Sept 10, 2009
Dear friends,
In two days we will start the last quarter of the school year. In this last quarter I want to teach the best I can. But I also want to be the person I should be and friend I should be to these students. I have done many technical things here related to computer, these are easy for me. Relational things are harder for me, they take time and attention to others. The relational things are what God values because He values all people, big and little, American and African.
Love, Kurt
The goats are so cute here in Africa, it would be hard to eat one. The sign indicates that you also get “ugali” and “chapati”. Ugali is the tofu-like staple of the East Africans and I do not like it because it is tasteless and you are supposed to eat it with your bare hand (your right hand, of course). I amuse the children by attempting to speak Kiswahili and telling them “Sinapenda ugali” which means that I do not like ugali. This makes them laugh. I like chapati which is a thick tortilla, I put peanut butter on it and anything else handy. I also like “uji” which is thin porridge, so I say “Ninapenda uji”. When I walk by certain village homes, there are some children who call to me “Unapenda uji”, meaning “you like uji”. Then they call out in kiswahili all of the things that they think I like. “Ninapenda kahawa” means I like coffee.
A family in Pennsylvania volunteered to host a student for one year from Lion of Judah School. Abia, who was a student in my Form 3 math class, was chosen to go to America. This is very exciting. She will attend high school as a senior and live with the host family. I have met the mother and two teenage daughters, they were here this summer with the American short term mission team.
The team from US painted several buildings and classrooms, notice the paint on their clothes. Women must always wear skirts here, even when working.
This is Andrew sitting in a big hole. He is not an African. He is an American and he helped to build a soccer field for the students. The hole was later filled with concrete to support the soccer goal (after Andrew got out of the hole). There was an inaugural soccer match between students and teachers. For some reason, the teachers elected to not let me play. The teachers won 1 to 0, helped by an assist from the school director.
There are many bats in my house. So I decided to do something about this. At sunset the bats always fly away, they return at dawn. While they were away one night I stuffed some trash into the various holes that I could detect in the walls of the house so that the returning bats could not re-enter. This idea didn’t work, they still got into
the house.
The Americans brought bubbles. There is nothing more fun than popping bubbles with African children (except, perhaps riding on the back of the piki piki at night, totally dark, with a fast, young driver over the bumpy dirt roads).
If you look carefully you will see some long haired American girls. Their hair is being rearranged and braided by the curious young girls. The girls must cut their hair at the beginning of the school year.
Teacher Bhoke got married. She teaches “Awali” which is kindergarten. Her family received a dowry of eight cows, this is huge and Bhoke is proud of this. Notice that the happy couple does not look happy. They did not look happy throughout the ceremony. We were told that this is customary. I have attended two weddings this year. Weddings take a long time. There is a long, slow procession of both the groom and the bride. They take one small step forward every four beats and then a smaller step backward in rhythm to the African music. There are several sets of children and adolescent young people who dance as part of the procession.
These are the new German girls, Maja and Carina. They are continuing the work of Rabea and Judith who have returned to Germany. They are terrific Christian women who serve the children in many ways as teacher and friend and welcome them into their home.
This is the “German Choir” and that is how they are introduced at chapel. There is the “Vijana Choir”, this means “Youth Choir” consisting of secondary students. There is the “Upendo Choir”, this means “Love Choir” and consists of primary boys except for one precious secondary boy named Zephania. There is the “School Choir” that consists of all ages, and there is the “Family Choir” which consists of family members of one of the staff. At times, I am expected to sing with a choir. The problem is that you have to dance as you sing. I am not capable of doing the shuffle thing with my feet.
This is the guide who showed me the the caves near Tanga on the east cost of Tanzania. She is usually not dressed like this but there was a wedding that day. She is sitting on a stalactite shaped like a chair. During the tour of the cave she explains the various formations, one looks like a lion, another like the African continent, another like an angel. There are also “R” rated formations that I will not explain further.
The children make their own toys. These boys have made a car out of a carton of milk. The wheels really turn.
