Happy Feet

With only 1 week left in Arusha, our "to-do" list of things that we figured we'd have time for later started to feel dauntingly long. Thanks to our fabulous family and friends,

we brought to Tanzania several bags filled with donated items for kids. Rob's mom and a friend, along with Rob's aunts and sisters, donated a giant bag of shoes and some soccer balls. My parents donate toys and puzzles, which have been a hit with my peds patients over the weeks. And Brenden left what may be the most popular item yet - glow in the dark dinosaurs, among other toys and stickers for the kids that I have met here. The good news is that our lives are filled with generous people. The bad news is that, over the past 8 weeks, I have failed to distribute all of these things appropriately. But the bad news became good news last night when we made a trip to Weather Mother's Daycare in a suburb of Arusha.

The kids you see here are the orphans who live with this lovely woman, named Aweather. The cute young couple sitting with them in the photo at the bottom is Kristy and Ben, a particularly friendly couple from New Zealand that we met randomly at a coffee shop one Sunday afternoon. They are living at Mother Weather's for a few months, taking care of and teaching the kids. They are bright, caring people with great taste in coffee who love to travel. It will be fun to see where this experience leads them.

The pictures you see here are photos of some of the kids who received the benefits of the donations sent by everyone at home. The photo at the top shows a group of kids with their shiny new shoes, which will be especially useful when the rainy season comes (hopefully soon). I guess because of our skin color and age, the kids referred to both Rob and I as "Teacher," and apparently refer to Ben as "Teacher Mzungu."

The best thing about the kids that i've met here, especially those who have very little in their lives in the way of money, or in this case family, is how happy they are to be with you. Happy to receive gifts, of course, but also happy to have someone to play with, happy to show off for you with their new soccer ball. And according to Ben and Kristy, happy to learn.

I suppose i didn't need to travel all the way to east Africa to remind myself how important childhood is. But here I am and these kids are a powerful reminder.