A Visitor in "Humorous" weather

Puppies born in a barn.

Phelgmatic. That is how I would describe the weather here this season-- cool, moist (or wet really). It is in many ways my least favorite kind of weather as I am more of a choleric (warm, dry) personality. (Why the medical profession gave up a theory of disease based on the interaction of the 4 humors in favor of germs, I don't know--although anti-vaxxers may want to take us back!)

The remedy that seems to work best to face endless weeks of rain, is homeopathic. Start a cold rainy day with a swim in a cold wet pool. After 45 minutes in the water, nothing will feel quite as cold and wet the rest of the day. Yes, we are still doing our morning swim, Rebecca began wearing the wet-suit yesterday but I am trying to hold out until June 1st.

It is a Saturday morning, the first full day of the beginning of the kids' half-term break. No matter how short the term, there is a week off right in the middle. We just started term 3 four weeks ago. To celebrate, Oren and David had a double sleep-over with the two boys from the Taylor family, our Australian friends from our small group. Today has been mostly absorbed by inside games, although David and Sammy did go over to the muddy barn in the pouring rain to play with a litter of puppies that were born to the guard dogs last month.

Dave on KP duty the morning after arrival. Such a mensch!

We actually have a full house as Rebecca's Dad, Dave Sack, arrived last night as well for a two day stay-over. He has several meeting related to cholera projects in the region. He arrived from Dar Es Salaam and is going on to Bujumbura, Burundi. We are happy to see him and took advantage of his sherpa capacity by loading up his suitcase with goodies from home to get us to our next home leave in July (chocolate chips, Crystal Lite, new swimming suits, and eye-glasses).

Moving backward, the past week has been quite out of the ordinary in terms of work. First, Sharon, our Representative is not in town and won't be for some time. So we are a bit smaller in terms of office staff. She is on email so we can communicate, but the office feels a bit emptier. Secondly, this past week was not spent in the office as we were hosting our annual partner meeting--  a conference, for which we booked a local hotel (Stereo) to have our meetings. So we were not in the office at all between Tuesday and Thursday.

The annual partner meeting is a somewhat unique MCC event: for 3 days, we bring all of the local organizations that currently have MCC grants together to do some capacity building, networking, professional development, and usually a field visit to one of our projects. Partners have really come to appreciate it, and it has fostered of atmosphere of cooperation and mutual support rather than competion.

We vary the themes every year and this year we had several modules. On the first day, we did some leadership and time management training. The partners enjoyed the latter thoroughly and the presenter, a Tanzanian advisory board member, did an excellent presentation. He both acknowledged and challenged the stereotype: "No hurry in Africa." The message resonated strongly with participants both in humor at situations where traditional and modern concepts of time are juxtaposed , as well as frustration where they see time wasted systemically in many bureaucratic processes that can be costly in time wasted and money spent.

Rebecca presented MCC values in a clever way, inviting groups to act out skits to demonstrate each value. Our partners seem to love acting and they hammed it up considerably. I did a unit on fundraising, which included some resources for finding appropriate grants to end the first day.

On the second day we had an all day training on Mainstreaming Gender in our programs. It was an excellent, very sophisticated, presentation, which provided several frameworks for doing gender analysis. Towards the end of the day,  partners worked in break-out groups to analyze case studies of projects that were strugging. The course ended with a certification ceremony where those who participated got a certificate to show their proficiency. The partners really  appreciated the chance to earn a professional development certificate.

On day three, we took a bus about 2 hours out of town to Longido where our partner Tembo Trust has a guest house and a large girls' empowerment program in several Maasai communities. (Tembo is a Maasai-run organization.) MCC's work wiith them has been focused on helping them advocate to end FGM (female circumcision) in the project region, where prevalence is quite high.

Tembo hosted us with lunch, then a presentation of their work including the testimony of two of their community animators, both traditional Maasai women, one a traditional birth attendant (TBA). Their presentations were powerful, even in Maa (language) and translated into Kiswahili. The TBA actually showed the way a traditional birth was done with the help of her colleague. They also spoke frankly about FGM and other challenges for girls in the community. We shared lunch, had a long question and answer session and feedback. The partners were effusive in praising each other's work and it was impressive to see what kinds of work are represented: A school for severely mentally disabled children, a deaf school, a project to train health officers to diagnose cancer in people with albinism, girls empowerment and education, maternal and child health in a maasai community, conservation agriculture, mental health counselling and awareness raising, peace-building, alternative discipline in schools. Many of them see opportunities for intersections in their work and I overheard several discussions between members exchanging ideas for collaboration.

We finished on Thursday evening, feeling that we had accomplished something. Our kids may have been a bit neglected and we actually had a cab pick them up from the bus on the day we went to Longido. They spent about an hour at home alone. Fortunately they are old enough to handle it and we found them at home content to wait for us playing Minecraft. (When we called them to make sure they were home Oren told us not to hurry ;-)  )

Other parts of life have been relatively smooth, work at the office has really picked up with me finishing a research project and Rebecca helping exchange program participants get visa applications together (some going to the US, and one coming to Tanzania.) It is always a complicated process, especially for Tanzanians who have to fill out a complex online form and have access to a credit card. Some barely have access to a computer! Rebecca is patient though (Sanguine!), one of her greatest vitrtues.

She is also keeping other balls in the air as chair of our church council, and occasional music leader. I continue to coordinate Sunday school and am trying to prepare for a big fieldtrip for our kids to visit an orphanage where they will give the offerings they have collected over the year. It is not my forte to organize a bus trip of 50-60 children, but I am doing my best and hope to have help from other teachers and parents.

Got to stop here, and play some family games. Tommorow we will be leading kids in singing and signing "Lord listen to your children praying" and "Day by Day" in church.

