April 6, 2016: Part of my heart lives in Monduli; Drawn together

The night was good, but I would have liked to sleep longer. But I have plans to meet a driver at 9:00 am.

David Mtui (my friend who picked us up from the airport) introduced me to Amani (which means peace). I’m going to Monduli.

It is always interesting getting to know a new safari driver. He starts with, “Is this your first time in Tanzania?” Over the course of the next half day, he gets a glimpse of the reality that part of my heart lives in Monduli.

First I stopped to visit Rebecca.

Rebecca is an amazing woman who has taken the little that life has given and multiplied it and made it beautiful. All along the way, she has leveraged her life and goods to be a blessing to others. Now, her new bakery is thriving. Her son is soon to be working as a safari guide/driver for German tourists. This is a strategic move to serve the German-speaking clients because there are few German-speaking safari guides. Rebecca taught her son to not be afraid to tackle difficult things–like the German language.

We caught up since our last visit, on family and friends. Her niece is Anya’s age, so they were playmates as kids. They still enjoy playing together in recent visits, but it has changed to card games. There are friends and babies to hear of, but we also mentioned the babies we lost about the same time to miscarriage. We talked about our work. For her, the price of a bread slicer has greatly increased, so that hasn’t been secured yet.

I will see her in July, as she will be the cook for our group when were at the Girls School. We will be well fed! She bakes the best rolls I’ve had in all of Tanzania.

Then off to the MaaSAE Girls Lutheran Secondary School (MGLSS). It was so good to see former colleagues and former students who are now teachers and staff.

I have four former students who are teachers and staff. There are still at least four teachers from my teaching days.

I received a tour of the new administration building and the new solar panels.

Now they have solar power to reduce their electricity costs and provide lights when the power is out. This is so great!

I also had a serendipitous meeting with an American administrator who is helping to start a new high school on the west side of Monduli. They are in their first year in a science focused school. He is also a missionary kid (MK) from Asia who wound up in Tanzania. Great connection, we could have talked all day, but it was time to move on.

I had lunch at the Snake Park. This was our Friday night hangout for the expatriates in Monduli. Jean, Marv, Sarah, Eric, Anya, and me had many fine nights of camaraderie that is magnified when coping with some of the challenges of Africa.

The Snake Park is hard to describe. Think of a Giligan’s Island motif for overlander safari campers. This is the low-cost tenting safaris for young adults on a gap year or budget travel. So, there is an aspect of a college bar, but also an 18-wheeler repair shop, camel rides, Maasai mama bead market, Maasai cultural museum, but don’t forget the snakes. Think of the reptile gardens in African fashion. Anya could say “boomslang” (the name of a green and black snake) before she was two.

The second serendipity was running into Lynn and BJ, our beloved owners of the Snake Park. I chatted a bit while my driver went back to get his driver’s license from the police man by the highway at the entrance to the Snake Park. The police are very thorough regarding checking vehicles, which seems more like an assertion of power rather than safety issues.

Because my Tanzanian cell phone SIM card expired since it was last used this past July, I have been limited in contacting people. I do have an SMS international travel package added to my AT&T account, so I can text, but I’m not sure how much it will cost Tanzanians to text me. I don’t want to burden them with a high expense. So, I’ve been trying to email and even Facebook message to communicate. Amazingly, I’ve been making connections today.

The rest of the day was pure joy! First, Nanyokye, my former student, came to see me at my hotel.

She is one of the first two (if not the first) Maasai women doctors. Her story is one of that me that keep me connected with Tanzania when things seem so difficult and crazy. She came from a very traditional Maasai family where even her father didn’t go to primary school. She astutely realized that education was the path out of poverty and was one of the most disciplined students I have ever met. She didn’t go home for breaks, because of risks of going home, but studied. Even so, she kept respectful of her father and the good aspects of the Maasai culture. Now, she is thriving as a doctor at the Arusha Lutheran Medical Center with a supportive educated Maasai husband and a toddler daughter. She generously supports her large family, thoughtfully retains much of her Maasai culture in her family, and integrates a deep faith in meaningful ways.

Nanyokye and I then caught a taxi on the way to Ilboru. She jumped out to take a dala dala (vans with sardine-like packed in passengers) home, as I continued up one of the horribly bumpy roads. With extreme care, the taxi driver only scraped the undercarriage once. That is pretty amazing if you would see the road.

I was invited to dinner by Mark and Linda Jacobson.

I could wax about their 30+ year service in developing one of the leading hospitals in Tanzania and microenterprise projects with women, but tonight we were friends who have shared in life with both loss and joy. After the first miscarriage here, Linda just opened up to Eric and me both. At the third miscarriage, she met us at the hospital. The word was that I was the head doctor’s wife’s little sister, so I think I got some special treatment from the staff. But I was her little sister then. After Eric’s passing, Mark wrote a letter to Anya telling her of how much he held Eric in high regard. This is a treasure, and it moves me to tears in appreciation.

We laughed, we pondered, we wondered together as the electricity went on and off perhaps a dozen times. This is the other thing about Africa: it draws you together.

Travel tip on cell phones: In Europe and Africa, the cell phones use a GSM platform. So, I have an AT&T account. T-Mobile also has a GSM platform.

Travel tip on cell phones: Add an international package before you go, otherwise, you’ll be paying higher rates for each message and data usage.

Travel tip on cell phones: When in country, turn of the data to avoid both unknown data usage (some apps try to make connections even when not running) and minimizing the battery drain.