Rainy season again

A few recent photos of the children my sister took when she was here.

Two good things happened this week (well not just two). One it started raining, two weeks earlier than usual and without the usual bug fest that accompanies the start of the rains, maybe we have that joy to come. The other good thing was that the MAF swimming pool (see picture)is finally re-opening today. These two things are not necessarily compatible but having woken up to sunshine and blue skies, it looks like there will be no rain today and we will be good to swim.

I seem to be busier than ever since Caleb started school. I am officially starting to work in December (work permit permitting)to cover the maternity leave of the Partnership and Development Manager. However even now I seem pretty busy. On Monday I spent most of the morning with John (the teenager whose parents died of aids) I want to help him, but I can never tell whether or not he is lying to me or not. I won't go into all the details of his situation, but suffice to say I was pretty fed up with him by lunch time.(he arrived at 9am!!!) However read on and you will see how God worked later on in the week.

Tuesday I had Children's club, next time will be my last one as I am stopping it to concentrate on Work.

Wednesday was my ladies group.

Thursday I went into the office to work with the lady I am taking over from to try and get up to speed with everything. We also had a visitor from MAF UK for lunch.

On Friday I spend the morning with a pastor from the street children project (Safina project) and Sarah. We went to visit the mothers and grandmother of the boys we support.Yohanna is having a problem at school and one of the teachers said he is turning up drunk. He is so hungry that he drinks the left over pombe (alcohol) from the mother who doesn't notice because she is blind. Every time I go there I feel like levelling the whole place and starting again it is just awful. There are so many small children running around absolutely filthy. It's just a breeding ground for disease. Sarah said if cholera ever came to that area of town they would have no chance. I know they are poor, but they do have water (free) from the church to wash and they don't need to use the whole place as a public toilet. Children just squat to wee and poo wherever they like.Sorry I am off on a rant, but how do I start to help people who have essentially given up and spend what little money they have on alcohol. Anyway the Safina project is keen that children stay with their mothers whenever possible and said they will partner with me to help these families. I will still be financing them, but they will help with the counselling and practical things. It is such a blessing to work with Tanzanians who have a heart for their own people.

Anyway when we were driving back to town I told the pastor about John and he said he was happy to help. I asked him to come back to my house just to see if John was there and of course he was waiting for me by the gate. I had other things to do and so I left John and the Pastor and Sarah talking for well over an hour. The result of which is that the Pastor said he is happy to help John, he will visit the family and he will work out the best way to help him and we will work together to come to a good solution. He also said that if John needs someone to talk to he can always go to the street kid centre in town and talk to him. This is great for me a)because it makes much more sense for him to talk to a Tanzanian man and also b) because John likes to talk and often comes for visits that go on for hours.