Familia Yangu

This post is going to be dedicated to my current host family because they are wonderful and they deserve to be recognized.

Haika, ~mid-30's?, mother. Haika works at TCDC, the training center where we have all of our classes. She is a secretary in the marketing department, so I travel to TCDC with her every morning, which results in my arrival at 7:30 (classes start at 8:30). She speaks English pretty well, so she is my personal translator whenever I am at home. She is extremely sweet and caring and takes such good care of me. She worries about me just as much as Mama Haac does at home, if you can believe that!

Adam, ~37, father. Adam also works at TCDC, as an electrician. He was on a retreat in Kenya with many of the TCDC employees until Sunday evening, so I haven't spent as much time with him yet. But so far he seems like a big teddy bear. He is a pretty big guy with a huge smile. He speaks a good amount of English, but really challenges me to speak in Kiswahili. On Monday night, we sat in the living for over an hour, while the electricity was out (a common occurrence) with him asking me questions slowly in Kiswahili. He would translate the words that I didn't understand so that I could add them to my ever-growing list of Kiswahili words.

Jimi, 17, son/brother. Jimi speaks English very well since he attends a school where everything is taught in English. Students get punished if they do not speak in English. He is taking an exam in about a month that determines where he will go for college/university. I was looking at his biology question/answer review book, and they really cover a wide variety of subjects. Jimi meets me at the entrance to our neighborhood every evening, where I am dropped off after classes. He is my protector whenever we go out. It is nice having someone in the family who is close to my age so that I can see what life is like for him. He will be going back to school in a couple of weeks (he stays in a dormitory there), but he will probably come home on the weekends to hang out with me. :)

Colin, ~9, son/brother. Colin is in school and speaks some English but not enough for me to have full conversations with him. He usually helps to translate words when I am talking to Christian. He is pretty shy and quiet, but I am sure that I will get to know him better in the coming weeks.

Christian, 3, son/brother. Christian is a real cutie. Our house never gets boring when Christian is there. I love when he bursts out singing songs that he has learned in school, such as Baa Baa Black Sheep or Twinkle Twinkle. It is hilarious to hear how he pronounces all the words. I gave him a kids' book of animal names that Mom found at Goodwill and he LOVES looking at it with me. I teach him the English words and he teaches me the Kiswahili words. He comes up to me and says "Jili!! I want elephant book!". It is so darn cute.

Wini, ~17, girl with a troubled past that has come to live with my family. Haika told me that her parents could not take care of her when she was born, so she was given to the neighbors. They took care of her up until about a year ago, when they said that they could no longer support her. Haika told me that Wini was very upset and suicidal, so Haiki brought her to live with her family. Haika loves everyone, and I am pretty sure that she would open up her home to anyone in need. The woman that Wini grew up with passed away last weekend, so Wini left this mornign to go to Moshi for the funeral. Wini does not speak much English, so it is difficult for us to communicate. I have started to learn more Kiswahili, so I know how to say some things, at least enough to be polite and ask a few questions. She attends school some days, but she does a lot of the cooking/cleaning/chores in the house. Yesterday I arrived home to find my stack of dirty laundry gone, only to find all of the clothes cleaned, ironed and folded on my shelf. I definitely did not expect them to do my laundry (I was going to pay to have it done at TCDC), so it was a huge surprise. Though I feel very guilty that she took the time to do that, I have not yet figured out how to handle the situation.

Mary, ~18, "nanny". So Mary was introduced to me as the nanny, but I have not seen her perform much child care. I think she is more like a "house helper." She also does a lot of the cooking, cleaning, etc. She speaks limited English, so we do a lot of communicating through smiles.

We also have 2 dogs who live outside of the house for security. I don't really see them much, but I definitely hear them at night when they bark outside of my window. Thankfully, it doesn't usually last for long.

Kiswahili Translations of the Day:
Mimi ninapenda kunywa bia. - I like to drink beer.
Shaglabagla - confusing (this is the funniest word that I have encountered thus far)
mshumaa - candle (learned this while the power was out)
Simama - stand up, Kaa-sit down, Ruka - jump, Tembea - walk (all of these words are used in a song, it is quite fun)
mhandisi- engineer

Time to start class. Love you all!