So now we have been back in Finland almost a week. Everybody´s asking how we feel and it´s really hard to answer. In a way it´s actually scary how fast you get used to this life again... We thought that it would be strange to walk along Oxford Street´s shopping hell in London, but actually we both realized that it wasn´t anything special. It wasn´t even weird to see white people everywhere! However, Africa has definitely made a permanent impression on us both and we will have to return some day. There´s just a certain humanity there, one that you can't find anywhere else. Moreover we have promised ourselves never to forget what we saw and get too carried away with our lives here. We will continue working for Fonelisco even though we are far away from there. 

The last part of our vacation was good. We spent some days in Stone Town and happened to be there on Bob Marley´s death memorial, which was quite good in a place you could call Africa´s Jamaica. Otherwise it felt like stepping into a totally arabic city with narrow streets and mosques everywhere. The only disturbing thing was that it rained quite a lot every now and then.

Dar es Salaam was nothing special. We didn´t even find a restaurant that would have served budget priced food and beer, so we spent our last day quite peacefully. We survived the turbulence on our way to London but with red wine spilt all over Eva´s clothes. A bit before landing to London we paniced about going back home and decided to try to change our flights and continue travelling in Europe a couple of days. Unfortunately BA was strict and we had no option but to fly back as planned. In London we had a really good time though. Thank you so much Taneli for taking such good care of us!

Here are now some random pics from Africa...enjoy!

  

Children...  

 

...and staff.

A woman who is very scared of the camera and of us.

 

Mwanza and Lake Victoria.

The market in Mwanza.

A Sunday at the beach with children.

Gabriel and Lazaro drumming.

Girls ready to perform traditional dance at a street children's art day.

Happy for their daily food (they get more than that but most of it is already eaten).

Boys posing for the camera.

Sunset.

Born to do it.

Joseph and Elisa with her excellent work certificate.

Lions at the safari.

Dancing masai men.

Women with fish on Kendwa beach, Zanzibar.

Stone Town's spice market.

Back in the west (London).

And after all this we are still good friends :)

We have so much pictures that it was a hard task to choose just some and put them on here. We will probably bore you out with our pics once we meet somewhere and we can show all of them, so be prepared.

Thank you for reading our blog, making comments, donating money etc. etc. Most likely this will be the last time we write... We hope to see most of you in our coming-home-charity-party soon. There will even be a surprise guest from Africa!

Badaa'ye! 

 

 

Our safari was awesome. We saw so many animals from such a close distance that it was incredible. Lions, zeebras, giraffes, wildebeest etc. etc. Even our campsite was visited by a rhino, an elephant, and a buffalo. We were actually quite scared. The Ngorongoro crater was the most beautiful place we've ever seen... even Machu Pichu and the Andes were left on second place. No wonder it is one of the world's eight wonders.

Now we are in Zanzibar, on Kendwa beach (www.kendwarocks.com). It's a paradise. Turquoise water, white sand, and very quiet and peaceful. We stay in a our little beach bungalow until next Thursday when we start our trip towards Dar es Salaam again.

This is our last day in Mwanza and I'm trying to write some kind of conclusion about our stay here. Right now I don't have anything to say. (It sounds like Eva is doing a bit better job on the other computer, so maybe you should concentrate on her text.) Leaving Mwanza and Fonelisco feels still so unreal. The reality hits probably after few days.

Here is a list of things that are good about coming back home. Back home....
- people don't stare.
- people don't laugh at me all time without a reason (?).
- no one is yelling "Mzungu, give me my money" all the time.
- I don't have to think that everyone who talks to me just wants money.
- there aren't that many 'naomba'-people (omba means to ask ).
- I don't have to be "responsible" for the well-being of 50 people.
- I don't have to be aware all the time and think that people are trying to cheat me in every way they possible can.
- it is safe to walk in the city when it is dark.
- there are no stones in the rice.

Still, this trip has been the most unforgettable thing I have ever experienced. Even though the things that I wrote above are quite true, I will miss all the people I have met here. Well, maybe not the guy who managed to steal some toilet paper from my pocket at the market, but pretty much everyone else...

I am sure that I will come back here, whenever I have money to do it.

But our 'safari' is not over yet. We have still over two weeks left. During that time will hopefully see lots of animals (other than lizards, mosquitos, snails, ants) at Serengeti and N'gorongoro, lay on the beach at Zanzibar and  visit London.

Since this text ended up to be as confusing as I assumed in the beginning, I recommend that everyone who wants hear more should contact me when I am back in Finland.

