March 6, 2014
Happy March everybody!
As usual I find it so crazy that last month has
flown by, just like the others. I look up at my calendar and see all these
crossed off days and think to myself, "Wow! What happened to the
time?" It seems like it was just a few days ago that February began. I
have been in Tanzania for six months. I continue to be amazed by God's
blessings and faithfulness to me throughout each one of the past months and I continue
to have faith He will do the same in the next four.
I don't have much to report from the last few
weeks but I do have a few stories to share with you:
I am still teaching Form 1 and Form 2 almost
every day of the week and in the evenings I cook, clean and spend time with
students and teachers. Sometimes the days kind of blend together because not
much happens but I try to find ways to mix it up as much as possible.
First of all, I am happy to announce the
chickens no longer live in my house! OH, YAY! I was really tired of having to
clean up their mess every day. Its amazing how many times and places they had emptied
themselves in my house. The students helped us to build an outside hut and the
chickens have adapted to it very quickly. Because the chickens are no longer
inside I do not to have a student help me clean. The biggest issue had been
cleaning the chickens' room.
I am still doing all my own cooking, which I
like but it is a very time consuming activity. There are many times I wish I
could just throw something in a microwave. I usually eat rice every evening and
make enough so that in the morning I can eat the rest of it cold with a cup of tea.
It's safe to say that my diet is not the best; strictly due to the fact there
is no way around it. Because I now do all my own cooking I rarely eat fish. To
buy fish I have to go to the fisherman during the day. I am at school during
the day, so it is not often I eat fish (maybe 3 times per month). Go ahead and
just remove the protein section of the food pyramid and then I'm okay. The plan
is for the headmaster and his wife to move into my house so the houses are a
little bit more balanced. Also, once I leave they will have their own house,
which is how it is supposed to be for headmasters. I am looking forward to this
because Lucy (Kapange's wife) will take care of all the home duties, cooking cleaning,
etc., so I can teach and be with the kids. It will be nice to have the help.
A quick story about milk: A couple times per
week young girls from Isaba come to Kazovu to sell milk (Isaba has one cow, Kazovu
has none). They know the teachers here will always buy some so they make a
point to stop here first. Something I didn't know was that Tanzanians really
enjoy cold, day old milk. (Now,
please remember we don't have refrigerators or any way of keeping milk cold,
nor do we have the process of pasteurizing or homogenizing milk.) So when they
drink milk it is pretty much cottage cheese and tastes like rotten eggs. I was
unaware of this when I ate dinner with my headmaster and his wife the other
night. My experience with milk here was that you boil it and make it into tea,
which is really, really good! So I thought when Lucy gave me a cup of milk it
was boiled and had sugar in it. I took an extremely big gulp of the chunky sour
milk and almost threw up. I was not ready for that! The next day I couldn't
teach because of stomach pains. So the lesson in this is - don't drink chunky milk!
As I wrote in an earlier post, the girl students
have moved into the village. They no longer live at school and it is more difficult
to find good opportunities to spend time with them outside of school. It was so
easy when they were a stone's throw away from my house. When they left I knew I
had to be bold, making the effort to go into the village alone in order to find
ministry opportunities. Every time I see God using that first step for His
glory. Something good always happens when I put my own desires and selfishness
aside and make the move to go into the unknown. Before the girls moved I don't
think I ever went to the village alone. Not that being with other people is a bad
thing, but I realized I relied on them way too much. Even though I knew how to
communicate with the villagers to an extent I always let the people I went with
do all the talking. I knew they could speak better than me. But now I go alone
as much as I can because it forces me to use Swahili on my own and I think it
is also showing the villagers I am comfortable and confident. Sometimes I will
go to the village with no destination in mind. I will just walk to the market
and try to find some students to hang out with. Many times I will go to
students’ homes and just visit with them. Some of my Form 4 girls, Mariam and
Jelina, are always excited when I drop in for a visit. They are such wonderful
girls! Random trips to the village have also helped me to connect with students
that I haven't connected well with yet. Many of my Form 2 students have a very
low level understanding of English (we are working on it but they are behind).
