Settling into Tanzanian life

I’ve now been here a week and a half. Even though each day seems to go by fairly quickly it feels like I’ve been here a lot longer. I felt at home here from day one and because I’ve been here before there wasn’t the same culture shock and awe of my surroundings that I felt last time. It’s all very familiar and comfortable. Even going into town I feel less on edge than I did last time. It definitely helps being with Emma all the time. Emma’s been here for two years and speaks fluent Swahili. I am always in awe of her as she converses so easily with Tanzanians and has such heart connections with people. Which only really comes through communicating. I am keen to learn the basics of Swahili so that I can begin to form connections with the locals too. The best part of Emma knowing Swahili was her telling a guy off at the markets who tried to rip me off when I was buying a basket, he very quickly dropped his price after that! 

Sometimes I could almost forget that I am in Africa while on base surrounded by Kiwis and other Wazungu (white people). Christmas wasn’t too different from home. But it seemed to involve a LOT  of food! We started with Christmas Eve dinner, followed by banana pancakes on Christmas morning, a buffet lunch at a local hotel, then boxing day brunch. We even had bacon! As you can see I am doing it really hard here. To make up for the overeating, I convinced Emma to do boot camp with me. So Monday morning we got up at 6:30am and headed down to the school field for half an hour of bodyweight and cardio exercises. We felt so good about it after that we have decided to do workouts every second day. So even here I can still do what I enjoy. The altitude sure makes me feel like I am not that fit though!

Last night I was reminded that I am in fact in Africa, while we were out for dinner in town. After we had finished eating, I looked over and saw a street kid, a young boy probably no older than 12 standing watching us eat. He put his hand up to his mouth indicating he was hungry. I offered him a plate of salad that we had leftover and he took it gratefully. If that wasn’t heart breaking enough he then asked the waiter for our chicken bones and sat there eating every last piece of chicken off the bone. I then passed him some money and he looked me in the eye and said very sincerely, “Asante Mzungu” (thank you, white person).
Beggars are so common here and sometimes kids are used by corrupt people, to pull on tourist’s heartstrings to get them money. Because of this it would almost be easy to ignore them, or question their motives. But regardless this is a kid, who was so hungry that he ate our chicken bones! Our scraps, that we were planning to throw out. A kid who is out at dinner time begging for food. Yeah he may spend the money I gave him on alcohol and yeah it would be wiser to just buy him a meal (which in hindsight I would do next time) but I think the important thing is to never stop caring. I never want my heart to become so hardened that I ignore a hungry street kid. I think of people like Heidi Baker who intentionally feeds 1000’s of street kids even though they all bombard her and beg her for food. She throws all caution to the wind in order to love the ones in front of her.

Last Wednesday we had the opportunity to go out to Maasai land with Tammy and Peter (Justine Owens parents in law…small world!). I didn’t really know what to expect as I haven’t read, seen or heard many good things about the Maasai people. All I really knew is that they live as nomads in mud huts, wear blankets as clothes, tyres as shoes and lots of beaded jewellery especially in their ears; that their wealth and worth is based on how many cows and wives they have. Each wife is worth 10 cows and has her own mud hut. They are fierce warriors who kill lions to prove their manhood and they follow traditional practices of circumcising the boys  and sometimes the girls too. (Female circumcision is illegal in Tanzania though). So as you could imagine I was both excited and nervous about heading out to Maasai land. However, when we arrived we were greeted as their friends, they were so warm, and welcoming and they reserved seats for us in the incredibly packed church. They were so joyful and enthusiastic as they sang. Even though I didn’t understand anything they were singing, or saying it was still very special to be a part of. If I came to Africa just as a tourist I would only know my stereotypes of the Maasai people that I learnt from visiting the Maasai tourist museum and reading the book “The White Massai” about an American tourist who marries a good looking Maasai man (Good read btw). I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to really experience this beautiful culture. What really struck me about these people is that they have so little, and their world is so opposite to my own yet they have such joy and hope because they know Jesus. Its shows how much of an impact Tammy and Peter have had in this tribes lives, as they have dedicated their lives to serving the Maasai people both practically and spiritually.

  Some other highlights of this week have been going out into the village with Emma to visit a couple of Mamas and their babies. Anyone who knows me, knows I love kids and am particularly clucky over babies. So I was pretty stoked to sit down and instantly be passed a cute African baby to cuddle. I didn’t mind that I wasn’t in on the conversation, which was all in Swahili. I was just content having cuddles. The second house we visited was Mama Hosiana’s house. She has two adorable 6 month old twins. These twins are particularly special as they were born following three miscarriages over several years. Emma has been visiting Mama Hosiana regularly throughout her pregnancy. She has often prayed with her and even raised money for her medical costs. The girl twin was even named after Emma. It was nice to have cuddles with these babies that I have heard so much about on Facebook and through Emma’s blogs. Other than that I’ve just enjoyed being in a place where it’s all about God and everything flows out of a relationship with Him. I’ve loved catching up with Rod and Jan and living with and getting to know Emma through D&Ms, our shared love of coffee, chocolate, village visits, cheese and wine nights, trips to the market, our makeshift boot camps and trips to all the best cafes in town.

