The End of March Madness

David at Parent Child Football Tournament at SCIS.

OK, I admit this post has nothing to do with college basketball, but I wanted to come up with a catchy title for the last blog of March. Generally we try to get 3 posts out per month (every 10 days or so). I had a bit more discipline in Burundi and wrote one just about every Sunday night. I am not sure what has changed, but maybe with older children we find ourselves very busy into late hours. Also the 5am wake up every weekday morning makes bedtime a lot earlier for all of us.

pizza line,
oven at back.

I am starting this on Saturday morning. David and Oren have just had a sleepover exchange with some Canadian friends from our small group with two boys the ages of our kids. David and Toby are over here and Oren and Zeke stayed the night at their house. We will meet up later in the day, probably for some fishing at lake Duluti. Our friends stay on another mission compound (Pamoja) about 30 minutes away from us, one of the features of their place is an actual outdoor brick pizza oven and pizza making station next to it. They have 'make your own pizza night' on Fridays and we are often invited. I have to say it is some of the best pizza I have had. Actually many local restaurants around here have such a pizza oven, and just last week Pizza Hut® has opened a restaurant in Arusha. We had to try it after choir practice last Wednesday to see how it was. It was fairly legit! Same crust and sauce, although there was no salad bar and the pizzas came with a side of fries (people love them here).

Looking back, I would say the past 10 days were marked by several significant events that I will summarize. The first was a field visit to our maternal and child health project in Ngorongoro. I have mentioned in past entries that we have been doing a study up there to better understand the psycho-social reasons women prefer home deliveries even when they can access a facility. It has been interesting as our findings reveal quite a bit about some cultural practices around delivery, some fairly harmless, others concerning. The most alarming one is to virtually starve the pregnant woman in her last trimester to insure a small baby (less complicated delivery). Low birthweight babies have far less chance of survival. Finding ways to change these practices and keep pregnancy safe is a challenge.

Looking into Ngorongoro crater

I had planned to go up with the project manager and a research assistant to complete interviews with nurse midwives at the three facilities in the ward where we are working. I left last Tuesday and drove the MCC landrover up to the town of Karatu and stayed the night outside the Ngorongoro conservation area. There is really no good place to stay in Ngorongoro except a Maasai boma, or one 5 star hotel that a few tourists can afford.

The next day, Bernadetha (research assistant) and I drove into the conservation area. I was not entirely comfortable with the landrover as it has a history of breaking down and we were going hours into the middle of nowhere on a very rough road. I detected concerning problems as soon as we entered the park, as we bounced down the road the battery light came on, then on one hard bump the fuel guage jumped from 3/4 to 1/4 of a tank. (We needed to go over 200kms) Fortunately it popped back up, but as we approached Irkeepusi sub-village to meet our project manager, smoke started pouring into the cab from between the seats where the gear box is. I stopped the car immediately. We got out and I looked underneath and it appeared that oil was leaking out of the gearbox and getting burned on the drive shaft.

Laangakwa to the rescue in his landrover.

It was not a great place to be stranded, about 50kms from the entrance gate. Some zebras grazing nearby stared at us with mild interest. Fortunately I did have cell phone reception and called the PM, Laangakwa and told him we had broken down several kms from the village. Fortunately he had an old landrover and drove up about 15 minutes to get us. By that time a small group of Maasai had gathered around to see what was happening. Fortunately they knew Swahili and I told them what had happened. Laangakwa is also Maasai and arrived and his landrover. He told us that if I could drive back about 5kms, there was a resort up a hill with a garage for safari vehicles. We did manage to limp back after the car cooled.

Interviewing a midwife at Bulati dispensary.

We left the car there with the fundi (technician). He said he could refill the gearbox and tighten the screws (I don't think they use gaskets here in TZ). And we should be able to get back to Arusha. While he was repairing, we continued our safari in Laangakwa's vehicle. We had to get to three health facilities. The first was another 40 kms away on very rough roads, very remote. We needed to collect data on birhs and ANC visits and Bernadetha needed to conduct a 30 minute interview at each place. We were hoping to finish and get back on the road to the town of Karatu before dark.

Research team and midwives at
Irkeepusi dispensary.

It was a long but successful trip as we did get to every clinic, and got very good information and good interviews. (I hope to have transcriptions in a week or so.) We returned in the late afternoon to get our car which had been fixed and washed! We paid $15 for the work and B. and I drove back to Karatu, without further incident. I was hoping to go on to Arusha that day as well, but it was getting dark and I stayed an extra night in Karatu and headed back to Arusha the next day.

I was a bit disappointed not to get back the night before because David was part of a Battle of the Bands event at his school and he was playing keyboard for Believer by Imagine Dragons. He had been practicing at home all week! I missed it but Rebecca and Oren did go and gave a good report.

It was actually good to be back in the office on Thursday after my adventure. Friday was a bit different as our boss Sharon was moving house and we all helped load a truck and get her settled in. It went quite well and her new house is really nice!

Winners of best kit.

The weekend was also very busy. We had a big event on Saturday that Rebecca was instumental in organizing. It was a parent child soccer tournament at the school organized by the parent's committee. It was probably one of the most ambitious things they had done and included multiple tournaments (10 minutes each, teams of 4--at least one adult on each). I was part of team with David and 2 other families. (we had 2 subs). We were called the Savannah Strikers and one of the mom's had made really cool chartruese shirts with a logo. The event was huge and well attended with many vendors and a raffle as well as other activities. We did not win the competition, but get a prize for best 'kit' (uniform).

No rest for the weary after we returned home because on Sunday I was preaching at our church. I had planned something special for the third Sunday of lent. I talked on the theme and preached on stories from Ruth and Naomi, and picking up your cross and following Jesus. But I mainly used Psalm 63 and began with a 'movement poem' in which I recited the psalm while I danced with a staff near the altar. I had wanted to do this as a spiritual discipline as part of Lent--spend some time meditating on the psalm with movement. But as you can see from above, it was very challenging to find rehearsal time with the business of the week. I squeezed it in during evenings and had some time Sunday morning before church as well. I am happy to say it went fantastically (from an execution point of view. ) I received many compliments afterward and felt very good about the sermon. (link to movement poem I did)

We finished off Sunday afternoon with a meetin of our small group. By Sunday night Rebecca and I sat amazed at the amount of work we had done in the course of 5 days. We have really been feeling more connected these past few months. It seems to take more than a year to really get connected to community, but we are finally arriving.

This past week was very (mercifully) quiet. Rebecca and I took Monday off for a time of reflection and had a nice time of walking and talking nnd reading at a coffee plantation resort.

 We went back to work on Tuesday. Everyone is out of the office on field visits or trainings but me and Rebecca this week. I had a lot to catch up on so I have appreciated the uniterruped work time. We are developing several new concepts for future projects and this was a week to get them down on paper.

One of the big concerns we have had is water. We are in the middle of the rainy season, which began last month with several spectacular showers, then stopped completely. It is dry as a bone around here. I admit I am glad I did not have to deal wiht mud in Ngorongoro, but now people's crops around here are failing. It is not all of TZ, but certainly in the north where we are. Please pray that the heavens would open.

Post Script: We just had a nice 3 hour drizzle this afternoon. First rain in over a month!