The lighter side...

Here are some pictures which show the not-so-serious side of our life here:

Caleb recently received some new armbands from his granny - he was very taken with them!

Here's a picture of us, taken this week for the MAF Directory. We think it's quite good! Just for those of you who keep telling us there's only ever pictures of the kids!

[There would have been more pictures here, but we got a 104 error. Sorry!]

My week

It's getting more difficult to write blogs with all the power cuts, so I thought I'd better write one whilst there's power. You sure do appreciate your electricity here.

People sometimes ask me what I do in my week, so here are a few details:Monday. Went to my house lady’s (Sarah) cousin’s house to pray for her cousin Sabina. She has AIDS, although nobody really likes to admit it. However, we found out she'd gone to the hospital that night. We then went to the hospital where we found her, very emaciated and unable to talk. I prayed for her and gave her some money. You have to pay for all the medical treatment upfront which is a big problem for lots of people. The drip she was on costs 1,000 shillings a time (a days wage is 3,000Tsh) and they'd had to pay for a taxi to take her to hospital. Not many people own cars and there aren't really any ambulances.Tuesday. One of Sarah’s nephews (who have been living on the street) returned last week; the other one is still on the streets. I drove him out to Msalato to enrol him in a private school. (Dad you would have loved the road, no tarmac all the way there). The government schools here aren’t great, so we have decided to sponser him and the other children through school. However, because he’s been on the street for so long he’s only at standard 2 level (2nd year primary) even though he’s 14. We have agreed that he’ll have a personal teaching assistant (if we pay for it) to help him get up to the right standard. I thought for £15 a month, it was worth it! Please pray that he’ll be happy in the school and make the most of this opportunity. Also, that his brother will come home soon. I think, if I do nothing else in Tanzania I want to help educate the families of those we are close to. On the one hand there are so many people and we can’t help everybody, but we can help some and make a difference in their lives.

Wednesday. Bought five freshly slaughtered chickens. At least the meat he is fresh (maybe a little too fresh!) It is now all in the freezer divided into breast, drumsticks, thighs etc.., definitely my preferred way of dealing with chicken.

Thursday. Finally went to buy more beef. I’ve been putting this off because I hate the smell and the flies. Bought 10kg of fresh best quality beef (only £1.50 per kg) and spent the afternoon mincing it. It was quite nice when made into spaghetti Bolognese.

Friday. Sara rang me to say Sabina was dead. This is about the 5th relative of Sara’s that has died since we arrived, that’s one a month. I found myself sitting in the car crying, not really for Sabina, because I didn’t really know her, but just for all the death and poverty and the seemingly hopelessness of it all. All I know is that, if I feel it, God feels it more.

As I finished this blog it’s just started to rain. We both rushed outside shrieking with glee and saw our neighbours were doing the same thing. Rain is so different here, so precious. I can’t believe it, I’m so excited it’s raining I could almost cry.

Greedy Cat

Joshua's reception class at school led the assembly this week with a play about a greedy cat. Here are some pictures of Joshua's class and Bethany watching the play. They always have assembly outside at 8am before it gets too hot. They have the Tanzanian flag flying and they sing the Tanzanian national anthem. It's a bit different to assembly in an English school. There is lots of praying and they sing songs out of junior praise.

There is also a picture of our greedy cat which Daniel must have downloaded whilst I was out of the room. She is currently sleeping in the cupboard in the hall on top of the towels. She loves spaghetti bolognese and evaporated milk. (She doesn't eat mice!)Being an African cat, she doesn't get special cat food, she just eats our leftovers and sleeps outside at night.

This weekend I really missed Starbucks. There are no coffee shops in Dodoma, although at least that avoids the moral dilema of whether it's OK to spend more than one days wages on a Cappaccino. (Rember that next time you're in Starbucks) A days wage here is 3,000 shillings and a Starbucks regular Cappucino is 4,000 shillings. Lots of things are cheaper here, like fruit and vegertables, but the shop where we buy things like cheese and margarine has the same prices as back in the UK or even more expenisve. Consequently it's almost exlusively a European haunt.

