On Sunday, November 4th, Emmanuel and I took two separate daladala’s to go visit his family. Let me paint a picture for you concerning what a daladala is as it is my primary form of public transport. I use daladalas whenever I want to go any farther than walking into Monduli i.e. Arusha town. Imagine a small public bus the size of a large van. Picture four rows of seats in the main cabin. From there, four people to a row (with the rows being wide enough for three), plus anywhere from three to six people standing in the main cabin area. Finally, there are another two to three people up front with the driver.

This is the form of transport we took to get to Emma’s family’s home in Njiro. We made a transfer in town, walking to the Njiro bus stand (stendi) to catch our second daladala. We walked the homestretch to the home proper.

Njiro is a village/suburb (not entirely sure what the correct word is there) outside of Arusha. They have a university for business there and a small village structure. The most important thing in Njiro is Emma’s family though. Our visit began with me making introductions in Swahili.

My language abilities & skills have improved tremendously since MS-TCDC. The full-blown cultural immersion plus continued studying has made all the difference.

Post introductions, we had a late lunch, and then listened to some music videos courtesy of the television. Arguably the most pleasant creature comfort or luxury experienced there was when I got to watch the first half of  a Detroit Piston vs. Philadelphia 76ers basketball game. Wow. What a treat that was. No commercials due to having been recorded. Glorious viewing.

No surprise, Emma’s family were dynamite humans. I met his mum and dad, one of his sisters, and a nephew. Emma is one of six. He is the middle boy, and has three other sisters. His family has five cows and some chickens.

The hospitality they showed me was of the finest quality as per usual. Tanzanians would give you the shirt off their back, literally, if they knew you needed it. Tanzanian generosity knows no limits.

 

Have you ever seen a snake? Of course you have. You don’t live under the proverbial rock and are a human being of the 21st century. We have all seen a snake before.

Now, have you ever seen a 20 ft plus python/boa constrictor? Or ugly, dingy gray colored, squat crocodiles? Or a rather large lizard that hunts and eats the infamous Black Mambo (only arguably the most dangerous & lethal snake in the world, which was also at MSP) due to being impervious to its venom? Or the endangered African crocodile (different from the Nile Croc) with a long, skinny snout that has adapted to being most fit for eating fish and such? Or a certain type of hawk that was all majesty and sublime cool?

Well. I have I. Early November, on the 2nd, that Friday afternoon, Natalie and I went there for some caged wildlife viewing and burgers. Natalie was another American, recently graduated from East Carolina University, ECU, who came with Operation Bootstrap Africa, the end of September. She helped teach the Pre Form I girls with Bibi Kay, a rockin’ 82 yr old from Hawaii who has been coming here every year for the last decade. The American equivalent to a burger acted as the feature dish to our dinner later that evening.

This Snake Park also has one of the only snake clinics in TZ for those encounters which end up with the unfortunate humanoid getting sucker punched with fangs to the leg area. They house considerable amounts of anti-venom on site.

Located roughly 30 minutes away from MGLSS, this place has come in handy as a nice place to get away from the weekly grind/routine a couple of times now (three) since arriving here on October 2nd. Oh and I nearly forgot! It also has camping facilities for those wishing to stay overnight. I’ve yet to indulge in those amenities.

Fun spot 🙂

On Saturday, October 27th, the Form IV girls graduated from MGLSS. At the time, they had yet to take all of their national examinations, having just begun exams earlier that week. Exams for them lasted for two weeks. School wide, exams lasted for a month. But on that Saturday, MGLSS honored them for four years of scholarship and study with a worship service and then commencement ceremony.

The campus was PACKED with families, friends, and loved ones. I had never seen so many people on campus before. It was a truly special day. The girls were all dolled up in their traditional Maasae clothing & garb. They wore beaded crowns, beaded cuffs, beaded masks, and carried ornate staffs.

After the commencement ceremony ended, all of the girls went into classrooms and shared a meal with their party guests and received gifts. The young ladies were radiant in their outfits, and wore joyous expressions on their faces all day long.

 

During the second half of our week at  MS-TCDC, we had a cultural cooking session with our teachers & grounds staff. At this class session, my class of Aisling, Sean, and I, joined with the other beginner Swahili class there, and the intermediate class, to help prepare various Tanzanian dishes.

We made chips mayai (French fries cooked with egg and vegetables), samosas (veggie & beef alike), a fruit juice blend or cocktail, pilau (seasoned rice with beef), and meats on the grill. I diced up a whole chicken with the help of Vincent (grounds crew gentleman pictured above) setting the marks where I would ultimately dice.

The beautiful thing about this afternoon, is that we helped prepare a lot of the dishes that we had been consistently enjoying for some time, and then shared the meal with everyone; other staff, faculty, and administration.

Plus, at MS-TCDC, the team feel, where everyone is committed to the mission of helping people learn how to speak Swahili, was on full display with people in addition to the teachers, helping us practice and learn how to cook Tanzanian food!

The Cultural Arts Center (CAC)  trip was impactful as the Tanzanian trio saw three different cultural dances performed by one of the only, if not the only, group of paid dancers in all of Tanzania. After this delightful hour of African dance, Randy gave us a tour of the compound.

The cultural dances has drum and synchronized dance movements and numbers together. It was quite impressive. And different. The tour of everything on the Cultural Arts Center’s campus was equally admirable.

