Corn in Tanzania

This 180 degree view was taken on the road from Dodoma to Iringa, Tanzania. We were traveling to Language School, after we overnighted in Dodoma.

Panoramic

A nice view of the house and yard. 

Water

What do you do when there is no water?

My Solution:

Crudy dishes that didn't get rinsed because there was no water, soaking in the rain. Plus, several spare pots, bowls, and a baby bath tub collecting the liquid goodness falling from the sky.

Carson's Solution:

Well this first one was yesterday. It was a brilliant solution, that for some reason that we have not figured out didn't work. He googled it and everything. It should have worked.

And here he is working on today's solution which did work!

It's a little ghetto looking right there in the front yard, but we now have a third of a tank of water and that is what counts! Do you see why I married this guy?! I surely would not have survived the last 10 months here without such a wonderful partner. Now, if the electricity will come back on we can pump that water to the top tank which is a requirement to get it into the house! 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Packages!

We were thrilled this week to receive some Christmas packages!

See how thrilled:

I love some cheese!

And this one can't get enough chocolate, especially when it is Ghiradelli!

We never ate Ranch in the states. We LOVE it here! Africa does things like that to you!

Thanks to so many for the goodies!

Oh the Places We Go

Lately I feel like I am living out the Dr. Seuss book, Oh the Places You’ll Go. Today’s segment:

“And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.”

There are days when things go really well. Days when I am greeted by so many people walking through the market, that I feel like I belong. When I find every single thing on my shopping list. When dinner tastes so good that it’s worth the 4 hours it took to prepare. When the power is on and there is water and the laundry got dry on the line. Days like last week when I had a great conversation with Doto about pregnancy and I understood the whole conversation. 

But there are days in between those, when things don’t go like you planned. Days when the hardware store doesn’t have that part you need. Or they have it, but it breaks, because everything is so cheaply made. Days when the fundi doesn’t show up or does something wrong. When the guy knocking at your gate is talking so fast you have no idea what he is saying. When you are tired and sick, and wish there was somewhere to get take out. Days like today, when the power has been out for 39 hours which means this is no scheduled outtage. There is some problem somewhere waiting to be fixed, and there is no way to predict how long it will be out. Days like today, when despite your best efforts to do everything “by the book” you discover that the book was just for looks. You find yourself sitting in an immigration officer’s office as he threatens to kick you out of the country. 

Some of it, you get used to. Even a schedule/list person like myself stops planning, because the day you planned to do laundry, the power will be out, or there will be no water, or it will rain and you can’t dry the clothes. You get used to not planning. You stop asking “why?” because even if someone knew the answer it would probably just frustrate you. So much of it has already become “normal”. But, some of it never will. Some of it will always leave us on the edge of our seat wondering what’s next and can we handle it. Some of it will make us angry at a government that seems to have little interest in the welfare of it’s people and drive us to work harder to help those people. Some of it will simply leave us in tears as we thank God that He is in control and ask Him to fix the things that we can’t. 

As this place continues to become our home, I can assure you not one prayer is wasted on us. We daily find ourselves looking for the wisdom and discernment to function in such a different culture and the compassion to love the people who we now call neighbors. 

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with our teammates the Groens and the entire Mwanza team. I was pleased Saturday morning (we celebrated the Saturday after Thanksgiving) to wake up to these yellow leaves on the stairs. It's hard to say where they came from actually. The leaves don't change here and the tree above seemed to be fully green, but somehow these yellow leaves showed up and made it feel a little like fall.

The food was incredible! Tons of traditional Thanksgiving dishes including turkey! The highlight for me was the pecan pie, beause 1> it was yummy and 2> you can't get pecans here.

The kids put on a Thanksgiving play which was of course really cute. This is Elijah wearing his Native American headress that I helped him make that morning. He doesn't really like to have his pic taken so this is the best shot I could get.

Here are some of the kids during the play. Check out the center piece. It's a pineapple dressed up as a turkey. Too cute.

We arrived in Mwanza on Friday and much to our surprise went home with a Black Friday purchase! They don't actually do Black Friday here, but we had fun explaining it to the sales lady. We randomly stopped in a furniture store and saw that they had a special deal on a chest freezer. When we asked why it was on sale the lady said because it's close to Christmas, which is basically what Black Friday is all about. Anyway, I used the birthday money I'd been saving to buy it. This may be one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten. When you buy your meat, cheese, and yogurt 3 hours from where you live and the freezer on your fridge is smaller than most people's coolers, a deep freeze is a girl's best friend! I even have enough room to make ice now!

We enjoyed our stay in Mwanza. Our friends the Linderman's are always great hosts and we have a wonderful time with their family. We were able to get lots of errands done and I had a doctor's checkup. (everything is going well) 

Now we are back in Geita trying to get this house a bit more functional. Carson has been working on a bed frame among other things. Right now our mattress is just on the floor. I just finished one of the light fixtures for our living room. Yes, we are making them. We just can't help it. Making things is like breathing for us! And our furlough is only 5 weeks away!