Step by Step, and our first visitor

Lilac Breasted Roller

In Swahili last week, our vocabulary included the word for animal: "mnyama." Interestingly it is also basically the word for 'meat.' That is fine, I think, if I am carrying a piece of meat home from the market and you ask what it is and I say "nyama" --animal. But I am not so sure about surveying the savannah and calling all the cape buffalo, elephants, rhinos, lions, baboons, etc. "nyama." Are they really all edible? (In Burundi, where we lived before, literally every wild animal in the country was eaten.)

We learned that the Maasai, the pastoralists who traditionally live out on the savannah, do not eat anything but their cows, and do not consider any wild game to be edible. I learned that this week when I went to a Maasai cultural museum, but that was not until Friday... so let me back up.

The week began fairly ":normally:" driving to school with the children, then heading off to Swahili and work have become routine. We seem to be finding a rhythm and despite the many new adaptations, seem to be reducing stress each time we repeat it. I did schedule one field visit to a local partner on Thursday. The partner is called Step by Step, and is a school for special-needs children living in Arusha. It is run by a very dedicated woman named Margaret, who has a special needs daughter herself, and found that there were virtually no services available for her daughter. Margaret gave up a career in chemistry to get a masters in Special Ed in South Africa, and has committed herself to educate her daughter and other children who needed this opportunity.

Finding special-needs children proved to be very difficult when she started her school nearly 20 years ago. She was told by local authorities that such children did not exist here, as mental disability is highly stigmatized. Margaret had to virtually do espionage to find families who were hiding their special-needs kids in the home (they were often never allowed outdoors) and convince the families to send the kids to her school.

Now she has about 20 kids and has set up a very positive, caring, highly therapeutic environment where the kids can grow and thrive using very simple, low resource activities. Activities include beadwork and simple weaving, some farming (planting seeds and watering), feeding chickens and goats, and feeding fish in a breeding pond.

Margaret showing beadwork

The staff do some simple exercise and massage therapy for kids with cerebral palsy and even built a low-sensory stimulation tent in one of the rooms for severely autistic children. It was truly inspiring to see the set up. Margaret has been using it as a model for teaching teachers in the public education system how they can engage these children. Tanzania has few resources for special-needs kids and most still are kept at home, where they are kept from doing anything, or else they attend a very crowded school where they are usually kept together in a small room which functions more as a prison than a learning environment. I was happy to see the work that MCC was doing to support this need, but also was made sadly aware of how short we fall of reaching the many special needs kids in the country who cannot go to Step by Step which is now running at full capacity.

While I was at Step by Step, Rebecca had gone to the airport to welcome our first out-of-town guest! Yes, only 1 month in and we are already entertaining guests from abroad. My father came to visit on his way home from a leadership training conference he was running in Dar es Salaam.

He got here on Thursday afternoon and had a chance to see our after school activities that evening. The kids played on the trampoline and we had Mexican food at the house with tortillas made by our part-time cook/staff-worker Nai.

Friday we took the kids to school while Rebecca and I went to Swahili, but then picked them up about an hour early and we all went to a place called "Snake Park" just outside of town. It reminded me a bit of the Bujumbura zoo (but better managed) and we were able to see just about every deadly snake in the region. Thc Gabon viper and black mamba are particularly the stuff of nightmares. They also had some crocs and tortoises.

Green Mamba

Next door there was a Maasai cultural museum which was quite interesting and well presented. A Maasai guide took us through and talked quite frankly about Masaai culture, including sensitive practices like polygamy and 'female circumcision.' The museum had a life-size diorama of Maasai houses (boma) and camps. At the end of the exhibit, there were camels that one could ride for about 30 cents. David and Oren braved a ride. The best moment was watching the camel get up off the ground. He got up on his back legs first and almost sent them pitching off forward before leveling off (Same thing getting down, in reverse). I don't have a picture of that but it is definitely better than the Baltimore zoo where the camel is already standing and you get on from a platform.

Friday evening we had dinner with Sharon (MCC rep) at a nice restaurant in town. It was nice to do some touristy things here since we hadn't until this past weekend.