Randy has been here for many years. He has been the driving force behind the CAC developing into what it is today. It has a music mixing room, a library that started with a handful of books, that now has well over a thousand volumes having to do with  all things music, a performing arts center, a conference building, and Maasae and other indigenous peoples traditional hut buildings on site. Remarkable place.

 

In route to  MS-TCDC for two weeks of beginner Swahili language classes, Linda tossed out the idea of going to see some African wildlife real quick. Naturally, the team responded with an affirmative yes.

We made a quick detour at this game lodge & sanctuary. There I saw a water buffalo no more than 20 ft from me in the water, a handful of African egret sort of birds, zebras & donkeys, and what I could only imagine to be a cross bred of the two, all at one spot.

The water buffalo was dehorned due to needing to do that to keep him alive. Poachers take the horns from animals like water buffalo and rhinos & sell them (ground or whole) to markets predominately in Asia. Asian culture holds these tusks as being natural aphrodisiacs. The water buffalo was rather striking to see in the water, apparently having a wicked temper, so getting in there with him was naturally out of the question.

The reason why I think the brown zebra is a hybrid, like a tiger/lion mix aka liger, is because of the dirty color of its skin/fur. Curious markings.

The last day of September, Sunday , Sept. 30th, after church at Arusha  Community Church I went to the Arusha Coffee Plantation for a farewell meal sendoff. The next day, Sean and Aisling were leaving for their sites. I headed out for Maasae Girls Lutheran Secondary School on Tuesday.

Our lunch party included the Jacobson’s (Marc & Linda), another set of Lutheran long-term missionaries  who work at the Cultural Arts Center at Tumaini University named Randy Stubbs & his daughter Marissa, plus a Peace Corps volunteer who has been here for over two years now named Malvery,

The food was super delicious. While there, we also went to a working rehabilitation arts center called Shangaa that is part of Arusha Coffee Plantations mission.  This outfit  uses recycled glass, plastic, and textiles to make art. Additionally, they employ people with disabilities.

It struck me as being significant due to the materials used being environmentally conscientious and the labor employed being cognizant of a marginalized group. The goodness of humanity on display. Love to see that.

The last evening that Sean, Aisling, Alex, and I spent together before breaking up after having been together every day for 3.5 weeks , found us dining out at Khan’s BBQ per someone’s recommendation. I want to say Linda Jacobson, the long-term ELCA missionary, as she is the supreme authority on all things Tanzania, but I could be wrong.

The spread was something else as it included grilled beef & lamb (with the special Khan’s rub on both), samosas, nan, sauerkraut, beans in a curious sauce, spicy carrots, fries,  the equivalent of stuffed pizza slices, and a dessert I can’t recall. The fellowship was super solid and the closure, knowing that we would be saying goodbye to Alex the next day, of the utmost importance.

 

Where to begin!? That has been one of the more befuddling and confounding questions that I’ve wrestled with since heading to Chicago on August 14^th. The obvious answer is from the beginning. The first thing I would like to share with my friends, family, and loved ones, who have chosen to walk with me on this journey, that I will no longer be serving as a Young Adult in Global Mission (YAGM) volunteer in Southern Africa, specifically the northeast portion of the country, in the Limpopo province.

Some of my cohort, as well as my mum, have posted pictures and such detailing this change of plans, but I’ve yet to confirm or make a statement myself. The South African government, for a host of possible reasons, has decided to no longer accept, much less approve, Volunteerism / Charitable Work visa applications. This was the category / class of visas that myself, as well as the rest of my cohort, all applied for initially.

This announcement from Global Missions leadership was delivered to my cohort and I over dinner, a week before we were set to go abroad. As you can imagine, it caused quite a stir! Fortunately, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has strong relationships and partnerships with the Lutheran church in Tanzania, as well as Swaziland, so six of the seven of us will be dispersed in those two places.

I will personally be serving somewhere in Tanzania. The exact spot / location, as well as the host family assignment, and the nature of what exactly I’ll be doing, remains up in the air. Those particulars & details are currently getting sorted and worked out as we speak. Naturally, this has led to a decent amount of underlying / low-level anxiety and fears surrounding the unknown, but the fact-of-the-matter is, that even my situation in Limpopo was fairly mysterious. I had a general location and a basic understanding of what I would be doing, but nothing concrete. You don’t know what you don’t know, so in a way, this 180 switch-a-roo doesn’t change too much.

God is good though and forever faithful. He works good for all people (personal agency considered too. The ol free will piece is a factor), and so I trust in Him, and the people in charge of me. I share this change of plans, coupled with lack of future details and particulars, not to lambast anyone, but to state facts. All is well. The journey is long.

In closing, I wanted to share with you my friends a few pictures from the beginning, where mom & George dropped me off at the airport, as well as some pictures of my Southern Africa, Tanzania, Swaziland (SATS) cohort, in transit to the African continent! I thought these would be fitting as they have to do with final goodbyes and initial travels. Stay tuned for another update having to do with some highlights from orientation & the sending there! I am somewhat behind in the telling of the past few weeks ventures and experiences, so it will take a minute to get caught up. Please bare with and be patient.

Thanks again for all the support. Asante sana (meaning ‘thank you very much’) in Swahili. (I took a week of language classes last week, so expect more Swahili words as language acquisition and practice becomes more routine 😊 ). Choi!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton