The Comings and Goings of Geita

The Hospital and Such

2012-02-16T13:16:00.000+03:00

We were fortunate this time around to be able to go to the best hospital in Tanzania for Harper's birth. This was not the case for Baylor's. The facilities were very nice and the staff was knowledgeable and friendly. The food was excellent as well. Brett actually likes to go there just for the breakfast. They make French toast. Though things are still never quite the same as home. For example, one nurse kept trying to make me drink hot tea throughout my labor. She thought it would give me energy. When we lived in China people always seemed to think wearing more clothes would solve all physical ailments. Here, apparently, it's drinking tea. Sorry, I just didn't want any hot tea. Another time the orderly who brought my food just picked up Harper without asking when she came in. But still, we were extremely pleased with our experience.

Baylor is enjoying being a big sister. She always wants to know where Harper is and what she's doing. She's very concerned when she cries. She finally decided she wanted to hold Harper, but she still seems pretty scared of her and prefers to just sit next to her.

After the first week of constant eating, Harper has gotten into a more normal schedule and is actually one of the easiest babies I've ever been around. Hopefully it will stay that way. She is generally always content and only cries when she's hungry, has gas, or is naked. She does not enjoy bath time. She typically only wakes up once a night to eat so we're even getting a fair amount of sleep, which is nice.

All in all, as long as the electricity is on and we aren't dying of heat exhaustion, things are going great and we're one big happy family.

Introducing Harper Mae

2012-02-07T14:52:00.000+03:00

I don't know how many of you have ever been pregnant, but if you have, you probably understand why I didn't feel much like blogging recently, being every day more and more past my due date and also in the land of million degree weather here in Dar Es Salaam. We came here ten days before my due date in order to see the doctor here, make sure everything was in line with the hospital, get somewhat settled into the house we've rented while we're here, and just to be around decent medical facilities in case the baby should come early ( Though I never for a second expected her to come early, as Baylor was two weeks late). Our doctor here is Dutch and we like her a good deal. Upon our ultrasound at 39 weeks, we were told that the amniotic fluid was low and there was a good chance we'd need to induce, but that we would at least wait a week and see if there was any change. The next week (on my due date), we saw that Harper was still growing a little and seemed in no hurry to come out, despite the lack of liquid around her. Because she was still growing some, we decided to let her bake in there a little longer and see if she came out on her own. However, she did not, and by 41 weeks, she had stopped growing, so the doctor decided that an induction was indeed necessary. Oh joy.

So, on Saturday, February 4th, Brett and I headed to the hospital to begin the fun that is birthing a child who doesn't seem to want to come out. After five hours of labor on pitocin with no pain medication ( I can't say I recommend it), Harper Mae joined us in this world of ours weighing in at 6 lbs, 12 oz, at 20 1/2 inches long. This whole labor and delivery experience was much better than it was with Baylor, for which we are quite thankful.

Harper and I are both still a little sleepy but are recovering just fine. We are happy to have her join our family; even Baylor... I think. Here are some pictures for you gaze at fondly.

Two

2012-01-08T10:05:00.000+03:00

About a month ago, Baylor turned two. I completely sailed over this event in my blogging due to our busy-ness settling back into life and work here after furlough. I promise we did celebrate though. Our team came over for jello jigglers and Baylor got a new Elmo lunch box. Fun times for all.

Baylor has been such a blessing to our family. She's smart, fun, and a little bit stubborn. She loves to climb, swim, and twirl. Her favorite color is yellow. Her favorite foods are fruit. She doesn't like to sleep or to be told what to do. She likes pointing out every animal she sees as well as any mode of transportation, especially big trucks and tractors. She's starting to be able to count and pick out letters and can speak using complete sentences more and more every day. Her favorite word is "No." She is two, after all. We love having her in our family and are excited to see her become a big sister, hopefully in just a few weeks.

This is one of my favorite pictures of her, taken this past September in Duck, North Carolina, on vacation with my family. My mom decided we needed Christmas early so she stuffed our stockings and Baylor got this great ladybug swimsuit, which you can see she is obviously very excited about.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-26T13:10:00.000+03:00

Yesterday morning I was awakened at 6:30am by an ecstatic Baylor, who had run into our room yelling, "Mama! Mama!" I opened my eyes to find her with two suckers in her hands and a kit kat in her mouth, squealing "Candy! Candy!"

Upon reaching the living room, I saw several presents unwrapped and Baylor's Uncle Brian's stocking completely ransacked. I suppose that's what kids do. So I took away her suckers (not without protest), rewrapped the presents, restuffed the stocking and Brett put everything out of reach. A couple hours later we were joined by the rest of the household for breakfast and fun presents time.

I hope you had a holly jolly Christmas.

We're Back

2011-12-23T12:12:00.001+03:00

We've actually been back in Tanzania for a full month now, but I decided to continue blogging for a while about our furlough since I did such a bad job of updating while we were actually in the States. The flights back to Geita weren't so bad. Baylor did well, though we were all exhausted by the time we got home. And to be honest, we're still a little exhausted. Baylor has had difficulty sleeping ever since we returned and only in the last few nights has she actually slept somewhat normally. By normally, I mean she hasn't woken up screaming like she's being attacked by mutants multiple times a night often for hours. She's not sleeping as late as she used to, but I think that might just be her getting older and not needing as much sleep. I'm not a big fan of getting up before light. Fortunately, Brett usually gets up in the early morning with her.

We've been super busy, trying to accomplish as much as we can in a short period of time, knowing we're leaving again in the middle of January for Dar to have Harper. Our team currently has three apprentices working with us; a single guy and a married couple, all recently out of college, who are interested in learning about missions in Africa, helping our team, and perhaps moving somewhere on the continent to work in the future. We've had the couple living with us and we've enjoyed them all immensely. Four player games are so much more fun than two player games.

First Fall

2011-12-09T17:49:00.000+03:00

When we first moved to Tanzania, we had originally planned on taking our first furlough after two years, which would have put us there last spring. However, Brett and I both love the fall and it's something we miss while in Tanzania. No leaves changing colors, no college football, no sitting in sweatshirts by a fire sipping cider (though as much as I love fall, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't trade my year-round 75-80 degree weather). So we pushed our furlough back 5 or 6 months so that we could be home for all those things. The leaves are my favorite thing. We made Baylor play in the leaves for the first time. I say made because she didn't seem too keen on the idea. Once in, she had fun, but only for a few minutes. I think the fact that it was 85 degrees that day in Alabama and she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt made it less fun and more itchy. But we had a great time watching her (and throwing her in).

The National Peanut Festival

2011-12-05T09:35:00.000+03:00

Unless you know Brett or are from lower Alabama yourself, you are probably unaware that Dothan, Alabama is the "Peanut Capital of the World." I myself question the veracity of this title, but I know there are a lot of peanuts around the area and that Dothanites are very proud of them. In fact, every year they have a huge fair and parade to celebrate the beloved peanut.

When we lived in the States we always made sure to make it to Dothan for the event. It was always one of the highlights of Brett's year and I enjoyed it as well. For the last few years in Tanzania, Brett has been saddened by his inability to attend, so we made sure that we were able on our furlough. Baylor needed to experience the unceasing fun. So here is our family underneath a giant happy peanut.

No fair would be complete without rides and Baylor had a blast. Most of the time an adult was required to go with her but she got to drive these cars all by herself. I know the picture's blurry, but she was so excited I wanted to put it in anyway.

She was also able to ride the train, shouting "Choo! Choo!" the whole time.

Baylor loves animals and was able to feed and pet several goats, camels, sheep, and even a llama.

After the petting zoo we braved the cold to watch the pig races. Yes, they actually had pig races. Sooey! Fun times for all.

Baylor the Ladybug

2011-11-28T10:44:00.000+03:00

I can't say Halloween has ever been my favorite holiday. I never disliked it, but it just couldn't compare with Thanksgiving and Christmas. My opinion might have been different as a candy-loving child. But now that I have a child old enough to enjoy the holiday herself, I find that I like it more. It's fun to get Baylor dressed up and get to see her so excited about going to all the houses.

This first picture was in San Antonio at the Trunk or Treat at my aunt and uncle's church. Baylor is with Batman, otherwise known as Gage, my cousin's son. They had a lot of fun together.

We were in Searcy, Arkansas for actual Halloween night and were able to trick or treat with my aunt and uncle there. They have a great neighborhood for festivities and there were a ton of kids out. Baylor would go up to the door, say "trick treat", "thank you", and then turn to me and say "more?" She caught on quickly to the fact that she could only go to the houses with the front porch lights on and would immediately start running for the next one.

Notice the healthy crackers are off to the side by themselves.

I think another reason I liked Halloween so much this year was because it was a holiday I could actual celebrate the exact same way as when we lived in the States. We try to replicate things as much as possible in Tanzania but somehow it's just not the same. We enjoy them still, but not in the same way. I'm glad we were able to be in America for at least one major holiday.

In the Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-24T01:16:00.000+03:00

We've been busy this last month traveling through 8 states, visiting family, friends, and sponsoring churches. I know it would have been better if I had been posting that whole time, but I haven't been, and I'm not going to to try to go back and re-create it all. However, I will put up some pictures of one of our most enjoyable evenings.

Last week we stayed in Fort Worth, Texas with a friend of Brett's from college, Greg, and his family. They have a daughter about Baylor's age and we decided to take them to the local pumpkin patch for the evening. Fall is my favorite season, at least before it gets too cold. I love the leaves changing color and putting on a sweatshirt at night and even watching college football on occasion. Fall festival type events are particularly fun for us.

That last one was taken towards the end of the night and it was getting to be a bit past Baylor and Ellie's bedtimes. All that fun just wore them out.

You Probably Already Know

2011-09-29T16:19:00.000+03:00

Well, I can't say I'm the best at keeping up with blogging while here in the States. I'm sorry about that, but not too sorry; I'm enjoying my time with family, friends, and convenient eating. One other thing we have done a bit of while here is go to doctors. Baylor had her first real check-up, where we discovered she's perfectly healthy after not having had any other check-ups the first two years of her life.

Our most recent trip to the doctor was for our new little one, now 23 weeks into life before the outside world. If you read Brett's blog, you will already know what we're having, but if not, you get to find out now. Another girl! yea:) We've already decided on a name -- Harper Mae Harrison. Harper is looking perfectly lovely according to the ultrasound. Everything is normal and on schedule. We've been trying to explain to Baylor that she's going to have a sister and that I have a baby in my tummy. She lifts up my shirt and searches everywhere and says "Where baby?" She never finds her.

Earthquakes and Hurricanes, Oh My

2011-08-29T23:02:00.000+03:00

It seems that Mother Nature was so excited I'm back in Virginia that she just couldn't contain herself. This was the second earthquake I've felt. The first actually, was about four months ago in Rwanda. This one was much bigger. Not big enough for me to think we were in any real danger, but big enough that I got Baylor up from her nap and went and stood in a doorway in case anything fell off the walls. Definitely the biggest consequence of the event for me was dealing with a tired, grumpy baby for the rest of the day. I was awakened two nights later by an aftershock, but by the time I really had a grip on my mental faculties, I figured it would be over before I could get Baylor and go downstairs so I just stayed where I was and went back to sleep.

Hurricanes, though, are a more familiar natural disaster for us Virginians. We never get the brunt of the storm, but often enough get the edges of the storms to know we'll be without power for a while and have to spend the next morning clearing limbs and debris from our yards. I have a blister and some splinters from my efforts this year. I remember one time in high school getting out for a hurricane and it ended up changing direction so we had the day off because of some light rain. My mom told me of a time when I was seven or eight when we lost power because of the storm for several days. It was really cold so my dad lit a fire in the fireplace and we all stayed down in that one room. My mom put a roast, potatoes, and carrots in a pot in the fire and cooked dinner.

It's a lot more inconvenient to live in the States without electricity than in Africa. It seems that it is either hot or cold without air conditioning or heat; there are too many cars on the road without working traffic lights so there are extra accidents; people usually have electic stoves and ovens so you can't cook; and of course, most people don't have back-up generators so you lose much of what's in the fridge and freezer. But that is a nice excuse to eat all the ice cream.

Thus far my time in Richmond has been surprising, hopefully I won't be encountering any tornadoes or floods here in the near future.

Family and Friends

2011-08-24T21:32:00.000+03:00

We've been traveling so much the last few weeks visiting with family and friends, running many an errand, and meeting with sponsering churches that I just haven't seemed to find the time to post.

After four days in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area with both of our immediate families, we went to the Nashville/Murfreesboro area for a week. We were able to stay with my sister's family for a few days and then with Daniel, Kasey, and AnnElise George. It was so fun to see Baylor playing with her cousins and friends. We got some car work done, saw the doctor, went to the bank, had a great meeting with the shepherds at Stones River (our main sponsering church) and in general were busy all the time. We did find time to go hiking and rock climbing at Foster Falls. Baylor loved it. Brett tried to convince me to let him rock climb with her on his back but you just have to draw the line somewhere.

From Tennessee we drove to Christiansburg, VA to see Casey and Susie Lowrance, and did our best to get Casey kicked out of med school for skipping class and not studying. We got to hiking in the Blue Ridge mountains and it was beautiful. I miss the trees and greenery of Virginia. I like the Tanzanian landscape as well, but it's completely different. Both times we went hiking we were able to borrow a backpack that you can carry small children in. And both times Baylor loved it in the beginning, hated it in the middle, and fell asleep in the end.

I would have post more pictures but I'm really awful at remembering to take my camera so we have here just a few of our time with Casey and Susie. I'll try to get some pictures of our time with other people and places at some point.

Observations

2011-08-12T22:07:00.000+03:00

It's funny how different things seem after leaving a place for so long and then returning to it. America mostly seems the same, but certain things stand out a lot to us now. Here are 10 random observations from a furloughing missionary's first week.

There is A LOT of sugar in everything.

Things are big, from buildings to people to serving sizes at restaurants.

We keep our country clean and quite well-manicured.

We have a lot of laws, especially about driving, which most people seem to completely disregard.

Baylor is not nearly so interesting to people here as there are a plethora of other young blonde children.

Everything looks new and often shiny, except for my three year old clothes.

There is too much security in airports.

People schedule everything and the whole day is filled, even weekends.

August is hot.

When you order a sandwich without mayo, it actually comes without mayo.

And We're Here

2011-08-06T14:56:00.000+03:00

After a many days journey we finally made it to the good ol US of A on Tuesday night. We were supposed to get here Monday night but alas, it was not to be. Last Saturday we flew to Dar Es Salaam and spent the day in our hotel room waiting to get up before dawn to catch our next flight to London. Upon arriving at the airport at 6:30 in the morning, we were greeted with "Hello. Your flight has been delayed for a minimum of 10 hours. Please wait for more details." Oh happy day. Fortunately, British Airways put everyone up at the Holiday Inn (one of the nicest hotels in Tanzania) for the day while we waited. And then they put us all up their for the night because the flight had been delayed until the next day due to the fact that the original plane had to make an emergency landing in Greece because of engine problems. The pilot assured us that we were not in fact on that plane but that a new one had been flown in. As a um, somewhat nervous flier, I was relieved to hear that. The flight was pretty smooth and Baylor behaved wonderfully for the most part, and we landed in london just 2 hours after our flight to Atlanta departed. So, we enjoyed another night in a hotel paid for by British Airways. By enjoyed, I don't mean we were thrilled by staying yet another night in a hotel with Baylor, but just that it was free, which was nice. And the breakfast buffet was amazing--strawberries, hashbrowns, fresh squeezed orange juice and milk that tasted like milk. Delicious.

Our last flight was not quite as pleasant as the previous two. Since we missed our first flight we got stuck in the back (poor person next to us) instead of in the bulkhead where infants usually get put and Baylor was less than thrilled with being confined yet again for nine hours. Plus she was exhausted and I imagine a little confused. But after four hours of grumpiness she went to sleep for the rest of the flight while I endured scary turbulence for another four hours. I hate turbulence. But we landed safely and soon made our way to the customs line where Baylor promptly threw up all Brett and the floor. And while that was not exactly pleasant, we were swiftly moved to the front of the line, so there was a silver lining. After a ridiculous amount of security, we finally exited the airport where we were met by friend extraordinaire, RaDora, who took us to Chick Fil A and then to a soft comfy bed. I love beds in America.