Bonus Photo:

David with a new hedgehog. He and his friend found 5 last Sunday.

Mud is the New Snow

Oren growing hair out. After school Friday.

We are definitely entering into the winter season here. It is always a bit odd to feel temperatures cooling off as we near the end of the school year and start thinking about summer vacation plans. Winter in Arusha is not freezing cold, but it does warrant sweaters or fleece jackets, and we have space heaters in our office. We also do not have snow at our altitude, although we have a good substitute in this season: mud. 

During the rainy season here, which has finally arrived in full force (better late than never) turns the savannah green, but turns the roads and the entrances to our houses brown. Arusha's main arteries are paved, which is great, but once you go off a main road, almost nothing is paved. The last 300 meters to our house from the main road turns into a sloppy mess in the rainy season and driving can be treacherous. Like a blizzard in the US, a good hard rain can make driving to parts of the city, nearly impossible, even with a four-wheel drive. We come in the house and shed our shoes in the anteroom at our entrance which becomes a repository for muddy shoes and socks. 

Our daily swim is the best metric for changing temperature. The rains usually start at night and end around 7:30 am, which means Rebecca and I are swimming in a cold misty fog (air temp around 60F). The water temp has not dropped below 68 yet and I can still dive in. But I expect that in the coming weeks I will need to make a slower transition and eventually start wearing a wet suit. 

I still contend, as I once told our country representative, "If you start your day by swimming a mile in an ice-cold pool, nothing worse is likely to happen to you the rest of the day." 

(Rebecca taking over here) Along with the changing seasons, we have moved into Term 3 at school. Oren will be completing Key Stage 3 and will be selecting his course of study for O-levels (ICGSE exams) within the next week. Starting in year 10, he needs to select 8-9 subjects which he will study for the following 2 years, and then take some pretty serious exams. The school hosted an “Options Evening” for his year group, and I was especially impressed with the way that Oren circulated to talk with almost every faculty teacher. I remember a recent time when he would have had trouble asking a single question of a teacher. Now he has confidence to inquire about his options and make a good choice. Math and English are compulsory, along with a computer science course and a foreign language. He is leaning towards taking History, Chemistry, Art and Geography as his electives. It has been really interesting to watch him become more and more comfortable studying in the Cambridge system, to the point that he would dearly love to complete his education at this current school.

In Third Term, David has decided to join the swimming elective and he has found it very interesting. He is back to voluntarily swimming laps during recreational swim time with our family. This is great to see.

We also have had a new start to our Bible Study group, after the departure of the Gingerich family. Another family with a bunch of kids will be getting more involved, along with a couple and a single woman. It was wonderful to meet together a week ago, and begin to study Philippians with a new group of people. Our kids continue to really value their friendships with the Taylor kids, as we value the times we have with their parents.

Some friends who came for games when
ultimate frisbee was rained out.

Yesterday, we had planned for another Ultimate Frisbee game with team members on our compound, as well as bible study friends. Right on the dot, at the scheduled hour of 4 pm, the heavens opened. There was absolutely no question of playing frisbee in that much rain – but thankfully we had told our friends to bring games. So, instead, we had an impromptu game afternoon/evening with a whole assortment of people of all ages. Many people got to learn Codenames, and some old favorites were enjoyed by various assortments of people who didn’t necessarily know each other (Settlers, Kingdomino, Bohnanza, Clue, Kingdomino, Sleeping Queens and Ticket to Ride.) We shared supper and good conversation with our friends and were glad to share that time. Maybe by June, we’ll have a dry enough afternoon for frisbee again!

One final note on developments in our church in this rainy season. We have started a series on a Theology of worship, the first time we have had a series of services and sermons in a theme. The preachers have been carefully selected to speak to their themes, the worship leaders are working extra hard to bring the services together as a whole, and it has been a real joy to be part of that energy. We are even trying a new thing: posting sermons (audio and print) on the church Facebook page! I know that’s not a big deal for most churches these days, but for a volunteer only, very transient congregation, it’s a big step.

Not many photos this week – the rain doesn’t lend itself to grabbing one’s camera to go out and snap photos. Maybe more next week…

Circular Reasoning on Kilimanjaro

Our family at Shira 1 basecamp with Uhuru peak in background. 

The rainy season came in earnest in the past week with some help from the tail end of cyclone Kenneth. Yesterday early morning, we had such a torrential downpour that there was extensive flooding in Arusha. The small stream in a deep gorge at the back of our compound--spanned by a sturdy steel bridge of about 15 meters--had a flood tide rushing down about 6 am and completely oblitered the bridge. The waters have gone down and the remains of the bridge can be seen at the bottom of the gorge about 20 meters downstream. This will be a challenge for teachers living at Joshua Foundation to get to the school which is on the other side. The next closest foot bridge was also demolished so walking to school will now require several extra kilometers of travel--on muddy roads as the rainy season continues. These issues seem like minor inconveniences, compared to the extreme suffering in Mozambique, where the cyclone hit directly. 

Where the bridge and gate used to be.

That was not even the biggest adventure of the week for our family, though...

 April seems to be a season of holidays here. I am currently home from work for International Workers Day. But last week we had a long weekend as well for Unity Day, right on the heels of the 4 day Easter weekend. We were in town for Easter because of our many engagements at church and enjoyed Easter Sunday with our friends the Gingeriches and Taylors at a local nyama choma (BBQ) restaurant. It was our last goodbye with the Gingeriches who started their return to Canada the following day. We will really miss them in our small group.

Oren on the fairway.

