Year 2--Back into the Fray

Rebecca writing again:

No smiling faces at 6am breakfast for day 1 at school.

This morning, reality hit. Our alarms went off at 5 am. The school supplies had been assembled. Bags were packed the night before with water and a snack. School uniforms had been laid out in advance. We left the house at 6:45. Not everyone was happy about it. Some of the younger members of our family had been enjoying sleeping in until 7:30 up until yesterday. Thus, there is no “smiling, walking out the door on the first day of school” picture. Just to be sure things got off to a good start, we drove the kids to school this morning. And, as of today, we have completed the two months of school break and (in my mind) officially started the second year of our assignment with MCC.

mourners at Upendo's funeral

Let me step back to last week. The biggest event for the community where we live was the funeral for Upendo, which took place on Tuesday. All weekend, our neighbor’s house was packed with visitors, mostly outside on benches, keeping the young widowed father of 3 company. I went over late on Monday evening and sat for a while with an older aunt and several younger women. Some of them were just sitting silently and wearily. A few were teary. The aunt just seemed to want to chat about all kinds of things with me, and not just about Upendo’s death. I guess the point of such visits is being present with those who are grieving – it’s less about having something profound to say.

On Tuesday morning, a large group went to collect Upendo’s body and bring her back in procession from the morgue, as a way of honoring her. I was watching my kids and the young children of some other neighbors on the compound, as a way of enabling them to attend the funeral and grieve freely. Paul attended the funeral as the official representative from our family. He may have more to say about it here.

Rebecca and Godliving birdwatching

Wednesday happened to be a public holiday, and we made very good use of the day out as a family. Through our church choir, we have gotten to know a young Tanzanian man named Godliving Shoo. He is a member of a birdwatching club and offered to take us out on a birdwatching trip. So, we did something completely new and drove out to a nearby lake, less than 40 minutes away. Lake Duluti is fairly small at just 1 km across, but it’s a crater lake (the opening of a collapsed volcano) and is estimated to be 700 m deep! There’s a nice trail around the periphery of the lake, and one could probably complete it in an hour.

Black crowned night heron

We took almost four hours, however, because there were so many birds to look at along the way. Godliving and his fellow club member Lina were very skilled at spotting and identifying the birds we saw. I know a lot of the families of birds I see, from experience in Botswana and Burundi, but I am still learning to identify the different species here. I was also grateful for the patience of our guides as they would point out a bird and ask me what I thought I was seeing and help me sort through the options to come to the right identification. Godliving had one of those bird-call apps on his phone and a few times he played it loud enough to attract real birds of the same species so that we could see and identify them. It was a bit funny to see the puzzled looks on the faces of the Olive-gray greenbuls as they tried to understand who was calling!

We also saw some impressively large monitor lizards, both sunbathing and swimming. A pair of blue monkeys were hanging out in a tree as we passed. David enjoyed trying his hand at fishing for the first time in Arusha. He didn’t catch any fish, but did get a large crayfish that grabbed his bait and would not let go. Oren was a good sport through the walk and bird watching. He would probably have preferred to just hike at a steady pace, rather than stop and look at things, but he was relatively patient.

By the time we were finished with our outing, it was almost time for choir. We grabbed an ice cream for the kids and then went straight to church to practice our music for the upcoming Harvest Festival at the end of September. Again, the young guys weren’t so happy to go from one thing to the next, but they have learned how to entertain themselves around the church property.

On Thursday, Paul went to work as usual, while the kids and I drove out to my bible study group in the West part of town. I’m glad that David enjoys playing with the other little kids who come. He also had lots of fun collecting guavas from someone’s tree. Oren brought his book and curled up in a bedroom to read for a while. I enjoyed a more intimate time to catch up with some of the members of our bible study. One woman is expecting a baby any day now. We are praying fervently for a safe, healthy, complication free delivery for her. It was a poignant reminder of the realities of childbirth that most women in the world face, as we also prayed for Upendo’s bereaved family. The birth of a healthy new baby is a gift and grace, and not an entitlement – something we take for granted in the west.

On our way back towards home, I attempted to get a few new uniform pieces for my kids. Sadly, the uniform shop at school had still not received the new stock. So, our kids went to school in their old uniforms – a bit tight, worn and untidy, but at least they had something to wear. I noted that this afternoon, the new uniforms still hadn’t come in! 

On Friday after work, we enjoyed sharing conversation and dinner with our friend Prof. Wilfred Mlay. He has served as the ambassador of the Great Lakes Initiative for Reconciliation among Christian leaders. I’ve known him since 2010 and have really valued any time we get to share together. He’s officially retired from the GLI but still very busy with it and it was lovely to catch up on the news of what is planned for next January. He had never been to Gymkhana before, so I was glad we could show him our verdant little get-away.

Most of my Saturday was taken up with church activities – a worship committee meeting, and then rehearsal for leading worship music on Sunday. I guess I’m crazy for enjoying church committees, but I find it stimulating to think through how things can be done well and faithfully in the Christian community. The drawback of this activity was that Paul was left alone with the kids for most of the day. I think they wore him out, because he really wasn’t feeling well by late afternoon when I got home.

I’m also so grateful for the young adults who have been willing to join me each time in being part of an ad hoc worship team. In the end, on Sunday, two women joined as singers and two young men played guitar and drums. It was a family service, and we’d picked songs the children had learned in Sunday school. Paul even led motions for the whole congregation on two songs. We had fun!

The one snag in our Sunday was that Oren also started feeling very unwell. It is still unclear to us whether he is sick with a parasite, or whether the start-up of school is taking its toll on his nerves. We would appreciate prayers for the anxiety he feels in starting this school year.

Bonus Photo:  Oren painting 'Foxy' on his wall to give make his room more his own.