Amani Orphange

Yesterday was our second to last day in Tanzania. We had the pleasure of of visiting Amani Orphanage in Mto wa Mbu where we played with the kids and painted a mural on one of the walls of their buildings. It was a super fun yet exhausting day! The kids were so excited to see us and play with us. It is amazing to see how happy they can be about the littlest things even though they don't have much. Mainly we had a few groups that would swap in and out between painting the mural (we even included the kids, which was super messy!), playing with the kids, and helping the orphanage build an office building. The orphanage had recently moved from a location a little ways down the street where the government needed their land so they don't have many buildings and are doing renovations everywhere. Currently the boys and girls are sleeping together in one big room with sheets separating the room while the other bedroom is being used as a classroom because the classroom is being built. There are 38 orphans at Amani. They sleep three to one mattress in bunk beds, which seems insane. The kids loved being carried around on our shoulders, backs, and even just picked up and rocked. We got to help get their lunch together which was really sad because they put all of it in big buckets and scoop them out of the buckets with their plates and all they had was beans and rice. Their water was in one of the buckets as well. It was great to be able to brighten their day a bit by playing with them. Luckily this orphanage treats the orphans very well compared to many other orphanages. The kids were truly an inspiration for growing up this way and I am glad we got to help them in any way that way could. It was a great experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.