Easter Monday was a holiday and we spent a good part of it at Gymkhana playing golf. (For our family, 9 holes can take about 4 hours.) We had a good time, and I thought we had improved significantly since our first outing with Dave Sack earlier this year. David is particularly good at driving and at hitting long shots off the fairway.

The kids were out of school the rest of the following short work week and Rebecca did a good job keeping them out of trouble with some play dates with friends (Taylors and Halters). One of the highlights was a robotics/coding camp run by a Korean woman who has a mission for giving kids in Tanzania computer literacy and coding skills. David and Oren went and met up with several friends from school (Abraham and Ezekiel). David built a lego robot with programmable sensors. Oren also programmed a lego robot and coded a video game. They came home very excited about doing more.

On the following weekend we planned a special family get-away before school started again this past Monday. We left Thursday evening after work to a place called Simba Farm Lodge on the slopes of West Kilimanjaro. It is a guest house on a very old dutch farm that is still active today. The children of the original owners run a lodge in the old farm house and some other cottages on the property. It is a bit pricey but includes some wonderful amenities like 4 course meals made from freshly harvested vegetables, dairy and meat products from the farm. We were served directly on the private veranda of the guesthouse where we were staying and every bite was delicious. The kids never enjoyed healthy meals so much!

Private candlelight dinner

We arrived after dark after a 2-hour drive from Arusha and had a bit of difficulty finding the place, but managed to get there before 8pm. We had our first meal there, but could not really see what kind of views we had from the cottage since it was after dark. We knew we were about 6000 feet or higher on the slopes of Kilimanjaro so were anticipating some great views in daylight.  We went to bed fairly early because we had planned a day trip up to gate of Kilimanjaro National Park for a hike on the Shira Plateau, which is about half way up Kilimanjaro. Friends of ours told us there is a nice loop trail up there with some spectacular views of the mountain.

Simba Farm cottages and gardens

When we set out that morning driving up, we were a bit worried about weather as it was quite foggy. We registered at the gate and then took a guide with us to the start of the hiking trail on the Shira Plateau. I could see a map set up on a display plaque, showing several circular trails between 7 and 23 kilometers. I asked the guide (who only spoke Swahili) which one we were taking, and he only smiled. We had told the rangers at the base camp who chose him we wanted to do a 4 hour 10 kilometer hike. But I was not sure which loop that would be as we started walking at 10 am.

I was glad we brought our rain coats because about 20 minutes into the hike it began to drizzle, then started pouring hard after an hour. I was a bit worried because the kids were already complaining. Rain had soaked through their coats into their fleeces and they were getting very cold. I swapped rain coats with Oren, since mine was gortex and completely water proof. We trudged on for another hour and were about to turn back when we looked ahead and saw the Shira 1 basecamp. This is a camp for hikers who are climbing to the top and where they stay on day 2 (of 7). We had not started from the base so it was not a long hike for us. As we arrived, the clouds began to clear and the sun peeked out -- a relief because we were all drenched to the bone and our shoes and socks were full of water. The camp is at 11,500 feet, so we could feel the altitude and the cold.

We stayed there and got a great view of the Kibo dome (where Uhuru peak is located at the top), when it popped out of the clouds for a few minutes. We did snap some pictures of our family at the camp in front of the peak. It did not look 5 days away. At this point, the guide asked us if we wanted to continue (tuendelee?) or turn back (turudie). We were surprised by the question because we wanted to finish the loop and said we would continue.

As we walked another 5 kilometers we started drying off, which was good. David, however, was starting to get altitude sickness. He had a bad headache, nausea, and was needing to urinate every 2 minutes or so. This was concerning because I could see we were still ascending, probably close to 12,000 feet at this point. I was anticipating veering left and cutting down to the car any time. But since there were clouds hiding the peak it was hard to tell which way we were going.

At one point when we crossed an emergency access road the guide told us we would be back to the car by 11 (saa kumi na moja) which is 5pm in our time. We were confused about that as we continued up the trail. David was really suffering after another 2 kilometers and we asked the guide where the car was. We were expecting to arrive at it at any minute. He looked surprised by the question and pointed very far down the hill in the opposite direction, toward the first base camp and said 'pale' (there). "How far?" asked Rebecca. "9 kilometers," he replied.

We were stunned and realized in horror that he had not been going in a circle path at all. Instead, we had hiked almost to the Shira 3 basecamp! We were quite upset, having walked 12 kilometers already and realized we had 9 to get back to the car, with all of us exhausted from the thin air and David getting sicker by the minute. But we simply had to get back. There was no easy way out of this. We stumbled down the 2 kilometers of rough path to the access road then walked along it for 7 more kilometers, having to cajole, bribe, coerce, and sometimes carry David along.

Rebecca and I were muttering the whole way about how irresponsible the guide had been, thinking that a family of wazungu out for a jaunt on Kili for the first time would want to take a 21 kilometer hike above 11,000 feet! We realized that he had never assumed we were going in a circle and when he was asking if we should continue or return, he was going in a straight line toward the summit and not a loop. I had not realized that our assumption that we were looping and our request to continue (to get back) was actually taking us further from the car. (We debated if this was a cultural misunderstanding, or just starting with the wrong premises.) I would normally expect a guide to play more the role of the expert and advisor rather than deferring judgment to us, when we clearly were not equipped to do a 21 kilometer trip at high altitude. But power imbalances being what they are, he just let us be in charge.

We got back to the car dead tired at about 5:15pm. Rebecca could hardly walk another step. Oren was kind of a machine that did not stop walking, and David, weirdly, got a second wind in the last 2 kilometers despite the bad headache. We did thank God that it did not rain hard again on the way back because I don't know how much more difficultly we could have endured.

