
So there is a little girl that lives just across the street from me and just the other day she saw a little orange on the ground and literally sprinted for it..once again I found myself in awe of how much i had and how I so often take things for granted...a dirty orange...and she got so excited...its so amazing to see these peoples mind sets.
Speaking of mind sets...I was talking to one of the teachers at my school and i was explaining depression to him...and he didn't really understand the concept because its not very common in a culture such as Tanzania's. It got me thinking about how its possible that so many people can be dealing with such deep emotional issues in north America and the people who I see suffering everyday don't even understand the concept of it..Shouldn't it be the opposite? Perhaps something is wrong with the way we are going about things. "There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness, and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much."
Cute story time! So it was one of my little boys birthdays the other day so I made him a birthday crown and got him some candy and got the class to sing him happy birthday...it was really nothing...or so I thought. His mother ended up calling the founder of the school to express her gratitude...he was telling me how happy she was and how grateful she was! All that thanks for a paper hat and some candy? Man. Really got me thinking about mother Teresas quote: "in this life you cannot do great things, just small things with great love." ...who knows who you can impact through the smallest act, be it a smile, opening the door for someone, having a conversation with a stranger or even making a paper hat for a child.
More exciting news! Starting Wednesday I will be coaching soccer to a group of young girls! I am so excited! Girls don't get much opportunity to play sports here so the fact that I get to help out with that makes my insides tingle :P (If anyone has any ideas for drills please email me!)
Ok, I still have a whole lesson plan to make...and I gotta get on that!
Hope all is well on the other side of the world.
LOVE YOU!
Monica.
Things have been pretty good lately! I am sick though...I had to go to the hospital on Friday because of these really bad chest pains I've been having...the doctor was not sure what it was...maybe bronchitis, phemonea...not to sure to be honest..it really sucks...and I'm in quite a bit of pain...but on a positive note...i got to see what a hospital in Africa looks like. Very interesting. Very sad. not very much equipment to work with at all..very basic...so many patients were just in beds in the halls because there wasn't enough room for them...it was hard to see.
So there is a little girl that lives just across the street from me and just the other day she saw a little orange on the ground and literally sprinted for it..once again I found myself in awe of how much i had and how I so often take things for granted...a dirty orange...and she got so excited...its so amazing to see these peoples mind sets.
Speaking of mind sets...I was talking to one of the teachers at my school and i was explaining depression to him...and he didn't really understand the concept because its not very common in a culture such as Tanzania's. It got me thinking about how its possible that so many people can be dealing with such deep emotional issues in north America and the people who I see suffering everyday don't even understand the concept of it..Shouldn't it be the opposite? Perhaps something is wrong with the way we are going about things. "There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness, and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much."
Cute story time! So it was one of my little boys birthdays the other day so I made him a birthday crown and got him some candy and got the class to sing him happy birthday...it was really nothing...or so I thought. His mother ended up calling the founder of the school to express her gratitude...he was telling me how happy she was and how grateful she was! All that thanks for a paper hat and some candy? Man. Really got me thinking about mother Teresas quote: "in this life you cannot do great things, just small things with great love." ...who knows who you can impact through the smallest act, be it a smile, opening the door for someone, having a conversation with a stranger or even making a paper hat for a child.
More exciting news! Starting Wednesday I will be coaching soccer to a group of young girls! I am so excited! Girls don't get much opportunity to play sports here so the fact that I get to help out with that makes my insides tingle :P (If anyone has any ideas for drills please email me!)
Ok, I still have a whole lesson plan to make...and I gotta get on that!
Hope all is well on the other side of the world.
LOVE YOU!
Monica.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Gun shots, roof tops and making a change.
Hey guys! So I haven't been on the computer much at all...the new volunteers came on Saturday night so we have about 26 people sharing one computer! The past week has been quite interesting...let me try and catch you all up!
Heres a fun story! I was in a taxi on my way back to the house I am staying at when all of a sudden I hear a gun shot..next thing I know we are surrounded by 3 men I have never seen before with machine guns...The made our taxi driver get out of the car, put his hands up, and go on the ground...then they turned to me and my friends...and looked super confused apologized, got back in there car and drove away. Turns out our car looked exactly like a car that was full of wanted criminals! Thanks to my white skin they realized they had the wrong people. Weirdly enough I wasn't that freaked out...it was definitely a new experience!
