Arusha

Arusha is a pretty nice town, largish but easy to orientate and I have been taking long walks around the place to get my bearings.
People are overwhelmingly lovely here and want to chat, but obviously there are the people who only want to sell you something and they can be quite hard to shake off.
The children are delightful, I was just walking past an orphanage infant school as it let out and the children came and held my hand as I walked along. I really need to learn more Kiswahili so that I can talk to them. A man I bought pears from today was trying to teach me some, but it really goes in one ear and out the other, I don't understand why I find it so hard to learn languages, definitely a weakness.
A lot of the beauty is beyond the city limits which I have not really seen yet, but will do soon. Elisa has offered to take my next time she takes Jacob to see his fathers family in a Mount Meru village, and I can go trekking for a day round there quite safely on my own, and the countryside round there is lovely.

Another interesting thing that is happening in Arusha is the UN trial for the Rwandan genocide, which has been going on since the mid nineties. Anyone is free to go in and watch the trial. Mama Lydia works there, so that is something that I will definitely do at some point.

The way of life here seems to be quite mixed, for white and black people. People who work for the safari companies earn a lot of money and spend a lot of money. Obviously those working or volunteering for the charities are earning little or nothing, but can still end up spending a lot, yet of course it is possible to not spend a lot whilst you are here, eating locally and not drinking too much will help.

I haven't met any other volunteers yet, but a lot of people who live here permanently and make a living (or almost a living) here and have fallen in love with it (or a local!)