We drove back out the gate and signed out. The rangers had been worried about us and were about to send out a rescue vehicle. Fortunately, we were out the gate before 6 or we would have been fined. We drove the short descent back to Simba Farm and crashed in our room. Dinner never tasted so good. (Fortunately they had also sent a bag lunch with us when we went up. We did not run out of food or water.)

The next day we were all incredibly sore, but did take a short hike from our cottage down to a stream. It was a good thing to do to get the lactic acid out of our legs. Surprisingly the kids were quite resilient and had no complaints about going on another short hike.

We stayed at the lodge until late afternoon, and even took a dip in their freezing pool before heading back. It is great to see the kids interact when there are no options for screens. They had a great time playing together at the cottage when we were not out hiking. David also enjoyed seeing the livestock that they kept at the farm.

We headed back toward Arusha and could see heavy rain on Mt. Meru. We are glad to see the rainy season is finally here although we did not appreciate it on our hike, or the destruction it wreaked on the bridge on our compound.

Some Bonus Photos from the past week.

Dying Easter Eggs with our next door neighbors

With Gingerich's on Easter Sunday

Farewells and Adventure in the High Holy Days

Colobus monkey in Arusha National Park.

We are at the end of Holy Week and I find myself with some time this Saturday morning to put down some thoughts and a record of the past 10 days or so. We have been quite busy the past two days as Rebecca led the Maundy Thursday evening service, which included foot washing. Our church has been good about observing all of the 'High Holy' days of this week. The foot washing was a reflective service and Rebecca did a good meditation on the meaning of Jesus' symbolic act. In his last hours, this is what he chose to do as the full display of his power. She emphasized the importance of receiving foot washing before washing another's feet, as we don't earn it by doing good works. The participants took turns first being washed, then washing the next person. It went very well although there were many who participated and it took quite a while. The choir, which we are part of, also sung a song about Gethsemane at the end. 

Good Friday was also a service in which we participated with Rebecca leading music. Our choir sung two songs and I was involved in the readings during the Tenebrae. I was very happy to see both of our kids sitting patiently and attentively through all of these services and even singing during the hymns. 

Holy week and the week following pose a particular challenge for Rebecca and I, as the children have a very long spring break--almost 3 weeks. We, however, do not have time off work, except for official holidays like Good Friday and Easter Monday. Arranging activities for them and meetings with friends is challenging for this many days and Rebecca has needed to work from home on several days this past week. In Tanzania we are not immune from the kids’ default to screens during any unscheduled moments. So, time with friends is better and we also had the kids take 2 golf lessons last week.

David and best friend Tobi feed cows in the stable on base.

We have had a lot of good family activities though, especially in light of the fact that the Canadian family in our small group will be leaving Tanzania in a few days. This is particularly sad for David as he considers Toby, his age mate, to be a really close friend. He is very sad about Toby's imminent departure. We have, however had several really good times together with our small group in different settings beginning last Saturday with an ultimate frisbee game and movie night. 

Rebecca and I have committed ourselves to host an ultimate frisbee game and movie night at our home at least once per month. Our family of four already makes a critical mass as Oren and David have both become quite proficient at the game. There is another family from New Zealand on our base who also have a 4 person team (with daughters rather than sons). Our Canadian friends and a German rugby player from our small group joined us this past week, as well as two Tanzanian kids from the neighborhood. We had a fiercly competitive game and then enjoyed a pot luck and fellowship while the kids watched a movie. 

The next day, Palm Sunday, Rebecca led music and I helped lead the kids in a very palmy processional. Palm trees are ubiquitous here, even on the church grounds and we had whole branches not just fronds! They also sang a song before being dismissed to Sunday School. After church we had a late afternoon/evening gathering of our small group and had an official good bye time together for our Canadian friends. There are 3 families in our small groups with kids of the same age. They are almost like cousins, with Oren hanging out with his age mates Zeke and Harry, and David going off with Toby and Sammy. There are three girls who are good friends as well. 

The adults had a good time together and I got some photos of us together. It will be hard to let the Gingerich's go as they will not be easily replaceable here. The reality is, in this kind of life, we tend to develop close relationships quickly, and let them go often, especially between April and July when many leave. By August, we can get a bevy of newcomers (as this is the time of transition time in the academic year).

I went back to work for most of this past week, since Friday was the only holiday. It was actually a very busy week becaues we have a reporting period in the middle of April. (End of MCC fiscal year) and I had 8 reports coming in from partners that needed to be reviewed and entered into our database. It can be exciting as I collect and analyze data on project impact and several projects, especially our maternal and child health project in Ngorongoro, are showing significant impact. But it is a lot of work to get through all of the reports and respond. I also had the opportunity to visit a maternity hospital in Arusha that is working to be a model of excellent practice and respectful maternity care. (Maternity Africa). It was very interesting to see their facilities which were in stark contrast to the delivery rooms in the resource poor dispensaries in Ngorongoro. I am hoping there might be some opportunity in the future to have some nurse midwives from our project region come and train there.

While I worked this week, Rebecca worked two days twice, and was also very busy. Still, she had two days to do some activities with the kids, including a safari day at nearby Arusha National Park. She'll relate some details here:

Tuesday was the highlight of enjoying Tanzania in this season. At about 9 am, we met most of the folks from our small group at the gate of Arusha National Park. I can't believe we've never actually visited here before, since it's less than an hour from our house. But still, all tourist experiences remain fairly expensive, even for residents of Tanzania. And coming in as a private party of 6 adults and 10 kids, it took quite a while to complete the registration and payment. But soon we were off, driving on a long dirt track, closer and closer up the slopes of Mt. Meru. Oren was in an uncommonly bouyant mood from the time we left the house, and was incredibly happy to be on this adventure together. 

