Small Challenges Amid a Plethora of Blessings

I am not a car salesman. I have nothing against car salesmen, but I am not one. That said, I have to marvel sometimes at the number of different skill sets required to be a country representative... accountant, pastor, IT specialist, chauffer, to name a few. This is not the first time I have had to buy or sell cars for MCC, but as an American in this context, it is not at all intuitive, and the experience bears little resemblance to the process in the US. 

As we have said before, the MCC Tanzania program is in the process of consolidating into the Nairobi Kenya MCC office and we are now at the point where we are disposing of assets. Figuring out the values and selling items is tricky. Arusha's economy is depressed as a result of low rates of tourism because of COVID. So people don't have a lot of money. As far as cars, I am realizing that people who have been answering ads for our Rav 4 seem to consider themselves duped if they do not get a price below the stated value in the ad. (I did check this out with our national staff and they confirmed that it is important to set the value over the amount we want to get because anyone paying the full price considers themselves to be cheated.) Even still, I struggle with showing the car to potential buyers who are extremely aggressive about getting a low price, wanting to pay cash, and then driving away with the car within 10 minutes of seeing it--like the car is a bolt of kitenge fabric. When I want to slow down to be sure that we go through the proper legal process with regard to title transfer, they balk. I think there is the hope that they will be able to drive around as long as possible with the current registration and insurance and only re-register when absolutely necessary. It has an air of desperation about it that makes even having a car to sell and insisting on a proper transfer seem privileged and immoral.

Work in the past two weeks has been full of meetings with our staff Chrispin and Lucia, our Area Directors in Nairobi, lawyers, and even auditors who came in two weeks ago to do our 2019 audit (delayed because of COVID). Closing down is at least as complicated as registering, I believe, and we don't want to finish off with a huge fine from the Revenue Authority for failing to cross a 'T' or dot an 'i'. 

I don't want to sound too much that I am complaining about the routine of life these days. The truth is, it has been mercifully normal. No one has been sick for several weeks, the kids are in school all day so Rebecca and I can be in the office after a work out at our club. We were even more thrilled to see the pool has been refilled and we have re-established our Friday after-school family activities at Gymkhana including squash and swimming. 

The return to a sense of normality does have a certain eeriness and sense of impermanence about it, like an eddy of calm in a fast-moving stream of chaotic change. This is particularly true as we read about the second wave of COVID hitting Europe, the slow-motion train wreck of COVID management in the US, and recent outbreaks in Kenya. By contrast, Arusha seems to have very low prevalence, and in fact, our doctor friends who track respiratory infections in area hospitals are reporting that there have been none this month. I still find it surreal to see everyone walking around without masks, and spurning social distancing. We still maintain stricter protocols in our office, but the kids have given up on mask-wearing in school at this point since they are the only ones doing so.

Low prevalence in a number of African countries is still not well-understood but does seem to be happening. I think it is possible that there may have been some high levels of cross-immunity, and an outbreak that came close to providing herd immunity in April-June, as there were many deaths in that period here. I think this will be an interesting research topic in the years ahead. For the time being, we are thankful, but weary of a sudden change and return to strict isolation protocol. (I really really don't want to home school again!)

Some of the rewarding work we have had the chance to do in our job is visiting partners. Rebecca and I went over to MWANGAZA, one of our education partners this week who have been doing a very effective project in Lutheran schools to eliminate the practice of corporal punishment. It is very challenging to change the culture of discipline in schools, even with strict govt. limitations on it because all teachers grew up with it, and even parents judge the rigor of a school and quality of education by the number of times the cane is applied. Sadly, this is one of the projects that had to end early, but during our visit to their office, they told us that they found another donor to continue supporting their work. I admit that these visits to partners we have had to cut with our program reduction is bittersweet. It is good to be able to sit together and appreciate our mutual work and learning together, but I feel a jolt of fresh regret that we are not able to continue to work here in the capacity we have been for many years. 

Another life-giving routine is restarting Sunday School. While our church has not reopened yet, (It will in October), Rebecca and I have gone for the past 3 weeks to the kids' school St.Constantines, to do Sunday school in an outdoor space. The kids who attend are boarders and had been coming by bus to our church in the past. It has been fun to see their faces again and continue doing lessons with them the past few weeks. There is no plan to restart Sunday school at our church since the Sunday school was always very crowded in cramped rooms and we would not be able to control social distancing in our church setting. 

We also continue to meet with our small group and it has been good to see a number of families returning. Oren and David finally got to get together with their friends Harry and Sammy T. as their family returned from Australia and finished quarantine about a week ago. We all met up at the birthday of one of our small group members at a club called TGT on the West side of Arusha. The 4 boys enjoyed spending hours together catching up. I am grateful they have close friends here, even after many months apart. 

We have also been able to resume our Thursday dinners every fortnight with the team here on our compound where we live. It is good to catch up with others who live with us here. In fact, life on the compound has been quite satisfying after school, particularly for David who considers the 3 guard dogs his pets, and often helps them escape from their pen in the late afternoon to play with him. He has also been avidly riding his bike around the compound, a return to this activity after nearly a year and a half hiatus because of an accident he had which really put him off bike riding. Now he and I take a ride around the compound and into the neighboring village on a regular basis. (It is kind of like off-road biking since all the roads here are not paved and very rough.)

Rebecca and I were at the office alone last week as both Chrispin and Lucia have been out of the office for different activities. We usually take a day off per week one at a time, but this week, since we were alone, we took off Thursday together and went to a resort called Ngare Sero (on the foothills of Mt. Meru) that offered a special 'family day' deal to spend the day including, swimming, boating, hiking, bird-watching, even horseback riding, and a full meal all included for about $25 per person. Rebecca and I splurged on it while the kids were at school. We had a great swim in their 30-meter pool (narrow but long), then had a fabulous breakfast, followed by hiking and bird watching. It was a very welcome Sabbath days after a lot of busy administrative work at the office. We saw a number of very cool birds including a fish eagle perched on the small lake near the lodge. Very similar to the American bald eagle as you can see. 

We have much to be thankful for, in our remaining months here, one of the greatest blessings is seeing the kids really enjoy their school here and succeed academically. Oren is particularly good with the Cambridge system aced his prep. tests for O levels at the end of the year. According to him, he is glad he is smart because he hates to study:-) 

Even with the many blessings here we cannot be fully at rest. We are already making preparations for our next role and a big move next year. Once the program here is closed, and the kids are out of school, we will be moving to Addis Ababa to begin our work as Reps. in Ethiopia. I am supposed to start in Feb, followed by the family in June when school ends. Getting documents ready for the visa process there needs to be prepared nearly 6 months in advance. So we are working on that and while we are grateful for a new opportunity, it seems to cast an uncertain shadow over our life here and now. This is the season of jacarandas in full bloom. I know Ethiopia has much to offer, but I feel melancholic knowing this may be the last time I live in a place where these majestic trees burst into bloom everywhere in town, and cover the ground with a lilac carpet under their spreading boughs.

Bonus postscript: I preached for our church several weeks ago (online) and recorded the sermon. If you are interested in listening, here is the link: sermon link