So they have been afraid to come to my house after school hours. Now I come to
them. It's amazing how much more open they are! They tell me to come to their
homes all the time and we will talk (mostly in Swahili) and then I'll teach
them a little bit of English or review what we learned that day in class. As I
walk home after each one of these amazing afternoons with my students I just
think, "Wow, God set that whole thing up. I'm so glad I took the step to
go to the village."
I have to tell you all about the other day at
the lake. First of all, the last week has been the hottest I think it has ever
been in Kazovu. I would bet it was around 95 and humid. We are all begging for
rain again! Anyway, because of the heat I went around to the teachers asking if
they wanted to go swimming. A couple of them said yes and we went together to
the section of the beach near the village. We were having fun when some village
kids started to swim out to where I was in the lake. I was pretty far out and
they wanted to see if they could make it. We started swimming together and racing
each other. When we came back to shallow water I played with the smaller kids, bouncing
them around in the water three times and throwing them (like what my dad and brothers
used to do to me when I was young). "Moja, Mbili, Tatu... Nenda!"
"One, Two, Three…Go!" They loved it! I think there were about 25 kids
swarming all around me waiting for their turn. My arms became so tired and sore
but it was worth it! After about an hour the sun started going down and I knew
I needed to get going, so they all escorted me back to my house. On the way
back we sang songs and danced and they kept saying to me, "Mama yetu, Mama
yangu." "Our mother, my mother." In which I would respond,
"Watoto wangu." "My children." I can't help but feel pure joy
and happiness when I see them smile and hear them laugh and sing. I see all of
the children of Kazovu village as my own kids, but I also know they are the
Lord's children. He created each one of them so special and unique. I pray
every day they will grow up in the knowledge of Christ and how much He loves
them.
These last couple of months had their fair share
of challenges. I would never say it's been easy but all the challenges and hard
things that have happened, and are happening now, do not compare to the
positives I have just written down. Even through the storm, God has continued
to make His Presence known to me and to those around me. Never once has He left
me alone in this journey and I know He never will. God never said this life
would be easy but He did promise to never leave us.
I read this in my devotional the other day:
"I am leading you along the high road, but
there are descents as well as ascents. In the distance you see snow-covered
peaks glistening in brilliant sunlight. Your longing to reach those peaks is
good, but you must not take shortcuts. Your assignment is to follow Me,
allowing Me to direct your path. Let the heights beckon you onward, but stay
close to Me. Learn to trust Me when things go "wrong." Disruptions to
your routine highlight your dependence on Me. Trusting acceptance of trials brings
blessings that far outweigh them all. Walk hand in hand with Me through this
day. I have lovingly planned every inch of the way. Trust does not falter when
the path becomes rocky and steep. Breathe deep breaths of My Presence, and hold
tightly to My hand. Together we can make it!" - Jesus Calling
I would like to encourage all of you to trust in
God right now no matter what your circumstance. Sometimes putting full trust in
God during the hard times is easier said than done but I also know God is
honored when we choose to give Him control of our struggles, circumstances,
difficulties, problems and shortcomings. I know that in times of need I would
rather have the God of the Universe handling my life than me. If you have a
burden right now, leave it at the cross. Jesus doesn't want you to carry it
anymore. 1 Peter 5:7 "…cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares
for you."
May God bless you and keep you!
Mungu Ibariki
Emily
Side note: I will be coming back to America on
July 6th. I will be leaving Kazovu around June 23rd (all VST schools
close around this time for a two-week break) and I will start my journey to
Mbeya where I will meet up with Alexandra, my friend teaching at Ninga
Secondary School. Together we will go back to Madisi and do some finishing up
of things and head to Iringa. There we will have some fun shopping and touristy
things. We both wanted to do something touristy before we left so we are going
on safari in Iringa. In Dar we will go to an island in the Indian Ocean (not Zanzibar)
to spend a day on the beach. Afterwards we will go to the airport for our
flight which leaves at 3:00a.m. July 6th. This is still a long ways away. I
still have four amazing months left and I love it!
