A lovely day

Kid’s Club Goes to the YaCHt Club


YaCHt Club because Swahili is phonetic , all letters are pronounced( no silent ch). It was a non written language “ translated “ or transcribed into the English alphabet by Missionaries.

So today the Diana Center ( the palliative care center in Muheza ) took 91ish kids plus support staff to the YaCHt Club of Tanga for a semi annual outing.

All these kids are HIV Positive. They are a mix of ages from about 4 to 15, boys and girls.
Their health is variable
Coughs are common , some small for their age, some malnourished.
Many ,not all, are on ARVs( anti- retrovirals)
They come weekly to the center for health and social activities
Some are orphans( in Tanzania the loss of even one parent qualifies you for that title.)

The kids started assembling about 0800( 0200 swahili time)
Parents, family members or guardians dropping them off and those that lived in the ‘burbs ‘ of muheza were picked up.
Those with some sort of finery were wearing it, a number had good jeans, better shoes and dresses and some wore the best finery they had ,that was sadly less fine.

Simon recently ruptured his ear drum while swimming and snorkeling, came with us but could not indulge in water play, he is being a trooper with drops and pills for a klebsiella/pseudomonas infection in that ear( for you medical folk out there). Griff had gone in earlier with friends and their kids who are having sailing lessons and he sailed on his own in one of the dinghies, his first sailing experience and he enjoyed it.

We packed into 4 Dala dalas ( the local transport- Toyota panel van sized vehicles full of seats always overfilled and today was no exception.)

We headed off and not a kilometer out the small thin little boy next to me began too vomit, too soon for car-sickness, maybe excitement, or maybe an unwell lad. A plastic bag appeared and eventually a cloth and he fell asleep on my lap occasionally raising his head, looking for the bag and retching a bit more.

There was some bus singing( more on Leah’s dala dala) and then the YaCHt club was invaded.Many had not been on a Dala dala before but even more had not even seen the ocean.
So beach play-soccer balls, skipping ropes - sodas and samosa for morning snack and then a fairly unselfconscious change into swimwear , or not, for a play in the shallows. These kids are not swimmers. There was some concern that they may be drowners.

The next treat in a day full of treats was a boat ride around the bay in a sail boat owned by a displaced Zimbabwean musungu ( white guy) . Just motored but they loved it. Leah was asked if she could swim and when she answered in the affirmative she was invited on the ride in case of disaster( which would have been a terrible disaster) but all went without a hitch.

There was a 45 minute ( wasungu or Swahili time) period where lunch was not yet ready and the children were restless and the Diana staff who really came for a day at the YaCHt club themselves were enjoying their second or third beer,and kids starting wandering all over. There was a small hint of looming chaos and a ‘never invited back’ sort of scenario. But some of the non beer drinking staff made up games and songs and lunch was eventually served
Sodas again, rice, plantain stew, chicken, and stewed bitter greens called mcheecha. All deelish.

AND THEN

Ice cream and cookies!!
I had not seen tubs of ice cream since being here and there they were, vanilla AND chocolate .We did not give them a choice ( would they know what they were choosing between??). It was all consumed.
My little vomiting friend with the large sad eyes wanted dessert too but the coordinator thought better of it much to his sadness so I gave him 2 servings of cookies, small not too sweet, seemed reasonable. He was not happy about that but ate them without hesitation.

Clean up , pack up, final beers for some. Connecting lost swimsuits or finery with its proper owner and then up to the buses

On my way up I collected a plastic bag for my little friend assuming he would sit beside me . Besides the fact that I was assigned to a different vehicle I did see him on my way to the dala dala with a Bowl of CHOCOLATE ice cream. Hope his ride was uneventful.


All in all a heart warming experience in an already warm place.

27 days to go !!! AARRGGGHHHH

2310 hrs ( wasungu time) 31/1/09 and it is raining!! Always appreciated

goodnight