The Children Greet us!

We made it!  

On January 16th, our team, of fifteen strong, rumbled into Kilema.  (You have to have driven on a dry river bed to fully understand the state of the roads for the last few kilometers.) The area is lush and beautiful, even though there were no November rains.  It is only after experiencing the blowing red dust that you begin to notice the dryness of the vegetation.  The rains expected in around March will be thankfully received.

Immediately upon our arrival, we were ushered up to Mykashi Primary School, one of five schools on the Kilema hospital grounds, to celebrate our arrival.  After being greeted individually by the teachers of the area, we were seated before the students circling the outside school yard.  After the greetings from each of the five schools, children from Kilema Primary School sang and danced for us in both Swahili and English.  (Enchanting!  The children are delightful.)  Our warm welcome wrapped up with a special cake and tea with the team and the teachers. This was a new experience even for the team members that have worked in the community for the last four years.  A truly memorable experience.

Day 2 began with the ringing of the church bells, the barking dog and roosters (I understand!).  Within the team, this was the signal for the sunrise Mount Kilimanjaro hike to begin from the front gate....a daily occurrence with our Ironman, George Duffy. 

After breakfast and a brief meeting, we toured the site to look at the projects.  It was interesting to here the comments from the repeat members as they saw the progress that had been made on a number of projects e.g. the new kitchen at Kitchiloni Primary School boasting an external chimney and no soot covering the walls. (The previous kitchen was an open fire under a precarious lean-to!)

The afternoon had the work begin with the painting of classrooms, fixing of desks, replacement of termite riddled wood, sorting of the generous donations and visiting the first of 30 students involved in the ABCD - Art Building Children’s Dreams project (www.abcdreams.blogspot.com). 

I had been warned that the experience would be rustic....but at this time, I can report that the ammenities are working out just fine.....variety in the food (imagine a made to order omelette for breakfast), showers after a day in the dust (some cold...some hot) and a clean bed complete with mosquito net....dorm style.  So far...so good...the mishaps have been few and the laughter great.  Everyone we have met here is welcoming.  We all feel exhilarated....(OK after a GOOD night’s sleep we will feel exhilarated) and raring to go!

Mary Wallace