My new normal

We all have this perception of what is normal, we have our normal work days, our normal routines but i realise normal is so relative to where we live, what our societies teach us, and what our families instill in us...

My blog posts have slowed right down these past few months. I wondered why this is then I realised, that throughout this year I have blogged about the new, the quirky, learning moments, cultural challenges and experiences and while there are still many lessons, cultural experiences and challenges they no longer seem new or unusual. I realise that Arusha Tanzania has become my home, it has become my normal.

Normal for me these days is dusty roads and dirty feet, people staring and calling out "Mzungu", being approached by strangers and asked about my marital status, for my number, for money, asked where I’m from and where I’m going. Overpacked hot and cheap dala rides, little

people running at me calling out “Teacher Rachel,” beggars, praying for strangers, having the title of missionary, Swahili lessons, Swahili greetings, living in community, missionary clothing, shopping at the markets, teaching Tanzanian children who answer my questions in Swahili, ask for things in Swahili and tell me their problems in Swahili! Double taking when I see another “Mzungu” especially on the dala, kids following me down the road. I now hardly blink twice when I see a man pushing a trailer down the road, or a motorbike carrying a couch, and live chickens in the dala.

Just like in NZ I have my weekly routine of teaching Monday-Friday, hanging out with friends in the weekend. We go shopping, we take turns cooking, we eat, we sleep, we have good days and bad day! I remember being in awe of missionaries but now I see that it’s not all that different and that wherever we are is our mission field. While I have gotten comfortable here I think it will hit me how extremely different my life has been here and in what ways this year has changed me and grown me when I return home. What has been “normal” my whole life will no longer feel so normal.

From little things like carpet under my feet, wearing jandels and not coming home covered in dust, driving myself around at any time of day or night, the price of vegetables and cost of eating out! Catching up with people I haven’t seen in a year and it will probably feel as if I never left. Going into a giant supermarket with so many options! Then also big things like everyone understanding me all the time! No language barriers, I am literally going to miss Swahili though! Also walking down the street and just being "normal" no one will be yelling out at me, asking me for my number, calling me Mzungu, staring like I’m from some mystical planet, asking me for money, wanting me to catch their bus!

Its crazy to think that these things have become my normal! And what was my normal will seem so strange. 

This year has been one of the most fun, challenging, rewarding, confidence and character building years of my life. When I first came, I felt so anxious going anywhere by myself. I felt overwhelmed by the attention we receive for being white, I worried so much about how to greet people and felt frustrated when I didn’t understand what people were asking me or saying about me! If I think back to when I first came small things like going on the dala seemed like huge accomplishments and greeting people in Swahili was a pat on the back moment. Now sometimes I just practice my swahili simply to make people laugh and smile. The other day I told the dala driver “si mzungu ninitwa Rachel” (I’m not mzungu I am called Rachel) which made everyone on the dala laugh but also meant I didn’t hear “mzungu” for the rest of the dala ride! Now I literally catch dalas all the time and when I go to visit my friend Lillia on the other side of town I even catch two dala’s walk 20 minutes and then ride a piki!

 I placed so many expectations and rules on myself in the beginning and I didn’t know how to respond to unwanted male attention. Now I walk to my swahili lesson with confidence and cross roads like a local. Around here if you hesitate crossing roads you will never get across that road haha! I have gotten really good at standing up for myself each time getting more straight up and direct. The other day I told a tourism guy who asked to meet for a drink “mimi missionary I’m not here to go on lots of dates, I am here to do Gods work” I would never say something like that back home. He then responded by saying that he is the lost sheep, hahaha.

There is a freedom that comes living in a new place a freedom to talk about God, to pray for strangers and to meet and befriend new people. I hope this same freedom stays with me when I am back on NZ soil, because God is literally the best thing that has ever happened to me and by not sharing him with others I am literally robbing them of the most purposeful, enriching, character developing life possible.

And while teaching here is so incredibly different to home it also has become my normal.

