As our time here in Bunda comes to a close, we have witnessed many things from every health facilities visited. We began our journey by coming up with a program book full of fun activities such as games, soccer, colouring and friendship bracelets. At our first center, the mothers and children seemed resistant to come over to see us. Most of our days therefore start the same way, building relationships. We begin by showing the children the materials, such as the colouring sheets, as well as beginning to colour so that they can see what we are doing. Once the children begin to warm up to us they thoroughly enjoy the activities. By showing the children what we are doing rather than telling them through instruction, we avoid the language barrier. By the end we create our own way of communicating with each other. When we began our visits to the health centers we were hesitant to bring the songs that we had with us. By day 3 we introduced the "Banana song" and the children loved it. Even one of our drivers, Felix, joined in by translating the words. We had discovered a hit. Once we started with one song, the children wanted another and another. The children even taught us some of their traditional songs, one was very similar to "ring around the rosy" (but theirs was more fun). Some of the girls came over to join in with infant siblings tied to their backs using traditional kangas. After some practice the children were able to sing the songs to us. Ana added a new challenge by singing Spanish songs. The children loved learning the new language and the rhythm of the Latin American songs.
The friendship bracelets were our link to the mothers. After starting with the first few rows the mothers would continue on without assistance. Even the little boys enjoyed trying. With everyone in the group making bracelets it felt like we had created a real sense of community by the end of the day. Watching the mothers engage in our activities is an experience that I will never forget. It gives me a sense of enjoyment to know that the work we are doing in Tanzania as part of the HCT team is making the children and mothers who we have met smile, laugh and have a good time.


Sarah Foster