Cassandra To Africa

My name is Cassandra Hart, I am 22 years old and have just completed a Bachelor of Education at AUT University in Auckland New Zealand. On 10th March, 2009 I am heading to Moshi in Tanzania, Africa for 7 months. There I will be teaching primary aged children who have very little possessions, however have much in the way of optimism. This website will enable you to follow my journey and be a part of what I will be doing. Each day you can view this website and keep in touch with my experience. I will be teaching at a place called the New Life Foundation in Moshi (Fountain of Hope), at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro where the children eat, sleep and learn. This African school gets much of its funding from Hebron Christian College in Auckland and each year they fund raise to send an African teacher to New Zealand to help them with professional development.

80% of the children that I will be teaching are AIDS orphans and have lost much hope. My ambition is to help these children find strength in themselves and know that they can achieve anything. For more information about the school please visit http://www.ministrytochildren.org/ 

               

Month One:

Jambo! Habari ako rafiki!

This Month has been so incredible and so challenging I can hardly believe it, I really am getting so challenged in many great ways and I absolutely love the company that I am with, If you have just joined this website, welcome Karibu Sana!

At the beginning of the month my role was to be a teacher at New Life Foundation- Fountain of Hope, as the P.E and Art teacher for all High school and primary student (26-47 students per class,) this was not very challenging and I felt that I had a lot more to offer, well as soon as I started having these thoughts I met with my boss and he has evaluated my stay and has seen that I can offer much more too. So as from today I have started working 3 days a week as a full time teacher cramming all my classes in to these days, start at 7.30 finish around 6 pm. Have to walk to and from school and catch a daladala which is an experience of its own!

I also work 2 days per week in Fountain Of Zoe which is the AIDS orphans baby centre that hosts abandon babies and babies with HIV. I do not work with the babies themselves, I can if I want, but I will be doing all administration for this foundation and doing what needs to be done to show the government that this is a good place to raise children.

After I finish my class and admin I also take care of the mission house work which is a fabulous thing as I get to be in contact with all of the missionaries that come and I will be hosting their stay. on the weekends I help out at ICC church and help Ps Ryan with his service.

It is a really full schedule but I am having a blast and am having the most fun in the process! Some weekend I get to spend time in Masaai land as you can see from my photos and I will also be heading there this weekend! oh I just love the adventure that happens every day ad Iam trying to travel around with friends as much as possible!

Last night I moved out of Ryan and stacy's home and moved in with my friend Gina, it has been so so much fun and she is a really neat girl from the USA. I am the only Kiwi that I have met so far and all my USA friends totally think my accent is a novelty and is at the butt of all the jokes that go around! Oh the fun  of it! I am so glad tat my African friends can not pickup my kiwi twang!

Wish I could surf here, but not a chance, only in my dreams! Amen!

So many miracles are happening, I was at work today ( at the babies centre) and I was just holding little baby Josiah in my arms and trying to feed him his milk, He is so so tiny and has maleria and Pnemonia, poor little fella! so I was just praying that God would heal him, my wish for when you read this is you would say a little prayer for him too ahe???!!!

So many things like that happen every day and every day your heart breaks! I was buying my bananas from my Rafiki (friend) the other day and when she saw me she just burst out crying because someone at town had stolen her money and I just burst into tears and gave her the only money I had which was $5.50c and I was like "man life throws some curve balls!" and I wish I could have done more! But i just sat with her and her whole family until it was dark and she was smiling again! people really get over stuff fast here as life is extreamly tough as guts!

Well you would be glad to know that no sickness has touched me yet and I am safe as safe can be! I love this place and I am loving learing the language and culture, As I was in town today I tried to speak no english! Hahaha! what a dag! Oh praise the Lord! Bwana Yesu Asafiwe.

It is so incredible that I stay well as so many times I am unable to wash my hands before eating and normally where I work there are no spoons to eat my Ugali and beans so I have to use my hands! and im like....please God make my stomach iron so no harm comes! Phew so far so good! and as I have said before I have found some rocks in my food and today I was eating some kind of hairy vege in a stew with Ugali, I am so happy that I get fed though as it saves me heaps of money and it is delicious most of the time.....I really had to build up a liking for it, but hey "when in rome! "

The people that I work for (pastor Glorious and Josephine Shoo) are the most incredible people that I have ever met, I just feel it an honor to work for them as what they are doing is really impacting the nation of Tanzania and I just love every minute of it.

