KJ's blog

From the mundane to the divine and the ridiculous to the sublime

2012-01-28T18:41:00.004+03:00

You just never know what a day will hold. This week in the office hasn’t exactly ranked as one of the most interesting, as I’ve spent most of it dealing with rather mundane matters – administrative preparation for a workshop and drafting a budget for the next fiscal year. One day, I was doing just that, when two of my colleagues returned to the office from having been out helping a relative who had been wrongly imprisoned. They brought the relative with them, and explained that as they left the prison they had been able to share the gospel with him, using his release from captivity to freedom as an illustration of what Christ has done for us. Nothing like making the most of every opportunity. After talking to the man some more, he wanted to become a follower of Jesus, so there and then, in the office, my colleague led him in a prayer and we all prayed over him. From budgets to salvation, from the mundane to the divine!

Yesterday I left work under an ominous looking sky. Sure enough, the thunder rumbled and halfway home I had to take shelter under a tree where I continued to get wet, despite my huge umbrella. When the tropical downpour eased to torrential rain, I ventured out as otherwise I may have been stuck there a very long time! I nervously crossed the bridge over the river only to be confronted by a waterfall instead of the steps that I normally climb. There was no way I could get up there, so I had to turn round and take a longer route. My trainers were fill of dirty water and my skirt clung to my legs. I have never been happier to get home and change! Unfortunately, I found my bed had a big wet patch on it and some books in the lounge were also damp. The leaks on my roof obviously hadn’t been fixed as promised! The rain you get here really is ridiculous, and right now, there’s plenty of it!! In the evening I had some friends round to eat pancakes and watch ‘Anne of Green Gables’ – perhaps that can’t quite be called ‘sublime’ but it was certainly fun.

I wonder what will happen next week?!

Impressions from a trip to the Ndali language area

2011-11-07T13:59:00.006+03:00

Banana trees, mountains, red soil, rice and beans, ‘Mwagona’, rough roads, sacrifice and hardship. These were the impressions left on my mind by a trip to Isoko last week, a village in the Ndali language area (a five hour drive from Mbeya). Although it is just a village, it is a hive of activity as the district hospital is located there, powered by hydro electricity. The purpose of my visit was to train Sunday School teachers (assisted by two colleagues from Mbeya). Twenty attended the workshop, some having travelled some distance from neighbouring villages, who then stayed overnight in Isoko for the duration of the workshop. Our Literacy / Scripture Use Coordinator for the Ndali language area, has a bike ride of 11km over rough roads to get to Isoko, which he does every day that he needs to be in the language office. This is just one example of the hardships to be faced living in a such a remote area. As I talked to him further I learned more of his life and how he came to be a pastor – it was amazing to see how God has led him since his childhood, and I found it personally very challenging to hear of the sacrifices he made in the process. His parents couldn’t afford to put him through secondary school so, encouraged by the church where he was already taking leadership responsibilities while still in his early teens, he headed to Bible college. Although he got some help with the funds he needed for this, he also wove baskets well into the night in order to sell them to help pay his fees. This makes me think, how much do we value the education that we have received? How much would I be willing to sacrifice to gain further education to help me in my job?

The workshop itself went well, with the participants actively engaging in what we taught, but as usual they really struggled to find the main teaching point of a Bible passage and to think how to teach that to children. Once again, I found myself asking God, “What can we do? How can we help people to grow in a knowledge of God’s Word? How can these teachers teach children the Bible effectively, if they themselves do not know your Word and don’t receive good teaching in the church?” Some of the teachers didn’t even have a Bible, yet alone any other resources! (We took books to sell, including Bibles, as they have no other way of accessing these resources other than to take the bus-converted-from-a-lorry public transport to nearby towns over four hours away). Despite this, I hope and pray that they will all have learned a few new skills that will help them in their role as Sunday school teachers, and if nothing more, they will have been encouraged that what they are doing is important and will have gained a new vision for their work.

Isoko itself is a beautiful place, and our Coordinator there took us for walks to show us more of the area – hence my impressions of mountains, red soil and banana trees! I loved the community village feel – the Coordinator seemed to know everyone and had a word to say to just about everyone we met! (‘Mwagona’ is the first greeting you make in the Ndali language).

And finally you might be wondering what the ‘rice and beans’ is about. For six out of the seven meals that we ate on the trip, we had rice and beans! I confess to taking my own little supply of food for breakfast – snack bars, bananas and Ribena! While I would choose beans over greasy meat stew any day, by the sixth time I had definitely lost my appetite for them!

Worldview

2011-10-19T22:09:00.008+03:00

Have you ever borrowed somebody else’s sunglasses and been surprised at how yellow (or pink, or red, or blue…) the world looks, when you had always thought that the world had a definite brownish hint? We all look at the world around us through different coloured glasses. The different colours are our different worldviews. Have you ever thought about how your upbringing in a particular culture that is underlined by a particular worldview affects how you see everything? It affects how you view society, how you view relationships, how you view time, the cosmos, the mind, morality etc.

I work in an office where Tanzanians, Europeans and Americans work closely side by side. This week and next we are holding a workshop at our office to help our Tanzanian colleagues understand the way we (Europeans and Americans) think, as well as various other things (such as helping them understand Wycliffe better, team building etc). As part of that, we have been thinking about the differing worldviews that we come from, and today I had the dubious privilege of being the teacher and talking about secularism and God’s Word. As I prepared for this, I was struck again by just how much our understanding of our faith is actually affected by the worldview of the society in which we grew up. When I read the Bible, I read it through my secularism spectacles, whether I mean to or not, as they are impossible to take off completely. Equally, my African colleagues read the Bible and act out their faith through the worldview of their environment, which is primarily animistic. It is impossible to acquire a purely Christian/Bible based worldview, because we don’t ‘acquire’ a worldview, we grow up in a worldview and imbibe it subconsciously. Most of my colleagues have grown up in Christian families, but despite that, we can all see how our secularist worldview has affected our faith, from making us sceptical of supernatural healing to being afraid to speak the truth of the Bible into a Christian friend’s life when they need to hear it because we mustn’t be ‘intolerant’. While for my African friends, their worldview may lead them to believe without measuring the truth of what they hear to blaming everything on the spirit world rather than acknowledging personal sin or nature’s input.

Of course, the question then is, how do we determine truth? Well we certainly have to come back to the Bible and test our thoughts and actions against it, but even as we do that, we are always going to be reading it through our worldview specs. I think those of us who work in a cross-cultural setting are in a privileged position to start seeing God’s Word from different perspectives, and hopefully to find our understanding of God deepened as a result. I am looking forward to more conversations with my colleagues so that we can come to understand each other and our differences better and so I can see ways of interpreting and applying the Bible that I just haven’t noticed before. May the Spirit of truth guide us into us all truth (John 16:13)!

People

2011-08-22T21:38:00.003+03:00

In my last blog I talked about how unsettled life can feel here, particularly due to the comings and goings of people. While it is hard to go through these constant changes, I also think it’s a great privilege to meet so many different kinds of people and get to know them to a greater or lesser degree. I just wish I could remember everyone’s names – I have an incredibly bad memory for names, which is very embarrassing in this relational culture. I find comfort in the fact that Tanzanians also mix up non-Africans, even those they have know for a long time, confusing our names and faces.

One thing I love about Tanzanian culture is how easy it is to talk to people (at least, on the surface it is, but getting to know people deeper isn’t so easy). Here’s some recent random encounters:

- Down at the market I popped into one little shop to buy some eggs and ended up in conversation with the shop owner, discussing deep questions like, “How do you see Tanzania versus England? What advice do you have for us? Why don’t we make progress?” These questions aren’t uncommon. I always start my reply with what I value about Tanzanian culture – people’s hospitality and focus on relationships.

- On the way home from church I stopped to buy some samosas from two ladies on the street corner. We got chatting about religion, and I shared the reason for my faith – that through Jesus Christ alone can we have a certain hope for the future.

- As I left church a couple of weeks ago, a voice called out, “Subiri” (“wait”) – it was a lady from church heading the same way. She knew my name (as most people do at church) but I didn’t know hers (as is usually the case!) and I learned about her family and I visited her market stall (where she sells tomatoes and lemons) and her home.

Of course, there are also the less pleasant encounters, such as people calling out ‘mzungu’ as I pass by and staring at me, and there are the encounters that you just have to laugh at, such as children saying, “Tell me my name” – they obviously haven’t quite grasped how English possessive pronouns work!

God certainly made each person unique, and He also made us to be relational beings. I find myself more and more seeing the value and importance of relationships and friendships and spending time with people. And if we are made in God’s image, doesn’t this need for relationship also reflect something of how God wants to be in relationship with us? Does it also teach us something about how God is more interested in us spending time with Him than He is in all the things that we might seek to do for Him (just like with Mary & Martha)?

I am looking forward to all the chances I will get to spend with people over the next few weeks – chances to see old friends and deepen new friendships, and most excitingly, the chance to welcome my parents to Mbeya! Karibuni sana!

Photo: Some of the people I have recently had the privilege to encounter - Sunday school teachers at a workshop in one of the language areas where we work.

Unsettled

2011-06-27T21:10:00.001+03:00

Since the beginning of June there have been an amazing number of comings and goings in our project in Mbeya…

Two ladies leave for furlough
Two new ladies arrive to serve as linguists
Another lady arrives to work with me for two months in SU, and is staying in my home
A couple get married and leave on honeymoon and won’t be returning to our project
Seven or eight Tanzanians leave for two months for studies in Kenya
Two couples return from furlough

Each going is much more than just an item on the team meeting minutes, it’s goodbyes to friends and colleagues (some whom I have know for many years), whether for a short while or permanently, and it’s a change in work responsibilities and team dynamics. Each coming is more than just another name on the pigeon holes, it’s people to be welcomed to a new place and trained and potential for new friendships to be built.

Add to all of this the fact that the market from the centre of town has been demolished and shifted so that I don’t know where to find anything, and I am left feeling as if I have moved house without having packed a single suitcase!

With so many things changing around me, it is hard not to feel a bit unsettled, to feel a little unsure of where I fit in. How do you feel when you move house? Can you imagine how it might feel to stay in the same place, but have everything else around you moving, and on a fairly regular basis? What things give you a sense of stability in the midst of it all? I’d like to hear your thoughts!

Reading the Bible and praying is a source of peace for me in these days. One phrase keeps cropping up as I read through the Psalms which is ‘steadfast love’. ‘Steadfast’ to me means constant, unchanging, faithful… all the things that life here is unable to offer! But that’s what God has for us, a constant, unchanging and faithful love, that will endure through all the changes in life, through all the ups and downs we face, through all the questions and insecurities as well as the joys and happiness.

“Great is your steadfast love towards me” Psalm 86:13

From plane to daladala

2011-05-26T13:11:00.003+03:00

For the first two weeks of this month I was excited to welcome guests to Tanzania – my first guests from home in four years! My aim was to give them as real a picture of life here as is possible in such a short time. So these two weeks saw them experiencing various extremes – from planes to daladalas (local overcrowded, uncomfortable and poorly maintained public transport), from luxury lodges to a Tanzanian friend’s home, from exquisite Zanzibarian cuisine to rice and stew (which also tastes good!).

Ever since returning to Tanzania in January I had been looking forward to their visit and had fun making the guest room nice and making plans. It’s hard to explain just how or why having guests is so significant. Have you ever found yourself retelling a funny incident to someone, but the other person just doesn’t laugh because you just had to be there?! Well, multiply that feeling a million times over. Guests are so significant because “you just had to be there” to have realised what life is like for us here.

As well as living in my home for a few days (meeting my friends and colleagues, visiting my work place, climbing the mountain behind my house, attending a dedication ceremony for some books that have been translated in one of the language areas and going to the church I attend) we also enjoyed some of the tourist delights of Tanzania – a safari in Ruaha National Park and several days on the island of spices (with lots of rain and sun and great food). To see some pictures click here.

Now they have gone, and it has taken me a while to adjust to my empty house. I find myself very much missing friends and family back home. However, at the same time, I am very aware that God is with me and I find comfort and strength from His Word. (I’m trying to read the Bible in a year and though there’s lots I don’t understand there’s also lots to challenge and encourage me. Reading Joshua now). Sometimes day to day life here can be emotionally tiring just because of how much we stand out – as we walk down the street, as we sit in meetings (and find it hard to follow the quick Swahili discussions), as we work with people whose cultures and attitudes are often very different from our own. But the Lord is our Shepherd, and He will lead us and bring us to find rest in Him, if we will give Him space in our lives to do so!

A new place

2011-04-22T11:41:00.002+03:00

This week I visited a new place - Isoko. This small town (which is really no more than a village, but has a hospital and electricity) is in the Ndali language area - Ndali is one of the nine languages with which we work. I went there together with three Tanzanian colleagues representing the Literacy, Partnership and Scripture Use Departments of our project. It was a long drive to get there, most of it over dirt roads that were a bit slippery and rough after all the rains, though thankfully we only got stuck once. The highlights of the trip for me were the beautiful surroundings, standing on Malawian soil (as we were just across the border and found a rickety bridge to cross over the boundary river) and meeting with church leaders and representatives from at least ten denominations all together in one room (this is an unusual and therefore special display of unity). The lowlights were the food, dirt, tiredness and rain.
To see some pictures of the trip click here.

One body, many parts

2011-04-10T13:30:00.005+03:00

I’ve been thinking a bit recently about my strengths and weaknesses and how they fit the kind of work that I am doing. Do you ever feel like you are in over your head because you are having to take responsibility for something that doesn’t come to you naturally? Or do you ever find yourself getting bored, not because there isn’t enough to do, but because the things you are doing just don’t stimulate you? I know we all have to do things we don’t like, but we also all need things that energise us and keep us going.

