I have been putting off these Africa posts for far too long. My only excuse is that I wanted to adequately document my experience in Africa, to put all of my thoughts down into a perfectly composed blog post that allows you, reader, to step onto the African soil with me, to smell the gas fumes and fruit trees, to hear the rhythms, to feel the cool mountain air. This task has proven to be a little intimidating to me, to say the least. My time in Africa, though far too brief, was emotional. It was exhausting. It was beautiful. It was immensely rewarding. After sitting with these precious faces trapped within the confines of my hard drive for a month just waiting to be shared with my little internet world, I realized that words are not my gift. Photography is my gift. And so, I am just going to let the photos do the narrating and I’ll chime in when needed with excerpts from my personal journal that I kept while Daddy and I were there.
Without further ado, I bring you Africa.
July 27, 2013: “I am in a plane heading for Africa!! Aboard the Qatar Airways Flight 78 from Houston to Qatar, then a different plan from Qatar to Tanzania! My Daddy and I are taking the trip together to help out Dorris and Michael Fortson at their orphanage, Neema House. I will be doing some speech, language, and feeding therapy with the babies, and I could not be more thrilled!”
July 28, 2013, 8:45 a.m. (Texas time): “Flying over Saudi Arabia!”
… 9:27 a.m. “Stood in line for the plane bathroom for 6 minutes. Man in the bathroom has flushed the toilet 3 times. Abandon potty break.”
… 10:57 p.m. (Qatar time) “…We arrived at 6:30 p.m. so we are more than halfway there – we already managed to lose a bag – Daddy’s black carry on.”
July 29, 2013, 8:36 a.m. “We landed in Dar es Salaam! One more hour and we will be in Arusha. Last leg of our 30 hour trek to Africa – we did it! I can’t wait to meet the babies. The landscape is beautiful – both tropical and desert. So far, from the plan, we have seen a lot of palm trees, mud houses with tin roofs, dirt roads. The houses in Dar es Salaam were packed tight, like little Monopoly properties scattered on a table.”
July 31, 2013, 7:23 a.m. “I met sweet little Deborah on Monday afternoon! She was wearing a pink dress with a little cardigan, her eyes were wide and bright, glittering from the light in the window. And that toothy little smile!! The minute Dorris put her in my arms, I started crying. It’s so amazing to meet the a baby you have been supporting for so many months. When Deborah, or ‘Debo’, smiles she wrinkles her nose up and reveals all six of her teeth! Precious.”
Left: Helena, Right: Michael with Davis
Angelous
Anna, Deborah’s triplet.
Gilbert
Franky
Little Gloria
Gloria
Michael
Zawadi
Helena, taking care of her babies, both real and imaginary.
Malikia. She is blind in both eyes.
Bryony
Julius, Malikia’s twin brother.
Joyce
Praygod
Ibrahim, or “Little Cosby”, as I liked to call him because his facial expressions reminded me of Bill Cosby.
August 2, 2013, 10:37 a.m. “Woke up with a sore throat. Feeling a bit better now… I spent most of the morning outside with Helena and Joeli riding bikes and picking flowers. The day guard, Larousai, was out here playing with us, too. He is a VERY tall Masaai man. Probably stands over 6′ 5″. He has amazing white teeth that glow when he smiles – and at that, his smile is wide and bright, taking up almost a third of his long, slender face. His eyes are deep set and slightly yellow, his hair is graying. He wears a beanie just to cover the very top of his head, and he drapes a large red and orange beach towel over his shoulder as a sort of Masaai costume. He has a deep but soothing voice and when he talk to the kids, he widens his small yellow eyes and drops his voice another octave, ha! He loves these babies.”
August 1, 2013, 9:21 p.m. “Helena, the Queen Bee as I have come to call her, is the oldest baby here at age 2 1/2. Her favorite word is ‘Pama!!’ (hapana), which means ‘No!!’ I suppose 2 year olds are the same no matter the hemisphere or country.”
Right: Baraka
Right: Joeli. I really came to adore this little bug. He was the only baby who could say my name and would yell from the bottom of the stairs, “Hannah!! Hannah, come!! Hannah!!” Miss you more than ever, sweet boy.
Beulah (pronounced “Beh-OH-lah”)
Riziki
My Deborah
July 31, 2013, 9:28 p.m. “On Tuesday, I spent some time working with Franky, a little triplet who is underweight for his age. He was almost dead when Michael and Dorris found him at a Masaai village… He has the sweetest little personality and he is a SCRAPPER! As tiny as he is, that baby doesn’t let anybody walk over him! He can climb up on everything just as good as the rest of ’em.”
August 1, 2013, 9:21 p.m. “Davis and Silvamus, the twin boys, went home to their daddy today. It was sweet moment, but also sad. Joeli and Helena just wept as their little buds were leaving. I held Joeli as he reached out for them. The nannies were in tears, too. They raised these boys, so I’m sure it felt somewhat like losing their own children.”
Frida, the baby my parents sponsor.
Dorris with Gloria
Bahati
Esther, Deborah’s other triplet
Right: Angel, Angelous’ twin sister
The nannies, praising God on pay day.
Mama Musa, the head nanny, praising Jesus with that strong voice!
And that brings us to the end of Part 1. If you would like to sponsor one of the Neema House babies, please visit their website at www.tanzaniaorphanhelp.com and click on “How to Help/Donate” in the upper right corner. Only 7 of the 25+ babies are fully sponsored right now, and they need you!
Wide eyes and bright smiles,
HK