They still need so much financial support, so if you wanted to spend your money on something that you know is gonna do something amazing I would absolutely reccommend this organisation! oh yes yes yes!

Ok I will email again in week five when I have lots more exciting and new news.

Love you all. Cass xx

Week Five:

Jambo!

This week has been such an incredible week, we had training on how to teach orphaned children and what to do when issues arise and what methods of teaching will be best for each child. I had no idea, but so many of the children are from Sonjo or from deep Tanzanian culture and tribes. Many of the students before they arrive at Fountain of Hope have never seen a tooth brush, toilet paper, toilet, bed, pen or a chair before. Let alone free running water! Some of the tribes do not wear any clothes, so making them wear a uniform may be hard for them! So what do you do when they run into the bush to go to the toilet???? well we got taught that some of them just absolutley have NO idea! I was amazed!!!

During each lunch time we got fed Palau, which was a real refreshing break from Ugahli! However the pilau had COW INTESTINES in it....I was like "no way Im just not ready for this yet!" so I gave them away and my friends were more than happy to have a double helping. They were like "oh but Cass they are so so sweet!" Im like "give me a break here" hahaha it was too funny!

It still seems like such an adventurous journey, last night a couple of friends and I went and ate at a place were they cook on the side of the road, it was at night time and there was hussle and bussle every where. Across the road a man was buffing this guys bald head, it was really funny to watch. he was just polishing him up!

Today I opened the cupboard door to get out a towel and I did not see a little lizard in the door frame until I closed the door and heard his little bones breaking! I was so sad for him, I was telling the little guy I was so sorry! Poor little fella

I just LOVE the people here, I dont think I can tell you enough! The children and the people all teach me new things every day on the importance of life and I feel like I have it SO easy. On my lunch break yesterday I was watching this old old woman plowing her field and it just looked so hard and it just never stops. (Praise God the rainy season has finally arrived, it only rains at night too which is really nice!)

Ok I love you all, Oh my camera broke again so i will have to get it fixed that is why I have not put up any photos, there have been so many Kodak moments however!

Please keep praying for good health and saftey.

Love Cass xx

Week 6 and 7 (I think?)

So last week the high school have arrived back from their holiday and I am so excited to have them back! I am class teacher for form 2 students (ages 13-20) and they are just a great bunch, as I told you previously I am the schools P. E teacher among so many other things and I am just LOVING seeing these guys get so excited about getting out side and getting into sports. As I may have told you the only sport equiptment is about 10, 000, 000 tennis balls and two plastic base ball bats and I teach over 400 students so I have become an expert at improvising and applying for funding! It is rainy season now so P.E outside has become an incredible drama! The mud is very very deep and its a huge effort to run in a straight line...Totally hillarious to watch and play in though!

Talking about the rainy season, I have never seen anything like it. It rains like CRAZY during the night and early morning and then is as hot as during the day! Its so much fun because I have to walk to the dala dala at 6.45 am and that is the same time that two of the workers from my house leave too. They never have any rain jackets or anything like that so they get TOTALLY wet through, it absolutly hoses down every morning and we just push each other into puddles and have races along the mud trying really hard not to fall over. They only speak Swahili too so laughter is our only common language! I then say goodbye to them when I get to the dala dala (their names are Juma and Johnny) and my legs and shoes are always covered in mud and soaked through, when I get to school I change my shoes and clean up my legs and it is like it never happened! ha, its really a good laugh and it starts all over again tommorrow!

Back to teaching....It makes me so happy when I teach these kids all this new and exciting stuff, even just a simple star jump has them in hysterics for hours because of their lack of co-ordination! After the lesson I make them pray that God will help them to move their arms and legs together in sequence! Its totally fun.

