Earthquake

There has been no rain in Dodoma since around March and it has now reverted once again to a dust bowl. Every evening I have to wash all the dust off my feet. The grass, or what's left of it, has turned yellow which means the landscape has taken on a dusty hue which is a little bit unearthly. This is contrasted by the strong colours of the beautiful bougainvillea flowers.

With the dust comes the heat and especially this week I have noticed the temperatures getting hotter. Unfortunately this has also coincided with the swimming pool being closed for maintenance. Life is tough!!

School continues to go well. In fact Caleb is so cross on the days he can't go that from next week he will be going everyday.

Still life is busy and I don't seem to be short of things to do. On Friday I drove the wife (Zeraphina) of our day guard to hospital to have her baby. She is now 38 weeks pregnant and because Dodoma General is to be avoided where possible we are paying for her to go to a slightly better hospital called Mvumi where there is a dutch gynecologist. The hospital is about 1 1/4 hours away from Dodoma on a very bumpy dirt track. I drove quite slowly for obvious reasons. The driving was enough I did not want to deliver the baby in the car too. Zeraphina will stay at the hospital with her mother until the baby is delivered. With no transport of their own, the hospital might as well be a million miles away, so it is easier for her to be there in advance. The trip home was OK but could have ended differently as I had a near collision with a bus. Another MAF wife had driven this route a few weeks ago and said she had lost control of her car twice. Listening to this |I made sure I prayed hard before I left. My prayers were surely answered. There was a bus coming very quickly the other way, clearly with no intention of slowing down even though there was not really enough room for two vehicles to pass easily. I had to slow down quickly and almost loss control of the car. My wheels were stuck in about a foot of sand, which is quite like driving in snow. Fortunately I manged to turn the car enough that the bus didn't hit me, but it was quite close.

One thing I am learning here is "Pray at all times (on every occasion in every season) in the spirit, with all (manner of ) prayer and entreaty." Ephesians 4 v 18.

This in a week when:

the price of Avgas and Jet A1 fuel goes up again


When there was a fatal crash of a pilot in Wamena, Papua New Guinea. The pilot was flying with the flying mission AMA and leaves behind his wife and 5 children.

This week our Cessna 208 started it's return journey form America where it has been for maintenance. Yesteday it flew to Iceland and today a flight via the Faro Islands to Denmark. Next week it continues it journey back to Tanzania

PS from Daniel: this post is called earthquake because we were woken at 6.00 this morning by an earthquake (my first). We weren't sure whether it was a quake or a big truck going by (which they do frequently). But the fact that it was vibration without much noise made us suspicious. Everyone on the other compound also felt it, so that has confirmed it. It only lasted a few seconds, but was still pretty exciting (or scary, if you're Libby :) ). Just thought I better add this note for clarification!