Update...

My dear friends,
I have been home from my adventure for two and a half months now. Almost as long as I was in Arusha. I cannot believe how very quickly time passes and all that happens in such a seemingly short time.
My grandmother, who was ill for some time, passed away in October and I spent a good part of my fall visiting with her in East Aurora, NY before she left us. I have also been diving back into my work here in New York City. A couple of commercials, a couple of cool auditions here and there, as is of course the case with everyone these days, the economy is making us all hunker down and work a little harder. Not so bad though, as much of my work is done from my home. Today, as I sit at my desk the sky is grey and rainy and the full moon that was so beautiful last night is hiding herself behind the cloudy veil. I am cozy inside though and procrastinating from going outside and braving the cold weather.
I am continuing work with Malaika, although in a somewhat limited capacity. I am helping out with maintaining their blog, so feel free to give it a look. It is listed under 'Nugi's Blogs'. I miss my kids kabisa and think of them every day, as well as the friends that I made in Arusha and Kenya. My love, love, love to you and don't stay strangers forever. I miss you all so much. To the munchkins: Mimi napenda wewe sana sana. Busu busu, watoto!
I am thinking about a trip in the next year to visit with the kids again, and I will let you all know when that will be, and promise to post more pictures (more recent, too!) of the watoto.
Upendo na heri zote,
-Songbird

Fierce Creatures Invade Malaika

Mama yangu!! Some fierce creatures have invaded Malaika! Tigers and birds and insects and even dinosaurs were cavorting and gamboling all over the bembea and in the house. Terrifying! A friend of mine, Bettina Rucklehaus, brought some lovely and lively 'zoo pals' paper plates over from the states and at her suggestion, I took scissors and string and used them as masks. For an hour it was pretty chaotic as I furiously cut eyeholes out and attatched strings and the kids started to catch on to what I was up to. After which they started choosing their favorites. Regina was a pink bunny, Godbless an eagle, Festo a tiger (natch), Neema a red ox, Lisa a baby dinosaur, Fadhili was a puppy, Baraka a penguin (so funny!), Samuelly a monkey, Helen a giraffe, and the beat goes on... I was excited to find a little dudu (insect) mask and even happier that none of the kids claimed it. So, MummyVon; I was living up to my childhood nickname: Ladybug!

Bembea and Imagination Games

A little update for everyone on life with the bembea now that its novelty has cooled off somewhat. I have seen some really extraordinary things come out of their new designated play area. It has proven itself to be a safe haven for practicing sharing and turns. It has also created so many new games. Just simply having a sandbox to play in has inspired sand castles and and writing in the sand and a great place for 'Red Light, Green Light' or 'Duck, Duck, Goose'. But the coolest thing I have seen, and I had not seen it up until now, is imagination games. Regina, Helen and Neema kubwa have commandeered the castle slide and have designated it their kitchen. They run back and forth filling plates with sand and stones; asking me if I would like 'more chipati or matunda'? The boys, inspired by the safari I think, have started pretending they are lions and monkeys-running around growling and prowling or hanging upside down on the gym and hooting at the top of their lungs. I am so pleased at the developments in their play and will be watching carefully to see what new things they come up with in their bembea.

Where in the World has Nugi Gone??

Okay, okay... So I have been pretty lackadaisical about posting this month. The honest truth is that I am so into living the moments here, that reporting on them has taken a backseat. However, that being no excuse (and since my Mum has been mentioning it so often...) I am throwing up some posts that have been cooking in my head for a while. So a few updates in my world before I get to the watoto: I have decided to come home early and skive out of my vacation and travel month. The reasons are personal, but very important and although I am very disappointed to miss out on travelling the continent on my own, I know that I am making the right choice. And hey, coming back for travel is just another excuse to see the watoto again! I know that I will not be able to stay away too long... Having axed out my travel month, I also decided to take advantage of an invitation to go on a weekender safari with friends in Kenya. It was such good fun and I am feel sufficiently chuffed that I had a little bit of safari thrown into my time here. Having said that, I am back to work and trying to squeeze as much as possible into my last 10 days here. 10 more days in Arusha. Can't believe it. I am heading to Nairobi on July 29th and cooling my heels for a few days before flying home on the 3rd of August. I have a few special things in the works in these last few days. I will post as I go... But now back to the watoto of Malaika!

