Beach Day and Missing Anne

While all of you are bundled up with a cup of coffee and shoveling driveways, I spent the day at the beach! All of the teachers and many of our students went to Kirando this weekend in order to take passport sized pictures of the students. I don’t know exactly why but that’s okay. So today has been an amazing day of relaxation and enjoyment.

I started the day by sleeping in until 9:30am! That was amazing! Then I grabbed some bread and tea that I made last night and crawled back under my mosquito net and watched a movie on my iPod. Then I decided I would go to the lake. Not only was it a gorgeous day for swimming, but also hot enough to wash my clothes and lay them in the grasses to dry (they dry within 1 hour). So I put all my dirty clothes into the large washing dish and also packed along my iPod and my Bible. Mixon and I set off for a long afternoon at the lake. He follows me everywhere so I knew he would tag along. While walking I experienced a feeling that could only be described as “vacation”. Walking in the sand on a hot sunny day with the smell of sunscreen just screams vacation. Today really felt like a vacation of sorts. I went to the section of beach that is usually unoccupied so that I could be the weird American going to the beach just to rest and get some rays (and that means I’m still wearing an appropriate t-shirt and a skirt…let’s not get crazy). I spent about an hour washing my clothes and the water was perfect for it, not too many waves. Then I put them out to dry and sat on the beach listening to music and reading the Bible, making sure I was staying appropriate when the fishermen would pass by. Then it became too hot so I jumped in the lake and swam for a while. Mixon ran along the shore trying to figure out how to get to me without getting wet. Sometimes I pull him into the water just to see him swim back. He climbs on my shoulders to avoid touching the water. He’s kind of like a baby. After an hour or so I got out to get warm again and to enjoy just resting on my khanga on the sand. It was fabulous!

I left the lake when I started to feel my skin burn… sunscreen only does so much in this climate. So I picked up my clothes and walked back home. I did get a decent burn on my arms and shoulders but nothing terrible. If anything it just makes my watch tan look even more attractive ☺. I hung up my swimsuit, picked some vegetables from my garden for dinner and cleaned rice. Now I am ready to cook this evening. I have found I really like to eat rice with onions, tomatoes, green peppers and green vegetables on top. Really good!!! But I can only make it when I have the peppers from Kirando (Kazovu doesn’t have them). I have one pepper left so I am going to use it tonight.

Subject change

On a not so happy note, my good friend and housemate Anne left Kazovu. Just like Baraka she too often became sick. She left last Saturday for Kirando to see a doctor and then I heard that she was heading to Sumbawanga for more treatment. She had malaria and some type of tapeworms. I knew that she was sick but I was expecting her to return within a week or two. So I was not expecting to see Kibona’s wife come and take all of her things out of her room yesterday. Now all that is left is her mattress and some scrap papers on the floor. I have to keep telling myself that there is a reason for this. God has some bigger plan in store by removing Anne from Kazovu. But, I’m not going to lie… it hurts. She was a dear friend and the only other female teacher here I could spend time with. There is a trend here: Baraka left, Winfrida left and now Anne. I was happy today for the time to be alone because it gave me a lot of time to think and pray about this situation. What I have heard from God is that the only thing I can trust to be always constant is Him. Having close relationships is not a bad thing, God wants us to be in fellowship with others, but people will let you down, situations will change and if we put all of our reliance on those people we will crash and burn when something happens. Our strongest reliance should be on the One who will never leave or fail us - the One who is constant in our lives even when everything else seems to be turning upside down.

This new situation presents some opportunities. Now I am living in the house alone with the chickens, the cat, and Mixon. I don’t mind living by myself but it is a lot of work to be at school teaching all day, clean the house, cook and still have time to be with my students outside of school - which is what I really enjoy doing. The room where the chickens live is a disaster every morning and takes a good hour to clean every day. That doesn’t include the rest of the house which also needs cleaning. I really don’t mind doing these things but it is too much for me to do alone and still spend time with the kids. So I talked with my headmaster and he told me to find a student to help me every day. I agreed and see it as a way to bond even better with one of my students. I will be talking with Markrina next week to see if she can be my helper. I am also planning on giving her a bit of money to help with school fees, since she will be doing me a huge favor.

I know that everything will work out fine, it always does! God is thankfully in control of every situation. This presents a new challenge and definitely new opportunities for ministry.

Blessings,

Emily

More Photos

Sunset on Lake Tanganyika

Kazovu students

Having a little fun in Kazovu

Half-Way

February 4, 2014

It has been 5 months since I arrived here in Tanzania. Crazy to see how fast time has gone, but then again I remember how little I knew back in September. I’ve grown in knowledge of the culture and language. I have transitioned from seeing this as a trip to seeing this country as my home. God has done some amazing things these first 5 months. I have no doubt that he will continue to do so in the next 5 months.

School is back in full swing! Almost all of our students have returned (except for Form 3, nobody knows why they haven’t returned yet). I was surprised and so happy to see almost all of my students from Pre-Form returning to Kazovu for Form 1. All but two students from Pre-Form are here! From what it looked like in December, I would have been surprised to have 10 students return. God is giving me more time with them and I am so thankful.

