I’m going to atttempt to describe a day in the life at KCJF.  First thing to know is that KCJF operates out of two homes.  We’re spending our time at the home in Boma.  Four kids live at the house in Machame, and I’m guessing 50 kids live at the house in Boma. The rest are away at boarding school.

We drive from Moshi on a paved two lane road for about 30 minutes to Boma.  This is the main road. People on foot, on bicycles, cars, trucks, and buses all share this road.  We see people carrying huge loads of wood, we stop for donkeys, goats, cows.  Women balance tubs of water on their heads.

Once we reach Boma, we turn into an unmarked neighborhood with unpaved roads.  We bounce down this road, avoiding big potholes and puddles of water.  Kids stare, smile and wave.  Some say hi.

We wind our way to the very end of this neighborhood.  It takes about 10 minutes.

KCJF is unmistakable because of the massive amounts of clothes hanging to dry outside the front of the house.  Usually when we arrive, they have just finished washing.  Washing takes a very long time. 

There are 3 girls who are 19 or 20 years old, and are in between semesters at school.  There is another girl in her late teens, and there is a boy of about 20 who is waiting for tuition to return to school.  All of them help Mama Lucy take care of things.

Mama Lucy usually also has at least a couple volunteers who cook and look after the kids.  Seems like every child over the age of 12 helps out, taking the smaller ones to the bathroom, feeding, cleaning, etc.  There is always something to be done.

There are 3 children who are 2 years old.  One is very talkative, the other two are very quiet.  There are about 30 kids who are between the ages of 4 and 11.  And there are about 15-20 kids between the ages of 11 and 15.  It’s hard to guess their ages because many are so small for their age.

When we pull up, we usually hear screams of delight.  Then several little faces appear in between the wood slats that make up the gated entrance.

Some make their way outside, gathering around the car before we even manage to get out.  There are little hands grabbing your fingers, grabbing your skirt instantly.  The littlest ones walk right up to you and ask to be picked up. 

The oldest girls come out and warmly greet you, taking your bags before you even realize what they’re doing, telling you “karibu sana,” which means “you are very welcome.”  By now you are holding at least one child and there are a couple of others standing by.

Imagine a ranch style house with a fenced in area in front and you’ll get a picture of what the house in Boma looks like.  The kids are usually in “class” in this fenced area by the time we arrive. Everything happens in the fenced area.  Little desks are set up and there are blackboards around.  Foreign volunteers or the older children teach the young kids reading, English and math.

At some point, they start singing, as Amanda says “at any random moment.” They will sing for a long time.  They dance. Some kick a ball around the open area.  Others are helping prepare the next meal.  Some are cleaning.  Some go into the front yard and play.

If there is food, it takes a long time to cook it on a fire stove.  They serve the little children first, making sure that the youngest ones have as much to eat as they want.  The older ones help the young ones eat and wait until they are done, then they eat whatever food is left.

Then they clean.  Imagine washing 60 dinner plates with a couple of buckets of water!  Then they wash the kids, in part because the kids eat with their hands.  After dinner time, they sing songs again and then go to sleep. 

The kids sleep 2 or 3 to a twin bed, and the twins beds are stacked in bunks.  There are 3-4 bunks per room.  Boys and girls are separated, and the older girls sleep in rooms with the young kids to supervise and assist during the night.  Mama Lucy sleeps with the kids. 

A few of the kids wake up during the night.  I doubt that Mama Lucy and the older kids have slept through an entire night in quite a long time.

Since there are so many kids, Mama takes turns with privileges.  She rotates who will accompany her on her outings.  For the most part, the kids seem ok with it, and it’s rare to hear a child cry.  It’s astounding, even more so given the sheer number of kids there: we may hear one child cry once during the course of a day.

manka This entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.