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Holidays and relaxations are essentially important. Keeping this motto in mind I really did well the last four weeks. After having spent a nice and relaxing week in Zanzibar and enjoying myself in Tanga including Christmas and an enourmous dinner I now came back from something like a partytrip in Zanzibar looking a bit tousled and tired.

I have to admit that it was not easy to get up on Monday and return to work. Apart from feeling exhausted and in need of a good night´s sleep the actual time of volunteering was coming to an end. Therefore, the last two weeks never seemed to end. Fortunately, there were still interesting things happening. First, there were new people coming to Morogoro. Anya, who had ended her volunteership now moved to a friend´s house and so I was living on my own at the lodge. After a few days Matthew arrived. He was going to work in an hospital for three month. Just as I was getting to know Matthew and used to having him around another newcomer arrived: Luisa. She was going to work in the medical project, too, but she would be staying four month. And suddenly there we were again, a little group of three! Of course Anya kept visiting us but at least we had someone to talk to after work, during dinner or whenelse.

It did not take long for the two to settle in. Already, I dragged them onto a pikipiki on their first day and both of them faced the ride bravely. They even enjoyed those motorcycles. Of course we could not miss out on a proper guided tour through town giving them all the information and telling them all the tricks they would need to know in future.

Most evenings were nearly the same. The weather was really bad in my last two weeks I stayed in Morogoro as it was always chucking it down with rain. For some reason the small rain season did not come and so it got delayed to now. This meant that I could not only eventually put on some jeans and a pullover but that we also sat together sipping cups of tea whileplaying games of cards. Fortunalety, we had found a little Indian kiosk in town which sold decks of cards. We also crafted some dice using soap and candle stumbs, and boards which we equipped with pebbles and beans as pawns. One really needs to be creative in Africa! Just after a few evenings we were turning into masters of card games. We were now even able to simulate games such as “wizard“. We were playing games like “liar“, “go swimming“ and others on a regular basis. Especially when the thunder growled and the rain was lashing down we enjoyed to sit at the dry bar of the lodge playing those games.

Still, there was not a lot going on at work. Most of the kids had not yet returned. Over Christmas they were allowed back to their families (that is, if there is a family to go to) and they usually returned during January and February. Even the Physio was not due to start until next week. Therefore, we started to do jobs like helping in the kitchen and prepare salade fort he kids that were there. It is really amazing once you realize that the kitchen lady has to prepare piles of food every day for that gang of little hungry rascals. Nevertheless, we never really worked longer than three hours.

Finally, the daycare-class reopened the following week. We were able to get involved there to draw and dance with the children or just watching their classes. Also, there was belated Christmas party at the Amani Centre. A whole bunch of people with disabilities arrived for this event and even the deaf-class from a neighbouring school took part. The party was truly funny. The children were taking part in little competitions like tug-of-war or hoop-bouncing and there was a lot of dancing. The most fascinating thing was that the deaf-class had also rehearsed a dancing choreography. For this the music was turned on really loud so that the kids were able to feel the bass and off they went. It was so nice to see the children enjoying themselves and to realize what they were all able to do even though they had disabilities.

Still, there was a rather negative appointment marked in my calender that week. It was now about three month that I was in the country and my visa was going to run out, soon. Because I was planning to stay another four weeks I thought I might try to get an additional visa for four weeks which is normally free of charges. But this might resolve into a problem. Not only did the immigration office refuse to offer any services which were free especially not for the white people they presumed to be rich, anyway. I also had to make them believe that I was only a tourist. I had planned to go tot he immigration office one day before my visa expired. There was no other way because the extented visa would start at the day they put a stamp in the passport.

I did not sleep well that night the worst case of either paying 200$ for a working visa or even leaving the country keep nudging in my head. One of the social workers from the Amani Centre thankfully agreed to accompany me, though. At the Immigration Office he took over to talking to the Official as I did not really feel like rubbing their nose in my skills of speaking Swahili. It took a while for the lady behind the desk to fill in all the information and then she sent us to the waiting area. Obviously, there was some kind of problem because she soon called us back in. By now I knew my way around and knew how all the offices worked and therefore still held a trump. I handed the lady my flight ticket which was due for the 6th February and eventually that seemed to get things going. Although the lady wanted to keep a copy of the ticket she now seemed to be certain to get rid of me in four weeks time and therefore got busy doing the paperwork. Finally I got that off my mind and it was not even as difficult as I thought it would be… or so I believed.

