Daniel back in Tz

Hi All. We are back! Sorry for not posting earlier, but settling back in has been harder/busier than we expected. Strangely enough, I think we had more culture shock coming back to Dodoma than we did either coming out here in the first place, or returning to the UK. Maybe because we were primed to expect culture shock and reverse culture shock, but not coming-back culture shock!

.

We had a good time in the UK, and saw lots of people. If you weren't in that category, we're really sorry - it was nothing personal! I think we probably returned to Tanzania more tired than we left, which wasn't really the idea. From what I hear this is fairly normal though - next time we'll try and combine it with a real 'holiday'!

.

One of the things that struck us back in the UK was how many people enjoy reading these witterings. This is encouraging and will help us persevere for another year! Sorry that our posts are not more regular - we seem to slowly slip back in the week.

.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be more to follow, but for now: things that were weird/striking coming back to the UK:

.

* how many cars there were - and how shiny and new they all were

* how busy everyone was, and how fast everything moved

* being able to drink (and wash our teeth with) tap water

* buying milk from a shop! (when you run out)

* how green everything was

* how tidy and clean everything was

* how much variety of food there is. We were kind of theoretically aware of this, but coming back to Tz has emphasised this practically.

.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.

Lots of people asked us how they can tell who is writing any particular post, so we'll try and make it more obvious from now on! [but as a rule of thumb, if the text is justified, it's me (Daniel), but if it's all messy round the edges :) it's Libby]

Libby back in Tz

"I'm definitely back in Tanzania" I thought to myself, as I nearly ran over a baboon driving back from Dar. It was definitely stranger coming back here than it was returning to the UK. I had hoped to settle in slowly, but on returning I got a note to say that Joseph's son had died of malaria (Joseph is the old man who buys veg for me), and Elizabeti told me one of her sons has malaria; her daughter has Typhoid, and her pregnant neighbour has also just died of malaria having been given the wrong medicine or an overdose of the right medicine. Oh yes, and some other missionaries in another part of Tanzania instantly killed a 6 year old girl when she ran in front of their car on their way to Dodoma.

In some ways it's nice to be back to be in our own house again, in other ways I feel like I can't cope with it all and would rather stay in Europe where poverty doesn't stare me so directly in the face.

Do you ever learn to live comfortably side by side with so much death, sickness and poverty? In some ways it would be nice not to be so affected by it, in other ways what would it say about me if I wasn't bothered?

You learn a lot about yourself living here, not all necessarily good. One thing I am begining to understand is that the tumult of emotions that I experience daily is not neccessarily a bad thing, but an opportunity to meet God: "It is actually in the inner mayhem of life that a stage is built for the intrusive story of his light and hope...God meets you in your weakness, not in your strength.He comforts those who mourn, not those who live above desperation. He reveals himself more often in the darkness than in the happy moments of life".

Sometimes, if I'm honest, I'd rather be happy and pass on the revelations!!