Wonderful Christmas vacation!

It's been such a great 2 weeks - no time to blog! I have taken Linda to most of my favorite places; a couple of restaurants have been closed, so we had to miss those, but we've covered quite a few others! Lodges, swimming (for me!), eating out, eating at home (eatng played a big part in our time!), the Cultural Heritage Center, shopping, movies on DVD, a couple of different churches, including the one in Swahili Christmas Eve! Our favorite thing was a trip to Karanse, where teacher Upendo had us to lunch. So special and a great time with her family. We also visited with Godfrey's family and Moses's family. They couldn't say enough great things about Linda comng all that way during Christmas. Reminded them of the Wise Men and their visit to Bethlehem!

We spent the first week at my friend Jenny's dog-sitting for Stupidhead, I mean Simba! She's 3 and 1/2 months old and just wild! We kept her outside as much as possible! Got up before 6 every morning to let her out and dozed after that as long as she'd let me, which was usually before 8. Snce it was my vacation, that was a bit of a drag, but I've made up for it this week, back at my house.

Really nice time on Christmas day, mostly with the Joshua Team, the few of us left here, and talking with family and friends that night via skype and phone. A few more family members this week, so that's been good, too.

Linda and her suitcase and 1/2 for me made it here fine, so that was a big part of my Christmas! I also sent things back with her that I won't be needing till I go home because I'm trying to figure out how to get everything back at this point.

Holidays end next week, then it's back to work. Hope I can remember how after all this time off!

Just another typical drive into town

Yesterday Shelley, Sarah, and I headed in to Arusha to the Impala Hotel for a swim, since it's our vacation. As we neared town, we saw what looked like soldiers directing some cars off to the side of the road. Usually it's police, checking licenses and various stickers and documents hoping for a fine (otherwise known as chai money, or money for food and drinks for them!). This looked more official, and praying for invisibility wasn't working (my usual strategy), so Shelley started getting my papers out of the glove compartment, and I pulled over. Turned out to be a fire inspection. We are supposed to drive around with a fire extinguisher, and road triangle sgns in case of a break down. I had both of those, so Sarah handed him my extinguisher. He immediately said, "No, this is not the right kind. And you do not have a fire sticker on your windscreen." Amazingly, we could buy those from him for the low, low price of 60,000 Tshillings (about $40). I was pretty willing to do that just to save the hassle, but Sarah and Shelley started telling him we were part of an organization and our organization would have to sort that out. He told me my other option was to park my car and leave it! At that point I was really ready to pay up, but I'd already told him I didn't have the money. He asked did I want an askari (armed security guard) to go into town and get money with me. I said yes, because I thought he was bluffing. Sure enough, a very armed man walked over, but I don't think he was any more excited about getting in the car with 3 white women than we were about having an armed stranger in the car with us! More conversation, more looking at my papers, then they asked for the head of Joshua's phone number so they could call and verify our story. Everyone with any power is gone at the moment, so Josh Moose has proclaimed himself President of Joshua, as there's really no one else. We had called him to check out this story, and he said the guy was full of it, and it should no way cost that much, and not to give him the money.The fire inspectors eventually admitted that we have till Jan.1 to get these things, and since our organizaton was aware of it, they would have to let us go on our way. They did, however, call Josh (who they called Mr. Joshua, thinking it was his organization!), and he, of course, said he would handle it! This close to Christmas everyone is suspicious of extra "inspectons," as we don't really know where the money is going (or we do and don't want to contribute to their personal Christmas Club!).

You just never know!

Christmas Holidays Begin!

Yesterday I finished grading exams: 3 exams for 16 students, each including 2-4 essays on Civics, Social Studies, and Christian Education - whew! My holidays have officially begun!

I have no big exciting plans for the next week, but the small plans include the mentors going out for a celebratory dinner, getting a haircut, going to the pool (at a hotel in town), going to movie night at my church (they're showing It's a Wonderful Lfe, my all-time favorite Christmas movie!), having a meeting at Imara one day next week - I know that doesn't sound lke a "Christmas holiday" plan, but I love visiting friends at Imara and will probably go out to lunch since I'm in town, anyway! I also hope there's some sleeping late in the plans for next week, especially as some of my louder housemates will be gone to Zanzibar all week!

Sometime next week, I will also clean out the guest bedroom for Linda, do laundry, do some baking and make some plans for the visit with Linda - my REAL Christmas holiday!

Another orphanage visit

Not Cradle of Love this time but the children's home my friend Jenny is involved with. A TZ couple she knows from Imara, Esther and Lyimo, are pastors of an Arusha church and over the years have found themselves adoptive parents to about 12 children, and counting. Not all of them are orphans; some have a parent who is HIV postive and can no longer care for them, or a parent has died and the remaining parent can't cope; there are many scenarios. Jenny has been spending more and more time with these children and even sponsors one of the teenagers and keeps her on school holidays. Needless to say, this arrangement has maxed out their space at their own home, and they had opened a children's home nearby with a "mama" there to care for them. But, some months ago, they decided to relocate to some family land a couple of hours away and build a home specifically for the children, and for more, as they come. They have been in talks with Jenny to join them as an administrator, so she's leaving Imara in February and moving to Marangu. I spent last weekend with her, and we went to Marangu for the day with Esther and Lyimo, so I got to spend time with the children. I had met some of them a couple of summers ago, but neither they nor I remembered much of that. I held little Precious (about 6 months old, maybe) for a while, then little Junior (about 4) until he fell asleep in my arms waiting for lunch to be ready. Hassan and Witness played games on my cell phone, constantly handing it to me to restart, we sang songs, watched the older children play, then we got to go to the building site to see the progress on the home, due to open in February.

A wonderful facility! A big great room and dining room combo, large kitchen and pantries, 4 bedrooms for 6 children each, a couple of guest rooms for volunteers, a study room, 2 bathrooms, and a garden already planted. Also with lots of room outside for the children to play - something they don't have much of now.

After that, we went to check out Jenny's house. A great place she found to rent with lots of bedrooms and bathrooms, and, a little strangely, 2 dining room areas (?), and a secluded garden and small lawn. She, of course, invites everyone she knows to come spend time there with her! I plan on doing that at least once!

People here have long amazed me wth their vision. Esther is trained as a nurse practitioner, works in the HIV-Aids minstry at Imara, but finds herself opening a children's home! Jenny, who is an administrator, both back home in Australia and here in TZ, has felt called to help them pioneer this new ministry - doing web sites, brochures, hosting volunteer teams, etc. I think that's something I've learned about the mission field that I keep re-learning: there are so many ways for God to use you, and we get so tunnel-visioned that we only see the one way we did it at home, if we even did it there. There are so many needs here that you never even come into contact with back home, and if you're open to being used, it will amaze you to see where God takes you!