Things that happen here that I have never experienced teaching in NZ are things like kids missing school because they can’t afford school fees, not being able to help kids with their problems because I don’t understand what they are saying, and not being able to talk to parents because of language barriers, kids being fascinated by my hair, arm hairs and skin, they literally stroke me like I’m a cat lol. Not having to sunscreen 30 children every time they go outside during hot season is a definite bonus! and I never have to remind them to wear their hats either! Choosing books and realising how many are culturally irrelevant like stories about snow, santa, even the beach! Having someone translate my teaching and then translate what the kids are saying in response to a question I asked.

Kids here do not have heaps of toys at home to play with, so I am having to teach them to share which is a universal concept for children but here it’s not because they are used to having everything but rather because they are used to having hardly anything and therefore get possessive over things.

But just like teaching in NZ, some days are so frustrating and other days I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else doing anything else. There are kids who are eager to please and those who push the boundaries, those who struggle and those who are miles ahead! Children everywhere want affirmation and love! Each day they run to me and greet me with a hug and then fight for the position ofsitting next to me on the mat. I literally am going to miss all the kids I’ve had the privilege of teaching this year and I still miss the kids I taught at Lilliput in NZ. I take that as a sign I chose the right career.

I am beginning to feel so many mixed emotions about returning home. Sometimes I think of all the things I miss; friends, family, the beach, understanding the culture, and the cleanness of NZ, driving and freedom to go anywhere anytime, to shallow things like takeaways and shopping malls. Then other times I am literally willing time to slow down, I get FOMO when anyway in the team talks about next year. I almost cried when I realised that the last day I’ll see my friend Lillia is the 4^th of December as she heads away on holiday. There are so many amazing people I have had the privilege of calling friends and family this year. Farewells are bittersweet but Gods plans are incredible. See you in just over a month New Zealand! 

#TIA This is Africa!

Ever since I decided to stay the whole year I keep having these “wow I actually live in Africa!” moments. A lot of the time it feels so normal especially because I live with Emma a kiwi and

Rebecca another kiwi who stays with us often and soon an Australian too (lets be honest aussies and kiwis are not all that different) and my neighbors are kiwis (Jan and Rod, Lynda and Allen, Joanna). But then we leave the gates of our compound and suddenly it becomes very real that I live in a culture completely different to my own!

For starters we can’t go anywhere without people staring and saying “wazungu” (white people). We can never just blend in with the crowds here! It’s also strange to live in a place where my first language is the locals second language and where many people don’t speak my language at all! It’s good motivation to learn Swahili and I am having weekly lessons with Mama Louis.

There are so many things in New Zealand that I take for granted. Like drinking out of the tap! We have to filter all our water in a bucket filter, or buy bottled water.
 Also being able to get in my car and go anywhere at any time (well not quite anytime! Restricted licence curfew! haha). Here I hardly go anywhere by myself! This is partly to do with the communication barrier. The few dala dala trips I have taken have been interesting! I’ve had to write down how to say where I want to stop before I leave. But also for safety reasons. And even if I could afford to have a car, I have no desire to drive here. Road rules are more of a suggestion, round abouts and intersection rules are basically the pushiest car goes first, and passing gaps seem to be incredibly small! If that’s not bad enough sometimes you get fined simply because a police officer wants “soda money” apparently you can get fines for your car being too dirty even!

We can’t go anywhere without being confronted with the reality of poverty whether it be beggars, street kids, village kids, or recently a guy came up to me and begged me for my water. There are so many things here that literally break your heart.

I have to always be aware of what I am wearing. It’s disrespectful to show your knees here and tight pants are a no go. So my wardrobe now consists of long skirts and harem pants. Most of the time I don’t mind but sometimes I just want to where whatever I want to! You definitely cannot afford to be fussy here. I have used squat toilets I would never dream of using in New Zealand and eaten more rice than you could imagine as well as other things I probably wouldn’t eat back home.