And We're Off! almost

2011-07-27T09:32:00.000+03:00

Today is our last full day in Geita before we start making our way to America for furlough. For the last week we've been scrambling trying to get our house ready for our teammates, the Groens, to move in while we're gone. We've finally got shelves in all our closets, albeit with no rods or doors, but that's ok. The important thing is that there won't be waist and shoulder-high piles of boxes and things lying about in the corners of rooms. It takes a bit longer to do things like this here than in the States. I'm sure most of you would not have lived in your houses this long without closets. But you have to do everything yourself here. Brett goes and orders the wood and then gives measurements to the wood cutting guy. Hopefully, that guy cuts the wood to the correct size and then you can begin the process of installation. Brett has spent the last two weeks gathering every screw and fisher plug in Geita. The city actually ran out before we could get everything up so we still lack a few things. Also, you have to wait for a day when there is electricity so you can run the electric drill. No hammering here -- we have concrete walls. So anyway, it takes a while and I'm glad it's finally done. It makes me feel a bit more organized.

We've managed to pack up most of our things to give the Groens some room and after dinner tonight with the McNeals we'll head to Mwanza tomorrow, pick the Groens up from the airport on Friday, spend a nice day with them, fly to Dar on Saturday, fly to London on Sunday, and fly to Atlanta on Monday, where we will finally be able to hug our family and friends and eat an Arby's roast beef and curly fries.

See you all in a week!

Senene

2011-07-21T20:31:00.000+03:00

Senene are considered to be an especially delicious treat here in Tanzania. "What are senene?" you ask. Why, they are grasshoppers. Wings and legs pulled off and fried to perfection. Mmmm. During a big rain, they come out in droves and our house feels like it's in the midst of a good ol' biblical times plague. Since Brett and I in general do not partake in the eating of sanene, we allow the neighbor kids to come over and gather them: from our porch, on top of the car, hanging on the windows, in a pile on the ground from where we swept them out of our house. You get the picture. It's like Halloween to them (without the costumes).

It is currently dry season so we have not seen senene in quite some time. However, earlier this week our friend James, who grew up in Kenya a missionary kid, came to stay with us on his way through back to Mwanza from Bukoba. Now, Bukoba is a town further north and is a very green and beautiful area. And this green lovliness comes from rain, and rain leads to senene. So up in Bukoba they have sanene year round and James brought us a bag of them.

Baylor seemed intrigued so we let her have a taste. But Baylor's new-found senene love was not satisfied by just a morsel. She ate and ate and ate to her heart's content. It wasn't particularly strange to me that she liked them. What was strange was that later in the evening we had chocolate pudding for dessert and Baylor took one bite and didn't want any more. My child prefers grasshoppers to pudding. She's truly a Tanzanian child.

The Mysterious Doughy

2011-07-17T08:38:00.000+03:00

Most of the time when Baylor is talking, we understand what she's saying. She may not say the words exactly right, but for the most part she's pretty clear. However, she has one word the Brett and I have no idea what she means.

"Doughy!"

Hmmm. We know this is something that she believes is a real word. We also know that doughy is something that lives outside. She always looks outside when she's saying it. She gets very excited about doughy. She'll kind of jump up and down, animatedly pointing out the window while repeating her favorite word.

Yesterday we were outside at the gold mine and Holly asked Baylor if she could show her doughy. So Baylor immediately started searching, calling for doughy as she looked. She didn't to find it; so now we can eliminate grass, bushes, buckets, buildings, and flags. Maybe an imaginary friend?

Our best guess is she's trying to say doggy. However, she can say dog, puppy, Gene, and Max (the names of our dogs), so I don't know why she'd add in another one. Who knows? Perhaps one day we'll discover the answer. Until then, we're actually quite entertained trying to figure it out.

One More

2011-07-13T14:53:00.000+03:00

"One more what?" you may be thinking to yourself. One more...month until we'll be in the States? One more...birthday until Brett hits 35? One more...time they play that song on the radio before I scream? While those things all might be true, they are not what this post is about.

This post is about announcing the coming arrival of one more Harrison. Yes, we will sometime in the near future be having another baby. I'm about 12 weeks now, so this little one will be born sometime at the end of January or beginning of February. My due date is actually January 26th, but after Baylor's due date came and went and the days kept going by for two weeks, I've decided to go with more of a due range than a date in an effort to keep my sanity at the end.

We saw the doctor in Mwanza a few weeks ago and after four hours of mostly waiting, we were assured that everyone seems to be in perfect health thus far. I'm not so sure lying on the couch trying not to throw up for six weeks constitutes perfect health, but whatever. I have started feeling a little better this week and have even ventured out a few times.

Baylor seems to have no concept of what's coming, but Brett and I are very excited. I'm especially excited about coming back to America soon on furlough where I won't have to cook three meals a day. Take out has never sounded better. We ask that you pray for the health of Harrison #4 and me, and I'll keep you updated on our preggie progress.

The 4th Festivities

2011-07-05T17:29:00.000+03:00

We always enjoy the 4th of July here because we can essentially celebrate it in the same way we would in America. Holidays here in general can be a bit disappointing, what with the lack of family and 80 degree Christmas parties, but Independence Day is all about warm weather, grilling with family and friends, and perhaps some lawn games.

Yesterday the McNeals came over for the day and we were joined by a couple of friends, James and Meg, from Mwanza.

We played some cards while the kids swam. We listened to bluegrass music while grilling good old fashioned hamburgers. We even had our second annual July 4th bocce ball tournament.

We ended our day with a lot of eating: hamburgers, baked beans, pasta salad, onion straws, watermelon, and of course, star shaped, red, white, and blue cookies with ice cream (Holly's our master baker -- she even made the sprinkles from scratch).

Baylor didn't want to go to bed, but we finally got her down in her holidayesque pajamas after several hugs and kisses.

Baylor Fun Days

2011-06-21T20:33:00.000+03:00

Baylor loves to swim. We typically only go to the pool once a week for our family day which just wasn't enough for her so we found this little pool to use in our backyard. The trial run seemed to be quite successful.

Last Saturday out at the gold mine was Family Fun Day. So Brett and Baylor headed out for the afternoon with the McNeals (I wasn't feeling well) for a day of super fun. They had big blow up bouncy toys, a giant slip and slide, a book booth, bake sale, barbeque, raffle, fair-type games for kids and even face painting. Baylor settled just for a hand though.

By far, Baylor's favorite part of the day were the prizes for the games she played--namely, candy. We don't let Baylor have candy very often so when she does get it, she has difficulty concentrating on anything other than sweet deliciousness in her mouth (including looking at the camera). All in all, fun times for the little one.

New Words

2011-06-14T16:40:00.000+03:00

Despite her constant babbling, Baylor is not exactly ahead of the game on talking. Learning two languages at the same time (I assume) is confusing and thus, we have a toddler who doesn't talk too much. She does, however, understand a great deal in both English and Swahili. She loves to clean and when she spills something we tell her to go to the kitchen, get a rag, and come clean it up. This she does with abandon. No milk puddles on our floor.

She loves animals and can say dog, cow, and twiga (Swahili for giraffe). She also loves to moo. Her new favorite words though, are "uh oh" and "no." I'm pretty sure I hear those words at least 50 times each a day. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that one of Baylor's first words is "no" since she hears it so often from her parents, but still, I wouldn't mind a "yes" on occasion.

She has started calling both me and Brett "mama." I'm not sure why she does this because she can say "baba" (what Baylor calls Brett -- it's Swahili for daddy) and when I say "take this to Baba" she does. It's amusing to me; not so much for Brett.

I'm looking forward to when she starts talking more. Partly because I think Baylor will be less frustrated because she'll be able to communicate better and partly because kids say funny things and I think it will be entertaining.

The Life of a Tanzanian Woman

2011-05-31T18:36:00.000+03:00

Being a woman in Tanzania is hard. You get up at dawn; you fetch water from the spring; you cook breakfast; you wash the clothes by hand; you hoe the fields; you feed the chickens; you take care of the kids, etc, etc, etc, until you finally go to sleep at night. Tanzania has very definite gender roles and the role of the woman is never ending.

I was giving a ride into town to a few Tanzanian mine workers and while driving down the road we saw a guy run out of the bushes, across the road and into the bushes on the other side. A few seconds later he was followed by another guy and then a woman. She was carrying a bunch of things and tripped trying to get up the hill after she had crossed the road. She turned around and looked behind her, eyes wide in fear. I followed her gaze and saw a man with a large dog, obviously chasing them. I don't know what they had done, probably lived somewhere illegally or perhaps stole something. The men in my car said "the life of the poor women in Tanzania is hard." They noticed that she was the one carrying all the things and when she tripped the men she was with didn't even attempt to stop and help her. They mentioned it was better to be a man here. I'm not sure what happened to the woman or the men she was with. I hope whoever was chasing them was merciful.

Life for me in Geita is not the same as for Tanzanians. As Americans, we obviously come from a different culture and don't do things the way Tanzanians do just because we live here. Sometimes, though, it can be frustrating because everyone expects that we do and should live that way. If Brett takes Baylor into town people say, "Where is the Mama? Why do you have the child?" A Tanzanian man spent the night at our house last night and in the morning (after I had cleaned for him, cooked for him, and made up his bed) said "why did you sleep so late? (it was 7am) Your child was up, your husband was up; he had to make me tea and take care of the child. It's not good. You should not do this." I just decided to leave the room and start making breakfast. I don't think he was trying to be rude or insulting. He was just trying in his manly wisdom to point out that I wasn't performing my motherly and wifely duties as I should be and that I should work on that. And so yes, it can be frustrating living in this society as a female, but I do know that it could be much more difficult and I am grateful for the life that I have. I don't think that it's necessarily a bad thing to have gender roles; I'm just happy that I have the freedom to move about them some.

The Great Modern Divide

2011-05-19T16:28:00.000+03:00

As with everywhere in the world, times are changing. They just seem to be changing slower here. I think it's important that all people have access to education, good health care, nutritious food, adequate shelter. I don't think it's a bad thing when people move from huts to houses. I do think it's sad when people lose what makes them unique. I've traveled a lot and it seems to me that while every place is indeed different, countries and cultures seem to be rapidly melding together. There's a McDonald's on every corner in China. Clothing styles in Peru look much the same as in Virginia. I can buy all the seasons of Friends at a gas station in Dar Es Salaam. It's nice to feel comfortable no matter where you go and have something in common with people on the other side of the world, but I imagine traveling the world a hundred years ago, or even fifty, was a much more eye-opening experience than it is now. All that to say technology and modernization come with great advantages, but I hope the world's cultures hold on to what makes them special.

Tanzania is a country where for the vast majority of it's people, life has not changed drastically for centuries. Most people still live in mud huts with thatch roofs. Most walk to the local stream or well or river every day multiple times to fetch water. Most people don't have electricity or running water. They often wear the same style clothes their great grandparents wore, especially the women. Life changes slowly in Africa. Traditions are held onto; sometimes for the love of them, sometimes for the lack of ability to change them.

Yet there are quite a few who currently straddle the modern and the traditional here. I could talk about the struggles that come between the younger generations with their elders or the difficulties of getting ahead for anyone who actually makes any amount of money, but I feel this post has been serious enough, so instead I'll amuse you with images (or rather descriptions) of a couple people I've seen recently mixing the old with the new.

Not many people here can afford to fly. So you know anyone who steps off a plane is someone with great resources, probably from a larger city with access to malls and movie theaters. The other day while dropping someone off at the airport I saw a Tanzanian girl in jeans, high heels, makeup, the works. When she got her luggage, she picked up the suitcase, firmly put it on her head and made her way to the taxi. I wanted to ask her if she noticed the suitcase had wheels. Girls are taught to carry things on their heads here at an early age. Yesterday we were driving down the street and I saw a women walking in a business suit, carrying a briefcase. This seems to be indicative that this women has been well-educated, accepted in her career and is probably successful. Not easy in this society. Strapped to her back in a Kanga (the traditional cloth of choice) was a little baby, sleeping away. Some things are just ingrained forever.

Tandem Biking

2011-05-11T11:20:00.000+03:00

There is a South African/British couple venturing across Africa on a tandem bicycle. They left England eight months ago and have been through part of Europe, the Middle East and quite a lot of Africa. Someone they met along their journey knew Calvin and they asked him if they could stay with them while traveling through Geita. The Groens, being in America on furlough, referred them to the McNeals, and so last night we met them over there for dinner.

I'm not sure quite what I expected of people who are bicycling across Africa, but I assumed they would be hard core athletes who love nothing more in life than exercising on the open road. I did not expect them to have Phds from Cambridge with plans to teach geology in Cape Town upon arrival. They are just very smart people who love exercising on the open road. While here they wanted to talk with some geologists at the gold mine so we introduced them to some people we knew there and as I type this post they are touring the mine and asking lots of intelligent questions.

Living in Tanzania I've found that I meet all kinds of people I never would have otherwise--there's never a dull moment. Well, actually there a lots of dull moments, but those aren't very interesting to write about, are they?

If you'd like to read more about our cycling friends, their website is www.tandemafrica.com

Geita -- the Capital

2011-05-04T16:52:00.000+03:00

Geita used to be just your everyday district in a larger region ( a region is essentially the same as a state; a district like a county). But as of january 1st of this year, Geita is now the capital city of it's own region. Yes, we are now a state. For the last several years the Mwanza region has been rapidly growing in population, yet retained the same number of government offices and employees. Things have been getting backed up, to say the least. We heard the rumor long before it actually came to be. We wondered if it would really happen. Surprisingly, it did. And even the exact date they said it would be.

Because of this, Geita will be changing a lot over the next several years. They've already started clearing land for the the new government offices. They've outlawed bicycle taxis (I'm not sure why) though people aren't paying much attention to that particular mandate. They've even put big red Xs on raggedy buildings along the main street to mark them for demolition; I assume to make Geita look prettier. We figure one day we might even get more than the one paved road we already have.

All this, though, did not make renewing our residence permits easier. We still had to go to Mwanza to the Immigration office there as ours does not yet have the capabilities to process the visas. So off we went. We were told this would take a day or maybe two--instead it took 5. I suppose that's not so bad compared to the five months it took to get our original visas. But we do get tired of driving to the "big city" to do things like this. It's time away from home and work. Brett managed to get some work done there, but still, it's gotten a little old. I don't know if having our own immigration offices here in town will make the process any shorter, but at least at the end of the day we can come home and sleep in our own beds. And of course we also have the pride of being Geita, capital city of Geita region. And if that doesn't make life fantastic, I don't know what will.

Pasaka In the Village

2011-04-25T15:12:00.000+03:00

Pasaka, Swahili for Easter, is the biggest day of the year for Tanzanian Christians. It's a 4 day national holiday that everyone celebrates with lots of food and lots of sitting in church. Tanzanians love long church services.

Some time ago a Tanzanian Christian, Yohanna, decided he wanted to teach others about Jesus. So in his hometown of Kasilo, about a two hour drive from Geita, he began to share his faith. Introduced to our teammate Calvin by a mutual friend, he asked if he would mind coming out occasionally to help him teach. Calvin did so and a relationship with the village of Kasilo and the Geita Team was established. The Groens were just leaving to go home on furlough when Yohanna called and said that several people had decided they wanted to be baptized on Easter. He wanted to know if since Calvin was leaving, Brett might be wiling to come and teach on baptism to the new believers.

So yesterday we headed out at 7am to spend the day at the village of Kasilo. Upon our arrival a little after 9:00 we were greeted heartily and served a big plate of rice and beans. I actually really like rice and beans (Brett hates beans) but even for me, eating them not hungry at 9:30 in the morning wasn't especially appetizing. Baylor, however, a rice and beans fiend, was delighted.

After Yohanna pulled out a guy's wisdom tooth (seriously), we headed to the meeting area under a couple tarps. We had some good worship time and after Brett's lesson we headed to the "river." By river I mean large puddle of stagnant water in the middle of some rice paddies. But hey, I didn't have to get in it. It was great to participate in such an event. Eleven people dedicated their lives to Christ. My favorite moment was when a teenage boy who a bit afraid of the water was dunked three times because he kept trying to not go under. The water being only about three feet deep I wasn't too worried about him; he came through it happy and proud.

After the baptisms we headed back to the meeting place. We sang and Yohanna taught a little more for the new believers. We were then served our second helping of rice and beans. They really are quite tasty.

