quite the story or two...
Thursday, I woke up as nervous as nervous gets. I know it’s stupid; God is in control of it all. I know that, it’s just that, well, I don’t know what it is, but I was still nervous. I got some great emails with words of encouragement to help get me through the morning. Honey, thank you for the prayer Wednesday night at 10:00 (3:00 your time), that’s when I was trying to write my testimony! So, Beth and I rode together on the dala-dala, and she helped me completely rewrite my testimony. It made sense, but let’s just say that it wasn’t well-written. I’m going to blame that one on the dictionary. Holy cow was that thing tough to figure out! There are like 15 different words for the one I want to say, and the right one wasn’t even in there! Ahh…Oh well. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that it was POURING down rain!!! I was soaking wet by the time I got on the bus at Mwenge b/c we got dropped on the other side. My umbrella was too big to fit through the dukas, so I couldn’t use it. Oh well, such is life. I was still wet and cold by the time I got to Bandari. Mama Jofu right away told me to strip down and she gave me some of her clothes to wear (I’m going to post a picture of me in her clothes soon, it’s really pretty funny - although all the Tanzanians loved it! Many of the them called me Mzungu Mzaramu - that’s the white person from the Zaramu tribe. haha) Mama Jofu, Mama Claude, and I left to go visit Mama Jofu’s friend shortly after I got there. It was a pretty long hike, but not too bad. The rain had stopped by then, so we walked and talked along the way. I learned that I had COMPLETELY misunderstood the situation of the woman we were going to visit (her name is Mama Christina or Mama Emily - how funny is that? Her first born is named Emily and her second is Christina. haha). Okay, so I thought she was sick and dying and that’s why she couldn’t’ get out of the house. Well, it turns out that it was her mother who was sick last week. She wasn’t dying but she had migraines (or something like it) and couldn’t get out of bed. Mama Christina has a 3 month old baby, Christina, and can’t get out of the house b/c of the baby. Here, they don’t really take the baby out until they are 4 months old - it’s basically a superstitious thing. They think if someone looks at the baby wrong, they can make the baby sick or die. It goes back to the whole witchdoctor thing… Anyway, yeah, I really messed up the translation the first time I heard it. So, when we got there, they immediately went to buy us soda. And Bibi Christina started cooking us plantains. Only the guests ate, that made me feel uncomfortable but it’s apparently normal. After that, we sat and talked for a while. Then, Mama Jofu said that Mama Christina wanted to cook me lunch - ugali and fish. So, I said sure, which meant more waiting. I asked if I could help, already knowing the answer, and they said no. I went outside and sat on the mat with them as they cooked. Mama Jofu did let me shave the coconut though, and they were amazed that I knew how to do it. Then Mama Jofu told them all that I know how to mix the big pots of ugali and they really thought that was a lie. While they were cooking, I sat and talked with them and their neighbors. Some of the neighbors’ kids came over too to see the mzungu! I played with them and held Christina. She wasn’t scared of the “white lady”! That was such a great feeling. After about 2 ½ hours, lunch was ready. We had ugali, samaki (fish), and njegere (peas). They cooked the peas with tomatoes, oil, and coconut milk. Oh my gosh, they were soooo good. This time, we all ate together. Mama Jofu didn’t eat very much, and neither did Mama Christina. Mama Claude ate a little more than them, but then they told me to finish the food. I felt really bad, but that’s a cultural thing. So, I ate a WHOLE plate of ugali (and that stuff fills you up!) and like 2 or 3 bowls of the njegere. As soon as I was done, Mama Jofu said that it was time to leave. I hadn’t even been able to share my testimony! Well, before I got to Mama Jofu’s Beth and I prayed that the Holy Spirit would lead. He did, and the timing was not right. I did, however, learn that her family is Catholic, not Muslim. And Mama Christina wants me to go to Christina’s christening next April. Unfortunately, I won’t be here for that. So, we left in a hurry b/c I had to get back to teach English. It rained some along the way, but not too bad. Then, Mama Jofu quickly ran into another friend’s house. This was more poverty than I’ve seen yet in Tanzania. The floors were dirt, she didn’t even have cement. And her bed had a frame, but the mattress looked like it was lumpy (which isn’t possible with the mattresses you buy here, so it made me believe that her mattress was nothing more than clothes bunched up.) It was a sad situation. The woman was preparing cassava. Okay, let me explain something here. Most