House Staff

We have 2 guards and one replacement guard, a gardener/handyman, 2 cleaning/nanny people, and a cook that comes two to three times a week. This post is all about them.

The guards we have now are all really good, nice guys. The day guard is Osmond and we got him about a week after I got here. Before him we had a guy named Frankie but he seemed to have a problem showing up to work so he was taken off our house and was replaced. So far, I think Osmond is going to be great!

John is the night guard and he is also very nice and actually does his job. At night he walks around the house to make sure everything is ok and if Twiga is barking he will walk closer to where she is to make sure everything is ok. Even Aki likes him. The replacement guard changes between people so it really depends sometimes they seem really nice and other times they can be irritating.

The gardener/handyman is David and I really like him. He takes care of our different fruit trees and brings in the fruit when it is ripe, he feeds Tembo the goat and our chickens, and if we need help with something in the house he can almost always do it. On the occasion that he can’t fix it, he knows the people that can. My aunt said that at first he was very difficult but that as he has gotten used to the way she wants things done he has gotten a lot better. I think he is pretty cool and is really talented.

Then we have people that work in the house to help us out...Hope and Jenny. I'm not sure what to say about them, they are best friends and seem to have a hard time doing there respective work apart. For example if Hope is supposed to be watching Aki and Jenny is supposed to be doing the laundry, Hope will go outside with Aki so she and Jenny can talk. Of course that means they aren’t playing with Aki the way they should which is a problem. My Aunt gets upset about this sometimes. A few times they left Akira out on the patio by himself for an hour or so why they were cleaning and talking in the house. When my Aunt found out about this, she got very upset. Another example is that right now, as I'm writing this, they should be cleaning but they are in the living room talking. They are both nice and friendly but don’t do there job well. Sometimes, my Aunt gets really frustrated and says that she's going to fire one of them so that the other one will work...but she never actually does it. Sucker!!!

Finally we have the cook Gasper. Gasper has been my aunt’s cook every time she comes to live in Arusha so she has known him for years and has always spoken very highly of him. After eating his food I completely agree. Gasper is very friendly and really likes Aki and Aki really likes him. He comes for sure twice a week and on Saturday when my aunt asks him too. He technically works Saturdays but she tends to give him two Saturdays a month off. Over all I really like the staff here. Since I'm home all day with them, its nice that we all get along, and I never feel very lonely during the day....it's like a little village inside our compound. It's pretty nice!