Last night was our final night at the Freedom Lodge.
We all loved the lodge because the workers loved us and helped us to feel at
home. Both mornings there I woke up around 5:30 but couldn’t complain because
it gave me time to read, see the sunrise, and work with the women who were up
making breakfast for us. Even though we were only there two days, we all became
close with the workers and were very sad to leave. When sweet Jeffery had had
his fill of doing the “trust wave” with us we said our goodbyes and hopped on
the bus for the four hour drive to the Banjika School. This was the most
beautiful and most bumpy drive I’ve ever been a part of! We saw camels, a
family of baboons crossing the street, and toddlers herding big groups of cows,
mules, goats, donkeys, and sheep. The boys herding were so young; it seems as
if the parents give them a stick and send them off with the animals as soon as
they’re old enough to walk. We all laughed thinking about how useless we were
at that age. We saw many people from the Masai tribe with painted bodies and
faces, wrapped up in their tribal color, red. When we got restless, we stopped
to take a “candy” break by a field of corn (candy means pee-pee in Swahili).
When I was getting back to the bus, I spotted red and was headed over to greet
who I thought was a Masai... turns out I had been staring at Mr. Kaminski in
his red jacket going to the bathroom. It was a very funny and eventful trip.
Nappa Penda Happa! I really like it hereJ
Loving you Dad, Mama, and Lauren
Lindsey
On the way, we stopped for lunch in Mtowambu, Mosquito Creek . We ate a
delicious homemade meal and learned a ton about bananas. J There was a wood shop that
David Johnson would have adored and everyone was so friendly. Mtowambu was also
a stork breeding ground, so there were storks EVERYWHERE. When we arrived at
the school, the students’ excitement was contagious. They were so welcoming and
hugged us all. We found our Tanzanian Rafiki (friend in Swahili) that we will
be doing our homestay with and they gave us a tour of their school. As we
walked, many of us holding hands with our friends, we learned some new Swahili
words. My friend, Tabitha, taught me how to say “dog”- Mbwo. After our tour we
said goodbye and walked to our home for the next week. Dinner was delicious,
but there was so much food it was hard to eat it all. We are all excited for
Mrs. Losey, Andrew and Blaire to get here Thursday morning (they left Nashville
today). We are all tired, but ready to get started at the job site tomorrow
morning. Kwa Harini!
Johnson Clan
(probably with some Carters mixed in): I
love and miss y’all. Tell George hi next time you send him a letter. And Mere,
keep wrangling ponies!!
Caroline