The Giving Game

In the last few days here at Malaika, a sort of game has taken shape. I was planning on taking out the kids individually on little adventures. Nothing fancy, just a little ice cream and visiting a pet store to see fish and birds. But on my first trip out with Regina, we stopped at a store with toys in it, and I suddenly got this idea. I told Regina she could pick out something, but that she had to give whatever she chose to the kids at home and take nothing for herself. In my limited kiswahili, I felt that this was a tough concept to get across, but sure enough when we got home Regina took the little toy cars she had chosen and handed them out to children and staff alike until there was nothing left. Fueled by this success and the children's enthusiasm for the new game, I continued with the other children. Godbless chose to buy ice cream for everyone and Festo chose sand castle toys. Neema kubwa brought a watering can kit and Helen brought pipi (candy). Paulo was the only one who was unsuccessful at his giving, mind you the toy he chose was kind of an individual thing. He has been obsessed with airplanes ever since his trip to the airport (I think he has aspirations to be a pilot) and he chose a lovely wooden toy airplane and ran off and hid it the moment we got to Malaika. (Can't win 'em all...) Fadhili on the other hand, brought back a plastic jar of chocolate taffies and handed them out very concientiously one by one to all the children and staff. As I moved into the younger children, it became less about giving and more about sharing. Sia chose a bouncing ball and practiced sharing her new delight with everyone in the house. Lisa chose little tablets that turn into animal-shaped sponges when immersed in hot water and diligently passed them around as well as sharing the fun of the transformation with everyone. With the babies, I am now just taking a drive and letting them choose what fruit to bring home (I think we have all had our fill of sugar and candy). It has been a great lesson for everyone, especially me to see how kids play and share and to give them a chance to give back to their little family. Well done watoto!!

Lovely Beccy

Beccy is another Malaika volunteer whom I have been posting about for the month that she has been here. But Beccy just left for Suffolk, UK yesterday and I felt the time was long overdue to tell you all a little about her. Beccy proved herself time and time again to be unfailingly patient with the kids. She has been coming back and forth to Malaika after an intial 6-month stay through Mondo Challenge (a volunteer organization) for the last two years. She was with Malaika from almost the very beginning, and saw some of these kids as they arrived, sickly and malnourished; some of them too weak to stand. It really must be incredible for her to see how very far they have come! Beccy has been here working on a brochure (among other things...) for American distribution about Malaika. After one small hiccough with a memory stick at the very end; everything came out all right and I am very much looking forward to seeing the fruits of her labours! Beccy, I hope you had a safe trip back the UK and karibu NYC anytime!

BEMBEA!!

Wow. The finished playground is a glorious sight. Before our opening party, a friend asked me what my favorite thing about the jungle gym was, and I answered, "the children on it?". And it IS a beautiful thing to see. The day of the party, Barton, Valerie, Beccy and I ran furiously around Arusha getting errands done, picking up the cake, buying sodas, getting little zawadis (gifts) for the elder children, munching on a yummy texan breakfast (thanks Corbett!) and just generally being excited. By the time we arrived out at Malaika, the children were apoplectic. Sprinting about, laughing mischieviously, peeking in the cake box and asking us again and again if today was the day. Beccy had an inspired idea and broke out a face painting set she had brought for the kids from the UK and started painting flowers, fish and fierce faces on all the watoto while outside, Mama Jutta and Boniface dipped the kids' hands in paint and smooshed their paint-covered handprints on the new Malaika Playground sign.
We set up the cake, and to our great surprise another guest brought a delicious carrot cake to add to the party. We blew up balloons to tie on the playground and organised a streamer starting line for the kids to run through to innaugurate their new play place.
Finally the big moment arrived, and the kids all lined up (even the babies!-so cute) and Bart yelled out in his big baritone: "One! Two! THREE!!!!" and the kids ran at full tilt into their new BEMBEA! (Jungle Gym). At first, it was utter chaos; the kids didn't know what to do first. Merry-go-round? Climb and slide? Swings? Teeter-totters? And what the heck to do with those RINGS?? But it didn't take them long to figure it out... Valerie swung gracefully on the swings with little Baraka draped over her lap, Barton manned the slide and aided the youngest kids in their first frightening slides down, I headed to the rings and tried to talk Regina into hanging upside down on them, and Beccy commandeered the teeter-totters with a laughing Neema in front of her.
After an hour or so of serious playing the kids munched happily on cake and sipped cordial before getting right back to it. Hours later, the four of us cleaned up and dragged our tired feet to a nearby pub to toast Valerie and Bart's amazing accomplishment. We could never have done this without the enormous help of Boniphace, Jutta, Mama Anna, Martin, Francis (the fundi) and all the guys who helped us shovel sand. But none of this would have happened without Barton and Valerie. Guys, I cannot thank you enough for this, (but that doesn't stop me)... thank you, thank you, thank you.