(Please note that my biased opinions are just that, they belong to me and everything that you read in this blog is personal. I love to share my experiences with you all and hope that through me you may gain an insight to the world outside the United States. But also know that I am doing great even though the hardships in my blog may seem overwhelming. Please do not make judgments on St Jude, Tanzania, and Africa based on what I write)

Saturday was one of those "what the hell am I doing in this place" days. I called my parents in tears, just overwhelmed with emotions, being homesick, frustrated at everything here, and also wondering if what I am doing is really making a difference.But to let everybody know I am doing better……So I should start out by telling you all how much I love and miss each of you! I am sorry I have not written sooner. I have posted pictures to keep you all up to date.I want to share my experiences with everybody… but I can't really find the right words to explain everything. For example my dad asked me the other day "so whats new?" and I responded by saying "nothing really", he then said "yeah right, I don't believe you". Which is true, there is something new all the time, everyday, every moment. I share this entire experience with a close group of other volunteers - who understand my thoughts completely because of our shared lifestyle.Over the last month I have had many adventures, new experiences, hard times, emotional experiences, and fantastic times all at once! I have been keeping busy with a combination of work and play!If its watching Rugby for the first time- one of our volunteers Simon plays on the Tanzania national team or taking a group of children out to lunch to have soda/French fries (which to break it down is like Christmas to them, they would never be able to afford anything like that) or waking up with a huge eye infection (better now) everyday is a new day here in Tanzania.

Sometimes I feel like I have been here forever, but in other moments, it seems as though I only arrived in Tanzania yesterday. Can one have tremendous personal growth from educating the world's poorest of the poor? I would say that my life has changed beyond an easy explanation and I probably have gained more then I have yet to give.My dreams have grown, and so have I. I am following my heart and my dreams: I had to pick between the security of home and the adventure of living here in Tanzania. All I know is one thing: I am proud of the fact that I am here and might as well be having the best time of my life. Have you ever gone on vacation and sat on the beach, or in the middle of a forest somewhere, and looked around at the world encircling you, and felt like you could be there forever? As if time had stopped, or better yet didn't exist, while you were in your little bubble? Have you ever felt that when you were in your personal heaven?The hardships that we face here on a daily bases, has only brightened my life and tested my personal strength, faith, and love of human beings.

Probably the first thing everybody wants to know about is my hair. Its not a wig and its not permant. I have not changed the color or anything that drastic. I decide to have rasta's or as you would call them braids with extensions. It took a long 11 hours and cost me a huge sum of $18.The best part about it is that there is very little maintenance, wash every few days and just let dry. Just fantastic. It took some getting used to but in the end well worth the time. I had them in for about a month and took them out last week. Might do it agai...

Lets talk about AIDS, since some people are curious…… "An estimated 25 million Africans are currently living with HIV/AIDS, and about 2 million people on the continent die of the virus every year. Behind these incomprehensible numbers are millions upon millions of real lives, individual stories, and relationships permanently altered by the preventable disease."Last week we tested 10 children and 2 came back positive. And then this morning had to sit down with the mother and our nurse to explain that her daughter is HIV positive. What would you do if you were called into your child's school, not to talk about there behavior or grades, but to find out they are HIV positive. I could not be bear to be apart of the conversation because it was too hard emotionally for me to handle. I walked by the meeting and saw the mother's look of disbelief and emotional pain. But here at St Jude, we turn these hard situations into as positive as possible. We cover all there treatment, hospital bills, anti-viral drugs, etc.If you look at the photos I posted last week, in particular the 2 of a young boy named Yuda. You will notice, in the first picture his face is covered with warts. When he came to St Jude as a child of 6 years old, his HIV status was unknown by his family. Today Yuda has undergone successful surgery to freeze off his facial warts with liquid nitrogen… but he's still suffering from many other ailments and his overall health is not good. Everybody here remains positive about his recovery with his ARV 's but only time will tell. He is a miracle child that fell on the steps of St Jude.We all take a special interest in all our HIV positive students. I cant wait till the day the world will find a cure for AIDS and the ongoing suffering here will cease to exist. Just think 1 in 5 here in Arusha are affected with HIV……And the available ARV drugs, are between 5 -10 years old. How in world of AIDS do we have the treatment from 10 years ago, not what is current in the States? To me it seems that this problem is a lost cause until we as a world stand up and demand that we need to at least provide the countries of Africa with the current medications.

And bottom line we need Education! I now look at education in a different light. I took for granted all the education that was provided for me for over 20 years. We all find it normal to go to kindergarten, learn to read and write and have access to BOOKS!But basic education is a privilege here in Tanzania. Most children do not stay in school past the 4th grade. Knowing that you can prevent AIDS by the use of condoms, absentness, and only having 1 partner is foreign to people here. Myths like having sex with a virgin will cure the diseases, it goes away after a few years if you don't talk about it, you can get it from water….are just a few of the outrageous things that people believe here. But if you have no education, no wonder these ideas exist. If you are interested in a slight insight to the need of education in countries like ours read either "Three Cups of Tea" or "Leaving Micorsoft to Change the World".

Onto a fun area~ Safari…….

On Easter Sunday, a group of 8 volunteers set of on our own safari. We rented a 9 passenger vehicle from Bob Rich, as we all call him. Or to others Richard-Gemma's husband. We left at about 7 am and headed out with our packed lunch to Arusha National Park. The park is about an hour from St Jude. The morning started out with a tremendous amount of rain, but cleared around noon. Just a little info on this park- you can drive yourself, it has no predators like lions, filled with tons of giraffe, and about 20 of our students are residents there. It is the closest of the National Parks.The best part of the day included the giraffe that was about 10 feet away from me. We drove into a car park, to use the rest room and the giraffe was just hanging out like a pet dog. Great close up wild experience.We stayed till about 5pm and then headed out to watch the soccer, big deal here in TZ. I know it was just a taste of the Safari to come, yet it was a fantastic way to spend Easter with all my Tanzania Family. I can not wait to go to the Serengeti, so mom and dad hurry up!

So 2 months have come and gone. Time here flies by very quickly. I have gained insight into another world, had many tears of joy and sadness all in one. I have had an eye infection, many upset stomach, fell into an achea bush with the largest thorns in the world really cut up my leg, and now I have ring worm on my face WELCOME TO AFRICA!I also bought my fist goat last week. I was given the job to go and buy 2 goats with 3 of our workers. A half day long process at a Masai market. I never thought that picking out goats to eat would be such a drawn out process. Then the following day I was in charge of getting the meat prepared. Since I am sure a farm girl as you all know, it was quit an experience. About 6 Masai men that work here at St Jude took on the job of killing them~very eye opening to watch. Then I had to carry the meat in a bucket full of flies to the kitchen. Wow is all I think needs to be said about that…….(I posted pictures for all of you to enjoy, rest assured they are a little graphic)

Thank you all for the letters and packages that I have received ~enjoyed all of the contents tremendously. I am on skype if any of you have this program-it's a free way to talk to me over the internet. If you are interested in learning more about it you can contact my mom, which she could explain. And now it even has voice mail so you can leave me messages when I am not online. I am also setting up another website which I will let you know when it is finished- will make uploading pictures a lot easier.

Blessing to you all and much love….Jenny

"All people are members of a family, and everyone, therefore, has the responsibility of caring about the future of mankind and the earth."
-The Dahli Lama