Safari in Kiswahili

Tanzania, Africa — Safari in Kiswahili has a simple definition: journey. For me, there is no more wonderful a journey than the one I made to Tanzania, Africa in May of this year. After 21 hours of travel, I arrived in Kilamanjaro in the total dark of the African night and was greeted by my wonderful driver, Matthey. Matthey was my driver for the entire week I was in Africa and was the finder of my African heart.

After seeing many breath-taking sites including Lake Maynara National Park, famous Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park, and the world's most phenomenal wildlife in its most natural habitat, Matthey found for me the AC Day Care and Orphanage Center, my African heart.

With all of its majesty, Africa has great needs. I could take two suitcases of 50 pounds with me. I needed around 25 pounds for myself. I packed one suitcase with 50 pounds of love (children's vitamins, vitamin c, flip flops, Neosporin, band aids, clothing, and toys, just to name a few things) and asked my driver to get me to a local orphanage. Matthey found me a lovely orphanage outside of Lake Maynara. He was so excited about being a part of this journey, being an orphan himself. A local woman, Angela was caring for 10 orphaned children and ran a local day care for the neighborhood children. I spent the evening with the children and we sang and danced and enjoyed each others' company. Angela has no government or regular help in caring for this orphanage. She told me that there were times that the children had to go to sleep without having eaten that day. The joyful faces of these children are forever in my mind and heart. It was fate that I arrived at her doorstep and now I find myself responsible for continued care. I am currently applying for a non-profit status to help the small community orphans that do not qualify for world-wide funding and looking for others who can help.