people don’t eat a lot of cassava. It’s kind of dry and, as Beth says, tastes like wood. Only the people who can’t afford much else, eat cassava (b/c it’s cheap and filling). So, she was cutting the cassava root for her and her two sons. She offered us some to eat (raw - which then does kinda have the texture of wood in your mouth and a taste I can’t describe). I was full already, but didn’t want to be rude, so I took it. We didn’t stay long and ended up eating on the run. We are supposed to go back and visit the Mama some other time. Mama Jofu walked me back to Neema House and I got there 30 minutes before it was time to teach. I got everything set up and ready to go. Neema House had been very busy b/c it had rained there all day. The ladies hadn’t even eaten yet. Since it was still raining no one else was coming, so I sat with them and waited while they ate. The lesson was short, but that worked out well. At the end, I almost started crying and then the ladies said that EVERYONE would be crying when I left. I can’t think about it! No, not yet! So, we closed up Neema House and I headed to the bus. The bus ride home wasn’t too bad. I finished reading 2 books and was able to sit and look out the window. It was a productive ride! Once home, I was exhausted though! It was a long, busy day and I had done a lot of walking! We ate dinner and then I watched the movie “Evelyn” and went to bed.
Let’s just say that Friday held quite a bit of change, flexibility, and uniqueness. Beth and I were supposed to go to breakfast at this nice hotel down by the water. We got there only to find out that it closed for repairs on Monday. So, we headed downtown to another hotel and had hot chocolate and pastries. It was still nice, not as filling, but we had good conversation and it was nice to relax a little. We then started to run our errands to prepare for the groups. We first went to get my pictures developed of me and the kids (my gift to them as I leave). From there we started our shopping. It rained, ALL DAY, so we were dodging mud puddles and torrential downpours. We got to Shoprite and Shrijees and did our shopping there without any problems. Then, we went to a little duka to buy water and juice, no problems still. Then, we went to Shoppers. By this time it was 3:00. There was a lot of traffic b/c of all the rain, and the roads were beginning to flood some. We did our shopping and Shoppers and had to grab lunch (we had anticipated being home already) real quick - chamas (a type of cheetoh/chip thing), cashews, and sambusas. It was good, but not the healthiest meal! Then, we headed back to Shoprite to get meat. Well, the road was completely flooded by that point - I’m glad we were driving a Patrol! We made it there, but literally drove through a river to get there! We got everything and then hopped back in the car to go buy a few things I needed before we headed home. We figured we’d be home in about an hour - guess again, 3 ½ hours later… Traffic was backed up for forever. What should have taken us 10 or 15 minutes, took us 1 hour and 15 minutes. So, we made it to my first stop, I got everything in 20 minutes, and then we got back on the road to head home, deciding to skip my second stop for the day. Well, we then sat in traffic for 2 more hours before we got home. Thankfully, Beth and I were able to laugh about all kinds of things during those 2 hours. By the way, it should have taken a MAX of 20 minutes to drive what we drove in 2 hours. We saw several dala-dalas submerged in water, several streets completely covered in water (people were wading down them in water up to their knees), a man hopping on one foot b/c he had lost a shoe in the mud, and then a little pick-up truck stuck. He was in a mass of water, and had tried to get to the main road. He couldn’t see where he was going exactly, and had run into a ditch. The front end of his car was completely submerged. You couldn’t see the hood! About 12 men came to help him and they pulled the truck out! It was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life! Then, they found the road and helped him get to it. We had guardian angels all around us b/c everyone was simply being aggressive drivers. Intersections were completely blocked, cars broken down on the side of the road…I could go on for hours, but I’ll stop now. We got home at 7pm (we had left the house at 9:15am), ate dinner, and then crashed on the couch.
Today, being Saturday, has been a relatively uneventful day. I’ve worked on miscellaneous projects for the groups and that’s about it. So, there you have my last few days. Things are getting crazy around here! They’ve been great days though. And now today, I have a lot to do to get ready for the groups. So, if you don’t get a post for a few days it’s b/c I haven’t had the time to sit down at the computer. I may not have the chance to respond to many emails either, sorry! Take care and I’ll post as soon as I can.