With the high school kids, I have applyed for funding to get them to see a real basketball game and to get them real coaching. you should of seen their faces when I told them. they were like "Miss Moyo is it really true?" and I was like "yeah baby you better belive it!" its the best reward I cant explain! Tommorrow Im taking 3 Orphan girls into town during my lunch break to buy them a soda and take them to the markets, these girls are from the Hatsabe tribe and I cant wait to break the news to them tommorrow! It will cost me about $1.50 and it is an experience they will never forget! I rekon its worth $1.50 dont you??? 

So many things have been happening the last week or so, had to get tested for Maleria as I was getting a wicked headache for 2 days and had to stay in bed and the two people that I share an office with got maleria in the last 2 days, so I was like "I dont want any of that" But its all good Im as healthy as, and no maleria was found in my system I just had a headache! Nothing to write home about really.

Yesterday a boy in my class his father died. Sometimes you use up all your energy dealing with the culture and all the differences that when this kind of stuff happens, it just knocks you off your feet. He is back at school already and is acting like a true champion. I just love these kids ahe and the school where Im teaching is really supportive and love the kids like they were there own, Im really trying to develop this mentality as most of the kids dont have parents and they are just a real neat bunch.

Any way, primary school gets back from their holidays on saturday, so it will be back to intenseness again! Oh but I love it!

Ok love you all very much, hope everyone is safe who ever is reading this, will write again soon and will eventually get my camera fixed! hahaha. hum na shida! (no problem!)

Love Cass xx

  

Month 2 and a bit...............

These last few weeks have been so incredible, I feel like I am really stepping into something worth while and I am finding my feet.

The last few weeks I have been super busy with the school coming back, organising sport teams, coaching, teaching full time, working on the babies centre, reports and giving all of my energy to LOVE the children! My life is slowly becoming less selfish and I am learning to put my needs second or third. I truely love what I am doing and am touched dramatically every day in how the kids get on with life!

This week we were donated 6 soccer balls and 42 badminton raquets. I cried and cried and the kids clapped for ages when they heard the news. Now I can start proper soccer coaching and not use rolled up material for a soccer ball!!!! We have our very own!!!!

Last week I decided to take 12 orphans into town for soda on an old pick up truck that I drove. It was hilarious! I was driving and it ran out of petrol! So we topped it up and then straight after we broke down! We were in the middle of town and it was getting to be dinner time so we just sat on the road until someone came! I had two other teachers with me so it was fun and some of the kids had never been in town before so they were very happy even though we had a problem! We ended up getting home at 7.30 pm!

Today I had a meeting at the international school to get the kids to play some other schools in sports, they are so excited as they have never done this before and it is really bringing a smile to their faces, I really enjoy the high school as their hearts are incredible and they really are loving life. I got them all to write down their dreams this week and how it can be achieved and I really believe that they can do anything that they put their mind to as they work so, so hard!

Most want to be doctors or lawers! Isnt that amazing??? they started off in such a rough place and now they will be achieving these great things!

A girl in my class had her 16th birthday this week. We didn't have any sweet food, so we made her an Ughali cake with beans as the trimming. And her present was Machicha (a green spinich type vegetable!) It was so interesting to see how the kids improvise! Then we did not have a camera so we used a black board duster and pretended to take pictures! The thing is, it was like they really believed it was a real camera and they were all trying to get in the pretend photos!!!!!!!

Will write to you all soon. I really hope you are enjoying being part of my journey as it was those of you who are reading this who helped me get to where I am.

Bless you

Cass

 

Week 10:

Hey everyone, These last couple of weeks have been full on (again), and I am using all my energy to pour into these beautiful kids that I teach. My days at school are getting longer and longer and Im finding myself having to run home from school as it is dark! Its so great though, I just dont want to leave the kids, I LOVE spending time with them and they give me so much in return!

So this week we decided to call my form class "The Power House!" we made special signs and everything, Its so cool, the kids in my form class are nearly my age and its nice for them to have a change in their class..... We did a spring clean too and made the place look top notch so they can have the greatest time at school.

Ok so the sad news, a baby Josiah died at Fountain of Zoe this week, he is the little boy that I am holding in one of the pictures....this truely broke my heart ahe, he had maleria and a chest infection and his little body could not handle it. He was less than 1 year old, the funeral was really sad. I know that he is in a place now that has no sickness and he is free from any pain. Amen. 

Josiah and I.