And don’t even get me started on shopping here. If you think New Zealand retailers are pushy try shopping in a town where you literally get bombarded with people trying to sell you things, or begging you to look in their shop. It has its upsides though, when shopping in the second hand market we had three guys digging through all the clothes to find me skirts and dresses that I liked. There were MANY that I didn’t like but they didn’t stop looking for me.  When we eventually found a few I liked they brought me a mirror to look in and told me that it made me look like Kim K (I can definitely see the resemblance) hahaha. Fruit and vege shopping is the same deal you constantly hear “sister, tomatoes, sister zucchinis, sister mangoes” I actually love shopping here though it’s always amusing!

You also cannot go anywhere without greeting people and it always more than just a hi. Which is actually really nice but if you’re in a hurry, busting to go toilet or in a bad mood sometimes it’s hard to do the whole greeting back and forward deal haha.

Despite all of these quirky and challenging things I love it here. I love that no one really cares what you wear and about having the latest fashion! I love going to the crazy busy markets with Emma to buy our food. I love the amusing shopping experiences and feel such a sense of accomplishment any time I communicate anything in Swahili. I love being greeted everywhere I go and chatting with and making connections with the locals. I love the slower pace of life and that it’s not all about squeezing more into your day. I love being swarmed by village kids in Magugu and teaching the kids in class one where I teaching and mentoring. I love the landscape and travelling places and all the interesting and quirky things you see out the bus or car windows; like the lady with a whole pile of socks on her head, the lady bathing fully clothed in the river, people sleeping in strange places, kids in the middle of nowhere walking to school, Maassai men with their cattle and even better seeing Zebras and Giraffes on the side of the road!

 But most of all I love living in a community of people who are passionate about God, where God is the priority he’s everything! If anyone ever doubts Gods existence come to Africa and go out on outreach with Rod, Jan, Emma and Simon and see how God heals people. People cannot fake being healed especially when they don’t even believe God can heal them until He does! The spiritual realm is very real here people literally are held captive and God literally sets them free. My faith grows every day that I live here.

Then there is the practical outworking of God’s love here through providing children with quality education. Yesterday I was talking to Wendy and Archbold about the education system. They explained that if people don’t pass form 4 they cannot repeat that year they then are very limited to what career they can choose and people are placed in universities based on their results. So there is a lot of pressure for people to be educated and to pass exams! It could be the difference between living in poverty or not. But the sad thing is there are many places here that offer education but it’s not quality. I am realising more and more the importance of education and my passion for teaching is growing. I love being a part of something bigger than myself!

 

It’s hard to imagine all these things until you have been here and experienced them, but I definitely recommend visiting a third world country at some point in your life.

Cultural challenges! A teacher and a learner

If you ever want to learn about yourself; what inspires you, what you believe, what pushes your buttons, what your culture has ingrained in you, what matters most to you and how privileged and blessed you truly are, then immerse yourself in a culture that is completely different to your own.

School started back two weeks ago. My role while I am here is to work a long side the class teacher and her assistant in a mentoring role. So far this has involved observing lessons and offering suggestions, modelling lessons, planning with her, testing children for reading and arranging them in to reading groups, showing and planning reading activities, taking reading and writing groups, helping her to take differentiated lessons (catering to those who struggle and those who don’t). Encouraging her to plan ahead and prepare for her lessons in advance and to transition from lesson to lesson. At first so much time was wasted because things were not prepared in advance.

 I was worried that I wouldn’t know enough or have enough experience for this role, but as soon as I stepped foot in the classroom all my learning from teacher’s college, and practicums came flooding back. To the point that at first I was probably overwhelming the teacher with suggestions of things that could be done differently. Things that to me seemed like second nature because not only was I taught them at teacher’s college but also experienced them in my own schooling.