Saturday was a really big day. We hired a safari driver and vehicle in town to drive us down to Tarangiri National Park for a day trip to see some wild animals. It is about a 2 hour ride down there, but well worth it! We spent the day driving around a small part of the park (it is huge), and saw 4 of the "big five:" lion, leopard, elephant, cape buffalo. (There are no rhinos in the park because of poaching.) We saw a lot of other "mnyama" as well. A highlight was the watering hole where hundreds of animals came to drink-- elephants, wildebeests, zebra, impala, giraffe, maribou storks all jostled and traded places in the water, quenching their thirst. I think we saw over 100 elephants alone as we drove through the park. It was particularly fascinating to watch a different group of elephants dig into the sand in an apparently dry river bed and pull up plenty of water to bathe and drink.


And the birds! We saw many of our favorites including the lilac breasted roller. I am adding some others below that I was able to photograph. One of our new favorites is the love birds that I used to see at Petsmart in Baltimore. Now we see them quite frequently in the wild here.

love birds

We got home Saturday evening and dropped into bed. It was quite exhausting. (We did Skype my mom though who remained in Baltimore.) Sunday we took my Dad to ACC, the church that meets at the Lutheran hospital and the place we have decided to make our church home. (Even committed to join the Sunday School team.) It was a special Sunday-- Harvest festival, not something we really celebrate in Baltimore in our churches. It is hard to describe, but the sanctuary was filled with the bounty of the harvest of everyone in the congregation. People contributed many fruits and vegetables as well as art, farm implements, eggs, baked goods, framed photos, furniture and even a laptop case. At the end of the service there was a huge auction where everything was sold so that the proceeds could go to a charitable cause, supporting the new neonatal care unit at the hospital. It was a very festive occasion. We finished off our Sunday outing with a meal at George's Tavern where we like to eat on Sunday.

Harvest festival

At 5 pm I took my dad to a cabby who could drive him to the airport. It was a very full weekend and we will have many memories to share about it for many years to come. I think one of the pleasures for me of having him visit and do a safari with us, was a chance to remember when my parents lived in Kenya and I was in college. I loved to come and visit them, and even spent a semester there. Going on safari as a family when I was young is a fond memory and this small bit of replication with my father and children was quite nostalgic.

Some other Birds we saw in the park:

Magpie Shrike

Fire Finch

Mouse Bird

Fractured Ubuntu

This is Rebecca writing this time, for an “in-between” blogpost. This reflection is particularly offered to my fellow third-culture kids, along with many other friends who can probably relate: those who have moved often, who have pastored multiple churches, whose lives have brought them in touch with an unmanageable number of very special people.

Paul has captured the external contours of our experiences so far here in Tanzania. But in between the regular blogposts on events and new rhythms in our life, I wanted to add some reflection on the process of entering a new culture and community. Again.

I have made significant moves 14 times in my life. I have lived in and bonded with people in Bangladesh, Baltimore, Kazakhstan, Virginia, Botswana, Vancouver, Poughkeepsie, and Burundi. I cannot express adequately how grateful I am for each of those chapters in my life, and especially for all the precious people with whom I have shared life.

But as we came into this new setting, I felt myself hitting a wall. Honestly, I’ve been feeling it coming for a few months. As we prepared to make this move, we were able to meet up with and visit a whole host of people from different parts of our past. Each meeting was wonderful and refreshing. It was so good to catch up with people and to remember our shared past. But I kept noticing that my various friends often seemed to have much clearer and more vivid memories of events than I did. I’ve even noticed it with my brother, as he recalled events from our childhood. When these folks walked me through the door of a certain memory, I could often follow them through and into the experience again, but I never would have found that door by myself.

In my paranoid moments, I have wondered if I have early onset Alzheimers, but the fact is, I have an excellent short-term memory. Just the opposite of someone with dementia, I am hyper-focused on the present, and rather foggy about my own past. So in my more philosophical moments I have decided to attribute my experience to Ubuntu, or rather, a fractured Ubuntu. And I suspect I am not alone in feeling this.

In Southern Africa, people talk about Ubuntu as a sense of real humanity: “I am because we are.” We are fully human when and because we are intimately involved with a community in a particular place. We define one another’s identity even as we share and reinforce memory. You can’t truly know me unless you also know my family and my close friends. When you know my place and my people, you know me.

But who am I, when “we” are not? When “we” have been scattered over and over and over? There is no one single human being, not even my dear husband, who has shared all of my life and experiences, who can help me safeguard memory and identity. I have been asking myself, in this fourteenth new home, have I reached the limit?

