Safari continued/orphage visit

Sorry I was once again cut off mid-story. As I was saying...we watched the female lions close in on a buffalo that was off by itself (this was all happening about 100 yards away from us). All of the sudden one lion sprinted off and pounced on the buffalo...the other lion did the same, but before they could kill it the herd came to the rescue and scared the lions off. It was a surreal experience to say the least. My other favorite part of our Safari was seeing the mother lion with her cubs...they were sooo cute. At one point a male lion was next to our truck roaring for his friends, who were off in the distance, to join him. This was borderline scary because the lion was only about five feet away but he seemed to care less about us. I got him roaring on video which is cool. Overall, the safari was an unforgettable experience. I cannot wait to go on our 3 night Serengetti Safari this weekend!

On another note, things have been going really well at the Tumaini school. Catherine and I have been teaching together which is fun. Today we tried to teach past/present tense and dropping and e to add ing. It was not fun because many of the terms we used to explain the lesson obviously made no since to the children. We worked it out by doing some acting (Teacher is dancing. and Teacher was dancing.) the kids thought this was hilarious.

Yesterday, we went to an orphanage outside of town. It was for young children (infants to around three) and it was very eye opening. Most of the children had lost parents to AIDS or had mothers that were mentally disabled rape victims (evidently this is a problem in Tanzania). The babies were absolutly beautiful, and the younger children were precious! We played with the younger children for about 30 minutes. Most of them were a bit reluctant to play at first because they are not used to seeing mzungu (white people). Once they warmed up they did not want to be put down. It was sad because I could tell that they don't get much love and affection....it seemed like they were starved for it. Going to the orphange made me feel so blessed to have family and friends like you! -Lauren