As we say about most weeks here, what a week! But this week was special most definitely. As a team we felt it necessary to better equip our church body to witness about Christ to their family, friends, and neighbors. A way we reach people here with the Word of God is through chronological Bible story telling. Have you listened to a story lately? Do you realize that nearly 75% of the Bible is narration? Stories are fun to listen to, aren’t they? There is a missionary couple in Tanzania who focuses their work on storying the Bible with people. It is through the stories they can come to understand the whole picture of the Word of God and come to know how Christ saves us from our sins and makes us right with God. Monday through Wednesday the missionary couple and their friend, a native Tanzanian, storied through 37 stories of the Bible. After each, they took time to answer questions. Boy the look on the faces of the church members was beautiful. They weren’t just hearing a story, but the Word of God start to finish. Unbelievable! It was also through the church members’ questions that we realized who among the church body truly understood the Gospel. For those who didn’t understand, we were able to clarify Grace and especially that faith in Christ is a gift. The last two days were used for the church body to themselves story in front of the group. A challenging thing for sure! After they storied, they were given input about how to improve. The highlight of the week was when young man storied who is not able to read or write. He had just listened attentively to when the story was told at the start of the week and then had his children read the passage in the Bible to him the night before and he did a wonderful job of storying. He proved to the church body that is unable to read or write that anybody can do it. At the end of the week he praised God for what he learned this week so he can witness to his friends and neighbors. It almost brings you to tears! Overall, it was a very special week. As a team we are praying about where to go from here to make sure people truly understand what they believe in.
So I bet you all are wondering how our visas/residency permits are coming along. Well we only have 11 more days until we are illegal’s in this country. There continues to be some major glitches, especially with Em’s nursing license. There is so much to this story that we will not go into, but please pray. Our team member has taken our passports to Dar in an effort to get it to go through. If not able by Thursday, she will return and we will have to spend a weekend in Mombasa, Kenya to reenter the country with a 90 day visa. We have been missing going to the movies, so this might be our chance to go see a movie. However, it’s not exactly how we wanted to do it since it takes time away from our community and is rather costly.
We are really getting into our grove of where we fit and what our roles are. Sarah had a break from school this week and returns the middle of next week. Hard to believe midterms were here already for school children (school year runs from January until December). We have two more weeks in the village until we go on a safari with Em’s parents for a week. Then she is very excited because her parents will be coming to the village to experience life here for a few days and meet all our friends and see our church and school. Then we head to our Africa Inland Mission conference in Dar and Em’s parents go to Zanzibar. Needless to say, October is a busy month. Please pray for travel mercies as we are going all over the place! Traveling can always be an interesting adventure.
We hear so often of how many people are tuning into our website. This is such a blessing. Thanks for your prayers and support! Keep them coming!!! We wouldn’t be here without you all, and we are both eternally grateful.
Blessings,
Em & Sarah
PS-GO CARDINALS!!!!
PSS- The dead rat count is now at 5. We have been rat free for 6 days! Praise Jesus!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
September Morn
Is anyone a Neil Diamond fan? Hopefully one of you got that reference. My mom raised me on Neil Diamond. When I return I will be blasting America! Well maybe not. Any who, I can’t believe it is already September and we have been here over 2 months! We are hitting our stride and God continues to provide us with everything we need and more to live with and serve the people in our community (though not without challenges-each day brings a new humbling experience). With each week at the school I grow to know the students more, and I realize my purpose is so much more than teaching (though I do enjoy it). Some of my favorite moments with the kids occur when I am sitting with them during porridge time or playing with them at recess. It’s amazing to see their little faces light up when you give them a high five or encourage them! They are eager to learn and teach me Swahili. I have visited some of the children at their homes, and it was great to speak with their parents about their progress and how they are doing on homework. This is a special time for families too, as other schools do not conduct home visits. It is good to check in to make sure the children are being cared for as well. Sadly some kiddos are neglected, so we want to make sure they are safe and getting what they need at home. The school has worked very hard to get parents and families involved in their child’s education. My relationships with our headmaster, Matinya, as well as the other four teachers continue to grow and deepen. It is exciting to get to know them and their families. Emily and I were able to celebrate teacher Mary’s daughter’s birthday last week, and we were delighted to be a part of the celebration. We are welcomed into their homes, and we hope to host them once a month for dinner at our house! We continue to learn how to cook African food, so it will be exciting to cook entire meals for guests in the upcoming months. Midterm