Blog for January 21, 2018
Weather all over the world seems a bit “off” this year. We have had incredible rains over the past weeks. We have had a total of 4 inches in the first week of January and it is usually the “dry season” here in Tanzania. We are quite grateful that all is green again and the gardens are producing well. ☔
The children arrived back safely from their visits to their relatives over the break. They seem quite happy to be back and celebrated with soda, hotdogs, chips and slaw. There were smiles all around. Only 4 to 6 children remained here at the Village during the school break and they too had a wonderful time. Many of the children went to the homes of relatives while some went to the homes of our childcare staff and a few school staff members.
 |
| Anna and Peggy on Christmas Day |
We have been blessed with a 4 week visit from our daughter Anna. This is the first Christmas we have been together since about 2012. We had much fun catching up and getting to know her boyfriend, Scott who was here part of the time. They got to do some Moshi adventure hiking and even went to swim in our warm “hot springs” west of here. They enjoyed the local food of Tanzania. Scott came with a really bad case of malaria which exhibited itself on Christmas Day… two days after they arrived. The diagnosis was complicated by the fact that he had been on Mefloquine which is a very good drug for malaria. After careful research, we learned that Tanzania, along with Myanmar and one other country have malaria that is resistant to Mefloquine. We were able to find a pharmacy open on Christmas Day and get the drug, Coatem, which so far has no resistant strains. It took him nearly a week to fully recover. How thankful he as well as we were that he was staying with an infectious disease doctor. Anna left to begin a job in London which is one plane flight closer than the US 😀.
We have now completed week one of term one in school for 2018. We have an 8th level in the school this year and they are so proud to have new uniforms that set them apart from the younger children. We were also able to place nine of our oldest girls into an “honor cottage” which makes all the girls in grade 7 and level 8 in that cottage. The girls are so excited to be together so they can do homework and studies. It does mean that many of the mothers now have nearly all younger girls but they seem fine with that too.
 |
| Lilac Breasted Roller.. my greeter each morning |
 |
| Off to Nairobi to play on National Tennis team |
The first week of school ,and with our missionary staff reduced from six to four ,actually went very well. I am helping Kent with tutoring in math and grading some of the weekly quizzes. We are all so busy that we have to nearly schedule time to greet the rest of our group here. Please pray that God will quickly send more workers into the harvest for all of the Rafiki Villages. I must say though that we are totally keeping our heads above water for now and that is a miracle of God Himself.
Two of our 14 year old girls were invited to play on the Tanzanian National Tennis team at a competition in Nairobi. They didn’t come home with medals, but they won a number of matches and represented Tanzania well. What a wonderful opportunity it was for these girls and even the Childcare assistant who traveled with the girls. We had to quickly get passport documents together and then get them a Yellow Fever Vaccine before they could travel. It was an opportunity they will never forget. One of the girls is likely to be invited to play in Tunisia in the future.
 |
| Franklin our resident rooster |
As we watch the newsfeed from here, we see that most of the US has been in the “freezer” lately with ice and snow even in the deep south. We are certain that all of you reading this would really enjoy some time in WARM Tanzania working with us here. You are all most welcomed!!
 |
| First School Assembly of 2018 |
 |
| 4 resident girls in new uniforms |
No comments:
Post a Comment