Motown and Miss-you's

Listen, Baaaaby!: Motown in Tanzania
Volunteers have always been responsible for planning kid activities on Saturday. Kat (another volunteer) and I have embraced this responsibility with (I like to think) unparallelled enthusiasm -- some of our better ideas include a scavenger hunt, chalk murals, an Easter parade, and my favorite, a dance party. (Being good recent-college-grads, it was only a matter of time before we busted out some dance moves with these kids.)

There are several things to consider when you throw a dance party in a foreign country. The most obvious is musical choice. Considering we're in Africa, you'd think it'd be easy to track down some great stuff to listen to with the kids. But since all of the volunteers here are from the States, the closest most of our ipods come to Africa is a song by Paul Simon or Toto. So we settled on motown - a happy medium? In honor of Obama (we honor him a lot here..) we played "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", the Jackson Five made several appearances on the playlist, but the biggest hit was "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," largely due to the belt-it-out attitude that Kat and I demonstrate during that song. Never before have I serenaded such a large group of people with such feeling (and so many hand gestures...) as during "Listen, Baby" as the kids have termed the tune.

For the mental image: imagine me leading a conga line of about 25 kids, aged 3 to 14, flailing my arms wildly to show just how high a mountain could be, how wide a river could be before it "keeps me from gettin' to you babe." Cause baby there ain't no mountain high enough...

Sunday dance line

Even when they're still on the property, I miss the kids!
Every two weeks, two of the kids in the Village go to Kiran House for a week. Mama India (the founder of the Children's Village) lives in Kiran; rotating the kids through like this helps her to get to know them well and check up with them on a regular basis. All of the kids are thrilled when it's there turn to stay with Mama--they pack up their clothes for the week and anxiously run down the hill to her house.

A few weeks ago it was Vicenti's turn to stay at Mama India's. Vicenti is one of the younger kids in Serengeti and is also one of the most lovable. His missing front teeth make him extra adorable when he gives me hugs every day. When he left for the week, I really missed him and didn't miss an opportunity all week long to tell him that when I saw him around the Village after school and during playtime. "I miss you soooooooo much!! When are you coming home??" I'd ask as I squeezed him tight and saw how unable he was to contain himself.

At bedtime on Thursday night, the day before Vicenti would come back to Serengeti, India said that Vicenti had asked, "Am I going back to Serengeti tomorrow?" India answered that he would be, and Vicenti looked relieved. India waited for further explanation, and Vicenti responded, "Okay, because Taylor really misses me. I think I need to go back home for her soon."