The past few days have gone by very quickly. Though nothing out of the ordinary has happened, each day has been special in its own right. All of the kids are doing well in school and at home. It is so great to see everyone living harmoniously, helping when they need to help. A few days ago, Ema and Hamisi asked me to help cover their school notebooks (notebooks similar to the Rhodes College blue book) in brown paper. It was a very sweet moment and it reminded me of when my mom and I would cover my school books in elementary and middle school so as to keep them nice. With most of the kids in school, my mornings are very quiet and though I try to fill the time with those who are not in school, I miss the noise and busyness of having all of the kids home.

Yesterday, CJ (Amita's neice) and I cleaned and organized the office. What an undertaking! In the back of the small office, in between the bunk beds and the bookshelf were three huge boxes filled with toys, games and books. These things had been left by previous volunteers but no one ever bothered to unpack them or put them up. We have tons of stuffed animals (though those are not so much of an interest to all of the little boys here), puzzles, and TONS of cars (thank goodness!). We organized the book self, putting the toys that the kids were most likely to play with out while the rest of the toys we organized in boxes to put into storage. These toys will be saved for the new 300 child facility that will soon be finished.

Today, we found out that Sadi had sold his uniforms so that he didn't have to go to school. A few days ago, he sold his backpack and school notebooks for 200 tsh (20 cents). W are not really sure what to do about this as he will not tell us who he sold the items to. Today, he went to school and wore Solum's uniform (Solum was home sick) but tomorrow, I'm not really sure what he is going to do as the children are not allowed in school without a uniform.

For the past few weeks, the kids have had a weird skin infection on their heads- disgusting looking sores. they have all had their heads shaved to try and combat the infection and so that medicine can be applied. Well, over the past week or so, I have given too many hugs because now I have this skin infection all over my face. It looks gross and it hurts but I have recently gotten medicine for it so hopefully it will be gone soon!

Tomorrow I am headed to Arusha for Safari. It's a nine hour bus ride to Arusha and my Safari will start on Friday and end on Sunday. I will be visiting Tangire NP, NGorongoro Crater and Lake Maynara NP. I'm so excited as I have heard amazing things about these parks. Hopefully I will get to see lots of animals (and not too many mzungu's)!!

When I return to Dar from Safari I will only have 2 weeks left in the country. I have such mixed feelings about returning and I am sure that it is going to be a big shock to me. I am definitely not the same person now as I was then.

Sorry for the brevity but it is getting dark out and I need to start walking back to the hostel.

Namaste!