Sad event for Daniel

Our students are back on the En Ged campus and have faced several trials already that they weren't prepared for: lack of water in their part of campus, power outages (again), difficulties making their money stretch far enough (which has led to a couple of extra meetings, one with Isack from Imara coming out to talk with them), and anxiety over their new schools in January (and a visit from one of their new headmasters). We mentors have become quite the group of problem solvers, especally in the absence of Joanna and Lynda, both of whom are home in New Zealand for a couple of months! We've had the students bring buckets and bottles to our house for water, loaned them money or given them their allowance early, and helped however we could. Last night at 10, my cell phone rang, and one of the young men said there was a big problem, and could they come see me. I said yes, and went out to our steps to wait for whoever it was. Joseph, Elijah, and Daniel came a few minutes later, and I asked them in. Turns out, Daniel had just gotten news that his mother "might be dead." (I know how bizarre that sounds, but what I found out later is that this is their way of subtly breaking tragic news to someone, not beng definite about it!) Daniel is the "first born," so he had a big responsibility to his family and needed to go, but he was worried about not finishing his exams. I had told Joelle about them coming, so we quickly said he neded to go, and we would sort out the exams later. I prayed for him, thanked his friends for being there for him, hugged him, asked if he had bus fare for this morning's bus, etc. (Oh, and I also said don't feel bad about calling me this late for something this important, as they kept apologizing for disturbing me, so...)

This morning my phone rang while it was still dark, and one of the students said, "Miriam, we have the same problem as yesterday; may we approach your house to discuss it?" (They can be very formal, at times.) I asked, "What time is it?" "5:30," I was told. I was barely conscious so I told him no one was awake in my house, and yes, they could come, but to be very quiet. Again, I went out on the steps to wait so I could catch them before they got close enough to wake everyone else up.

This part was like a scene from a movie. There is a hedge that blocks the road in the direction the students would be coming from, so I could hear them before I could see them. They turned in my driveway, and they just kept coming: Paul, Abraham, Haruni, Elizabeth, Lucy, Noel - all of them! It was before 5:30 in the morning, and they were all there for Daniel! I get tears n my eyes just writing about it. Paul, the oldest and a pastor, said, "Miriam, in our culture, it is not right for Daniel to go home alone." I asked who would go with him, and they said, "Elijah." They had shared a room in Karanse, have loaned each other money, prayed for each other, helped each other with studies, and now Elijah was the one going on an 8 hour bus ride so Daniel wouldn't be alone. I was so incredbly moved. I did have to be a mentor, too, though, so I reminded him he'd have to make up his exams, too, and he said, no problem.

The students had been up most of the night and since 4:30 ironing Daniel's clothes and getting him and Elijah ready, and they were up to see them off. They had arranged with the husband of one of the teachers at our primary school to drive them into town to catch the bus, but something was wrong with Enoch's car, so I volunteered to do that. Agaba and Noel rode with me so I wouldn't have to come back alone. They walked Daniel and Elijah to the bus to make sure everything went OK, then we headed back home. I told them I'd make tea and something for everyone to eat as it was hours till morning tea, and they had an 8:00 exam! However, when I got home, I found Sarah and Shelley up and they had already decided to postpone the first exam and give them all the morning off, hopefully, to get some sleep before their afternoon exam. I took them tea and corn muffins, anyway, as they deserved at least that!

These are the same students that we complain about, wonder if we're making a difference in their lives, wonder if anything is really sinking in, etc. So, even though there have been tragic moments in this, it has truly been gratifying to see them come together and support one of their own like this.

Standard 7 Graduation

Last Thursday in Karanse was a very special day - the third graduation of our class
7. This marks the end of their primary education and the beginning of their secondary (our high school) education. This is a very big deal in a village that, before our school, had graduated something like 7 students EVER! This, our third class, makes about 80 from our school alone! These students took a national exam in August or September (I forget which), the results of which help determine where they will go to secondary school. There are far too many students for the available schools, and especially teachers, so there is a weeding out process with this exam. Our students took an entrance exam just recently at a secondary school in Moshi, a large town about an hour away, that we have heard good things about. It would be a boarding school, which is very customary here in TZ. Some of these students are the first in their families to graduate from primary school, so there were some very proud families there! Mostly, I wanted to put up pictures of this event. Some of them aren't very clear, but I wanted to give you the flavor of this whole thing.

Supposedly to start at 8:30, really began about 12, lasted almost three hours, followed by lunch! The other classes presented a traditional dance (those are the pictures with painted faces!)and songs; there were lots of speeches, a drama, several dignitaries introduced (including me, but I don't have a picture of that!) - a very full day!

Saying good-bye (temporarily) to Karanse

Yesterday, Friday, marked the end of our student teachers' time in Kranse (except for Abraham who is based there). It was a bittersweet time. Probably more bitter for me, sweet for the student teachers! I always HATE saying good-bye to Karanse and those precious teachers and children, but our students are SO excited to be coming back to En Gedi and getting together with their fellow students. So, that is understandable. We stayed pretty busy during the morning, gathering up materials, packing up some of their stuff in my car to bring back, as they will all take the bus, and that's hard to do with all their stuff! We also had had them plan a good-bye lunch for the teachers, and I went to the lower classes giving out stickers to say good-bye to them.

One of my sweet student teachers, Daniel, called me off to a private room so he could personally thank me, on behalf of both Joelle and me, for all the work we have done for him as his mentors. He even had gifts for both of us and letters telling exactly how we have enriched his life!

(I have to add that we have been studying Love Languages, and we have discussed both gifts and words of affirmation, and he used them both!)

Later in the day, after I was already back in Arusha, I got a text message from Abraham, thanking me for what I have done for him as his mentor. These are the things I wil treasure as we end this part of their training.

At the lunch, there were speeches by our students, then the Karanse teachers started in on their thank you's to us for all we had done to bless them. My nickname is Mama Karanse, and very sweet Issagya spoke about how true that is: that my heart really is full of Karanse! When I finally had to speak, I told them how very glad I was that this is only "baadaye" (later in Swahili), not "kwaherini" (good bye to you all) because I would be crying and crying! I won't be back properly till the beginning of February, though I may pop in before that. I will go back to check on Abraham's progress through the first three months of next year. It seems like a long time till then!

Getting a TZ driver's license: an all day event!

When I was here in '06-'07, I got a TZ driver's license, but had gone without one all last year. Finally, I decided a second year was pushing it, so Jenny, my Imara friend, and I decided to go get ours this week. When Bruce and Carly, 2 other Imara workers, heard about it, they wanted to come, too. This is such an ordeal that you really do want company for it! We decided on Thursday, in the event that if we had to come back for a second day, we could come back on Friday. (I had heard of people who took a second day, so I was preparing for the worst!)

After a fairly unnerving morning where my car refused to start(!, and the guys from the garage had to come over and clean off terminals, etc.,I got an emergency phone call from Jenny saying she had gotten application forms the day before to speed up the process (Right!), and she wanted to let me know I needed a TIN - Tanzania identification number. I didn't know what that was and thought it might be on my registration card, which was in our accountant's office, as they were using it to go get my road license, which had expired a week ago. I rushed down there, and it wasn't on there. Happy, our fill-in accountant said this was a "must." I gave up on it, and went to town, anyway. I met everyone at the Imara office and sat down to fill out the application. Jenny showed me where her number was, so I called back to my house and got Sarah to look for a similar piece of paper, number, etc. She found a number, and gave it to me, but we weren't convinced it was the right number.

Carly is a preschool teacher who's only been here about a month, and Bruce had wanted me to unofficially interview her, talk about school expectations as she works with Imara, fill her in on background here, etc., so we planned to do that while we stood in lines. She had to go meet her mechanic to get her TIN, and he called to say he had heard that TRA, the place we had to go to for our licenses, was closing at 11! This is not unusual, so we believed it! Jenny and Bruce were just going in to a meeting, so Carly and I decided to go ahead and at least be standing in line. We got there a little after 10, and Eliasante, the mechanic, said no, TRA wasn't closing at 11, just the guy Carly needed to see for her TIN. So, he arranged all of that, and he took us in to shepherd us through the beginning of the process.