This was brought home to me the other week when I spent several days in a row checking books, which involves sitting in front of a computer carefully reading through lots of text. I enjoy this for a limited period, but after three days of it I was welcoming every possible distraction and finding it very hard to focus. When a friend popped into the office, whose sole job it is to analyse text for Biblical accuracy and help her colleagues do a faithful translation, I told her, “I could never do your job!” She laughed, and as we talked I was very aware of how God gives us all different personalities and gifts. I couldn’t do her job and she couldn’t do mine. That’s why God describes us a body, and He has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wants them to be (1 Corinthians 12:18). Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate that when we are doing things we don’t feel qualified to do, or when we compare ourselves to others and think they would do a much better job or when we are just tired and feel somewhat disconnected from the body!

This weekend I experienced what truly makes me buzz – spending time with colleagues, training them and discussing the Bible together, and teaching in workshops. Despite being in a very hot place, and having had to take an uncomfortable four hour bus journey to get there, I really enjoyed my trip to the Nyakyusa language area to visit our Literacy / Scripture Use Coordinator there and to teach a workshop with him for Sunday School teachers. The turnout at the workshop was disappointing, but those who were there interacted well. I have many doubts and questions about my job, whether I am the right person for it or whether we are doing things in the most effective way, but I thank God for the gifts He has given me and the opportunities and strength He gives me to use them, even when I’m tired and feeling challenged about the role I am playing.

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” Romans 12:4-6a

A few funny things…

- Sitting next to a rather large man on the bus so that I nearly fell off my seat every time we went round a bend.

- Children greeting me “Good morning” at 7pm (this is a common mistake)

- People talking about me in Swahili, thinking I can’t understand

- Showing a colleague photos of snow, who responded with something like “I would die if I lived in a place that cold! People want to go to England because they think it’s a better place, but look at it, it’s not!!”

- The look on a colleague’s face when he realised I don’t have a clue how to farm and wouldn’t know how to hold a hoe!

Saturday in pictures

2011-03-05T20:52:00.009+03:00

Today has been an unpredictable and fun Saturday. Unfortunately I woke early, but that meant I had time to mend my oven gloves and clean most of the house before I was due to meet up with a friend to go shopping for curtain material at a big market. Our shopping trip was somewhat cut short by torrential rain. Despite umbrellas and trying to find shelter, we both got soaked from feet to knees as the rain hit the ground and splashed back up. My friend’s husband kindly rescued us and gave me a lift home, so they came in for coffee (we left wet footprints all over the house, and my sandals are still drying out) and a good natter.

After lunch, I finished mopping the house and sat out on the veranda to read my Bible while the floors dried. The garden is very green and the nanny goat and her kid are enjoying the grass!

Then I got a phone call from some other friends, asking if I was home, as they were heading to town. So, unexpectedly I got to spend a fun afternoon with a family (with their three little kids) and a meal out together at a new hotel. Proved to be a really nice place with good food (though the menu is limited) at good prices and a badly translated English menu! Will definitely go there again. The most remarkable thing was that the bill came on a computerised receipt!

On the way home, I stopped to greet a Tanzanian acquaintance and chatted for a while. And now I'm sitting on the sofa, it’s dark outside and an annoying fly is buzzing around. Time for emails and an episode of ER.

(Apologies for poor quality pictures – most of them were taken on my phone).

Sunday stroll

2011-02-20T15:11:00.005+03:00

To be honest, I never stroll! However, I thought I'd take you with me on a short walk I took this morning before lunch. The thunder was rumbling overhead and the air was heavy and oppressive, but though the sky was black over the mountains it was blue and sunny over town. I walked up the hill, through the woods to a point where I get a nice view of the mountain. Being the rainy season, everywhere is fresh and green and the scent of the eucalyptus trees fill the air. I didn't have my camera with me, but I captured a few snapshots on my phone of things I saw - the flowers and views were lovely, I saw beautiful butterflies too and also women returning from a busy morning of gathering wood jogging quickly down the path with huge bundles on their head that are probably heavier than their own body weight.

Back home

2011-02-19T10:02:00.002+03:00

Settling back into life in Mbeya has been a rather bumpy ride, but now the way is smoothing out and life has fallen into some kind of pattern. This pattern involves a brisk and hilly walk to work from 7.45am – 8.15am (a good way to exercise and pray), a day in the office, a hot walk home and then a long evening that always seems to pass surprisingly quickly! If I’m home alone there’s food to be cooked, washing up to be done, correspondence to keep up with and people to Skype as well as ER to watch, music to write and listen to and books to read. Sometimes I have friends round – this week my landlady popped in for a bit, three Tanzanian colleagues came for a drink and cake one evening after work and another two a different evening. Today a Tanzanian friend is coming for lunch and tomorrow I’m going out for dinner with three missionary friends, so the weekend shouldn’t feel too lonely!

Thought I’d share a big cultural difference with you, one you may already be aware of but was brought home to me in a funny way this week. I was in the car with three Tanzanian colleagues (two men and a lady) and another missionary. The man in the middle put on his seat belt, which was rather loose on him, and said (loosely translated), “This belt is for Mama!” Mama is sitting in the front, and is somewhat on the large side. Can you imagine making a comment like that in England? What would the lady’s reaction be?!! However, they all considered it a perfectly acceptable joke, and if anything Mama took it as a complement. Here, when you describe people, you describe them by their size (the fat one, the tall one etc.) and to describe them as thin is something of an insult. My colleagues told me that if a lady is well rounded, people may even joke that she shouldn’t do hard work so that she doesn’t lose weight! As a nutritionist, I can’t say that fat is good, though it is better to be a bit overweight and fit than thin and unfit, however I wonder if our society can learn something from this attitude by becoming a little less obsessed with what we conceive as the perfect figure.

Back in my house

2011-01-23T15:32:00.002+03:00

On Monday I was in my parents’ home in little Lapworth, in the heart of England, and by Wednesday evening I was in my house in the city of Mbeya, in the southern highlands of Tanzania. Quite a transition! And as always happens in these situations, England now feels like a dream that I’ve just woken up from, and I’m not sure whether it was real or not. However, emails, texts and Skype connects me in a way that makes it very real, though sometimes I feel like I am reading about something that is happening in a book, rather than real life, as I am not there to feel it, touch it and smell it! To be honest, this transition is a very difficult one for me for many reasons, so I am trying to focus on the things that make me smile about being back here. I thought I’d share a few of those with you…

- Being greeted by all kinds of people, whether I know them or not, as I walk along the street

- The smell of the rain, trees and flowers (I can smell them even now, in my living room, wafting in through the open window, as the rain patters on the roof and the thunder rumbles)

- The way people help you – at the market today, my ‘friend’ who sells bananas just abandoned her stall to show me where to buy something else that I wanted, and helped me make my purchase! (Of course, I then went and bought some bananas off her, even though I didn’t need any more, so it was also a pretty good business move!)

- Being able to walk everywhere to do what I need to do (rather than drive)

- Chatting with the ‘milk lady’ – I buy fresh milk from a lady down the road, and when I went to get it on Friday the cow hadn’t yet been milked, so I was invited in and we sat and chatted for nearly an hour! She sent off her child to buy me a soda (such hospitality is so important to them, though I was just shamefully aware of how the soda had cost almost as much as I was about to pay them for the milk*). Relationships are so much more important here than your ‘to do’ list!

- Mangos (big fat juicy ones – four for about 70p) and chapattis

- Being able to wear light clothes and sandals again

- Sitting in my rocking chair on the veranda in the sunshine

*In case you are wondering whether this means milk is very expensive or soda is very cheap – it’s the latter. A 350ml bottle of Coca Cola costs about 25p, and 1 litre of milk about 30p

From Lapworth to Mbeya

2011-01-23T15:21:00.005+03:00

My trip from start to finish went something like this…

On Monday I left my parents’ home at 2.15pm, arriving at Heathrow Terminal 5 at 4pm (thanks, dad & mum!) Flight departed at 6.45pm and, with hardly any sleep, I arrived at 7.15am at Dar International Airport (which is smaller than the smallest airport you have probably ever flown from in England!) Despite the early hour, it was already hot, and my taxi driver soon arrived to take me to our head office in Dar. After over an hour stuck in the usual Dar traffic jams, I arrived. Exhausted, I cat-napped on a couch, occasionally stirring to slap a mosquito, until it was time for lunch with a colleague followed by a restful afternoon ready for the gruelling day that would follow.

Wednesday morning came and unfortunately I had set my alarm wrongly, so I didn’t wake up until the taxi beeped its horn on arrival at 5am. I managed to get out the B&B in record time and we sped to the bus station, still in plenty of time for my 6am bus. I felt sick from tiredness but fortunately I am a bit better at sleeping on buses than on planes, so I had a reasonable doze before eating my peanut butter & jam sandwiches for breakfast. Most of the ride was hot and the seating was a bit cramped. Mid-morning we stopped for a quick loo break, and around noon a 10min lunch break at a service station (don’t think Costa Coffee and rows of clean toilets, instead think quick fried food and sodas and a row of not-so-clean-and-locks-don’t-work long drops!) We made good time, despite being held up in one place due to road works and another due to a truck having gone over the cliff and a crane was getting into place to haul it back up. However, there were no more loo stops, until there was an outcry on the bus and the driver found a convenient spot to pull over and there were no bushes to hide behind – it was just men round the front of the bus and women round the back, in full view of the open road!

The approach to Mbeya was beautiful as everywhere was fresh and green from the rains and the air felt cool. It was a relief to arrive at the bus station in the daylight at 6.30pm, to see a familiar face waiting to pick me up (thanks, Jo) and then to be welcomed into my own home with a meal waiting for me (thanks, Karin).

Not a trip to be repeated too often, but I thank God that everything went smoothly and I arrived safely and even, miracle of miracles, on time!

Sacrifice

2010-12-17T19:53:00.003+03:00

Once again I have had to go through some painful goodbyes. On Monday I left the Wycliffe Centre (the Head Quarters of Wycliffe Bible Translators UK), after having lived there for three months making new friends and valuing every moment with old friends. As I drove home, I felt an incredible sense of loss at the thought of never seeing some of those people again or never being able to spend the same kind of time with them that I have enjoyed until now.

This has caused me to think about the meaning of ‘sacrifice’. People often say that missionary life is one of sacrifice, but I wonder what they understand by that. Do they think of how we’ve given up the chance to have a well paid job? Do they think of how we’ve said goodbye to certain privileges such as good healthcare or reliable electricity? Do they think of not being able to enjoy the luxuries of life such as going to the cinema or nice restaurants?

It might be surprising to hear that I don’t consider any of these a sacrifice. Why? Because inherent in the word ‘sacrifice’ is pain, and missing out on the above things doesn’t really bother me that much. Yes, they make life difficult and uncertain at times, but I would rather be in Tanzania than have any of those things.

However, what does bring pain, is goodbyes. For me, the biggest sacrifice of being a missionary is the loss of stability in relationships. We are always moving around ourselves or saying goodbye to others who are moving. Saying goodbye to friends often feels so final. Even though I am thankful for Skype and email, they can never take the place of face to face contact, of living with or close to someone or of working with someone. And that is painful.

God never said that life serving Him would be easy, in fact Jesus said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). However, I find comfort in the fact that I don’t do that alone, Jesus walks beside me, He is my good shepherd who leads and guides me through both the good times and the dark times (Psalm 23). This doesn’t take the pain out of the sacrifice, but it does bring comfort, and also provides hope for the future, when one day I will live in my permanent home that Jesus is getting ready for me right now, and I’ll never have to say goodbye again!

Valuing every moment with friends

Here, there and everywhere

2010-11-09T11:56:00.005+03:00

So much going on, and so little time to write about it! I've visited a white horse, a model village and Oxford, all giving me opportunities to spend quality time with friends. I've been traipsing the English countryside once again the last few days as I spent a long weekend visiting Kent with a friend from Bible college days, a beautiful and interesting county with its comical oast houses and old castles. Then friends from church came to visit me here at the Wycliffe Centre and we enjoyed a walk through the woods round about (a very muddy one, but the autumn colours more than made up for that). Now it's back at the desk with work to be done, though soon it will be time to join with all my Wycliffe colleagues for the Wycliffe International Day of Prayer. At this time we will be remembering the work of Wycliffe worldwide, as will people all over the world.

As I think about this, I am reminded of my friends and colleagues in Tanzania and how differently their days pass by compared to mine here. I often pause to reflect on what they might be doing, and can't quite get my head round the things they are facing day by day (as the rains begin in a hot Mbeya), while I sit and plan my lessons (in a central heated library in a cold Horsleys Green)!

My friends, Matt & Liz Wisbey, have just written an interesting reflection on some of the different ways we spend our time compared to our Tanzanian friends, which you will find an interesting read, as well as a report on an event coming up here at The Wycliffe Centre that you might be interested in attending. So do take a look at their blog.

