Thanksgiving in Tanzania

As you would guess, this is not a big holiday in Tanzania! However, here at Joshua, there have been Americans on base for long enough that they have learned to celebrate this very American holiday! However, the mentors were supposed to be out in schools all this week, and since the only 2 Americans here at the moment are me and Janet (and we are both mentors) we moved the holiday up to last Saturday. Quite a large turn-out, 15 or so counting 3 little ones, enjoyed a wonderful feast of turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce (even though I saw it priced as high as the equivalent of $12.50 in one of the shops!!), mashed potatoes, gravy, butternut squash, green beans, and even pumpkin and pecan pies for dessert (though, sadly,no Cool Whip!). Janet gave the blessing, I got to tell all about the meaning and reasons for it, and we went around the table and everyone told what they were thankful for. Since there was no football to watch afterwards (!), we played a game for a while and enjoyed being together, just like a real family!

This was our last teaching week in schools as their exams are next week. After Monday, I mostly felt like I was supervising a study hall, since they were mostly finishing up assignments, and they didn't need me for that. I had taken 2 full suitcases of Project Child gifts from the Perimeter team that was just here, so Godfrey and I arranged a time for me to give out the gifts, along with hugs and encouragement from the sponsors. I got to do that on Thanksgiving morning! It was such a huge blessing to be the arms and words from all of those caring people. I even got a little teary at one point as I read a letter to one of the children from her sponsor, who has never met her. She said, "We have your picture in our kitchen, and we pray for you every night at dinner. We talk about you as if you were here." I just could barely read that out loud as it moved me to think of this sweet family and their love for this little girl they may never meet until Heaven. What great reunions there will be! I have to say, I want to be a part of all of those, too!

Joelle and I did come back Thursday (yesterday), Sarah was back shortly afterwards, and Corinne and Janet had come back with their students on Monday evening. (Long story I will tell some other time.) So we could have had our Thanksgiving dinner that night after all, but we had our weekly team dinner instead. However, everyone remembered to wish us Americans a Happy Thanksgiving.

Then today, we closed the primary school here at Joshua and had the end of term party with the 4 year olds, 5 year olds and the 1st graders. Cake and juice and singing and giving out their gifts: there was a school photo of each of them and a pencil of their own, and they were pretty thrilled with those. Reminded me, again, of all our children have at home and how even then, they're not always grateful!

7th grade graduation at Karanse was postponed till this coming Wednesday, so we still have that to look forward to before exams. Then, a week of grading, and finally, our holidays! Happy Thanksgiving!

It's election season, so Miriam for.....?!

Last week in Karanse, the students in the equivalent of 4th grade had their nat'l exams. Some of the things this meant were they were the only ones at school for the 2days of exams, really long recesses for them, and extra-special lunch for the teachers and visitors from the gov't! During one lunch, Joelle and I were talking with Godfrey about educational policies in TZ, like nat'l exams for 4th and 7th grade that determine your educational (and thus your life's) future. Godfrey was saying those may be phased out as the gov't wants everyone to get a high school education. Unfortunately, they're not training the number of additional teachers this will take. It's not all that unusual to have classes of 75-200 in high schools here. At one point Godfrey began telling us about the current Minister of Education. He isn't an educator but an engineer, and the new policies are his way of putting his mark on the educational system of TZ. Godfrey then said, "I wish Miriam was the Minister of Education." I assured him I would be very unpopular as I would go to most schools saying, "No, stop that!" to so many things I'd see!

Back to Joshua this week. In "my" 4 year old class, they are now talking about the Christmas story and singing Christmas songs. They only have this week and next, and then are out until the beginning of the year. The main grocery store, Shoprite, put up Christmas decorations on Nov. 1, but we're celebrating Thanksgiving, complete with turkey, this Saturday night. (The mentors will be out in schools next week, and no one else cares when we celebrate it since they don't even know what it's for!) I'm making the mashed potatoes, even though I really wanted to make my dressing! However, no Jiffy cornbread mix here - imagine that! However, there will probably not be any cranberry sauce, as that has to be imported and costs the equivalent of $12-$13!