From the outside, it seems that third-culture chameleons like myself are made for this. We land on our feet, find our way, learn the language. We understand that time is short and precious, and we must jump quickly and deeply into new friendships (for as long as we have them, because someone always must move on). Each friendship is a gift to savor, but not cling to.

And yet we are finite. How do we care for all these relationships well? How do we handle our hearts when we have shared out pieces to so many?

And if a fractured and shared heart is not extinguished, what does it mean that little pieces of my identity, thousands of them, are scattered into every corner of the globe? Is there a point where the remaining shards are dust that just blows away? What is left to give?

I learned something else about this life at the age of 8, when I made my first conscious move between cultures. It hurts to leave friends and lose one’s place. It is tempting to just close up and shut down and not risk that kind of pain again. I had to learn to be open to friendships, to force myself into the joy of them, and to live through the loss. But still my heart is in danger of hardening. It’s just a little too easy for me to move on. I hate that. I wish I were devastated.

Imagine if your place were a spouse, whom you loved, who was part of you, with whom you share memory and experience, a place which has made you who you are. And leaving – it’s a death, it’s hard, it’s gutting. But you must push on, go on living. Eventually, because you’re still breathing and in a place, the new place becomes dear, and you love it, and commit to it and find joy. You marry again. But is there a twinge of guilt as well? Can I love this new spouse (place) without some sense of betrayal of the first marriage? And then you must leave. Another death. And then another.

What would you make of someone on their 14^th such marriage?

I think I might find such a person heartless.

What I’m saying is that when I look at the big picture, the facts of what we’re doing, moving into a new culture yet again, I’m a bit appalled at myself. Is this humanly possible? I feel afraid.

In this fourteenth new home, a place where “we are” not yet, fractured and at least a little bit inured to grief, who can I be? What is identity? Will I, in a sense, “lose my mind,” with a memory which is so un-safeguarded by community? And most importantly for the present, what does it mean to commit to love this new place?

These are the walls I’ve been hitting, the interior human limits I am contending with. It has not been super-fun. Honestly, I don’t enjoy being reserved and withdrawn, uncommitted and protectionist, as I am beginning to get to know new people here and see new possibilities. It’s just not in my nature to sit back, guard my heart, bide my time. But that’s where I’ve been for a bit. And I’ll give myself grace: it’s appropriate to grieve leaving our dear ones in Baltimore, especially on fairly short notice.

I’m not writing this to seek sympathy or make judgements. I just want to observe something that I haven’t really heard other TCK’s talk about, this heightened awareness of fractured Ubuntu.  Perhaps it may be helpful to someone else who is similarly struggling.

I do know that I finally started feeling a bit more human again last Sunday. After church, Paul and I volunteered to help out with the teaching team for kids’ Sunday school, and I offered to preach in a coming month. That is to say, we decided to invest in a particular Christian community here. I plan to commit to the women’s bible study group I visited last week. I feel even more human as I anticipate becoming involved again with a movement of Christian leaders, working for reconciliation in this region. I will be glad to see many old friends there again.  I think there must be some other part of Ubuntu which has to do with an identity beyond my individuality, and even beyond a particular community. I’ll be working out some new definition of Ubuntu in the coming months: I am because … the body of Christ is?  … because I’m being and doing who I was created to be as part of a much bigger “we?”

Maybe who I think I am, my “personal identity,” is pretty much an irrelevant category, outside of being a vessel, joined to others around me, through which our God of infinite memory and infinite love can pour out grace and care that is so far beyond my human capacity.

Meeting NDI and a Birthday

Superb starling we saw on our walk Saturday

As things become more familiar and routines develop, it gets harder to report on the everyday things we do which are in great contrast to life in Baltimore. I am always amazed by how adaptive we are to new circumstances. Life here feels more normal every week-- even getting the kids up every morning and dressed in uniforms and a necktie for Oren, dropping them off at 7:20 am and heading off to the pool for an ice cold swim!