While Brett spent time talking with the men about agriculture and Bibles, I half talked with the women and half kept an eye on Baylor playing with the other kids. One time she managed to get all the way into someone else's house before I got to her. The girl can run. The occupants of that house were quite amused by their visitor.

Around 3:00 we had communion together and then we headed home. Baylor was asleep within minutes. Playing in the village always wears her out. Just as we were getting back to Geita we were stopped by a bunch of cows. This is a common occurrence but I thought it was funny with the giant Coca Cola billboard in the background. Tanzania often seems to be caught in the middle of tradition and modernity.

I hope your Easter was as happy as ours.

A Guest

2011-04-16T15:48:00.000+03:00

We have Tanzanians in our home often. But the other night we had our first Tanzanian guest to spend the night. I can't imagine an easier house guest. Lazaro was a member of one of the churches the Mwanza team planted some years ago and he has been a gifted and capable leader and servant. Last year he was offered a job working with a medical clinic (run by the churches of christ) in Tanga and so he and his wife moved away. I know the Mwanza team has missed him greatly and he came this past week to visit his old friends. He came by Geita for two days and spent the first night with the Groens and the second with us. We had chili for supper and he ate his up heartily, following Brett's lead and adding hot sauce and cayenne pepper to his bowl. Baylor loved spending time with Lazaro and greeted him in the morning by brushing his hair. Fun for everyone.

Puppies and Slides

2011-04-11T10:37:00.000+03:00

A while ago I promised pictures of Baylor with the puppies. They've grown a bit since we first got them, but all in all, the same boisterous puppies...boisterous enough to pull my sheets down from drying on the line--argh. The black one is Max and the brown one is Gene.

Baylor sometimes gets a little overwhelmed with the puppy love.

We go to the gold mine sometimes to swim and play. It's the only pool and playground within a three hour drive and Baylor is starting to enjoy doing more at the playground than just eating the sand.

Baylor's One Year Pictures (a little late)

2011-03-29T11:00:00.001+03:00

A good while ago we took Baylor's one year old pictures and I realized I never posted any, so here they are. Well, here are a few of them. Just a few months later and she already seems a lot bigger than she looks in these pictures. Nonetheless, she's pretty cute.

Cups and Clothespins

2011-03-27T09:36:00.000+03:00

Baylor's favorite hobby these days seems to be putting things in my cup. Usually it's just her hands, but often cheerios or puffs. Yesterday it was clothespins. You turn away for one second...

Gene and Maximus

2011-03-20T22:27:00.000+03:00

Our dog, Gus, has never been particularly happy at our house. While we got him as a puppy, we didn't really have a house to live in, so with being in Dar to have Baylor and trying to finish our house, we didn't end up up having him live with us until he was 8 or 10 months old. He'd been living with his sister, Eames, at Carson and Holly's house and constantly tried to get back there. He's a master of escape. Well, over the last couple months he'd been disappearing more and more, usually found with Eames at the McNeal's, until one day, he never returned. He wasn't with Eames; he wasn't anywhere. Perhaps he's found a lovely lady dog to settle down with.

To be honest, Brett and I weren't so upset at this development. Like I said, he wasn't ever happy with us, so he was a bit troublesome and not at all a good guard dog. But dogs are needed here, so we went on a search for a pup.

The dog of our friends in Mwanza recently had puppies and their dog is great, so we decided to take one from them. Then we decided maybe it would be better if we took two from them. That way our doggie would have a playmate. So last week Brett went to Mwanza and returned with two very adorable puppies, who we named Gene (after Auburn's football coach -- which one of picked that do you think?) and Max (short for Maximus). They seem to be great dogs and to enjoy being a part of our family. They especially love Baylor, who now loves them too, though at first would run away whenever they came near her.

I tried to get a good picture of Baylor and the puppies but one-year-olds and puppies are not particularly cooperative with sitting still.

The Truck

2011-03-09T17:58:00.000+03:00

Some 9 months ago we ordered a new truck from Japan to be delivered here to Tanzania. Our old truck, while it usually got us around, got us around a bit too often to Mwanza for repairs. There's no mechanic in Geita and when you drive a 13 year old truck on crazy dirt roads all the time, things are bound to happen. Our muffler, for example, was held on by twine. Having to go to Mwanza every time something needs to be repaired is both time consuming and expensive. We were worried the truck would only need repairs increasingly often the longer we live here and thought it probably wouldn't make it through our tenure. Hence the new truck.

There's a company that allows us as missionaries to order certain vehicles at a much lower rate straight from the factory in Japan. Living where we do, a pretty hefty four wheel drive is a necessity, albeit expensive, so we're quite thankful to this company. When we ordered the truck in July, they said it would take three to four months to reach Tanzania. We were told once in Tanzania, it should take an additional three to four weeks to go through customs. The truck arrived in Tanzania as scheduled but it it did not take an additional three to four weeks to go through customs. It took an additional three to four months. The government charges port fees while the things you own are in customs. Every day something's there, you're charged more money. So why, really, what is the motivation to ever speed the process along?

Even so, after much waiting and calling to talk to people about the situation, we finally got the call our truck was ready. We flew to dar a few weeks ago to pick it up. And it actually was ready only 4 days after we were told it would be, with a couple of parts stolen and a whopping $6,300 in port fees added. But we have our truck. Finally. And we're grateful. We feel like our time will be freed up more to do what we came here to do. And we can fit some 11 people in there, so that free taxi service I spoke of a while ago can really be cranked up a notch.

Thankful

2011-03-06T08:14:00.000+03:00

Two weeks ago, our family went to Dar to pick up our new truck (though that will be another post). The day after we arrived, Baylor woke up with a fever that stayed with her throughout the day. It stubbornly refused to respond to Tylenol. Around 10:00 that night Baylor’s fever shot up and she had a seizure. We called our nurse friend, Heather, who advised us on other ways to get the fever down and to go to the hospital if she had another seizure. Her fever did start to go down, however, around 1:00am she had another more violent seizure and we rushed her to the hospital. Fortunately, we were in Dar, and there was a hospital with a reliable doctor open at that time. Also fortunately it was the middle of the night so there was no traffic, and a drive that normally takes an hour only took 10 minutes.

The doctor on call took blood work and gave her some medicine to bring down her fever. The blood work came back normal. He assumed it was an infection though, and two hours after we arrived, he gave us antibiotics and ibuprofin and we were on our way home. Baylor’s fever, though still fairly high, never spiked again and she had no more seizures. The next day, though obviously still sick, she seemed a little better. Late in the afternoon, though, she started breaking out in a rash. By that night, it had spread all over her body. I’ve never seen a rash this bad. We called Heather again and she advised us to discontinue both the antibiotics and the ibuprofin, as she’d never had either before, and to go to the doctor the next day.

So we went to the pediatrician the next morning and they did blood work again and this time it indicated a virus and possibly an infection as well. The doctor prescribed a different antibiotic and said while Baylor’s allergic reaction was probably due to the first antibiotic it was impossible to be sure so it was necessary to discontinue the ibuprofin as well and then reintroduce them later separately. She said it was even possible the rash was caused by the virus itself.

By the fourth day, Baylor’s fever had mostly gone and she seemed to be much more her normal self. The rash was gone after about 5 days. We’re not sure what was really going on with her little body, but we’re so thankful she’s better now.

Just Another Road Trip

2011-02-14T09:09:00.000+03:00

Ok, so it wasn't really a road trip, just a drive to Mwanza from the village. But it was eventful. Having a car in Tanzania essentially means you are a free taxi service. This is particularly true when you go out to a village. Many villages are hours from the nearest sizable town by car and pretty much no one in the village has a car, so when someone comes by who does, they seize upon the opportunity.

And so we found ourselves leaving the village with a lovely middle-aged woman. Brett's sister Brittney and Mitchell were with us as well so the car was pretty full, to say the least. As we were leaving the village our hitchhiker asked if we could stop at the market so she could get some food to take to her daughter as a gift (her daughter lives outside of Mwanza, hence the reason she needed the ride). "No problem," Brett replied. Ten minutes later she climbs back in the car with a bag of freshly baked cookies. A delicious aroma filled the car. Right. What really happened is that she climbed back in the car with a bag of dead fish. Yes, dead fish. The aroma was not delicious. But we cracked our windows and drove on. Some 20 minutes later she asks Brett to pull over because she's going to be sick. Tanzanians often get sick in cars as they are unaccustomed to riding in them. We were thrilled, however, that she gave us advance warning of her sickness because vomit and dead fish are not a good combination.

While she was tending to business on the side of the road I had Baylor in my lap and somehow her diaper came loose and she peed all over me. Wahoo! All in the first 30 minutes of a 3 hour trip (or tour, perhaps?). There wasn't much I could do about that but change Baylor's diaper and let her sit clothesless the rest of the trip while I endured in my less than dry skirt.

After we got back on the road (and after another quick stop to continue the car-sickness) we saw a bicycle lying in the middle of the road. Then another and another. An abandoned purse. More bicycles. What has happened here? What could possibly have made all these people abandon their things? It was like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Suddenly Brett shouts at us to roll our windows up. Then we saw the bees. Lots of them. A massive group of killer bees was attacking the area. We couldn't see that anyone was hurt, so we kept driving, now with the windows closed and that oh so wonderful stench of fish wafting into our nostrils.

After another stop on the roadside, we finally reached the ferry to Mwanza. We were soon free of fish-filled noses and peed-on skirts. Yes, just another ride home from the village.

Joyce

2011-02-08T19:58:00.005+03:00

Joyce is five years old and recently she and her mother showed up at our gate asking for help. Joyce had what are clearly large tumors on the sides of her face and her mother was at a loss about what to do. So yesterday I drove them to Sengerema, a town about 35 minutes away, to go the hospital there, which is better than ours here in Geita.

It is difficult to really describe the state of health care in Tanzania. There are few doctors and millions of patients. There is a shortage of medicine, medical equipment, beds, and really just about anything else you can think of related to health care.

When we got to the hospital, we first had to go to a window to pay to get a registration card. I was pleasantly surprised when we got to the window because there was an actual line there, which is pretty unusual. After about 15 minutes, though, some people decided lines were a waste of time and they just started pushing towards the front to cut in. This is just the Tanzanian way; it’s not rude at all, though as an American I often find it both annoying and inefficient. However, after only 30 minutes we were able to pay the 65 cents and got our receipt so that we could jump in the mass of people at the reception window and begin pushing our way to the front to actually get the card we payed for. When we got to that window, there were about 40 people all trying to accomplish the same thing. We were successful after about an hour, which was actually sooner than I expected. While waiting, a car drove up and some men got out and ran into the hospital. They returned shortly with a rusty metal table on wheels. They proceeded to carefully extract a man from their car and gently move him onto the table. He looked barely conscious. Certainly very sick. Not a single person working at the hospital came to assist. You’re on your own here. There’s just not enough people to help.

After we got the registration card we were told to go wait in front of one of the doctor’s doors. There were four doors and bunches of people waiting outside each one. We settled on number four and eventually were shown in only to be told we needed to go to the pediatric wing. So off we went across the courtyard, following the sounds of crying babies. We were able to see a pediatrician fairly quickly--only about a 30 minute wait. I’ve waited longer than that in the States. He diagnosed Joyce with tuberculosis. We would need to see a different doctor for more complicated problems. He sent us to get blood work done. One of the administrators of the hospital was there and showed me their new blood analysis machines. He showed me how they only take 2 minutes to process the results. Great, I thought, no waiting. We were told to wait outside for the results, which I knew were already done. An hour later that same administrator passed and asked what we were doing. When we told him still waiting, he hurried into the lab and returned about 5 seconds later with the results, now stapled to her card.

We took these results back to the specialized doctor and he confirmed it was indeed TB and that they needed to schedule a biopsy to find out whether or not the tumors are malignant. I’m taking Joyce back next week for the operation. About 50% of all TB patients die. She has an even less likely chance as she’s a child in Africa with the TB already spread out of her lungs. She’s such a sweet little girl and so scared.

We got back to Geita about 6 1/2 hours after we left that morning. A typical day for the hospital. Please pray for Joyce and for her mother, Zam Zam, who in all likelihood has it as well. Sometimes things just don’t seem fair in Tanzania.

This Week In Pictures

2011-01-29T11:04:00.000+03:00

This past week we've been having so much fun with Brett's sister Brittney and her boyfriend, Mitchell. Baylor has especially loved all the extra attention. But it's also been a busy week, so my post is just going to be some pictures. I figure that's what everyone really wants anyway.

The First Word

2011-01-20T10:18:00.001+03:00

Baylor has officially said her first word. By that I mean she consistently uses the correct word for the object in question. She's been talking non-stop for the last 8 months, even saying mama and baba and all kinds of other things that are actually words without knowing their meaning. She sounds a great deal like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets.

But for the last week or so she has said "dog" every time she sees a dog or hears it bark. This seems a bit unfair to Mama and Baba after all the hard work they've done. I mean, what has the dog done? I don't even remember spending a great deal of time trying to get her to learn the word dog. She doesn't even like them that much. If they get to close she gets scared. Oh well, i figure other words are soon to follow and eventually some of them will be "Mom, you're the most super thing in the whole world, even more super than cheerios and bananas."

Holidays and Things

2011-01-11T09:29:00.000+03:00

I've been trying to get this post up forever, but between internet failings and a stomach virus making its way through our family over the last 8 days, I seem to have been defeated until today.

We had a nice Christmas. Brett and I stuffed each others' stockings with random things we found in Geita, including fruit magnets, actual fruit, a bicycling jersey, snickers bars, a panda bear toothbrush, and tic tacs, among other things. Baylor enjoyed opening up her cheerios and safari truck, complete with animals.

That afternoon our team came over for Christmas dinner and a silly gift exchange. The kids exchanged real gifts and Baylor got this truck from the Groen girls, which she loves.

While the adults played Balderdash the older kids watched a movie and Baylor and Jude played on Baylor's new banana tree bark table and chairs.

All in all, a nice Christmas, even though it was weird for it to be 80 degrees and not a single shopping mall Santa in sight.

Unique Tree Decorating Tips

2010-12-24T14:08:00.000+03:00

Baylor has enjoyed having the Christmas tree up immensely. The bottom third of our tree has only unbreakable ornaments so that she can take them on and off as she pleases. She has even taken part in the decorating herself. I have found a bell pepper and a jar of puffs in the tree. My personal favorite though, was a game of cribbage.

More Birthday Fun

2010-12-23T10:42:00.000+03:00

For my birthday this year, I got the best present ever. My friend RaDora came to see me for 2 whole weeks. She brought loads of goodies for birthdays and Christmas, but mostly I was just happy she brought herself. RaDora and I were interns together in Jinja, Uganda almost 10 years ago during college and this was her first time to revisit the continent since then.

While Brett made blueberry waffles for breakfast, RaDora made me a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing. So delicious. We went out to the gold mine for lunch where we were joined by our whole team.

How wonderful it is to know that it takes fewer candles to write out the age you are than to just put that many on the cake.

After lunch we spent the afternoon playing squash and lounging by the pool. For dinner we ate homemade pizza and then played a game. I love my birthday.

Baylor's 1st Birthday

2010-12-05T08:54:00.000+03:00

Yesterday was Baylor's first birthday. It's crazy how fast it's gone by. Baylor is full of life. She's adventurous, loud, and has unending energy. She doesn't like to stop for anything, including sleep. Her laugh is infectious (though to be fair, so is her grumpiness) and her smile just makes me happy.

Baylor continues to love to eat and is finally starting to gain a little bit of the weight that all that food consumed should bring. She's still pretty small though. She started wearing her 9-12 month clothes a month ago. She loves being outside. I look forward to the day when our yard is something other than dirt and mud so she can go play anytime she wants, instead of it being a special treat. Baylor walks all the time now and has started trying to run, which generally means she ends up face down on the ground and crying. But babies are resilient so she just gets up and does it again. Her hobbies these days include taking items out of larger items and putting them back in and bringing things to me and taking them back and bringing them to me again. I've had a lot of Christmas tree ornaments in my lap lately. Baylor also loves to swim so we try to get her in the water as often as we can. Bath time's fun, but it's just not the same.

