My African Birthday

Sorry it’s been so long since I wrote last. I have been very busy at school lately and by the time I am done with teaching and preparing for the next day I am too tired to ride the dalla dalla to the internet café.

I had my birthday in Africa. It was amazing. I woke up on the 2nd at 5:30 a.m. and sat in bed and began to hear my students get up. The next thing I knew I heard a knock on my door and when I went to open it I saw all of my boarder students outside with a big sign reading “Happy Birthday Sister Ema we love you” with hearts, stars and a picture of the house I live in drawn on it. I went back inside and showered and got ready and came outside to sit with Teacher Patrick. I was told that today I was to be like a baby and do nothing all day. That lasted for about an hour until I realized that all I wanted to do was know what was happening so I begged Lornah and Phoibe to let me get involved. Lornah showed me around. She brought me to the kitchen to see the students cooking pilau, which is rice with cinnamon, onions, tomatoes, cumin, garlic and stewed meat. Pilau is served with pili pili, a spicy pepper sauce and a nice cooling salad made with grated carrots, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers with a vinegar tasting sauce. The boys were in the nursery school setting up music and arranging desks. They were all singing and laughing. I spent a few hours watching students cook and preparing the order of events for the day.

At 12:45 p.m. the event started. I walked with Teacher Phoibe into the nursery school and all the 75 students started singing Happy Birthday. I was led to a couch covered in a sheet and coated in flowers. The table in front of me had love written on it and was covered in flowers. The silverware had pink and white flowers attached to them, the glasses had flowers and I put a flower in my hair. Two students prayed: Yassin (Muslim) and Samuel (Christian). Then Lornah gave a brief speech about why we were here and that the students shouldn’t asked my age. A student, Lusajo, did a drama in English where he talked on the phone with someone in America in a silly accent telling him all about my party and how pretty I was and how the American on the phone should come immediately to the party because we were all waiting for him. Then we ate, the food was amazing. Then Mama Neema showed up with cake and we had a very sugary cake, which we cut into 1 inch sized pieces so everybody could get some. A student Neema and Teacher Kamili both gaves speeches about me and thanked me for being here. Then it was time for gifts. The day scholars bought me a beautiful pink and yellow kangha with pretty flowers. The cook bought me another beautiful blue kangha. A kangha is a wrap around fabric that you can have sewn into anything. The boarders sang two songs with choreographed moves and gave me a beaded bracelet, the color of the Tanzanian flag. One girl student gave me a beautiful beaded necklace. Teacher Lornah crocheted me a bag. Teacher Phoibe gave me a beautiful pink scarf. Then it was my turn. I stood up, thanked everyone, I was pretty choked up and amazed that I didn’t start crying with happiness. Then I got to give out t-shirts to the best scholars as my little gift to the students after all they did for me. We ended with a dance and I was lucky enough to get to start the dance to much applause from the students. I dragged students up one by one to get them to start dancing and I even danced with Teacher Kamili. I supervised the dance for the rest of the night. I was blissfully happy.

I have a little less than two weeks here and I am starting to get excited to come home. I am really excited for a shower and seeing everyone in Seattle.