So It's Time for Outreach

the time has come for us to head out into the bush. so on saturday we leave for outreach. i have so many mixed feelings about it right now. most of the time i'm really looking for it, but there are moments when i'm freaked about not having clean water, having to shower in the river and meeting people who are demon possessed. oh, and not having my computer for communication with america is another part of my hesitation.

so we are expected to have all our belongings packed and ready to go tomorrow (friday) at 10 am. all our belongings which are staying at the base need to be packed also, which includes my computer and extra clothes and electronics. that's a whole day before we leave. i was hoping to catch up on all my updates tomorrow since we have the entire day off, but for some reason we've been asked to have everything packed and ready to go.

so what do i say in this post - something meaning and witty, something worthwhile for those who continue to check back to this blog even when there are no updates for 3 weeks? right now i feel numb and my thoughts seem so meaningless. my heart is calm and i'm simply ready for some thing new and different.

my friend, firimina, taught me 2 card games this evening. one involved being slapped on the wrist when you lose, and the other has so many rules that i could barely follow. the latter game is going to be great when i figure out thw counting, but africans seem to not use the same method as american. 7 are worth more than kings, and queens are the highest. that's about all that i've learned so far. by the end of outreach, i'll have this game down.

i'm loving the jolly ranchers and peanut butter filled crackers from america. i shared some of the candies and goodies with the kids from the orphanage this afternoon. i had been given some plastic easter eggs, so i filled them with some of the candies and crackers. the kids thought that was so great!

i can hear my roommates praying... but then again, most of the base can hear them praying. praying is loud and boisterous here at this base. there's not such a thing as praying to yourself. prayers have impact, emotion, and passion. when we pray, people in the next county know it's the crazy people from that compound. :) i have to laugh when people call this place a compound, but that truly what it is.

now i'm simply rambling just so i don't have to go to bed or pack. it's now 11.13 pm on thursday evening.

so my prayer requests: that people receive us and accept the Good News
for unity in our group - to drop our pride and display humility
for safety and good health
and for me specifically, to be able to communicate and continue to learn swahili. i'm still feeling quite separated because of the language barrier, so going 3 weeks without much spoke word may be a challenge for me.

why am i procrasting saying 'good-bye'? this is a question running thru my head. it's just a silly blog. but i'm struggling to tie up the loose ends and finish. guess i just need to let go and close this post. so, until next time: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. {rom. 15.13}

A Good Read

so i'm gonna just jot down some quotes from the book, 'Foreign to Familiar' by sarah a. lanier. the book has really opened my eyes to some of the things i've struggled with since my arrival. but with saying that, knowing ahead of time would not have prepared me any better than just being here.

p. 65 'In the inclusion culture most everything is 'ours', not 'mine'. a memeber of the family will say, 'we have a guitar.' 'we have food in the refrigerator.' this 'we' will include everyone in the house, not just the residents of the house. 'we have tools to use' - regardless of who paid for them.

p. 63 'in many hot-climate cultures, gatherings outside the workplace are family gatherings. children are part of the picture - noise and all. this is frustrating for the americans and europeans, as they feel the distraction of children running in and out takes away from the quality of the event' (this is so true!!! --children are often in our class room making noise and talking, and church is no different.)

p. 42 '(in hot-climate cultures) there is a group mentality that says, 'we are a community and must share our food, private lives, homes, and even opinions, to serve the whole'. this translates into a behavior that is inclusive, not indepedent.'

p. 61 'as a cold-climate person my greatest sacrifice was giving up my privacy, my time to myself. i never knew when i would be interrupted. it seemed exhausting until i got used to it. then it became second nature to me.'

'on a bus in thailand once, with other delegates returning from a conference, i had packed a lunhc for the four-hour ride. having learned about hot-climate inclusion, i brought fruit, cookies, and other items that could be shared. about lunchtime, two european men in front of me took out their packed lunches and began to eat. that got me hungry, so i got out my lunch too.
i offered the men some grapes. they said, 'thank you, but we brought our own lunches.' they also refused the cookies. then i got up and offered the grapes to others around me on the bus: africans, south americans and asians. they all happily accepted the offering and then pulled out their own food to share. soon we were handing around bags of dried figs, potato chips, hunks of bread, cheese and other items. we had a feast that day.
the two europeans enjoyed their own lunches, but they missed the more important event. it wasn't as much about the food as it was about sharing with one another, leaving no one out. it took care of those who didn't have anything by including them in the group. because everyone shared, we were not aware of the 'haves and the have-nots'. they were covered by the commmunity. the inclusion value of hot-climate cultures means that not no one is left out, no one is lonely.'