First, we went upstairs for photos and fingerprints. When the photo man looked at the TIN I had written down, and checked it in his sysytem, he said it didn't exist. I had been a little afraid of that, so I went back downstairs and asked Eliasante if I should get a new number. He said, no, I should wait and check through my paperwork at home for it. Carly and I went ahead and stood in the first line, or what we hoped was the right first line, as any signs there were were, of course, mostly in Swahili, so we were playing it by ear, looking at other people's paperwork, etc. We probably stood in line for close to an hour before Jenny and Bruce got there, and they found another office we had to go to first for an official stamp. Since I didn't think it would matter to me, I kept holding our place in line while they took turns going and standing in THAT line! Finally, Jenny said, "Why don't you just go in and ask him if you need a TIN? Bruce didn't have one, and he said that was fine." So, I went, and he said my passport number would do just as well. THAT I had! So, he stamped my paperwork, and I got back in line. About another hour later, Carly and I got in to the office where you turn in your paperwork, and they took my photo and fingerprints there, so that worked out fine. Jenny and Bruce were a few people back in line, so we went outside to wait for them. After standing for so long, our legs and backs were killing us, so we slid down to the floor and leaned against the wall. Very shortly, a security guard came and asked us to come inside and sit on chairs: we decided we must have been loitering! Probably, having 2 white women sitting on the floor is very culturally unapproved of!

The NEXT thing we were supposed to do was go down the street to the polce dept. for another signature or something, but we took a lunch break, figuring they would, too. We went to the Maasai Italian restaurant just around the corner and had pizza and calzones and a Diet Coke (me) and coffees (everyone else) to fortify ourselves for the afternoon!

Then, off to the police station, and seeing 2 police officials who pulled up our registrations and approved of them, or entered them into their records; I'm truthfully not sure what they did, but we answered their questions, and were allowed to go back to the place we'd started this all. Then we had to go the bank, right next door, and pay for our licenses! It was about 3:30 by then, and that was all we could do that day. Once the TRA gets notice that our cash deposit was in their account, we can go back, stand in another line, and be given our licenses! I'll be gone next week, but Jenny said she'd pick mine up, if they let her!

When we finally left, I said to Carly, "I feel like we should have our picture taken here as we spent so much time here!"

We all celebrated by going to a cafe for cheesecake, then I went home and fixed dinner! My entire day, and what I accomplished was to apply for a driver's license, do a tiny bit of grocery shopping, and fix dinner - and I was completely exhausted! But, I can almost stop praying for invisibility from all the police doing license and registration checks everywhere I go!

Wedding, Tanzania-Style!

Our Joshua accountant, Magreth, got married this past Saturday. Invitations were word-of-mouth, and all of the mentors wanted to go (we love weddings and dressing up!). However, up until Saturday morning, we had no idea what time the wedding was! One of her friends sent a text that it was at 12, but her boss on the base sent an email that it was 1! We went with 1, knowing how un-promptly these things happen here. I took the other 4 mentors, and we got to the church (a large "city" church) at 1:15, as the first car there! That told us it wouldn't be any time soon, so we went to a nearby cafe and had cake while we waited! We weren't invited to the sit-down dinner reception, so we thought we'd have our cake BEFORE the wedding! We dilly-dallied till about 2, then tried again. We drove up just as the bride's car pulled up, so we felt good about that. We went into the church, where the singers were warming up, and about 10 people were there! The pastor, a few minutes later, announced that even though the groom wasn't here, yet, we'd go ahead and start! He must have been there, though, because he and the best man came out a few minutes later. Then there was the usual processional, Magreth looked beautiful, and the wedding started. There was a time of praise of worship, then a full sermon by the pastor, then a second sermon by the pastor's wife, then the children's choir sang, then everyone in both families joined the couple on stage and prayed for them, then an offering was taken up! People had drifted in as the service went on and there ended being a nice crowd of 100 or so people there. Altogether, about 2 and 1/2 hours later, it was over! Then, the couple went out front for pictures with families AND the 5 wazungu (white people) - us mentors! We left after that, but managed to be in the bridal convoy for a little while, where we honked our horn and waved!

The funniest anti-climax was that we had to run into the local market for a few groceries, and there we were, in our wedding finery! Not so surprising, really, as weddings are a big weekend entertainment here.

Quite an exciting week in Karanse!

Though it wasn't all the good kind of exciting!

The first part was: our student teachers' last teaching week before they go into their "real" schools in January. We were expecting big things from them, and told them so, as this was their 6th teaching week in over a year. Overall, we were very pleased. We saw computers being used in ICT (Information, Communication, and Technology), one of the students cooked pillau with his class (his first time ever, so he had one of the lady teachers help him!), we saw some good (and improving) devotions lessons, civics, geography, English, math, personality and sports with lots more assessments (things to grade, basically), better conclusions to lessons, rules posted of expected student behavior - all things we'd told them we were looking for. So that was all good.

However, on Wednesday, right after lunch, I looked out the window to see a small boy on the ground with teachers around him and lots of blood. When I saw someone arrive with a bike, I knew that was to take him to the clinic, so I volunteered my car and was quickly accepted. Issagya, the pre-one teacher, went with me so he could explain to the nurses at the clinic what had happened. There was so much blood that it was hard to tell at frst, but I suspected a broken nose because that's what appeared to be doing the bleeding. At the clinic, there was a line of people waiting, but bleeding boys must get priority because we walked right into an exam room. After lots of swabbing (and spitting up even more blood) it was determined that he might have broken blood vessels in the inside of his nose. However, about that time, Kellie (Kelvin, but that's what Issagya kept calling him) also started complaining of the back of his head hurting. He and another boy had been playing on the hill, and the other boy's knee had smashed into Kellie's nose, and Kellie fell back on the ground. The sister/nurse gave him a pain pill, put ice on his head, then he fell asleep. I was thinking concussion at this point, and we kept waking him up, asking him who we were, etc. Godfrey arrived, and after a consultation, he took Kellie home. Amazingly, he was back at school the next day!

That was certainly more important than the last of the exciting things to happen, which involves mice in our guest house at Angaza! Wednesday night, I was standing in the kitchen, getting veggies ready for the soup we would cook in our crock pot that night (whle we had power), and a mouse ran into the kitchen! I don't know who was more surprised, but Joelle said I was louder! He ran and hid, and we left the kitchen as soon as we could! When I got in bed, I noticed this odor in my room, so I sprayed something and just went to sleep, knowing I couldn't deal with it at night. My bed is next to a wardrobe/cupboard, and I had a feeling something dead was in there. The next morning I looked , and nothing. So, I pulled my bed away from the wall, and saw a tail! I went and got Joelle and asked her to look and see if it was, indeed, a dead mouse. Since I knew I had slept over it all night, I just couldn't bear to see it! It was, and she disposed of it!

The story doesn't end there! I said, "mice," in our house! Thursday late afternoon, Joelle decided to take a shower, and I heard an, "Eeeek," sound from the shower room! I was so hoping it was just cold water, as the water heater hadn't been on very long, but, no. She came and said, "The mouse ran across my foot! And now he's just sitting there looking at me!" I told her I'd go get James, the young man who does everything at Angaza, but she said, no, she'd take care of it. I gave her a blanket, she wrapped it up and took it outside. We both saw it run off, terrified, I'm sure! I so missed Moses at that point!!!!