I have been extremely challenged this week and at times overwhelmed because I want to see things happen quickly. When I test child after child who can’t read at all, or when they do read can’t tell me about the story, it’s discouraging. It’s because I keep making comparisons to a New Zealand context and that’s not fair on anyone. There are so many factors that contribute to these issues. For starters English is their second language and they ae still very young. It’s likely the only place some of them hear English is at school. They don’t have iPad’s and TV’s to teach them English and then at this age they are only at school from 8-12.30. The children also have limited experiences they can’t afford to take holidays or go on day trips or on safari. But what they do know about they are experts in. Some of the kids in my class would be expert farmers and would look after their family cattle. If I asked them questions about this, in their own language, I am sure I’d learn a lot! Another factor is the majority of parents believe that it is the schools sole responsibility to teach their kids, so they don’t help them with their homework or read to them. There is also limited resources. Joshua school is more resourced than most other schools here but still compared to NZ there is a lot less and we can’t just print off all our lessons and planning.

I soon realised that the things I have learnt are partly experience but also cultural. The teachers here grew up in an education system that is completely rote learning and lecture styled, in classes of up to 100 children. This has produced a culture that can follow instructions but lacks initiative and the ability to problem solve and think outside the box. Fortunately, the Joshua school is here to change that. They teach their teachers to think, to problem solve, and to engage their students in learning. To use different methods of teaching and be creative. They challenge the cultural norms and keep the class sizes to a maximum of 30. So there are some great things happening here. Joshua school has now become a model school to other schools with teachers coming in to learn from the teachers here. They are empowering and raising up locals to lead, to train and to empower others. That is why I am here as a mentor and not to take the class because the goal is for the locals to capture the vision and run with it. They have a vision of seeing schools like this in every district of Tanzania. Lynda and Wendy are going out to lots of schools to mentor teachers. I will be able to go out with them some of the time to. However change takes times so there are still a lot of teething problems and cultural challenges. It’s not always easy at times and can be very frustrating but I am learning so much.

It’s easy to think that we know best and that our ways are the right ways but I think it’s important to celebrate the richness and diversity of different cultures. My culture is not all knowing and all sufficient. While I am here I am a teacher but I am probably even more so a learner. Some days I am exhausted from all I am learning, or reflecting on or being challenged about! Something I really appreciate and admire about this culture is their ability to take time to connect with each other. I had a whole Swahili lesson on just greetings because they have so many greetings here. They take the time to greet everyone they meet. On the buses you would think everyone already knows each other because they all chat away to each other. They also are unrushed. I realise how much I am driven by time and results. Here it’s (pole pole) slowly slowly. They get there when they get there and life’s not so busy and rushed.

I’m learning patience and to celebrate the small things. I felt God say to me the other day, when I was feeling like it’s all too much, to not ignore the small picture and the little victories because over time they become the big picture and big victories. I realise in the west we always want things to happen instantly and when it doesn’t we are tempted to quit. Change takes time and perseverance develops character and character produces hope. So despite some challenges I will persevere and celebrate the small victorious of which there have been many!

 

Village visits

I didn't doubt God's existence before I came here, but in a place like this Gods existence is so evident! I feel like in New Zealand life can be so comfortable and easy at times that I forget how powerful and amazing God truly is. Here people are getting healed in front of my eyes… you cannot deny that God has healed someone, when prior to being healed they don’t even believe in God or better yet believe in a different God and then start professing that the pains gone or they are able to do things that they weren’t able to do before. Or people who are influenced by evil spirits are set free in front of your eyes and their whole countenance changes. Or in a place where there is a lot of darkness you see the love and light of God in people’s eyes. 