Blessed News of Packages

i wrote this yesterday:
earlier this morning i was notified that i have 2 packages at the post office. so i skipped work duty to ride into Boma to pick up my packages to find out that my packages are in moshi. so tomorrow i'm traveling to moshi to get my 2 packages!

another odd experience happened while i was waiting at the doctor's office with the friends. they had rode along to boma to check if they had malaria. but i can't really say anything because there are some people at this base who follow my blog... and it's a secret! but someone found out they are pregnant (and have malaria)...

so today i went to retreive the goods. it's always an experience and nothing is easy. those are my two thoughts.

so i ride w/ Babu who is driving to Moshi to drop off our base leader's kid at school. the public school in tanzania don't seem to be up to par, so many kids are sent to private schools for education. i've discovered that all mzungu kids go to this school - the international school in Moshi. i've not seen that many white people since i've arrived in africa. who know that many white folk lived around this area?

so after dropping off Abbey for school, Babu dropped me off at this little restaraunt because it was 7.30 and the post office opened at 9. so i enjoyed a nice glass of cold passionfruit juice and people watched for an hour and a half. and the time flew by. i enjoyed every moment of being alone and free from the base. there's really not any time to be alone at the base...

so i get to the post office, handed them my notices and they retrieve my 2 boxes. beautiful - everything is running smoothly! i paid them for my 2400 shilling for my 2 packages. but then another guy comes to the front, and says, 'you know about paying the taxes for your packages, right?' i had heard about the tax from charnelle so it wasn't a surprise. so he opens the packages and i get to see all the fun goods i've been blessed with. (i have the greatest friends in all the world!) then this man tells me that i owe him 10,000 shillings which is about 9 bucks. not too bad. but the catch is that i need to walk to another bank in order to have them accept the money and to fill out some form which is required. (the word 'foreign' takes on a whole new meaning in 3rd world countries!)

so i take the form and start walking in the direction which he indicated. on the way there's a bank with an ATM which i've been told accepts foreign credit cards. so i stopped there and tried, but to no avail. so i proceeded down the street to this Exim bank. they also had an ATM with a sign reading something about international cards are allowed a certain limit. so i tired it, but again nothing happens, except that it prints a reciept. the receipt seems like the money has been distributed, but i got some type of error message on the screen. 'no biggie,' i thought, 'i'll just continue with the 10,000 shilling transaction and be on my merry way.' so i go inside, check in at the front desk, then wait my turn for a cashier. i hadn't waited too long, and it was my turn. the transaction went without any hitches. so i begin walking a back to the bank, but then i'm reminded of something: the last time i was printed a receipt but didn't receive any cash, my account had been deducted of the funds. so i turned around and went back to the bank, simply to be confirmed that the money would remain in my account. so i checked in at the front desk again and again waited my turn from a cashier. i explained the situation to him, and he told me he'd check on it and i could have a seat. so i waited for nearly an hour before the main banker, Peter, came to me and said that i was over my daily limit, but the money would not be deducted from my account. (i'll wait to check on my account tomorrow to see if he is telling the truth, and if the first bank deducted any money!)

after all that, i was walking back to the post office, with my form completed, and thought, 'i don't think i have any money left.' i thought i had taken enough, because most of the time 10,000 is a huge amount of money, but now i was down to 500 shillings which wasn't enough to get me back to the base. that's when i began praying that somehow God would bail me out of this dilemma. (this is a odd lesson to be learned in a foreign culture!) so i go back to the post office and explain my dilemma to the guy who requested the 10,000. he said, 'no problem, since you've paid the 10,000. i will cover your bus fare.' so he gave me 1,000 shillings for my bus fare, handed me my packages and i was out of there. then i caught a dali dali back to federici (our bus stop), had to switch dali dali's in boma so i wouldn't have to carry the packages quite as far. so i got off the bus, flung both boxes on the top of my head and started walking 'home'. after holding and balancing the 2 boxes for a 1/2 mile, i have a greater appreciation for those women who do that everyday. (sorry, no pictures of me walking w/ the boxes!)

not sure what all i will learn from all this, but the passionfruit juice and the morning to myself was an incredible experience. and through it all, i wasn't nearly as anxious as one would expect. i can tell you are all praying for me, and that God is responding to Your prayers in mighty ways. and thanks to my friends who sent packages that didn't weight 50 pounds each! and a shout out to the guy from the post office who gave me my bus fare!

The Week in Arusha (Wiki Katika Arusha)

i'm just going to jump into the meat of my week in arusha: emotionally challenging. i went there hoping that it was going to be refreshing and splendid, but instead it was quite challenging. having the english speakers to talk with was really great. the problem came in when i returned to spend time with my fellow swahili speakers who felt abandoned by me because of my involvement with the english speakers. my swahili speaking friends laid some guilt on me. so my heart was torn because of my classmates who felt abandoned by me because of my involvement with the english speakers. they felt inferior to the white people at the base. some of my fellow students became very reclusive and only spent time with swalili speakers or in their room. the language barrier became ever more a problem in arusha than it is at my base. who would've guessed that? (my finger is not up!) many of the tanzania with whom i spend time feel like lesser people because they don't have much money, education, skill of speaking english, etc. this is a cultural difference, but it's a real struggle.

some of the highlights of my week were: #1) the food was great. chapati's, spaghetti, mash potatoes, and fruit. very lovely! #2) the weather is much cooler at that base which i enjoyed for a bit. slept under a blanket, unlike our base where i normally use a sheet or less. #3) the english speakers, including most of the staff from the arusha base and many of the students. #4) I was given a good haircut from a korean lady named sarah. #5) many of the international students from the arusha base told me how inspired they were because of my courage to attend the dts at the kilimanjaro base. i wasn't sure how to respond to that encouragement... #6) i've been given a new appreciation for the kilimanjaro base, with all it's challenges, language barrier and wide open environment. i really enjoy being able to go for a walk in the bush by myself and not worry about if someone will harm me. we are in the bush (the locals call this 'town', but let me tell you - it's the bush, but not the 'bush bush'!)

