This has been a very full weekend, so I’m catching up and will have several posts.
Friday was my last class for my 3-week Kiswahili intensive course. I did learn a lot, yet it is clear there is much more on this long journey.
A certificate too!
I finished the introduction course, yet, because of some prior foundation and me being the only student, we were able to do some customization. I am SO glad to be in a course where I can thrive (in contrast to what happened in Sweden in the fall of 2016, where I actually was the identified as the hardest worker, but I still failed the course that was way too advanced for me). One way of personalizing the course was practicing Kiswahili while my teacher, Joyce, and assistant teacher, Doreen (volunteer to build her CV), learned how to make a chocolate cake! They have never made a cake before, but Doreen is going to try to make a cake using a charcoal oven! Think of a pot with a lid within a pot. Charcoal surrounds the inner pot. Ovens are not common, so cakes are special (more later for Saturday’s post).
A Sweet Lesson
I will continue to work directly with Joyce for Kiswahili lessons that can again be personalized. It will also give me an opportunity to encourage Joyce and help with some networking for her desire to start a safe house for girls in at-risk situations (more below).
After class, I arranged for a taxi to take me to Monduli. I had been invited to dinner by Jason, the Director of Operation Bootstrap Africa (OBA). OBA is the non-profit organization that has several projects, mostly focused on education in Africa. One major aspect of their portfolio is the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School in Monduli (where Eric and I were volunteer teachers for 3 years). Both OBA and MGLSS were started by the late ELCA missionary, Rev. David Simonson. OBA also manages the Eric Hanson Memorial Scholarship (see post 2023.10.19 Hosiana).
While I had multiple email conversations and even a Zoom chat with Jason, I had never met him before. I had a wonderful evening talking. And lo and behold(!), what did the retired folks traveling with Jason on this OBA journey talk about seeing, a safe house! I knew of the one started by Dr. Msinjili, the former Head (Principal) of MGLSS. One of his safe house girls now has a safe house in Monduli. So, I will bring Joyce to see these safe houses to learn from their experiences and wisdom. Perhaps it will even be a possibility to start as a branch of the established safe house and avoiding the bureaucracy of trying to start another NGO/CSO (Civil Society Organization).
I spent the weekend in Monduli staying with a dear friend, Rebecca, who was my missionary colleagues’ (Jean and Marvin) cook. She is an amazing woman who now owns a bakery and is the wise woman that people in her neighborhood come to in order to seek advice and help solve problems. She says, (paraphrase), “Sometimes I don’t know where the advice comes from, so I believe it is God’s wisdom.” I heard wonderful biblical story and Bible verse references throughout the weekend. So, we had a rich conversation (perhaps a half—maybe a third—in Kiswahili and the rest in English when I was brain dead). Thus, my other Kiswahili teacher is Rebecca. The neighborhood kids are often over, visiting her 8-year-old niece, also named Joyce. Rebecca is the quintessential example for me of “if you bless the mama, the whole family (and neighborhood) will be blessed.”
Mungu akubariki! (God bless you!)
Safe houses in TZ—-Do you know of Courage House? There is one located in Moshi and one in Dar. I know of it through Joel Midthun and his wife Stefanie Martin Midthun. Both are on Facebook.
Great resource! Moshi is close. Joyce travels to Dar on occasion.
About safe houses in TZ—have you heard about Courage Houses? There is one in Moshi and one in Dar. I know of them through Joel Midthun and his wife Stefanie Martin Midthun. Both are on Facebook.