assessments are this week for the kiddos, so we are hoping to see great progress for the first half of the second term. I feel that before I know it, we will be ending the school year in December. The standard-one children are working on a presentation they will perform for parents in English at the end of the year. They will speak about the importance of money and education and decide which is more important. Good thing we all agree that education is very important. Each day when I go to each class they say, “Education is the key of life, Good morning teacher, how are you?” It is so sweet. They understand the importance of education to better their lives and enable them to have more opportunities. God willing, they will continue to be motivated by the possibilities of greater opportunities through education. Not only so, but our school hopes to teach them the Gospel to give them real hope for their future. It can be discouraging seeing the state of local government schools, but Tanzania is working very hard to improve their schools however, it is difficult to fight corruption in rural areas such as where we live. We just have to continue to pray and be an advocate for the children in our area. All I know is that God continues to bless each day at the school even though I am still learning language and can’t communicate fully. He gives me peace and patience to persevere. I am thankful that I can rest in that and not feel like I have to have all the answers. I know I don’t. There’s liberation in that, though it’s hard to admit and know you don’t have any control in certain situations. I usually get flustered then take a moment to step out of myself and look in on the situation, realizing I just need to take a deep breath and press on. Emily continues to visit the school daily to check in on specific students with health issues and help those with every day cuts and scrapes. It can be overwhelming because once they see one; every kiddo wants a band-aid. We have gotten very good at teaching them how to wash with soap and water. You’d be amazed what those two things can do! Outside of school, Emily and I continue to learn Swahili through our language lessons and visiting friends and neighbors. It’s become more challenging now that we’ve made it over the first hump of initial greetings and basic conversation. Now we are getting into correct grammar and subject verb agreement with all these different noun classes, and it gets very tricky. We want to speak correctly, but if we only spoke when we knew the agreements, we’d barely be talking to anyone. We just have to put ourselves out there and be ready to get corrected. Everyone is willing to help us speak correctly, and it is a big help! We continue to get more visitors now that we have been here a while! We are adjusting to the cultural differences when it comes to stopping whatever you are doing to visit. We have learned to make plans but be ok if we don’t follow a single one. We feel so blessed to have the continued support of our team, as well as the help of our close neighbors and friends. I was not feeling well the other day and stayed at the house instead of going out visiting, and I had several people (including our “grandma” next door) make sure I was ok, and others told Mary and Emily that they were sorry I was sick. To know people are looking out for us encourages us.
One more quick story about how God is faithful. Emily and I have encountered two families with children who are hearing impaired. Emily had the intention of going to the Disabled Children’s Clinic in Tanga last Friday to see if they had any resources but forgot. Just by chance, she was walking by on Saturday and the door was open. She walked in and they were having a meeting with several hearing impaired people. She was able to talk to the workers there and make some contacts to give information back to the families in our village. We were so excited to have this work out! God has a way of putting us right where we need to be to accomplish His plans. We are so grateful to witness Him working in this place each and every day. I keep reminding myself to be thankful that God works in us and through us despite us (thanks Darren Patrick for that one). It’s just exciting to be a part of life here. Even when we’re exhausted and at the end of our rope. He meets us right there! Thank you too for your continued love and encouragement. Keep the thoughts and prayers coming!
Ps- in the past two days there have been 4 mouse sightings in our house. Three have been dealt with (thanks to 2 of our manly neighbors) and one is MIA…we’re definitely finding a mousetrap while in town today. It’s a sad day when you start naming your mice and talk to them when you see them scurry into your kitchen instead of being shocked by their presence. Let us know if you have any suggestions. Poison only appeared to produce more vermin.
Peace out ~S
One more quick story about how God is faithful. Emily and I have encountered two families with children who are hearing impaired. Emily had the intention of going to the Disabled Children’s Clinic in Tanga last Friday to see if they had any resources but forgot. Just by chance, she was walking by on Saturday and the door was open. She walked in and they were having a meeting with several hearing impaired people. She was able to talk to the workers there and make some contacts to give information back to the families in our village. We were so excited to have this work out! God has a way of putting us right where we need to be to accomplish His plans. We are so grateful to witness Him working in this place each and every day. I keep reminding myself to be thankful that God works in us and through us despite us (thanks Darren Patrick for that one). It’s just exciting to be a part of life here. Even when we’re exhausted and at the end of our rope. He meets us right there! Thank you too for your continued love and encouragement. Keep the thoughts and prayers coming!
