So many people are leaving! One long term and two short term volunteers from the church have left this month. A long with two other friends who were volunteers through other programs have gone home this month. It’s great to meet so many interesting people, but sad to then have to say good bye. Leah, the other girl here with lahash is also going home, this week.
It is beautiful the emphasis and importance this culture puts on good byes. Perhaps a little annoying how formal and long they are, still have to put that one in there : ). But I really appreciate the time that everyone takes out to show their appreciation and love for a visitor/friend/coworker. When the short term volunteers left, we had a big lunch. There were speeches about how wonderful they were and how much of a blessing their time at the church had been. Emotional for people who had been there for a two weeks. I thought it was great. Another great tradition is the gift of kitanges. I’m sure that’s not spelled right but the huge pieces of fabric that people make into dresses or just wear. Beautiful peaces of fabric. Often times they have saying on them that are important when they are given as gifts. The person being honoured is wrapped in the kitange and then many pictures are taken. Beautiful way to say good bye.
The last week leah’s dinner schedule has been booked! I have been also able to tag a long. Once people realized she was leaving so soon, everyone wanted to have us over for dinner. It was important to people that they had a chance to share a meal with us to show appreciation and properly say good bye. Many of the church workers don’t speak English very well but they still wanted us to be in there homes. It was great to be able to see another side of their lives. I spend so much time with them at church. I have seen their heart to serve the people around them. It’s easy to forget the many of these people working at the church don’t have great living situations either. Some fathers are absent in families, people are sleeping on couches or a family is sharing on room. It has been really fun have a chance to experience that.
Another side note that has come along with Leah leaving—She and I made dinner for our host family, we are living together right now. We made chilli and cheese bread and fruit salad. We feed 16 people! It was epic to cook this meal in Africa! First we had to get everything that we needed in town. Walking all over, first to the market, then to the wazungu shop (white people store), then the spice shop, finally trying to find everything else on the street. After trekking it all home it took us a couple of hours to cut everything up in our hands, open cans with knives, cook everything on a coal stove outside. It’s pretty different from cooking at home. Throws a little twist in it all. The chilli turned out really good! I think the family enjoyed our effort too to feeding them all. It was difficult to explain to the kids that although this was typical ‘american’ food, it wasn’t what we ate everyday. It’s difficult to explain the variety that most people have in the states. I really enjoyed being able to share that part of my life at home with them though.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Formalities
People are people and relationships are relationships, but there is something about people’s interactions here that is unlike what I feel at home. People seem more guarded here somehow. It could still be the language barrier that prevents people from letting me in, but still interactions are different. Maybe this is too harsh, but there seems to be a lack of emphasis on the truth and honesty. Perhaps it is just displayed in a different way. Let’s see if I can try to explain this.
For starters at home I get annoyed with the programmed, how are you? I am good responses. If things are rough… a lot of people still say they are good. If times aren’t good, the person asking often doesn’t really want to hear about it. They just want to hear about the good things. I don’t feel this way in all communities at home. I really value the ones where I can say, ‘Things are a little rough.’ And the other person can take it as it is and the conversation doesn’t come to a halt. Any how…all greetings are programmed like that here. I haven’t learned how to say things are ok, or not good. Sometimes if I say I’m tired people don’t know how to respond. You go through the routine, hi how are you? Fine, how is home? Good, how is work? Fine. Greetings are HUGE here. But always routine. Visiting a member of the church in the hospital I saw his wife go through the same thing. I’m good, my husband is fine, he is improving, thank your for you kindness we are fine. Not true!! It was a serious situation and he wasn’t improving initially, she hadn’t slept in three days. Really should have been sleeping rather than entertaining visitors. It doesn’t seem to be acceptable to admit these weaknesses. This is just one example too.
I love the community at the church. They have so much passion and energy. I love them! But the community doesn’t seem very personal. Little things get up out in the open but big struggles are not exposed or even mentioned. Perhaps they are not here, perhaps it’s to difficult to mention them, perhaps I don’t understand. I would expect a community like this to challenge each other more, at work, spiritually, in home lives. They are very close. That is something that I love, but everything always seems so formal and fine. At home close knit communities like this one are much more transparent about what is going on in their lives. Not everywhere for sure. And a different work environment wouldn’t call for that, but in a church that is as close as this one, I’m surprised at that aspect of people’s interaction.