Daddy's t-shirts in Tanzania!

When was home, Mama had quite an assortment of Daddy's old track and meet t-shirts. They wouldn't fit n my suitcase, so she sent them with a recent Perimeter team. I gave them to my student teachers, who were beyond thrilled. I told them if they wore them this week, I'd take ther picture, so here are 2 of them, for Mama to see!

Baby Shower!

The day after my birthday was Joanna's baby shower. She and Simon still don't know what they're having, so we had to do a generic-gender party. I spent the entire morning making the cake, and took a picture of it to post here (mostly for my mom), but apparently the memory card wasn't in completely, or it was full, or something, so the picture ended up on my camera's hardware, not the memory card! As soon as I can figue out how to get that on here, I'll post it. It was the cutest giant baby rattle!

The shower was at Arusha Coffee Lodge, which is a lovely place with wonderful outdoor seating under the trees, but it was so cool and overcast I kept wishing we were inside by the fire! We had hot drinks with our cake, and Joanna got some lovely and some practical gifts for her elephant-themed nursery; we are in Afrca, after all! She and Simon leave next Monday for New Zealand, and will come back in mid-January with the newest addition to the Joshua Family!

Birthday, Tanzania style

It's been over a week since my birthday, but with power shortage, internet "issues," etc. this is the first time I've had to write. Last year I was in Karanse for my birthday, and this year I was in Arusha. I was having a meeting at Imara the day before my birthday, so I made a cake (!) to take and share with them. On my actual birthday, one of my housemates, Shelley, had me a carrot cake for breakfast, and pancakes! So, with that sugar rush, the day was off to a great start! We had an education department meeting right after breakfast, and Joanna had made a big birthday brownie for morning tea to celebrate!

I had brought back a present and cards from home, so all day, I doled those out to myself. At team lunch, there was another carrot cake (good thing I like carrot cake!) from the Joshua "family." Later, my friend from Imara, Jenny, and Carly (newbie here from Australia that met last summer), and I met for drinks before dinner. Then, several of us met at my favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner. (I also took some carrot cake to share for dessert!)

To top off the sugar content of the day, Jenny, Carly, and I went out for dessert and hot tea after dinner! (Something other than carrot cake!)

All during the day, I also got to check emails and facebook, and I heard from so many people that it made it a very special day. Finally, that night I got to talk to family and friends at home, as my birthday was winding down.

Good day.

Almost time to head back to TZ

Boy, that month flew by! But, it was a great month! I sooo enjoyed seeing old friends - thanks for all the breakfasts, lunches, dinners, ice creams, pounds I gained! and, oh, yes, water aerobics so I didn't gain any more! Loved seeing various family, too; thanks so much, Bethany, for driving over from B'ham; several meals and shopping trips with Mama; talking to my sister, not on skype or across 7 hours' time difference! It was good, too, to be back at Perimeter, both for church (love the new chapel): a TZ luncheon where I got to tell my favorite stories from this past year, running into people I love, Tz Wednesday night prayer and school: talking to 2 classes about TZ, wandering the halls hugging people, impromptu meetings, discussing various sponsored children, etc., etc.!

Daddy's still in rehab. Thanks to all of you who have prayed faithfully for him and my mom. Don't stop! Pray for him to continue to gain strength in his legs so he can walk out of there, pray for the chemo to work in shrinking the tumor, pray for him to keep up his spirits as the days get long, and pray for Mama to juggle her 2 patients (my uncle who lives with them is the 2nd one) and still find time to rest and take care of herself.

People kept asking if it felt weird to be here, or if I missed TZ. I guess I am more a person of the moment than I realized. It felt perfectly normal to be here, because this is my other normal. I did miss people in TZ, but not like I would if I weren't going back. That's probably the secret - I knew all the time that this was a "furlough," not forever, so I couldn't get too attached here, or miss TZ too much since I'll be back there so soon.

However, judging by my suitcases, I'm going for a decade this time! I'm praying that I don't have to pay too large a fortune for overweight baggage. Good grief - even my luggage gained weight!

Next blog will be from Tanzania!

Where did the rest of July go?

When I checked the last date I wrote, I couldn't believe it has been a month! Well, July was very busy! I was out in schools almost the whole month, with giving and grading exams, an extra week in Magugu, one of our other training schools, and getting ready for the seminar in Arusha that I joined teachers from Scottsdale Bible Church in presenting. In between, I also finally broke down and bought a modem so that I can have more frequent internet access, even on base at En Gedi, but especially out at Karanse. However, this still didn't give me access much of the time, so it's about 50% better!

I enjoyed my week in Magugu, as it gave me a chance to see students that I had taught computer and sports to a year ago when they were on campus here. They were very open, and as I was there to help observe their teaching week, I got to compare my Karanse student teachers with others in their teaching practice. I also got to see how Sarah and Shelley live when they're "in the field," and see how good I have it at my guest house at Angaza! One of the highlights was the student teachers cooking dinner for the 3 mentors at one of their rooms; this was their way of welcoming me to Magugu! Since they spent their own money and time on this, and opened their "home" to us, it was a very special, generous offer.

Another very special and generous offer came from Zilpah, a woman Tz pastor that I have known for years. She is a great prayer warrior, and if she says she will pray for you, you can count on it! She had been praying for Daddy's health, as well as my return to the US (later today!), and she wanted to gather together several of us who are getting ready to leave TZ, for long or short periods: Janet left Tuesday, for maybe 4 months; Don left about a week ago, till the end of November; Neil is leaving in October, indefinitely; and me. She booked an afternoon at a local lodge and retreat center, ordered tea and peanuts ahead of time, and wanted us to spend the afternoon with her a couple of Saturdays ago. It was a lovely setting, so peaceful, and we felt refreshed just being there. But, her main purpose in having us, was so we could spend some time praying for daddy and for all of our journeys. Then, she thanked US for allowing her to use up our time that way!

A side note, yesterday afternoon I heard a knock on my door (no one ever knocks here - you just shout, "Hodi!" and walk on in; this means a version of, "Is anyone here? I'm coming in!"), and when I went to answer it, it was Zilpah. I asked her in, but she said, no, she knew I was busy packing, but she had come to say good-bye, and let me know she was still praying for me and my family. She had walked from her house to say good-bye, and then turned around and walked back! She's not a young woman, and it's a hot, dusty road, but that's the kind of woman she is! She has a daughter in Atlanta, of all places, and she had just spoken to her the night before and asked her to pray for my dad, too. Just too wonderful!

Really good time at the seminar this week.I had gotten to know the SBC people when I was here first in 2006, and we have stayed close since then, with them inviting me out to Arizona a couple of times, getting their church to help support me, investing in me personally, etc. When they heard that I would still be in Arusha this week, they asked me to help be a presenter at their seminar for the Imara teachers. I had taught many of those teachers at Joshua, visited them in their schools and homes, and it was a real treat to see them again. I did a whole day on learning games and activities and a half day on teaching the slow learner, and I think they enjoyed them both. It was also great to be around fellow Americans that I have a little history with and who know me and Tanzania!

And now, tonight, I leave for home! I've cleaned, and packed, and shopped, and I think I'm actually ready! Much to do in the month I'm home, and I may not blog much of that time, but stay tuned!

4th of July in TZ!