We left our vehicles at a Ranger station in the middle of the park and picked up an armed ranger to guide us on a two hour walk into the bush. It was good to have some (false?) sense of security as we crossed a river into an open meadow and right into the middle of a herd of cape buffalo. They may look like docile cows, out grazing in a pasture, but they are actually the most deadly animal to humans on safari. There was a bull on either side of us, and each seemed to be gazing fixedly at our party, from only 20 meters away. We crossed between them and continued on to an area where we saw 4 giraffes foraging on some acacia trees at the edge of the forest. It was pretty amazing to just stop and watch them for a while. The far point of our hike was a narrow ravine down into which a high, narrow waterfall poured into streams flowing in different directions. It was shady and about 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding environment: a perfect place to have a snack and for the kids to play in the water a bit. We continued out again on a loop trail that brought us past a few monkeys and back around to the Cape buffalo once more before we returned to the ranger station.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch there, while the kids scrambled up and down a scale model of Mt Meru, and then bid farewell to Joerg and his son. The rest of us continued in a vehicle caravan to drive around the park for a while. I got to chauffeur Oren and his two age-mates, and it was a delightful experience to overhear the kinds of conversations they have with one another. They are very imaginative and funny! The first leg of our drive took us up a very steep section of very rocky road into the forest around the base of Mt. Meru. I won't lie -- it was pretty tough driving, and I had to really work to get the hang of driving the Ford pickup and doing hill balancing with a tricky hand break. But, the forest was incredibly beautiful, filled with huge trees, each branch loaded with parasitic ferns and epiphytes. Next time we do a walking safari, I vow to myself to do the longer loop and walk up through this forest to our destination: a massive strangler fig -- well actually two that have joined and formed an arch. It was pretty cool to drive under the gap and then take photos there. On our way down, we spotted a black and white colobus monkey, quite a huge simian. It too was spectacular as it scrambled down in front of us, took a flying leap across the road above us, grabbed a branch -- which then snapped off! And it landed near the forest floor, shaken and running fast. Oren saw a few more colobus farther off in the forest as we continued to drive. 

Next we drove through more savannah and spotted quite a few antelopes and a family of giraffes with at least 3 babies. We arrived at a series of lakes and drove around and in between at least 5 different little bodies of water. Most of them were lined with countless numbers of flamingos. It was so wonderful to see lines of flamingos flying past, and even some flamingos upside down, head in the water, legs flailing, as they fished for something. The landscape of ANP is actually quite stunning, in and of itself, with so much diversity of elevation, nothing like the uniformity of some of the savannah parks. The teenagers in my car were giddy and ridiculous, the air was clear and exhilerating. It was such an incredible day, with a deep feeling of happiness and gratitude for the time to spend in this place and with these friends.

That evening, we had another sleepover exchange -- Oren went home with Zeke's family and Toby came home with us. In the morning, the two boys got up and spent lots of time visiting the 5 cows in the barn, owned by our site manager. It was great to see all the things they thought of to do together. I took them for an afternoon swim and then we traded our kids back once more.

As Paul has already said, we have been quite involved in the services at our church over this past weekend. It was a lot of work -- very fulfilling work -- and it raised a lot of questions from our older son, who asked, "Why do you always commit to so many things?" At the same time, he was asking, "What does it take to be a really good human being? None of us can be perfect, right?" We had a good discussion, pointing out that being who you are called to be, and who God made you to be, is the main thing we can do to be good human beings. But that might also feel like a lot of work at times. And in a parallel set of conversations, Paul and I considered Pharell William's song "Happy."  (it's worth a look on YouTube). He and the entire cast of his music video are just so outrageously happy! We had to recognize how hard it is to be happy (in that carefree kind of way) when you are someone who takes responsibility. It's a conundrum. But I do conclude that an intentional day of Sabbath rest -- fasting from responsibility and work, deciding not to accomplish anything -- is the only real way that responsible people can experience that carefree joy. And so I thank God for the Tuesday we had at Arusha National Park, and the joy of being out and fully alive.

No April Showers

That seems to be the news this month-- no rain. It is quite telling that last year my entry on this exact date began with the phrase: "Torrential downpour is becoming part of my daily lexicon." I do remember last year at this time being overwhelmed by water, mud, and mold. We had to cancel road trips and take numerous mitigating steps to minimize the damage done by the intense rain. 

Last year was the wettest rainy season in memory according to many. This year we have been in somewhat of a drought. I can't say that we have not had a drop of rain, but it is very sporadic. We started out well in the first weeks of February, but then went a month with nothing, then had several days of rain again followed by another month of drought. It is definitely not enough to give the farmers around here a good harvest, which is very sad in such a food insecure country. 

The lack of rain has also meant that the change of temperature, from balmy to cold has been much slower than last year. We are approaching winter her in the southern hemisphere, but that is not really evident in the air. We are still using our fans at night, and I can jump right into the pool in the morning without risking cold shock. I believe that will change sometime in the next month, (the water got down into the 50s fairenheit last July. This year, it seems I will not need to dawn my wetsuit as soon.

Life in the last 10 days has been somewhat normal. No trips out of town, which does mean a bit less news. Rebecca has been busy with a number of things in town related to church. She is head of the church council and they had a retreat last Saturday to discern what areas of church life need focus in the coming year. She was gone all of Saturday. 

I watched David and his friend Toby on Saturday after we had a sleep over exchange with our friends from Canada. Oren stayed at their house with Zeke, and Toby came to our house with David. David and Toby are really two peas in a pod as far as likes and dislikes and both really wanted to go fishing at Lake Duluti. We caught some crickets and brought our nets and rods. For David the important thing is to catch and play with the fish, so he really does not care what size they are. The tilapia we catch on rods are not more than a few inches, but he and Toby had just as much fun wading in with their nets and catching the minnow-sized ones by the hundreds to put into a bucket in which they could put their hands and play with them. At the end of the day we let them all go and went over to their house and picked up Oren. 