These are cute young cows laying in the pathway. Cows come by my house to eat the grass, they are welcome but the large ones scare me. I have seen cows running wildly around like wild horses. The cows are in some kind of symbiotic relationship with small white birds. It is a charming friendship to watch.
Ghati is my boss. She is the “class teacher” for Form 1 and is head over all subject teachers of Form 1, like me. She is beloved by her students, she teaches kiswahili, and she will be leaving to continue her education at a teacher college. The students gave a fun and emotional good-bye party for her last week. There was much dancing and singing at this party, the Form 1 students cooked delicious food and served sodas. At the party, I accompanied the keyboard music, playing the African worship songs as the students and teachers danced. The only musical instrument at the school is electronic keyboard. The German girls introduced the guitar. Now boys are coming to my house and they want to play my trumpet.
There are nine paths in the Hindu religion, symbolized by these nine dressed icons. A tour guide took me to an elaborate Hindu temple in Mombasa, Kenya. One of the better hospitals in Mwanza, Tanzania is a Hindu hospital. There is much religion in Africa, mainly tribal, Muslem and Christian. I have seen no Buddhism here.
It takes five days to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. I did the one day climb only to the first camping station. The hike was beautiful, through rain forest and saw monkeys, streams, birds. Back at the hotel, after my climb, I ordered curry with mashed potatoes. The chef made a sculpture of the mashed potatoes to look like Mt. Kilimanjaro.
This male lion is part of a family that I saw at Ngorogoro Crater. The lion cubs played like kittens.
For a small fee, we were allowed to visit a Masai village, the men performed a traditional jumping dance. The Masai tribe is rather famous, they are known for being aggressive and you can buy their spears and knives. In the past, young males were supposed to prove manhood by killing a lion. This is now forbidden by the government. I was sitting in an African cafe watching a ridiculous movie portraying some cowboys in Africa lassoing zebra while the Masai in full tribal arraignment watched. I couldn’t help wondering what the Africans were thinking as they watched this.
These children meet every Saturday in Musoma (a medium sized town two hours from Bulima) under a program by Compassion international. They have Bible study, songs and food to eat. The second picture is taken at a small, remote village. These children seemed to be unfamiliar with Westerners and amazed at the camera. They laughed and laughed when I showed them their picture.
Every Saturday now, I invite the primary kids to a video matinee. I have been showing the videos that our church sent but we needed some more. So I purchased some black market videos in Mwanza from a street vendor (Lord, forgive me). They were really cheap, but they are really good quality Disney flicks. The most popular video I got is King Kong, the secondary students watch it again and again.
I witnessed the slaughtering of a cow for the purpose of food for the dorm students. One of the American girls was there and as the cow was being killed she compassionately stroked his head and spoke to him kindly, reassuring him of cow heaven. I have been mostly vegetarian this year.
This kind of thing happens all the time outside the door of my house. There is no trash collection, it is burned in the open. Sometimes the fire spreads but noone seems concerned about this. It is dry season now, yet they still burn trash in this manner. A Kenyan student doctor told me that one of the most frequent problems they treat at the hospital is burns from fires like this. I heard of the serious and scary fires in California again this year and I am praying for your safety.
The washing of hands before a meal is charming. Whenever you are invited to a home for a meal, the wife or children, will pour warm water over your hands, catching in a pan. This is done in a specific order, beginning with men in order of oldest, then women, then children. The women in the picture are washing our hands before a meal celebrating the graduating class at the local Bible college.
The saddest moment in my time in Africa was when I heard the news that the six year old daughter of Teacher Pius had died. She died from a sudden illness that the local hospital could not treat in time. They said that she needed blood. I cannot help thinking that her death could have been prevented had there been better medical care for her. Teacher Pius is in profound grief after this tragedy. He is the class teacher for Form 3 and he will be leaving to attend teacher college. This is his good-bye address to the Form 3 students. Pius was always happy and good-humored before this tragedy. He reached out to me when I first arrived and was a good friend to me. Please pray for him, he still trusts in the Lord, but he has changed in his grief.
While in Tanga on a rowboat we passed close by these noble Tanzanian ships.
There are fishers of fish and there are fishers of men. I have met both here in Tanzania.