(Kama vipi) Baadaye!
Railakasta preprevappua, prevappua, vappuaattoa ja vappupaivaa kaikille!
Nyt vahan harmittaa, etta ei tullu pakattua haalaria mukaan.

How can two and a half months go by so fast? It feels like yesterday when we came to Fonelisco in February and now we are already leaving. It will be hard to go but I think that we both are in the need of a brain vacation. Right now it feels like we have given our everything and tried our best to help Fonelisco. The other day I realized that actually it's not very wierd that we are getting mentally tired since we have been feeding and taking care of about 50 people for two months now (thank you once again for your donations!). When we arrived here we didin't really have any expectations or any clue of what we would start doing in the organization but we ended up working as treasures, doing bookkeeping, making the organization a budget, doing fundraising, reveiling an intern corruption scandal (after the center manager was trying to get us involved in it by providing us "top secret" files), finding a new house for the orphanage, solving problems between Swedish donors and the locals here, teaching English and the alphabet to illetarate children and so on... We have learned a whole lot about what I believe are typical problems between foreign donors and African organizations. The same principles of good administration and all that it includes do just not apply here the way we wish. People here don't understand what they do wrong when all they are trying to do is help and at the same time some foreigners are angry at them for not writing down EVERY income and expence.
We have also learned a lot about patience. We still haven't ended up living in a "if God wishes"-mentality (thank God for that:) but I think that we have turned into quite slow and patient people here... It might take a couple days until we get used to the hectic life over there again. How do we even manage to make it so hectic most of the time?
Many of you have been telling us that you think that we are so brave and tough for coming and working here. It has felt wierd for us because actually when you are here you get so used to facing the misery every day, that it doesn't even feel very hard at all. It would have certainly been harder to be here alone, without each other. I believe that our excellent, Finnish, ironic humour has saved us from many hard situations and given us so many laughs (Kiitos Mano, paras ystava taalla). When people have been wondering how we have been able to sleep together for so long in a bed that is 110 cm wide, we quite haven't  understood what they have ment. We have been happy for having a bed to sleep in!
The absolutely hardest thing here has been the moral struggles that we have had every day.  Is it okay to be buying a chocolate bar in the grocery store when there's a child asking you for money for a heart operation at the same time? When are you allowed to give yourself something nice (and unnecessary) when there are so many people in need around you? It's so hard. We have discussed and debated the issue numerous times and I think that our answer is that sometimes everyone needs something special for him or herself in order to be able to give for everyone else. And there's no use for us to give away everything that we have and suffer along with the suffering because then we won't help anyone in the long run... It's a very interesting issue that I can't wait to discuss with you once we are back in Finland :).
During this time here we have also gotten to know all the children at the orphanage. In the beginning it felt difficult to remember their names but now we know them all, including their personalitites. We both will miss every single one them so much. I think we have to come back soon and see how they are doing. The hardest thing is to know that their opportunities in life are so much more limited than what ours have been. This week when we visited their school we saw several teachers beating the children with sticks and saw classrooms where about hundred 10-year old children were crammed - some even sitting on the floor. Who can ever learn anything in that kind of environment? Not even to mention a former street child who has been a drug addict.
So, tomorrow we are leaving on our two week vacation. Safari-Zanzibar-Dar es Salaam-London-Helsinki.....We'll keep you updated. Klara vappen at alla!

We are leaving Mwanza next Saturday. Now it is time to thank all the people who have made sure that all the children of Fonelisco have something to eat every day. So, Per, Hannele, Eila, Juha, Marja, Pate, Kaj, Tanja, Tommy, Nea, Mia, Tiina, Kaisa, Topi, Aulis, Sirkka, Satu, i-Rolle, u-Rolle, Sakke, Mandi, Terhi, Leena, Liisa, Irmeli, Ritva, Irene, Antto, Guilia (+ family?), Frida, Audi, Tuomas (+ his brother?), Erkki, Heli, Annika & Annetta, THANK YOU!

We are still expecting some donations this week but so far you have donated 1063 euros. Well done... and for a good cause =)

This we are running around trying to do everything on our 'to do' -list. We will be visiting some schools and maybe a university too. Moreover, we have to spend every spare moment with all the nice people we have met here. It involves, of course, numerous Safari Lagers. On Friday we will have a big farewell party with the children and the staff of Fonelisco. On Saturday morning we will head to Serengeti to see some animals. But before that, actually in 15 minutes, we will eat some banana pizza and avocado ice cream.