First Days at Rift Valley Children’s Village

RVCV is just outside of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We drove through the Serengeti Plain, where the flat land and grasses stretch as far as the eye can see, and arrived on the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater, into the Rift Valley, where there are rolling hills covered in trees or fertile farmland. The road that leads to the RVCV is long and bumpy red dirt; as we drove, dust poured in through the car windows. We eventually came to the top of the hill where the Geytighi Primary School and the RVCV are located – about a 5 minute walk apart.

Tomorrow I move into Serengeti House, where I’ll live for the next 10 weeks. There are 4 kid houses on the RVCV campus, each named after one of Tanzania’s national parks. Each house has 2 mamas and about 12 kids and up to 2 volunteers. The boys live on one side of the house and the girls on the other, and each group has their own bathroom. Life is very comfortable here for both kids and volunteers which is wonderful for both me and them!

Here how my day goes: 6am everyone wakes up, 6:30am fix the kids breakfast, 7am walk kids to school, 7:30am I eat breakfast, 9-10:30am tutor, 12:30 eat lunch, 1-3pm teach at kindergarten, 4:30pm snacktime with the kids, 6:30 the kids eat dinner (cooked by the mamas), 7:30 kids go to bed, 7:31 I go to bed. (just kidding, I don’t really sleep at 7:30…but some days I want to!)

In addition to providing general help during these times, I’m tutoring in the mornings for 2 hours, and helping at the kindergarten, called the Cheke Chea (Check-ee-Chay-ah) for 2 hours in the afternoon. I’m really excited about helping the kindergarteners; I think it’ll give me a great opportunity to contrast the kids at the RVCV with the kids of families who live in a ‘squatters’ village’ across the way. (The ‘squatters’ village’ has formed from the families who work on the coffee plantation adjustment to the RVCV land.)

The kids are wonderful. They smile constantly and are so friendly and warm it’s great (though don't get me wrong - they do have their 'moments'). Today, I helped them get ready for breakfast, and then Cristina, one of the girls in Serengeti house, read Horton Hears a Who to me. I spent the afternoon coloring with Mole (Mo-lay) and playing tic tac toe. Yesterday I honed my non-existent soccer skills, passing a ball around with 4 of the boys. I think that the game was extra enjoyable for them because of how I scramble when the ball is coming my way!

That's probably enough for now! I’ll be posting every week so stay tuned for more…there’s certainly a lot more to talk about already. I'm sooo dirty, and tired, but having a great time and really enjoying being here so far!