We also saw the Tim Burton remake of Dumbo that weekend, on the same evening, I believe. We go to a lot of movies here because it is a fairly inexpensive activity, even for 3D (about $4.50 each). All of us enjoyed it, especially because we had seen the original many times. (It is important because it is very deliberately referrential to certain iconic scenes: Casey Junior, storks, pink elephants, a mouse, a feather, mother's lullaby. In other ways it was quite different. For me the opening scene was the best moment. 

On the cultural front, I should mention another activity we do with regularity. That is listening to audio books. We do this because we as a family have a long commute to and from the office, since we bring the children to the office to catch the bus for school in the morning. We did some pretty heavy literature in year 1 including all of Lord of the Rings, and then Harry Potter. This year we have been listening to a series of 8 books about an Irish boy criminal mastermind named Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. I think they do compete with Harry Potter. We have thoroughly enjoyed them on our commutes back and forth to work/school as a family. We just finished #6 this week. 

Friday night was also a cultural experience as we attended the St. Constantine secondary school production called the Big Bad Musical. It was a musical about the trial of the big bad wolf. Very funny and excellently acted by students at St. Cons. Oren was one of the scene painters, and the whol production was very well executed. 

This past Saturday was a replay of the week before with me taking David and Toby out to Lake Duluti. This time we met a guy selling worms and we caught quite a few more of the bigger fish. I taught Sunday School, but more interestingly, I am now a co-director of the Sunday school program. It is a big responsibility but in an all volunteer church, someone needs to do it. It is a challenge as 70-80 kids are showing up and exceeding the room space we have for them. Need a new vision.

This week we have had our Area Directors in town and quarterly reporting time for our partners. It is keeping me busy for the time being. 

.

Bonus Photo: David and Toby with chameleons they caught at church.

The End of March Madness

David at Parent Child Football Tournament at SCIS.

OK, I admit this post has nothing to do with college basketball, but I wanted to come up with a catchy title for the last blog of March. Generally we try to get 3 posts out per month (every 10 days or so). I had a bit more discipline in Burundi and wrote one just about every Sunday night. I am not sure what has changed, but maybe with older children we find ourselves very busy into late hours. Also the 5am wake up every weekday morning makes bedtime a lot earlier for all of us.

pizza line,
oven at back.

I am starting this on Saturday morning. David and Oren have just had a sleepover exchange with some Canadian friends from our small group with two boys the ages of our kids. David and Toby are over here and Oren and Zeke stayed the night at their house. We will meet up later in the day, probably for some fishing at lake Duluti. Our friends stay on another mission compound (Pamoja) about 30 minutes away from us, one of the features of their place is an actual outdoor brick pizza oven and pizza making station next to it. They have 'make your own pizza night' on Fridays and we are often invited. I have to say it is some of the best pizza I have had. Actually many local restaurants around here have such a pizza oven, and just last week Pizza Hut® has opened a restaurant in Arusha. We had to try it after choir practice last Wednesday to see how it was. It was fairly legit! Same crust and sauce, although there was no salad bar and the pizzas came with a side of fries (people love them here).

Looking back, I would say the past 10 days were marked by several significant events that I will summarize. The first was a field visit to our maternal and child health project in Ngorongoro. I have mentioned in past entries that we have been doing a study up there to better understand the psycho-social reasons women prefer home deliveries even when they can access a facility. It has been interesting as our findings reveal quite a bit about some cultural practices around delivery, some fairly harmless, others concerning. The most alarming one is to virtually starve the pregnant woman in her last trimester to insure a small baby (less complicated delivery). Low birthweight babies have far less chance of survival. Finding ways to change these practices and keep pregnancy safe is a challenge.

Looking into Ngorongoro crater

I had planned to go up with the project manager and a research assistant to complete interviews with nurse midwives at the three facilities in the ward where we are working. I left last Tuesday and drove the MCC landrover up to the town of Karatu and stayed the night outside the Ngorongoro conservation area. There is really no good place to stay in Ngorongoro except a Maasai boma, or one 5 star hotel that a few tourists can afford.

The next day, Bernadetha (research assistant) and I drove into the conservation area. I was not entirely comfortable with the landrover as it has a history of breaking down and we were going hours into the middle of nowhere on a very rough road. I detected concerning problems as soon as we entered the park, as we bounced down the road the battery light came on, then on one hard bump the fuel guage jumped from 3/4 to 1/4 of a tank. (We needed to go over 200kms) Fortunately it popped back up, but as we approached Irkeepusi sub-village to meet our project manager, smoke started pouring into the cab from between the seats where the gear box is. I stopped the car immediately. We got out and I looked underneath and it appeared that oil was leaking out of the gearbox and getting burned on the drive shaft.

Laangakwa to the rescue in his landrover.

It was not a great place to be stranded, about 50kms from the entrance gate. Some zebras grazing nearby stared at us with mild interest. Fortunately I did have cell phone reception and called the PM, Laangakwa and told him we had broken down several kms from the village. Fortunately he had an old landrover and drove up about 15 minutes to get us. By that time a small group of Maasai had gathered around to see what was happening. Fortunately they knew Swahili and I told them what had happened. Laangakwa is also Maasai and arrived and his landrover. He told us that if I could drive back about 5kms, there was a resort up a hill with a garage for safari vehicles. We did manage to limp back after the car cooled.

Interviewing a midwife at Bulati dispensary.