Teaching and learning

2010-10-18T23:29:00.004+03:00

I’m back at the head quarters of Wycliffe Bible Translators UK. Last time I was here for any length of time I was a student, learning all about ‘Scripture Use’ to prepare me to go and serve in Tanzania. Now, four years later, I am here as the teacher! I didn’t feel that just two and a half years of working in Mbeya qualified me for this role, but I was assured that my recent experiences were valuable and so I agreed to teach as an assistant to a more experienced lady.
So, here I am, and I feel that I am learning as much as I am teaching! As I plan and prepare lessons, I remember the things I once learned and find myself trying to apply them to my situation in Tanzania and wondering how they should look in practice. That’s not to say that when I went to Tanzania I completely disregarded all I had learnt! However, when I did my training I didn’t have concrete situations in my mind to apply my learning to and once I was in Tanzania it was hard to think of how all those things I’d learn in the abstract now applied in reality. Now, revisiting those studies, with Mbeya in mind and with some distance between myself and the work (which allows for a little more objectivity!) I am wondering where I need to relearn and be re-envisioned for the work of Scripture Use in Mbeya. I still have so much to learn and am more and more aware of how all our endeavours will come to nothing unless God is at work.
We are teaching a really interesting mix of students (two Finns, one Russian and one Hungarian) who will all be going to very different places, so it’s a challenge to make the teaching relevant to them all. I love to teach and I’m enjoying being able to do that in my mother tongue rather than Swahili, but as none of the students speak English as their first language, I still have to be careful that what I say is understandable!
Between teaching and pondering on what I am learning, I seem to be constantly on the move. I have been here for four weeks and every weekend has seen me attending a different church and often being in a different place. I’ve been back to All Nations (where I was at Bible College) and Oxford (where I was at university) and have had the privilege of exploring a new part of the country by taking a weekend trip to Sheffield with friends. It’s a fun, busy and tiring schedule to keep up, so please pray that I can sleep properly at nights in order to make the most of what each day has to bring.

Chatsworth House, nr Sheffield & loving an English autumn!

Choose life

2010-08-26T11:55:00.002+03:00

I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on how we choose our attitudes – as I read in a novel recently: “…the thought struck him that what a man allowed into his heart was a matter of choice” (The Smoke Jumper, by Nicholas Evans). For example, instead of bitterness and unforgiveness, will we choose to forgive and choose ‘non-remembrance’ of how we’ve been wronged? Instead of becoming self-centred and depressed when life seems hard, will we choose life? For the Christian, this isn’t just a matter of positive thinking. It’s a conscious decision to trust in God’s love and grace rather than listening to the devil’s accusations and lies. It’s hard. It would be so much easier to just wallow in self-pity, something I do all too easily, even though I know my suffering is nothing compared to others’ and even though I know that these troubles are ‘light and momentary’ compared to the wonders awaiting us in heaven.
The thing is, to choose life we have to know why life is worth choosing! And that’s where I get a bit stuck. I know heaven is ahead and it’s going to be wonderful. So why do we have to suffer this life first? I’m lucky – there’s lots of things in my life to enjoy, but why carry on with the partial enjoyments of this life when heaven is going to be so much better? What is our purpose in living? If it’s to glorify God, won’t we do that so much better in heaven? I just don’t quite get it. I can carry on with this life, enjoy it, learn from it, change and grow…but then when I get to heaven I’ll be made perfect anyhow, so what was the point? I know we are called to be witnesses, which I can see would give purpose to life, but then how about those of us in jobs working mostly with Christians that involve hardly any opportunity for sharing one’s faith? What’s the point in enjoying a good book or even enjoying a walk in God’s amazing creation, if our only purpose in life is to bring others to faith?
So why choose life? God didn’t make the world to be a place of suffering, He grieves over it. I know that He is waiting that more might be saved before bringing an end to this world – but the longer he waits, the more babies will be born and so the list of those who won’t be saved grows ever bigger, alongside of those who will. So, why? Why do we have to live this life of suffering first, before going to heaven? It hurts here on earth.
I’m not sure I have an answer to this, but I am starting to think that I have got the question wrong. The point is, we have been put in this world and we have no choice but to be here. Suicide isn’t an option. Instead of asking why should I live this life, I should be asking how will I live this life?
I challenge us all to choose life (Deut. 30:19-20). Even though it’s hard, let’s be intentional in our thinking and actions and make continual conscious decisions to live life to the full in Christ, trusting God to help us, knowing that He will be enough for us each day.

Culture shock in a coffee shop

2010-07-21T23:21:00.001+03:00

Culture shock sometimes hits you in the most unexpected places. On the way to the Lake District to meet up with family friends, we stopped off at a coffee shop, and…boom! There it was…I wanted to run outside and take some deep breaths. What was it? It’s not easy to put into words, but here’s a few thoughts from that journey…
…as we drove along smooth, wide A-roads, I noticed just how clean and pristine everything looked, even the weeds seemed to know their place! Rain obviously comes regularly and gently enough to wash everything clean and green, no tropical storms to flatten delicate grass and flowers down. The houses all looked perfectly proportioned, they looked like they’d stood for years and will stand for many more yet. No crumbling mud walls, rusty tin roofs or dusty yards, just neatly laid Cumbrian slate, tiled roofs and tidy green lawns.
And then there was the tea shop! It was just too perfect – where was the flaking paint on the walls or the occasional errant cockroach? Instead, its perfect pictures were perfectly straight, there were perfect smiles on polite waitresses’ faces, perfect cakes and chip-less crockery and equipment that would turn the chef of even the best restaurant in Mbeya green with envy. Three drinks and two cakes cost the same as three full meals at my favourite eating places in Mbeya.
And finally we arrived by the lakes themselves… crowds of people just out for pleasure, despite the rain. The geese and swans obviously weren’t quite so concerned about keeping England clean and pristine, as they soiled the pathways and grassland everywhere. But despite the rain and the crowds (and the culture shock), as my dad said, “There’s something magical about the Lakes.” (And I had a delicious strawberry, banana and peach smoothie at the teashop!!)

A walk in the woods

2010-07-18T20:48:00.004+03:00

As I went for a walk through the woods this weekend with my mum, I thought about how the same phrase conjures up such different images for me…
… ‘a walk in the woods’ in England conjures up fresh green deciduous trees such as beech, oak and horse chestnut, standing closely together with the sunlight dappling through, damp earthy ground underfoot, brambles and nettles vying for position and the occasional treat of seeing a rabbit or even a muntjac.

… ‘a walk in the woods’ in Tanzania, by my home in Mbeya, conjures up tall eucalyptus trees spaced out, their distinct scent filling the air, dry hard earth to walk on and dead leaves crackling under my feet, unusual bird calls breaking the silence and butterflies fluttering across the path.

There are so many things which are the same and yet different about my two ‘homes’ – things that exist in both places and yet feel so different, even the air I breathe seems to have a different, more mellow quality, here in England! They feel like two parallel worlds.
Here, in this English world, I am enjoying the luxury of hot water straight from the tap and powerful hot showers, big bags of dried apricots and prunes, pork pies and special cheeses, my favourite jumbo sausage and chips, a washing machine, constant electricity and internet connection, public toilets, good roads and drivers that obey the rules of the road (most of the time). On the other side, I am struggling with the opulent lifestyles of people living round about, clothes shopping and too much choice in shops. I miss shopping at the market in Mbeya, seeing the mountains, eating chapattis and beans and having friends around my own age. It’s a relief to meet with people who have been in both worlds and who understand this strange feeling of being a part of both but not really belonging to either. However, I hope that through sharing about our experiences we can all understand something of both worlds and be both challenged and enriched as we learn from the different cultures they have.

Waratibu wapya!

2010-06-13T10:22:00.003+03:00

Here’s a little Swahili lesson for you:
“Waratibu” means “Coordinators” (the ‘wa’ indicates plurality, ‘mratibu’ would be just one) and “wapya” means “new” (note that ‘wa’ is at the beginning of this word too – that’s because adjectives have to agree with the noun that they are referring to, so one new coordinator would be ‘mratibu mpya’).
Last week we held a workshop to train three new people to be the coordinators of Literacy and Scripture Use work in their respective language areas (Sangu, Safwa and Bena). We praise God that there were three people, as we had struggled to find a suitable candidate for the Sangu language until the last minute. It was a busy week, with lots of things for them to take in, but we have been pleased with how keen they were and with how many questions they asked! The workshop isn’t over yet though. This week we will also be training the six coordinators that are already in place, addressing issues that they need more help in and providing opportunities for them to share with each other how things are going.

I find teaching both exhilarating and tiring, so please pray that we would all have the energy we need to keep going! It’s only 2 weeks before I get on a bus to Dar as I start my journey home to England, so I have lots of other things to get sorted too. As I write, it is a beautiful, blue skied Sunday morning, and I am going to make sure it is a good ‘day of rest’ so that I am ready for the busy week ahead! (It’s just a shame that someone is working with a very noisy chainsaw nearby, destroying the silence and making it hard to hear the birds singing).

Cake!

2010-05-30T20:59:00.003+03:00

I have been reflecting, in those deep meditative moments, on how simple things can have a significant impact. Take cake for example. How long does it take to whip up a cake? It’s simple and it can be a fun way to relax. But more importantly cake can…
…bring a smile to a person who has been working hard all day. I like to give cake to the groundsman on our compound and I love to see his face light up.
…make a person feel valued and loved. I have a friend for whom the gift of a cake speaks volumes.
…build relationships. Last week I taught my landlady’s niece how to make ginger cake – it was fun to do this together and to chat as we worked.
…help a day at the office seem a little brighter. On occasional Fridays, a lady in our office loves to treat a few of us by bringing in some big chunks of delicious banana bread or chocolate brownies!
…be a great way to celebrate. That’s an obvious one…who doesn’t like a to have a cake for their birthday?!
…be a nice way to say goodbye. On Friday, we will sadly be saying goodbye to some colleagues, who are moving onto a new assignment. So, we’ll be bringing in cakes for tea break, to make it a more special time.
…be a simple way to spend time with friends. I’ve often invited friends round for coffee and cake on a Saturday afternoon – a lovely way to catch up with people, without having to go to the effort of cooking a complete meal!

Maybe I (we all?) need to remember this, and to make the most of the simple things in life. Little things can mean a lot. Karibuni kwangu – I made some chocolate cake on Saturday!

Lunch at a friend's home on Sunday (cake is there, it's just hidden!!)

Still teaching Sunday School

2010-04-19T09:23:00.003+03:00

Some time ago I shared my experiences of teaching Sunday School in the church I attend here in Mbeya. I have just started to teach again (having had a long break from it) and thought you might like an update. Thanks to all of you who sent suggestions for how I could handle the various challenges I encounter!
Last week things got off to a disappointing start, with only a handful of children attending and most of them arriving in the last fifteen minutes of the one hour lesson! However, this week eight children were already there and waiting when I arrived and many more turned up as the lesson went by. Maybe my encouragement of “If you come on time you get a chance to do fun things like colouring!” actually worked!
I’ve learned that the best way to deal with the steady trickle of children’s arrival, is to start with a long activity that can be done as they arrive – the easiest thing to do is colouring – giving them pictures of the story or the memory verse. Once a critical mass of kids are there, I can get going on the teaching, starting with a few preliminaries that still allow for late children coming without missing out on the main teaching. My biggest challenge is getting as many of the children involved as possible in answering questions – it’s usually the same few, though this week was different. I finish with the memory verse, so that those who arrive right at the end still get a chance to hide God’s Word in their heart. If we are actually able to start the whole lesson in reasonable time, the kids may get lucky and have a game at the end.
So, I guess I’m learning! And in learning these things I am better equipped to teach Sunday School teachers here, as I am more aware of the challenges they face (though I am also aware that I am able to supply resources for my class that they may be unable to afford). Recently I had two very different workshop experiences when training Sunday School Teachers. Both workshops were intended to be follow-ups for teachers who had attended two previous workshops.
At the first, in one of the coldest places we work, I had the smallest turnout I have ever had, at the second, in one of the hottest places we work, the biggest!! With over seventy teachers attending, of whom only a handful had attended the previous workshops I’d conducted there, it was quite an experience! It was so exciting to see all those people gathered together from different denominations – our Literacy/Scripture Use Coordinator there had done an excellent job of advertising the event. Please join me in praying for these teachers, who only received very basic training, that they would yet be able to use it to really help them in their ministry.

Listening to your language

2010-03-29T08:41:00.000+03:00

Can you imagine what it would be like to hear a recording of your language for the first time? It is impossible to imagine such an experience for most of us, surrounded constantly as we are by media of all kinds in the language we have spoken since infancy.
However, for many people here in Tanzania, the language that they grew up speaking may not even exist in written format, and even if it does, they may never have seen it and are even less likely to have heard it as some kind of recording.
One aspect of our work here, in making Scripture accessible to all in the language that they understand best, is to make it available in audio format. In a culture where orality is valued over and above the written text, this is a vital ministry.
Towards the end of last year, the whole gospel of Mark was recorded in the Vwanji language, and has since been available for sale in both tape and CD format. I recently received the following report from our Literacy / Scripture Use Coordinator for the area (translated from Swahili):
“People are using the tapes and CDs in their home, but also I have passed by some places in the market and heard it playing! Many listen to it just for the sake of listening and enjoying hearing how their language has been used and seeing that it is good Vwanji! A few people will sit and listen and then spend time thinking about the meaning of what they heard. Now I am educating people who buy the tapes as to how they are able to listen to the tapes together with others. People are very happy with the tapes, and when they listen for the first time they are amazed at what was done to make them.”
Next time you hear your language wafting over the airwaves, coming through the television or pouring out of your iPod, remember how privileged you are and please remember and pray for the work we are involved in here.

Touched by the words of a stranger

2010-03-16T08:16:00.003+03:00

Sunday evening. After a week in Dodoma, a place too hot to walk fast and too unfamiliar to walk far, followed by a fourteen hour bus journey to get back to Mbeya, it was time for a walk. I headed off up the hill to do my favourite circuit through the woods, over streams and up and down the mountainside. As I climbed the slippery path I met a Tanzanian lady, who had been collecting firewood. We greeted each other and, pointing up the hill, she asked me where I was going to spend the night. I told her I would go back home, and pointed roughly in the direction of my house. She cautioned me not to go far as it would be dark soon.
I was touched by these words of a stranger – a lady near the end of a hard day’s labour, yet concerned about the wanderings of a foreigner. Her words echoed those of my good friends here, who I had seen just before setting off, and who always want to know when I am back safely from a walk alone. What a blessing to be so cared for, by strangers and friends alike. If humans, in their selfishness, can show such love and care – think of how great God’s perfect love and care is for us, his children! And I believe He shows us that love and care through those around us, strangers and friends alike.

