We went out on Saturday night. It took
everybody a while to get ready and I don’t think we left until about half past
ten. We went to Empire, which was the bar I was in earlier on in the day
watching the football. I know most of the staff there from hanging out so much
last year, so it’s always a nice environment for me. There’s a pool table, and
there was a crap band playing some crap covers too. Oh well, me and Grace drank
a few beers, Jennica didn’t feel well enough to drink. I played a couple of
games of pool. It is winner stays on, and there are always quite a lot of guys
surrounding, watching, and jeering. It’s always nice beating a local, because
all of the others take the piss out of them for getting beaten by a white guy.
I got cheated out a couple of games later, and wasn’t too happy about it. But
couldn’t be bothered saying anything. I chatted to a girl called Catherine from
Boston, and then another from Gurnsey called Becki. There was a Swedish girl
there too called Nadia, she’s really cool. I like the way she dressed, and her
hair is amazing. We had a couple of tequila shots each, and then I was drunk.
We danced for an hour or so. After a few more beers, it was time to call it a
night. Grace and I couldn’t be bothered to pay for a taxi so we got on a
boda-boda. That’s a motorbike taxi. The company who I’m volunteering for get
pretty annoyed when the volunteers use these, they are notoriously a bit
sketchy, especially at night. But we got home safe, and had a great time. Then
I passed out in bed.
The next day I woke up pretty early, and I
was hungover. I headed out to try and sweat it out. I walked to the volunteer
house which I stayed in last year, hoping to find Prisca there. She is one of
the housemaids who I really liked last year. I bought her some heat packs for
her back because it’s always bad. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there. I walked
back and got ready to go and meet Cassie before I headed to see Mama Mary. I
packed my video camera and got to grips with how it worked. I called Cassie and
said I would meet her in town. I met her at friend’s corner, where the Dalla
(the public) transport leaves from to go down to Swahilini, which is where they
live. I had to wait for about ten or fifteen minutes before Cassie turned up.
It’s not a particularly safe area around there, so I kept changing places, and
made sure I had my bag against a wall most of the time. It was the first time I
had ever met Cassie, we had only previously spoken via Facebook and Skype.
She’s a really nice girl, who’s really dedicated to getting things straight at
Golgotha. She came along with Shelley, another volunteer at Golgotha, and with
another lady called Suzanne. Suzanne is volunteering at a different orphanage,
and is staying at a homestay. She wanted to come along, to experience her first
home visit, and to get a feel for what I was doing.
It was a bumpy Dalla ride. When we arrived
I started to get pretty excited. I arranged with Cassie to do a little video
introduction with Mt Meru in the background, just to explain where we were and
what we were going to do. We walked towards the house. As we got closer, a
couple of the kids recognised me and I could hear ‘teacher Zaci’ coming from
all around. I was worried that some of them would run to Mama Mary and tell her
I was coming, which would ruin the surprise a bit. We turned left off of the
small dirt road and walked towards the house. Just as I got by the house,
Agripina appeared from one of the alleys. She jumped straight into my arms, and
had a huge smile on her face. I was beaming too. She said hello to the camera,
and told me that she loved me. I asked her where her mother was, she said ‘at
home’. She held my hand and guided me around the corner towards the house. We
were just outside when Vicki came running out with a big grin on her face too,
she nearly fell over just in front of me because she was running so fast. But I
picked her up and gave her a big kiss. I was already pretty overwhelmed. With
Vicki in my arms, Mama Mary spotted me. With her hands in the air, thanking
god, she ran towards me and gave me a massive hug. We kissed and hugged, and
kissed again. In Swahili, she kept saying, ‘asante yesu’ ‘thank you god’,
‘thank you brother’, ‘welcome son’ and so on. Suzanne had started crying
already by this point. Mama Mary was jumping on the spot, thanking god again I
didn’t really know what to say, I just kept telling her that ‘it was a
pleasure’ and she ‘deserves it more than anybody’. She held my hand and took me
side, ‘karibu kaka’ ‘welcome brother’ she told me. We sat down inside, I felt
high. I’d waited and worked towards this moment for well over a year now, my
emotions were all over the place. I felt enormously proud, and shared extreme
happiness with Mama, which we’d both been waiting a long time for. We sat,
laughed, cried, hugged and kissed again. Vicki sat on my lap, and Agripina came
and sat next to me. They told me they loved me, I told them that I loved them
too. Mama Mary said a prayer.
I’m a bit funny about my religion these
days. I like to think that I am Catholic, and that there is somebody watching
over me. I just don’t like to think too much into it. I like the thought that
Mama Mary has stayed faithful her whole life, and prayed for somebody to come
and help her, and I am that person. I am no Angel, I know that, it’s just nice
to be doing something good. I’m finding this hard to write now. We sat inside
for a while longer, there were lots of children from the village in the house
now crowding around the door - they all knew what was going on. Mama sent her
eldest daughter to get us some Fanta from the shop. I shared it with the
children, and when I’d finished it off, I felt like I needed to go. I was
exhausted. I had done nothing physical the whole day, but the emotion just made
me tired. Mama Mary and the children walked with us to the Dalla stop. Mama’s
face was a picture, a mix of happiness and shock. All her life she’s been
waiting.
I went home and watched the video over, and
shared it with some other volunteers. Grace and Jennica loved it. The evening
carried on but I can’t be bothered to write about much else. That’s enough for
now.
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