Yesterday we went to Mwanza to pick up one of my best friends, RaDora, for her two week visit and then headed back to Geita for Baylor's birthday party. We asked our teammates to come over a little early and get the grill started with some hamburgers since we would be on the road, and they went above and beyond. We arrived to a house decorated and sparkly. It was great.

I made a cake for the occasion, completely from scratch (though only because I couldn't find any cake mix anywhere in Geita, Mwanza, or Kigali) and even decorated it. Baylor was super excited anticipating it's deliciousness, though I think ended up being exhausted by her efforts to consume as much sugar as possible in the largest bites that could possibly fit in her mouth.

The birthday t-shirt was a present from RaDora -- very cute. Baylor also got some other great presents and enjoyed opening them once she realized how to do it.

All in all, it was a great day and we're so thankful that God put Baylor in our lives!

Electricity junkies?

2010-11-29T08:00:00.001+03:00

I remember on the rare occasions living in America when the electricity would go out, people behaved as if it were the end of the world. After storms the news would report how many homes were still without electricity several hours later. We're so dependent on it. Our computers, fax machines, tvs, refrigerators, air conditioners, and so many more things, all run on electricity and it seems that we don't know how to function without it. It wasn't too long ago that no one had it. For most, it was a luxury, reserved for the wealthy. Now it's available to pretty much everyone and it's a necessity.

Living in Africa has shown me that electricity, while nice, isn't needed for living. Last week our electricity was out for a total of about 53 hours, which is about average. Sometimes we lose it a little more, sometimes a little less. And you know, it's not that big a deal. We only need lights for about 4 hours of our waking day. While it can get hot without fans, we always have the windows open and there's usually a breeze. We have a gas oven, so cooking's not usually affected. Refrigerators don't need to be on all the time to keep things cold. The only times it really bothers me are when I'm in the middle of doing laundry and from about 6:30 to 8:00 at night when we're trying to cook, eat, and get Baylor to bed by lantern. Granted, we do have a back up generator that runs on petrol that we can use if we want, but it's expensive so we don't unless we need to...or if we've had a really long day and don't feel like sitting in the dark again.

Many people in Geita don't have electricity in their homes at all, and only very few have generators. It's like it was in America way back when--a luxury. I read somewhere that in America more electricity is used to power televisions when they're off than when they're on--I suppose to keep that little red light on in the front. I've just been thinking lately how odd it is that we expect to have electricity all the time, even in the day in our homes when we're not there. I'm not going to say I don't care about it at all; obviously I prefer to have it. But I have learned that I don't need it and it's not so bad without it--though it does make having ice cream a bit difficult. I guess I'll just have to eat it all at once.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T11:15:00.002+03:00

The oddest thing about Thanksgiving here is the lack of cold weather. Yesterday was actually one of the hottest days we've had. It just doesn't seem very Thanksgivingy. I imagine Christmas will be the same, except that I plan on decking the house out with holly, shiny orbs on green trees, and tiny reindeer.

Our team, with the addition of Carson's parents, met together for the day at the Groens' house. We each brought several delicious things to eat and ended up with somewhat of a feast: stuffing, casseroles galore, pies a plenty, and much much more.

Lunch was followed with naps and games. No college football though. Baylor had a fantastic time running around with everyone. And the running is almost becoming literal. Her abilities to move around upright are rapidly improving.

The only disappointing part of the day was when we tried to skype with our families. The internet was down so we only got to talk to Brett's family for a few minutes and mine not at all. However, I'm sure there will plenty more opportunities to chat over the next month or so what with birthdays and Christmas looming near.

We're so thankful for this past year. We have a beautiful baby girl, a house to live in, food to eat, a car to drive, wonderful family and friends. God is indeed good.

Baby Explorer

2010-11-19T11:36:00.000+03:00

Nearing the ripe old age of one, Baylor has a strong hatred for staying still. She is constantly wanting to move and explore. She tires easily of not only toys, but also of rooms and even our entire house. If we don't go somewhere every couple of days she transforms into Grumpy Baylor and our happy lives become much less so.

This past Sunday we went out to a village for the day. Baylor loves going to to the village. There are chickens and goats to chase, yummy food to eat, and lots of new people to play with. We assume she's going to come home dirty no matter what we do, so we just put her in old clothes and let her roam-supervised, of course.

After worship under a mango tree we were just sitting around and so I let Baylor go off to play in the fields with some kids. A little while later I went to check on her and found her giggling loudly, happily playing with a big old chunk of cow poop. Fantastic. It was at least mostly old and dried out. And she also had her pacifier in her mouth so the exciting new toy stayed on her hands.

There are just some things I wish she would be content not to explore.

What Are They Thinking?

2010-11-04T12:08:00.000+03:00

Recently our night guard, Oscar, had his home broken into (ironic, I know) and everything was stolen except for his family's clothes and shoes. Everything.

In Tanzania, theft is common. Anyone who can afford it puts some kind of fence or wall around their house and bars on the windows. I would never leave my bike in town, even chained up, knowing it probably wouldn't be there when I came back. Nor do I walk around town with my bag unzipped. I don't walk around afraid I'll be stolen from, I just don't see a reason to not do what I can to prevent it.

The odd thing about theft being so common here is that the punishment for thieves is harsh. Harsh is actually putting it lightly. If a thief is caught, he is immediately mobbed by those around. Hearing the mob, more people usually join in, making the mob larger and more uncontrollable. The thief, if he is lucky, will only be beaten to within an inch of his life. If he isn't lucky, he will not survive the beating, or worse, will be burned alive. The police rarely arrive in time to prevent this from happening. There is no sympathy. I have been told stories of other missionaries who stepped in to prevent mobs from killing children, guilty of pick-pocketing. Tanzanians do not typically step in to save someone, though I have known some to.

So why on earth would anyone continue to steal? It's something I don't know if I will ever understand.

I've thought about why the reaction to theft is so harsh here, because other crimes are not so treated. My conclusion is this: Tanzania is a culture of giving. If you need something, you ask and someone will help you. Most people don't have enough money for everything all the time, so you help each other out. "I know that if I help pay for your children's school fees now, later you will help me pay for my son's wedding." If people show up at your door, you feed them and give them a place to stay, indefinitely. It's never ok to ask a guest to leave, they may stay as long as they desire. So for someone to steal is a complete rejection of the way of life here. It's as if they are saying, "I don't care about any of you. I only care about myself. I don't want to ask you for help because I don't want to be held responsible for helping you later." Greed and selfishness are some of the worst traits you can possess. If you have, you share. If you don't have, you will be taken care of.

I don't know if I'm right, but it seems the most logical conclusion.

As for Oscar and his thief; the man was later caught. It turns out he was part of a larger crime ring that had been stealing all over Geita district for some time. When he was caught, he confessed and gave up his partners and their hideout. Upon confessing, he was burned to death. Soon after, police raided the house where the other thieves were, shot and killed them all, then burned their hideout to the ground (before removing all the stolen goods).

The whole thing makes me sad. What makes these people take such a risk just for things? And where is the mercy for their mistakes?

Halloween--Not So Scary In Tanzania

2010-11-01T10:23:00.001+03:00

Never has Halloween passed by with so little fanfare as this year. I saw not one costume, no candy, no orange and black decorations or clothing, no ghosts, goblins, or witches. Only normal people going about their normal day as if there were no anticipation of jack-o-lanterns and kids hyped up on sugar. Last year we happened to be in Mwanza for Halloween and there was at least a costume party for kids. But in Geita, hamna (there wasn't anything).

Not that I find Halloween to be the best holiday ever -- that would be my birthday ( and yes, I do consider it a holiday), but still, I loved dressing up as a kid and going trick or treating. I also know that Baylor would have no idea what was going if I were to dress her up as a tiny ghost and take her from house to house to get candy that she would not be allowed to eat. But still, I assume in the future it will make me a little sad that she won't get to experience that here. Fortunately, we've decided that our furloughs will generally be in the fall, so at least some years she'll get to participate.

So on Halloween we took our recovering from and still somewhat sick from a bad cold family to the gold mine for lunch and a short swim. Not exactly typical of October 31st, but not too shabby either. We put Baylor in her Halloween pajamas (which glow in the dark) for a photo shoot that she did not in the least enjoy to commemorate her first Halloween.

Chase Tyler

2010-10-28T11:46:00.000+03:00

I am more than happy to announce the arrival of my new nephew, Chase Tyler Bruns, born yesterday at 8:44am. He weighs 7lb 13oz and is 19 inches long. He has dark brown hair like his daddy. Thus far he enjoys both sleeping and eating. Mom (my sister Amy) and baby are both happy and healthy.

Here is big brother Kaleb, who turns 3 next week, holding his little brother for the first time. He seemed to enjoy it briefly, but then decided Chase was heavy and gave him away to someone else so he could play with cars.

Happy birthday Chase!

Nyerere Day

2010-10-21T12:24:00.000+03:00

Last Thursday was Nyerere Day. Julius Nyerere was the first president of Tanzania, serving from 1964 until 1985. He was and is still well-loved by the people here. He was a teacher by profession and so that is what the country called him; not Mr. President, but Teacher. In honor of his life and service to Tanzania, October 14th is a holiday.

To celebrate this holiday Brett and I went to a traditional music and dance performance. The Sukuma are known throughout Tanzania for their drumming and dancing, particularly with snakes, though thankfully they left them at home last week. The dancing was really good, much different than what you see driving by the discos here. I'm sure you would love to see pictures of this event, but as I forgot my camera, you will just have to imagine the long grass and feathery skirts worn by all.

Breakfast

2010-10-13T09:00:00.001+03:00

I thought you might be interested in what Baylor had for breakfast today. I don't usually think what she eats for breakfast is blogworthy, but today was a bit unusual.

She started with half an egg mixed with tomatoes. Then moved on to a big chunck of papaya. If you've never had papaya, it tastes like feet. Then a few bites of chapati, an Indian flat bread. From there she devoured several slices each of carrots and zucchini. And then it got more interesting. She ate a fish finger. Yes, a fish finger--minus the breading. To end the meal she had 3/4 of a banana. And it wasn't one of those teeny African bananas, either; it was a big one.

We were not dining at home. No fish fingers for breakfast at the Harrison house. Or any other meal for that matter, yucky fish.

Our daughter does indeed love to eat.

A Visit

2010-10-06T21:13:00.000+03:00

The first two weeks of September were made wonderful by the presence of Scott and Cheryl McFaddin. Cheryl is one of my best friends from college and I was more than excited that they were coming to visit. They actually came also to check out the Geita situation to see if maybe God was leading them there as well. You never know where He's going to take you. They spent a lot of time getting to know our team and the work that's currently being done as well as the work planned for the future. My English students especially loved having new people to practice with. Cheryl opted for the full Africa experience and got her hair braided in the market by two of my friends. It was entertaining for everyone involved.

As you can see, Cheryl is currently pregnant with their third little boy and I applaud her adventurousness (I do realize that's not a real word) in coming to the middle of nowhere Tanzania while growing a tiny person inside her. It's not the easiest thing in the world; there are lots of bumpy roads, uncomfortable mattresses and no sonic blue coconut slushes. Of course, that's sad for all of us. Well, maybe just me.

Anyway, it was great visit. Brett and I were were happy that Scott enjoys Trivial Pursuit as much as we do. We look forward to the next showdown.

9 Months of Baylor

2010-09-17T15:37:00.000+03:00

Sorry for my lack of posts lately. We just got our good friends, Scott and Cheryl McFaddin, off to the airport after a fantastic two-week visit.

But this post is about Baylor. I realize I haven't had much in the way of updates about her recently and that I need to appease the grandparents.

So, here it is.

Baylor is now over 9 months old. She's 28 inches tall and weighs 17.4 lbs. That puts her in the 57% and 19%, respectively. I've decided she's on the skinny side because she never stops moving. She's becoming an expert climber, already able to scale the couch and nearly escape the pack n play. She took her first steps last week. Her record is two. She seems to prefer crawling, as she can move that way both quickly and easily. I'm not sure when she'll decide walking is worth the extra effort.

She also thoroughly enjoys eating. I'd be amazed at the amount of food she can pack away except that I've seen Brett eat, so I suppose it's only natural for her. Her favorite food continues to be banana, and she'll eat anything if it's mixed with banana. She's also a big fan of grilled chicken, butternut squash, yogurt, and anything that is a fruit, even papaya, which tastes like feet. She likes to feed herself and is sometimes pretty good at it. She's also discovered where I keep her puffs in my bag and will dig them out, pop off the lid, reach inside, pull them out and eat them until I take them away, which she does not like. Food isn't the only thing she likes to put in her mouth though. Actually, she'll put pretty much anything in there.

Baylor is a very loud girl. She babbles all day long (another trait passed on by her father) and generally does not do it quietly, which recent visitors Scott and Cheryl can attest to. She can say things that are words, but she doesn't know they're words, so we don't count them. We're working pretty hard on getting her to say Baba, though.

Baylor is not a good sleeper, and still does not sleep through the night. We are tired. Rare are the moments we can enjoy times like these. But we love her all the same, even sleepy.

Here is the most recent family pic, taken over a river that was suppose to have crocodiles and hippos, but didn't.

Maybe next time.

English Class

2010-09-01T14:08:00.000+03:00

I never intended to teach English here in Geita. With all the other pressing needs to meet, in addition to sharing the Good News, it just never crossed my mind that I would spend my time doing something that, to me, seemed unimportant. When we moved here last September I would ask people in town what they felt were their greatest needs and about four times out of five the first answer was better access to water and the second was to learn English. Better access to water is a huge problem to tackle and would like to help with it, but know it could take years. Teaching English, though, now that is something I can do.

The ability to speak English here is the chance for a better life. It would be difficult to be admitted to high school here without English and there's no chance of going to college without it. By learning English you can work in the tourism industry, one of Tanzania's largest industries. Speaking English makes you marketable. It gives you an edge against other applicants. Education and jobs are scarce here, so anything you can do to improve your chances is another step closer to ensuring you can provide a home, food and education for your family.

So about 4 months ago, I started my first English class. I have 8 students, all adults, who come faithfully every week (though maybe a little bit late), do their homework and practice speaking with each other throughout the week since there are so few other English speakers to try their new vocabulary out on. We have no books, and on occasion I have had to resort to writing on an old box because there wasn't any paper and once in the dirt outside because we had a problem getting in the classroom. No one seems to mind that much. Instead of giving them a worksheet, I write their practice sentences on the board and they copy them down in their notebooks. Markers here have short lives. I go through about 3 per class. People have been asking when I'm going to open another class. I'm hoping to do that later this fall. We're looking for a better classroom situation. I enjoy teaching the class; it's a lot of fun. Sometimes you just never know what you'll end up doing.

Friends and Family Afternoon

2010-08-24T16:25:00.001+03:00

A couple weeks ago we had a bunch of our friends and their families come to our house to spend a Saturday. To invite more than one family at a time is fun, but magnifies the chaos by about a billion, because inviting someone's family here is not the same as inviting someone's family in the States. Here, if you say say "family", it can mean anything from their immediate family of spouse and children, to whoever is living with them (which could include a few other relatives or even people not related at all) to every person they are even close to kind of related to. Cousins here, for example, are only cousins if they are your mother's brother's children or your father's sister's children. Your mother's sister's children and your father's brother's children are called your brothers and sisters. So, if you only desire what we think of as the immediate family to show up, you have to be pretty specific in your invitation. And even then, they might have 15 kids or can't possible come without their grandmother who is visiting. Which is fine, the more the merrier, especially if it's an outdoor party.

So, we invited four of our friends' families to come and ended up with, I think, 18 people. Some didn't even bring their whole families. If they had, the number would have gone up to 26. We ordered Tanzanian food from a local cafe and had a picnic on our porch.

Obama even visited us for the afternoon.

Seriously, this kid's name is Obama. He's a funny one, too. Loves to put on other people's shoes (especially high heels) that are too big for him and walk around.

This is Baylor with Margaret. Baylor loves Margaret.

And here we all are for a nice end of the day picture, with the exception of those of us taking pictures.

It was a fun day. The kids played soccer and drank cokes and the adults learned about making sandbag homes while taking turns holding Baylor. Everyone ate a lot, which I think is the true measure of enjoyment as a visitor here in Tanzania.

