A visit from MCC East Africa (and more rain)

Kilimanjaro, in a moment of clearing from our roof

Its a bit hard not to sound redundant these days in this blog when the rain is such a constant, and such a limiting factor in daily activities. I thought that I was used to rainy seasons from our time in Burundi, but perhaps the proximity to the lake there shielded us from the its worse effects. In Bujumbura it might rain every afternoon for an hour or so, but for the most part, there were spaces in everyday when the sun was shining. Not so in Arusha. It seems like we can go a week with heavy cloud cover, or hear the rain pounding torrentially for an entire day and night. And the 'built environment' here, particularly roads and drainage systems do not seem at all equipped to handle the amount of water pouring down. This is especially true of the many dirt roads which either wash away into deep potholes and rock, or else turn into tarpit-like mud that is impassable without a 4wd vehicle. I am intimidated by the rainy season here and can see that people who are used to it recognize that it will be a major obstacle to travel--especially doing field visits to remote areas. (We have a big one coming up in April)

On the good side, on the rare occasions when the weather is clear, the air is really washed clean. It makes for great views of the distant mountains in the area. I noticed Mt. Meru was exceptionally clear last week, like I could see every crag. So I climbed up on our water tower to see if Kilamanjaro was visible as well. (It is not particularly close) and I saw it plainly visible and covered with snow. (I later heard that hikers cannot currently summit because of the amount of snow on it right now.) It was quite spectacular and I tried to get some photos of it.

The rain does not make our daily routine any better, particularly the 5am wakeup. With cloud cover, we barely see the light of day by the time we leave the house at 6:40 am. Getting the kids up in complete darkness is difficult and they complain bitterly during breakfast about waking up in the 'middle of the night.' Occasionally we are also graced wtih a power failure that makes preparing to go to school and work even more difficult and we rely heavily on our headlamps.

David with giant beetle

But it usually is not always that bad. I've even been told recently that part of the reason for the particularly heavy rains this month are due to a cyclone off the coast of Madascar. The trade-off of clear air, green vegetation, and abundant water in our tanks reminds us of the blessing of rain in this time.

The past week was not terribly eventful. Rebecca has been busy helping with logistics for an MCC East Africa Rep. meeting. Sharon (our Directr) is hosting it in Arusha, and Reps. from Uganda, South Sudan, Ethilopia, and Kenya are expected to attend as well as our two Area Directors.

Oren learning figure drawing in art class, his skull on left

We continue to have a fairly 'normal' routine for the week with the kids arriving back to our office from school about 4:30 pm and we either head home or to an evening activity. Currently Wednesday evening is dedicated to choir practice. The kids come with us since we can't take them home before we begin at 5pm. They play around the church while we sing then we often get a meal at an Indian restaurant on the way home. This week we also went out on Saturday to see the St. Constantine secondary school (where Oren is) production of 'Aida' ( the Tim Robbins/Elton John musical not the opera.) It was very well done! Oren had been one of the scene painters but was not in the production. It was great to see the school had such talented voices and a good drama production staff.

Sunday we had the opportunity to go a family fellowship after church which has been reconveined after several months of not meeting. It is organized to give missionary families a chance to connect kids together. This is good for us because finding kids Oren's age is a constant quest here. (School friends tend to live very far away.) We were happy to meet some new families that have recently arrived, although distance remains a challenge.

The new week, which we are now halfway through began as a normal work week, but MCC leadership from East Africa were arriving throughout the afternoon. Rebecca spent a lot of time at their hotel to arrange logistics for the week. I was also called upon to help Rebecca with childcare when the meetings began on Tuesday. There are 5 kids who came from country programs in Ethioia, South Sudan, and Uganda. The oldest, Jacob, is 13 and seemed to have exactly the same interests as Oren. Although our kids were in school the whole day, Oren was able to meet Jacob in the late afternoon and they had a good time together discussing Minecraft, and other games they like to play.

We also had a chance to meet MCC Representatives from the East African Countries, and talk about their work. There was really no direct overlap between them and us during our time as Reps. in Rwanda/Burundi, but we certainly knew many of the same people everywhere.

MCC visitors with maasai trainers

Wednesday we headed up to Longido where our partner who works to support girls rights and economic and social development have their office. We mainly support them in their work to prevent FGM (female genital mutilation), a practice that is quite persistent in this region despite its illegality. We went together in a bus for an hour and half. There we were treated to a presentation of the work our partner TEMBO does, particularly in changing mindsets about FGM. We were introduced to 6 trainers-- maasai women in traditional dress, all of whom said they had been circumsized and were now powerful advocates in the community to end the practice. What was particulalry insightful to hear was the testimony from the head trainer Mary (Tembo) who explained how embedded in the entire culture of courtship and marriage, and how difficult it was to end it independently of other practices of early, arranged, marriage, pre-marital sex, etc.

Trainer Pauline--in full costume

But it is clear that they are having an impact on the community and many girls, especially those who are going to school and want to continue to secondary, are even openly refusing to go through the practice and condemning it.

At one point Mary did a very graphic explanation, using a model to show the different types of FGM and the health complications they create. (infection, fistula, infertility, hemmorhaging). It was very uncomfortable to see and hear described. (Prevalence in the Arusha region, where we work is about 50% among all women.)

At the end of the presentation, and after sharing a meal and asking many questions, the MCC group loaded back into the bus and headed back to Arusha. We got back late and missed choir. One variation though is that we brought Jacob back from the tour to stay the night with Oren. They are enjoying playing minecraft together.