There seems to be no room for constructive criticism either. Even in the work environment. That is something that I really value. I want an honest assessment of my performance and how to improve it. There are some church leaders that tell us white folks to speak up when we have something so say. They tell us that they want our input, but when input is given, people often get defensive and the information isn’t received. On the other side, I want to be helpful and useful. There must be ways that I can do better or help out more, but whenever I ask they respond with unprecedented praise.
Something that I can’t quite get my head around. Not that there has to be a reason why. It’s interesting the subtle differences you learn working and living with people for an extended period of time.
For starters at home I get annoyed with the programmed, how are you? I am good responses. If things are rough… a lot of people still say they are good. If times aren’t good, the person asking often doesn’t really want to hear about it. They just want to hear about the good things. I don’t feel this way in all communities at home. I really value the ones where I can say, ‘Things are a little rough.’ And the other person can take it as it is and the conversation doesn’t come to a halt. Any how…all greetings are programmed like that here. I haven’t learned how to say things are ok, or not good. Sometimes if I say I’m tired people don’t know how to respond. You go through the routine, hi how are you? Fine, how is home? Good, how is work? Fine. Greetings are HUGE here. But always routine. Visiting a member of the church in the hospital I saw his wife go through the same thing. I’m good, my husband is fine, he is improving, thank your for you kindness we are fine. Not true!! It was a serious situation and he wasn’t improving initially, she hadn’t slept in three days. Really should have been sleeping rather than entertaining visitors. It doesn’t seem to be acceptable to admit these weaknesses. This is just one example too.
I love the community at the church. They have so much passion and energy. I love them! But the community doesn’t seem very personal. Little things get up out in the open but big struggles are not exposed or even mentioned. Perhaps they are not here, perhaps it’s to difficult to mention them, perhaps I don’t understand. I would expect a community like this to challenge each other more, at work, spiritually, in home lives. They are very close. That is something that I love, but everything always seems so formal and fine. At home close knit communities like this one are much more transparent about what is going on in their lives. Not everywhere for sure. And a different work environment wouldn’t call for that, but in a church that is as close as this one, I’m surprised at that aspect of people’s interaction.
There seems to be no room for constructive criticism either. Even in the work environment. That is something that I really value. I want an honest assessment of my performance and how to improve it. There are some church leaders that tell us white folks to speak up when we have something so say. They tell us that they want our input, but when input is given, people often get defensive and the information isn’t received. On the other side, I want to be helpful and useful. There must be ways that I can do better or help out more, but whenever I ask they respond with unprecedented praise.
Something that I can’t quite get my head around. Not that there has to be a reason why. It’s interesting the subtle differences you learn working and living with people for an extended period of time.
Monday, July 20, 2009
More photos
I added some more photos to the first album I made. The same link should work but here it is again.
Enjoy! and I'll have another post soon.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036011&id=31601659&l=50fa4e693f
Enjoy! and I'll have another post soon.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036011&id=31601659&l=50fa4e693f
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Just a little update
I haven’t posted in a while. Things were busy…and then I didn’t feel like writing. Sorry to all. Let’s see if I can recap some of the last three weeks.
I feel like I am settling into life here. Fewer things are new so fewer things to report. There are still plenty of things that I sit and wonder about. Things that confuse me and frustrate me, but I’ve been here long enough that even the thoughts seem to be cycling through.
Bible Camping
Two weeks ago we took the older Lahash, Compassion, and a lot of the youth from the church to a seminary outside of Dodoma in an area called Msalato. We spent three days in classes, singing, and playing games and eating. A lot of the time was spent in classes covering both biblical lessons and health related lessons such as HIV education, growth and development, and trauma healing. It was a lot of sitting for me. I have a hard time sitting for that long. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves though. I think it’s more typical of a Tanzanian camp. I think it was really good for the kids to be in a different environment with there peers and even eating three meals a day.
Wazungu time
I’ve been spending some time with some other white folks in town. At first I was hesitant to hang out with them because that isn’t what I’m here for. Not that socializing is a bad thing but I’m here to learn about Tanzania and the culture and people who live here. It has been really fulfilling though to hang out with other people. I am more fed by that community and spiritually and emotionally encouraged. It’s relaxing to be able to get away and spend some time with people who have similar interests and cultural back grounds. Little things like being on our own schedule and wanting to go do something or play games rather than just sit around and watch tv. The people I’ve met are pretty cool too. It’s always fun to hear people’s stories. And seems like people also serving in a third world country have some similar stories. It is always good to have fellowship. I’m torn though. There does need to be a balance. I realize the value of having and escape and having people to process things with, but I also need to keep learning and figuring things out for myself. I still need to spend time with the family and play with kids at church.