A team from Perimeter Church was here last week for d'ship training, and I got to spend some time with them on Sunday afternoon. That was like being "home" for a little while! I had also listened to 2 CD's from services at church, and I just grinned as I listened to Laura lead worship! Definitely felt like I was "home!"

I also helped with our church's Children's Day on Saturday - about 25 children from 3-10 from 10 in the a.m. till 4:30 p.m. Long day, but many diferent activities and a good way to meet other people in the church and serve in some capacity.

One of my "new" jobs is proofreading curriculum! My niece Bethany has done that for her college newspaper and a music magazine, so maybe it runs in our family to be picky with other's people's work! Mentors on our staff are writing our college curriculum just weeks before we use it in schools, and I've started proofreading it before the final publishing. It at least means I get a sneak peek at what I will teach out in schools!

Speaking of mentoring, we go out next week, then the following Thursday and Friday are their exams, and the term is over! Next term, they will be in the clasrooms more, with our observing them, along with coursework, which will continue when they're not practice-teaching. They are very worried about exams, as this is such an exam-driven country, but we think they are showing good understanding of their studies.

Also next week is the graduation of our current 7th grade class. this is the second graduation for our school and such a milestone. I'm so thrilled to get to attend this one, and we have promised our student-teachers the day off so we all can celebrate (and serve!)!

In case I don't get on again for a week or so, Happy Thanksgiving!

Car repairs 2

Last Sunday I was backing out of an unfamiliar driveway, looking over my left shoulder, when I realized I had grazed a tree with my right side mirror. It cracked the mirror, so yesterday I took my car to our base garage and mechanic. Unfortunately, he was in town and didn't get started on it till today. I can see the garage from my bedroom, and I saw my car up on the lift. Thinking that was an odd way to change out a mirror, I went on with my business, which was pre-school today. However, the mechanic caught up with me and said the dreaded words, "I need to show you something about your car." Never good, no matter which country you're in!

Turns out, I needed an oil change, a new air filter (imagine that!), and 2 parts in the engine that I saw were broken but don't even know the names of! He said he'd call the shop in town for prices and let me know. Turned out to be 370,000 Tz shillings, or around $300. Miraculously, I had 420,000 shillings in car repair money that I had been putting aside from an allowance I'm given every month for that purpose. I jokingly told several people I was sure the labor would take the other 50,000. Almost! The 2 mechanics brought me back my car a little while ago and said they had forgotten to include the price of the mirror which was......50,000 shillings! I could only laugh! I've always thought mechanics knew exactly how much money you had to spend for repairs!

The really good things are: I had the money, so it's no out-of-pocket for me, and this was discovered before I got on the road to Karanse at 5:30 Monday morning! Happy ending!

Doesn't FEEL like November!

It has turned so warm! Sarah (fellow mentor) and I drove a couple of hours on Saturday to a warm springs swimming hole for the afternoon. We have also been to a hotel pool a couple of times, and I've used the little plunge pool here on base several times. During the day at Karanse, our classroom gets very warm in the afternoons, as we only have the metal roof between us and the sun! Several times we've taken our student teachers out to sit under a tree for the afternoon's lesson as it's cooler there than in the building. It is time for the "short rains" which should help cool things off, at least during the days. One night last week we even had a thunderstorm and about 20 minutes of hard rain. The power stayed on, though, which was a good thing for hot water for showers.

Such a good mentoring week last week, despite the sad news that one of our student teachers was leaving. Edward, one of our Maasai young men who is doing the course with his brother, got accepted to the University of Arusha for a degree in education, and he has decided to go there. The course starts next Monday, so Friday was his last day with us. He went with our blessings, as his heart is still to help his people, and he can still do that with this degree, so we wish him well. But, it wa still sad to say good-bye to one of our own. we have been praying for his brother, Steven, as he adjusts to life without his big brother around.

