Mzungu!

Today has been one of my best days here in Tanzania thus far. Swahili for the past few days has been great, I feel like I'm picking it up well. This afternoon after our ethnomusicology seminar, four of us joined our student guide, Batista, to visit a Catholic mission that houses orphans, the elderly who have noone to care for them, and people with mental disabilities. We got to visit all the people staying there, and it was a truly incredible experience. The kids were the most fun to visit, they were so excited to see us and hold our hands, and we got to talk and play with them for a bit. It was so touching, and just so much fun!

The neighborhood that surrounds the mission is also full of children, and when we walked down the streets the kids would shout "mzungu!" at us, which means white person or foreigner in Swahili. They would run up to us and hug us and hold our hands, and they were so cute! It was a really rewarding day, and I feel great right now. But at the same time, we got into real neighborhoods in Dar es Salaam, and got to see how most people really live, and it's heartbreaking. I feel a mix of joy from meeting the children and seeing their happiness, and sadness at the realization that people truly live in such horrible conditions. But this is why I chose to come to study here in Tanzania, because I wanted to shove myself into something uncomfortable and out of my experience, and I think I've been successful in this regard.