so that's my week in a nutshell. oh, one more thing - the base ran out of water the day we arrived, so i didn't get a hot shower. sad. but we had enough water for bucket baths. guess this is all preparing me for my month in the bush, living in tents and bathing in the river which begins on saturday.

in some ways i'm looking forward to the adventure of going into a new area, facing challenges and forced to learn more swahili. in some ways i'm not looking forward to being without the internet, electricity or the convenience of communicating with friends and family. so we'll see how my attitude changes as it nears the end of the week.

for my friends patsy and cathy - thanks for the comments about bathing which made me bust into laughter: spit baths and powder! many of the people here do the powder trick, by the way. and the part about not much soap - i do that! shampoo is really expensive here, compared to other things. it's costs about $6 for a bottle, since it's really a luxury. we use bar soap for any cleaning needs: bathing (all parts!), laundry and dishes.

a confession: one day while at arusha i skipped out of work duty and took a walk with samson, miriam and abraham. i thought we were simply going for a walk before work duty, but they had it planned to visit samsom's family. (language barrier!) we walked thru a market where Maasai trade cattle, goats, and other animals. then we walked to this big market, which i really wish i could've taken some photos of it. it was spectacular! the place was buzzing with excitment - many, many little shops selling everything. we went there because samson's aunt worked in one of the shops. even though my white skin was completely out of place, i never felt like i didn't belong there. it was a weird feeling for me. some of the congos, the cloths used as wrap around skirts and shirts, in this market were marvelous. i wouldn't have minded getting one, but i didn't have any money (or my camera or gps.) at one point samsom stopped to get us some bananas, and because he was walking with me, the cost of the bananas was extremely high. the joy of being an obvious foreigner. but samsom talked them down in price and we all enjoyed a banana together. during our walk back to the base, we nearly got run over by a run away steer, but we all survived.

i'm apologizing for spelling and grammatical errors right now - i don't have any time to proof this post.

The Amazing Flora!

again an amazing visit with Flora! i just love her so much!

it's been a week! but before i go into some long rant about the week, i want to tell you about my amazing day today: the picture tells the story! i had an opportunity to see Flora again. she's an cute as always! had some extra friends from my school traveling with me this visit: Maggie, Firimina, Japheth, Senye and his wife. i'm really grateful for their company. the drive into the bush wasn't quite as bad this time due to less water on the road. the road is still pretty serious, but no comparison to the last trip to mburiashi. (my fellow classmates burst into laughter when i attempt to say 'mburiashi'. - i'm so american in my accents!)

again flora came right up to me when i arrived. this time she definitely knew me. so i picked her up and carried her for a little bit. she and the other kids were so excited about that! it was too funny. her smile was from ear to ear - like she was a princess!

again we, visitors, were escorted to the office where we politely waited for something (not sure what that 'something' was, but we waited patiently for it.) eventually we were given some food - fried bananas and chai with milk. the food at this compassion center is top notch!

since the last time i saw flora i found out that her tribe still practices female circumcision, even though it's against the law. i know that culture runs deep, but i wanted to talk with her parents about this procedure to see if they were planning on performing it to Flora. so today's visit had that discussion on the agenda. the opportunity arose when we were in the house with Flora's mom and firimina who can translate. i simply asked Flora's mom if she believed in female circumsion. she mentioned that they believed in it last year, but this year they were not believing in it because of the law. not sure exactly why their thinking changed, but i'm trusting her when she mentioned that they weren't going to do it to flora. i pray that is true. but i'm grieved to know that they did it last year, which means that flora's older sister, mary, may have had the procedure completed on her. guess i'll never know, but i'm praying against it for flora.

flora's family gave us milk and hard boiled eggs. it seems so strange that we visit the bush which displays extreme poverty, and we are given better food than what we recieve at the base. again i'm amazed at the generosity of the people who have nothing. it's such an inspiration to me to give, then give some more.

after visiting with flora's family for quite some time, mary and flora walked with all of us to senye's house for a visit. the two girls sat on both sides of me. when asked if they wanted to leave, they both said 'no'. they mentioned that they wanted to go with me to america. my heart mostly broke in two right there. being 9 (flora) and 10 (mary) years old, and wanting to leave your family in order to go somewhere different seems so strange to me; a reminder that most people dream of visiting america.

before we left, japheth got a picture of us because my camera battery was dead (that happens when there's no power to charge it!). it was really hard to say good-bye, but the girls just turned and began walking to their home... where they belong. (but my heart wants them to belong with me!) i could see a chunk of my heart walking away when they traveled down the path into the bush. perhaps before i return to america, i'll be able to see them one more time.

i'll have to update about my weekend later because i really need to work on my journal. i've slacked too much this week, hanging out with english speakers from arusha!