When I returned to Kazovu I was cooking behind my house and saw three of my students running from the path to greet me. One of them, Michael, gave me the biggest hug. Oh, I just love these kids! There are even new students in Form 1 that didn’t come to Pre-Form. I now have 24 students in that class and over 30 in Form 2. The bigger classes are a little more difficult to teach but I would rather have more students in school than less, so I’ll take the challenge. I have noticed that it is very easy to start in as the English teacher for Form 1 because they know me and my teaching style, which is very upbeat. They know I require them to speak English a lot during class time. My first few weeks in Form 2 have been quite different. They are not used to my teaching style and more often than not I will be teaching and they will stare at me with looks that say, “What in the world is she doing?” I try to do many different games and exercises that are meant to help them practice speaking what they are learning on paper but they all seem to lack the motivation to really get into it. It is a daily struggle but I know after a while they will start to know my style of teaching. I know the way I teach is drastically different than how they have been taught in the past. I teach Form 1 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Form 2 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I also do evening sessions with Form 2 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. At the end of this year Form 2 will be taking a National Exam. I want to help them out as much as possible to help prepare for the exam.

Our school now has chapel every Friday! Most all other VST schools have chapel and ours had not. When our new headmaster asked for suggestions about starting in the New Year, I fought for having chapel. I am so happy it worked out. I will be going to chapel with the students and sometimes teaching.

The new headmaster Kapange is wonderful and is already doing great things for the school. He is doing a great job making sure we have all the materials we need for teaching (mainly chalk, pens and paper). You would be surprised how often we didn’t have those in the previous months. He is making plans to fix our electricity, which is fabulous. Not that we really need the lights, but the ability to charge our electronics at our houses would be extremely nice.

The second day we were in Kazovu, Kapange and I went down to the lake to wash our clothes. We had a great conversation and he told me he had already started to pay the bride price for a woman in the village of Ninga (where he was before). I said, “Oh WOW! Very good!” He went to Sumbawanga that weekend to get some supplies for the school and when he returned he seemed different. Yeah…he got married! This is one of the cultural things so drastically different than American culture. It still baffles me. He didn’t tell anyone about it…he just came back with a wife after two days. Ohhhhkay! His wife is an adorable young woman. She doesn’t speak any English but she is full of life and laughter. She went swimming with me and Anne and we all had a blast together! She is my dada (sister) now.

I really have been blessed by the relationships here. The other teachers are wonderful and are my best friends. We now have inside jokes and it makes me laugh so much. Here are a couple examples:

Instead of saying, “the salt is finished” or “my bag fell off the chair” Anne & I say, “Oh, the salt has died” or “my bag has died a natural death.” I don’t know why we started doing this but for some reason or another it is one of the funniest things! Every night before we go to sleep she tells me, “Ok Emi, have a nice death. See you in the morning when death is over.” Now that I am writing it, it sounds morbid and awful, but we say it in a very funny and light-hearted way.

Jonathan and I have many inside jokes but one we share daily is our creative handshake and we try to communicate with each other using only motions and sounds, not words. It usually grows to be something really funny. He also likes American ‘slang’ so sometimes he will greet me with, “Yo, Emi man, what’s up chill sis?” In which I reply, “Cool bro!” On a more serious note, Jonathan and I have had some of the most amazing discussions about Christ and the Bible. We can talk for hours with our Bibles in front of us, digging into the Word. I know the Spirit is present every time we talk.

The chickens are still running around the house all the time. We chase them away but they still come in. Recently, Anne changed rooms. She liked the room where the chickens were sleeping at night better than the room she was in so she decided to transfer. This has confused the chickens’ tiny brains. We put boards in front of our rooms every night so they don’t enter our rooms and make themselves at home all over the house. We found one inside our bucket full of drinking water! HA! Every night we catch them and put them into the room they are supposed to sleep in.

It is the rainy, summer season here. Some days we will have a complete downpour and cold temperatures, and then other days it’s really hot! Sometimes it’s a mixture of both. When it’s raining we need a long sleeve shirt. When it’s hot we count down the minutes until we can go jump in the lake to stop the sweating! I’m still keeping up my tan, especially the awesome tan lines from my watch! In regards to food, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like ugali now. I guess it just takes eating it every day to develop a liking for it. We usually have ugali in the afternoons after school and then rice at nighttime. We like to eat both rice and ugali with greens from our garden mixed with tomatoes. Sometimes we’ll have fish and I always enjoy it when that happens. Not only because they taste phenomenal, but because I really enjoy gutting and preparing them ☺. Anne always lets me do that part.

Every day we have new guests at our house - two adorable little girls from the village. They are both 4 years old and they come to visit us. They are younger sisters of some of our Form 2 students. We jump rope together and help us to cook too. Anne and I have been teaching them fun songs and they love to sing and dance too! Today they were here while we were cooking ugali and saw my deck of cards sitting on the table. I started to play a game with them that I honestly still don’t know how it works. They would just tell me when to play and I would put a random card down. Apparently I did well. HAHA! They would say, “Mzungu cheza sasa” which means, “European, play now.” They haven’t yet learned my name, so I’m still Mzungu. I enjoy them so much and when we escort them back towards their house they hold our hands.

The girls who were living at school have now moved to the village. I don’t know where their homes are yet but once school starts to flow better my plan is to spend a lot more time in the village with them. I miss seeing them every day after school and playing Go-go with them. I am actually excited for this change because it will put me in the village more often and among the people, hopefully every day. My ministry has just changed locations once the school day ends and I know God will use this for his glory!

Our God continues to move in every minute of every day. In every situation He is here and making himself known. In my quiet time a few days ago I was reading Psalm 116. After reading the first verse I started to sing a song I have been singing ever since:

I love you Lord

and I lift my voice

to worship you.

Oh my soul, rejoice.

Take joy my King,

in what you hear.

Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

My heart and soul will continue to rejoice and worship the one true King all of my days. May God be glorified in all I say and do.

Emily