This week did have a few highlights though. For me, one big one at work was getting a chance to meet one of our partners with whom I anticipate working closely over the next 3 years. NDI is the name of the NGO, and it is run by two Maasai men named Laangakwa and Kirambu. They have been working in 3 Maasai villages in the Ngorongoro crater national preserve on improving maternal and child health. MCC is starting up a 3 year project with them to set up community 'Care Groups' using traditional birth attendants to promote facility-assisted births, antenatal care visits, and exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life. I am very excited about the project and spent this past Wednesday afternoon going over a budget with them. I have not had the chance to go out to the crater region yet, but hope to do so in the next month.

Work is busy, and our general routine is to drop the kids off at school together, swim, then head to the office. We start the morning off with Swahili. We usually pack a salad for lunch that we eat on the front lawn of the church. (The MCC office is rented from the Anglican church, which has a nice campus.)

Rebecca goes and picks up the kids at 3:30 and heads home with them. I work until 5 and take a Daladala home (local bus). Despite the distance to our house, it seems to be working fairly well.

On Fridays, Rebecca has been taking the kids to our club (Gymkhana), which has other amenities, including a lounge that serves food. I meet them over there after 5 and we have dinner together. It is a pleasant way to end the week. We go home and watch a movie together, although if we rent it from
Amazon or iTunes, we have to download it the night before.

On Saturday, David was invited to a Birthday party and we all went in order to explore uncharted territory on the other side of town. We are also still trying to make connections to people. The party was held at a place called Club Tembo (elephant), and had some amusing landscaping including a large rooftop/hill that sloped down to form an elephant's trunk. David had a good time with his classmates, who seem to like him. We were grateful that many kids in the class were invited, as David is still very new to get invitations to parties.

We signed the kids up for music lessons at school this week (piano), which is offered during 'club' times. I am a bit amused at how much the school sounds like Hogwarts. We drive there every morning listening to Harry Potter, then Oren and David come home telling us about their real Prefects and Head Boy and Head Girl, and how many points their house earned that week. (They are both in 'Athens') Other houses are named after other Greek Cities. (I think Sparta is Slytherin!)

Rebecca interjecting here: Another highlight involved getting to know a few other mothers of missionary kids here in Arusha. A lovely woman named Sarah invited the boys over to play with her kids on Tuesday after school. I really enjoyed talking with Sarah and her surgeon husband, comparing notes on life as expat families. The younger boys jumped on the trampoline and played with the dogs; Oren very responsibly got his homework done, since there wasn't a kid his age on site. I think he also enjoyed relaxing in a different place, too. On Thursday morning, I joined a women's bible study group for the first time. It's pretty amazing to walk into a room of people who have been meeting for years already, and to be warmly welcomed by them. I'm grateful for their openness and look forward to getting to know some people who seem like kindred spirits. 

We should have some interesting news in the coming week as my Dad will be here. He is currently in Dar es Salaam leading some leadership training, and will be making a stop in Arusha to see us this coming weekend. We are still trying to figure out what to do, but will probably try to do a game drive at the national park that is close to town.

Language Lessons and a Partner Visit

Looking for chameleons with David on Saturday

Hujambo
--Sijambo
Habari za asabuhi?
--Njema. Asante, na wewe?
Nzuri!

We began our first week of Swahili on Tuesday. We are doing two hours a day and at the risk of being immodest I would say we made phenomenal progress. The reason is that Kiswahili is very similar in structure to Kirundi, and most of the verbs have similar roots. This is important because understanding the rules of syntax of a Bantu language is no small part of comprehension. Now we are working on absorbing as much vocabulary as possible, starting with things we need most practically-- like getting home on a Dala-Dala. (minibus that is used most commonly for public transport.) I used them several times this past week--sorry no pictures.

Me and Mary with Mt. Longido

The week did not start with language lessons though. Instead, I began the week with a field visit to one of our health partners. This partner is called TEMBO, an an acronym that also spells the Swahili word for 'elephant'. They do work with local Maasai communities around the town of Longido to try to prevent early marriage and FGM. We also introduced Zoe, MCC's SALT volunteer, to her host family and got her set up in the local home where she will spend the next year. She will be working with TEMBO as well. We left Monday morning with Sharon, our country rep., me, Zoe, and Chrispin our Ag. coordinator in a pick-up fully loaded with Zoe's things, including a full bed. We arrived in Longido about an hour and a half later. The drive was on a good road through the savannah where we could see some giraffe and antelope in the distance. Longido town is located at the base of Mt. Longido. It was also possible to see Kilimanjaro in the distance enroute, but not the day we went.

