We drove through the bustling morning market in the centre of Arusha where Sue bought her supplies when she lived here.
Market in Arusha
We stopped off at a very tiny shop that sold the Maasai Shakka cloaks all in their vivid colours.
From there we travelled to Olkokola where we visited The Plaster House Project that Sue has had contact with over the years. A New Zealand/Australian physiotherapist established the Plaster House to help the African people especially children in need of operations etc. Initially she worked from old sheds in the dust until she raised enough money to build the Plaster House with a nice clean central grass courtyard and a Montessori classroom, 3 dormitories each with 20 beds. This is all run by volunteers with surgeons from the US carrying out the operations at the main Arusha hospital then they come back to the Plaster House to recover. These children brought tears to your eyes. A lot of clubfeet ops, bad burns, some with crumbling bones due to too much fluoride in their water. Spinal bifida & hydrocephalus some with both. Sad young mums rocking their precious wee babies in their arms. Others waiting for prosthetics. The whole place had a caring, safe and happy feel about it and depends solely on donations.
Our next stop was a visit to the Maasai community who are adapting from their nomadic ways. Sue has been involved with this group since 1998 and initially helped 3 of the local women get this project underway. This is not a tourist area but we received the most amazing welcome as we arrived at their gate. They're always happy to see Sue again
They allowed us to look into one of their homes and sang and danced for us.
Inside a Maasai house 2or3 rooms newspaper for the wallpaper. One couch and one homemade looking bed
These women have been rescued from very hard lives.
We had our usual picnic lunch down the road at a Community Education Centre where anyone from the community was welcome into their training programs & had a variety of workshops. All linked with the Maasai Community.
Next was our visit to a farm. We met up with a local vet that Sue knows and he took us to a clients farm where the farmer showed us how he made a living off 3 acres. He sold chickens, eggs and milked 3 cows along with 1 for beef. The cows were housed and fed in a smelly shed all day. He seemed reasonably well off.
Chicks
Sitting around after our farm tour chatting with the vet, farmer & his son
From here we drove out to our beautiful forest lodge accommodation previously an old German home Ngare Sero Mountain Lodge where we rest for the next 2 nights.
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