Waiting for a blown tyre to be changed on the long bus trip!

Teaching Sunday School

2010-02-08T08:25:00.000+03:00

This Sunday I taught Sunday School for the second time at the church I attend here in Mbeya. I left it feeling very tired and somewhat dejected. Let me share the experience with you…
…I arrived a few minutes early. Six children were waiting for me – five girls aged 8-10 and one toddler. I couldn’t really do the game I had planned with that number of children, so I started with Simon Says, hoping that more would turn up. None did. So then I did a little relay race to get the names of the first five books of the Bible – the problem was that only one of the children had been there the previous week so they hadn’t got a clue how to put them in order. Finally I started the teaching, and a few more children arrived. I persevered in teaching them about Jeremiah – an example of someone who gave up his time to tell people the words of God (as we are doing a series about the Bible, using some Swahili Sunday School materials). Gradually the number of children increased, but it was always the same two or three girls who put up their hands to answer questions. By the end there were probably 30 children packed into the little room, some of them arriving just 10 minutes before the end of the hour-long class!
So, if anyone has any suggestions on how to teach children who arrive at different times, are of a wide variety of ages, who don’t own Bibles and may not even have access to one at home and who don’t even seem to know the story of Moses in the bulrushes, please share them with me!! And pray for my ability to communicate with them clearly in Swahili – I’m sure my inaptitude in this area is part of the problem! Jesus said, “Let the little children come unto me… for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” I hope that these little children will come to Him and come to love His Word.

One of those days

2010-01-16T15:21:00.003+03:00

Friday was just one of those days when everything seems to go wrong! First was the shock of some difficult changes that might have to take place at work in the year ahead – it’s always difficult in our work with a constant flow of people coming and going and change is inevitable. Then there was a sad farewell lunch as we said goodbye to a friend and colleague who will be sorely missed (we were also celebrating being settled in our new offices)! Then I broke my tooth – or at least, broke the cap off my tooth that I originally broke when I was a child. Then there was the milk – I left it just for a few seconds and it boiled over (as all our milk is fresh and has to be boiled before use). Well, as they say, "There’s no point in crying over spilt milk" – but by this point it was getting hard to keep control of the emotions. Then the icing on the cake, which was really a very small thing but after everything else it just tipped me over the edge, was finding out I didn’t have enough eggs to both make the pancakes I’d planned for tea and do an eggy filling for them that my friends like.

And now it’s Saturday…the good news is that I was able to get my tooth fixed**… however, otherwise it seems to be another ‘one of those days’! I got less than 5 hours sleep (just couldn’t get to sleep – maybe it was the coffee), I have an upset tummy and the milk seems to have a vendetta against me as the little milk jug I had put a the last of the old milk in fell over in the fridge and got milk all over the vegetables.

**Things can go wonderfully smoothly when you know the right people here! Getting my tooth fixed… My landlady just happens to be a dentist. Yesterday she phoned a colleague in the hospital 5 minutes up the road and today I was able to go and get it fixed! Looks like he’s done a really good job, and he had good English so I didn’t have to cope with medical vocabulary in Swahili!

A typical rainy day - looking out the back of my house

More Travels

2009-12-21T09:25:00.003+03:00

Last week I was busy with travels of a very different kind. The Wisbeys and I travelled around three of the language areas where we work, to meet with Tanzanian colleagues. There were many things to frustrate us on the trip – such as holding a meeting for pastors at which only five turned up (the last one arriving four hours late, just in time for lunch) or finding there are serious team relationship issues in one of the language offices that is hindering the work, or just being confronted with constant issues of money (or lack of)! It was also very cold most of the time and often raining. However, there were also things to make us smile – like tiny frogs, beautiful surroundings, fun together and the generosity of one of the coordinators in giving us a sack of potatoes (grown on their own little farm). We also became connoisseurs of chipsi mayai (chip omelette) and rice, beans, meat stew and green veg. Tasty as this food can be, we were rather sick of it by the end of the trip!

Roadworks!

Pastors arrive at the meeting...Liz waits for things to get started

Matt busy at work with one of our colleagues...Liz and I in beautiful Kinga language area

The bright lights of the big city

2009-11-27T11:36:00.003+03:00

Last week I went to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. After being in Mbeya, this visit to the city felt like returning to the UK, with large shopping centres, supermarkets, coffee shops, wide roads, street lights and many other features that are not to be found where I live. I made the most of it! However, I wasn’t there for retail therapy or a coffee fix, I was there to attend a ‘Scripture Use / Translation Consultation’ together with others representing a range of African countries.
Being a ‘consultation’ I expected the majority of the sessions to be discussions, but this proved not to be the case. There were some such helpful times, but there were also a lot of presentations on varying topics. As seems to be common at conferences, the times I found most valuable were chatting to others over break times. It was also interesting (and humbling) to hear of what is being done in so many parts of Africa by the faithful men and women who were there (many of whom have been working for SIL for many years). Can you spot me?
While the consultation might not have been all I had hoped for, I enjoyed the break from the normal course of work and catching up with some friends in Nairobi. I even got to enjoy a bit of culture by attending a concert by the Nairobi orchestra!
There were some other highlights to the trip…I got to fly on a MAF plane! I’ve always been a big fan of the work that MAF does in aiding missionaries and supporting remote medical stations, so I was thrilled to finally have a chance to use one of their planes for a journey that I needed to make (and I was sitting right behind the pilot so I got to see everything).
The MAF plane we flew on
The other main highlight was a day in Dar with the Wisbeys – this special day felt like a week’s holiday rolled into one! We went to a nearby hotel overlooking the ocean where we swam, relaxed in the sun and enjoyed a delicious lunch – my choice being a seafood salad that was nearly all seafood with just a bit of lettuce (I think in England it would be the other way around – nearly all lettuce, with just a bit of seafood!) Good food in a beautiful place
Then we headed to a shopping centre to stock up on breakfast cereal and a few other items and where I was suddenly reminded that Christmas is coming as they had a Christmas tree up and several other decorations around. We don’t see anything like that here in Mbeya! Next it was off to Slipway - a touristy shopping centre where we had a good look around the various stalls selling African handy-work. Finally we headed to Seacliff – another shopping centre where we had a good browse round a book shop, and then entered its main attraction – a delicious restaurant called ‘Spurs’. While Matt worked his way through a rack or two of perfectly cooked spare ribs, Liz enjoyed fajitas and I indulged in burritos. Delicious! It was the most ‘western’ style restaurant (originating in South Africa) that I have ever been to in Tanzania (which the prices reflected). There was a supermarket there too which was a weird experience as it caters to the many ex-pats in the city by selling imported products from the UK and America – I couldn’t believe that they had KP peanuts, when you can buy delicious Tanzanian peanuts cheap from roadside kiosks, and cereal boxes saying, “Buy 2 for £1.99” (they were, of course, being sold for a lot more than the equivalent of this in Tanzanian shillings).
Sadly, this lovely day came to an end and the next morning we were up at 5am and endured a 13 hour bus trip back home.

Dedication

2009-10-27T08:25:00.002+03:00

On Saturday, together with many of my colleagues, I attended the first Scripture Dedication in our project! To read more about it visit the Wisbey's blog - no point in my trying to write about it when a friend has already written a good one :-)
http://www.wisbeys.blogspot.com/

Power problems worsen

2009-10-22T16:32:00.003+03:00

Just a quick update on the last blog...the schedule for power rationing has changed - we are now scheduled to be without power three days a week, 8am - 11pm. With the help of friends (as I am so slow to go and do these things under my own steam) I've been and bought a two-ring gas stove and a parafin lantern, so I'm a little more prepared to cope! Today it has rained properly for the first time since May - we need more of that to fill up the reservoirs which supply the hydro-electric power stations and to fill up the town's water supplies.
Soon I'll be leaving the office and heading back to the Wisbey's (trying not to worry about the food defrosting in the freezer), where after a candle-lit dinner we'll gather round a laptop to watch some West Wing (having made sure the laptop battery is fully charged here at the office) with some soft lantern-light to lessen the darkness!

Power problems

2009-10-19T15:44:00.003+03:00

The whole nation of Tanzania is on power rationing. There’s a timetable for when the power will be cut off for a particular area, but it isn’t proving very reliable. Our part of town is supposed to be without power for 14 hours every Sunday. So, I had invited a work friend (Helen) round for dinner on Friday evening, with plans also to play our instruments together (mine being an electric piano), without any thought of whether we’d have the power to do it. You can guess what’s coming…
…I arrived home from work to find that we had no power, even worse it wouldn’t return until after 9pm. (Oh, I forgot to mention, I have an electric cooker, so no way of cooking). Now what? I texted Helen and we developed a plan B, and I am happy to say we had a lovely evening. We took a walk down to town to get dinner, where I had chicken tikka and chips and Helen had pepper steak and chips. The only problem was having to talk loudly to make ourselves heard over the sound of the generator running outside. We walked back in the dark, under a beautifully starlit sky. Still no power, so we looked at photos on my laptop (which fortunately has a good battery) until…hallelujah – the power returned (9.10pm). Se we still go to make music with the piano and oboe.
Saturday afternoon I invited several friends around for cake. Not long after I had taken some flapjack out of the oven and melted some chocolate to spread on top, the power went off. I figured we’d just have to have cold drinks but…ten minutes later it was back on again.
So, who knows when the power will go off?! Have to be flexible here! And it makes you so much more thankful for lights at the flick of a switch when you’ve been straining to read by candlelight. (And I should just add, the power did go off on Sunday, for 15 hours!)

New territory

2009-08-21T11:48:00.003+03:00

This week I visited a language area I have never been to before. It was one of the most unpleasant journies I have been on, on account of the dust. The place itself was hot and dry, with lots of mosquitoes. If it wasn’t so hazy, you would be able to see Lake Rukwa spread out in the plain below, as it was, you could just see the edges of it and the sun glinting off the water through the dusty haze.

Amusing moments on this trip included seeing my Tanzanian colleagues looking as if they had turned old after the journey as a result of the dust in their hair turning it grey! We had a good laugh together about that. The dust didn’t show up on me, but it was definitely there, I could feel and smell it.
Discouraging moments included feeling unable understand conversational Swahili or to communicate my thoughts clearly. (I’m not sure how much of that was due to my lack of vocabulary, tiredness or my mind just being elsewhere!)
Best moments included walking out at sunset and seeing the red sun dropping down and going out at night and being able to see the milky way…my highlights are often connected to God’s awesome creation!
Fun moments included trying some new food, called sharif. It was like a giant samosa, fried in another layer of batter, and with an egg in the centre! It was so filling, it kept me going from breakfast (yes, I had it for breakfast!!) until 4pm, with only a soda in between.

Unpleasant moments included lying in bed and hearing the mosquitoes buzzing all around (though fortunately I was well protected under the mosquito net).
Tiring moments…well, it can’t really be called a ‘moment’ because it was constant – using Swahili all the time – that’s tiring. Most of my trips I make with English friends, but this time there was no chance for me to use my Mother Tongue with a fellow mother-tongue speaker (though my Tanzanian colleagues speak very good English, so I could revert to it if I really needed to).

A day is like a week

2009-08-11T09:03:00.002+03:00

Matema Beach - by Lake Nyasa

Matema seems to be a magical place. One day there and I feel I have been there a whole week soaking up its beauty, letting the early morning mistyness over the mountains refresh my soul as I sit there having my quiet time and watching the sun rising over the peaks, swimming in the fresh waters of the lake or feeling the sun warm me through as I lie on the beach with a book. That all sounds very romanticised – I’ll put it down to reading Anne of Green Gables! However, it truly is a beautiful spot. The ride there wasn’t quite so enjoyable, but so long as you could ignore the discomfort of sitting on the narrow uncomfy seats of a rattly daladala, it was a pleasant, if rather long journey, made all the more pleasurable by good company – the Wisbeys together with Matt’s family who are visiting (see picture). On the way back from our trip we visited the Bridge of God – a remarkable natural structure (see picture).
This all came after holding a follow-up workshop for Sunday School teachers in a town down towards the lake. The feedback was really encouraging from the few teachers that came – it seems that they have really tried to use some of the things that they learned in the earlier training they received, and that it’s producing results – such as the children understanding better and more children coming.
On arrival back in Mbeya we were confronted with the kind of issue that you might think we face regularly living in Africa, but which we actually face very rarely in our daily lives – the guard at the Wisbey’s compound had sent his baby to a witch doctor because it was ill. I won’t go into detail as it would make a whole blog on its own, suffice to say, this episode, coupled with hearing about the reality of withcraft from a Christian lady working with street children, all in the same week, has aroused fresh awareness of the spiritual battle that we face.
On a happier note – the rest of the day finished off in a fun way as I joined Karin briefly for her birthday ‘party’ and then went out for a Chinese (can you believe we have a Chinese restaurant here?!!)

Sing!

2009-08-03T09:05:00.005+03:00

One thing Tanzanians know how to do is sing (and dance – can’t have one without the other)! We recently held a two-day workshop to train Sunday School Teachers in one of the language areas where we work. One of the highlights of that workshop for me was hearing them sing in their mother tongue, with obvious joy on their faces. Being in that place reminded me once again of the importance of our work – that of Bible Translation. Often I find myself teaching in places where people from a variety of language groups live, so Swahili is heard more often than not, instead of their mother tongues. However, in this particular village, they all belong to the same people group, and lunchtime conversation was nearly all in their mother tongue. I so wished that, instead of just encouraging them to teach the children in their mother tongue, I could have actually given them Bible story books to use or Scripture itself in their language. Please pray for this work!

