Tanzania

Apparently I have been connected with people living internationally. This is from my cousin Meghan who is getting ready to leave Tanzania after almost two years. It is beautiful. All these emails from friends and family overseas has got me itching to leave. I am going to Honduras for 10 days in August. I can hardly wait.

Tutaonana Baadaye

With having lived in Africa for close to two years it is now time for
me to say goodbye. I will be boarding a plane headed to America with a
backpack filled with a ridiculous amount of memories, cheap souvenir
gifts, some loose change and a piece of my heart missing.

Although I am extremely saddened by my departure I am eager to
discover what my tomorrow will bring. What I do know is that I will
see my youngest and only brother getting married, I will move back to
the East Coast to live with Katie, Nick and my beautiful, little
nephew and I will start school in the summer for Nursing. Let’s just
hope that I have as much passion for Biology, Chemistry and Physiology
as I do for Tanzania. If this is not the case, I might be packing my
backpack once again. Being a crazy, seventy year old woman in Africa
with twenty adopted children has always sounded appealing.

It has been two wonderful years. It has been two amazing years. It has
been two extraordinary years.

Two years I will never forget.

I have woken up every morning to loud mosques, incredibly obnoxious
birds, screaming children and barking dogs. I have failed miserably in
learning Swahili. I have seen poverty and have been unable to help. I
have eaten little fish called dagaa and am sure to have tasted
mysterious meat in unknown dishes. I have shed countless tears of
frustration and happiness. I have worked ridiculously hard and have
played even harder. I have truly learned what it means to be selfless.
I have sat through a five hour church service that was spoken only in
Swahili. I have ridden every mode of transportation available in East
Africa and have enjoyed the camel on the beach the most. I have
memorized the nine stories of Bugando Hospital. I have boiled water
for endless hours and have accepted the fact that it will always be
brown. I have laughed from the belly. I have become a regular at the
Duka across the street. I have had my life philosophy tweaked, changed
and moulded by children all under the age of five. I have fallen in
love with a story about a girl, a boy and a box. I have watched the
most incredible sunsets from a tree fort overlooking Lake Victoria. I
have mastered the use of a drop hole. I have been a teacher but more
importantly I have been a student. I have befriended the worm in my
toe and have accepted his existence. I have been awakened by emotions
of sorrow, heartache, passion and helplessness. I have cursed bad
roads, dust, power outages, water shortages and body odor. I have
taught a man how to fish. I have never lost hope of saving the world
with my own two hands. I have learned how to cut a pineapple
perfectly. I have respected and appreciated deeply- the local women
who have endured hardship, tragedy and loss more then I will ever
know. I have lost a piece of my heart to the children, the culture and
the land of Tanzania.

I have watched my last sunset over the shores of Lake Victoria where
the dhow boats come to life and the city falls to sleep.

See you very soon.
Meg


If you have a minute- You should check out this short film...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sE_i_lWlAw