Since this is an "in" week, meaning the mentors would be in Arusha, I decided we Americans on base (all 4 of us!) should celebrate the 4th of July together. Josh and Renee are a young couple from Boone, NC, and my friend Janet and I had a cookout together. We invited a token New Zealander, Neil, and did it right: hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, even roasted marshmallows. Josh had a huge American flag, and I had been saving party decorations for a year, and Josh even had some sparklers. It's "cold" here right now, so the fire felt great - no 100 degree 4th for us! One of my favorite parts was when I told Neil that it was one of our traditions for the non-American visitor to perform the first skit of the night! He wasn't sure whether to believe me or not and said, "I think I would have heard of that custom!"

Tomorrow is a holiday, too, Saba Saba, which means the seventh day of the seventh month. It is known as Industry Day, which, given the recent massive power cuts, is a little ironic, as virtually no industry is happening at the moment! So, I guess it won't hurt for everyone to take the off! Since we didn't take the 4th off, I'm thinking of it as a delayed 4th of July holiday!

The banner picture

I know this isn't very easy to read, but it's mostly for my mom! I'd told her about this saying we put up in the dining hall because it reminds me of one we put in her living room, and I wanted her to see it. It says, This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it, along with a bright yellow-orange sun and the reference. The school uses the dining hall for devotions once a week, and the student teachers and mentors use it as a meeting space, as well, so I just wanted the newly painted bright white walls to say smething to us all! With the help of a wonderful lady at Perimeter (plug for Mary Francine and Uppercase Living!), and Melissa Duffy, this is a wonderful reminder of the Lord's presence, even in a dining hall.

A busy couple of weeks!

Yes, I'm still here, but have been completely cut off from the internet for most of the past 3 weeks! Spent 2 weeks with the teacher team from Perimeter, first at Karanse, then Tanga and Zanzibar (I went along as tour guide!)! In Tanga, we went to Samuel's school. He's a pastor that Bobby met on his first trip to JTTC and they have been like father and son ever since. A couple of pictures so you can get the feel of that sweet little preschool.

Then a teaching week at Karanse with our student teachers, then back to Arusha for the second part of the TaCSA (Tanzania Christian Schools Association) conference. The first part was in Dar, but the mentors had to miss that as we were out in schools watching our students teach. One of the best parts of the conference was
seeing students from when I was here before and reconnecting with them. I led a science workshop for 3 days and really enjoyed the time with former students.

Things should be back to "normal" now - week out, week in, no power from 6 at night till about 7 the next morning (for the foreseeable future or 3 years or whatever!), but at least laundry and internet during the day!

Another sweet trip to the orphanage

It had been too long since I'd been to Cradle of Love, and we have a temporary volunteer at Joshua for 3 months who hadn't been, so we went this past Sunday. I usually go with Sarah, so I knew they'd ask about her (which they did), but they were glad to see me, anyway!

We timed it so we were there when they woke up from their afternoon naps and stayed till suppertime, playing, reading, cuddling. Even the older children (up to 3 years old!) don't mind just sitting in a lap for hours at a time, and I was so happy to oblige! A friend from Perimeter was there visiting along with Jenny, my friend from Imara, and another couple of ladies I knew from church, so there were plenty of laps! Carolyn, from Perimeter, got to talking to Lazaro. He's 3, and has such wonderful English you can have real conversations with him and his twin sister Hope. Lazaro told Carolyn he'd like to go to America, and she said, "Would you like to go back with me?" He said, "No, I'll go wth Miriam." Since I've always said I would one day come home from here with children in my suitcases, that sounded great to me!

There's this really sweet younger little boy named Paul. Not sure how old he is, but he should be walking and talking by now. However, he rolls everywhere he goes, and he only stands if you support him. He also has something wrong with his eyes, as he never really quite looks at you. In fact, Grace, our Joshua volunteer, thought maybe he was blind, but he's not. Several times ago, I started playing games with Paulie where I put my fingers on his mouth and tap while he makes sounds. He got to where he'd take my hand and place it on his mouth, so we could play. Or I rub his tummy or whatever, just always touching him so he'd know friendly touch. Even after all this time, when I saw him and sat down beside him where he was lying on a mat, he pulled my fingers to his mouth! I fed him his dinner later and he started a new game, because he's really old enough to feed himself, too, but can't without making a huge mess. He would reach for my hand and I'd let him help me feed him. Or, he'd hold his hands together, and I'd put mine over his, then try to get the spoon in his mouth! I'm sure he's a very bright little boy, but I wonder what will happen to him once he leaves Cradle. (Children are supposed to leave when they turn 3.)

Peopple have said they thnk t must be the saddest thing to visit an African orphanage, and I'm sure that's true for some of them. But I've been to places of such love and hope and Cradle is definitely one of those! As they came back after dinner, washed and dressed in little pj's, I just thought, "I wish all Tanzanian children were this well cared for." My heart is still all about the children!

Visiting...Tanzanian style!

I've been to a couple of our workers' houses over the past few weeks, and it's such an eye-opening experience I decided to write about it. First, it's considered a blessing to have someone visit in your home, so they love having visitors and ask us all often, "When can you come to our house?" or even say, "You are welcome to our home." The latter is usually the one we hear, so we had to start telling them, "Name a day." Otherwise it never happens.

Several weeks ago, Joelle, Corinne, and I went to our gardener's house, only he wasn't home. He was working on their farm (after putting in a full day working at En Gedi), so we visited with his wife and daughter. His wife spoke a good bit of English, Corinne speaks almost fluent Swahili, and both of them had been to Abraham's house before. We took a gift of oil and sugar and were warmly welcomed (after our walk of about 30 minutes). While we were there, we were taken to see the cows, a couple of neighbors, and mostly got told several dozen times how welcome we were! We played with the little daughter, chatted with Abraham's wife, and finally had to leave. She walked with us for most of the way home, because that's polite, and then turned around and walked back to her home, welcoming us for another time!

Yesterday, Sarah, Shelley, and I went to visit our night guard and housekeeper's house. Godfrey came to collect us, and walked with us for the hour's journey to his house, greeting everyone we met along the way, several of whom also welcomed us to their houses! All the way there Godfrey kept telling us how hapy Mama Agape was "this day" because we were coming. Their daughter, Agape, goes to our school at En Gedi, and got out at 12:30. She walks home with friends who live nearby, and when we were closer to Godfrey's house, we saw her and her friend Angel, up ahead on the path. It was about 3:00 by then! I couldn't help thinking that at home if your 5 year old was 2 hours late getting home from preschool, what a panic everyone would be in!

She and Angel walked the rest of the way with us, and even their 2 year old son Christian (he's the one I took to the hospital at midnight several weeks ago)came out and down the road looking for us!

Mama Agape was cooking for us when we fnally got there, so Godfrey entertained us by showing pictures that they had from their wedding, baptisms, friends' weddings, etc. We also met his brother-in-law, Angel's younger sister, another neighbor child - having Wazungu (white people) visit is such a rare thing that people come just to sit and watch and listen to us. We took lots of pictures, entertained the children with a couple of puppets Sarah brought with her, then it was time to eat the rice and beans mama had been cooking. They eat huge portions and gave us twice as much as we could finish, so we shared ours with them. I had made banana cake, and we shared that for dessert. I had Home Bible Study last night, so we got to get moving for our hour's walk back. Mama Agape, Godfrey, and the brother-in-law walked us back. Along the way, we met a friend of Mama Agape's, so she walked wth us, too! Godfrey had to work last night, so he stayed once we got to En Gedi, but the brother-in-law turned around and walked another hour back! The whole time, everyone thanked US for coming! They are such gracious people, and shared their sweet mud home and beans and rice with us so freely. We invited all of them to our house for a meal soon (even though Mama Agape cleans for us, she doesn't cook, so we can at least cook for her!), and they are looking forward to it!