1) The beautiful location for the workshop 2) A carpenter at work in the village

3) Liz teaching the Sunday School Teachers

Worlds apart

2009-06-22T10:16:00.002+03:00

From coast to coast...
...from England to Tanzania...
...two beautiful countries, but worlds apart…

I’m home, that means I am back in Tanzania, and it’s that same feeling once again...that the last two months never happened. Tanzania is worlds apart from England. There seems to be nothing which connects the two lives. It’s a strange feeling. It leaves an uncomfortable sense of disconnectedness in relationships. When I was in England I seemed able to pick up my friendships so easily and naturally, but now I am back it’s almost hard to believe that England exists and those people continue with their every day lives. I love them dearly and I miss them and yet at the same time it’s not as painful as I expected because they’re somehow part of a different life, another world. I think it’s always harder for those left behind. A shame we can’t take our friends with us everywhere and share the experiences together, so that this strange disconnectedness is removed.
That leads me onto another thought…how missionary life is one of constant transition, constant comings and goings – either yourself or your friends never seem to be in one place for very long. It’s one of the hardest things about life here. Every new place we go we have to start again, making new friendships, or if we remain behind as close friends go on, new relationships need to be formed to fill the void. As people come into our lives at different stages they only ever get to know a part of us, unless you make the effort to dig deeper and are willing to make yourself vulnerable. But then comes the pain once again of making a deep friendship, only to have to say goodbye after a year or two. It’s hard to do that over and over again and I think it is particularly hard for singles who face these changes alone.
Anyhow, back to my return to Tanzania… arriving did feel very much like ‘coming home’, which was a relief! I wasn’t sure how it would be, after my trip to England ended up being twice as long as I’d planned. Unfortunately there is one thing from England that has travelled with me – the scar on my arm. Every time I take off my pressure garment I wince in pain – both physical and emotional, as the ugly red patch of skin is revealed. The thought of wearing these things on my arm for two more years is not a nice one (even though they really don’t look that bad – they just make my arm look very small!)
I had a lovely time with friends and family in England, despite my accident, and I am thankful to God for those special shared moments we had. I am also thankful to be back amongst my close friends here, and hope that whatever happens in the future, I will still be able to invest in the friendships I have right now, trusting that God will provide for my relational needs (as He promises to do – Mat. 19:29) when and if they or I leave.

Has anything changed?

2009-04-15T23:35:00.005+03:00

I questioned in my last blog whether my old home will seem familiar any more… the truth is, I wonder if anything has changed? OK, so Woolworths isn’t there any more, a garden centre has become Lidl, friends are pregnant and my parents have decorated their bedroom, but otherwise…?!
When I first arrived I was too exhausted to really take anything in having not slept well, if at all, for the previous few days and during travel. Arrival at the aiport was almost just as I imagined, with my parents, brother and sister-in-law ready and waiting with open arms (and a warm coat!) I landed straight into the busyness of an Easter weekend, but sadly I think I was too tired to really appreciate that special time of year, though I’d been looking forward to it for so long. Now that I’ve rested and my energy levels are somewhat restored I am starting to take in my environment more and catch up with people.
Truth be told, the environment is the same, though I am much more aware of how neat and tidy England is, how ordered life is, how people keep to the rules of the road (so that driving proved to be a joy rather than a stress when I took my first trip out on my own) and how there are lots and lots of cars! There’s just tiny changes like more recycling, more people out on bikes and new property developments.
The familiarity of everything, the ease with which one can slip back into life here, makes the reality of being here like some strange time-warp. I know that my stay here is only temporary and I refer to Tanzania as ‘home’, and yet at the same time it’s as if the last two years never happened. Even relationships have been picked up remarkably easily (helped, I am sure, by how faithfully people have kept in touch in my absence). However, at the same time as living here, and going through the motions of normal life in England (even playing the piano at church again on Sunday, which was a real privelage) I feel strangely disconnected… I’m half here and half in Tanzania, living in two time-zones as I keep in touch with close friends that I miss there while interacting with friends and family here that I have missed for two years!
On the positive side, some of the things I am really enjoying (besides the obvious pleasure of being with my family and friends) are eating nice cheeses, yummy meals out, walking in the surrounding countryside, long twilights, a fast internet connection and breakfast cereal!

Out for a walk with family and friends on my birthday

What will it be like?

2009-04-01T12:29:00.000+03:00

I’ve been musing over what it will be like to return to England. I can’t quite take in that in a week’s time I’ll be on my way. I picture scenes of greeting my family, who I have not seen for two years, with big hugs, and returning to familiar places and ways of life. But will it seem familiar any more? How will it be…
…to drive a little car on busy roads after driving a Land Rover on dirt tracks?
…to walk into a shop and have to choose which brand of margarine to buy, after only having one choice?
…to walk into a supermarket, after using shops that more closely resemble a village corner store? …to pay with plastic rather than cash?
…to walk down a street without being called out to, blending into the crowd?
…to drink water straight from the tap rather than from a filter?
…to be able to put a frozen pizza in the oven instead of making it all myself?
…to be ignored by people walking by rather than receiving friendly greetings as I go?
…to be reunited with people who were close, knowing that I have changed and that they too will have moved on?
The truth is, England doesn’t feel like home anymore. It seems like another world I once read about, my only connection with it now being through emails, letters and the BBC website! How will it feel to walk on English soil once again? Will it then seem like Tanzania is just a dream?
I think one of the hardest things about living here is that nowhere will ever feel completely like home again. I love Tanzania, but it’s not my culture, I can’t feel completely at one with the place. And yet I’ve absorbed something of this place into my being, and so England will never quite be my home again either. Where does that leave me?!

Expect the unexpected

2009-02-24T14:10:00.002+03:00

No trip in Tanzania ever goes quite as planned. Things were relatively predictable in England… I knew that if I ordered food it would be ready in half an hour, if a seminar was scheduled to start at 9am it would start at 9am and everyone would be there, if I wanted the toilet there would be toilet paper in the cubicle, if I wanted a shower the shower would work, if I turned on the tap I’d get water, if I needed light it would come at the flick of a switch, if I had a problem with my car the AA were always on call and if I needed to explain anything to someone, they would be able to understand.
It doesn’t quite work like that here. This weekend Liz, Matt and I took another trip. On Thursday we headed out to one of the language areas where we work, firstly to meet with some Literacy Teachers to see how things were going for them. This involved a pleasant ride along both tarmac and good dirt roads, through some beautiful countryside. We enjoyed a glimpse of a crater lake on the way, where we approached by a lady trying to sell us old German coins that had been found in the lake!

After being well fed, and loaded with gifts of bananas, mangoes and avocadoes, we continued on our way to a very hot town called Kyela. Our first challenge was to find somewhere to stay. In order to find a quiet place that had mosquito nets on the beds we ended up in a nice hotel on the edge of town. The only downside was that the air-conditioning in my room didn’t work!
On Friday and Saturday, Liz and I were teaching another workshop for Sunday School Teachers (our third this year). We planned to start at 9am but as usual we began over an hour late and people continue to drift in over the next hour. Tea break was supposed to be 11.30am, but when the caterers never turned up I found out that they were expecting us to come and get the food. Miscommunication. We finally got it at 12.30pm, and lunch was a mere 2 hours late (though I have to say the food was particularly tasty, even though it was the usual rice, beef stew and spinach).
The Sunday school teachers were fun to work with, but the environment was hot and we were tired and dehydrated by the end of the first day. The whole 8 hours I never needed the toilet, but the second day I was more careful about drinking water and had no choice but to check out the facilities. And, of course, no toilet paper, just a rather unusual hole in the ground that I won’t go into detail about, and the usual smell.
The second day of training came to a classic end, as we encouraged the teachers to choose someone to facilitate another meeting for them to get together and encourage and help one another. They held a meeting after the workshop to choose this person, and it turned into a big voting affair, with the choice of a chair-person and a secretary for their ‘committee’! A classic Tanzanian procedure – every church, organisation and event has its committee!
By four o’clock we were ready to roll, and very happy to be heading home. However… within half an hour the Land Rover over heated and steam was coming out the engine. We could hear the water boiling away in the radiator etc. We rolled the car into the shade and waited for it to cool off.

Not sure what to do, as there was obviously a leak somewhere, we made frantic phone-calls to various people. Finally we flagged down a passing vehicle, which turned out to be full of police, one of whom had a bit of know-how and was able to fix the pipe where we had seen a leak. Back on the road, we’d driven for just five minutes when it overheated again. Amazingly, we saw the police vehicle heading back towards us and next thing we knew they had contacted the mechanic they use down the road and we were able to coast all the way there. When John, the mechanic, had looked at the engine, the doom settled as we realised we would need to spend the night somewhere. It was too late to get the parts and fix it now. John lives at a coal mine, in a concrete village built by the Chinese in the 80s. We were able to stay at a house there for guests, which had seen better days. The bathroom had a shower, but there was no running water as the pipe outside was bust, which meant I slept to the constant sound of a waterfall from this broken pipe. However, more disturbing to one’s sleep was the sound of the frogs – incredibly loud! On the bright side, literally, we saw loads of fireflies – specks of light buzzing around, flashing on and off.
The next day John got to work on our car, in the baking sun, while we wilted inside the house, except for a trip to find food for us all. Finally, with great relief, we heard him start up the engine about 4pm, and so off we set, but no sooner had we reached his house than we began to hear the water boiling once again. Another look at the engine, and he realised that replacing the gasket (don’t ask me which one!) wasn’t enough, some plate or other needed grinding down, and he didn’t have the machine for this.

He was very hospitable – we sat in his house watching TV, reading, and eating grilled meat that he prepared, while we waited for colleagues from Mbeya to come and pick us up (a 1½ hour journey). Abandoning the car for a garage to come and pick up (we didn’t fancy towing it ourselves in the dark and rain and on steep hilly roads), we were picked up and headed home, finally arriving around 9pm.
At last, we thought, a hot shower and bed! But the next thing I know, I get a phone call from the Wisbeys telling me they have no power at their house. It had been off since 4am. Food had gone off in the fridge, and the freezer was defrosting. What an awful end to an exhausting trip!
Trips like this really try our patience and wear down our energy levels. It seems that even the most simple things can become stressful, the most carefully laid plans can go wrong and the only thing you can be certain of is uncertainty. Please pray for us, that we would be strengthened, that we would not get discouraged and that God would reveal what He is trying to teach us through these trials.

Snapshots of my life in Mbeya

2009-02-24T13:47:00.003+03:00

At the market... this is where I go to buy all my fresh fruit and vegetables and many other things!

My good friends Matt & Liz, who I mention so often, and Liz and I in our locally made outfits.

The view I enjoy on the way to work every day.

Travels and training

2009-01-28T11:38:00.004+03:00

Time to hit the road again – or get stuck on it! On Friday & Saturday, Liz Wisbey and I were leading a workshop for Sunday school teachers, training them in how to handle God’s Word carefully when teaching children and interactive ways to help children learn. So, on Thursday we set off to the Kinga language area, together with Matt Wisbey and Frank (a Tanzanian colleague) who had Literacy work to do there. We knew the roads on the most direct route wouldn’t be good as a result of the rains, but we took that way anyhow, despite my anxieties due to having got stuck on that route the previous year! And sure enough, we came to a slippery, muddy halt a couple of times. However, with Matt’s good driving, the faithful Land Rover’s low gears and the help of villagers who seemed to have been waiting for the next vehicle to get stuck, we were soon on our way again.

The Kinga language area is high in the hills – our journey there took us to heights of around 9500 feet (2880m)! This makes it a beautiful but cold landscape, and it rained most of the time that we were there.

We enjoyed good Tanzanian food in the same tiny little eating place most days – usually eating rice, beans, mboga (like spinach), beef and fruit. While waiting for the food we often sat around a little charcoal fire to keep warm. On the final evening we ate at a different place that is supposed to serve more ‘Western’ food – this meant we were able to get pasta instead of rice, but the rest of the meal was the same!

The workshop was fun, though tiring, with over twenty teachers, who particularly enjoyed the games we played with them. However, we have left with the feeling that we are spreading ourselves too thin. We don’t know when we will be able to go back to this place to follow up, as there are nine other language areas to visit. How can we be sure the training has been effective or how can we help them to continue to develop in their important responsibility of teaching children the Word of God? Liz teaching

By the way, we returned safely, without getting stuck, by a different route that was about three times as long!

New Year

2009-01-05T09:41:00.004+03:00

I wrote some thoughts in my journal about entering the new year…
I feel both excited and apprehensive…
Excited because there’ll be lots of new opportunities at work, with the chance to grow in reliance on God as we step out in these different activities in faith. Also looking forward to going home, seeing friends and family.
Apprehensive because there were lots of struggles in 2008, so what will the year ahead be like – will I have learned from them and changed for the good – dealing better with the struggles of the future? How will friendships develop? Will I grow spiritually? Will I develop better relationships with Tanzanians, a better understanding of the culture and a closer connection to it? My prayer: Jesus, be the centre, be my source, be my vision, be my satisfaction, be my reward, be the one on whom I rely, be my discipliner, be my friend and brother, be my all in all.

Preparing for and enjoying a delicious New Year's Eve meal in my home. Round the table, L-R, there's Elizabeth (a colleague in Mbeya), Amy (a fellow Scripture Use worker, but in another project), me, Liz & Matt Wisbey, Ollie (a linguist from a project in the North of Tanzania) and Rachel (from that same project).

Out for a walk near my home, in the fresh green growth that the rainy season brings.