In other news, I have been having a really hard time at my placement with this one teacher. She hits the kids all the time...sometimes for no reason at all...and hard too! Ive had to dry so many tears..including my own because of the beatings...The other teacher blamed it on her being pregnant...i cant say Ive been pregnant before..but that is an awful excuse. Alas! There is good to this story. So I couldn't just sit there and watch this happen...so I met with the founder of the school and explained to him why it is so unhealthy to use that method of punishment and how there are other alternatives. I put in place a reward system instead of a punishment system for the teachers to use and I am happy to say that not one kid got hit today and they were still just as well behaved. I cant tell you how happy it made me to see the teachers not only using other methods but understanding and liking them! Yay for change.
So i finished painting the first room at the orphanage...I admit I seriously had no idea just how much work it was going to be...but seeing how happy the kids were to have a new looking room made it worth it! Its a pretty blue color! Also...I found a piece of paper in the rafters of the room and it was written by a little child describing their dreams in life and talking about their friends and things that were important to them...I put it back...but it was just so cool to find! The founder of the orphanage is so thankful...she said that she is so blessed to have people like us in her life...that people always talk about making a difference but those who put it into action are the ones who really shake things up.
So much to say...arrugh...I don't have much time left..so one quick thing...I went on the roof of the largest building in Moshi (the city right next to where im staying) It was absolutely beautiful. Perfect picture of mount Kilimanjaro. The city looked so beautiful and peaceful...and even though i knew how messed up it was with poverty and other issues i couldn't help but start to think that that is how the city actually was. It made me realize 2 things...first that no matter how messed up or bad something gets there is always a way to find good from it. And second it reminded me of people and how they so often look like that city looked from so high up...happy and ok. but in reality if you take a closer look they are suffering. Man I always have the deepest revelations on roof tops.
Anyways,..thats all for now!
LOVE YOU ALL!
Monica!
Heres a fun story! I was in a taxi on my way back to the house I am staying at when all of a sudden I hear a gun shot..next thing I know we are surrounded by 3 men I have never seen before with machine guns...The made our taxi driver get out of the car, put his hands up, and go on the ground...then they turned to me and my friends...and looked super confused apologized, got back in there car and drove away. Turns out our car looked exactly like a car that was full of wanted criminals! Thanks to my white skin they realized they had the wrong people. Weirdly enough I wasn't that freaked out...it was definitely a new experience!
In other news, I have been having a really hard time at my placement with this one teacher. She hits the kids all the time...sometimes for no reason at all...and hard too! Ive had to dry so many tears..including my own because of the beatings...The other teacher blamed it on her being pregnant...i cant say Ive been pregnant before..but that is an awful excuse. Alas! There is good to this story. So I couldn't just sit there and watch this happen...so I met with the founder of the school and explained to him why it is so unhealthy to use that method of punishment and how there are other alternatives. I put in place a reward system instead of a punishment system for the teachers to use and I am happy to say that not one kid got hit today and they were still just as well behaved. I cant tell you how happy it made me to see the teachers not only using other methods but understanding and liking them! Yay for change.
So i finished painting the first room at the orphanage...I admit I seriously had no idea just how much work it was going to be...but seeing how happy the kids were to have a new looking room made it worth it! Its a pretty blue color! Also...I found a piece of paper in the rafters of the room and it was written by a little child describing their dreams in life and talking about their friends and things that were important to them...I put it back...but it was just so cool to find! The founder of the orphanage is so thankful...she said that she is so blessed to have people like us in her life...that people always talk about making a difference but those who put it into action are the ones who really shake things up.
So much to say...arrugh...I don't have much time left..so one quick thing...I went on the roof of the largest building in Moshi (the city right next to where im staying) It was absolutely beautiful. Perfect picture of mount Kilimanjaro. The city looked so beautiful and peaceful...and even though i knew how messed up it was with poverty and other issues i couldn't help but start to think that that is how the city actually was. It made me realize 2 things...first that no matter how messed up or bad something gets there is always a way to find good from it. And second it reminded me of people and how they so often look like that city looked from so high up...happy and ok. but in reality if you take a closer look they are suffering. Man I always have the deepest revelations on roof tops.
Anyways,..thats all for now!
LOVE YOU ALL!
Monica!