2nd most exciting thing this week

This would probably have been the most exciting if I had seen it instead of just hearing about it, but there was an elephant in Karanse this week!

Abraham, one of our student teachers, and I were working in this little room that we use sometimes, and we heard what sounded like a crowd of people just yelling and screaming. I have to admit it kind of went over my head, as I was concentrating on something else, but sweet Abraham is so ADHD that he jumped up and was looking out the window in no time. I asked, "What is that?" and he said, "I will rush and find out!" Abraham rushes pretty much everywhere he goes, so that was no surprise! He came back to tell me that an elephant had gotten away from the game reserve nearby and was being chased through Karanse by screaming people trying to get him back to the game reserve! Teacher Moses rushed home to tell his wife not to go anywhere as he was afraid she would encounter the elephant, and she said it had already run past their house, and she saw it with her own eyes! Eventually they called the game warden, and he had to come shoot the elephant, but the villagers were given the meat.

As a tie-in to that, I think, the following story says that children are children everywhere. Manase, another of our student teachers, gave a short writing assignment to the 2nd graders to write about an animal. One child drew a picture of an elephant and wrote, "This is an elephant. I love the elephant. I want an elephant." We could only imagine that that came from the excitement over the elephant in Karanse (which I think would be a great title for a children's book!).

REAL Football in Africa!

I've waited literally weeks for today - the first American football game ever played in Africa, and it was here in Arusha, TZ!

Started off as a comedy of errors, though. As of about Wednesday I had no idea how to get tickets, and I was in Karanse for the week, not to get back till late Friday afternoon. I emailed our Joshua team about how desperate Janet and I were for tickets, and if anyone found out how to get them and got some for us, we'd gladly pay for them when we got back. (Not knowing how much they'd cost, even!)
Yesterday, when I picked Janet up at the school where she mentors, I was about to tell her about my email since I knew she hadn't had computer all week, either. She said, "Didn't you get my text? Don (a Joshua visitor and friend of Janet's)sent me a text saying he has us VIP tickets." I was so excited! I didn't know or care what VIP meant in Tanzania; I just was excited about having tickets! This morning, she came to my house at 9 just frantic, saying she'd spoken to Don, and he hadn't sent her a text about tickets, and she didn't think we had any, and it was the day of the game, etc. I asked her more specifically what the text had said, who did it say sent it, anything else I could think of to undestand where "our" tickets were. She said she showed Don her phone (she's pretty technology-limited!), and they tried calling the number that the text had come from, but got a message that the number was unavailable (only she thought that meant it was not a real number!) So she thought this was a big scam and was worried about someone having her number, etc.! We decided we'd just go into town early and see about getting tickets, so she left and I raced around getting ready. In the meantime, I realized she'd left her phone at my house, and she received a message saying the number was now available. Almost mmediately she showed back up at my house to see if I had her phone, and so I had her call the mystery number again. It was Allan Stephenson, our Joshua head! He had us 4 free VIP tickets! We just had to go into town and pick them up.

So, crisis averted! We had to go to town anyway to run errands, so Don and Neil, another friend at Joshua (both are from Australia/NZ) were going to meet us in town in time to go to the game. That all went very smoothly, except traffic was particularly atrocious today; we blamed it on the game, with me saying there was always extra traffic on game days at home!

We took our VIP tickets into the "special" area reserved for us, and then it got even funnier. VIP meant we got to sit under a roof in plastic chairs instead of in the sun on concrete bleachers, but there were no assigned seats, and as near as I could tell, no real correlation between how many seats were sold and how many seats there actually were! We found 3 seats together by booting out the children of 2 guys I know from Imara (both from Australia with no knowledge of the game), and Neil sat in a row somewhere behind the 3 of us. Darran, Bruce, and Don kept us busy with questions about what everything meant, and thankfully we knew most of the answers! I was wearing my "normal" football game clothes: a USC t-shirt and black jean capris, only missing my earrings and stick-on tattoos that I usually wear!

Drake University won pretty handily, 17-7, and a good time was had by all.
Missed tailgating, national anthem (we may have gotten there right after that, if it was sung), but made it in time for kick-off. Took lots of pictures and hope to get them downloaded soon. Big fun!

What I do in my "off" weeks

This really is misleading, but some people think that when we're not in the villages for our weeks there, we're "off" since we're here on base not teaching!Well, some snapshots of this past week would include:
our weekly education department meeting on Monday morning (usually lasts the whole morning)
writing units for an upcoming national Christian Schools convention (we're the workshop leaders for that, too)
grading assignments from the previous week in school
having a Joshua team lunch and meeting on Friday
shopping for groceries after having been gone all week
doing laundry (for the same reason)
attending Wednesday morning prayer and Sunday evening team worship
emailing various people at home and at Perimeter and SBC
sendng out this month's newsletter
cooking, cleaning - "regular" life
getting ready to go back out to school!
The week really does fly by, and before you know it, it's Sunday night again, and I have to try to get to bed early so I can get up at 4:30 to drive us out to school!

NO, I DON'T WANT A TAXI, CD, SPICES...

OR ANYTHING ELSE YOU'RE SELLING! Or, my recent trip to Zanzibar, especially Stonetown!

I actually love Z'bar and never turn down a chance to go! So when my friend Jenny said she really needed to get away, and would I mind going during my week holiday (Spring Break is how I think of it), even though I'd just been in December, since she'd never been and wanted someone who knew the ropes, I couldn't say yes fast enough! Another mentor, Shelley, had also never been and had no plans for that week, so the 3 of us took off. We stayed in the same place Sarah and I had stayed in Dec., and it was lovely and restful and relaxing and beautiful. We went snorkeling on an all day trip and just loved it. Jenny loved it so much that she rented gear the next afternoon and we went again just off the beach from where we were staying. Ate lots of seafood, slept, read, watched sunsets, had a great time. We were there from Sunday till Thursday when we left for our Spice Tour on the way to Stonetown.

I've never stayed in Stonetown before, just spent time there, but Joanna had and suggested a place to stay that was in walking distance of everything we'd want: shops and restarants, as well as historic places to see and the market. That was where the title of this cames from! Because it is such a popular place for tourists, hawkers just hang out on that street jumping at anything that even remotely resembles a tourist! Apparently, the following things are true of tourists: we never walk anywhere (so we must want a taxi!), we can't get enough Tanzanian music (so we want to buy the one CD they sell!), and we've come to Z'bar for spices (so we have to buy more!). Unfortunately, I haven't perfected the knack for rudeness that other poeple have, so I was often the target of these pitches. One man practically followed me around Stonetown and ended up asking me to take him back to Arusha with me! On Friday night, we were at a very public outdoor garden with lots of families and locals, as well as tourists, and we were just bombarded by hawkers with artwork, spices, etc. One woman was heading our way, and I jokingly said, "Wouldn't it be funny if she tried to sell us something?" Since no women had approached us up to that point, it was highly unlikely, I thought. HOWEVER, she walked right up to me and asked if I'd like a henna tattoo! I said no, but just had to grab Jenny and Shelley to keep from snapping!From then on, Jenny would just look at me at random times and say, "Don't you want a taxi?"