Another Christmas in Tanzania…

2009-01-05T09:31:00.003+03:00

…A very different experience to last year! Rather than Christmas day with a Tanzanian family eating pilau (spiced rice) I celebrated this year’s Christmas with a group of friends, with some fantastic traditional Christmas food...
Eleven of us met up in Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania, and stayed with friends there who have a lovely large home that could accommodate us all. We were nearly all missionaries from different Wycliffe projects across Tanzania. I went along with the Wisbeys (good friends of mine who I’ve mentioned before), who had been at language school together with most of the others there. Although I wasn’t at language school with them, I had met them all at our annual conference.
Christmas dinner was an amazing feat of good home cooked food – roast chicken and beef, home made stuffing, bread sauce and gravies, roast potatoes, veg and creamed corn pudding. Dessert was of a traditional American flavour - the most amazing pecan pie I’ve ever had (not that I’ve had very many, but it was truly scrumptious and dangerously more-ish). On top of that, someone made Christmas cake, and a few days previously I’d made mince-pies with Liz Wisbey (making our own version of mincemeat) which turned out really well.

Eating Christmas dinner (that's Liz on the right)

One of my favourite activities of my time there was walking up Lion Rock, from where you get a fantastic view out across the city and the surrounding countryside. However, this walk had to be taken fairly early in the morning to avoid the worst heat of the day – it’s a lot hotter than Mbeya. I also enjoyed going to an ice-cream shop, having crispy duck at a Chinese, reading, chatting and playing games (oh, and sleeping!).

Now back at home I am enjoying pottering around, doing householdy things (I get a strange satisfaction from doing housework) and doing up the lounge. On the way to Dodoma I went shopping with the Wisbeys in Iringa (where I went to language school), where there are several projects run to help people such as single mothers or the deaf. I was able to buy a lovely dyed cloth as a throw for the sofa, and a multi-coloured woven rug for the floor. It’s brightened up the lounge no end! The Wisbeys had bought me a lovely wall hanging for Christmas which just happens to match the colour scheme perfectly, so I can’t wait to get that up, make some cushion covers and so finish off the lounge makeover!

Just off to visit a friend…

2008-12-01T12:13:00.001+03:00

…a simple thing by car, a direct half-hour ride to out of town. But when you have to rely on public transport and it’s the rainy season it’s a different story. The main form of public transport is something like a VW van, called a daladala, that may have seats for 15 people, but takes up to 25 if you cram together like sardines, which is the norm.

So, on Saturday my friend and I head to town to catch a daladala. We’re not sure we’ve got the right one as the conductor says one thing and the sign on the front says something else, but he assures us he’ll take us to our destination so we climb aboard. Half-way there we reach a bus-stop where everyone gets off. OK, so it’s not going where we wanted! However, the conductor refunds half our fare and tells us to get on the next daladala. A few minutes later we find what we need and climb aboard. Just as rain begins to fall, we reach the next place where we knew we would have to change daladala again. Fortunately we don’t have to wait long and we are off again. We are assured by a sticker on the panelling that…

Finally, arriving at our destination, we hop out into a deluge of rain. Though the friends we have come to visit are only a two minute walk away, we are soaked through by the time we get there – our little umbrellas are no protection against the torrential rain as we try to skirt the flooded footpath!
So, ‘just’ off to visit a friend? It took us approximately one hour to get there and we arrived looking like drowned rats! Nothing goes quite as you expect it to in Africa! (Oh, and by the way, we had a lovely time with our friends – we were soon into dry clothes and sitting down to a dish of something hot and steaming that I can’t quite describe but was apparently Paraguayan!)

Hamna umeme!

2008-12-01T12:10:00.001+03:00

No electricity! That’s been the cry for the past week, it was off from Sunday afternoon until the following Saturday afternoon. Each day rumours abounded that maybe it would come back on that day or the next, and now the rumours are that the electricity will be rationed. We were lucky, our landlord has a generator which is hooked up to our home too. It was put on for a few hours a day, just long enough to keep most of the freezer food frozen, as well as enabling us to use the cooker, kettle and lights in the evenings. Others were not so fortunate – we stored some friends’ food in our freezer, but others had to give away pounds of meat that they had in stock.
Now I am appreciating the peace and quiet of having lights without the throbbing of a generator (mind you, it does mean that music is once again blaring out from bars, and churches’ sounds systems are at full volume in the services!) The main sound I can hear right now is rain pounding on the tin roof, as the rainy season is once again upon us.

Jars of clay

2008-10-17T09:07:00.002+03:00

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Cor. 4:7)

I’m weak, easily broken, not very capable… but God can redeem my weak human efforts, and turn them to His glory. That’s what He’s been teaching me. I’ve got a lot to learn about trusting Him, recognising my own weakness, and letting Him be glorified through me.
Here’s a recent example… You may remember that I’ve been working on designing calendars with Bible verses on them in the different languages. We even went down to the printers to check on their progress (see blog below). Everything was looking good, but when the final calendars were sent to us from the printing press, the results were disappointing – font and colour issues. I’m a jar of clay, the works of my hands and those of others are going to be imperfect; things can go wrong.

But, that’s when God’s power is shown…
…There was nothing for it but to carry on with our plans to distribute the calendars, despite their quality. So off we set on a four day trip to start distribution. People loved them! No-one seemed to notice the mistakes! God can redeem our weak human efforts. I’m a jar of clay, but God can use even my broken, cracked jar to His glory.

Here’s some pictures from those travels (reading the calendar, holding a captive audience at a market, travelling around through beautiful countryside on dusty roads)…

Travels

2008-09-15T15:56:00.003+03:00

Imagine being on the London underground for 8 hours straight, in rush hour. That’s about as close as I can get to describing the bus journey to Songea – an 8 hour trip from where I live in Mbeya. I travelled this journey with three work friends, all having the fortunate privilege of seats because we booked our tickets in advance. However, there were bums in our faces and an old lady being sick on the floor as the aisle was crowded with over twenty standing passengers, for the whole trip.

Travelling in Tanzania is a whole new experience compared to any kind of travelling at home. Can you imagine having a loo stop on a coach trip where your toilet is the side of the road – women round the back of the bus, men round the front? Or what about having a live chicken under your seat? Or maybe you have the luxury of your own car… don’t forget that if someone indicates left, this doesn’t mean they’re necessarily turning left but are just letting you know it is safe for you to pass them, and if they indicate right, it means there’s another vehicle coming.

And that’s just on the tarmac roads. The fun really begins when you get onto dirt roads (which constitutes most travelling that doesn’t connect main towns). This time of year is terrible for dust – clouds of it billowing up around your vehicle (and inside if your ventilation consists of windows that don’t shut and doors that don’t seal)! When the rains begin, you won’t even want to be travelling those roads, the risk of getting stuck are too great in some areas.

But think of it like this… Here you get to have the adventures for free (how much would you pay for an off-road experience at Land Rover in the UK?), you get to travel through some beautiful countryside, you get to experience the richness of another culture from your seat and you can do shopping through the window as people rush to sell you things at bus stops!

And travels always have a destination – the anticipation of the destination makes you willing to bear the discomforts time and time again. This time our destination was near the border of Mozambique, where we were heading to a printing press! Out there, in the middle of nowhere, is an incredible German built settlement, replete with monastery, convent, hospital, nurses’ school, girls’ secondary school, farm (with sausage and cheese making), bakery, printing press and a beautiful church. Now there are only a few Germans there, volunteering in the hospital; the place is entirely run by Tanzanians. We spent a couple of days there, seeing around and checking on the progress of the calendars we are having printed there.

The printing press Eating out

Then it was back on the bus…
Nearly 8 hours later, we were back in Mbeya, where we climbed into the car (Toyota Land Cruiser, to be precise) of more work friends, and headed to the shores of Lake Nyasa (Malawi) for a couple of days break. This was another 3-4 hour trip, but entirely worth it as it was a beautiful spot to relax in. Swimming in the lake beats a swimming pool or the sea anytime… warm, free of salt or chlorine or seaweed and surrounded by mountains. What more could one ask for than to take a rest in a place like that, in the company of good friends?!

“The Lord is my Shepherd...

2008-08-26T09:21:00.004+03:00

...I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters.”

The words of Psalm 23 have been playing through my mind a lot of late, since the death of my nan. I’m not sure why this Psalm is so often sung at funerals, but whatever the reason, it is full of wonderful truths. And as I took a trip out on Saturday to a beautiful riverside spot, those first few verses played over and over in my mind like a record that’s got stuck (that makes me sound old – who listens to records these days?!). Not that I was really beside still waters…

We (the Wisbeys, Karin, three other colleagues and I) headed out into the middle of nowhere, along a bumpy dirt road, surrounded by dry grass and leafless trees until suddenly, over two hours later, you’re there… ahead of you in the near distance is a beautiful waterfall, and coming from it a lovely river, winding it’s way round into places just perfect for swimming (except for its temperature which was positively chilly).

We also enjoyed walking to another waterfall, snoozing on great slabs of rock heated by the sun, reading good books (I’m into John Grisham’s ‘The Testament’ at the moment) and having good food. And we never saw another soul the whole time we were there. Perfect!

Such days are wonderful escapes from the usual run of things. Work has been rather dry for me lately, I need some of those refreshing waters to flow through my attitudes, my days at the office and my relationship with God, to bring them new life and purpose and to make them fruitful.

A crazy July

2008-08-05T09:34:00.002+03:00

July was a very full month. There was our annual conference – a wonderful time on the coast of Kenya, with some great times of Bible teaching and singing, together with good friends, good food and moonlit strolls on the beach with the sound of the surf pounding in your ears. Then it was back to Mbeya, where we took in a couple of friends to stay for a week until their new house was ready. I can’t begin to tell you the nightmare it is trying to get good housing here and getting it all in shape for habitation – handymen are the same all over the world it seems, not turning up when the say they will, and here the quality of work is not quite what you’d hope for either. Who ever heard of having things straight? If a window frame can be crooked, let’s do it!!
Anyhow (put that in just for you, Matt!), Matt & Liz Wisbey are great friends, so I loved having them to stay, and though they’re now ensconced in their new home they still aren’t far away – just a couple of minutes up the road. (If you want to meet them too, check out their blog, which includes a cool link to a Google Earth map of where we live and our trip to work each day: www.wisbeys.blogspot.com/).

Out for a picnic with the Wisbeys

So, conference, friends and, of course, work. Most of my working life is spent in the office, but that doesn’t make very exciting writing. However, last week I headed out to one of the language areas that we work in, together with some colleagues, to hold a seminar. God really helped me out in making the seminar go really well, to His glory. So here I am holding forth in Swahili (spot the glasses).

And yes, it is as cold as it looks! But the views round about were beautiful.

The two hour journey there is not quite so pleasant, the roads are thick with dust as it’s the dry season, dust that gets in every crook and cranny of your car and body. When we arrived, they didn’t quite follow the Biblical tradition of washing our feet, but they did heat up water for us to wash our hands and faces and refresh ourselves after the dirty journey!

The new look KJ

2008-08-05T09:28:00.001+03:00

Yes, I have glasses! After a month or more of headaches just on one side of the head, I eventually took the wise advice of friends and got my eyes tested and finally landed up at this opticians shop to get fitted out with my new specs for a mere £14 – and they’re ones that react to sunlight!

Workshops in Winter

2008-06-11T10:11:00.002+03:00

Fleeces out... (a walk to the waterfall)

...June and July are the coldest months here, so as we set off to hold a workshop in a town three hours away, that’s even higher than Mbeya, we packed all our warmest clothes. It was the first time I have worn tights since being in Tanzania! I was lucky though – my bedroom backed onto the kitchen so the warmth of the stoves made their way through to my room and kept it cosy.
Trainers and participants...

...The workshop was a tad disappointing as far as turn out was concerned, but those that came joined in well. Now there’s just the question of follow-up, and what next?!!!

Celebrities at last!

2008-05-19T13:17:00.002+03:00

On Sunday, Beth and I went to speak at a church an hour’s drive from Mbeya. We received a very warm welcome, but felt more like celebrities than a couple of young people coming to offer a little teaching! We headed up a procession from the pastor’s house to the church, and a photographer was invited to take photos of us with the many people who requested them! The whole day was certainly an experience, but we were encouraged that people listenned well and appreciated the resources we had produced. Their choirs were fantastic, and we had a great time dancing along with them.

Mbeya Peak

2008-05-19T10:48:00.003+03:00

We made it! All the way to the top of Mbeya Peak’s 2834 metres (9297 feet). Actually we only had about 1200 metres of ascent to do, as we are already living pretty high up here in Mbeya! It was a great walk (despite having to get up before 6am to get an early start). The views were awesome and the flowers were beautiful. Unfortunately the top was in cloud (and very cold), but it cleared long enough for us take in the landscape spread out below us.
My legs didn’t enjoy coming down so much, but all ten of us (mostly work friends) made it safely back to our starting point, and very ready to get home and put our feet up (though, in my usual way I didn’t bother doing that, but started on the housework as soon as I got home instead!)

Views out over the surrounding landscape as we climbed

Mbeya Peak

The intrepid walkers... and some beautiful flowers!

Umoja wa Wakristo

2008-05-12T13:03:00.002+03:00

‘Unity of Christians’ – that’s how I spent my afternoon on Pentecost Sunday, at a meeting for Christians of all denominations, held in the stadium in Mbeya.

It wouldn’t be my preferred way to spend a Sunday afternoon considering the fact that it started an hour late, it was cold, it rained and I didn’t understand half of what was said.

However, on the bright side, it was great to see Christians of so many denominations gathered together (maybe around 600 people in all), praising God together through song and dance…

…and to see the leaders of these different denominations co-operating together to lead the meeting. Also, if I hadn’t been too cold too concentrate by that point, I’m sure they were great prayers that were said by various people on behalf of the nation and issues that it faces. Finally, just before the end, we got our chance…

…we (several of us from our project) were namely attending as we had been given a chance to say a few words about our work. At long last we headed home, about 6pm (having been there since 2pm), whence I hurriedly put on warm clothes, heated up a hot dinner, wrapped myself in a blanket and endeavoured to get warm again!

