A Thursday Like No Other

What a special day today with an early morning drive to Mnindi over some pretty rough roads, some paved. We were worried that we may be held up due to the new president visiting the area but it actually brought us good luck as all the trucks were diverted. We stopped at a small government primary school where we saw a crowd of little boys in unbelievably white crisp shirts playing a game with a rag ball. We pulled over as Ashley had a stash of beautiful new soccer balls in the back of our car. As we walked towards them with the shiny new ball, they stopped playing and ran over, so did the girls who were studying in one of the buildings. We talked to them for a moment and then gave them the ball. They were so excited and grateful "Asante Sana!"and we were feeling happy like Christmas Day. We stopped again later for a family group of many little boys and offered a new ball. The sweet toddler who took the ball for his brothers was adorable.

We took off for Mnindi Primary which was a thrill since Whately Elementary School (WES) supported them with desks and a tower for their future water tank. School was not in session but the head of the school, Joseph, took us in the office to see the Whately banner and there I saw my own signature plus all the kids and WES teachers. I never thought I'd see that, what a thrill.

From there we walked to Seratiani's Maasai homestead. Ashley was emotional to see Seratiani with her new prosthetic leg. She walked towards us slowly with her huge smile beaming. Her mother, Bibi Seratiani, dressed in traditional clothing and 3 year old Ruth hurried over to greet us. We toured their mud and wooden hut with 4 small rooms. We admired the gourd beaded containers that they keep the cow milk in. Bibi Seratiani said she will teach us how to make them next Thursday when we return.

We drove back to Bagamoyo in plenty of time for our Skype meeting with Whately students! What an amazing thing to be on the Tanzanian side this time. I was proud of our students as they took turns asking the high school students questions. The Tanzanian students loved the part where the WES students yelled hi in unison for each new speaker. We finished the night off with a wonderful celebration of Seratiani's new life with a delicious seafood fondue and champagne!