Fact: I'm sweating.

It is 8:30 in the morning here in Dar and I am already sweating. The air conditioner in our room is on but is I think it is actually blowing warm air. But it is tough to complain in a place where so many others live with so little.
The last few days have been pretty busy. Yesterday we went to visit an orphanage that was in a rural area. It was nice to go out into the country. The air was fresher compared to the city. The orphanage is run by two American missionaries who have lived all over the world and have 9 children of their own. There are 17 children living permanently at the orphanage we visited. They also have children who are recovering from surgeries stay with them while they recover. As soon as we arrived at the orphanage all the children came running up to us and each one gave us a hug. I felt like I should have been wearing a Superman cape. Here I am to save the day! I say this in a self-mocking manner. The "white person to the rescue" issue has been a struggle. More on that later. We then went and sat on some benches while the children sang and did a dance for us. I was a little embarassed that these young children were much better dancers than me and had a lot more rhythm than me. If you've ever seen me dance this should not come as a surprise though.
We also played some games with all the kids.I worked up a sweat (which is not hard to do here) by trying to outrun some of the kids while playing duck duck goose. My pride took a real hit after losing a race to a 7 year old girl. I blame it on the altitude and the thin air. (Note: In 2002 I broke my own record in the LCS parking lot by cracking the one minute mark in the 100m dash)
Before we went to the orphanage I was worried that I would have a hard time seeing a bunch of sad children who have already been through more than most of us go through in an entire life time. I was surprised and happy to see how full of life and excitment all the kids there were. I know it is not always easy, but yesterday they were all laughing and smiling almost the entire time we were there. On the drive home, Robert, the husband who runs the orphanage, told us some of the stories of the children and how they ended up there. Many of them lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, others were being abused before someone brought them there. It is hard to hear the stories. I just kept thinking "They are just kids." It also made me feel insignificant. I have been struggling with the "short term" work that many western people and organizations do in places such as this. We come here for a few weeks or months, visit some poor kids, feel like we made a difference then go home and nothing really changes. One thing Jen and I are hoping to do is build one or several permanent, long term relationships with a person or group here who we can help from back home. Being here has given me a new appreciation for people who come and live here permanently and spend their life with the people here.
This week we are also starting our Swahili lessons. The first thing I learned about Swahili is that it's actually spelled "Kiswahili." If you say "I knew that" I don't believe you. A silent "K" is one thing, but TWO silent letters to start a word? Fascinating...
I have been trying to learn the language from some of our taxi drivers. So far I've learned that characters from The Lion King are actually Swahili words, ie: Simba means "Lion" in Swahili. Rafiki means "friend." Still no word on what the literal translation for "Scar" is.
Jennifer has gone to eat breakfast and I think I may have missed it. Thankfully there is still some nutella left in my little stash of food. I think I also have some pringles. Time to get this day started on the right foot with some pringles dipped in nutella.