A walk in Mshewe

2008-05-05T08:53:00.003+03:00

Mshewe is a village about an hour out of town, where some friends from work live. Several of us headed on over in the faithful project Land Rover for an afternoon walk, with beautiful views out to the hills and across the Rift Valley, with fields full of beans just beginning to grow, sunflowers standing tall and coffee plants with the beans just beginning to turn red, ready for picking.

At the market

2008-05-05T08:50:00.003+03:00

Here are some photos a friend took of a typical market scene in the small town of Njombe. They give a lovely flavour of the colour and life of African markets. Can you work out what everything is on the market stall? The things in the lilac bowl are tiny little fish called dagaa – they stink! People eat them, but more commonly they seem to be used for dog food!

Made it!

2008-04-08T14:25:00.000+03:00

I actually made it to the top this time! Went up Loleza Peak (8714 feet high) with another couple of friends on Monday (a public holiday here) and had quite a time of it. We made really good time to the top (about 3130 feet of climbing in just over 2½ hours), stopping every now and then to exclaim over the clouds forming below and wafting up the side of the mountain.

At the top there are several telephone towers and a radio mast. We got chatting to one of the engineers who lives up there, and he let us into the compound and even allowed us to climb the mast! We didn’t dare go far, but we took it in turns to climb the ladder to the first platform; fun!

Unfortunately our return didn’t go quite so smoothly, after lunch we rocketed down until suddenly one of my friends realised she hadn’t got her camera. Last seen – lunchtime, nearly an hour ago. So, back we went, an exhausting return, only to find it wasn’t there. Coming back again, we found ourselves in the clouds, and then it started to rain. Fortunately it was a clear track so we didn’t get lost, but we slipped and slid on the mud and arrived back exhausted and soaked through, and very ready for a hot shower!

Zanzibar

2008-04-08T13:43:00.000+03:00

It’s a week since we returned from the ‘Island of Spices’, so now it just seems like a dream, but a very pleasant one! Beth (my colleague and friend) and I travelled up to Dar es Salaam for a meeting related to our work, and then popped over to Zanzibar with a couple of others. Our flight was delayed an hour because of poor weather conditions, but when we finally got up in the air, we were back down again before we knew it – it’s a short 20minute flight.
We spent our first day wandering round the narrow streets and alleyways of Stone Town, admiring the carefully crafted door frames and investigating the little shops full of paintings, materials, wood carvings etc.

We visited the Anglican Cathedral on the site of the former slave market, where you can visit a tiny room where up to fifty slaves were kept at a time, awaiting auction, with just a tiny window for air, and no food. Many died of starvation or suffocation. Our second day was taken up with a spice tour – I had no idea that turmeric was a root or what nutmeg looks like – it was a fascinating exploration of how different spices are grown.

<--Nutmeg Turmeric-->

Our next couple of days were spent on the opposite side of the island in a nice hotel, right by the ocean. It was wonderful to swim, snorkel (except for getting stung by lots of little jellyfish), relax with a book, soak up the sun and stroll along the beach under the stars. It was also a great time for food - delicious sea food at every turn, everything from shark to octopus.

Sadly my last meal on the island was rather wasted: Beth and I returned by ferry, like a big speedboat we hit those waves, and up and down we went, and out went my meal over the side!

A glimpse of KJ at work

2008-03-07T11:01:00.001+03:00

I don't just climb mountains and go on nice trips, once in a while I actually do some work! Recently we have held a couple of Scripture Use seminars introducing ourselves and our work to the Language Committees of two different language areas. The first seminar was also attended by the local Officer of Culture, so here my colleague listens intently (trying to understand his Swahili) as he encourages the seminar participants to value their culture and language.

After this seminar the rain tipped it down, turning the footpath to our friend's house (where we went to enjoy some delicious Tanzanian food) into a stream.

The second seminar was held in a huge church, we looked a bit lost clustered at the front, but despite the echoes, the seminar went well and the participation was good.

Pancake day

2008-02-18T12:20:00.000+03:00

I know I'm posting this blog a bit late, but I just wanted you to rest assured that I didn't miss out on my pancakes! Instead, I invited friends from work around to share in a pancake feast. Got pretty hot over that cooker, and had fun trying to use the hobs as all of the knobs were broken so you had to turn the connecting rods with a pair of pliers and had no idea what temperature they were on!

However, the results were good (and I still think lemon juice and sugar is the best topping)!

A weekend in Mshewe

2008-02-11T12:23:00.001+03:00

I’d heard time and again how beautiful Mshewe was, but I still hadn’t got round to visiting, until this weekend. On Friday, I accompanied my colleague, who lives in Mshewe, home from work, together with my friend, colleague and housemate – Karin. It really is a beautiful and peaceful place, some 9m from the main road, with lovely views out to the hills, and surrounded by fields of maize and coffee.

On Friday evening a combination of a storm just passed and the sun setting created a spectacular sky.

Taking a little stroll the next day, we saw some beautiful butterflies…

…and this photo is specially for the folk in Lapworth – when I saw the scarecrow, it reminded me of the scarecrow competitions at home, and all the photos I have seen of them despite not being able to attend. So here’s another for the collection…

One Sunday

2008-02-07T12:20:00.000+03:00

A couple of weeks ago, my colleague and I went to speak at a church about Teaching Children the Word of God. It seems a long time ago now, but I've had problems accessing my blog, so I've only just got round to updating it. Anyhow, thought you might like to see a few pictures of the day...

Here's a few pictures on the road as well, taken through the car window on the way back home!

Living on the wild side

2008-01-14T08:39:00.000+03:00

Monday I anticipated a quiet week in the office, working on the usual stuff. By the end of the day, I’d agreed to travel to Dar es Salaam, to accompany a colleague on the long 12 hour trip, leaving the next day and returning on Saturday. The trip up included a drive around Mikumi National Park (for the sake of a guest we were taking back to Dar to catch her plane). I had the fun of doing most of the driving in the park, where we saw lots of impala (a kind of antelope) and also zebras, buffalos, giraffes, wart hogs, hippos, crocodiles, birds, elephants and best of all, lions! There were several lionesses resting in the shade of trees, and their male majestically walking around. That made the whole trip worth it, despite the fact you could also drive for ages and not see anything much at all.

We had a lot of fun in Dar, particularly enjoyed eating by the ocean, and going shopping in a couple of big stores – seeing food items I had forgotten even existed, and stocking up on breakfast cereal, chocolate and other bits and bobs I can’t get in Mbeya.

Back on the road, returning to Mbeya, we had a good trip (including seeing elephants crossing the road ahead of us) until we got a puncture in the pouring rain. However, God miraculously provided for us, in the form of help from the owners of the Guest House we had stayed at a few days earlier, who just happened to be passing (though we were out in the middle of nowhere)! The scenery going back was stunning, and looking especially beautiful after the rains had made everywhere look that fresh new green of a spring in England.

Thought I’d put a picture in here of a typically overloaded vehicle! How do you fancy getting to town perched on a pick-up like that?

Back up that mountain!

2008-01-02T13:21:00.000+03:00

Loleza Peak, here I come again, to take a friend of a friend for a good leg stretch – her first time to climb a mountain, not exactly an easy place to start! The weather was perfect – some cloud cover to protect us from the fierceness of an African sun in summer (summertime now as we are south of the equator) and a refreshing wind (though I still got sunburnt). The views were particularly beautiful being fresh and green from the rains and God’s weird and wonderful creation was out in force with some strange bugs and beautiful flowers.

Below is a photo of Loleza Peak taken from town, so you can see how the whole mountain looks.

Christmas in Africa

2007-12-29T18:02:00.000+03:00

Different but great. When did it start? Maybe, making the Christmas cards was first – had to make sure I got all of those ready in time to send out! Then there was the Christmas music which a friend sent me to get me in the mood, and Christmas cards and parcels arriving through the post – the latter making an exciting pile filling me with anticipation for Christmas day.

There was the Christmas BBQ at a colleague’s home, where we all gathered for some delicious food (including antelope), while watching the black skies, lightning and rain.

Christmas Eve I went to Beth’s home (close colleague and friend), where we started off the Christmas celebrations by watching a classic Christmas film – ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’. Then I was transported home as I watched a DVD my brother had put together for me, with greetings from friends and family at church – I was laughing (and nearly crying) as I watched, it was so wonderful to see everyone’s faces and hear everyone’s voices.

Christmas Day, after opening stockings we had made each other, Beth and I joined a Tanzanian colleague and his wife for the day – going to church with them and then dining on traditional Tanzanian celebration food: pilau. Pilau is a spiced rice and meat dish (the closest I could compare it too would be risotto). This was accompanied by beef stew, a leafy green vegetable dish and beans, followed by fruit (and the inevitable soda). We had a lovely afternoon chatting together (with the rain pouring down outside) before heading on home before it got dark. The rest of the evening, back at Beth’s, we opened our presents and watched ‘The Snowman’.

Boxing Day, we went with some colleagues to a hotel to indulge in a swim and some good food, including Christmas pudding (a wonderful taste of home).

Thursday I joined other colleagues (colleagues being my main group of friends) on a trip to Matema, on the banks of Lake Nyasa (also known as Lake Malawi). Despite being cloudy, I really enjoyed the beauty of the place, swimming in the lake, snorkelling (getting sunburnt in the process) and the drive home through spectacular scenery, as the sun came out and everywhere shone fresh and green after the rains.

Friday I went on a trip down memory lane as I headed back to Iringa for the day (where I did language school). Went shopping, had a huge slab of hot chocolate fudge cake at our favourite café (Neema Crafts) and picked up Karin, who has finally finished language school and has at last moved into our home. It’s lovely not to be living alone any more J

Hope all who read this little Christmas account also enjoyed a wonderful Christmas, and I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Adventures on (and off) the road!

2007-12-19T08:55:00.000+03:00

Another two day trip – at least, that’s what we planned (Thursday – Friday last week). First stop Matamba. We reached this little town safely, met with the relevant people and dropped some things off for them, had lunch (in the VIP lounge resplendent with comfy chairs, posters and even a radio which we immediately turned down) and continued on our way. We knew the trip to the second town, Makete, might not be so easy, but the scenery was spectacular as we passed through Kitulo National Park (about 2600 metres above sea level, 8530 feet) – an area preserved particularly for its flowers which were evident all around as the rainy season has begun and turned everything a beautiful fresh green.

However, in the midst of these awesome surroundings we hit a terrible patch of road where we got stuck – grounded. We eventually got ourselves out (digging, jacking, stones etc.) but by then it was too late to continue so we decided to turn round and come back by a track running alongside that bad stretch of road. This went fine until we hit a patch of soft sandy soil where we just kept getting wheel spin and slipping. We tried everything that we could, but failed to proceed, so while waiting for help we kept ourselves warm in the car and watched an episode of ‘The Good Life’ on my laptop (which I had anticipated watching in a comfy guest house in Makete)! Eventually reinforcements arrived in the shape of 3 colleagues, by which time it was dark and cold. They had a go too but also failed and got it stuck even worse than we had! In the end we called it quits and abandoned the vehicle, getting home about 1am. Friday I then returned to the scene with folk from a garage who (after first getting their own car stuck) eventually managed to tow our Land Rover out. Our journey home took us down a road with 60 hairy hairpin bends, but we reached the main tarmac road safely. Surely nothing else could go wrong? Well, just a little hitch – we got a puncture. The garage guys whipped the wheel off and replaced it in no time and we finally reached the office in one piece, to my intense relief!

The travels continue

2007-12-10T16:18:00.000+03:00

I spent the first week of December in another of the language areas, travelling around every day to visit different parts. Another beautiful region, very green, farms everywhere growing maize, potatoes, beans, bananas, avocadoes, tea… I drank gallons of tea (which was a challenge as I don’t like it) and soda and ate lots of good Tanzanian food (chapatti, rice or ugali, with beans, green leafy veg, cabbage and occasionally beef or goat meat) – people’s welcome was wonderful to behold. I also had a wonderful taste of home when, much to my surprise, we came across some blackberry brambles!
When using public transport it was scary to watch the conductors running alongside the minibus and jumping onboard, and jumping off again while it was still moving ready to persuade people to use their bus, to take their luggage and help them aboard.
During our travels, we were recording people telling stories in their mother tongue. Despite not being able to understand a word (except for the odd Swahili one that slipped in) it was fascinating to be involved in this and to meet with people of all ages, especially wazee (older people).

Off road

2007-12-10T16:10:00.000+03:00

The last two days of November I went on a two day trip to one of the language areas that we work in. It was a beautiful region, very green from the frequent fogs, which also enables the people to farm all year round. I had great fun driving our project’s Land Rover over all kinds of terrain – dirt roads, paths barely wide enough for the vehicle to pass, fields and even a market with sellers hurriedly moving their merchandise out of the way.

What's a 'kitchen party'?

2007-11-26T08:48:00.001+03:00

Sunday afternoon I was invited to a ‘kitchen party’. This turned out to be something like a cross between a hen party and a wedding reception. I didn’t know anyone there (except my neighbours who invited me), but that didn’t seem to be a problem. It takes place a day or so before the wedding and it's just for women. Various people offer advice to the bride-to-be on different topics such as cooking, accounts, raising children etc. and the bride receives loads of gifts for the house - everything she could possibly need in the kitchen and a few other bits besides. This is all woven together by an MC and lots of dancing - gifts are brought in by procession, being held up as you dance down the hall to the bride-to-be, who stands there with her maid-of-honour. You might also notice from the photos the distinct white and pink theme – everyone was wearig these colours, or at least a pink shawl! And the hall was decorated with food – okra, peppers and onions hung from the ceiling, and baskets of vegetables decorated the stage!

