We have started volunteering for WODEF - Womens Orphans Disableds Development Foundation and it is going very well so far. We spend 3 or 4 days a week out in the field interviewing local business owners and then a couple of days in the office trying to come up with business solutions to try and expand their projects. Some of the projects are very simple such as selling used clothing on the street, but others are more complex such as harvesting and selling rice, or raising and selling chickens. This Thursday we are going to give a presentation to 250 people on how to start and manage a business. It seemed a bit daunting at first but a lot of these people know absolutely nothing at all so the people at the NGO seem very happy with everything we do.
Visiting the kids in the village is absolutely hilarious. As soon as they see white people they start shouting and running after us everywhere we go. One kid couldn't stop laughing whenever he was looking at us, and had to keep burrying his face in his hands. They seem to be fascinated by the freckles on Katie's arms and poke at every single one of them. Once she brought some candy for the kids, but pretty soon 4 kids had turned into 400 and a donnybrook took place.
On the weekend we went hiking around Marangu which is at the base of Kili. Very cool rainforest area with lots of jungle and waterfalls. Some of the local kids brought us a chameleon from the woods which was very cool. We tried some of the local banana beer - both banana and beer should be terms to be used very lightly. A more apt title would be Shitty mud drink stored outside in scorching heat with 10% alcohol but I suppose that wouldn't fit on the bottle.
Anyway better take off for now. We promise to try and get the full journal up with a lots of pictures sometime soon. Friday we are taking off for a 4-day safari, overnighting in Serengeti, Lake Manyara, and Ngorogoro Crater which will be very cool.
Cheers for now,
Jamie
