I hope this post finds you all in good spirits!
My last post saw us leaving Mount.Kilimanjaro after a successful ascent to the summit with very high spirits. We had gone back to our hotel eventually overnight and the following morning saw us leave Moshi to travel onto Arusha in readiness for our three day safari.
We had reached the Outpost Lodge which was to be our new home for a couple of days. After getting our gear into our room ( it was a family room this time) so Bec's, Ali and myself were sharing together. Mussa left us with the agreement he would pick us up early the next morning to go shopping for our trip to Osliligi Orphanage. We went off wandering down to the town for a look around, strolled around for a few hours absorbing the views and atmosphere.
So the reason we were going to be doing this for Osiligi Orphanage actually came from emails between ourselves and Mussa long before we boarded the plane to Tanzania. We had asked him about local charities/ schools etc and what the needs were. We always wanted to be able to do something, no matter how small to help out. Mussa told us about the Osiligi Orphanage - a small Orphanage that his company Wild Secret Safari donates a percentage of every booking to help maintain it. It currently has eleven children and is run completely off donations. There is no government help whatsoever.
So we established that we wanted to do our bit for Osiligi and asked what were the priorities for it. Mussa said in order of priority was 1. food 2. school supplies 3. Toys. We girls talked and said we would fit as much in our suitcases in regards to crayons, exercise books, pencils etc as our very large Kilimanjaro kit would allow ( it wasn't going to be much, but we would try our best ) I have to say between the three of us we did pretty well!
I emailed Mussa and asked if it would be possible for us to go food shopping for Osiligi after we came off the mountain and have it taken to them. He very kindly offered to take us when we had moved onto Arusha from Moshi as it was closer to the orphanage. I said that was really kind of him and we were very happy to know we could do this and donate it to them. He made our day when he said he would sort it so we could take the food ourselves and meet everyone at the orphanage. How amazing was this going to be!
So February 10th ( Happy birthday Mum!! ) we were going shopping and visiting Osiligi Orphanage.
No this isn't how the orphanage looks - but the actual doodle in my travel journal, a doodle I did while recounting our amazing day to paper.( my travel journal is littered with various doodles! )
So after breakfast Mussa met us at the Outpost and off we set to buy our supplies with an addition to our party. Dom our new friend who had climbed Kili with us heard what we had arranged to do and asked if he could be part of it. We of course said yes and welcomed him on our day. Off to the supermarket we went where we filled a trolley with various food stuffs and of course sweeties for the children ( they had to have some treats! ) Mussa was invaluable with helping choose things that would be needed and liked by everyone. We as well as food got new toothbrushes and toothpaste etc.
After paying and loading our buys into the car we were off to the local fresh produce markets for the staples of rice, ugali, meat as well as plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit. This was an adventure in itself to wander through the market with the locals. I love anything like this, anything that takes you off the tourist trail is fantastic in my book. I love to be where the locals go, so was totally in my element. Again we totally relied on Mussa and the market stall owners for the amounts and products we were to buy. Loved it, everyone was so friendly. A great morning shopping was had by all!
So we bought all the fresh vegetables and fruit from one seller, a lady Mussa uses a lot. She was wonderful, very helpful and of course full of smiles. We left her bagging everything up and getting a price for us and went off to another part of the market to get the rice and ugali sacks. Ugali is cornflour which is mixed to a mashed potato consistency and is used by locals to fill the belly. It is the most common used staple in the African great lakes region. We paid for our rice and ugali and moved onto the butchers.
Here we were to only get a couple of kg's of meat as there is no fridge at the orphanage so buying in bulk wasn't an option, Mussa said the couple of kg's would be great. It from our point of view was grim, the meat hanging in the open, flies everywhere. The butcher made Sweeney Todd look like an angel!! It's things like this that remind you how privileged we are in the West with all our taken for granted mod cons like fridges! We were all happy to pay and move on from the butchers - especially poor Bec's who is a vegetarian, I think outside that butchers we could have all easily converted and joined her!