Up the mountain again

2007-11-26T08:39:00.001+03:00

Yet another trip up Loleza Peak, with two other colleague friends. Very nearly made it to the top. Loleza Peak is 2656 metres high (8714 feet), and as Mbeya is about 1700m (5577ft) high, that’s about a 3150ft climb. You make a lot of height in a short space of time, and on reaching the big white cross you seem to be deceptively near to the peak. The next section was a steep scramble (though we came down a slightly more sensible path on the return) only to find the ‘peak’ was the first of three. Possibly suffering a bit from the altitude, one of my friends decided this was far enough, but I continued with my other friend to what looked like the peak, only to find this was the second peak. The third one didn’t look too much further or higher, but we thought we should get back; beyond it the hillside was adorned with phone towers! We weren’t the only ones climbing that day, and I’m not just referring to other hikers, there were also some boys out with their cows a good half-way up, and even higher there were some goats. We were happy to get back, ease hot feet out of boots, take cold showers and have a drink!

Another walk up Loleza Peak

2007-11-12T14:13:00.000+03:00

On Saturday afternoon, Beth and I set off for a trek up Loleza Peak - the mountain rising up behind my home (see photographs from before). We had no intention of making it to the top, but we got a good way up and could see for miles. We could even make out our respective homes, our office, my cycle route to work etc! I've tried to mark them in red - the top right oval is the office, and the big oval is the town centre, and the cross is where my house is (hidden by trees).

It was hot work and a steep climb - coming back down made our legs feel all shaky. Some beautiful flowers also dotted the hillside - possibly orchids? We could see the rain coming in from the hills on the other side of town, but somehow it never reached us, and had passed on by the time we descended. At the peak of our climbing we stopped for a rest to admire the view and to enjoy our banana chips snack!

Fellowship Group

2007-11-12T14:01:00.001+03:00

Every Thursday evening I meet together with friends and colleagues for a Bible Study. This week it was at my home - it was so great to have people round - helps to make it really feel like my home! Everyone brings a dish - you never know what will turn up but the spread is always fantastic.

Exquisite little flower

2007-11-12T13:53:00.000+03:00

As the rains begin, more and more flowers begin to appear. I came across this exquisite little flower by the side of the road one day, and now I am seeing them everywhere.

Mbozi Meteorite

2007-10-29T13:02:00.001+03:00

On Saturday I joined some friends on a trip to Mbozi Meteorite. This meteorite is supposed to be the 8th biggest in the world (or the 4th – depending on which guidebook you read), but despite that it was disappointingly small. We had travelled for a couple of hours, overshooting the turnoff by about 20km (as the signpost was barely discernable as such), before finally arriving – so that it’s diminutive stature felt like something of a joke, especially when we were charged for the privilege of looking at it. However, we still had fun eating our picnic there, by the 12 ton stone (about 98% iron), and there were some lovely views to be seen through the trees and on the journey.
Unfortunately, as the day passed I started to feel a bit rough, my whole body began to ache and when I got home I felt so cold and headachy. Malaria? Not sure, but took the medicine on the advice of my neighbours, who then took good care of me all Sunday – providing me with meals. So I enjoyed a quiet Sunday at home, listening to a sermon on my computer on the book of Ruth, and then reading the whole book of Ruth in my Swahili Bible for a bit of practice, writing e-mails, watching Jane Eyre, reading and dozing. Today I’m back in the office, and work continues as usual.

A Sunday afternoon stroll

2007-10-22T13:41:00.000+03:00

Monica, Tina (landlady and daughter) and I decided to go for a walk, after returning from attending the early service at church (8-10am) and then going to a café for ‘supu’ together. ‘Supu’ is a stew/watery soup with either goat meat (including offal) or chicken in it, accompanied by chapatti or grilled plantain. Not quite what I’m used to for breakfast, but tasty all the same!

A mountain rises up behind our neighbourhood (as you can see in the picture on the right, my house is the one on the right), so off we set. Not sure if you can call climbing a hill a stroll, but we took our time as we made our way up through the wooded hillside. There was a lovely scent in the air from the eucalyptus trees, birds were singing and at one point a stream trickled down the hill.

We didn’t make it all the way to the top, but we got some fantastic views over the city of Mbeya.

You could just about make out where our houses were (as I’ve tried to show by the red ring on the picture, and the arrow is the drive down to our houses). While the others took a rest, I pressed on and found the main path heading up the mountain – there was still a long way to go, but even after a few minutes more of climbing I could see for miles in all directions. One day I’ll get to the top!!

Chai time at the office

2007-10-16T13:39:00.000+03:00

Every morning we have a chai break (chai is tea), sometimes accompanied by fresh fruit from someone’s garden, and always accompanied by mandazi (doughnut like cake things). As you can see, there’s quite a crowd of us working in the office when we’re all there (and not out running workshops or visiting different project locations to gather language data or meet with the translation teams or church leaders…)

Off to work

2007-10-15T10:48:00.000+03:00

Work is a 15 minute cycle ride away (not the easiest of rides with steep hills in both directions). Biking the journey is working well at the moment, but how it will be in the rainy season I don’t know!

Here’s the office (we rent rooms from the college there), and our very own Scripture Use office - needs a bit of furnishing, but the space is great for creative thought and when you need a stretch after sitting in front of the computer for too long!
The view from the balcony is pretty good too!

Meet the Minja family

2007-10-15T08:55:00.000+03:00

Monica (left) is my landlady, and then there’s her husband, their daughter (who is my age) and their daughter-in-law who was visiting for a while. They are the most welcoming people I have ever met. I’m always popping round there for one reason or another, and more often than not end up staying to chat for a good while and eat with them. If it wasn’t for them I think I would find this place rather quiet and lonely, but as we live in the same enclosure I can always have company :-)

Karibu nymbani

2007-10-15T08:51:00.000+03:00

Welcome to my lovely new home! Here's some more photos of the house - now looking a little more lived in!What’s different about this house to an English home? Let’s see… the floors aren’t carpeted, there’s a lizard to keep me company in the lounge, there’s no washing machine and the electricity likes to go off occasionally (like every other day for half an hour or so)! What you might not have expected was the fireplace – the weather can get pretty chilly here in season so a cosy fire is welcomed. And what about the garden? A profusion of the most beautiful flowers, sweetly scented, and then there’s the banana trees, the pigs and the dogs. The dogs are just for security, and only let out at night, when they set up a harmonious howling together with all the other dogs in the neighbourhood. It settles down after a while though so I can sleep peacefully (so long as the frog isn’t croaking right outside my window)! I’m really enjoying living here, with the mountains around that I am just aching to climb, town centre a convenient 10 minute walk away and my lovely neighbours - the Minga family.

Lizard

2007-10-15T08:50:00.001+03:00

Just thought I’d pop this picture in here too – God’s wonderful creation!

Language School Graduation Day

2007-10-15T08:43:00.000+03:00

Going back a bit in time...
We’ve finished! Showing off our new (and very bright) T-shirts from Riverside Campsite - our congratulatory gift for completing language school.

Moving house

2007-10-01T11:54:00.000+03:00

I've finally arrived in Mbeya. Language school is over and it's time to start out in a new place, a new house, a new job...So, here's a sneak preview of the house I will be living in. It's a lovely house, but not the most convenient location so I'll just have to see how it works out over the next couple of months. I'll be moving in there this very afternoon - Monday 1st October!!

Taking a walk

2007-10-01T11:51:00.000+03:00

The path I have walked many a time into the village. Once again last weekend I traipsed along it - this time to go to the church in the village. The singing is wonderful there, I just hope that one day I will be able to understand the preaching! My mind just can't keep up with the speed at which they speak. It was a hot walk along that path. The last couple of weeks the weather has noticeably warmed - this is a relief in the mornings, which were so cold, but it means that in the afternoons you want to stay in a nice shady spot!

Beautiful floweres

2007-10-01T11:46:00.000+03:00

Despite being the dry season, it seems to be the time for trees to come to leaf and flowers to blossom. The colours are startling - reds, pinks and purples.

Life on the wild side

2007-09-17T15:40:00.000+03:00

Thus far I have deprived you of those typical African wildlife shots, so I thought it was about time I uploaded a couple of animal portraits! Having not been on safari, I hope you are impressed by such nice close-ups. There is one National Park that you have to drive through on the way down from Dar es Salaam to Iringa/Mbeya, therefore you are able to enjoy some free wildlife viewing.

A visit to the shamba

2007-09-17T15:30:00.000+03:00

Shamba? A shamba is like plot of land, a small farm. Recently I accompanied Mama Zaina to visit her shamba. After walking some distance, crossing the river and continuing along the other side, we arrived at her shamba - full of maize plants, green leafy vegetables (such as we are holding in the picture), tomatoes, beans etc. The maize and bean harvest has recently been taken in (on previous visits to her home we helped winnow the beans and strip dried maize off the cob, to later be ground into flour to make ugali).

Sunset

2007-09-17T15:25:00.000+03:00

I continue to enjoy my walks and runs in the surrounding countryside, the sunsets are fantastic. But only two weeks left in this peaceful (except for the squawking of guinea fowl, the 'singing' of the crickets and the croaking of the frogs) home (well, tent). At the end of the month it's time to move down to Mbeya and get stuck into my new job.

Having fun in the kitchen

2007-09-17T15:14:00.000+03:00

Cooking! Well, preparing to cook. The other week our class took on a different form as we learned how to prepare some typical Tanzanian dishes. This included killing some chickens. I refrained from doing the dirty deed, but proceeded to pluck, gut and cut one up (as can you can see)! Other food included stew (made with cooking bananas rather than potatoes), cocunut rice (ie. rice cooked in coconut milk), coconut beans, chapatis... all delicious. Took us all morning - you can't just open up a can of beans - no, first you have to sort through the dry beans for bad ones, grit and bugs, then wash them, then boil them for a couple of hours. And that was just for one dish!

Time to celebrate

2007-07-20T22:22:00.000+03:00

Ten weeks of language study over - cause for celebration indeed. I am the only one, of our class of four, that will be returning for the final six weeks of class, so we took this opportunity to say thanks to our teachers by taking them out for a meal. We went to a cafe in town that serves fantastic American style pizza and cinnamon rolls (and for those of you who like them, it's also meant to do the best doughnuts).

Visit the village

2007-07-20T21:54:00.000+03:00

Learning to cook mandazi at Mama Zaina's. Mandazi are delicious things - basically deep fried bread dough. They are so good when fresh and warm, coated in sugar.

Maize plants glow golden in the sun. The harvest is in. People's courtyards are full of dried corn-on-the-cob to be turned into flour (or maybe local beer!)

Village houses.

The Little Ruaha River - the weir is the beginning of an irrigations system for the coffee plantations near Riverside Campsite. This little 'waterfall' and the rapids around it are a beautiful place to sit and dabble your feet in the water (about a half-hour walk from the campsite).

The rocky landscape of Iringa region

2007-07-20T21:46:00.000+03:00

Language lessons

2007-07-20T21:19:00.001+03:00

Here we are, in one of the classrooms, hard at work.

Life at Language School

2007-07-20T21:19:00.000+03:00

It's amazing to think that I have been here for over 2 months, and have completed 10 weeks of language study. For this evening only I have access to a speedy internet connection as I am in Dar es Salaam, en route to Kenya for a conference, so I am taking advantage of it to pop one or two things on my Blog, which I have sadly neglected until now.

So what is life like at language school - you've seen the pictures, my home (the tent) and the surrounding countryside. As you can see it is a beautiful spot. The only downside is that it is the cold season at the moment, and when I say cold, I mean COLD! Mornings and evenings require several layers - I've even seen woolly hats and hot-water bottles around!

Meet lots of interesting people passing through the campsite, and others that are also doing language school there. Of course, the sad thing is that you make a friend and a few weeks later they are moving on. I guess that's the missionary life - constant comings and goings.

Well, I could waffle on for ages but most of you who are looking at this blog have probably just got my newsletter, so I'll call it a day.

Pictures from Riverside camp

2007-05-12T02:25:00.000+03:00

Welcome to my home (for the duration of language school)!

Travelling by bus from Dar es Salaam to Iringa - an 8 hour jouney. This is one of the stopping places, a brief chance to 'chimba dawa' (translated = 'dig roots', ie. go to the loo) and get a bit to eat.

Hamjambo!

2007-05-04T14:39:00.000+03:00

I've arrived in Tanzania! Right now I am in Dar Es Salaam, where it still feels pretty hot despite the fact the rains have cooled things down. Tomorrow we head off to 'Riverside Camp' for Language School (if you're looking on a map - this is at Iringa). I'm told it is cool there and beautiful, so I look forward to beginning my Swahili classes.
I'll post a couple of photos of the area to give you a few impressions of the place!

Springtime

2007-04-24T00:08:00.000+03:00

I'll miss the beautiful English spring, so here's a few spring flowers to cheer my way, as this time next week I'll be on a plane, about to taxi up the runway to wing my way to Africa!

I have the ticket!

2007-03-03T20:10:00.000+03:00

It's all booked - I'll be flying to Tanzania on 30th April, arriving the next day. In the meantime I keep working my way through the bits and bobs that have to be sorted before I can go.

Also managed to get a few days work through a recruitment agency - so I've had the pleasure of travelling through rush hour traffic to sit at a computer all day typing etc. Actually, it's not that bad - helping out with the admin for the Learning Disabilities service at the Rehab Hospital near Warwick. Friendly staff and a break from home and worrying about everything I need to do - what more can I ask for?!

England does get snow...

2007-02-16T14:17:00.000+03:00

England

2007-02-16T14:13:00.000+03:00

It's a dreary wet day in England, but I'm only here for another 2 and a half months so I mustn't complain about the weather. Soon I'll be heading off to Tanzania to work with the church out there, with the organisation Wycliffe Bible Translators. If I can finally decide which flight to take, I'll be heading out there on the 1st May.