This weekend a friend of mine from Kenya has arrived, she is great, her name is Zoe and she is teaching me some cool lingo in Ki Swahili, she is staying here for 3 months so its nice to make really good African friends. THis weekend we decided to go to the hair saloon to dye my hair brown, turns out the hair dye is designed for Africans so my hair is not the colour of a green forest! yuk! It cant be too bad however because as soon as I left the hair saloon I got a marriage proposal! Only in Africa I tell you!

Today the whole school had to go to Shamba (farm) to plow 20 acres of Maize so we can continue to eat. It is really hard intense work and I had to use a hoe for the whole day. It was so much fun however! All the kids get really into it.....During this time the kids killed a black mamba snake and brought it to me on a spade! It was so funny....I was like "thanks kids" nearly died of fright though as they are so poisonus! About 20 minutes later I was just howing some weeds, when the kids called out and they saw that I was nearly about to kill a camelian lizard! I was like OH WOW  this is so cool!

Then just after we finished our lunch (at 4.30 pm!) The kids came and told me they killed a REALLY BIG snake I didn't believe them so I carried on eating, they were saying "please miss moyo come and see!" so I followed them into the tall maize bush and low and behold there was the biggest black mamba snake ever! Not only had the kids killed it but they had cut the snakes stomach open and pulled out a huge RAT from its belly, I was nearly SICK! hahaha! so we buried it and carried on with our day, of course I am now thinking of snakes and have learnt how to kill one. We are going to Shamba again tommorrow so I have no idea what fun that will bring! I told the kids that if we find a snake tomorrow we need to keep it alive and make it a class pet! yah!

OK I love you all, I need you to pray that I get my visa as mine is running out!

PS sorry there are no photos, still have not got a camera and will try and get one sent over soonish.

Love Cass

 

 Month 3 and a half!

So it is unbelievable how fast this time is going, I feel like I am constantly on high power speed and am going 100 miles an hour! But for those who know me well know that is the speed I always run!

I have just moved house with my friend Fluffy, she is heaps of fun and her house is beautiful, I feel so blessed being here and all the things that I get to experience! Sometimes I just cannot believe my eyes or ears and am just taking it all in day by day. 

The last time we chatted, I was doing shamba work, well that lasted one full week and I saw many more snakes and could hardly walk at the end of it. It was so unreal working with the kids. Its really neat as they sing as they work, I mean they all sing, it is like a constant choir! Im getting to know the songs so most of the time I can join in. Neat ahe? Even when I am teaching them science or something, they break out into song, and Im like "sweet as kids, you got rhythm".... hahaha

Many of the children and workers are getting Malaria at the moment, it is such a nasty thing to catch, it is because of the cold season "yeah right, Cold season.......it does not exist here as it is always HOT!" But not to worry as they are soon back on their feet and living life. Some kids in my class get Malaria and I dont even know, I would say to them "hey Joseph, why are you not playing soccer very well today?" and he will be like "Oh miss Moyo, I have Malaria!!!!!!" OH WOOPSIES!!!!

Hahaha! What resilience ahe! This month I have been taking the kids out of school to play sports against other schools. Never in the history of the school has it happened so the Kids were so excited! Unfortunately we lost every game but they still came home with smiles on their faces and had a blast! There was a time on Saturday when I took the 13 and 14 yr old boys for swimming lessons. I was their swimming coach and I had 26 kids in a deep, deep pool who have never been in a pool before. It was so hilarious they were like drowned rats, I had to keep plucking them from the water and they would just dive back in again! It was so much fun. It was really one experience I will not forget. 

On sunday I went with 20 other people to the base of Kilimanjaro to run for a few hours in a race. It is called a HASH where you race through a hard track to get to the end. Someone sets up a maize that you have to follow and you have to focus on where to go. I ran up and down hills and mountains for 2 1/2 hours and then I couldn't walk for two days. It was so worth it though, I was sick in a village half way through the HASH because it pushes your body to the Limits and the altitude is so different! My hip is still painful, but Im going to do it again next week! Bring it on!!!!

I have started my Kiswahili lessons, its a great thing knowing the language, it takes down some barriers that could have been there before and the local people really relate when you talk to them (an actual conversation in their mother tongue). 