Rwanda

2010-08-19T14:13:00.001+03:00

I realized the other day that I never put any pictures up from our Rwanda trip last month with Brett's friends from college. Even though Rwanda is only a 3 hour drive from Geita, it looks and feels completely different. Well, maybe not the restrooms at the border.

It now election time in Rwanda. Paul Kagame is running again and even has an opponent. Kagame has done so many good things for his country I don't know why anyone wouldn't vote for him. These billboards were all over the country. I never saw one for the other guy.

We visited some genocide sites as well as the Genocide Museum and Memorial. They're hard to look at, but important if you want to understand the people of Rwanda.

We also stopped by the Mille Colline, made known worldwide by its place in the movie Hotel Rwanda. A good movie, but even better is the documentary, Ghosts of Rwanda.

My favorite part about visiting Kigali is the pizza. An Italian guy moved there several years ago and opened a restaurant, Sole Luna, and it has fantastic pizza. There are (I think) 89 choices of pizzas on the menu. Our choices in Geita are limited to what I find in the market to put on the pizza I make, so needless to say, we enjoy it immensely.

And in completely unrelated news, a bat flew into our house last night. That is, inside our house, not that it ran into the walls.

The Harrison Menagerie Continues

2010-08-11T20:03:00.000+03:00

While I would be exaggerating to say this kind of thing happens all the time, it does seem ironic that the day after I posted about the visiting creatures, we had more visiting creatures.

Yesterday morning I loaded the washing machine and when I opened the slot for the detergent, I was surprised to see about 50 siafu, or as we say in English, huge giant ants that bite and hurt. We just pulled the whole thing out and threw them on the ground, though I think a few ended up getting a very soapy bath.

A few minutes later I went into our bedroom and found this little guy hanging out on Brett's adidas bag.

I suppose he's not so little for a praying mantis. He seemed pretty content there for a long time, but I guess eventually got bored since he's no longer there.

My favorite visitors of the day, though, had to be the cows. Yes, two big old cows.

One of them went right out, but it took a while for Brett to round up the other.

Life is never dull here at the Harrison Menagerie.

A Pig, a Fish, and a Snake...Sort Of

2010-08-08T10:46:00.000+03:00

The other night we were sitting down to dinner when I saw our night guard, Ondiak, sprint to close our gate. Odd, I thought. Until about 10 seconds later I saw a pig in our yard. He was just enjoying himself, snorting around as pigs do. Ondiak had mistakenly thought we'd bought a pig and it was trying to escape. So now the pig was locked in. Brett went outside and soon our neighbor's son came over, realizing that their pig had gone missing, and the three of them ran around the yard trying to get the pig to go out. Highly entertaining.

Two days later, I got a call from a Tanzanian friend whom I'd given a ride the previous day to our English class, telling me she'd left her fish in our car. A fish. Overnight. In our car. Fantastic. I boldly go out to the car and open the doors, hit immediately by waves of dead, been sitting in the car for 18 hours in the heat, fish, and find it wrapped in a bag on the floorboards in the back. Gross. We left the doors open the rest of the day.

Friday Baylor was crawling around and I saw her pick up a little something in the corner of the living room that looked like tissue paper.

Upon closer inspection, it was actually a piece of the skin of a reptile. Again, so excited. Who doesn't want a snake molting in their house? Brett called Carson and they slowly took apart the living room, armed with brooms for the killing. No snake found. Nor did they find the rest of the skin. We tried to decide if we should continue to systematically search the house or assume it left when Carson posed the question, "Do lizards shed their skin?" Hmm, we'd never thought about that. Like everyone here, we have an abundance of small lizards calling our house home. Brett looked it up on the internet and it turns out that yes, lizards do, in fact, shed their skin. We assumed the little piece of skin was just the tip of the end of a small snake, but analyzing it further, we saw what was clearly the shape of a leg, exactly where a little lizard's leg should be. So happy.

Porches

2010-08-04T15:13:00.000+03:00

Brett, Balyor, and I spend a lot of time on our front porch. There's a nice breeze, a beautiful view, and we can greet people as they walk by. Baylor loves it especially, and every time she notices the front door is open, she makes a break for the glorious outdoors. I thought you might enjoy a glimpse of something we enjoy daily, so here is a picture from our front porch. Keep in mind that it's the middle of dry season, so everything is a bit brown. Also, our yard is still just a bunch of dirt, as we can't plant grass until the rainy season this fall. The area below the rocks is going to be our garden.

One day we intend to enjoy our back porch and yard as well. But for now it's not so nice. We're currently having our backyard leveled (it was extremely uneven--not good at all for a mini soccer field). The structure in the back right corner is our kennel for Gus, who prefers life with his sister, Eames, at Carson and Holly's and continues escaping and making his way over there.

Our back porch is also the home of our washing machine. This is actually quite normal here, at least for those with washing machines. The water just runs out of the machine into our back yard.

I took pictures of Baylor happy and laughing, but I thought, how often do you get to see pictures of a grumpy baby in a washing machine?

Mosquito Face

2010-07-29T14:47:00.000+03:00

Relaxing in Geita is not always so relaxing. People show up at your house unexpected, you run out of water or there's no electricity, and you still have to cook, because unless you want beans and rice (which I actually do really like), there's no place to eat in town either. So Brett and I devised a way to allow us to get a lot of work done and still be able to enjoy our free time. We work 6 days a week here in Geita and only take 1 day off. Thus, every 6 weeks we have a full week off. That way we can leave Geita if we want. We can go to Mwanza, stay with friends and go to a couple of restaurants, even spend a day at a pool. We don't always take that week off though; sometimes we take just a few days or sometimes none at all so we can have more time later. For example, we want to make sure we have enough time to spend with friends and family when they come to visit. Of course we continue working some of the time they're here and just take them along with us. But it can take anywhere from 2 to 4 days just to pick them up from the airport and take them back and it's nice to be able to take them on safari or somewhere else if they want to.

Last week a friend of Brett's from college and one of his friends came to visit. They spent a week in Dar and on safari before they came to see us and a week in Zanzibar for a week after they left. During the week they were here, we showed them around Mwanza and Geita, took them out to a village where they got to experience real Tanzanian life (which most tourists never see), drove them to Kigali where they toured genocide sites and then out to Musanze (formally Ruhengeri) to trek through Volcanoes National Park to see gorillas. Brett and I just enjoyed the cool weather around a fire with Baylor while they did that. It was a super busy week, but a lot of fun. Definitely worth the 6 day work week.

The only bad thing was that one night while in Kigali, a mosquito got into Baylor's net and bit her little face 60 or 70 times. She looked like she had the chicken pocks. Fortunately, 1) they didn't seem to bother her at all and 2) malaria is rare in Rwanda because of the high altitude. She just looks real sad. I would post a picture of her, but I don't want you to be sad too.

Harambee

2010-07-14T18:55:00.000+03:00

Saturday Brett, Baylor and I went out to a village in somewhat nearby Sengerema (only about an hour's drive). They were having a harambee, which is a coming together of people to help someone or a group of someones. In this case, the church there (began by the Mwanza team some time ago) was raising money for a church building. The community gathers together for a day of fun, worship, auctions, eating, and of course, giving. There's an MC who moves things along: announcing performers, introducing important attendees, making fun of people who don't dance their way to the front to give their money (it seems that dancing, or some sort of shuffling, is integral to the giving experience at a harambee).

We were told to arrive there at 12:30, and knowing things were not going to start on time, we got there about 1:00. When we got there, they were still setting up, tying logs together for benches, hanging tarps up for shade, testing the audio equipment (yes, they had microphones and speakers in the middle of rural Tanzania). We talked to some people for a while and then were invited to have lunch. This is a more wealthy village than most, so we were served rice, chicken, and sheep. They even brought us warm cokes. Now I am not normally a fan of warm coke, but it was given to me right about the time I was munching on a sheep liver, so I was happy to gulp it down. Brett got the intestines. I'll go for liver any day over that. The chicken was downright tasty, though. After eating we made our way over to the cooking area to thank the women for lunch and were amazed to find about 20 industrial-sized cooking pots over open flames. "How many people were they expecting?" we asked. "About 200." That's a lot of food for a lot of people. As Brett said, "I guess it takes money to make money."

Round about 4:30 the MC started things up, only 4 hours after the initial starting time. We knew the rest of the people there would stay til the wee hours of the morning singing, praying, and giving, but it's not particularly safe to drive between towns after dark, so we left about 5:30, after being fed another meal of barbequed chicken livers and rice, and taking about 30 pictures. We haven't heard how the rest of the event went, but I assume well. A member of parliament was even scheduled to attend, which is a pretty big deal.

We really enjoy harambees. It's so encouraging to see not only groups of Christians get together to help each other, but also to be joined by other members of their communities. It doesn't seem like that sort of thing happens too often in the world.

Interns

2010-07-12T14:17:00.000+03:00

Last week the Bailey's of the Mwanza team brought their 3 interns to Geita. They'd spent most of the previous 6 weeks in a big city or villages so we'd thought we show them town life. The first night Carson and Brett took them on a tour of Geita, visiting different locations and using those locations as a springboard for discussion on life in Geita, its joys and its problems. The next morning they learned how to slaughter a pig, which is, fortunately for me, a part of Brett's life here, and not mine. The afternoon they spent learning about church planting movements and our strategy for missions here. Wednesday morning was pig processing and Wednesday afternoon Holly took them to the main market here, where they bought ingredients needed for the dinner they were cooking for our team that night. Cooking here is an experience unto itself. Wednesday night we had a time of worship (it was great to have our normal singing voices doubled) and games. Thursday morning Calvin took them to visit Nelico, an organization here that works with orphans and protects albino children and to discuss Neema House, the orphanage he and Alicia are starting. We all went out to lunch to the best cafe in town, ate some beans and rice, and went to on the English class I teach. My students were so excited to practice the little English they knew with the visitors. We had about a 20 minute picture taking session after class. Friday they all packed up and headed back to Mwanza.

It was so much fun to have them here. I can see where having interns all summer is a lot of work, but totally worth it. I loved my college internship in Uganda and it was interesting to me to see what internships are like from this side of it. Internships are such a good way to not only see the world and learn about other cultures, but to learn about what God is doing in those places and perhaps to discover where you fit in to that work.

Anyway, we were really glad the Bailey's shared their interns with us briefly and hope they have a safe trip back to the States this week.

An All-American 4th

2010-07-06T09:42:00.001+03:00

I've always enjoyed the 4th of July more when out of the country. Something about being away from home makes me more excited about celebrating it. Our team got together on Sunday at Carson and Holly's house for hamburgers, french fries, deviled eggs, potato salad, jello, ice cream and American flag cookies. Holly even made ice with blue food coloring for added fun.

The one thing that arrived in Geita last September in not quite perfect condition was our gas grill. And by not quite perfect condition I mean 6 or 8 pieces. Which was sad, because 1) we love to grill and 2) the weather's good year round for grilling and it's a terrible waste to not take advantage. With the 4th looming and our desire for actual good-tasting burgers increasing, Carson and Brett set out to put the grill back together. So Saturday night it was ready to go. This was pretty exciting for us; not only for the holiday but for the many future opportunities for deliciousness.

So we ate, played bocce ball (an italian lawn game), ate some more, enjoyed fine conversation, and ate some more. We were going to set off a firework, but it was forgotten back at the house, so Calvin set it off tonight for us instead. It was a pretty good one, too.

We did have one cookie incident though. I wanted a picture of Baylor in her 4th of July outfit and I thought it would be cute to include one of the American flag cookies that Holly made. But Baylor tried to eat it so we tried to take it away and then it broke and fell on the ground. This did not make Baylor happy. She actually cried for almost a full 5 minutes. This was the first time she cried over something being taken away from her. But Baba made it all better by turning her bib into a cape and flying her around the yard.

RIce

2010-06-26T17:26:00.000+03:00

We eat rice a lot here in Tanzania. Not quite so much as when we lived in China, but still, a fair amount. Rice is found in abundance, is inexpensive, and Tanzanians like to eat it, so we always have some on hand. Tomorrow we're having some Tanzanian friends over, so in my search to find something to cook that they will actually enjoy eating, I am including rice on the menu. You may think that cooking rice is easy, so I'm lucky to be able to prepare something so simple that people will like. And while that's not completely untrue, it's a bit more complicated here than in America.

First, I go to the market to buy the rice. I usually order it by the kilo, and they measure it out on a scale balanced by weights on one side, then they put it into the smallest plastic bag that it will possibly fit in. I usually end up spilling some on the way home. After I get home, I get out my rice sifting basket, and I sort through the rice, pulling out little pebbles and the like. Some of them are quite small, and you might think inconsequential, until you bite down on one on your (hopefully unbroken) tooth. After I sort through the rice, I go outside and throw my rice up in the air in my basket to separate the rice from the chaff. This works best on a windy day. Finally, I rinse the rice several times to cleanse it from the dirt that it is smothered in.

All in all, it only takes an extra 30 minutes or so. The things in the bowl are the pebbles I've pulled out from about 2 cups of rice. This was a surprisingly clean selection.

6 Months of Baylor

2010-06-21T14:32:00.000+03:00

I had intended to post a 6 month update on Baylor when she actually turned 6 months. However, we were in Kigali and after we got back Brett was sick, then Baylor, then me, then Baylor again. So she's now more than 6-and-a-half months but I figure none of you hold it against me.

Onto Baylor.

Some stats:
   Height - 26 1/2 inches - 68%
   Weight - 14 lbs 5 oz. - 12%
   Head - 41cm - 6%

Our baby is not a big one.

Her accomplishments to date:
   Baylor started crawling at just over 5 months. She is now a crawling expert, able to quickly reach the dirty shoes, electrical cords, and book shelves while Mama's and Baba's heads are turned. She can also pull up to standing on her own and has just started walking along the furniture while holding on. She has not mastered the art of sitting down from standing. Rather, she chooses to dive headfirst to the ground. Needless to say, my days have gotten busier.

Eating:
   Baylor has come a long way from her first attempt at rice cereal. She has a deep hatred for avocados, and will only eat peas and green beans if they are hidden in oatmeal. She likes fruit and eats bananas or apples at some point every day. But nothing compares to her deep love of carrots. She'd eat them all day long if I let her. I'm slightly worried she's going to turn orange.

We had a little photo shoot yesterday, enjoy.

Tanzanian Love For Mpira

2010-06-19T14:20:00.000+03:00

Mpira is the Swahili word for Rubber. It is also the word for ball, since balls are typically made of rubber. It is also the word for soccer, since while many sports use balls, only one of them is of any consequence to Tanzanians. Americans are grossly behind in their love for the game of soccer. It seems that the whole world has picked up on its wonderfulness except for us. We would rather watch men in spandex throw each other to the ground or run back and forth, back and forth on a court while being subjected to the tortuous sound of squeaky sneakers (I actually like football; basketball I could live without forever). The World Cup is currently being played in South Africa and it's a very big deal. First, because it's soccer. Second, because it's the biggest event there is in soccer. And third, because it's the biggest event there is in soccer and it's being played in Africa for the first time in history. They love it.

Lest you think I am exaggerating how big a deal it is, let's take a look at our electricity situation here in Geita. On average, we are without electricity between 24 and 36 hours a week. Since the World Cup began a week ago, we have been without power 3 hours. 3. Late this morning the power went out and lo and behold, it was turned back on in time for the early afternoon's match. An electric miracle! And a good thing, since we've invited a bunch of Tanzanians to our house to watch the game. I'll continue to test my electricity/soccer theory over the next few weeks and let you know if our power situation is indeed controlled by popular sporting events.

Water Well Party

2010-06-14T13:40:00.000+03:00

Sorry for my lack of blogging lately. We went to Rwanda to get Baylor's 6 month shots and after we got back we all got sick. First Brett, then Baylor, then me. Fun times. But we're all better now.

There's a group of about 12 guys in their early 20s who spend all day pumping water from a well, strapping it to their bikes, and riding all over town delivering it to various people. The well where they work is right next door to the house we lived in temporarily when we first moved here. Every day Brett would go out and talk to them, practicing Swahili, learning some slang, and occasionally even pumping some water to give them a break. We've given a couple of the guys rides to Mwanza when we've gone and formed some pretty good relationships with them. Brett always told them he'd invite them to our house for a party after we got moved in and settled.