Zoe with Sharon and host family

We were greeted by Paulina the director and Mary, one of the community organizers. We had a very informative chat with them about their work then took Zoe to her host family. The house was modest, but comfortable. Zoe has her own room, and the host family was very welcoming. Zoe, who is Kenyan-American and based in the US, fortunately has a good command of Swahili and was able to communicate well with the family.

We returned to Arusha in the afternoon and I was home before the kids got home from school.

The rest of the week was occupied with language lessons, and research on other partners, particularly a new maternal and child health project we will be implementing with a partner working in the Ngorongoro Crater conservation area.

The kids have been doing well in school, although they are still getting used to leaving the house at 6:45 am. We had a chance to go the school to meet David's teachers on Wednesday night. We brought the kids along as we had no babysitter. It was interesting to meet his teachers and hear about the philosophy of education. It seemed a bit rudimentary compared to the complex pedagogical strategies of Pinewood, but I think it will be OK. From things the kids tell me though, detention is a pretty common disciplinary measure, even for not doing homework particularly well or not getting changed for PE fast enough. Oren has already gotten one 'lunch' detention for not doing his homework the way the teacher wanted it.

Despite this, Oren seems to connect well with friends at school. It is a bigger problem outside of school where we have had a lot of trouble finding families with kids Oren's age to connect with. It is really clear that Oren needs a friend his age and we have come up empty so far in looking for one. Oren and David, on the other hand, seem to be getting along in some ways. This past week, Oren came home and told us that he heard through the cafeteria grapevine that David had walked out of the bathroom without his pants on and several students nearly fainted. David confirmed to us that it happened and said he was really embarrassed. We thought it was funny, but also sympathized with David. Then, on Sunday, 5 days later, Oren told us that he and David had made the whole thing up as a practical joke to fool us. We really believed them, and I was surprised to see them conspire together so sincerely to get one over on us. Maybe they really will become better friends here?

Back to finding friends-- One problem with connecting with classmates outside of school is that it is very far away from our house, and many parents send their drivers to pick up the kids, so we cannot seem to connect at school with them even if we wanted to. We even went to a 'team' dinner in our compound (not our MCC team but the mission team that lives on the compound where we live) to see who else was on the base (as they call it). It was a nice dinner but not particularly fruitful as far as finding kids Oren's age.

This week we tried out a new church to see if there were any families we had missed. It was a Vineyard church, so quite different stylistically than the church we have been attending, but not much different in terms of families with kids Oren's age.

3 jars of fresh yogurt

One very nice thing about being here has been having free time on the weekends. Rebecca and I walked around the compound on Saturday and found a feeding area where many species of birds gather (probably because of all the ants.) We saw some very colorful lovebirds, drongos, cordon bleus, gray headed kingfisher, superb starlings, red headed weavers, hammerkop, yellow vented bulbul, some local varieties of thrush, and other things I have forgotten. We also made yogurt. It is pretty easy as a local farmer delivers 2 liters of raw milk to us 3 times per week. We pasteurize it, and on Saturday we put a yogurt culture in it while it is cooling. In 8 hours we have 2 liters of yogurt.

We have tried to find creative things to do in the evening. This weekend, we got out some model planes that we had brought for both boys and worked with them to build them. We are trying to limit screen time, although with the lack of friends for Oren, it is hard to constantly find ways to entertain him or otherwise keep him occupied.

Next week, more language, a visit from a partner, and a visit to a local Mennonite Church. We will keep you posted!

Orientation to Work and Life in Arusha

Side view of our house and vehicle

I am trying to figure out the climate here. It is vaguely familiar, but I have only just remembered where I have experienced it before-- Colorado. We are near 5000 ft. here and this month the place has the thin dry-aired feel of the mountains. It is hard to figure out what to wear, the sun beats down, but the moment one steps into the shade it is quite chilly--like the sun does not really warm the air. I have found long sleeves more comfortable than short and usually carry a fleece jacket with me.