On Saturday, because we had almost a whole day before our plane took off, we went snorkeling again! It was a perfect thing to do and a great end to our stay. I'll definitely go again, but I'll work on rudeness before that!

Saturday night in an Arusha hospital

Yes, I'm fine; I was the driver of a sick little boy and his parents.

Saturday night I was in my room on skype when one of my housemates and fellow mentor, Joelle, came to say that one of our night guards was on the phone. I had seen Godfrey earlier that day, and he said they were just taking his young son Christian to the hospital as they thought he had asthma. His wife cleans for us, and his 5 year old daughter Agape was in the preschool class I spent so much time with last year. He is good friends with Joelle and Corinne, another housemate and mentor, and so he called Joelle because he didn't know who else to call. It was 10:00 at night, and their son was worse and they wanted to take him to the hospital but couldn't get there at night. I got on the phone and asked if he wanted me to take them. He said, yes, please, and that they would be there as soon as they could get there.
About 11 they arrived at our compound gate, and I picked them up and off we went. Christian was very warm, sleeping, but didn't appear to be having trouble breathing. We arrived at the hospital around 11:30, and waited to be seen. While there, I saw more drunk men than I've seen in awhile, some brought in by people who looked about as bad off as the men they brought in! One man who brought his friend in was apparently himself the victim of a knife wound, as I saw the hole in his shirt and the blood on the side of his shirt. As far as I could tell, no one paid any attention to that! There were also a couple of women and one or two other mothers and fathers with children. No one was unruly or dangerous in any way, and I thought I was in a documentary of third world hospitals! Mama Agape took Christian back, and he got some kind of injection because Godfrey and I heard him yelling, "Maamaa!" It was so pitiful!
Eventually it was decided the mother and son would be admitted to the hospital, but not the one we were at, and I couldn't take them because they had to go in an official hospital car. I knew Godfrey didn't want to leave them so I told him we
could stay as long as he wanted to. Another mama there finally sad she'd look after them and we should just go. It was about 1:00 by then, so we left, giving Mama Agape Godfrey's phone and my phone number, so she'd be able to contact someone. On the way back Godfrey admitted he didn't know where to sleep as he couldn't go back to his home in the village that late. I offered him one of our guest bedrooms, and he took me up on it. I asked him if I could get him water or milk and he said, "Can you help me? I have hunger." I warmed up some soup and made him a cup of tea, made his bed, showed him where the bathroom was, and said good night.
I did think momentarily of putting a note under the doors of my sleeping housemates, but decided he'd be gone before they woke up. However, Sarah got up in the night, saw lights (I don't think Godfrey knew how to turn them off so he left them on!), and went to turn them off, including the one in Godfrey's bedroom! She saw male legs and had no idea what they were doing there, as she'd already been in bed when I left! I told everyone about it the next morning, but it did give her a rather troubled night!
Mama and Christian ended up staying in the hospital till yesterday (Tuesday), and he had pneumonia, it turns out. Godfrey just came by to thank me again and welcome me to his house any time. He also wants to bring the family to see me, so I told him we would make plans for both of those things. He apologized for the trouble, but I told him I had originally named my car Saidi, which is Swahili for "help," as I prayed that God would use the car to help others. I told him, "It's really God's car. He just lets me drive it!"

"Good news"

This is one of the reasons I love being here.

A couple of weeks ago, our education dept. was having a meeting discussing the course, ways to improve it, etc. None of us are fans of the Biblical Foundations course. Don't get me wrong; we love the Bible, just not the way this course is presented! The students watch an hour long DVD which is basically a lecture from a man in the '90's, standing at a podium, who is translated by a man beside him. It is very dry and pretty academic and misses so much that it could be. We decided that we could write our own material just using the course's outline or Scripture choices. I volunteered to do that, with guidance from Joanna and a little help from Janet. Based on 30 years of teaching in Christian schools and some pretty amazing Bible teaching along the way, I really enjoyed this job. Last week was our first week to trial the new program, with lots of discussion and personal application built into it. The lesson was on the Tabernacle, and specifically the picture of God and Jesus that we get from it. Out of that flowed a very good discussion on personal holiness and God's expectation of us to be holy. In Tanzania, outward sin is "handled" by public remorse and discipline in the church, like sitting on the back pew until you've "atoned" for your sin. But, inner, private sin isn't even recognized as sin, for the most part. They live under a state of forgiveness until they sin and start the whole cycle over again. We talked about being forgiven forever and being seen by God as covered by Christ's blood, so our sin doesn't continue to separate us from God. This was such a new concept to the students, that Manase, our most Biblically astute young man, looked across the table at me and said, quietly and reverently, "Miriam. This is good news." I thought, that's exactly what it is - good news! Talk about having an impact; that may not be on their teacher exam, but I can bet it affects him and his teaching!

Construction at Karanse!

The biggest thing last week was arriving at Karanse school to see that ground had been broken for the new computer room/lab! Then watching all week as the fundis (workmen) laid the foundation with truckload after truckload of huge rocks, then sand for cement. Plus, the week we were there before, they had been laying additional water lines, so there is a sink in the dining hall, another one by the teacher toilets, and several new outside taps for washing dishes, watering plants, etc.

On Thursday morning, I was standing on the porch of the school, listening to the children in their devotions singing, "We serve a miracle-working God," and from where I was standing I could see the whole "campus," including the construction site of the computer room. I couldn't help but remember the pictures of how this place looked at the beginning and think, "Yes, we do!" Miracles were evident all around me: classrooms for grades Pre-1-7, a dining hall, toilets and water tower from the well, playground equipment, and now a computer lab - here in Karanse.

Reminded me of showing the teachers there the picture of Isack and Pastor reading World magazine that got published in the magazine itself some months back. Moses, one of the teachers there and a truly Godly man, said, "Miriam, think about this. No one in Tanzania even knows where we are, much less the US or the world. But, God knows we are here, and He has brought your people from America here to work with us, and look at what He has done." I loved that idea because, truly, when I tell people here where I work, I have to tell them what it's close to as they've never heard of Karanse. But, even so, miraculous things are happening!

The other wonderful miracle was that the rains have started! Everyone had plowed their fields and planted their maize, and then they just wait for the rains. I've just been prayng for rain, as have many people back home, though I selfishly admit that I pray for the rain to fall on the fields not the road I drive on to get to Karanse! Lots of rain on Friday, so I hope that's just the beginning of the long rainy season. Hopefully, that wll also help the power situation, as that's what they've blamed our lack of power on for the past few months!

Touching the future

Sounds dramatic, but that's a little like how it felt as Joelle and I watched our student teachers do their first full week of teaching, having written lesson plans and prepared resources and themselves. We watched more lessons than I can count, and got to know our students a little better each time. We were definitely rooting for their success, and in some cases, even found it! They were still very green and a little nervous, but it was gratifying to see them put things into practice that I know we taught them. A real sign of success came at lunchtime on Friday. A delegation of first graders came to see me to ask that Teacher Elijah not have to move from teaching them! Eljah had spent 6 weeks in their class, observing, then teaching math, English, and phonics. He really fell in love with them, too, and told me one day that he wants to be a first grade teacher. He had been taking extra lessons and even tutoring a couple of them on his own time. It was so special to know that they felt the same way about him, but, sadly, he had to move on to a middle grade next.