However, the good things about last week were the hands-on things that we had our students doing. One afternoon they all practiced writing on the blackboard, and we took pictures! They laughed because we were pretty strict on them: they had to correct handwriting, spelling, capitalization, everything! We'll do more of that, but it was a great first look at such a teacher skill!

We also divided them into groups and they had to do a poster or diagram on the material they had learned in their Learning unit. Very teacher-y: learning styles, motivating children to learn, what to do with children who have learning difficulties, how memory works, etc. We also took pictures of them with their finished posters, which were so much better than we'd hoped. Joelle did a seminar on quality presentations, and they really took it to heart.

Then we shared several food items with them, too! On Monday I took in a cake to celebrate Godfrey's birthday the week before (the headmaster at Karanse). After we sang to him and he blew out his candle, he said, "My first birthday cake." I was so touched. Later in the week we took our students bananas, as we don't think they spend their food money on fruit! One day we also brought bread, peanut butter, and "real" jelly - Welch's Grape Jelly from a stash SBC left me earlier! That was a big treat to hungry growing "boys!" My favorite was the day we gave them lollipops with a verse attached. Psalm 34:1, "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." One of the students, Elijah, proving he really did learn some things about learning, asked, "So is this extrinsic or intrinsic motivation?!" We all laughed at that!

The nat'l election was yesterday, so all month there have been campaign trucks with huge loudspeakers canvassing the country (or at least the parts of it where I am!). One day Daniel, another student, said, "External distraction!" from our chapter on getting and keeping students' attention!

We won't actually find out who won the election till tomorrow, but it was the first time the opposition party had such a presence in the campaign. The same party has been in power since TZ's independence, so it has been thrilling to see the momentum for the other party gaining on the CCM.

As always, when we get back from a week out, there are many things to do: I did my second load of laundry today, we had to do some grocery shopping, catch up on emails, find out the USC football score (!), check in with family (though I haven't gotten to do that, yet), and get ready for the week here. Running errands and eating lunch out today, so have to run now!

New picture!

The above is the latest one of me, Debora John, and Aneri. I love it, and them! I think that shows in the picture!

Snapshots from a week in Karanse

Just thought I'd do little blurbs from this week rather than long paragraphs about one topic!

Did I ever mention that on the weeks that we go to schools we leave Joshua at 5:30 in the morning?! That's so we can drop off Janet and Corinne at St. Dorcas, stop by Angaza and see where we're staying THIS time (!), then be at school in Karanse as close to 7:30 as possible, but at least by devotions at 8.

This time we stayed at the small guest house at Angaza, just Joelle and me, with a fridge (but not the one has been following us from house to house!), but no "kettle." We both drink a hot drink in the mornings, me tea and Joelle coffee, but this time we got our serving girls to bring us a thermos of hot water on the 2 nights they brought our soup and bread for dinner. That gave us hot drinks 2 mornings, at least. The other 2 nights, we make soup in a crock pot, so it's waiting on us when we get home from school.

My sponsored child, Debora, has 2 best friends named Grace and Salome, who are good friends of mine, too. They have "tuition" (tutoring) after school a couple of times a week, so they finish up the same time my student teachers and I do. They have recently started asking me for rides in my car, "to sokoni" which is the shops at the beginning of town. The first time I took them, I'm not sure they had ever been in a car before, as they didn't know how to get in, close the door, etc. I rolled down the windows so their friends and family and neighbors could see them, and they squealed all through the town. We started teling people we were going to America! One day Grace came and told me her mother said she could go to America in December! Not sure who she's going with, but it won't be in my car!!