We went back to pay for our fruit and vegetables, paid the lads who carried it all to the car for us and thanked them for their help.
We were dropped off at Tiggbucks ( Tanzanian version of Starbucks ) by Mussa for lunch and he said he'd be back for us after about an hour. He had a couple of things to finalize for our safari trip which started the next day. We had a very pleasant leisurely lunch with a soda and relived the excitement of our shopping that morning, especially the local produce market! Soon it was time to be picked up by Mussa and our long awaited visit to Osiligi Orphanage.
The orphanage was a little way out of Arusha near one of the villages - sorry I cannot remember the name of it. When we got out of the car we were greeted by Michael the founder of Osiligi and Robert the youngest of the orphanages occupants. Robert is three and a half. It was so very sweet, he came and shook our hands...it really made your heart melt! He had his church best on for our visit and looked very, very dapper! His white shirt was under his waistcoat and he had black pants on. So very handsome!
The other children were still at school but would be back home shortly. Michael took us into the house were we met his wife. Micheal told us how he'd come about setting up the orphanage in the first place. Michael and his wife have two children of their own, but couldn't stand to see the young orphans out on the street hoping to be fed by the villagers.
Almost all of the eleven children were victims of parents with HIV that were either deceased or had been abandoned by their parents who believed they stood a better chance of survival alone than with parents who were shunned because of the HIV status. The villagers would contact Michael about an abandoned child, whom he would go collect and give a new chance at life and a better future.
We looked through photo albums of the children as Michael relayed how Osiligi came about. Their background information showed how hard their beginning in life had been, the sadness of losing parents or being abandoned by them. Those who were old enough were all attending school and that was brilliant, a wonderfully positive focus for these amazing children. That mixed with the love and attention they received at the orphanage had the children really well adjusted after traumas suffered for some very recently. Truly humbling experience.
The children started coming in from school and naturally felt shy as they walked in the door and saw a bunch of strangers sat there, as well as some familiar faces. Little Robert was sharing his time between Mussa and Alphonse which was sweet to watch. The guys were really great with the little lad and it was plain to see that the children saw plenty of Mussa and Alphonse.
Once all the older children had arrived back they congregated in the living room and started singing to us. It was lovely and they sang very well together, all smartly standing in their school uniforms. Little Robert went and joined them for the songs also.
The older children are all aged between six and eleven. They introduced themselves individually and told us what they wanted to be when they grew up.....this part is obviously well practiced but a necessity when trying to secure donations and sponsorship for themselves and the orphanage. Children need to be sponsored for their school educations.
Here is an information board that tells about each child at the orphanage, I'm adding a couple of close ups so you can read for yourselves the start these children have had in life.
We laughed with the children, doing jigsaw puzzles, playing games. The kids were amazing and loved our time together, you should have seen them in hysterics when we were playing Goose Duck with them!
Their English was really good and I had them telling me in English what the picture card was and if it was an animal - what sound it made....really fun afternoon had by all.
The girls took Ali & Bec's off to see their bedroom and the boys took me to see theirs. The girls were saying the boys were smelly.....too funny, it's a universal thing - all girls think boys are smelly!!
So we had the best of times and after a fabulous couple of hours it was time to take our leave. We sat for one last photo of us all together - something for us to cherish.
It was an amazing day, so humbling and rewarding at the same time. The children were really happy and well adjusted especially after the very sad start to life they had all experienced. It was very clear to see how well looked after they were. It was with hearts full of admiration for Michael and his wife and their massive efforts to give these children a chance in life. A very big thank you to Mussa and Alphonse for taking us and their unwavering support of Osiligi Orphanage.
We finally left after many hugs and smiles to Michael's work in progress new orphanage. It is slowly getting built from donations and will be much bigger than the current one. Once it is completed, it will be able to home twenty four children. Through the dedication of these people even more orphaned and abandoned children will get a chance of a future.
If I ever get back to Tanzania - I will be making sure to visit Osiligi again.
Until next time
Tracy
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