The life in a day of Kerrin

One of the many privileges of staying with the Lottering’s, is that I’m getting so much more than your average touristy experience of a country. The Lotterings are showing me all sorts of quirks, they’ve taken me off the beaten track – quite literally, in most cases! These guys have ‘experienced experience,’ and second hand experience is just as good as first hand (yes, I have just quoted Pat Parelli…)

One of these off the beaten track experiences is coming to Fox Farms in Mufundi. The Lottering’s have come on holiday to the Fox Farms lodge a couple of times, and apart from being astounded by the hospitality of the owners, and the natural beauty of the place, they (Anja in particular) were impressed by the Foxes involvement in the local community. Geoff and Vicky Fox really are extraordinary people and are involved on all fronts; from building schools and hospitals, to training local villagers, to employing people, and educating adults. As well as running the NGO (non-government organization, for the blonde's in our midst) the Foxes have set up safari lodges across Tanzania, and manage tea-leave growing on a pretty large scale, and are breeding horses to bring a larger breed of horse into the country. I don't think I need to mention that they're AMAZING people. Anyway, the thing that grabbed Anja’s attention was the orphanage work, which is why she decided to spend her Easter holidays volunteering at the orphanage; I was attracted to anything with the words 'horse' 'orphan' 'mountains' 'cousin time' 'more horses' and 'open land' oh and of course 'sunnyish weather' - which all pretty much sums up Mufundi/Fox Farms.

Preparations to come here were pretty fun, Anja and I did a fund-raising presentation in front of her class, and then headed off to the market to buy tons of kids clothes/shoes/and a couple of toys. WE also planned games and activities, as we'll be managing the Easter celebrations this year :D

Anja and I thought that SEW had put us into the volunteers mindset; after a week of doing without electricity and water, sleeping on cement floors, and eating the same meal day in day out, we were charged up for TWO MORE weeks of serving! Not so… we seriously have landed with our bums in the butter, its only day 2 of volunteering at the Foxes, and we have been spoilt SO much! For starters, we’re in the old farmhouse, a pretty comfortable place with amazing views. We’ve been eating meals in the Foxes home, and have had packed lunches to eat wherever we fancy, today we wandered down to the stream and ate there (followed by a snooze of course.. something tells me I’m getting old…)

I really have been humbled by this whole serving thing. In both cases (Bagamoyo and here), I have been served just as much (if not more) as I’ve served. I go expecting to give, but I gain so much more than I realize. For starters, when we think ‘HIV Aids Orphans,’ we think of some malnourished, depressed, deprived, half naked kid that is just desperate for our attention, but all the kids we’ve related to so far have the biggest smiles on their faces. Materialistically, they have so little, yet they have such personalities and joy. Really does challenge our Western mindset, on which the pecking order is based upon social status and wealth. Here, if you’re capable of smiling, you’re in. Having said all that, Anja and I are full of energy, and are happy to help wherever needed. The children’s village is divided into four houses, each of which is overseen by a housemother. These mama’s have an incredible amount of work, as they are basically nurturing and caring for a family of 12. The washing, cooking, and cleaning are endless, not to mention keeping the kids occupied and up to date with their schoolwork. So far, we’ve helped out on all fronts – and the mama’s were touched to see that we wanted to do the dirty jobs as well; I reckon it’s a first to see young Wazongo wanting to clean.

My favourite is definitely the little kiddies, there are always teeny tiny little ones to be cuddled, and I spent all afternoon with the incredibly energetic (naughty!) toddlers. We spent most of yesterday with the older kids and teenagers, being a Sunday they obviously didn’t have school. I was thrashed at soccer/football (not exactly hard to do) but to be fair, I was the only girl playing, so everyone give me three cheers. “Thank you, thank you. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my father, my mother, my pet slug, and my giraffe. I’d never be who I am if it wasn’t for you and so on and so forth”
Ahem, yes.

I’m in my element as there are 19 horses for me to play with, including 3 foals! So when I’m not terrorizing toddlers, or getting lessons in humility on the soccer field, I’ll be playing with horses. Well, more like the other way round; the horses are definitely my first priority :)

I'm sure the horses will get a whole blog post to themselves, so more on that later, but until next time ~Salama/Peace