Because school hasn’t started yet, I’ve been able to go out into the village a few times with Emma, Jan and Rod to pray for people. We prayed for a boy who had been completely deaf in one ear since about the age of five and his hearing was restored. He was able to hear his mum call him while blocking his good ear. Yesterday we went out into the village again to pray for people. Before we went we prayed and asked for words of knowledge about who to pray for. This was out of my comfort zone but I really want to increase my faith in the area of praying for healings. We walked for 45minutes and didn’t see anyone who fitted our words of knowledge at first, but we got talking to a lady who was on her way to the doctor’s clinic she said she had a lot of pain in her body including a head cold. We prayed for her and the pain was completely gone. I had a word of knowledge about an older man with a limp and a walking stick. Emma then bumped into a mama she knew and was reminded that the mamas husband fitted this description. We went into his shop and he was more than happy to have us pray for him. He had had polio since he was three and one leg was shorter than the other. Because I had a word of knowledge, I really believed that he would be healed. I even kept my eyes open ready to see his leg grow, but unfortunately he wasn’t healed. This was quite discouraging, but we talked about it afterwards and Rod made the point that the person receiving prayer also must have faith to believe they can be healed and although God is more than capable of healing him, it would be hard for him to believe that he could be healed of a condition he has lived with all his life. Rod, Jan and Emma have seen heaps of healings since they have been here but it’s always a bit discouraging when they don’t happen.

On Monday I am off to Magugu for a week with Lynda and Wendy. Magugu is a village about two hours away where there is another Joshua Foundation school. It’s quite a different environment to here as there is a huge Muslim population and it’s a lot poorer. They will be doing some Professional development with the teachers, and planning and preparing for the new school year. I am looking forward to being a part of this and contributing where I can. I am also just looking forward to learning from Lynda and Wendy as they are very knowledgeable and are great leaders and mentors. I will also get a feel for how the schools are run etc. We will be staying in the guest house, which use to have no running water, we just showered out of a bucket, but apparently it now has proper showers and flush toilets which I am grateful for.  (It’s the small things in life)

Prayer requests:

If you are the praying type … Could you please pray that I’ll be able to really help, encourage and support the teachers here. One of the teachers is changing year groups this year so I’ll mostly be working alongside her in a mentor role. I will be helping with planning, one on one teaching and just making sure that things are at a high standard with literacy and numeracy and that the learning is engaging. This is a new role for me and I am not exactly sure what it will look like in this context.  So please pray for Gods wisdom, confidence and good connections with the teachers.

There is quite low risk of malaria here so I have decided not to take the 4 months of antibiotics the doctor gave me, as they made me feel nauseous and I don’t want my body to become immune to them. Four months is a long time to take antibiotics. Please pray that I won’t get malaria and for good health while I am here.

Asante Sana (thanks heaps)

Travelling to Tanzania...I made it!

I made it! As much as I wasn’t looking forward to travelling to Tanzania on my own, I’m so glad I did! I remember meeting a 20 something year old girl last time we came to Africa who was traveling to an orphanage in Kenya on her own. I thought,“Wow she’s so brave I could never travel alone…” Well turns out I can and I did.  When you follow Gods plan for your life never say never!

Nothing I had worried about happening, happened. I didn’t lose anything important. That probably had more to do with the fact that so many people had prayed for me leading up to this trip more so then my ability to not lose things. I have to admit there were several occasions where kind fellow travelers pointed out when I was about to walk off without something important. Which reminded me that even when I am alone, I’m not really alone and there are still plenty of good helpful people around.

No one tried to steal from me. Although I did see one official looking local man talking to another unofficial looking man at the Kenyan border.He had slipped him money and said something about a white girl.The unofficial looking man then approached my new Canadian friend Paige, and inquired about whether her friend (me) needed a visa. Fortunately I had already got a permit so I didn’t need his dodgy visa.

I didn’t miss any fights but there was one stressful moment in China. The lady at the check-in desk had to take my passport and visa to issue me a new ticket because I changed airlines. She wasn’t where she said she would be at the time she said. So I headed to the information desk and after 5 minutes of miscommunication between me and the lady there, she phoned the other desk and then the lady came up with my documents and ticket just in time for me to board my flight on Kenyan airways.

My next not so fun moment came on my flight to Kenya. I was seated by a very rude yet over friendly African man. First he tried to take my window seat instead of his middle seat. I wasn’t too bothered because I prefer being closer to the aisle anyway. But a nice African man told him firmly to move and give me my seat. He moved but as soon as I was in my seat he leaned into me and asked in a fake sweet way, if he could have my seat because he wants to sleep.
 I didn’t really trust him and he smelt like alcohol and had no sense of personal space. So I happily moved. Fortunately the aisle seat wasn’t taken so I moved so that there was a seat between us. That was fine and then he left me alone.