Safari
I went on safari last Saturday. It was just a one day stint rather than the week long trip that was originally planned. I went with three friends here I’ve met that are from the US, a german woman who was visiting the building hospital for a four of weeks and a swiss guy who was volunteering with the mission airlines for a couple of weeks. We made a good group. We chartered a plane to go to a big park south of Dodoma. It was only a 45 min flight and the pilot was really good. The park was great. Weird to be spending so much money and doing something so touristy, but I had to just try to let that go and enjoy the experience. We saw just about everything. Elephants, giraffes, lions, wild bores, zibras, crocodiles, hippos, lots of antelope things…different kinds don’t remember all the names, all kinds of different birds. We didn’t see cheetahs, rinos, or hyenas but saw just about everything else. It was pretty neat to see the animals in the wild rather than in a small space at the zoo. I wish we could have stayed longer. It was a lot to see in one day. Too much driving I think. I would have liked to have sat and watched the animals for a while. I am really grateful for the opportunity though. That was my chance, and I loved it. We had a really nice lunch. I had three cups of coffee. It was so good I just couldn’t stop.
I’ll try to get a better story for my next post. And I’ll try to make it before the next three weeks is over. And I’m working on getting some more pictures up soon.
I feel like I am settling into life here. Fewer things are new so fewer things to report. There are still plenty of things that I sit and wonder about. Things that confuse me and frustrate me, but I’ve been here long enough that even the thoughts seem to be cycling through.
Bible Camping
Two weeks ago we took the older Lahash, Compassion, and a lot of the youth from the church to a seminary outside of Dodoma in an area called Msalato. We spent three days in classes, singing, and playing games and eating. A lot of the time was spent in classes covering both biblical lessons and health related lessons such as HIV education, growth and development, and trauma healing. It was a lot of sitting for me. I have a hard time sitting for that long. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves though. I think it’s more typical of a Tanzanian camp. I think it was really good for the kids to be in a different environment with there peers and even eating three meals a day.
Wazungu time
I’ve been spending some time with some other white folks in town. At first I was hesitant to hang out with them because that isn’t what I’m here for. Not that socializing is a bad thing but I’m here to learn about Tanzania and the culture and people who live here. It has been really fulfilling though to hang out with other people. I am more fed by that community and spiritually and emotionally encouraged. It’s relaxing to be able to get away and spend some time with people who have similar interests and cultural back grounds. Little things like being on our own schedule and wanting to go do something or play games rather than just sit around and watch tv. The people I’ve met are pretty cool too. It’s always fun to hear people’s stories. And seems like people also serving in a third world country have some similar stories. It is always good to have fellowship. I’m torn though. There does need to be a balance. I realize the value of having and escape and having people to process things with, but I also need to keep learning and figuring things out for myself. I still need to spend time with the family and play with kids at church.
Safari
I went on safari last Saturday. It was just a one day stint rather than the week long trip that was originally planned. I went with three friends here I’ve met that are from the US, a german woman who was visiting the building hospital for a four of weeks and a swiss guy who was volunteering with the mission airlines for a couple of weeks. We made a good group. We chartered a plane to go to a big park south of Dodoma. It was only a 45 min flight and the pilot was really good. The park was great. Weird to be spending so much money and doing something so touristy, but I had to just try to let that go and enjoy the experience. We saw just about everything. Elephants, giraffes, lions, wild bores, zibras, crocodiles, hippos, lots of antelope things…different kinds don’t remember all the names, all kinds of different birds. We didn’t see cheetahs, rinos, or hyenas but saw just about everything else. It was pretty neat to see the animals in the wild rather than in a small space at the zoo. I wish we could have stayed longer. It was a lot to see in one day. Too much driving I think. I would have liked to have sat and watched the animals for a while. I am really grateful for the opportunity though. That was my chance, and I loved it. We had a really nice lunch. I had three cups of coffee. It was so good I just couldn’t stop.
I’ll try to get a better story for my next post. And I’ll try to make it before the next three weeks is over. And I’m working on getting some more pictures up soon.
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