Easter Day

A very (belated) happy Easter to everyone!

This was an Easter I will never forget - I spent it at an African Orphanage.

The Bourka group of volunteers go regularly to an orphanage just outside Ngaramtoni, North of Arusha, so they invited us along. We went to their church service which was bursting at the seams with singing and dancing, helped hand out three huge bags of clothes recently donated, and ate ugali with the founder, Jane.

Jane, an inspirational childless woman, felt she had three visions from God in dreams five years ago guiding her to look after the local children. She now takes care of 5 kids as her own and runs a drop-in style orphanage serving 250. Not all of the children have lost both parents - most live with grandparents or surviving parent and use the orphanage as an escape, support and place to simply have fun. Everything Jane does is rooted in her incredibly strong born-again belief in God: "people do not understand why I do this - they think it is like a business - but it is all the will of the Lord. There may be future Bishops here, so I must take care of them".

Having said that the Comic Relief image is just that, an image, I may have to admit to some exceptions. Granted, I was only there for a few hours but the cliche that the less you have the happier you are really appeared to be true. These children just want love, so unlike some of the Sekei kids, when they want a hug or to be your friend they do not expect anything in return. During the service a little girl came and sat on my lap, and fell asleep cradled in my arms - one of those deeply touching moments that stay with you for a long time! They were so excited to get the new clothes that were donated by a local Pastor - a new outfit is always something to strut around in wherever you are!

There is one mama who makes the lunchtime ugali in the biggest pot I've ever seen. The orphanage obviously gets a fair bit of aid, as they have a brilliant water pump in the yard - the sort you send as Oxfam Xmas cards. I'm pleased to report they are well worth buying, they've made a big difference. We all squeezed into the office to have lunch with Jane and her husband, which was such fun. They've lots of amusing stories (such as Jane having a spell cast on her by a witch doctor so she would marry her Maasai husband!!) and I'm not sure you could have crammed in any more of Jane's poignant speeches!

I'm so glad I went along - it was such a memorable and insightful day, and took the edge off missing my friends and family!

Lxxx