I was wakened by roosters before the sun rose. Every day of the year, the sun rises at about 6:30 am and sets around 6:30 pm because we are just 3 degrees south of the equator. Also, there is very little twilight in the dawn and dusk times. It is dark when the sun is down and the moon is new, like last night.
I started sorting through all our stuff to see what we can streamline for travels in country. I’m hoping that I can send one more duffel bag with David tomorrow. We have to plan on nice dress clothes for a celebration, casual skirts for Monduli town, warm layers for hiking and camping, and then clothes for the beach.
At about 9:00 am, Ciwilia brought over a thermos of black chai tea with lemongrass, sugar, some eggs from her chickens, and some sweet potatoes for breakfast. I had already had some instant oatmeal we brought, knowing that we would have a few mornings like this.
Rebecca brought lunch, with her niece, Faraja, helping her. Faraja is home for the weekend from nursing school at the Arusha Lutheran Nursing School. We had a nice meal of chicken with rice, cucumber salad, with sliced pineapple. Oh the pineapple here is so sweet!
We joined Rebecca in the taxi home. Rebecca has a prosthetic leg after her leg amputation from a wound that would not heal. Rebecca and Faraja helped us get a Nokia phone and pay-as-you-go vouchers to have access to the rest of the world here. It is an older Nokia phone for about $22. Texting is done on the number keypad. But it will serve us for now with the basics.
Then we went to Rebecca’s new bakery that just opened on July 11. We took pictures on Anya’s phone, but I’m having difficulty to get them to my computer without wifi, as her phone doesn’t show up on my laptop as an external drive like mine does. Huh! So, watch for pictures to come.
We walked back to our guest house. Unlike Norway, we were greeting most people along the way. Even half a block away, people would yell a greeting. We are some of the very few white people around here, so we do not blend in very well. On the walk, three boys about 10 years old ran up to us. Often, I expect a request of a hand out. Instead, one held up a coin and asked how much it was. It was a US quarter. He asked if we could exchange it for him. As there is no place he could spend a quarter, I opened my coin purse and exchanged it for three 200 shilling coins. It was a bit of a good rate for him, but not by much with the strong dollar right now, where $1 = Tsh 2,100+.
We met Ciwila coming from the market on the way home and helped her carry her bags as we talked more. Then she took us to greet the wonderful Head of School, Dr. Msinjili, one of my heroes of life. He was working a long Saturday. He is in a very difficult role. He told me about the decrease in funding from the USA over the next four years. He is so passionate about keeping the mission of the school to make it possible for girls whose parents were not going to invest in secondary education for their girls to still have the life-changing opportunity for an education. It would be fairly easy to make the school sustainable with paying students, but they come from families who are able to afford school and want to invest in their daughter. The mission of the school would be lost. Pray for this one.
We are repacking our gear, combining the supplies that came from the USA with Elizabeth. I’m trying to send one duffel bag and one rolling carryon bag back with David tomorrow, so we will travel lighter for the next 2 weeks. The risk is that I send too many bags before I know what can fit in our remaining bags. Oh my. I hope I plan and pack wisely!
While packing, we heard the evening prayer singing, so we went to the chapel and heard the singing. The Pentecostal movement has influenced the spirituality in Tanzania, so there is a bit of that flavor to the worship in the evenings when there isn’t a liturgy. It also reminds me a bit of campfire songs at Bible camp. So there was a lot of “heart” in the worship. This is one aspect of mature discipleship, but it also needs to be balanced with “head” and “hands” and also “lips” or sharing the good news in word, for how shall they know unless they hear, as faith comes from hearing.
While in worship, Pastor Nangole arrived, walking down the main walkway to the chapel. I saw him and greeted him. We walked to his Land Cruiser, where he gave me a gift; he gave me an absolutely stunning Maasai dress which is dripping with oromboi (small shiny decorative metal disks) and beautiful beading. I won’t be able to blend in tomorrow! I had planned to wear subdued but sophisticated grey and black tones, but I’m going to be like a Christmas tree! This is a great honor, but it is on the verge of overwhelming.
I finished writing my words to share tomorrow, as I’ve been asked to speak. I had to hand write out my notes as I’m here in low-tech-land and reading notes on my iPhone is not the message I want to send.
Ciwila brought over another bag of groceries for us to tide us over. What hospitality.
More repacking stuff tonight with a head lamp, as the spare room has no lights. This is Africa. Yes, I’m keeping the head lamps handy!
Off to sleep. The pictures tomorrow should be fascinating!
With blessings,
Beth
I read the blogs, my mind blank, and I sigh. If you’d heard the depth of the sigh, you’d have underwood how much that a place means to me, even yet.
Marvin