First day

Posted by Ali

A harshly-clipped cawing sound roused me and I raised my head. A white screen blurred my vision as I blinked my eyes, trying to figure out what surrounded my bed. I stretched out my hand and felt some, netted material. Then it made sense. I was in Africa, lying under my mosquito net. My first time sleeping in the continent of Africa and my first time sleeping under a mosquito net (well, first time in more than 10 years, anyway). Even though I wasn't really tired, I snuggled back under the covers and shut my eyes tightly, trying to block out the light slipping around the edges of the curtains. And then a voice outside my door called, "Alison! Alison?" I sat upright, then fumbled with the edges of the mosquito net, reaching for my glasses on the bench between the two twin beds. Finally able to see, I pulled the net over my head and walked to the door. It was locked and I pulled the key ring from it's spot hanging on the door handle. "Alison," the voice, a woman's voice that I didn't recognize, called again, followed by a knock. "Yes," I answered as I wiggled the key in the lock. "I'm Davona Church, Max's wife. You don't have to open the door. I just wanted you to know that you're invited to our place for breakfast at 8 o'clock." "Oh, thanks!" I responded as I heard her turn away and walk down the stone sidewalk. I checked my watch. 7:38. I'd have to forgo the shower I'd been craving. I rummaged through my suitcases, trying to find anything I could slip on. Twenty minutes later, after throwing my hair into a ponytail and brushing my teeth, I left my room and found my way to the Church's house. Max met and and introduced me to Sarah, their cook and housekeeper, who was cracking eggs open for scrambled eggs. Then rest of the volunteers came through the doorway and we all were introduced.

Ashley I had met at the airport the night before. She has been in Tanzania for 7 weeks and is here until October. The other three girls, Anika, Jacquelin and Rebekka, who came on the same flight as me last night, are from Germany. Anika is here until December, but the other two are here until July. All four of them are working at the Cradle of Love Baby House. We ate a good breakfast of slightly burnt oatmeal, a little more than slightly burnt toast, and perfectly scrambled eggs. After breakfast, and also meeting Davona and her two youngest daughters, Staci and Moriah, we went back to our rooms to grab our bank cards and cash to exchange and then met back at Max and Davona's house. Once Max got back from his errands in town, we piled into the blue Land Cruiser for our first trip into the town of Arusha. First we stopped at an apartment where Ashley swapped out with another volunteer at the orphanage, Shae, to take care of a baby who is going to be adopted. (Apparently non-Tanzanian parents adopting babies from Tanzania have to stay in the country three to six months taking care of the baby before they get to officially adopt them and take them home. Ashley and Shae are switching off taking care of the baby, Emmy, while her mother is out of the country for a few days.)

After the switch, we continued on into town. We stopped at a place with two ATM's. The one that would work with my bank account was inconveniently "temporarily unavailable" so I tried the other one with no luck. The German girls had no problems getting out Tanzanian shillings, though. Next we stopped at a grocery store. The four of us new volunteers were at a loss about what foods we should buy. What made it worse for me was that I found out I wouldn't be having any meals with the rest of the girls, so I had to figure out all my food on my own, whereas they could collaborate. I, also, didn't have any Tanzanian money yet, so I didn't want to get too much since Davona would be paying for my food until I could get my American money exchanged and pay her back. Finally we got our groceries and paid. Then it was off to the exchange bureau where Shae and I waited for about 10 minutes for the  one man in front of us to finish his transaction. Mine took about a minute and Shae's, 30 seconds. Meanwhile, Davona had seen a bamboo (hmm, or something like that, I'm not sure it's really bamboo) mat she wanted for the orphanage so she bought it and stuffed it in the back of the Land Cruiser. Half of the mat stuck across the front of my seat (which was squished into the back of the car). I scrambled over it and arranged myself around it somehow.

Davona and Shae took care of several more errands for the orphanage before we stopped at another grocery store. This one was more expensive because everything there is imported from South Africa, but it had a lot more selection and lots more Western foods. I acquired some fruit drinks that I was told are really good frozen as well as a box of frozen veggie chicken burgers and frozen hot dogs. After leaving the grocery store, most of the other shops were closing for lunchtime so we found a restaurant and ate lunch. All the food looked delicious, but I can honestly say that the pesto penne was scrumptious! After lunch and a few more stops, we headed back to the ADRA campus.

After helping to unload the items for the orphanage, I took my things to the kitchen and found space for them. Then I changed into more office-type clothing and went to find Max at the ADRA office. He showed me around the offices and introduced me to all the staff. Here's the names I remember: Eliza (not quite sure how to pronounce it though) who is the secretary, Rachel who is the head of the Albino project and something else that I can't remember, Dennis who is the finance director. And that's all I can remember. Oh, and Jacob, but I don't remember his job. The rest of the workers I met have Swahili names that I would need to see written out to remember them. After we made the rounds, Max talked to me for the next hour about what I would be doing this coming year and asked if I'd be up to coming in to the office to work tomorrow. I said sure and then came back to my room. And now I'm wondering what I should make for supper.

So you want to know the weirdest thing about today? Except for the during the drive back to the campus when I almost started nodding off, I haven't felt very tired yet. I wonder when the jet-lag is going to kick in?