I have been spending more and more time at school as I just love being there with the kids and staff, they break and bring joy to my heart all in one go, sometimes I wonder what they have been through, and most of them are more than happy to share their stories. When they do share their stories however my heart is always broken and I thank God that they are in a safe place at New Life Foundation where they are loved and cared for like they were the teachers kids. At Shamba I got to spend a lot of time with individual children, it was awesome to see where they have come from, however unbelievable at the same time, I really feel so blessed with my beautiful family and friends and health and all that I have. Africa is definitely a place to feel grateful for what you have!

I have finally got my visa, the guy at immigration tried to tell me that I was living here illegally so I would pay him a bribe and I was like "no way" however right above his head was this sign that said "no corruption zone" YEAH RIGHT!! 

I just want yo say a really big thank you to all of those who are continuing to sponsor me and support me while I am here, you are a true blessing to me. I cant tell you enough. My family and friends are just the best and Im so happy that I get to share this journey with you as sometimes its really hard being here! But hey.....Its totally worth it!!!!

Love Cass xx

 

Month 4 1/2 

Its been a whole month or so since I have written and Im sure I could list 1 zillion excuses, but I wont, but please forgive me for taking FOREVER to write.

 

I love Africa! I think that is a great start to this sentence. I have been so incredibly blessed in so many ways and this month has been the craziest yet, my high school kids have been on a months holiday and arrived back last week so I was really able to focus on the primary students. I tell you the truth, these kids are so outstanding and the more they share their stories of what they have endured in such a short space of time I love and respect them so much more. Some of my kids have endured the most crazy events in their life times and I just want to honour them. parents being killed, young 3 year olds being raped, boys and girls getting abandoned by both sets of parents, serious beatings, terrible diseases that rob them of their youth. Every day these children are in my class loving school and waking up in the morning enduring another day. It is so moving being in this school. Out of the 400 students that I teach 280 of them have these testimonies.

I hope you understand now, why I can respect and love them so much. I go to school early and leave late because I want to be around people that are inspiring and encouraging. And these children most certainly are. Its so awesome to see how their faith can get them through. 

As well as full time teaching and other things my job is also to look after any visitors that come to new life Foundation. Well 2 weeks ago a team of 25 New Zealanders arrived in Moshi to help out at the orphanage and share the gospel around moshi. The team were a bunch of high school kids from Hebron Christian College. They were such a neat group of kids and really made a huge impact on the school. When they arrived at the school they did a Haka, I cried it was so awesome! I also haven't heard the beautiful kiwi accent in so long and I almost could not believe how weird we all sound hahah! New Zealand accent is so strong, when I went to meet them off the bus the first thing they said to me "gidday mate"!!!!!!!!!!!! It was incredible! I never knew I could miss that sentence so much!!

I had to stay at the place where they were staying and look after all the events and schedule and what they eat and where they sleep. It was a really neat challenge, however somehow tiresome. In a good way. When they left, they left me their NZ peanut butter and chocolate. YAH!

During this month I was also blessed to go on safari around some of the best parks in the world! My boss got it for nearly free, and told me that I had to do this before I leave. Im so thankful that took up this offer. I went with the team and also took my friend Ann from California.

We drove for a really long time until we reached lake Mynyara  (this is like a huge watering hole for all animals!) When we got there it was like this whole other world. A place untouched and totally beautiful! The giraffes were so much taller than I thought! and they just hang out with all the other animals in harmony, elephants were just grazing with their babies, one elephant came so close I could have given him an ear scratch! The elephants are so MASSIVE!!!!!!!!! I cannot exaggerate this enough! Their were zillions of Zebras and wilder-beasts and weird looking birds, Ostriches, So many hippos and all animals that are in the lion king movie. It actually looks like the lion king movie. However NO LION!!!!!! hahaha, the guy told us we would see more than enough on our trip the next day. 

