Soccer Game House Visit

Yesterday Beth and I went to Amani's soccer game. The team name is Amani (which means peace) and Amani, Kileo, Kiving, and Isaac all play on the team. Amani he said he played for another team too and led them to championship and to the National competition. Yesterday was a tie game 2 to 2 it was awesome I brought a water bottle with rocks in it (mom, Cynthia I'm representing you!) and yelled and screamed. It was a great game. I had my camera with me and the kids came to watch the film of the baby elephants play fighting on it.



It was good that Amani was back today - the students said that didn't understand all that I said last week. Amani asked if I could extend my time here but I told him that I have to go back to work but I want to come back maybe next January, though he may be a famous soccer player or in college at that time. :) Today was only my second house visit. I wish I could do many more. Amani was back today so I had a fluent translator - he's very good, he says he's so used to translating now it doesn't bother him at all. When I translated into English and Japanese - I got a head ache! First we went to see Joyce who now has full blown AIDS - her body itches and there is nothing that can be done about it until her immune system is back to 100. The medicine they take for AIDS only needs to be taken when your blood count (?) is 150 or less - she should have taken it earlier but she was already sick with yellow fever and a weak liver. She looked like she had chicken pox on her head and arms. She said she can't sleep because her body itches so much. I wish there was something I could do to help her. She was even scratching a little when we were there. She says she doesn't know how she contracted the disease - she is from Dar and is now living in Moshi with her sister and her sister's family.

The next house visit was to an 80 year old woman. She was sooo cute. She was of course shocked that I wasn't TanZAnian, thinking that I was from the Tanga region, where she is from on the coast. Oliver, Amani and I visited. Oliver is like a tom boy and such a jokester - even this Mama was saying that sometimes when she sees Oliver she thinks she's a boy. Oliver (pronounced Olivah) always wears pants and men's shirts and a hat. Anyway this Mama and Oliver were talking about how I should stay, or go back to the US for 4 months for work and then come back for good. Oliver said she would hook me up with her brother or they would snatch me and take me to my new husband as they did in the old days. This Mama said that when she was young sometimes they would get girls in the night and take them to the man's house that she would marry after deciding and paying the dowry price - or they would go to the market and the girl would be carried off. They said maybe they should do that to me. They were so funny. So many jokes and Sia (Mama Bruno) says to Amani ' ahhh Andrea has a good African figure!' I tell him - yeah in black America too. He seemed surprised.