Then it got worse about two hours into our flight when the lights were out and everyone was sleeping I woke up cold. The man saw me looking around and asked if I was okay. I said I wanted a blanket and he insisted I used his jacket. I decided against my better judgment to accept his offer and wrapped it around myself. I put my sleep mask on and a few seconds later I felt him reach over and tuck me in. If that wasn’t uncomfortable enough there were a few too many pats right near my chest! This made me extremely uncomfortable and I was on high alert and praying for the next few hours. I considered asking to move seats but was too tired and shocked to move. 

We stopped to pick up passengers in Bangkok and I prayed that no one would claim the aisle seat because I didn’t want to have to move to the middle seat next to the African man who had, had a lot more to drink since the flight took off. A Chinese man came and was told by an African lady who had taken his seat in the line over, that his seat was the middle seat by me. He was very obliging and sat in the middle seat. Once this man who had no interest in talking to me or being in my personal bubble sat down, I was finally able to relax and feel safe. In hindsight if this were to happen again I would straight away ask to move seats and trust my instincts.

When I arrived in Kenya I thought I was going to miss my shuttle which I was told left at 8am and it was already 7.30am. I was praying and stressing like crazy and was sure I’d miss it but also felt God say I wouldn’t. However because I am still learning to trust that small voice, I was still in panic mode. Once I found both my bags (phew another thing I worried about didn’t happen). I then approached two very scary looking policeman with batons (at least I knew they were actually officials) and asked if they could tell me where to go to catch my bus. They didn’t just point me in the right direction but lead me right to the place. I thanked them in Swahili and even got a smile. I was then greeted by a lovely Kenyan women with a warm friendly smile and several other people. At this moment my faith in African people was restored it turned out that the bus wasn’t coming to 8.30 and not to worry. My bus came at 9 and I remembered this is Africa where the saying is “pole, pole” (slowly, slowly) and I truly did not need to stress.

The part of my journey that I was fearing the most turned out to be my favorite part… the bus ride from Kenya to Tanzania where I had to cross the border. It was my first ever experience crossing a boarder as that’s obviously not a thing we do in NZ. As soon as I stepped on the bus I was greeted by a young Canadian girl who was also travelling alone. I sat next to an older African man who was incredibly kind and friendly and later got us to the front of the line at the border. I chatted to an African lady who told me about her shoe business, her sick mama who she was off to visit, and who shared her Oreos with me.

I’ve decided I would rather look out the window of an African bus then watch crappy movies on a plane any day. Even though I hadn’t really slept for over 30 hours by this point, I still took in everything. I saw a dozen camels being led by a Masai man, donkeys, and cows everywhere. Children playing in the dirt, leading cattle and playing by the side of busy roads (seriously where are there parents?).  Masai people leading cattle or just walking in the middle of nowhere. Beautiful green landscape for miles. I experienced some crazy driving where I sat upright thinking that is definitely not a gap! As we passed while cars were coming towards us! Apparently in Africa it is!  I left my seat a few times as we went over speed bumps. This made it really difficult to fill in my form for the border. We also almost hit a guy on his motorbike without a helmet on, which freaked me out but I’d say it is a common occurrence here.

The border was a chaotic but exciting experience. I was so grateful to have my new Canadian friend Paige and the rest of the locals on my shuttle helping me. We were bombarded by Masai women trying to sell us stuff. Once we got through the busy Kenyan border we walked about 50m to Tanzania. The lines were huge but one line was shorter so I joined it. The man in front of me from my shuttle told me he was the last person for that line so to go in front of him. Of course the man behind the glass noticed I had joined the line, which may possibly have been because I was the only non- African in the line. All the other foreigners were lining up to get a visa which I already had. Somehow I was allowed to stay in that line even though the man was pointing at me. I realised when I got there it was because he thought I also needed a visa but then I got through without any hassle. Usually official people make me nervous and I say and do dumb things but it must have been God because throughout this whole boarder process I felt calm and sure.

An hour later I arrived in Arusha greeted by Jan, Rod and Emma. Yay such a happy moment.
I managed to make it through dinner before crashing out for 10 and a half hours!

Lessons learned:

I recently heard a good friend of mine say in his testimony that anxiety and worry is the opposite of trusting God. Even though I knew that God was with me and that I would arrive safely, I still managed to stress and worry about things that could go wrong.  It’s such a natural response, yet God continuously shows he’s faithful and trustworthy and at times even when it seems things are not going to work out they do. This doesn’t mean those things I worried about will never happen but I was reminded that there is no point worrying until they actually do happen and even when they do happen, God is still completely trustworthy. Hopefully I can learn from this and learn to truly trust God.

 I was also reminded not to put people or cultures in a box. Lately my racial stereotypes have been challenged a lot, even leading up to this trip. On my flight I came across some untrustworthy and unfriendly people who happened to be African. Then for the rest of my journey I came across only kind, friendly, and helpful African people. Neither of these experiences defines the culture itself. It just shows all sorts of people make up this world.

Phew I’m glad that parts over now I can enjoy the next 3 months in Africa!!

I'll make sure to add more photos and less words next time haha