Well he was right, The next day we got geared up to go to the Ngorongoro Crater. It is an actual crater where all these animals live. Its huge and totally freezing cold! When we got down to the bottom of the crater I was blown away by the beauty of it! Their were small lakes, nice trees and loads of animals. As i was thinking I was in heaven, the guy who drove us (Daniel) was like OH SIMBA (LION)!!! I was like "this is totally awesome!" There were these group of lionesses around this totally big Lion! It was so amazing to see, really surreal seeing the king of the jungle just cruising around. They were all lazing around and the lion was kissing the lionesses, it was really cute, I only say "cute" because it wasn't dinner time and I didn't see him kill any animals! Actually it was really weird as their were all these Zebras and Wilder beasts hanging around like they new they were safe for a few more hours. As I said all these guys live in harmony. I have loads of photos and will load them when I can.

Much more to tell, this is enough for now, Please keep praying for my safety and and health and all that. I got my first belt of ring worm a few weeks ago! EWWW GROSS! all the kids have it and I caught it too! I actually thought that a worm lives in your skin, but thats not true! Any way its almost gone and its not a big deal, just kind of funny. 

Ok love and thank you all for your continual support.

Cass x

 Mt Kilimanjaro

                                                                                                               

Month 5.

Dear friends and supporters and who ever else reads this website,

I want you to know that this experience for me has been the most incredible one, I feel eyes opening everyday and my heart growing bigger for the children and the people here. I need your continual support and prayers as I feel overwhelmed sometimes by the amount of need here and I need to keep my focus secure.

These couple of weeks have been incredible also, I have been taking swimming lessons everyday and teaching. Most of the kids that go to the pool have never swam, so my eye is sharp for all the kids who look like drowned little rats!!!!

I am constantly plucking them from the water, however they just jump straight back in again because they are having the time of their lives!!!! It is so nice for me to reward them with this as well as I can see the joy in them and know that they will remember this experience! I have met with a Tanzanian Swimming coach and he said that he would like to pick 12 children out of the 400 for 4 year swimming lessons and hard core training. He said he would do it for free so I am ecstatic as you can only imagine.

This week I had 5 orphans from school stay at my house to reward them for their academic achievements, The kids were jumping out of their skin when they got to my place, I made them a nice dinner and rewarded them with a movie, however the power went out , (been going out every night this week) but it didn't matter, they were so happy. They did not know how to use a fork, had a cold shower even though there was hot water, couldn't aim in the toilet!!!!!! (thanks kids!) and woke me at 5 in the morn because the power was back on and they wanted to finish their movie! Hahaha.

I tell you I felt so rewarded taking these kids home with me as their own home life is not like we experience, dirt homes, barely any food, just really needy kids! I truely was a blast!

last night I had to say goodbye to all the young primary kids as they are going home for a month and I will not be there when they get back, when I shared this news with them I felt like I was at a burial service! The noise was terrible, it sounded like when the Maoris mourn for their lost ones, I had to stay at school until  10.30 because the children could not physically walk back to their dormitories because they were crying so much! Some part of me felt like I was letting them down by leaving, however I know that I have been called here only for this specific time but it was just really extremely hard and I couldn't help but feel this way. You should have seen the look in their eyes, they were all asking "so when are you coming back to stay for good?" I couldn't answer their questions. Anyway, I know that my time here is valued.

This week I also received a magazine from my brother who is an editor for a magazine called "In my kitchen" which is obviously a food magazine,  I showed the kids this magazine and have not got it back since because they all gather around it and open the pages while they are eating their food and dream about what is in the magazine! Its so funny to watch! I really laugh at this because I bet they can taste the food in the mag because their imaginations are so vivid!

Ok I will write again soon!

Blessings and love to all of you,

Cass xx

   Boys at the sleep over!

Month 6 

Hey guys,

Wow, what a month! 

I can tell you its been a full on ride this month with a trillion things going on, I love it!

Today I just booked my ticket to head to Kenya (Tomorrow morn) and been teaching all day. I cant express what it is like to live here, each day is so totally different and I need to get into my sweet bed by 9pm or Im stuffed for the next day! (Never happens mind you) so each day Im stuffed! 

You would be happy to know we are competing with many other schools in all types of sports and am finally starting to see a result! The boys and girls are just having the best time and coming home from a winning game just makes me so happy for weeks! The kids get such a buzz out of it too and they think they are totally awesome.