Ps- in the past two days there have been 4 mouse sightings in our house. Three have been dealt with (thanks to 2 of our manly neighbors) and one is MIA…we’re definitely finding a mousetrap while in town today. It’s a sad day when you start naming your mice and talk to them when you see them scurry into your kitchen instead of being shocked by their presence. Let us know if you have any suggestions. Poison only appeared to produce more vermin.
Peace out ~S
Saturday, August 29, 2009
What We Love About Africa
Top 10 Things I love about Africa!
10. Where else can you see all your old t shirts! My favorites are the many Cardinals shirts, but the highlight last week was seeing a 2002 Lafayette Lancers Sophomore Conference Football Champions on a man at the bus stand.
9. Viewing the sky at night is an unbelievable site. You can see galaxies, shooting stars, and even the international space station orbiting. And the southern cross is an encouraging site watching over this community.
8. The wildlife is definitely wild. The count in the two months here:-2 rats, one dead and one still to catch-5+ scorpians killed in our house, thankfully no stings-hundreds of cockroaches did live in our cho although since we did a treatment nearly three weeks ago we have not had one-a few very big spiders, but we have only seen them at our team members house
7. The children are so excited to see a Mzungu (white person). The kids are delight to be around and keep things light and fun.
6. Language learning is an opportunity to laugh at yourself. A few nights ago I asked our dinner guests if they wanted chai na mahindi (tea with corn), when I meant chai na maziwa (tea with milk).
5. You get to see medical problems that you would never see in the US. Lets just say I have never seen so much pus in my life, but I will spare you the details.
4. We have seen God’s hand in our safety, protection, and health. We feel strong, are encouraged when tired by His Word, and know He is always with us.
3. We pray at church on our knees with our head bowed down. I high recommend praying this way for focus and reverence.
2. Each day begins in the Word and with total surrender as here you cannot survive without strength from the Lord.
1. Seeing God work so intimately in people’s lives is the most beautiful thing I can think of.
We have been blessed by another challenging yet rewarding week. We still feel like we are learning how to live life here. Thursday morning brought tears for both me and Sarah. For me, I was struggling with learning to make hard decisions about who and how to help along with frustration with getting taken advantage of (doctors ordering unnecessary test and me paying for them, etc.). For Sarah, she was experiencing many emotions of teaching in a totally different culture and learning to keep the children in control while still learning the language. But we surrendered our emotions to the Lord, and wow what a day. God was so faithful to our prayers and turned the day around. We had great interactions with many people and felt encouraged by His word in Colossians about suffering for the glory of Jesus. And the day ended with having the teachers from the school over for dinner and the evening was filled with laughter and fun.
Sarah has been busy working on developing her English test she will be giving in a few weeks. In September the children have “midterm” testing before their school break. Our team is very excited because in September, we are having a conference for our church members about learning to story the Bible. The primary role of part of our team is chronological Bible story telling as a means to share the Gospel and this is a skill we want our church members to learn to witness to their family and neighbors. Please join us in prayer that many will attend and better learn how to witness to this community.
As for me, each day is different but it’s always a full day. I made two trips to town this week bringing in sick people who need medical attention. And a main focus continues to be language learning and practicing. Through practicing, we are developing relationships. Please be praying for this community in this time as it is a time of fasting for their religion. Many do not know why they fast, they just do it. We are trying to ask questions to provoke thoughts about the reason they do it.
Thank you for tuning in. The pictures are of some of our school children and of Habulie in his new chair our team got made for him. He is the little guy with cerebral palsy and cannot sit up. This chair supports him in a reclining position so he can sit. I enjoy meeting with him and his family ever week.
Many Blessings,
Emily
10. Where else can you see all your old t shirts! My favorites are the many Cardinals shirts, but the highlight last week was seeing a 2002 Lafayette Lancers Sophomore Conference Football Champions on a man at the bus stand.
