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.
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