One of the things we did every day was give feedback to the students about all the positive and negative things we saw. Their attitudes were so good it made it much easier to tell them the hard things. One of them, Agaba, said, "Only tell me the bad things so I'll know what to work on." He has no idea how demoralizing that could be, so I told him that wasn't an option! At the end of the week when we were telling them how positive we felt about the week, they thanked us for our input in ther week and our feedback, which they knew would make them better teachers. We also gave all the Karanse teachers, who have been supervising our students through this, sodas and bananas at lunch as a thank you. That's how they celebrate really important events, and, as a result, when Agaba came in the dining hall and saw them, he said, "Is it Christmas?" He was joking, but what he meant was - this is a big deal! Gladness, one of the Karanse teachers said, "I knew you would do something like this." I asked what she meant, and she said, "It's the end of their first term and their first teaching week. I knew there would be a celebration." I loved that!

One of my favorite parts of the week was actually getting to be in classes every day. The biggest drawback of my job is missing time with children, so this really helped that. I got to help teach games to 5th graders, lead a group math game in frst grade, go around the classroom observing and looking over shoulders in 3rd, 4th, and 6th grades, listen to a story in second grade; the only grades I missed out on were pre-one and 7th!

I went back to Karanse just for the day Tuesday as we were getting 3 of our students settled in a new school (they had been at a school that didn't work out, then back to Joshua, and now a YWAM primary school, hopefully for the rest of the year) and it was close to Karanse, so I spent the day getting our guys settled in to their new classes. I'm sure they didn't need me, but it was also fun to surprise Abraham with his birthday cake! He thought I had forgotten, so it was more fun than usual!

In for the rest of the weekend, then back out to Karanse on Monday.

For those of you who remember my dad's past bouts with melanoma, he was back in surgery this past week, but we're praying they got it all this time, too. You can join us in that prayer, and that this is the last one!

Power outages, government inspectors and (more) car repairs!

Yes, all in one week! Power outages have been worse than usual, sometimes only a few hours of electricity in a whole 24 hour period. We're told it has to do with lack of water due to not enough rain, but we don't believe that's all there is to it. It does, however, make us pray more fervently for rain! (Even as I wrote that, the power went off briefly!)

On Tuesday, Joanna got word that inspectors from the gov't would be coming to inspect the college the next 2 days. She asked me if I'd go with her and them if we made a trip to Karanse on Thursday. I readily agreed. The rest of the week I was planning to help William in his 4-year old preschool class, and I was also asked to look in on the student teachers here at JTTC for a couple of observations, group work, some work on planning lessons for next week, etc. Along with 2 meetngs and some essays to grade, it sounded like a well-planned week. How long have I been here and should have known better?! The inspectors did indeed come on Wednesday morning, just after I dropped my car off at our base garage for an oil change and general check-up (it had been making some extra noises and seemed rougher than normal) and just as I walked into William's class, Joanna appeared saying, "Can you go to Karanse...now?!" Sure enough, the inspectors wanted to see our students at their training school using our curriculum and talk with them about our course. So, we jumped in the car with the 3 inspectors and took the hour and a half trip to Karanse where I got to surprise our students. They were wonderfully candid and articulate with the inspectors, then pulled me aside to ask me "mentor questions" they hadn't thought it appropriate to ask in front of the inspectors. After much too short a time, we were on our way again.

When we got back to base, I noticed my car was still in the garage, and since it was about 4:30 by then, that didn't seem like a good sign. Sure enough, the mechanic came to my house and asked me to come to the garage. My right front wheel was off, and there were what appeared to be random car parts lying around on the garage floor. One of the mechanics picked up a piece and sort of waved it around. I said, "OK. What is that, what does it do, where should it be?" It turned out my shocks were badly worn, something about a gearbox, rotors, alignment; anyway, 3 days and about $500 later, I got my car back. Thankfully, I get paid milage/maintenance for the use of my car, since I drive it on mentor trips to and from Karanse twice a month. I didn't have all of that on hand, but I know it's coming, so I can pay myself back over the next few weeks.

This coming week the plan is for the students to teach all week in the classes they have been observing, and for us mentors to watch them. I am looking forward to that, as it's our first real look at the progress of them after all this time. More on that next time!

Student teachers doing their first teaching

This was a great week in Karanse. After months of doing basic (and very necessary) curriculum on theory of Christian education and observation in the classrooms, several of our student teachers did their frst teaching of classes this week. No one has done a full lesson, yet, as we're easing them into this a lttle at a time, but it was great to see it begin to come together for them. One of my students, 6 foot tall, worldly-wise Agaba, said, the day before it would be his turn, "I think I'll faint!" He ddn't, and they all did fine. Still have much to learn, but a really good first step.

Because they're all working in pairs at different grade levels, I had some extra time to observe in the classrooms as our Karanse teachers taught, too. This is always one of my favorite things, and this week was no exception. I'm always so pleased (and surprised, I have to admit) when they do creative things, outdoor classes, group work, etc. They've been taught all of those things (some of them by me at JTTC the last time I lived here), but they're so counter-cultural that I love to see them going against the tide of their culture and actually doing it!

Hopefully, my downloading of pictures will work and you can see a couple of them for yourself! The look on their faces is relief! Elijah and Daniel taught in first and second grades and did wall dsplays with the children's work, so that's their pictures of that, too.

Finally got some Christmas and New Year's pictures loaded, too, so I'll include a couple of those, too.

Heri ya mwaka mpya!

Which, of course, is Happy New Year in Swahili! As soon as we learned that phrase, from a cashier on New Year's Day, we used it on everyone we could, for practice, and got great smiles from secrty guards, waiters, etc. Hopefully, they were smiling because they were pleased, not because mne and Shelley's pronunciations were bad!

It was a happy new year and a very merry Christmas. Christmas morning began with breakfast on the patio with Joanna, Simon, Neil, Janet, Shelley, Sarah, and me. We ate wonderful food, read the Christmas story together, listened to Christmas music, and watched Sarah open presents! She was the only one who had gotten packages and not opened them already!

Then several of us watched "White Christmas," whch I pretty much have memorized and no one else had even seen! Then we had to take a break and go eat a huge buffet lunch at Mountain Village, a really nice hotel overlooking a lake, up on a hill.
Resting and reading for awhile that afternoon, then we got together that night as a team/family for snacks and present exchange. was finally able to call home after that, as Christmas was just getting underway in the States. A really nice day.

The next week Sarah and I spent at Cradle of Love baby orphanage and loved on under-3-year olds, fed them, cuddled them, etc. We had a ball! We plan on going back on Sunday afternoons a couple of times a month so they don't forget us, and we don't forget them!

New Year's Day, several of us packed a picnic lunch and went to a lodge/resort hotel for the day for swimming, reading, eating, relaxing (except for Joanna who was doing MORE wedding planning!).

Started back to school last week and went out to Karanse last week and Monday and Tuesday of this week to get everyone settled back in. This is the term where they begin their rotations of observing in a set classroom, teaching small groups, leading various activities, and finally teaching for a whole week. They're excited and a little nervous, as I remember from my own student teaching days!

This week we picked up 2 additional students from the St. Dorcas group. That school just wasn't workng as a training school, so we had to (temporarily, we hope) split them up and send them to 3 different schools, including Karanse. They were happily accepted by "our" students, who knew them from their time together at Joshua in July and August.

FINALLY, this Saturday is Joanna's wedding! It really has only been in the planning stages since September, but since I live with Joanna and am in charge of many parts of the reception, I feel like it's been in planning for a lot longer! It will be wonderful, and we're all so excited for them both.Hope to have pictures soon.