Habari za asabuoyi warafiki!

"Good morning friends!"

I hope everyone at home is doing well.

We have definitely been busy here!! We were transfered from moshitown to shanty town where our friends Dusty and Marlana(sp) live. The camp or "outdoor centre" there is where we stayed. We were greeted by our fellow volunteers, the EIT team (Ekklessia International Tanzania).

The camp hosts are pretty awesome. One Brit, one Scot, and one American. To my knowledge, they built this whole camp! It is actually quite big! There's a soccer field where we played outdoor games with the watoto, there's a ropes course, a "mine field" course, a few scavenger hunt game areas, another few team challenge areas, and the 'en-geti' which is the actual camp where they room and eat. While we are here, we are in the process of building an archery centre and a REALLY long zip-line! I WANT TO GET ON IT SO BAD!

It's quite impressive, actually.
The first day we were there, we all got to help with the construction before the watoto got to the camp. (While we were working and getting rid of our arm jiggle (lol) we found mbille (2) chamelions! what!? we pay like a million dollars for them in the states! and we found TWO!!! we named them "Claro" and "malo" which mean "yes, of course" and "mad" in spanish. (yes, we are speaking spanish in a swahili-speaking country... so sue us.)

We cleared out alot of land, and Cubwah ("big" or Cody) and the other men did a ton of work building the support for the zip line.

once the kids got there, we went and entertained them for a bit before dinner.
After dinner, we had our first "session" or "devotions."

I played a little guitar and Alanna and Lauren helped me sing "every move I make" with the moves. the kids loved that!
They taught us some of their songs too!! :) one little girl in particular, Witiness, is such a great singer! and shes only 10!! :D

We told them that "We can trust that God loves us because He created us."
It was quite difficult because none of them spoke hardly any english. The translator helped SO much, but it takes double the amount of time to communicate anything, really.

Afterwards, we all went to bed, because we were actually exhausted lol. kids are exhausting. Especially 16 little ones! HOW DO TEACHERS DO IT!?

The kids had to have been up by 5something AM the next morning because they were all SO loud outside the rooms!! We did breakfast, second devotion, games, snack, ropes course, dinner, and then devotions again.. The Devotions were pretty cool. Alanna and Cody talked about how "we Know God loves us because He sent Jesus to die for us."

The games were all so fun. we played simple games like "duck duck goose" and they had a BLAST! :D Cody WIPED OUT cause the grass was so wet, and Alanna got wiped out ON!! it was actually very entertaining! :D

The night devotion was definitely everyone's favorite because we got to dress up sooo silly and put on a skit for the kids. The night devotion was about "we should love others because God loves us." The kids freaked out when they saw us with crazy hair and bright colors and streamers and silly glasses and leis! They all wanted them!

Afterwards, some of the watoto actually sang and did some dramas. I loved hearing their big voices singing to their God about how thankful they were and about how Jesus stood up in heaven when no one else would, and came to die for us. I loved it.. so much.


Afterwards, we were quite exhausted, once again, and went to lala salama (have a peaceful sleep.)
This morning, we continued the construction, like the last few days, and enjoyed our last few hours with the children.

It's been so incredible to get to know them, even with the language barrier. They all know the universal language.... LOVE. I did the devotion for the team this morning about "When you love with a pure heart, you can't help but to give your all."

It's so true isnt it? When you love purely and wholly, you give everything... and it hurts, but its actually healing, and its refreshing, and its amazing. and that's the love of Christ.


I love this experience. I really hope everyone can get a chance to do something like this, if not in Africa, then anywhere possible. Yes, we're halfway across the world, but you've got your neighbor, your best friend, your mom, your brother, your enemy... anyone and everyone.


So go ahead!

Make a difference!!!!



With all my love,



Christiana <3