We left the car there with the fundi (technician). He said he could refill the gearbox and tighten the screws (I don't think they use gaskets here in TZ). And we should be able to get back to Arusha. While he was repairing, we continued our safari in Laangakwa's vehicle. We had to get to three health facilities. The first was another 40 kms away on very rough roads, very remote. We needed to collect data on birhs and ANC visits and Bernadetha needed to conduct a 30 minute interview at each place. We were hoping to finish and get back on the road to the town of Karatu before dark.

Research team and midwives at
Irkeepusi dispensary.

It was a long but successful trip as we did get to every clinic, and got very good information and good interviews. (I hope to have transcriptions in a week or so.) We returned in the late afternoon to get our car which had been fixed and washed! We paid $15 for the work and B. and I drove back to Karatu, without further incident. I was hoping to go on to Arusha that day as well, but it was getting dark and I stayed an extra night in Karatu and headed back to Arusha the next day.

I was a bit disappointed not to get back the night before because David was part of a Battle of the Bands event at his school and he was playing keyboard for Believer by Imagine Dragons. He had been practicing at home all week! I missed it but Rebecca and Oren did go and gave a good report.

It was actually good to be back in the office on Thursday after my adventure. Friday was a bit different as our boss Sharon was moving house and we all helped load a truck and get her settled in. It went quite well and her new house is really nice!

Winners of best kit.

The weekend was also very busy. We had a big event on Saturday that Rebecca was instumental in organizing. It was a parent child soccer tournament at the school organized by the parent's committee. It was probably one of the most ambitious things they had done and included multiple tournaments (10 minutes each, teams of 4--at least one adult on each). I was part of team with David and 2 other families. (we had 2 subs). We were called the Savannah Strikers and one of the mom's had made really cool chartruese shirts with a logo. The event was huge and well attended with many vendors and a raffle as well as other activities. We did not win the competition, but get a prize for best 'kit' (uniform).

No rest for the weary after we returned home because on Sunday I was preaching at our church. I had planned something special for the third Sunday of lent. I talked on the theme and preached on stories from Ruth and Naomi, and picking up your cross and following Jesus. But I mainly used Psalm 63 and began with a 'movement poem' in which I recited the psalm while I danced with a staff near the altar. I had wanted to do this as a spiritual discipline as part of Lent--spend some time meditating on the psalm with movement. But as you can see from above, it was very challenging to find rehearsal time with the business of the week. I squeezed it in during evenings and had some time Sunday morning before church as well. I am happy to say it went fantastically (from an execution point of view. ) I received many compliments afterward and felt very good about the sermon. (link to movement poem I did)

We finished off Sunday afternoon with a meetin of our small group. By Sunday night Rebecca and I sat amazed at the amount of work we had done in the course of 5 days. We have really been feeling more connected these past few months. It seems to take more than a year to really get connected to community, but we are finally arriving.

This past week was very (mercifully) quiet. Rebecca and I took Monday off for a time of reflection and had a nice time of walking and talking nnd reading at a coffee plantation resort.

 We went back to work on Tuesday. Everyone is out of the office on field visits or trainings but me and Rebecca this week. I had a lot to catch up on so I have appreciated the uniterruped work time. We are developing several new concepts for future projects and this was a week to get them down on paper.

One of the big concerns we have had is water. We are in the middle of the rainy season, which began last month with several spectacular showers, then stopped completely. It is dry as a bone around here. I admit I am glad I did not have to deal wiht mud in Ngorongoro, but now people's crops around here are failing. It is not all of TZ, but certainly in the north where we are. Please pray that the heavens would open.

Post Script: We just had a nice 3 hour drizzle this afternoon. First rain in over a month!

Finding joy in the fleeting days we are given

Nai, her mother, and Riziki: celebrating successful surgery

This week it’s Rebecca writing to give account for the past few weeks – time flies and there hasn’t been a lot of time for sitting down to reflect. But we have had some really good moments, worth giving thanks for or at least noting.

Weekend times with friends

Over the past two weekends, we have really begun to feel more as if we have a real community here. On one Friday, Oren’s school friend Abraham and his whole family joined us for the opening weekend of Captain Marvel. We’ve become fans of the MCU, and so it was very entertaining to enjoy another intelligent action movie. I can’t understand the bad press…

The following Saturday, we had a fairly quiet morning, catching up on a lot of life details. In the afternoon, we organized our second game of Ultimate Frisbee. We were joined by the Gingerich family and the Thompson family (who live on our base), along with a few children of teachers at the Joshua school. It was super fun once again, and not nearly so hot – especially after the heavens opened about an hour into our play time. I really wish I had gotten some photos of the level of mud that was involved! A few of the kids just kept playing, even in the rain. The rest of us chatted and got to know one another more until the rain let up. Then we found dry clothes for everyone, played board games, enjoyed a shared indoor picnic, and the kids watched a cartoon together, sprawled all over our living room floor.

And then Sunday! Right after church, our boys joined the Gingerich boys and their dad Eli for a special trip to the Snake Park… it was feeding day! We don’t have photos of that either, but apparently a good many chickens, chicks and hunks of goat (for the crocodiles, who don’t care about live food) joined the “circle of life.”

Meanwhile, Paul and I hardly knew what to do with ourselves, being without kids after church! But it was a perfect time to catch up with a lovely family we had gotten to know in our first year here and had moved to Kampala 9 months ago. We shared time in bible study and in Sunday school, so it was great to compare notes about being in different communities. And then, we headed off to our family bible study, where we rejoined our kids. They are so happy to be connecting well with friends in that group, just as we have been so happy to have adults to share and pray with. We really missed being in a family bible study in our first year here! We even had a nice Saturday afternoon at our pool with some of these friends this past week.