A little while later another lady appeared and asked me to follow her. Knowing exactly what was going on I asked the social worker from the Amani Centre to come, too. Other than last time I was lead up a stairwell and into the office of the boss. The huge guy wanted to ask me a few questions. What places had I visited so far? Faithfully I informed him about my trips to Bagamoyo, Kilwa, Morogoro, Iringa, Tanga, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and now all I needed to do was go up North and see the Kilimanjaro. The guy nodded and insistently observed me. Whether I did any other activities during my stay, he now wanted to know. I pretended to be a bit slow and asked him what kind of activities he ment. Well, he ment “other activities“. I assured him that I was merely a backpacker and that I did not know about other activities. Now he got tot he point he kept hinting at: he had the information I was working at the Amani Centre. Although my heart was racing and I was scared stiff I tried to keep cool and just pointed at my passport. Those entry stamps for Zanzibar should prove that I was away the past few weeks and therefore there was no way I could have been working at the Amani Centre. Considering this the man nodded again and grumpily told me to leave his room. At the desk downstairs the lady gave me back my passport hortly after including the visa stamp. Strike! As fast as we could we cleared off. Finally, I got what I wanted, got everything sorted and did not need to enter that building again.

But again there are always surprises in Tanzania. A few days after getting my new visa I was on my way to work. Breakfast had taken a bit longer so I was running late. As I arrived at the Amani Centre Anya hysterically told me to drive straight back. I was shocked and wanted to know what happened thinking someone had died. But she did not need to answer as a Police Officer from the Immigration Department came walking through the door of the office. I was still sitting on the pikipiki as the officer already asked me to show him my passport which I did not have on me. Then he wanted to know where I was staying and the telephone number of the manager. Unfortunately, there ways no way around not telling him. Although the questioning was over for now I told my pikipiki driver to turn round and bring me straight back home. So now it come that far: I was fleeing on a motorcycle like a petty crook back to the lodge.

About half an hour later there was a knock on my door and opening it I found Baracka the manager telling me that the Immigration Police was there. Oh what a load of codswallop! Funnily, the meeting did not take long. Baracka seemed to put his foot down by the way he was talking, handed the officer a copy of my passport and that was it. Although Baracka promised me that it was no problem I could go back to work now I did not trust him as he said the same thing a couple of month ago. I decided to go back to the Amani Centre only to say goodbye.

I believe that the officer was either bribed or there were other powers involved as I found out that the manager of our lodge seems to be the son of the former president. Therefore, there seemed to be a kind of influence on the governmental institutions considering that Baracka might try to take over the position his father once held in a few years time. Anyway, no matter whether there was corruption involved, I could not care less.

The last few days in Morogoro were strange somehow. We brought fruits for the kids to the Amani Centre and also distributed some donations we collected. The joy was huge! For one last time we sang song together and danced and finally every child got cuddled thouroughly. Thankfully, the kids were still small enough to either not realize what was going on or get over the goodbye in a few days. Even the employees were really nice to us. Before we left, we took some photographs and exchanged best wishes. Although I had not planned to work in the Amani Centre and the work there would certainly not kept me happy on long-term, there were still a few people I grew quite fond of.

In general, I became aware that Morogoro had become to somewhat like home to me. There was the tailor in our street always sitting on his porch and whenever I passed he waved at me enthusiastically. Also, there were certain salesmen at the market who offered the best prices and John who worked at the Vodacom-shop who I could always call, whenever I had problems with my phone or internet. Even my pikipiki-driver was obviously sad to seeing me go. Every morning he would come up the street as soon as he saw me and bring me to work and he was always completely reliable. In the lodge the normally extremely lazy staff even helped me to get all the luggage out of my room and wished all the best for me. Chefu who was our cook even came rushing out his kitchen ready to cuddle me and take a last selfie.

Fortunately, I was not going straight on the plane back home but still had a few weeks left in Tanzania. Therefore, I had now another journey to look forward to. My next destination was Tanga to visit all the other girls.