Thursday, 22 September 2011
A little bit of everything
Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while! …I’ve been pretty busy and the power is always out at my house..Like all the time. So last week I volunteered at an orphanage because the school I’m at was on holiday. It was really hard but all in all a really great experience. Picture a commercial from world vision…the kids without shoes, the malnourished belly’s, the small dirty broken homes, that’s what it looked like at the orphanage I was at. Teaching the kids was a real challenge. They didn’t know the difference between the letter A and the number one. By the end i think I got through to a couple kids but it was a slow process.
The orphanage I was at was the one I visited in the first week, so I had already met a lot of the kids. I didn’t expect that they would even remember my name because I went with a group with more than 22 volunteers..but as soon as I walked in without missing a beat a bunch of children came running to me screaming my name ..I was so surprised! One of the little girls showed me where she lived and it was in a small little dark room…that she shared with 4 other children. It was so sad to see…they shared 2 single sized beds between the 5 of them…it was crazy. She showed me her little teddy bear that she seemed to really cherish…it made me think of how I had piles of stuffed animals and how lucky I was to be able to fully experience child hood and keep my innocent perception to the world. These kids have not only seen suffering, they have lived it.
So my placement at the school finishes at around 12:00 because that’s when they finish school so I’ve decided to do some projects of my own.I’ve started painting an entire orphanage which is so awesome…everyone is so excited that we are doing that! Yesterday the children joined in to help us and we were all jamming to music..it was amazing.
Side note…in the past couple weeks I have accepted that by the end of every day I will be filthy. The kids love using my skirt as a napkin. One kid the other day wiped his boogers on my face! In the same day I had a kid on my shoulders and he let one rip…on my neck! To top it all off a little boy fell in dog poop and ran into my arms for comfort. It was everywhere! In all honesty at the beginning it sucked…but I have realized that these kids need to be loved…dirty or clean, I am going to do that.
A couple days ago at placement I found out the background story of all the kids at the school. Let’s just say I’m in tears just thinking about it. There is so much need for help…so much to do. I feel a bit helpless but I know it’s not about how much you do but how you do what you do. The teacher at my school told me that when we die got isn’t going to ask us how much we had or how good our job was..he is going to ask what we have done for our brother and sisters in need. There is a little boy named Living at my school that is actually the cutest kid…he was burnt extremely bad a couple years ago and spent a whole year in the hospital…his parents have no more money to get the surgery to fix his legs that still cause him pain and extreme agitation. Please pray for this little boy. It’s crazy how such a little kid can go through something like that and be more happy and smiley than most kids I know back home.
By the way. I met this amazing 16 year old girl at the orphanage im painting named Lilly…she makes clothes and bags and I got her to make me a skirt and a dress so I can support her…it turned out amazing so I was thinking of having her make a bunch of bags and skirts and then selling them back home to give her a source of income..i would love to hear feedback about what people think of my idea. If anyone thinks they would want a bag or something please let me know! I found out just 2 days ago that Lilly has been infected by HIV since birth…I took it pretty hard for only knowing her for such a short time. For someone with such an illness she really has an incredible outlook on life.
I’ve been so busy lately but I’m going to put in a solid effort to blog more because there always stories to tell!
Miss and love you all!!
Monica!!
Monday, 12 September 2011
Live your life with arms wide open.
I know i just put up a blog post...but I just needed to tell you guys about what happened this morning. I have tears in my eyes while writing this (happy tears of course).
I walked to my placement this morning and to my surprise no kids came out to jump me..I found out from someone that school was cancelled for the rest of the week...so I think I'm going to be volunteering at an orphanage this week...which is extremely exciting!! Anyways...so I had 4 hours of free time and so instead of walking home i decided to explore a bit..I found this amazing spot that is so beautiful. There was a big rock overlooking this river that was breathtaking...its hard to explain what it looked like but it felt like i was living in a post card. I was able to really reflect on what I had seen so far and just be silent for a bit. I realized more than ever how beautiful life is in that moment. I wish i could take out these feelings i have and put them into words but it is simply to indescribable. I realized that I have my whole entire life ahead of me...and I have the freedom to whatever Id like to. I feel like I have a book that's completely blank in front of me and I get to decide whats put in it. Which is a little terrifying..but mostly incredible. I am shaking with excitement right now. How beautiful life could be if you put aside your fears and went after your dreams. The possibilites are endless.
