A Birthday and a Field Trip

Not every week is as full as activities as another, and this week at work, after our partners meeting, has been considerably more subdued. I have been using the opening paragraph to comment on the weather, and as expected, the temperatures continue to drop during the night and the days are not as warm either. It is subtle to notice the change when one is outside during the day because the rains have gone and for the most part, the cloud cover is gone as well. So we have sun for a good part of the day. In the direct sun it is quite warm, but inside one really wants to bundle up with a sweater and even a space heater and drink a warm beverage during work. The pool water is around 61 right now and I can't tell if the sun in the day will be able to balance the chill of the night or whether the temp will continue to drop in the next 2-3 weeks as we enter June.

Work has been focused, for me, around making sure that partners who intend to continue old projects or start new ones in 2019 have turned in 'concept papers' for us to consider in the months ahead. It is about a one year process from a proposed new project to final approval for funding. I think that seems quite slow for folks around here who would prefer that funding for a proposal would be begin shortly after it is presented. That is one of the tensions we must manage here coming from a culture of schedules and long-term planning, to one of spontaneity and a a mindset of uncertainty about tomorrow, much less one year from now. (I am often amused at myself when I send an email to one of our local partners to see if they are available for a meeting in mid-November--6 months out.) I don't think many even use an appointment calendar that tracks dates that far in the future.

Still, I do find the work rewarding and there continue to be new things to apply myself to. One of our partners recently received funding for some qualitative research to better understand why Maasai women in their project prefer to have births at home rather than go to a facility, even when they go there for other purposes (like ante-natal care). I am working with them to design a research project to investigate this.

Rebecca has been busy at work as well, following up on the child protection workshop she did with partners who run schools, and preparing for a team meeting this Friday.

We continued in our normal routine for the most part with a few highlights worth noting on several evenings. Choir practice continues to meet on Wednesdays and we are starting some new (more difficult) pieces for a special evening of music in June. On Thursday, our family was invited once again to Nai our housekeeper's house for a Birthday party for her youngest son Ezra. He was turning 4. This time we were wiser and made sure we had a way to get back in the back gate once we left. having learned the hard way last time that there is no easy route back to the compound except that.

We arrived about 5pm and found a much larger gathering than last time. It seems that most of the kids in the neighborhood were there, many friends of all of Nai's children. They were very excited to be part of a Birthday and get some food and cake. I was surprised that many of them spoke quite good English that they had learned in school. This feels like a nice gesture as Nai feels honored to have us come to her house, and Rebecca enjoys being able to contribute a Birthday cake to the party and a gift for the Birthday child. It is admittedly always a bit awkward being served food first and eating surrounded by 22 hungry children looking on, but refusing, even on principal, would be the height of ingratitude and impoliteness. I always take a very small portion because I know that all the extra food prepared for us that we do not eat, will go to the kids.

Ezra liked his ball and was thrilled to have a Birthday cake. David and Oren were both very nice the whole time. David is more extroverted and ran around the back of the house almost on arrival, to see the rabbits. He was thrilled to find a litter of puppies as well that he played with for quite a bit of the time we were there. Oren politely posed for pictures and stayed inside with group. He did confide in us later that he did feel awkward being treated in such a privileged way. He would have rather just been one of the kids, in his words.

We left after Birthday cake many photos of and with the children. Ezra liked the soccer ball we gave him and Rebecca's chocolate cake was a smash.

We took it easy on Friday and Saturday generally. Oren had a friend over to our house (one of the Abrahams) from school. They had a great time playing together. When we took him back home across town, we also attended another engagement we were invited to nearby. It was a good bye party for some people who have been here for a number of years. We did not know them well, but Rebecca was in a Bible study with the woman, Martha, and many of our friends that we have come to know here were there as well. It was a fun evening and a chance to be relational with many of our friends who live across town from us.

Sunday morning was another adventure with children for me. Rebecca was leading music for the service, and I was working with the Sunday school kids. We had planned a field trip to take all of the Sunday school kids to a nearby school where a large number of albino children attend school and are sponsored by Albino Peacemakers (PAC) who are affiliated with our church. PAC does a lot of work to champion the cause of people with albinism in TZ. They are led by Sister Martha who you might remember from a previous blog. The children from our church had been collecting offerings and were donating them all to PAC and were going to visit the albino children in school to present the gifts.

We boarded 2 buses we had hired. We had estimated about 30 would be coming, but in fact, there were closer to 75. Fortunately it was a short ride to the school. We crowded in a large classroom where about 24 children with albinism were waiting for us. They sang some songs and our kids sang songs that they had prepared as well. We also presented them with a gift of shoes for school uniforms, protective clothing, as well as juice and cookies, which we shared. It was a nice outing, although with 75 children that we had to get to and from the place, I would not want to attempt this more than once per year. We got back to the church about the time the service was letting out.

After church we went to the new Star Wars movie 'Solo' on Sunday afternoon. We opted not to go see it in 3D this time, although it was available here. We all enjoyed it, and at $4, movies are a much more regular family activity here than in the US.