[Arusha]

Today we had our first trip to Arusha! After waking up later than I should have I hurried to get ready and we set off at 7:30! (By now I’d like to say I’m used to this early car ride, but I don’t know if early morning and I will ever truly mesh).  So, Kira, Becca and I were lucky enough to be squished into the back of the van again. This made for a lovely hour and a half ride haha. I leaned forward with my head resting on the seat in front of me and slept a little bit. Luckily we took the road that runs from Johannesburg to Cairo – so it was a relatively smooth ride. The only time it got rocky was when we went over the lovely speed bumps J.

            The first thing we did was go to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Here we sat in on the trial of a man named Ildephonse Nizeyimana that had been accused of genocide, extermination, and numerous counts of murder and rape. It was very interesting to actually be there to hear the witness’s story. When you go into the courtroom you put on a headset and sit facing the courtroom. The witness is covered from view and you can see the side judges, and the defense and prosecuting sides of the courtroom. The defense attorney was quite presumptuous and aggressive in his questions and how he talked in the courtroom. He even objected to something the judge had asked the witness! We stayed there for around two hours and left when the court decided to take a break before the prosecution cross-examined the witness. I would have liked to stay for that, but I will go again in a few weeks with the new group! The link to the indictment is: http://www.unictr.org/Portals/0/Case/English/Nizeyimana/indictment/100929.pdf. I will warn you, however. It is really intense and sad to read this because he did a lot of awful things. On another note it is very interesting to read about it and to understand what I was hearing in the courtroom today. We listened to a witness talk about the taking of the Ruhutinyanya family to Burundi. The witness had been a soldier, and the questioning mainly centered around the places that they were stopped on the way to taking the family to the border.

            Next we went to the Massai market. I had previously heard that the men and women running the stalls would drag you into their tents and keep you in there. I was skeptical, but they definitely do this! Becca and I only had one woman do this to us, she kept trying to get Becca to buy something and said, “I need you to buy this from me.” I felt really bad, but I didn’t bring any money – so it was easier for me to say hapana, asante everytime I walked into a tent. I enjoyed the market, but they all had the same thing in each of the tents. I think I am going to go to the art market here in Moshi first and then when we go back to Arusha if there is something unique I will get it. Highlight of Arusha visit? A man saying “Konnichiwa?” and “Aren’t you Japanese?” to Becca while she and I were walking back to the van. After the Massai market we went out to lunch at a restaurant called Via Via.

            This restaurant had beautiful thatched huts around all of the tables and the food was delicious! Corrine and I split some garlic bread, and then I had the Spaghetti Primavera. To eat yummy pasta was simply divine after eating the same thing for the majority of my time here. (Don’t get me wrong, Primo’s cooking is fantastic, just repetitive!) After Via Via we went to the Tanzanite Foundation.

The Tanzanite Adventure was great! We entered into this really nice building (it reminded me of a Department Store…just smack dab in the middle of Africa). First, we were shown the nice leather seats and offered coffee or tea. Second we took a tour around a room that had displays of rough stones and the biggest Tanzanite block ever mined! We then watched a slideshow and then we went to the show room and looked at stunning Tanzanite stones. Tanzanite is a very beautiful indigo/violet stone that is only found at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Due to the fact that it can only be found here and that there is only enough of it to last one generation the stone is said to be 1000 times rarer than diamonds. An ancient Massai myth claims that Tanzanite was created after a giant lightning bolt struck the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro and turned the rocks into stunning gems. In reality, the stone may have been developed long ago when the plates shifted and Kilimanjaro was formed. Henry B. Platt of Tiffany and Co. brought the stone to America and was the first to coin the name “Tanzanite”. Tanzanite is a trichroic gem, meaning that the stone has three colors within it. There are violet, burgundy and blue hues within the stone and some are even green or very clear. (These are “defective”). While we were there one of the women showed us with a flashlight the different hues of a large block of tanzanite. It was incredible to see the colors! Needless to say I was totally in love with the stone because I love purple and indigo colors. There is a Trilliant cut stone that I was obsessed with, but it is $1004. Ummm…yeah, I didn’t save that much for Tanzanite. I hope that my future wedding ring will be set with a diamond and Tanzanite though, I definitely want some before it all goes away! The stones are supposed to be able to be mined for the next 13-20 years, so I’ve got some time. I also found out that the Tanzanite foundation (the non-profit associated with the jewelers) also uses its resources to support and create schools and to provide safe environments and education for miners! Pretty sweet! So, even though I will be dreaming about Tanzanite for a while, I plan to get some when I can. I really wanted to get a stone for my mom…but we’ll see what happens. After our Tanzanite adventure we went to a really big supermarket! I believe it was called Shoprite and it totally seemed like a mini Fresh Market. It was great to finally be able to get some chocolate (in the form of Rolos)! I also bought some colored pencils so I could color my continually growing collection of children from around the world that I am drawing. After the store we headed back home and I was able to have a really great talk with Rachel. She’s so awesome, and I’m glad we got to connect and talk a lot! TaChyla and I also decided we are definitely going to Greece next summer. So, for those of you that want to come, just let me know!

