Visiting Anna's Home

Saturday morning we boarded on of the school buses, headed for a visit
with Anna's family in their home. On the way we picked up Anna and the
secondary math and physics teacher, Mr. Korigo, who would serve as our
interpreter. Mr. Korigo is a friendly, energetic man who was
interested in discussing the state of education in his country and in
hearing about our experience here.

When the bus stopped on a bustling dirt road in Arusha, we traveled a
hundred yards down a winding alleyway to a small courtyard where we
found Anna's house. The house is typical from what we've seen - a 10'
x 12' cinderblock building with no electricity or water, curtains that
serve as a front door and internal divider, and a communal toilet
further down the alley.

We were warmly greeted by Anna's mother, her two late-teens sisters,
and her younger sister, Sweet. We would later be joined by Anna's 16-
year-old brother Isaak. The house was clean and well-organized,
although of course fairly tight with furniture and the other
belongings of the 5 people who live there (6 when Anna is home from
school). There were three couches (undoubtedly doubling as beds), a
coffee table, and a rug in the main living area, the walls if which
were decorated with a few family photos and some very nice ink
drawings by Isaak.

The visit was a lot of fun, as Anna's family delighted in Monica's
Kiswahili and we shared jokes over sweet tea and bread and butter
sandwiches. Monica handed out small gifts to each member of the family
and then I took them through a photo album of our family, friends, and
our family life, which we left for them to keep.

Anna was shy during the visit, but seemed to be happy that we were
there. We got some good laughs when Monica made the observation that
the female lions do all the work and I said I think she might be
referring to me.

When we got the call that the bus was on it's way we took some
pictures inside and out and then said our goodbyes, with lots of
wishes from both sides that we would see each other again. All three
of the teenagers in this family are in secondary or trade school, in
addition to Anna's achievements at St. Jude. They all should be proud
of what they are accomplishing in the face of fairly extreme poverty
and we were happy to be supporting their efforts.