Thursday was a nat'l holiday for everyone except Joshua students! At all 3 of our schools, we went to classes, but we all tried to do it a way that wouldn't completely demoralize them. At Karanse, Godfrey had arranged for us to still have morning tea and chapati, which we weren't expecting, so that was a real treat. I had also brought in our left-over bread and peanut butter for a morning snack, so that was a fun extra. But the best part was that we had arranged to take our teachers out for lunch! We took their orders on Wednesday, Abraham (one of the students who lives and works in Karanse) took our order to the "restaurant," and we went on Thursday at lunchtime. Of course, it wasn't ready, but we enjoyed the time with our students. They were so appreciative as this whole cooking thing is still very new to them, and they hardly ever have their favorite foods: ugali and meat, so that's what they ordered, along with sodas, so it was a big treat!

Back at En Gedi, I had a package waiting on me, so that was fun to come home to, and a family with a small pool at their house is gone for the week, so I jumped in it yesterday afternoon since it was so warm. Today, after church, several of us went to the hotel pool, had lunch, and I got some more exercise. (Then, of course, we went out for ice cream sundaes, so I may have exercised in vain, but the water sure felt good!)

This week there will be meetings as we go over curriculum, reviewing what we did last week, and getting ready for next week. I'll also be in preschool several mornings. One very sad note about the preschool. One of the little girls from Celina's class died last weekend, and the funeral was last Monday. She had a brain tumor and when they diagnosed it they told the family she had 6 weeks to 6 months to live. It turned out to be less than that, as that was just a couple of weeks ago. She was only 4 years old. I heard that her classmates went, and I haven't seen them or their teacher yet, so that will be a sad thing to go back to. Her name was Ana, and her dad is one of our security guys. We've all just been praying for her, and now will be praying for her family and loved ones. That's never easy to understand or explain, so I'll probably do a lot of hugging and praying.

I'm still trying to upload some pictures from mentoring or me with Debora and Aneri, so I hope that happens this week, too!

There's a What in our kitchen?!

Along the lines of the lizard in the computer, but worse! Last weekend, after all of us mentors being gone for the week, we noticed a small hole in our kitchen window screen. Just assumed a knife in the dish drainer had cut it or something. We were mostly worried about mosquitoes getting in, but just closed the glass over the hole. The next day, to our surprise, there was another hole! Vicky was out on the deck outside the window, and said, "That's been bitten; there are little pieces of screen out here." We were definitely thinking "mouse" by then. The next morning, a bite of avocado was missing from one on the counter! By then, Joanna, downstairs, had noticed a hole in one of her screens, so she went and got poison for us to share (it's called "raticide" here!). We put out some peanut butter and poison in a couple of places, and the next morning, some had obviously been eaten, and Joelle heard it in the back of one of our cabinets. She and Corinne banged on the cabinet hoping to scare it into the open, but nothing happend. Another night, more peanut butter and poison, and we're up to about Friday. Friday morning, an entire banana was missing! That really creeped us out, beacause now it seemed we had this "super rat" who was impervious to poison and had dragged off a whole banana! We called one of the base workers to come over, and he proceeded to knock holes in baseboards to find it. He finally did run out of one cabinet (I jumped up on the kitchen counter at that point and was no help at all!) and ran under a sofa. Joelle, Corinne, and Philemon chased him with dish towels (Joelle), a hammer (Philemon), and screams (Corinne), as he ran from one hiding place to another. He found a really good one under the stove or in back of a cabinet because we lost him at that point. However, along the way, we found where he'd been spending all that week - he had stashes of food under a sofa, in the under stove drawer (which we never use), and in the back of a cabinet, behind the wall. There was talk of more poison, the garage cat, etc. Finally, a trap was procured and set last night with a piece of banana (apparently his favorite food!), and this morning he was caught in it and dead! He honestly didn't look as big as when he was alive and running around our kitchen, but we're still very relieved that he's gone! (And hoping he was alone!!)

Back to Karanse on Monday, and looking forward to it. Can't wait to find out who's sharing the guesthouse with us this week! That's always a new adventure!