            The last story of the night is that I visited Tuleeni with Corinne and Hayley tonight. It was late, so it was also dark dark dark. I could barely see the kids’ faces! They were so adorable and fun though. We sang some songs, played spin (where I spin them around and around and around), and just sat with them on my lap. I don’t know if I talked about my previous Tuleeni experience – but it was amazing. I finally met both Jonas and Mama Faraji!! I had been waiting to meet them since before I came to Tanzania, and I instantly fell in love with them. First, Jonas was so cute and so much bigger than he had been in Casey’s pictures. Second, playing with Queenie, Upendo and Jonathan at Tuleeni was so fun! We jumped rope and hugged and danced around. Mama Faraji talked to me about Casey a lot and how much she loved and missed him. Then she sat with me and held my hand while we talked about my past as an orphan and my desire to house, teach and love on orphans in the future (hopefully in India, Africa or both!). She kept kissing me and telling me how wonderful it was to hear that and to meet me. She also told me about her father, her husband and her own life as orphans and what made her want to have Tuleeni. Currently she has Tuleeni and houses older orphans and babies at her home in Rau. She has a lot of volunteers who help her, but it is wonderful that she does what she does. She held my hand and walked me back to the car and said she  couldn’t wait for me to come visit regularly.

            Tonight we sang a lot of counting songs and we sang “You Are My Sunshine”. Mama Faraji had told me that because Casey had come and played that song for the kids when he was here whenever the song was song the kids would mimic playing a guitar. It was awesome to sing it tonight because I finally saw that in action! Queenie played her air guitar the whole time we sang “You Are My Sunshine” and just kept singing it! I also held Jonathan and danced with him and make my lips vibrate so it made a noise and he would just mimic every sound I made! It was adorable J. He’s just a little 1-2 year old munchkin and I love him so much! While I was sitting with both a little girl and boy on my lap and the stars shining brightly above the orphanage I couldn’t help but think about what beautiful kids they are and how I really never want to leave them! They are just so joyful and so content with the love and relationships they have it is impossible not to have them affect your heart in a very important way. Tonight I just began to really feel both sad and incredibly happy simultaneously. I see how little these kids have, but how rich they are in love and I can’t help but compare it to my life where I have so many things just because my life happened to be the way it is. Everyday I see how the people here are much more wealthy than any of us at home. Their love and joy for living is infectious, and I am so blessed to be welcomed into their lives and to understand them. When I went to visit Angella’s home her grandparents gave up their own seats so we could sit. It is truly incredible to think of the depth of love and respect people here share.

            Anywho, I will get off of my cheesy soap box, but I have a feeling that this feeling and understanding of life here will only get stronger. I also think I will see and experience the not so pleasant parts of life here – but I think that it’s important to see it all. I miss my momma, sister, gram and my friends and of course Mr. Casey. However, I am so SO happy I am here and to be having this unbelievable experience. Thank you everyone that I love – you helped to make this happen!

Fun fact: Arusha is the very center of Africa!