We joined a pool this week. It is at a club called Gymkhana, which like some places in Bujumbura (Entente Sportif or Cercle Hippique) has the feel of a once elite colonial men's club, complete with golf, tennis, squash and snooker. It still has some of the vestiges of its legacy including a placard listing all former Presidents of the club dating back to 1940s (Major Nigel Carruthers and the like). Now it is considerably more run down, but maintains some of it charm. The members are almost entirely Tanzanian from what I can tell. We were attracted to the pool, one of the few 25 meter pools in town, and probably the only one accessible to us. We were also amazed at our good fortune at finding its 5 lanes completely empty when we visited twice. Once we paid our dues, Rebecca and I were anxious to try it out. We did so this past Thursday and realized why it is not crowded almost immediately-- the water is colder than anything I have swum in since high-school (in the Himalayas.) Swimming 50 laps qualifies as a religious experience! Still, I don't mind having a lane to myself after 3 years at the YMCA in Maryland.

Kids were back at school most of the week except Friday which was a holiday. Despite bitter complaining, they did get their uniforms on and we were out of the house each day by about 6:50. We tried out the shuttle service (school bus) but they left home at 6:15 and arrived home at 5 pm. To have the kids commute nearly 2 hours per day each way seemed inhuman. We are dropping them off before we go to the pool for the time being. The commute takes about 40 minutes with the kids and we listen to audiobooks while we drive. Currently we are finishing "The One and Only Ivan" about an artistic gorilla who speaks like he is channelling Ernest Hemingway.

We have been at the office every day this week doing orientation. This has included setting up language lessons, reading up on projects and partners and going over MCC policy with Sharon. Thursday we visited the Arusha Cultural Heritage Center which was quite impressive--a gigantic art gallery in a building shaped like a drum. It is close to the kids' school and we took them to it on the way home. Here are few photos from it.

On Friday we had a team meeting at Sharon's house. It was a combination meeting and social gathering. I am including a picture of our team with our 3 national staff, and 4 International staff. David and Oren were off from school because of some holiday which was announced only a day in advance (I think it was a Muslim holiday.) They enjoyed quite a bit of screen time while we talked. Afterward we went to Gymkhana and introduced them to the ice cold pool.

L to R: Sharon, Oren, Rebecca, David, Chrispin, Zoe, Lucia, Paul, Neema

On Saturday, the kids had a special international day event at the school. They were there most of the day doing cooking, dancing, and singing from other cultures. David was not very keen on going as he can entertain himself quite easily at home, but Oren seemed to like going and hanging out with classmates he knew. The event ended with a performance for the parents.

Sunday we returned to the International Lutheran church we tried last week. It was fine, although the kids were not enthralled by the Sunday school. We will see what we can do to help them. David did enjoy catching salamanders outside the church after it was over.

Tomorrow (Monday), I will take my first trip upcountry with Sharon, Chrispin, and Zoe (our one year SALT volunteer). We will be dropping her off to meet the partner she is seconded to and set her up with her host family. I will be visiting the partner as well: they implement a health project related to preventing FGM among Maasai girls (FGM is female genital mutilation, or female circumcision.) The practice is fairly common in certain regions of TZ despite being illegal. The partner provides a camp experience with room and board for girls between 6th and 7th grade to educate them on their rights and to give them an alternative to going home during the semester break when many circumcisions take place. They also educate community elders on the dangers of the practice and encourage them to find alternative rites of passage for girls.

I am interested to learn more about this first hand. The partner is located in Longido, about an hour and a half outside of Arusha. Rebeca will be responsible for watching the kids and getting them from school alone as I will be gone all day. I think her task is more stressful than mine: driving around town can be intimidating. Traffic is bad, and police often stop us to check documentation.

Evenings and weekends do allow for some free time. David likes to look for chameleons, Rebecca likes to bird watch. I like to wander around the compound where we live--definitely built in the spirit and era of the pioneer missionary. Things are well built, but seem to deteriorate rapidly. Nothing is wasted. I find it amusing how many houses have been built of containers that are cut apart and stuck together. Many interesting agriculture and water projects on the base as well. The neighbors are very friendly and hail from all over the world--Uganda to New Zealand. We like the place but it is really on the outskirts of the town and feels somewhat remote.

I'll stop there and pick up on this next week.

Arrival and First Week

Arrival in Arusha, looking back at the plane.