I am also missing places to go. I used to hate being dragged to places of scenic interest when I was a kid, but now I'm here I realise how spoilt we are in the UK with beautiful places to go, nice walks, museums etc.. and all within a short distance of where we live. Here there is nowhere to go except the MAF pool. If you drive in any direction it's all the same, desert. One direction if you stay on the same road for 6 hours, you'll get to Dar, and the other direction it's 9 hours to Arusha. If you get married here you get you photos taken at the roundabouts, because they're about the only thing which are actually quite pretty. If you do drive out anywhere to try and find anywhere to have a picnic you are immediately joined by lots of curious onlookers. We went to a MAF barbecue out in the bush a few weeks ago. For the whole time we were there, (over 2 hours) there were two crouds of Tanzanian children who sat and watched us the whole time!

Birthday boy

Joshua's 5th birthday party today. We went for the full works, for the first time. It went quite well actually - we had pass-the-parcel, a treasure hunt, craft, games, food, stories. I had great fun - I think some of the kids enjoyed it too!Here are a few piccies to give you a flavour - guess the theme... The cake is supposed to be Thunderbird Island. I wasn't very pleased with the result but Josh thought it was great, so that's what counts. It's so much harder to make novelty cakes when you can't buy swiss rolls, liquorice allsorts, matchmakers etc.. Still it tasted nice, which I wasn't expecting with all the green icing.

We took the stabilisers of Joshua's bike today, but he was very cross when he couldn't ride it immediately. He loves going on bike rides with mummy. We can ride on the roads here because there aren't many cars, you just have to watch out for all the pot holes. I've also got a baby seat for Caleb which he really likes. We just have to buy another adult bike and teach Bethany to ride and then we can go on family bike rides.

Josh is still loving school and Bethany has been much happier the last two weeks. She has made a Tanzanian friend called Abida which seems to help.

We are having power cuts almost every other day at the moment. So that's why we're not always replying to e-mails very quickly. When we have power, internet connection and time we will get back to you.

Another week, another blog...

Hopefully by now most of you (at least you English-based folk) should have received our quarterly newsletter. Please let us know if not, so we can make sure you get added to MAF's mailing list.

It was a bit odd writing a newsletter, after having blogged most of the things we've done as we've gone along! Hope it's still of interest though.

Sorry to those of you who might have tried to contact us this week. As parliament is no longer in session here in Dodoma, it's back to power cut land. In theory we should be without power Thursday and Saturday, but even though there's a published schedule, it tends to be a bit random as to which days the power goes off!

Also, the network was down most of this week, so we couldn't get on line to do computerey stuff. It's a bit scary how desolate this makes us feel - internet access is a it like air over here (OK, maybe not that necessary - but its nice to have!)

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Sarah, one of our houseladies, has asked us to mention two of her nephews, Philip and Nelson. They were two of the children of her sister, who died some time ago. They have been living with her since her sister died, but they keep running away to live on the street. It seems that they like the freedom of the 'street-life'. However, there's not a lot of future in it, and stupid decisions made at this age (12 and 14) will have serious repercussions for the rest of their lives. Education is about the only way out of the cycle of poverty that most Tanzanians live in, and if they're not at home, they're not at school.

Please pray that these two would come to their senses, and realise the benefits of living with Sarah. Please also pray for Sarah to have wisdom in dealing with them when they do come back, and that we would be able to help where we can.

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Congratulations to Steve & Rachel, Clive and Megan and Ant & Mel - who have all managed to produce baby girls in the last few weeks. It must be girl season I think. We hope you all manage to get some sleep!

Summer holiday

As I type this, my parents are on their way back to Dar, hopefully having survived their Africa experience. They will be able to fill you in on how it really is!! We have had a good two weeks, showing them the Dodoma sights (That took about 5 minutes) and hopefully giving them a flavour of the different sides of Tanzania, from the sunsoaked beaches of Dar and the luxury Safari lodges to the reality of everyday life for most Tanzanians. Here are a few holiday snaps. My mother has requested that there be no pictures of her in her swimming costume, I'll do my best!!!