So, a couple weeks ago we had them all over on Sunday afternoon. If you can imagine how much food your typical college guy eats and then multiply it by 20 because they do manual labor all day, you'll get about what these guys consume. And so, I opted not to cook myself. Plus, it's hard to figure out what to make that people will like. Instead, we ordered rice, ugali (corn meal mush), beans, spinach, french fry omelets (surprisingly tasty), and bananas from a local restaurant and brought it to our house. All were devoured. Cokes and waters abounded.

They played soccer in our front yard and Brett taught them how to play horseshoes and darts. That was pretty entertaining. Only one dart lost its life.

It was a good afternoon.

Seven Deadly Snakes (well, really only six deadly ones)

2010-05-31T12:17:00.002+03:00

Since moving into our house 3 and a half months ago, we have had seven snakes in our yard. Six of them lost their lives for sure while one may be alive and well or may be enduring a slow death. We're not sure. Six of the seven have also been poisonous. And not just kind of poisonous. We've had a 5 foot long black spitting cobra and 3 black mambas (one of which was over 4 feet). Two were unnamed poisonous snakes and the other one harmless. Last Friday two black mambas were playing in the back yard and were spotted by Kulwa, who is building a storage shed for us out back. Kulwa killed one of them but the other got away. He saw it go through a hole in the bottom of our fence, which is concrete. So he got some cement and sealed the hole. So that snake is now either enjoying his life in our neighbors yard or is trapped inside our fence. If he got out I have great sympathy for our neighbors. If he did not, I feel little sympathy for him. I'm not an animal hater or anything, I just don't like snakes that can kill you in minutes hanging out where our daughter will one day play. We've been told that after we've been here a while the snakes will probably all either be killed or make their way out of our yard, disturbed by the presence of people, and we won't often have them around anymore. I'm holding out for this happening sooner than later.

On an only slightly related subject; last week at Bible study we were looking at the temptation of Eve and someone made the comment that if Adam and Eve had been Chinese, the world never would have fallen. Confused, we asked why. She answered, "Because if they had been Chinese, they would have eaten the snake instead of the fruit." Ha ha.

A Few Pictures For the Baylor Starved

2010-05-26T15:51:00.000+03:00

I realized that I haven't put any pictures up for a while, so I thought I'd throw in a few. I figure Baylor's way cuter than Brett and me, so they're just of her. Don't worry, she doesn't eat those zoo biscuits, she just plays with them while Brett munches.

Day 2

2010-05-24T10:34:00.000+03:00

Yesterday we had about 20 people over to the house for worship and fellowship. A family from Mwanza was visiting and we invited a South African family who works in the Gold Mine that Brett randomly met in town one day. It was nice to spend time with both our teammates and new friends.

As we began to fix breakfast around 8am and get ready for everyone to come over, the electricity went out. Not such big deal as it happens often. But I was fixing lunch and snacks for a whole lot of people, so it did put a small glitch in the day. Then around 2:30, we ran out of water. That makes the day a lot harder. We get water about one day a week from the city. We have two 2,000L tanks that hold the water so that we have enough to last until the next week. Unfortunately, the city didn't run the water this week, so we ran out on the day when 20 people are at our house and with no way to flush toilets. Alas. Fortunately all these people also live in Africa, so no one really cared.

Usually when the electricity is out all day it is scheduled rationing and it comes back on at dusk and doesn't go out again for a few days. Last night it came on at dusk as we expected, but as we did not expect, it went back out an hour later. It's still out 14 hours later--day 2 of no electricity. So we've decided this is no longer a scheduled outage which means there is a problem with something, somewhere, and there is no telling when it will come back on. We're fortunate to have a generator, which we ran a few hours yesterday and again this morning to keep our fridge and freezer cold. If you read my post a few weeks ago, you know I have a large amount of meat in my freezer that I don't want to lose.

This morning Brett went to order a truck of water. This is how regular an occurrence it is that people don't have water: there are multiple businesses in town whose sole purpose it is is to deliver water to people's houses when they run out. I'm not really sure, but I assume these people have a very deep well to ensure their endless supply of water. The first place Brett went to couldn't deliver it because their truck is in the shop. The second place doesn't have their own water pump and we're going to have to borrow one. The third place was the winner today--both a truck and a pump. It costs 30,000 shillings (about $23) to have a truck delivered. Not too bad. We're willing to pay to be able to take showers, wash clothes and dishes, have drinking water and flush toilets. The truck hasn't gotten here yet, but we have high hopes it will soon. Until then, we drink coke.

The Scary Hosts

2010-05-17T09:14:00.000+03:00

Saturday we had our landlord's family over for dinner. This is considered a big deal for us because they are higher than we are on the social food chain. It's difficult to decide what to cook when you have Tanzanians over because more than likely they are not going to like whatever it is because it's so unfamiliar. Tanzanians as a whole do not enjoy a wide variety of foods. They have their same basic few and all eat them every day. There's just not a lot of branching out. I finally settled on roast, potatoes, carrots, rice, and this cucumber/tomato/onion salad thing they eat here. I figured they would at least know what all the foods were, even if cooked differently.

Anyway, they were supposed to arrive at 4:00 in the afternoon but when 4:00 came and went we didn't think anything of it because being late is normal. And since they rank higher than us, they get even more time to show up late and it not be considered rude. They finally showed up about 5:45. Well, some of them did. Our landlords's wife and 2 of their kids and 3 of their nieces came then. We offered them sodas, oranges, and banana bread and made small talk. Unfortunately, one of the little girls was not impressed with our hospitality. She wouldn't look at us from the moment she walked in. I would guess she was about 8 years old and soon we heard sniffles coming from her direction. We tried to be extra nice to her, but that seemed to produce the opposite effect than we intended. She was soon sobbing into her banana bread. Our landlord's wife informed us we were scaring her. Apparently she had never been in a white person's house before or really even known any white people. Maybe she thought we were ghosts there to haunt her? Anyway, they eventually took her home. Though on her way out we frightening creatures made sure she took her soda and invited her back again sometime.

Our landlord finally got there a little before 7:00. Apparently he had business. We sat down to dinner and I waited to see if they would like the food. I think at least one of them did. They ate a lot of rice. Still, I can't think of anything else they would've liked better. They went home around 8:15. All in all, a pretty successful evening, if a bit awkward at times.

Typical

2010-05-12T11:39:00.000+03:00

I thought it might be interesting to some of you out there to know what a typical day looks like for me here in Geita--though there are probably more atypical days than typical ones.

7:30am -10:00am -- wake up, feed Baylor, feed myself, play with Baylor, put laundry in the washing
   machine, check email, etc.
10:00am-11:00am -- put Baylor down for nap,exercise and shower
11:00am - 11:45am -- Bible study and Swahili study
11:45am - 12:00pm -- feed Baylor
12:00pm - 1:30pm -- go to town with Baylor for relationship building, Swahili practice, and produce
   buying
1:30pm - 2:00pm -- go home and eat lunch
2:00pm - 3:30pm -- put Baylor down for a nap, work in the kitchen or study Swahili
3:30pm - 5:30pm -- feed,bathe, and play with Baylor
5:30pm - 7:30pm -- cook, eat, and clean up dinner
7:30pm - 8:30pm -- feed and play with Baylor, read her a book, have a family devotional, put Baylor to
   bed
8:30pm - 10:00pm -- read, watch t.v, or play games
10:00pm -- feed Baylor
10:30pm -- go to bed

Of course there's hardly any day that actually ends up like this. I don't always exercise or study Swahili, and Baylor certainly does not always stay on her nap schedule like I dream for her to do. Also, there are days when we have Bible studies, have people to our home or go to others' homes. And I've left out all the little things I do every day like change poopy diapers, greet people who come to our gate, and fill the water filter. One day a week I spend almost the whole day in the kitchen, preparing breads, sauces, condensed cream of chicken soup, granola, etc. to make cooking easier all the other days. And of course everything gets thrown off when there's no electricity or water-- though we've gotten pretty used to that. The longer we're here, the more time I'll spend in work outside the home, which will get a little easier (hopefully) when Baylor gets a little older. My days are always filled with something, just sometimes with more exciting things than others.

The Irony of Mother's Day

2010-05-09T09:34:00.000+03:00

Sitting here enjoying my first mother's day as an actual mother, I laugh to myself-- because what I wanted most for mother's day was to have Brett take care of Baylor while I type blog posts and sleep. I just find that slightly humorous.

Despite that, I do love my daughter immensely, which is why the rest of my post will be cute pictures of her.

Baylor is now over 5 months old. She's about to start crawling, which I'm not too thrilled about, but I suppose it's inevitable.

We are thrilled that our teammates Carson and Holly have returned to Geita after being in the States 3 and a half months to have their baby boy, Jude Edward. We went to Mwanza last weekend to pick them up from the airport and meet Jude for the first time. Baylor really seems to like him (or at least wants to eat him and poke his eyes), but I'm not so sure what Jude thinks about her.

I thought since Baylor's favorite hobby is putting things in her mouth, she would really enjoy her first experience with solid food. However, rice cereal seems to come pretty low on her list of things she wants to eat.

Discovery Bible Study #1

2010-05-09T09:04:00.003+03:00

About a month ago we started our first Bible study here in town. Every Thursday afternoon Brett, Baylor, and I head over to John Paul and Rose's house, about a 10 minute drive on the other side of Geita. John Paul and his wife are devout Catholics, who wanted to learn more about the Bible and share the gospel with their friends and neighbors, but weren't sure exactly how to do it. So in we came. We meet with about 13 adults and a few teenagers for 2 and a half hours studying the Bible. We started with Genesis. It's an interesting mix of people. There are some who have been to church before, other who are muslims, and others who say they're Christians but seem to know nothing about the Bible and what it says. Brett has been meeting alternately with John Paul and another man called Edward, to mentor them and help them lead the study. We want to take as small a role as possible, so that from the very beginning they can have ownership and leadership in what will one day hopefully be a church of believers. I end up spending about half the time outside with Baylor and the other young kids, as Baylor has not yet mastered the art of the inside voice. I've thought about leaving Baylor with someone while I go to the study, but I don't want women to think in order to study the Bible they can't have their children with them. So I bring Baylor and participate as much as she'll allow.

We have two more studies scheduled to begin this month and we're really excited about those as well. Maybe they'll be at a time of day when Baylor's not quite as grumpy.

Meat Meat Meat

2010-04-26T18:51:00.000+03:00

Living in Africa generally takes a bit more time than in the States. Typically, I don't mind this, as the slower pace of life allows for it. From making my own brown sugar to drying everything on the line to walking to the market -- I usually don't miss the little conveniences of life in America. But I have found something I do miss: nice little wrapped in cellophane packages of already ground beef. All you have do is go the store, pay for it, take it home and cook it. So nice and clean.

It is not so much like that here.

I go to the local butcher here in town and while looking at large slabs of meat hanging from the ceiling in a hot room open to the outside, I place my order for 10kg (22 lbs) of beef fillet. We buy that much at a time because the process is messy and I don't particularly like to do it that often. We always get the fillet here because if we don't, we spend half our day on chewing. So, the next day I pick up my 22lbs of cow in black plastic grocery bags and take it home, where I hoist it up onto my kitchen counter and take out my knife. The best chunks get separated out for slow roasting and the rest get cut into skinny strips and dropped into the meat grinding attachment to my kitchen aid mixer, where it plops out into a bowl all nicely ground. I then pick up a handful that I think looks like a pound or so and drop it into a ziploc bag and stick it in the freezer, ready for use sometime down the road. I then spend 20 minutes washing the cow off my hands and arms. It takes about 2 hours once I get the meat on my counter to when it gets stuffed into the freezer. All I have to say is, thank God for the kitchen aid mixer.

Ladies Retreat

2010-04-19T11:01:00.000+03:00

After a week-and-a-half of touring Geita and Mwanza with Brett's mom and aunt, Baylor and I left for Rondo, Kenya, for the 2010 East African Missionaries Ladies Retreat. Last year, Holly and I were able to go to the retreat just a month after we'd gotten to Tanzania, and it was great to get to know so many women who were doing what we were about to be doing, some of whom for many many years.

This year, it was great to see these women again. It felt different this year--I was no longer this fledgling African adventurist, but rather a (sort of) seasoned missionary, complete with child (you're required to immediately begin producing children upon arrival as an African missionary), and ready for a break. Last year I wasn't really taking a break from anything as we weren't really doing anything yet.

We were blessed with the presence of Rosalinda Walker, former missionary to Botswana, currently (with husband Wymer) director of ACU's study abroad program in Uruguay. She spoke to us about her life on the field, the life of Joseph, and the power of forgiveness and grace. It was beautiful to praise God in song with 30 other women, in English, no less, and to spend some time alone with God. Baylor was held and played with often, enabling her to continue her track of being spoiled by grandparents and aunts.

I'm already ready for next year.

The 4 Month Sitters

2010-04-15T20:38:00.000+03:00

Nearly every time I go to the market I get asked by just about everyone how old Baylor is now. As we go to the market at least 3 times a week, I find this a little odd, but hey, they're showing an interest. Anyway, last week we were there and when I answered "4 months" to this ever-present question, the response every single time was, "oh, so she can sit up now." Umm...not so much. When I told them she couldn't they all asked me why. I was thinking in my head, "because not all babies develop at the exact same rate." But apparently, in Tanzania, they do. Something in the milk, perhaps? Well, we went home and seriously, the next day Baylor started sitting up on her own. I guess she didn't like being the kid left behind.

Safari

2010-04-10T17:05:00.000+03:00

Going back in time a little.... After a fun-filled couple weeks with my family, we were blessed by a visit in March from Brett's mom and Aunt Carol. They flew into the Kilimanjaro Airport so we drove to Arusha to pick them up. On our drive back to Geita, we swung threw the Ngorogoro crater and the Serengeti. I say that as if it were the same as going to Sonic for a cherry-limeade on the way home (can't say I'd turn down a cherry-limeade right now). We actually camped for a few nights right in the middle of the park. We slept listening to hyenas around us. Not dangerous at all, I assure you.

We saw a lot of animals, especially in the crater. We were so close to lions we could have been snuggling with them. The only things we didn't get to see that we really wanted to were rhino, leopard, and cheetah. People kept giving us directions to where we could see said animals, but alas, only more wildebeest and zebra. It was a fun trip; not just to see the animals, but to get to spend time in the car with family. I've also never seen a hippo so far from water.

Easter

2010-04-07T13:22:00.000+03:00

As a child, I liked Easter because of candy. I liked Easter because of egg painting and egg hunts. I liked Easter because spring break always surrounded it and I didn't have to go to school. I liked Easter despite being forced to wear a new flowery dress to church. And yet I find myself giving no candy to my daughter and making her wear a new flowery dress. But this dress was handmade in Greece, a present from my sister, and it's so much prettier than the flowers on my dresses, so I just had to make her wear it. Of course, in this stage of her life, Baylor wouldn't care if she went to church naked or in a gorilla costume.

I like Easter in Tanzania. It is the most celebrated holiday of the year. There are no bunnies or baskets, and while it's still somewhat like our Christmas in the States, commercialized and whatnot, it's still nice that everyone makes such a big deal about Jesus dying and being raised for us. Even my muslim friends celebrate. Families and friends get together, they cook big meals, and they spend a lot of time worshiping our great Lord and Savior. The church next to our teammates house celebrated for 3 days straight ( Very loudly, I might add. Microphones are only to be used on the highest setting in Tanzania.). I loved Brett and I being able to share the story of Jesus with Baylor. I loved getting together with our teammates for the whole weekend: playing games, cooking, eating, watching movies, sharing communion and worshiping together. I just loved everything about it. I hope next Easter will be much the same, except in addition, I hope to be able to share the story of Jesus with my muslim friends like I was able to share the story of Jesus with Baylor this year.

Kangas

2010-04-03T11:59:00.000+03:00

The typical woman here in Tanzania dresses daily in a wrap skirt called a kanga. These kangas are colorful, inexpensive, and have 101 uses. Or maybe more, but there's a book called 101 Uses of Kangas, so that's why I give that number. Kangas are bought as one long piece of fabric that is then cut into two pieces and hemmed. The first piece is used for the skirt and the second can be used as a matching baby sling, a head scarf, a table cloth, or any number of other things. Or, if two women are good friends, they buy one together and each has a matching skirt.

