Christmas at Tunza

Yesterday was a great day. Sure, I was kicked in the face and the stomach, swallowed about a liter of Lake Victoria, went temporarily deaf from a series of shrill screams centimeters from my ear, and left with a serious backache and a bit of a sunburn, but the point is…

THE GIRLS HAD A BLAST.

I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to say the word “Tunza” around our girls without everyone erupting in some kind of dancing/screaming/jumping/giggle-fest. When Hannelie and Jan invited us back for a second beach day, they were more than excited. So excited, in fact, that yesterday they woke up at 4 am to get ready for their day of fun.

On this visit to Tunza Lodge, we had a very special assignment: decorating the restaurant for Christmas. We came armed with snowflakes, glittery sticker letters, popcorn garlands, pictures, ribbon, signs, and more...just no tape to hang it up with. Luckily, Hannelie came to the rescue!

Here are Neema and Pendo modeling some of our décor…

Julie’s art helped us leave the JBFC mark at Tunza:

Chris and Zach helped us achieve our vision with some non-traditional decorating approaches:

After decorations, the girls enjoyed a delicious breakfast of chai and chapatti. And then it was off to the beach!

Once again, the slip-n-slide was a main attraction. Here are Uncle Jan and Veneranda showing us how it’s done:

Hannelie and her mom went above and beyond to make this a special day for the girls.

They provided us with a two delicious meals, and Hannelie’s mom even baked cakes for us. (I might have had two slices…it was really, really good.)

There was so much good food, Salome just didn’t know where to start. She followed Dad's advice: cake first!

On top of everything else, all the girls received presents like Yuge and Zai are holding here:

We spent as much time in the water as possible. There were impromptu swim lessons, chicken fights, handstand contests, dives and jumps off the dock, and overall mayhem. There were at least two girls hanging from my arms at all times, and at least another ten calling for my attention at any moment. I wish I had a waterproof camera to capture the beaming smiles (and occasional looks of terror when jumping from the dock) that were on the girls’ faces for the entire afternoon.

Somehow, getting our 40 little water babies to change from wet to dry clothes was far less traumatic than last time. Our little water babies are growing up!

We are so thankful to Tunza for another wonderful day. I know the girls will be talking about it for a loooooooong time.

If you live near Mwanza, go to Tunza Lodge and check out the girls' decorations!