Lay Down Your Heart

It has been a while, a long while. But, I have great news! I finally know where I am going to be living and what I am going to be doing this summer! And it could not have come soon enough because I'm really ready to go, antsy even. July 4th can't come soon enough.

So, here is the run down: first, I thought I would be living in Dar es Salaam, the economic capital of Tanzania. Nope. Then, I thought I was going to be living in Arusha, at the base of Kilimanjaro. Nope. Today I received my actual placement- Bagamoyo, one of the larger cities in the Pwani region of Tanzania. Bagamoyo, Swahili for "Lay down your heart," was once the capital of German East Africa and was one of the most important slave and ivory trading port in East Africa. Needless to say, this town is full of history.

Like the uncertainty surrounding what city I will be living with, my job for the summer was up in the air until now. I will be working for an orphanage, the African Child Care Center in Bagamoyo. The African Child Care Center serves 85 children, ages 2 to 7, many of whom have lost parents due to HIV/AIDS or poverty. The main goals of this orphanage are to offer an education to, a home and love for the orphans. I will be teaching English in the primary school, and organizing games and singing programs, well really all extra curricular activities, at the orphanage. Given my gifts and talents, this program seems absolutely perfect.

I know this is going to be hard, emotionally brutal even, but I can do it. I will lay down my heart for these kids, doing anything I can to brighten each moment. I know I will be of great service, but I think I will receive so much more than I give. No, I don't think it, I know it.

So a little off topic, but not completely- I have ended the last two posts, and will continue to end all posts, with namaste or "I honor the holy one in you." I challenge you in the next week or two to live out this namaste for children in East Africa through a program called Project Mosquito Nets. Every 30 seconds, a child dies from Malaria, a preventable disease. We can do something to stop that. Check out http://www.projectmosquitonet.org/ for a few ways in which you can see and honor the holy in each child.

I will write more soon but as always,

namaste.