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.
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