More random updates

I know that at this point in the trip you may be expecting a concise wrap-up of the month's events or some conclusions about the trip here. The thing is, we have been so frantically trying to get everything finished that I feel a bit scattered. So, here are more disjointed stories from the day.

I got a terrible flat tire early this morning. I must have hit something really nasty because there was about a 3" rip in the tire. I wasn't really prepared for this type of event. Turns out my spare was flat (thanks rental car company) and I didn't have any money on me at all. Not even one shilling. I was, in fact, so unprepared that I didn't even have shoes with me. Barefoot. Broke. Broken down. I had to rely completely on the kindness of strangers to get me to a place to fill my spare and then back to put it on. An hour or so later I had bummed several rides and found some friendly guys to help me and I was back on the road.

I visited Pamoja Nursery School today to distribute the items that some kind souls from VCF sent over here with us. The students and the teachers were so grateful for the much needed supplies. Witnessing that was very special.

I spent some time with a woman from our micro-finance group today. I wanted to observe her business in action and hear a first hand account of how things are going. I sat with her as she made chapatis to sell in the village and listened to her tell her story. The small loan that she received was just enough to bump her business up a level to where she was able to buy school uniforms for her kids and send another child back to school. Also, for the first time in years, she has enough money to give them lunch when they return home for the lunch break. Her gratitude business of selling food in the village is finally covering her basic expenses. I stopped back by her shop about 8 hours later just as she was starting to sell the dinner foods that she had prepared during the day. I bought a delicious dinner of chapatis and beans in a coconut sauce complete with some sweet breads for dessert. The whole dinner for Lindsay and me together cost a total of 50 shillings (that is 62 cents).

Lindsay and Terry went out to lunch today. Lindsay wanted to thank Terry for all of her help with the study and just spend some time relaxing and talking rather than working. They had a great time together and I had the privilege of having a special little date with Senya. We went to Hollywood (one of my local favs in the busy town of Ukunda) for lunch and then went to the beach. The beach where we went has lots of giant baobab trees that grow almost up to the water's edge. Incredible. Senya was mesmerized by the beautiful water, crashing waves, and strong ocean breeze. That girl laughs and smiles a lot these days and I just adore moments like this.

I love that this restaurant is called "Hollywood."

Look at these trees!

I just love her joyful little spirit.

Tiny Senya. Giant tree.

We went to our final school for the final focus groups this evening. Turns out there was a scheduling mix up and they weren't anticipating us (this was the second week in a row at this school). They can't fit us in before we leave, so we are officially done collecting data. It was a bit of a bummer, but Lindsay has enough data for her study so it's no big deal. Also, we came here expecting this to happen a lot and we had a surprisingly low number of incidents like this. Because we have been working at a breakneck speed for so long, the realization that we were finished with the research didn't strike us until a few hours later and we both had a good laugh about the anticlimactic ending.

We leave the day after tomorrow to head home to a cold, snowy winter. It is hard to believe that our time here is almost over.

P.S. I talked to my friends at Pamoja about the matatu crash that I mentioned yesterday. 3 people died on sight and the rest of the passengers were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. So sad.