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.