Here I am already at 10:20 pm Sunday night and I am just starting. I have committed to put something up each week, so here is a brief synopsis of our arrival. We took KLM from Dulles to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro airport in Arusha. Fairly direct. My parents and Rebecca's parents drove us to the airport with about 15 suitcases. The flight was bumpy but uneventful and the entertainment system in every seat kept the kids very engaged. We arrived at about 7pm and spent several hours in the airport to get a visa and clear customs. Had to pay about $50 duty. Not bad for the amount of luggage we had with many of the kids' games and toys.

Oren and David looking very 'smart' in their uniforms

Our Country Representative, Sharon, picked us up and we were back at her house for our first night at about midnight. It was a very long hard day and it was hard to keep the kids from feeling really bad and anxious about the move. Their mood was not improved the next morning when we headed over to St. Constantine, their new school, where they met the headmasters and got uniforms. Oren was also told he would have to sit for a 2 hour placement test the next morning--the first day of school.

Although everyone at the school was very friendly it was hard to keep the anxiety level down about the newness of it all. The school is quite charming: a British system school with separate primary adn secondary sections on lush grounds, even including a 25 meter pool for PE. (Oren was not excited about swimming during the school day.) He is very sad about having to wear a uniform, and for boys like him in the lower secondary that includes a tie. David's uniform is a bit less complicated.

Arusha is surprisingly temperate and comfortable with nights that are almost chilly and days which, thus far, only warm up into the mid 80s. It does have the feel of a town in the Southwest. Not a lot of grass that isn't cultivated, fairly dusty and flat. Mount Meru, however, is a significant exception rising majestically in the distance to the North. It is similar in size to Bujumbura, where we lived before, but seems a little less densely populated. Still, driving through town from the kids' school at rush hour takes about 50 minutes, and that is creeping along. The time it takes to get through town is important because our new home is at the outskirts of the far south end of town, and their school is at the far west end.

We were taken to our new home on the second day there, and moved in during the kids' first day of school on day 3, Thursday. We were given a small double cab Ford Ranger to move our stuff in and spent the day unpacking and getting the house set up. We are renting a house built on the compound of a teachers' mission community called the Joshua Foundation. It is a fabulous 5 bedroom 2 story house within a 12 acre compound with other houses and farmland. There are also farm animals and other families living here, some foreigners and some Africans. David already has a friend who lives next door. There is also a community playground with a trampoline that he can walk to out our back door. We met the directors yesterday and they are very friendly and happy to have us join the community.

Oren and David were happy to be out of school after only two days. On Saturday we spent most of the day around the house moving in. David and Rebecca started their day with a good walk around the 12 acre campus to look for birds and other wildlife. We invited Sharon, our Country Rep. and Zoe, a new SALTer to have Mexican food that we prepared at our house. I was amazed that we were set up so quickly.

Some of the routines--shopping at multiple stores for different items, buying cooking gas, dodging minivan taxis and motorcycles while driving, felt familiar, routines from Bujumbura that had been in hibernation. One significant twist is driving on the left side of the road. I have done it before, but it does take some re-adapting.

Children's moment at church

Sunday we joined Sharon at her church, the Arusha Community Church, a non-denominational lay-lead congregation that follows the Lutheran liturgy. It was very nice and I saw a number of kids our children's ages. They were shy today, but I am hoping they will open up next week when Sunday school begins.

David enjoying a Fanta at George's

After church, we followed Sharon and Zoe to a restaurant called George's that reminded me of Ubuntu in Bujumbura. Fantastic pizzas and salads in an open-air restaurant under umbrellas. We will probably return frequently, perhaps as an after church ritual. We followed that by trying out one of the local pools where our family played in the water for a few hours. Rebecca and I have been on the hunt for a 25 meter pool for morning exercises. I think we are close to finding one.

In the evenings the kids have settled into a ritual of listening to Harry Potter for 30 minutes before bed. We have diminished screen time significantly, although there is internet here and it is not bad. We are hoping to set up healthy patterns from the start here.

Tomorrow (Monday) orientation begins in earnest as the kids will be in school and we are now settled in. The kids will also be taking the 'bus' to school for the first time. A school shuttle is privately contracted through a contact at the school. The bus is scheduled to pick them up at 6:20 am, fully dressed in uniform. Please pray the anxiety of adjusting to new routines is not too stressful for David and Oren.

Our family with Sharon and Zoe at George's Restaurant