On friday, Evan and I went to Chipemoyo, where our neighbor Daniela works. She goes every Friday to play with the kids and brings board games, paper, colored pencils and puzzels. We get there and walk in, all the boys dressed in worn out t-shirts, and they greet us happily (Shikamoo, marahaba), if a bit shyly. That wore off pretty quickly.
They just make up rules to their games because Daniela does not speak Swahili perfectly. We play connect 4, but the game isn't over till the board is full, and the king can do anything in checkers. They try to make the simple puzzels, and we help them out. There is one girl and she wears this nice dress, though the boys' clothes are threadbare. Their drawings seem to mainly be of houses, and I wonder if that reflects their desire to find their homes. Origame fortune-tellers without fortunes inside. They all crowd in front of Evan's camera. And behind to see the pictures and videos of themselves. They all seem so happy.
The kids are all trying to find their homes, and chipemoyo helps them do that, and also helps them have money for school in the mean time. Emmanuel, who I have seen too much of: he comes to our house every day, was there at some point, before he found this family that he is now staying with. The kids are always changing, some leaving, some arriving. 8 checked in from the streets on Friday.
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This blog serves as a record of the events and places I encounter while travelling, etc. It's called Auburn to Zanzibar not only for the nice "a to z" nature of the phrase but also since they are sufficiently far from eachother geographically I think I can include anyplace I go as being somewhere between Auburn and Zanzibar. Here is my journey.
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