Ok sorry for the ramble...moving on... So I left the rock and started walking back home...of course i got a little lost...typical monica...but thats ok...getting lost is half the fun. and out of no where a little girl from my nursery school runs up to me! Her names Coletta and shes an absolute doll. She brought me to her home where the rest of her family was...she has a sister named lucia, and brother named james, and older sister named anna, her grandma named anna and her mom named Janet...they were so welcoming! They brought me into their house which was made of some sort of mud i think...It was small, it had no doors, no washroom, nothing fancy at all...but yet it felt like home. The language differences was a big problem...but I figured things out. The grandma changed Coletta into her Sunday dress to show respect towards me and I taught all the kids English. I gave all of them bracelets...and the grandma was freaking out and repeatedly thanking me...they kept looking at them with such gratefulness...it brought me back to all the gifts i had received and how i had received so much more than them and yet they were more grateful...for a little bracelet. Man, I have a lot to learn from these people. I made the kids little origami paper cranes and they loved it...they didn't put it down once. They gave me chai tea...which i have to admit was extremely hard for me to drink because it didn't taste like tea...and i have a sensitive gag reflex...but i got through it. As I was leaving the grandma gave a bag to Coletta and spoke Swahili to her...Coletta gave the bag to me and looking in it i found 8 chicken eggs. In that moment I was very touched and thought about how little they had and how they just shared everything with a random stranger. But it was not until I got home did i realize just how big that gesture was. I told the director what had happened and he looked so surprised. He got really excited and told me that receiving eggs here is a sign of ultimate respect and love. He explained how those eggs were meant to be chickens but since that family was so touched by me they chose to give the eggs to me instead. How can a poor family like that be capable of such love and generosity? How can they be so kind to a stranger? How can they give not only what they have but what they need to someone they just met? I'm so touched.
Sorry for such a long post! I just had so much to share!
LOVE!
Monica
I walked to my placement this morning and to my surprise no kids came out to jump me..I found out from someone that school was cancelled for the rest of the week...so I think I'm going to be volunteering at an orphanage this week...which is extremely exciting!! Anyways...so I had 4 hours of free time and so instead of walking home i decided to explore a bit..I found this amazing spot that is so beautiful. There was a big rock overlooking this river that was breathtaking...its hard to explain what it looked like but it felt like i was living in a post card. I was able to really reflect on what I had seen so far and just be silent for a bit. I realized more than ever how beautiful life is in that moment. I wish i could take out these feelings i have and put them into words but it is simply to indescribable. I realized that I have my whole entire life ahead of me...and I have the freedom to whatever Id like to. I feel like I have a book that's completely blank in front of me and I get to decide whats put in it. Which is a little terrifying..but mostly incredible. I am shaking with excitement right now. How beautiful life could be if you put aside your fears and went after your dreams. The possibilites are endless.
Ok sorry for the ramble...moving on... So I left the rock and started walking back home...of course i got a little lost...typical monica...but thats ok...getting lost is half the fun. and out of no where a little girl from my nursery school runs up to me! Her names Coletta and shes an absolute doll. She brought me to her home where the rest of her family was...she has a sister named lucia, and brother named james, and older sister named anna, her grandma named anna and her mom named Janet...they were so welcoming! They brought me into their house which was made of some sort of mud i think...It was small, it had no doors, no washroom, nothing fancy at all...but yet it felt like home. The language differences was a big problem...but I figured things out. The grandma changed Coletta into her Sunday dress to show respect towards me and I taught all the kids English. I gave all of them bracelets...and the grandma was freaking out and repeatedly thanking me...they kept looking at them with such gratefulness...it brought me back to all the gifts i had received and how i had received so much more than them and yet they were more grateful...for a little bracelet. Man, I have a lot to learn from these people. I made the kids little origami paper cranes and they loved it...they didn't put it down once. They gave me chai tea...which i have to admit was extremely hard for me to drink because it didn't taste like tea...and i have a sensitive gag reflex...but i got through it. As I was leaving the grandma gave a bag to Coletta and spoke Swahili to her...Coletta gave the bag to me and looking in it i found 8 chicken eggs. In that moment I was very touched and thought about how little they had and how they just shared everything with a random stranger. But it was not until I got home did i realize just how big that gesture was. I told the director what had happened and he looked so surprised. He got really excited and told me that receiving eggs here is a sign of ultimate respect and love. He explained how those eggs were meant to be chickens but since that family was so touched by me they chose to give the eggs to me instead. How can a poor family like that be capable of such love and generosity? How can they be so kind to a stranger? How can they give not only what they have but what they need to someone they just met? I'm so touched.
Sorry for such a long post! I just had so much to share!
LOVE!
Monica
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