Pastor Francis and his family with Jan and Rod

We went and visited a local Magugu pastor (Pastor Francis) and his family that Rod, Jan and the prayer team know. Pastor Francis was taking a service at a neighbour’s house. When we arrived we were greeted so warmly and there was so much love and light in their eyes. I felt like I had known them forever even though I only just met them. As Pastor Francis preached he spoke about how several years ago he had a dream that three mazungu (white) missionaries came to visit him. He told his church at the time and the leaders laughed at him. He later had another dream that 7 missionaries came to visit him, again when he shared this dream he was laughed at. On one of Jan and Rods visits to the village they came across pastor Francis daughter Rachel (such a great name!) and ended up going to their house this is when they first met Pastor Francis and his family. Then on their next trip to Magugu they were with Becky and Adam (Emmas friends) and Mel and Dave (7 in total). Both his dreams were fulfilled which again shows how God works things out and brings people together to fulfil his purpose. Now Jan and Rod and the team can connect the people they pray for up with Pastor Francis to be taught and cared for. They were such a beautiful family that I wanted to bless them with some money. At this point they expressed their fears of having us visit. While they were extremely happy to see us they also worried because people in the village assume we will bring them money or gifts and then they try to get them to give them money or worse try to steal from them. I don’t think their house had a door so it wouldn’t be difficult for people to rob them. It shows how poor this village is and how desperate they get. We prayed for Gods protection over them.

The children who followed us in the village

On our way to pastor Francis we collected a lot of children who walked with us the whole way. Every two seconds I would feel a child jump up and touch my hair, as they got braver they then held my hand they followed us all the way to the church service. I feel most content surrounded by children and I loved that all the village children were filling Pastor Francis neighbour living room and hearing teaching about Jesus. The people who owned the house were not quite as thrilled to have them there and told the children to leave a few times. It really bothered me because I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t want to invite children in especially to a church service.  Respect is a big thing in this culture and Rod pointed out to me that the father of the house didn’t want the children there so maybe he was feeling disrespected or felt that they were disrupting. The children were not put off by being sent away they just waited outside for us to come out and again bid for our attention. They continued to follow us almost all the way out of their village. As we walked along more and more children seemed to come out of houses until there was a flash mob of children around me all trying to stroke my hair, my arms, hold my hands one even licked my hand! It was pretty full on but very amusing.  I personally didn’t mind their attention. I figured if we were the first white people they met then I wanted them to feel loved, and special rather than to think we were scary, mean or standoffish.  If that meant getting covered in the dirt that they had all over their clothes and hands and having their not so clean hands through my clean hair so be it. After a while we had to ignore them so they would go back to their own homes and stop following us. By this stage they had learnt my name so as we walked off all I could hear was “Byeeee Rachel”

Earlier in the day we had visited a different part of the village where the team had already made some connections and lots of people came forward for prayer some gave their hearts to God, some were healed others were encouraged. It’s amazing how open people are. Once again we were also surrounded by children. This particular group of children were much calmer. They obviously had seen white people before. A young girl Rachel and I connected over the fact that we had the same name and she came and sat on my knee. She chatted to me in broken English and I chatted to her in broken Swahili. I took a photo of her and soon all the children there were crowding around wanting to have their photos taken.

I had gone to Magugu a day earlier than the prayer team with Wendy and Lynda. They had a different purpose for being there, they were there too mentor and prepare the teachers in the school in Magugu for the coming school year. On Monday they taught about the participatory method (involving students as opposed to just lecturing at them) As I listened to Lynda teach, I soon realised that although this approach is something I was taught and experienced through my own schooling and teacher training, for the teachers in Magugu it was a foreign concept. They had not been taught to question or to think outside the box. Lynda’s questions that seemed so obvious to me challenged the teachers a lot. It made me realise how much I have taken for granted the quality education I have received and I feel inspired to teach and to use what I have been taught, because if I don’t use what I have then it loses its value. I want to use my training to empower people. Lynda talked about how research shows if we are lectured to we only remember about 5% of what we are taught but if we have opportunities to teach others we remember 90%. I found this really fascinating. Sometimes it takes seeing the opposite of your own experience to really appreciate what you have. A week of eating Rice, beans, and soggy chips, and egg omelette makes you appreciate fresh fruit and veges. I had a chicken wrap last night and I swear a chicken wraps never tasted so good! And Squat toilets make you appreciate normal toilets!

Joshua school here in Arusha, starts back  Monday. That is where I will be spending the majority of my days, with some visits to other schools and to Magugu again as well… I am looking forward to it.

My schedule is going to be a lot busier now so these blog post will probably slow down a bit too.

 

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)