One of my favorite things we did with our families while they were here was picking out, buying, and having sewn kangas. After searching in nearly every shop that sells kangas, we took our fabric to my sewing girls, and they cut and hemmed them for us. Our families bought A LOT of kangas to take home as souvenirs and gifts for friends. So not only does everyone get a very authentic souvenir, but we were also able to boost the economy and give my friends jobs. We got to sit with my friends and one of them, Johanna, just loved my sister, Amy, and now they are officially friends. Perhaps one day they'll share a matching kanga.

A Year In Review

2010-03-30T13:17:00.000+03:00

We have now officially been in Tanzania over 1 year. I can honestly say it has been the fastest year of my life. So many changes: new country, new language, new culture, new house, new friends, new baby. It would be impossible to write a summary of the year--there's no way to do it justice. So I thought I'd share our year in pictures (it was going to be in slideshow format, but our internet here just didn't seem up to it). Thanks so much for all your prayers and support this year. We're so blessed.

A Three Hour Tour

2010-03-17T17:20:00.000+03:00

After having a flat tire, fixing it; rushing to meet a ferry, making it just in the nick of time only to find out they weren't going to run it for another hour and a half so they could clean it; having the aforementioned tire explode (literally--I've never seen a tire do that before) on the way home; arriving home to find no electricity and no water and everything in the fridge and freezer spoiled (including several chickens), I decided my family could use a nice relaxing visit to a nearby national park.

So after touring Geita, meeting friends, and buying some souvenirs, we packed up and headed to Rubondo Island. This required an hour and a half drive on dirt and a 30-minute boat ride. So we were told. When we actually made it to the dock in an hour and a half, we believed we would have a 30 minute boat ride as well. So foolish. As we were driving up, the sky began to darken and waves began to swell. Rain was spotted on the horizon. Our sea captain told us we'd delay for a few minutes (2 hours) to let the storm pass. When he deemed it safe to embark, we were hesitant, but thought, "it's only 30 minutes, that's not so bad.

This was not the best decision we've made. We put Baylor in her carseat asleep and went on our way. It soon started raining. Fortunately, my mom had a travel poncho and we draped it over the carseat so Baylor wouldn't get wet. Baylor was the only one who didn't get wet. Not just wet--fantastically wet. The 5 and 6 foot waves (not exaggerating) poured in over our little boat (seen in the picture above) and we were all soaked through. Forty-five minutes into our trip, the boat stopped and the driver said the equivalent of "uh oh" and began fiddling with the engine. We were only stopped about 15 minutes that time. Another hour later, the boat stopped again and the driver fiddled again. Another hour later the boat stopped again and the driver and assistant got out paddles. We were out of gas. The island was even in sight. They tried to call but there was no reception. Have you ever seen 2 guys try to paddle a "speed" boat in 5 and 6 foot swells? It's really not very productive. Brett finally got our hotel on the phone and they said they would send another boat with gas. Another hour later and we were on our way. We finally set foot on land 4 hours and 15 minutes after our departure. Baylor was still asleep.

Despite the ridiculous journey there, the island itself is beautiful. We were met on the beach with little glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice and escorted to our tented bandas. We found out we were the only visitors on the entire island at that time. It was like we rented it just for us.

The rain had made it cold enough that I could wear a sweatshirt and drink hot tea snuggled up in a blanket on the covered deck overlooking the water. It's been a long time since I could wear a sweatshirt. The food was excellent. Our second (and last) night there they even set up our evening meal on the beach and had a bonfire going to relax by after eating.

Rubondo Island is actually a game park, complete with hippos, monkeys, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, various gazelle-type creatures, and a whole host of birds. It's a rainforest though, so it's hard to spot a lot of them. We didn't get to see the elephants or giraffes. It's also the only place in Tanzania where you can do walking safaris. So after waking up with monkey on our porches, we went for a 4-hour hike in search of animals, along with a man carrying a large gun (for protection, not killing).

We were also able to swim in Lake Victoria. You would think we do this all the time, since we live so close to it, but not so. Along the shores where we live it is easy to contract bilharzia, an illness carried by snails and people. I won't go into details, but you don't want to get it. Swimming was fun, and it was Baylor's first time to really get in.

And here is a picture or Baylor riding a hippo in her safari pants.

After one sunny day, we awoke the next to find rain and more rain. As this was our departure day, we were filled with a certain dread of getting back on that boat. After several hours though, it calmed a fair amount, and we left. This time it only took an hour and forty-five minutes. When in the world did it take them 30? We didn't get to spend a lot of time on Rubondo, so I hope I can go back one day. It's a relaxing place, as long as you go on a sunny day.

Baylor's First Village Visit

2010-03-14T13:29:00.000+03:00

Sorry for the long blogging silence. The last 6 weeks have been crazy busy; moving into our house, going to Kenya on a retreat, having my family visit, having Brett's family visit.... I'm going to try and catch you up over the next few weeks.

I thought I'd start with one of my favorite days I've had in Africa so far. In February, my parents and sister were able to visit us for 10 days. It was great to see them and for them to meet Baylor. Their trip was... an adventure. Or perhaps just a great example of cultural differences. On the first Sunday they were here, we went to a village outside of Mwanza for worship. The church getting together here is not quite the same as it is in the States. Here it is an all day event. After a 45-minute drive on what I thought was a great dirt road (my family thought otherwise), we arrived in a little village and were greeted by one of the elders. He brought us into the building and sat us down front facing everyone. Visitors here are usually treated with this special honor. We sang, prayed, had communion, listened to a sermon, listened to Brett give his first sermon in Swahili (another honor for a visitor--being invited to give an impromptu sermon in another language), and greeted each member of the church. This was not only my family's first village visit, buy also Baylor's. She seemed to enjoy it immensely, which is good, since she will be spending a great deal of time there in the years to come.

Tanzanians love babies. I mean really love them. It's considered a huge blessing to have a baby (even more so than in the States) and it's a really big deal. So, since Baylor is still so new, the church decided they would give her a blessing. It was really special. They held her up in front of the church and prayed over her. Then they brought all the children in the congregation up front to pray for all of them as well.

After the service was over, we were invited to one of the member's houses for a meal. We spent the afternoon either in the dining hut or in the courtyard outside. My sister rocked a little girl to sleep, my dad walked to the village center to have a coke with the elder, and my mom enjoyed playing with her granddaughter under a tree. My parents lent their camera to one of the guys and he walked around taking pictures of everyone and everything. Her seriously took over 100 pictures. The battery almost ran out. After 3 hours of waiting, we were finally served lunch: rice and degaa (little whole sun-dried fish). I went heavy on the rice. After the meal we drove home, exhausted after our 8-hour event, but happy and content.

Mosquito Massacre

2010-02-06T16:57:00.000+03:00

In most places I have stayed since moving to Tanzania, there have not been an abundance of mosquitoes. We get the occasional bite, but nothing too annoying. Of course you are aware that malaria comes from mosquitoes. But what you might not know is that the only mosquitoes which carry malaria are nocturnal. Hence the reason it's important to sleep under nets, but not so much to carry on your daily errands in a net bubble. We aren't overly concerned with getting malaria; it's not as easy to contract as you might think. And unless you get the really bad kind, which is rare, it's a lot like having the flu. Get the right medicine and you're fine after a few days. We are however, much more concerned about Baylor getting it, as she's so little and can't fight it like we can. So she pretty much stays under a net from dusk til dawn unless one of us is holding her and defending her from any possible biters.

To get on with my story--we are currently staying in Carson and Holly McNeal's house while they are in the States to have their baby until our house is finished. The other day Brett went into our bedroom at about 7:30 at night and discovered a bazillion mosquitoes buzzing about. Upon investigating, he discovered one of the screens on the windows had popped open in the wind. Fortunately, the McNeals have netting draped in their doorways, so the critters were basically contained to our room. The weapon of choice here to kill mosquitoes is a small electric tennis racket. You just swat at the things as if it were a ball and zap! no more mosquito. Brett and I took turns in the bedroom with the racket, and after 3 hours or so, we'd killed 70 or 80 mosquitoes and considered our task complete--at least enough to sleep there. We did decide, however, to put Baylor under her net in her little pop-up bed in our bed under our net, so she'd have double protection. It looks as if we have been victorious, because none of us seem to have a lot of bites and the mosquito population in the house is virtually non-existent. We give thanks for the inventor of the electric tennis racket.

Two Months Of Baylor

2010-02-04T20:18:00.000+03:00

Today our cutie patootie daughter is 2 months old. I thought I'd take a few minutes to update everyone on her wonderfulness.

First, a few statistics:

Length -- 23 in. (72%)
Weight -- 11 lbs. 10 oz. (68%)
Head circumference -- 39 1/2 cm. (68%)

So our little girl seems to be quite proportionate, but growing quickly, as she was born in about the 50%. She's got long legs and big feet, so we're guessing she's going to end up tall like Brett. Her hair has turned a lighter brown and her eyes a lighter blue.

In the last two months she's learned to smile, roll over from her tummy to her back, follow objects with her eyes, stick her hands in her mouth--sometimes both at the same time; lift herself up on her arms, hold her head up, and stand up holding her own weight. She's not so good at balancing, but she can do it if we just hold one hand. We're also excited that she seems to know who we are and actually smiles when she sees us. She seems to be on the verge of sleeping through the night, because there have been three nights in the past week that she's slept 6 or 7 hours before waking up. That has made me one happy camper.

Overall, Mama and Baba are very pleased with their baby girl.

This post would not be complete without several new pictures of Baylor. Enjoy.

Expectations

2010-01-28T14:45:00.000+03:00

There are days here when I suddenly remember again how much more time it takes to live here than in the western world. I love living here and generally don't mind that things are inconvenient or that it takes forever to get something accomplished that should have taken 5 minutes. It's just an observation.

This week we are in Mwanza because 1) Our house that was supposed to be finished 4 months ago still isn't and we have no place to live in Geita, and 2) We had several things to do/buy that can't be done in Geita. Today Brett spent 2 hours looking for a dish-drying rack. There are no such things as dishwashers, so you'd think a little drying rack would be easy to find because surely everyone uses them. Not so. The first one Brett finally found, made of wood and metal, was about $40, so we decided we could do without a drying rack. But then he stumbled upon a plastic one, priced at only $12, so we bought two.

Before that, Brett spent an hour at the post office because the guy we were supposed to pay to get our packages wasn't there. Where was he? Who knows? Probably having breakfast or doing a favor for a family member, or maybe even just talking to a friend. It's expected that someone will not always be where they are supposed to be, even at work, so waiting is just a part of life.

When I went to make a sandwich for lunch today, I discovered our bread was moldy. Thankfully we are in Mwanza, so I actually can just run to the store and get another loaf. In Geita, though, I generally have to make the bread myself, which takes a few hours, and makes for a rather late lunch.

If you have a list of 10 things you want to accomplish in a day, you'll probably be lucky to get 2 of them done. We've stopped making lists of 10 things to do. The thing is, no one cares that those things don't get done. It's ok with everyone if it happens the next day, or the next day, or the day after that. The pace of life is slower--a lot slower, and if it takes 2 hours to find a dish drying rack and that causes you to be an hour late to meet with someone, that's ok. That person probably wasn't really expecting you to be on time anyway. In fact, they probably only arrived 5 minutes before you.

You probably think this way of living is bothersome. But it's all about expectations. If you think your car should be out of the shop at 3:00 just because someone said it would and you planned your day around that, then yes, you will be bothered. But if you have no expectations about when it will actually be ready, you'll be content as can be. We have learned to be content with the slowness of life. In fact, we've actually grown to like it.

Bad Bacteria

2010-01-20T14:15:00.000+03:00

The last 3 days have been pretty rough for our family. All is well now, so don't worry. But here is the story.

Sunday, Brett started feeling a little funny in the tummy, but didn't think much of it...until about midnight when he woke up feeling more than a bit funny in the tummy. I'll leave out the gory details, as I'm sure you can imagine what it's like to suffer from gastroenteritis. Anyway, he couldn't keep any food, water, or medicine in his system and was getting severely dehydrated. 16 hours later, we finally decided he needed to go to the hospital. Now, as most of you haven't been to Africa, I'm not sure you can imagine what hospitals in rural Africa are like. The fact that we were willing to go means Brett was pretty bad off. But then we had an idea. There's a South African/Ghanian gold mine just outside of town that has a hospital. We knew that it would be significantly better than the town hospital, but getting into the gold mine is difficult. You have to have special permission, and they don't give it out very freely. However, our teammates Carson and Holly are renting a house from a man named Gaston, who is an engineer at the mine. We'd only met him a few times, but we called him up anyway and, being that he is extremely kind, he managed to get us permission to come to the mine. So that we did. We dropped Baylor off to stay with Alicia, another teammate, and went on our way.

When we got there, Brett had a temperature of 101 and his blood pressure was 70/47. The doctor's said he was pretty bad off. Everyone was incredibly nice and knowledgeable. They hooked him up to an iv and tested him to find out what he had. Turned out to be a nasty bacterial infection, probably coming from food or water. Fortunately, it's almost impossible to pass on to other people. Three days and 14 ivs later, Brett feels much better and this morning was released. He's now resting on the couch watching a movie on a not so great copy dvd.

We're really glad to be all back together and mostly healthy. Praise God for taking care of us!

Firsts

2010-01-14T16:28:00.000+03:00

Yesterday Baylor rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time. Today she lifted herself up a little bit on her arms. While I'm super proud of her little feats, I also fear she will be on the move way sooner than I would really like. But doesn't she look cute in her ducky outfit?

Also, today I saw a snake for the first time since I moved to Africa. I'm pretty happy to have gone 10 months without having seen one, and wasn't too thrilled with this one. But fortunately, Severin, who works for some of our friends, bravely killed the little beast with a mop. He was perhaps not the most dangerous little fellow.

Today Brett put together a bike for the first time. He also met with the new local head of immigration.

Exciting firsts for the whole family.

Finally

2010-01-10T16:05:00.000+03:00

I'm finally rejoining the blog world. Sorry for my lack of posting, but I had a few minor complications following Baylor's delivery (all better now), then I couldn't access my account for some reason, and then we spent 4 days traveling back to Geita. But don't worry, you'll soon be back to reading regular accounts of our ever-exciting life here:)

We've been back in Geita 4 full days now and are currently staying in some friends' house while they are out of town until our house is completed. Yes, our house is still not finished. But it's close this time. Really. Just needs some screens in windows and a water tower. Well, and all the interior cabinetry, closet doors, shelving, etc....but that stuff's not necessary to live in a house. Anyway, it should be soon. I'll make my first trip into town tomorrow to greet people and let them know we're back. Actually, we've been informed that everyone already knows we're back, but still, it's customary for me to go greet them and tell them anyway. It's so nice that everyone knows our every move.

Well, I'll write more later, but I'll leave you with a picture of Baylor enjoying her first time in the ocean.

More Baylor Pics

2009-12-11T16:26:00.000+03:00

After 6 days of trying, I have finally succeeded in posting these pictures. You're probably thinking this is due to the newborn, but really it's just because of the internet. We've had some troubles there the last few days. But don't worry, no more waiting to see the cuteness.

These two pictures were taken in the hospital just 12 or so hours after her birth. She was very alert for a newborn, and content and happy to play and sleep. This has since been replaced with eating and more eating and crying when she's not eating.

Our first family photo away from the hospital.

Baylor is not a fan of bath time. I myself love bath time. In fact, I wish I had time for a sudsy soak with a ducky every day. Baylor does, however, enjoy being wrapped up in a nice, soft towel afterwards and being cuddled by her Baba. In case you don't recognize him, the guy in the second picture is Brett. Yes, Sasquatchy Brett has left, hopefully never to return again. It's so hot here, we were only home from the hospital 30 minutes before he darted off to get his shave and a haircut. The reactions of our friends here were highly entertaining to watch. None of them had ever seen Brett without the shaggy hair and scraggly backpacker beard before. Baylor has a pretty strong grip, so it was probably wise of him before she ripped out a big chunk anyway.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a big fan of sheep, and am pretty happy about the fact that my daughter's initials spell BAH. In honor of this, we bought her this little sheep outfit so that she can not only look adorable, but also maybe start counting early and get a good night's rest (the good night's rest is really my dream though).

Introducing Baylor... Finally

2009-12-04T17:44:00.000+03:00

I'm happy to introduce to you our beautiful, wrinkly daughter,

Baylor Adelaide Harrison.

