Amani Update

Jambo,

It's me again. I just wanted to get you an update on how the first day at Amani went (the main reason for this blog).

First a little background:

I had no idea what this country is going through and didn't realize that it is the seventh poorest country in the world. You would think because of tourism and the beauty of the land that the people would be better off than neighboring Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. But such is not the case. Tanzania withdrew from the Eastern Africa Alliance because so many educated people from other countries were coming in and taking most of the few skilled positions that are available. Most make only 1 to 3 dollars per day for an incredibly hard day’s work. Most are farmers, some others choose to work the mountain (I will describe their duties in the coming posts; so incredible), or they can work the mines (very dangerous). The government does not make it easy for children to get an education. Families have to spend money on books and uniforms for each year that their child attends and therefore many go without any kind of education. Amani provides something that no one else will, a place where street children can go to be safe and have the opportunity to grow up in a healthy environment.

OK, I will talk a bit more about Amani and how the donations were spent in coming posts but I wanted to just give you all a quick update as to how the day went at Amani. One thing I had to do before going there was to think of something to do with them that was entertaining and fun (like games, sports etc.). So going back to my early teen roots, I decided to give them an impromptu magic show. :-) Now this is funny, I was setting up at a gazebo in the back when Joe told the kids inside that there would be a magic show starting out back and if anyone was interested to go toward the gazebo. Then next then you know, I had 75 kids running toward me (wish I could have gotten that on film). They don't ever get to see anything like this EVER. Needless to say I got a lot of "do it again" in Swahili thrown at me. Amazing!

These kids are so special, all they want is love and don't ask for much. For all that I collected and donated, I raised a total of $700 that went toward buying rice, beans, sugar, cooking oil and salt. I went to the market with the supply manager and got a truck load after negotiating for several minutes. :) Thank you all so much for donating! The amount that was bought today will feed 93 children for two months. Pretty incredible if you think about how far that goes. Also, I came just at the right time as they were down to two bags of rice. Amani is completely self sufficient and do not get any support from the government so this little bit went a long way. Asante Sana everyone!

Well, I will be posting my entire trip in the next couple of days including photos and video (will take a bit longer for that) so check back in a few to get the latest.

Take care for now,
Asante,
Tony