SAIDIA YATIMA NA WAHITAJI: Amani Orphanage Centre, Bagamoyo.

Our first morning in Dar es Salaam was hot and sunny and the breakfast table was laid with tie-dyed place-mats, tea cups, white sliced bread and jam. I was not convinced that was a typical Tanzanian breakfast... The day's itinerary revolved around a visit to Amani orphanage that famous artist Nathan Mpangala had organised. Nathan is a cartoonist who is involved in many projects to support people here in his home country, and hosts arts workshops and art therapy sessions.

I'd prepared myself for an emotional day as I'd seen heart breaking images of European orphanages, but what I saw was so inspiring and positive that I was surprised to leave in a very happy state. That may sound a little peculiar, especially when you look at what these children do not have, so bear with me while I start there.

The orphanage doesn’t have electricity most of the time. Their use of the generator depends completely upon how much fuel they have to run it. However, they don't need any power to run TVs, washing machines, fridges, cookers, ovens, or to charge tablets, as they just don't have any. I was very happy to discover that using electricity to power the music system WAS considered a priority sometimes, as their dancing was clearly joyous!

The kitchen was an open fire outside a mud hut. The women sat on upturned oil buckets or logs while the ducks (with their fluffy yellow babies) bathed in cool patches of dust. All chopping, cooking and washing up happens here. Later, when I crept away to look around, I saw inside the hut were a few different sized pans and a space to make a fire on the floor inside. There are two rainy seasons a year here and when the rain falls it's hard... not to mention wet, which isn't so great for fires.

I also found a hut with a typical corrugated iron roof as the toilet with separate sides for boys and girls. I must take a photo of these squat toilets that are quite typical in many countries as it's a great system, although I've seen many faces pulled (by Europeans) at the thought of using them! The porcelain bowl is laid into the floor and has a ridged footplate either side. Even the men are expected to squat to keep it clean. A bucket at the side with a bowl is used to wash yourself afterwards (places with running water often have a hose for rinsing your bum) and often no toilet roll is available. If you do use some you definitely can't flush it! Hand washing after is very important!

The orphanage has 2 concrete buildings. The first is an office and school room. There is no furniture in the school room except a shelf holding a few books on geography, swahili, English, PE, art and history. The second building is lined with bunkbeds and serves as the dormitory and hall. There are not enough beds for the 36 children and some sleep 4 to a bed. Only the bottom bunks have mosquito nets. These nets hang from above to keep out these tiny flying insects, as they can infect people with malaria (a nasty disease that kills many people, especially children, in Africa). I did not see any blankets, toys, books or games.

As in any country, water is a serious issue, and not too many places here have mains water supply, especially rural areas, or can afford it when it exists. The only tap here is the one on the single water tank. Their system involves a well and a pump. The pump runs by the generator when there is power but the whole shebang is unreliable, so they cannot waste water on 'non-essentials' such as growing food. The whole site is around 4 acres so the potential is huge for developing, growing food, rearing livestock and building bedrooms.

After signing in we went to see the children perform and then they introduced themselves in English. Their dancing was poa (Swahili for 'cool') and they obviously enjoyed it incredibly! I learned a couple of moves afterwards but looked like an absolute fool - I should definitely leave it to the experts.

We ate with the children for their one meal of the day. The cooked banana is Karrima's favourite! I tried hard to use my fingers as the Tanzanians did and while I cleared my plate I had sauce running down my arm and probably all over my face. Very elegant indeed, but the food was so delicious I'm pretty sure no-one noticed.

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Norwich / Tanzania Association

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