Born December 4th (12 days late), 2:00 am

Weight: 7 lbs, 10 oz

Length: They apparently don't take this measurement at Tanzanian hospitals.

(We'll let you know the next time we're near a tape measure...)

Everybody's happy and healthy. More details later.

Crafts, Curries, and Cullens

2009-11-29T14:55:00.000+03:00

Today we went to Makutano, a big craft fair in downtown Dar. Local artists bring their many wares and sell them at somewhat puffed up prices to tourists and other expats. There were all kinds of things available, from clothes to jewelry to 15ft. long metal crocodiles. I tried to convince Brett that we needed to strap that thing to the top of our car and take it back to Geita for our front yard. What says welcome more than a large snapping beast? We didn't buy very much, but it was enjoyable, nonetheless, and I know a lot of Tanzanians made a lot of money that they don't often have, so I'm glad to have participated.

After the fair, we went to a community Thanksgiving dinner. This was the most unusual Thanksgiving dinner I've attended. First, it wasn't on Thanksgiving. Second, I only knew a few people. Third, it was held at the home of two South Africans. Fourth, there were not only Americans, but also the aforementioned South Africans, Britains, Tanzanians, and Indians. And fifth, this was an everybody bring a dish meal, and the food was a bit different than what I expected. Our little group brought green bean casserole, corn casserole, and apple pies. So traditional we are. When we walked in the room the overwhelming aroma was curry. Not quite the cinnamon and sage smells I was expecting. They had two turkeys, one of which was grilled, and the other of which was seasoned with all kinds of Indian spices I don't know the names of. There were also a few other dishes I've never seen on the dining room table at this time of year. It was all good, though it was a strange mixing curried meat and raisins with sweet potatoes and marshmallows.

After our very American Thanksgiving, we headed to the movies with friends to watch New Moon, the latest in the Twilight series. I've read all the books and really enjoyed them, but thought the first movie was horrible. But the movie theater being air-conditioned, I was more than willing to sit through the second installment (which started 30 minutes late), and it was actually a lot better than the first. I think that was mostly due to the fact that the guy that plays Edward Cullen was not in the movie for much of the time, greatly increasing the general talent level of the cast.

It was nice to get out of the house and break the monotony of sitting and waiting. We've been doing that kind of a lot lately.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T16:46:00.000+03:00

Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving in 100-ish degree weather. It definitely changes the atmosphere a bit. It also makes cooking in the kitchen crazy hot. Nonetheless, we enjoyed a nice quiet evening with our friends, Kate and Carley, here in Dar. I offered to make the dinner mostly by myself because the others are teachers and don't get the day off--sad. Plus I really like to cook. So in order to make my life a little easier, I started cooking things on Tuesday, chopping and whatnot. Then I made a little more on Wednesday and a little more on Thursday. I realize that we only had four people eating, but who wants Thanksgiving without all the things to eat you grew up with? So we had stuffing, green bean casserole, vegetable casserole, mashed potatoes, sister schubert rolls, roast chicken (turkeys are $65 here in Dar--what's that about?), pumpkin pie (Kate made very cute individual little pies), apple crisp, and molasses cookies. We didn't really put a dent in the feast, but who doesn't enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers? I was going to take a picture of us but the electricity went out and I couldn't find the camera in the dark. Ah, Africa. Hope you all enjoyed your holiday.

Baby Pool

2009-11-17T15:54:00.000+03:00

So I'm still pregnant. Not too thrilled about this, but you know, she's not actually due for 5 more days, so I guess I should've expected it. Our friends here have started a game to guess when Baylor will be born. The winner gets a meal paid for by the rest of the participants at a lovely Italian restaurant on the beach.

I thought perhaps some of you might like to join in on the fun. So, here is your information: Baylor is due this Sunday, November 22nd. The doctor here predicted she would be born last Friday. Too bad she wasn't the winner. Anyway, I realize if you win you won't be able to receive the grand prize of dinner on the beach, but I do encourage you to treat yourself to a Sonic slushy. I highly recommend the blue coconut. I suppose it's a bit cold there though, so maybe just indulge in an extra helping of green bean casserole and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.

Any guesses?

One more thing. Brett has started an additional blog of his own to share his ramblings on theology as well as to give more detailed reports of the work we're doing here. The address is http://jamesbrett.wordpress.com. I'm sure he would appreciate lots of comments on how superduper nice it looks.

So This Is Us

2009-11-12T12:03:00.001+03:00

Here we are at 38 weeks of tummy and beard growth. I think Brett's head looks very round with all that hair.

Oh, and the pancakes were delicious.

In Dar

2009-11-10T15:29:00.001+03:00

We've now been in Dar for a week and have settled in quite nicely for our short stay. We're enjoying hanging out with friends and getting to know them better. We've eaten pizza and last night even went to a movie, which was in an air conditioned theater. The movie, Surrogates, wasn't so great, but I'll happily pay $5 to sit in the air conditioning for a couple hours.

We've now been to the hospital 3 times, none of which has seemed particularly productive. The first time we went, they showed us the delivery rooms and maternity wards, which was helpful, and told us we'd have to come back on Friday to pre-register because they only do that on Mondays and Fridays. So, we went back on Friday and found out in order to pre-register and deliver there, we had to sign up and pay for 9 months of pre-natal care. This was annoying to us as we've already had and paid for 9 months of pre-natal care elsewhere. But even Brett couldn't convince them to change their demands, so we paid up. Then they told me that none of my records from my other doctor were valid as they don't know her and that I would have to have all the tests and everything done again. My American, Cornell educated doctor is not good enough? They said if I would just sit down and wait a few minutes they'd have me in to see the doctor. Three hours later and still sitting, Brett told them we were leaving, to which they responded "Oh, but she's next." Sure I was. But they did bring me in and took blood and put my name on the top of a piece of paper and told me I could go. No doctor present. They then told me the doctor wasn't there and I should come back on Tuesday for an appointment with her. So this morning we made our way back to the hospital, where they told us I needed to get my blood taken and have a checkup and maybe I'd see the doctor. They seem to be really into have blood taken. But we just insisted on seeing the doctor and not having other tests done and only 30 minutes later we got to see her. She checked up a little on the baby and basically just told me it could be any day now, making sure I knew the signs of labor and where to go when I get to the hospital. And then we left. So I'm not thrilled with the way the pre-natal care part of the hospital is run, but the maternity ward itself seems well organized and everyone there has seemed very helpful and knowledgeable. I'll just try to avoid the over-excited blood-takers.

This afternoon I'm teaching a girl how to make pancakes. She's a domestic worker and wants to broaden her resume, so I thought pancakes would be a pretty alright place to start. She also often wears a Virginia Is For Lovers t-shirt, which makes me happy and reminds me of home. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Journey

2009-11-05T13:01:00.003+03:00

We have finally arrived in Dar Es Salaam to await the birth of our daughter. We left Geita last Thursday for Mwanza, and on Friday I had a doctor's appointment there. Everything is looking great. Baylor seems to be on her way out and Dr. Beatrice guessed that I would deliver a week early. I realize that is a complete guess and probably she has no real way of knowing, but I can hope! We spent Saturday and Sunday running errands in Mwanza before we left on Monday morning.

Monday we drove 9 hours to Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania. It is a common mistake to think that Dar is the capital, as it is both the largest city and where the president lives and all the embassies are. However, Parliament meets in Dodoma, and for reasons unknown to me (though I think it has something to do with the city being more centrally located), it is in fact the capital. Anyway, I learned this trip that driving 9 hours while 8 1/2 months pregnant is entirely different from driving 9 hours at any other time. The roads from Mwanza to Dodoma are actually quite good; they're all paved except for about an hour-and-a-half stretch. But driving on paved roads here is still just not the same. For example, they love speed bumps in Tanzania. Speed bumps of all sizes, shapes, colors, locations. They just simply adore them. Which is why, in the middle of nowhere, you'll be driving 70 miles an hour and Oh! a speed bump! And you hope that either there is a sign to warn you of said speed bump or you could see it from far enough away to slow down so that your car does not get too much air time. No matter how slow you're driving speed bumps are not pleasant in our 12 year old beast of a car. And speed bumps are not good for pregnant women.

But anyway, speed bumps aside, we made it to Dodoma and were able to spend the evening and stay with our Swiss friends, Rueben and Sara, and their daughter, Aleah. Here is Brett practicing his parenting skills with Aleah. He's the duck.

Tuesday morning we got up and headed to Dar. This drive was only a little over 5 hours, which is better than 9, but even so, we were really happy to finally get here. We're staying in Dar with our friend Kate, who teaches at a Christian school here, and her new roommates, Austin and Amy, also teachers and fairly newly married as well. An interesting situation, but the house is enormous (I think think there are 4 living rooms), and we're grateful to to have a free place to stay and friends to spend time with. So far we're enjoying ourselves, despite the oppressive heat (I'm not sure any of you have ever really experienced what hot actually feels like, I know I hadn't until 2 days ago--maybe people from Nevada? or the Sahara?).

House Update

2009-10-28T16:06:00.000+03:00

It's funny. Two months ago, before we started working on the house, our landlord and contractor both said that the house would be ready to move into in 10 days. Now, we knew that that would never happen, but we did think it would be ready for us to move into before we left for Dar to have Baylor. And now, two months later, the house continues to be needing lots of work. But that's ok with us. We weren't real thrilled with the idea of moving in and then immediately leaving anyway. And now we don't have to worry about that. We are worrying a little about whether or not things will actually get done while we're gone. Fortunately, we have Carson and Calvin around to keep an eye on things. Right now, they're painting the bars of the windows. When they're done with that, they'll paint the rest of the house, finish the electricity, install the windows and hopefully, that'll be it! With the inside anyway. They'll paint the outside of the house and build the water tower (to hold our water tank) after we get back. But the house is actually starting to really look like a place people will live. This is our kitchen.

You've probably noticed that it's all concrete. The whole house is all concrete, like most houses here. It's the cheapest and sturdiest way to build. The sink's already been put in down there at the end, and the oven will go underneath the window on the left. The fridge will actually go in a storeroom off to the right. And the room is not actually slanted--I'm just a bad photographer. I'll eventually post a picture of the completed kitchen for you to compare, but it'll probably be a while because we're leaving Geita tomorrow to start making our way towards Dar. Just 3 1/2 weeks left (hopefully...)!

Meet Gus

2009-10-20T17:01:00.000+03:00

Having a guard dog in Africa is a necessity. Theft is often a big problem here, and most Africans don't like dogs, so just having one in the yard is a big deterrent. Perhaps our little puppy is not so formidable right now, but he's a german shepherd/rotweiler mix, so one day he should at least look scary. We got Gus from a family on the Mwanza team who just had puppies and the McNeals and Groens picked up a couple of his sisters for themselves as well. We're hoping that Gus will be a nice friendly dog to all except people attempting to break into our house in the wee hours of the morning...not that we're really expecting that to happen--just a precaution. Also, I hope that this picture of me at 35 weeks convinces some of you scoffers out there that I really do look pregnant.

Temporary Abode Number...

2009-10-16T20:04:00.000+03:00

Over the last year or so, we've lived in so many different places I've lost count. I'm sure I could actually figure it out, but that would take more effort than I'm willing to put into it at the current moment.

Last weekend we were happy to have the Groen Family join us in Geita. When we moved to Geita 6 weeks ago, they stayed in Mwanza to work on some paperwork and other legalities for the orphanage they're starting. The Groens had previously arranged to rent a house in Geita, and that is what the McNeals and we have been living in while waiting for our own houses to be ready. Now that the Groens have moved in, we decided 9 people in a house with one bathroom was a little much, so Brett and I moved into the little detached guest house/room next door. We'll only be here a few weeks, and it definitely makes it easier on everyone to have a little extra space. We have our own bathroom (no hot water, though) and Brett created a little kitchen for us to use. I give him an award for excellent use of paint cans and plywood. For about 200 square feet, it's actually quite functional.

For those of you who didn't already know, you can probably tell from the above picture that Holly is also pregnant, due at then end of February. And for those of you who have held the theory that missionaries in Geita can't produce male children (there are 6 girls with 2 more on the way, 0 boys), Holly and Carson defy you. They found out recently that they are, in fact, having a boy. I feel kind of bad for the kid, as he'll be the only little boy around for a while, at least. But it's good, because I have a feeling the people of Geita might have started to think it a little strange that all of us only have little girls. Plus, he'll probably be the manliest kid in the world, as all the men on our team will fight over him for doing manly activities, such as rock climbing, wrestling, and lighting things on fire.

1st Annual Rock City Marathon

2009-10-07T11:17:00.000+03:00

Sunday was the 1st Annual Rock City Marathon in Mwanza. Brett, being Brett, decided to run it. After doing a bit of research on the internet to get more information, he discovered that it was not, in fact, a marathon, but only a half marathon. However, it didn't seem like the race organizers were aware of that. I believe the website said something like, "the standard marathon distance of 21k." Hmmm.... Nonetheless, Brett got there about 6am Sunday morning (it had to be really early because they didn't block off any roads), paid his $2 entry fee, and ran the race. He placed 3rd in the white person category! Seriously. He said he felt like it was a little bit shorter than it should've been, so later we drove off the course and it was actually about a mile short of being a half marathon. Some of the other guys here ran the 5k race and they marked it off as only 4k. I would be pretty happy with a shorter race anyway. Also, if they wanted to know their times, they had to keep up with it themselves. All in all, a successful run for everyone. Though Brett did say people along the road kept asking him why he was running so slow.

In other news, I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and was happy to find out that Baylor is quite the healthy one. She's catching up on her size to where she's only a few days behind what she should be instead of week or a week-and-a-half behind like she was at 22 weeks. She's just a late bloomer. Happy to continue kicking Mom in the ribs for a little while longer.

And we now have a permanent post office address for anyone who was waiting on the edge of their seats to send us fun treats.

Brett and Christie Harrison

Kanisa La Kristo

PO Box 1420

Mwanza, Tanzania

We can't get a po box in geita for the time being, as there are none available, and anyway, the postal situation in Mwanza is better anyway. We figure someone from our team will be out there at least once a month and can grab all the mail for everyone, so it's just a better deal. Happy mailing.

The House

2009-09-30T13:12:00.000+03:00

Like I said in a previous post, searching for houses in Tanzania is not the same as searching for houses in the States. But, after a week of driving all over Geita, we found a house that actually fit our criteria, or at least most of it. It is 1) within 1 mile of the central market and town, so I can walk easily; 2) is super cheap; and 3) has an indoor kitchen! I'm very excited about number 3. The house is larger than we were wanting, but there is just not a lot available in Geita, so you take what you can get. We found a few other houses that also fit what we were looking for, except they were even bigger. One house that our friends looked at had 11 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. I'm thinking it was originally meant to be a guest house. Anyway, ours does not have that many rooms. But we do have 2 guest rooms, so Karibu! (karibu means welcome, which is probably the most common word used in Swahili) We also found a few houses that were smaller, but they either did not have indoor kitchens or were more expensive to rent.

Our landlord is giving is such a good price because he believes God sent us to him so that he could help us out and in turn, we could help the community. He's also a very wealthy man, so money's not so much an issue with him.

So here's our house:

As you can probably tell, the house is not quite finished. Or not at all finished. People here often begin building a house and don't finish it until they find a renter. Otherwise, squatters will move in, not take care of the house, and bring down the value. So, while our house had walls and a roof, it didn't have much else. When you rent a house in Tanzania, you pay between 1 and 3 years rent up front (security for the landlord). And if the house is not finished, that money goes towards finishing the house. We are paying 3 years rent to finish the house, and while we don't particularly like the money part, it does mean we get some say in how the house will be finished. For example, I don't have to have royal blue tinted windows or tile covering every square inch of the house (including the front porch and walls-very popular here-to show wealth).

Brett has been spending the last several weeks supervising and helping with the work being done on the house. It's a stressful job, and I'm glad I'm not the one who has to do it. But he's been able to build relationships while doing this, and two families have requested Bible studies as a result of this work. Praise God!

We're hoping to move in to the house when we come back from Dar Es Salaam after Baylor is born. It should be finished before then, but we don't know for sure. And I don't know if our watch puppy will be up to guarding the house and its contents all on his own before then. I'll post more pictures as we get more work done. I think today we're getting a toilet.