Seeing all of KRO

July 5th, 2017
(Written July 5th)
(Edited and Continued July 20th)

After the school visits Talemwa, Summer and Adam took us to visit the girls' dorms. Once again, the corn was so tall!

That's Summer and Adam!

Once we hit the dirt road we saw two KRO girls carrying their coffee fire wood toward the dorm. We carried the wood for them and they walked with us. One of the girls is the daughter of the matron that's in charge of the dorms. They were both very sweet.

We got to the dorm and met mama (the matron). Talemwa showed us his classroom and the kitchen. We saw the dining hall, Summer and Adams' rooms, and the two girls we walked with gave us a tour of their bunks. They both had bottom bunks because they're older than some of the girls in their room. They were so proud of their space and with good reason! It was so tidy and there were adorable, handmade posters on the wall. One bunk had a Bible on it and there was a poster with Bible verses on the wall. 

After the dorm tour, we walked back to Tina's to get a drink; Talemwa had called his friend and got us some Stoney sodas by Cindi's request. Once we went in the gate all the KRO girls were playing on the grass, so we went over by ourselves to cool off. 

This is Stoney soda. It's a ginger root beer and it's amazing!
We probably had it every other day when we were there, but it's not sold in the US!

Once I consumed about half of my drink I ran over to meet the girls and get to know them. They knocked some passion fruit off Tina's tree and insisted I have one. They taught me how to crack it open between the heels of my hands, and I enjoyed some passion fruit for the second time in my life (the first time had been at breakfast that day). I asked them to teach me some games that they knew, so I learned four or five patty-cakeesque games. They were very patient with me and we had a lot of fun. We also did a Maasai dance where the girls sang and some of them danced with Summer and me. It's a lot of shoulder movement and ended with us all jumping in a circle. I cannot express how amazing those girls are. They are gentle, kind, sweet, loving, but get in their way and they are sassy and fierce! Whenever I was just sitting there talking to them, several girls were playing with my hair and redoing it. All of them wanted to just lean on me and I loved just leaning back onto them. We played and chatted for as long as we could, but they had to go to the dorms for their evening tutoring. All but five of the 27 girls are in primary school, and at that level all classes (except English) are taught in Swahili, but once they reach secondary school all the classes (except kiswahili) are taught in English. Kiretono gives them three hours of tutoring every night so they'll be ready for secondary school and beyond. Let me tell you how awesome these kids are! It's very common for Tanzanians to speak several language, and all of the KRO girls are trilingual! They speak Maasai, Swahili and English! They're all also at the top of their classes because of all the studying they do. After they left, we sat there realizing how tired we are while those girls went off to study. 

Right where we'd been playing on the hill, Brad, Cindi and I laid down to rest. Jill had already gone back to our house to sleep. I would have been fast asleep on that hill had Sara the dog not been begging for attention, so I just rested and took in my surroundings. There was the cow and calf grazing in front and a whole line of chickens crossing just above my head. It felt a bit surreal just sitting there. I was so fulfilled after spending so much time with those kids. We went back to the house for some rest before dinner, ate in the same way as the night before, and headed back for some shut eye. Of course it was supposed to be an earlier night, but I had to make sure I didn't forget anything. Every day is jam-packed!

Stuff like today is why I'm excited to be here! I love getting to know people, and I already love them all so much. 

Much love,

Kami

P.S. The next day we realized how tired Talemwa must have been! We'd walked about 10 kilometers, and we were exhausted. Once the girls left we got to rest, but that's when his work day started. He'd given up his time off to show us around, and then he had to go to work and tutor the girls. He's an amazing guy with a huge heart.