The Journey

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

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

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...

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

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

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.   

A Couple of Large Things

There are many creatures in Africa that I would not welcome into my home.  However, we enjoy having geckos around, because they eat mosquitos and in general cause no problems.  Yesterday we saw this enormous lizard hanging out on our window screen, and while I like lizards fine, I'm glad this one was on the outside of the house.  I doubt you can really tell how big it is, but from head to tail, it's at least a foot long.  

  The second large thing is me.  Ok, so I'm not exactly huge for 32 weeks, but I assure you I am uncomfortable and often bump my stomach on various pieces of furniture, cars, and other pointy items.  And I don't know why I'm sideways--I edited the picture to be up and down.  And I'm squinting because it's really sunny.