Sunday, April 03, 2011

Leaving for home





We spent the weekend in Dar es Salaam so that we could see the kids from Boona Baana, Malinga and Isaack's orphanage. Malinga used his birthday gift money (he waived gifdts this year) to take the kids out for a nice dinner. The kids have grown so much and turned into wonderful young men and womne.
Pictured here are Linus, Isaack (X2), Amina, Mandara, Eliza at Sea Cliff. We went to Spur's for dinner...kind of like South African Ponderosa. It was a fun night. I have also included pics of our taxi ride there...a Bajaji ride...Hannah can't stop talking about it.

Tender Mama's Spa Service




Hannah and her friend Magali decided to open their own spa service apptly called Tender Mama's Spa service. You were 'mostly welcome' as they say here in Tanzania to any service you desired (or a combination thereof). For those of you who know Hannah, even a little bit, you will know that she can be relentless when she gets an idea in her head....she will ask you if you want a massage or a facial or a pedicure over and over again until you say YES. Then you need to receive your wonderful service and hurry up and pay her! She is going to make us a lot of money someday.
Our friend Charlie was one of Hannah's esteemed customers...that is real avacado on her face...they are in season and just falling off the trees here.

Shakira has arrived!




My good friend Abbas and his wife Neema just had a baby girl. A sister to their son Shakur. They named her Shakira!!
The pictures say it all...she is beautiful and we were awaiting her arrival for most of our time here.
Congratulations Abbas, Neema and Shakur. Welcome to the world Shakira!

soccer days in Moshi








There will be many amazing memories created for Isaack, Malinga, Jack and Roman who played soccer at sunset on several day seach week.
They play on dust not grass.....just imagine the dirt!

Malinga's Adoption is almost final

We have made some major progress with respect to Malinga`s adoption here in Tanzania. We presented to the High Court of Tanzania on March 14th only to discover that the judge who was presiding over our case was ill and would not appear that day. We were told to return on the 21st and this time he appeared but, our social worker (who was also present) had not yet filed our final social welfare report. He delayed us for another 2 days to allow time for her to file the report with the court...he was being very accommodating because Mama Minde, our lawyer, had informed him that we were returning to Canada on April 2nd. We were very grateful for the kind treatment since that same court had lost our previous file and not allowed us to re-file a copy of it for a whole year...when they were absolutely sure it was definitely lost!
We were all a little strung out after 3 separate trips to the court house but the judge was in a good mood (although very serious too) that morning. He asked Roman and I to each swear that we promised to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help us God. He then asked questions like ‘how can you prove that you love this child as much as your other children’ and ‘how can you prove that you will be able to provide for him for his whole life?’ and he asked Malinga ‘do these people treat you the same way as they treat their other children?’ ....it was pretty intense. I teared up at one point as wel because Roman had to go first and he said some pretty wonderful things about how much he loved Malinga as a son and it made me want to marry him all over again...we have learned a lot about ourselves, our marriage and being parents through this process.
The judge then wrote some stuff in his notebook and said ok, I will grant the order for adoption and you can pick it up on Friday...and that was it.
We now have to submit these documents in Canada to have his adoption processed by Social services in Ontario. Not sure what kind of obstacles we will face on the other end as we try to make Malinga truly Canadian. I am sure there will be a few.
Oh, and in case you are wondering...his new name will be Malinga Yeates Zablocki (Yeates is his new middle name..not hyphenated with Zablocki). I wanted to get a bit of the Yeates name in there...I think having it as his middle name is the perfect compromise.
It has been quite a journey so far..but as my friend Caroline always says..’everything worth having is worth waiting for,.....

Making chappatti and eating bugs in Moshi




Hannah, Malinga and Jack have become quite the Tanzanians. They have a little routine every morning with Daisy, their tutor. At about 10:30 they walk around the corner to the chapatti stand and buy freshly made chapatti and fried cassava. The chapatti`s from the stand are kind of like oily pita bread but they taste delicious. Over time, Hannah and her friend Magalie (whose mom and dad are staying with us this month) asked the chapatti lady how to make them. They then went to the duka (store) on the corner and bought corn flour. Sam, Magalie`s dad helped them make chapatti on a rainy Saturday morning. Hannah made one that looked like a happy face and then carried it around to the lady at the chapatti stand for a taste test. She told them it was `’nzuri sana, or very good! Her friend at the stand also tasted it and said...chumvi..which means salt..meaning it needs more salt...she was always a little bit grumpy at the best of times.
On that same rainy Saturday we had a big downpour and Malinga immediately noticed that the ‘termites’ were out. These termites are actually like larva with wings and according to many Tanzanians, they are quite the delicacy. Malinga told the other kids that he had eaten these bugs in his previously life in Tanzania..so, of course everyone wanted a chance to taste them. The kids proceeded to collect a bunch of the bugs and then they friend them in butter and salt (in my perfectly good frying pan!)....Jack was the first to try them. He said they taste like French fries....Malinga ate a few and Hannah chickened out...as did mom and dad.....I have tolerated a lot of ‘firsts, in Tanzania, but eating a big white larva –like bug was not going to be one of them!