We have this amazing pastor with us called David Dodd, he is just an incredible man and I have been loving his real teachings about God and life. He has a neat bunch of people with him too so its always good making new connections, the real great thing about being here is you can make good connections from all over the place and its a strong connection because your living in a third world country, so you think....."Hey I wonder if Ill ever see them again, better make this chat the best chat that I've ever had....la la la"

Everyday i have to keep telling myself "This is Africa" like the time this week when I put my hand in my friends bag, little did I know she had a poisonous caterpillar in there, got thorns all on my hand and its been stinging ever since, or the fact that these bumps on my legs could be Mango fly using my leg as a host to grow its maggot, or the fact that my toe is totally infected because of the nasties that live in the dirt (I now ALWAYS wear shoes!!) Yip this is Africa alright! I must tell you Its totally worth every infection, stomach bug, headache, rocks and intestine in my food and mosquito bite! hahaha, well most of the time!

I love this place.

Bless you all, please pray that I stay safe in kenya and that I am free from every sickness.

Amen

Love Cass xx

Carrying on from Month 6.....

For those of you who are not aware, I am coming home to New Zealand on 2nd September.....As you can imagine this week has been emotional and hard. I cannot even begin  to describe what it will be like to say goodbye to my 400 students and best friends that I have made here, I officially have an African family and it feels amazing!!!!!

On the weekend I went to Kenya to visit some friends and see the sights around Kenya and Nairobi!

I got on the bus at 6am and started the mission, I was so excited about what sights I would be seeing and I was going to visit some really good friends of mine. When I got to the boarder of Kenya, I got my Passport stamped and went to the bathroom. When I came back my bus was missing and was nowhere to be seen!!!! As you can imagine panic started to hit, this lasted about a minute I controlled myself and decided to look for my bus, in Kenya they speak broken Ki Swahili so I couldn't understand what people were saying and it was quite frightening as some guy took my passport off me and told me he was an official....He was just some crazy man, anyway I snatched it off him and yelled a bit, then made a run for it as I could see my bus leaving!!!!!!

The bus driver stopped for me and I carried on my journey!!! Phewww.....

When I arrived in Kenya I got dropped at a Shell station for Zoe to come and pick me up. This lady who had no money and was pregnant gave me her only thing that she had (a banana) because she felt sorry for me she said, because I was waiting for Zoe for quite a while, I must tell you, that was probably her only food for that day and she gave it to me.........SO humbling!!!!

When Zoe arrived she turned up on the back of a motorbike!!! So of course I jumped on too in my short dress and all my luggage and we started on our long journey around the south of Kenya. This was one of the funnest things I have ever done. The guy that was driving the bike thought we were crazy because we were so excited! On the trip on the bike, we went into a national park- I saw giraffes, wildebeasts, impalas, zebras and all those animals up so close, it was so nice to see them out in the open on the back of the bike.....

I stayed at the University that night and had a bath in a bucket, stayed in a room that if I put my arm span out I could touch both walls, ate at a dodgy place but was so fun all the same.!

The next day, Zoe and I caught the bus to Nairobi...This place is such a crazy city, I had such a ball there though and met some great people, saw all the sights, and didn't sleep because there was so much to see!

We rented a dodgy room in a backpackers with one single bed and a really unclean room. When I opened up my makeup bag all these bugs crawled in. Totally gross, I smelt the "clean towel" that they gave us to use and it was wet and smelt like it had just been used, dirty sheets, the lot...Was so fun though, wouldn't change a bit.....Well mabye the towel and the sheets!!!!

On the way back home from Nairobi, my friend Lauren was on the same bus! How ironic, so when we all stopped for a toilet brake, Lauren and I got talking off the bus and it was driving off without us!!!! I couldn't believe it two times in one trip!!! hahaha

Im back in Tanzania now, Praise Jesus! and Im safe with nothing stolen which is a blessing!! In my case anyway, So its back to being full on at school, I have a school camp this week (Grade 7) at the base of kilimanjaro and a team have arrived from America that I am looking after. So I haven't had much time to think about me leaving....I guess ill do that on the plane??? hahaha

Anyway all is good here, busy as, having fun, Im living every moment, and I Love my life! AMEN!

Bless you who ever is reading this, I love hearing your thoughts and how YOU are.

Cass xx