School and extracurriculars

David's class door decoration:
finished product

Last week was a big week for our kids at St. Constantine’s as they celebrated book week. The primary school decided to try a new way to reach out to parents: A Parent-child learn together morning. I joined David for his first two lessons of the morning. I was sad at first to sacrifice my usual early morning swim, but then happy to realize that I would be joining him for his PE lesson in the pool! It wasn’t nearly so much of a workout, but it was very fun to swim beside him and learn more about how they teach swimming at their school. (I must admit that I was only one of two parents who actually got in the water – the rest observed from the deck. So, the kids were pretty surprised to see a parent want to get wet with them!)

David and friends working on a tree branch

Then I followed David’s class to his English lesson. They were working on designing a door decoration to celebrate book week. One of their class books was “the Twits” by Roald Dahl. The students divided into groups of 2 or 3, each working on a specific part of a tableau to present the story. We as parents were encouraged to join in, offer ideas, and interact with the kids. It was a fun lesson to be part of. Following the lesson, Parents were invited to have tea and chat with one another. I was also busy trying to get the work out about another big event coming up…(see below).

On Friday, students were invited to dress up as their favorite book character. David really wanted to be Greg Heffley, the protagonist of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. Since he’s a line-drawn character, it took us a lot of collective thinking to understand how to pull it off. But finally, David had the idea of making a book cover and sticking his head through the place where the line-drawn Greg would normally be. It was very fun to make it together – though it all came together at the last minute! (because we had a last-minute farewell for a woman on our home compound. She’s leaving to give birth in Europe, and the adoption paperwork for her two kids here finally came through in time for her to take off. Being part of community is great in so many ways! Also takes some time!)

David as Greg Heffley

So, the other big-time commitment right now is the school event I’m helping to organize. I joined the Parents’ Association of the school back in June, to get to know more parents and a wider group of non-missionaries in Arusha. Now we’re planning an Active Family Day, featuring a 4 on 4 football tournament. The idea is for parents and students to play on a football team together against other teams in the student's age group. We really want to encourage parents to have fun with their kids, meet other parents at school, just be on campus, be supportive of their kids' education (not just paying the fees and leaving education to the teachers). 

Beyond the football (organized by our Parent-teacher representative, who happens to be the Primary sports teacher), we've got lots of other things going on, and it's been so fun to work with a smaller group of parents to plan the various aspects (and get to know these other parents better). An Indian-Tanzanian businesswoman and a Dutch NGO worker have teamed up and collected 29 raffle prizes from local businesses. 

A Tanzanian woman from Moshi (who grew up in Botswana and did her masters in peace studies in Oregon) is organizing 12 different food, drink and activity vendors. A Dutch stone sculptor who has lived here 20 years (our vice chair) is pitching in giving advice and arranging the whole set up, as the only veteran member of the Parents' Association. I'm trying to keep all the balls in the air and keep everything moving with the school, getting help from prefects, etc. So many details! We’ll learn and it will be even better next year, but regardless, I think it's a good effort and it will be a fun day. And we will be VERY tired at 7 pm on March 23!!!

Dust you are…and to dust you shall return.

And there were a few more somber events in the past two weeks to remember as well. A young woman at our church (Peace Corps volunteer) lost her step-father suddenly just before Ash Wednesday. She is returning to the US for good in April, so she couldn’t travel to attend the funeral. So, she hosted a small, personal memorial service for him in the front yard of family friends. We gathered with just a few plastic chairs, a table with some photos, and about 20 friends and colleagues. The evening was clear and breezy and golden. We sang Swahili hymns together and read scripture and heard preaching in Swahili about how we each have a time, and when our time comes, we just need to accept it. The service was really done with love, but also very much in line with the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday: we are dust and to dust we shall return. All we can do is marvel at each day we are given and marvel that God reached out to touch us, dust that we are. 

Memorial service

We were also deeply touched with a sense of our mortality on Sunday morning after church, when we learned of the Ethiopian Airlines crash. That is a flight that any of us working in Africa could have been on, because it is the best, most wide-reaching airline on the continent, with a great safety record. All of us use Ethiopian, and we feared (with reason) that we might hear that colleagues or friends were on that flight. We were spared that kind of news as the days unfolded, but many around us have lost people they’ve known and worked with.

And finally, another more positive note on mortality. Our housekeeper Nai has a younger sister Riziki, 14, who was born with a strange birthmark – a mass of blood vessels close to the surface right at her waist. For years, they went to different doctors and paid good money for advice, but no one could figure out what this was or what to do about it. Since she started secondary school, Riziki has had to walk 10 km to school one-way, and this birth mark became incredibly troublesome, rubbed raw with her uniform and heavy back pack, and constantly bleeding. Back last year, our good pediatrician recommended that she see a visiting plastic surgeon when he came on a whirlwind visit to Arusha. And finally, at the beginning of March, Riziki was able to be seen, have surgery to remove the mass, and then was accepted for recovery at a special children’s home for post-operative rehabilitation, Plaster House.

Riziki and Nai at Plaster House

Nai accompanied her little sister throughout the process of the first consult, ultra sound, and then surgery and recovery. She recounted to me later the miraculous things she had seen among other patients: children with cleft palates, people with no noses, people whose chins were attached to their shoulders – and within days, those same peoples’ faces, and lives were restored. Nai could not stop talking about how incredible it was to have a specialist come, to whom none of these problems were unusual or difficult to deal with. He just calmly looked, made notes, made a plan and fixed them.

I also had the chance to visit Riziki at plaster house a week after surgery and she looked well and happy. She had lessons during the day, made friends with other teenage patients, and was really enjoying the clean environment, good food and good care. Nai and her mother met me there, and I was so grateful for the time with all three women to celebrate a hopefully life-changing medical success with Riziki.