9. Viewing the sky at night is an unbelievable site. You can see galaxies, shooting stars, and even the international space station orbiting. And the southern cross is an encouraging site watching over this community.
8. The wildlife is definitely wild. The count in the two months here:-2 rats, one dead and one still to catch-5+ scorpians killed in our house, thankfully no stings-hundreds of cockroaches did live in our cho although since we did a treatment nearly three weeks ago we have not had one-a few very big spiders, but we have only seen them at our team members house
7. The children are so excited to see a Mzungu (white person). The kids are delight to be around and keep things light and fun.
6. Language learning is an opportunity to laugh at yourself. A few nights ago I asked our dinner guests if they wanted chai na mahindi (tea with corn), when I meant chai na maziwa (tea with milk).
5. You get to see medical problems that you would never see in the US. Lets just say I have never seen so much pus in my life, but I will spare you the details.
4. We have seen God’s hand in our safety, protection, and health. We feel strong, are encouraged when tired by His Word, and know He is always with us.
3. We pray at church on our knees with our head bowed down. I high recommend praying this way for focus and reverence.
2. Each day begins in the Word and with total surrender as here you cannot survive without strength from the Lord.
1. Seeing God work so intimately in people’s lives is the most beautiful thing I can think of.
We have been blessed by another challenging yet rewarding week. We still feel like we are learning how to live life here. Thursday morning brought tears for both me and Sarah. For me, I was struggling with learning to make hard decisions about who and how to help along with frustration with getting taken advantage of (doctors ordering unnecessary test and me paying for them, etc.). For Sarah, she was experiencing many emotions of teaching in a totally different culture and learning to keep the children in control while still learning the language. But we surrendered our emotions to the Lord, and wow what a day. God was so faithful to our prayers and turned the day around. We had great interactions with many people and felt encouraged by His word in Colossians about suffering for the glory of Jesus. And the day ended with having the teachers from the school over for dinner and the evening was filled with laughter and fun.
Sarah has been busy working on developing her English test she will be giving in a few weeks. In September the children have “midterm” testing before their school break. Our team is very excited because in September, we are having a conference for our church members about learning to story the Bible. The primary role of part of our team is chronological Bible story telling as a means to share the Gospel and this is a skill we want our church members to learn to witness to their family and neighbors. Please join us in prayer that many will attend and better learn how to witness to this community.
As for me, each day is different but it’s always a full day. I made two trips to town this week bringing in sick people who need medical attention. And a main focus continues to be language learning and practicing. Through practicing, we are developing relationships. Please be praying for this community in this time as it is a time of fasting for their religion. Many do not know why they fast, they just do it. We are trying to ask questions to provoke thoughts about the reason they do it.
Thank you for tuning in. The pictures are of some of our school children and of Habulie in his new chair our team got made for him. He is the little guy with cerebral palsy and cannot sit up. This chair supports him in a reclining position so he can sit. I enjoy meeting with him and his family ever week.
Many Blessings,
Emily
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The Tale of Panya
This is a blog post about 2 girls, a panya, a kitchen, and our resident hero, Baba Twa. You may be pondering hmmm…what in the world is a panya? That is a very valid question my friends, one of which I will happily answer. Panya is Swahili for...you guessed it, RAT!!! Just when we conquered the cockroaches a lovely little friend decided to pay us a visit in our kitchen this week. Mind you, I saw him (I like to think it was the same rat) scurry across our storeroom ceiling beam last week, but I just imagined he was leaving and would not come back…or at least show his beady little face again. I was wrong. The tale begins with two crazy girls getting ready to do a fun Jillian Michaels workout video in our tiny little cottage in the village. Tucked securely in my room (for if anyone saw us white chicks in tank tops, shorts, and tennis shoes at 8:30 at night it would surely confirm we’re nuts) with my laptop all geared up, we were preparing to break a sweat. Em just had to run to the kitchen to throw something away. The next thing I knew, I heard a gut-wrenching scream. I ran to see what was the matter, and Emily pointed to the cabinet and informed me that a “mouse” was hiding under it. With my mind flashing back to last week’s cameo, I was certain it was no mouse, but in fact a rat!!! Apparently the vermin was on our table attempting to chow down on the compost when Emily reached around the door. In a flash, he ran and jumped right in front of her to scurry to safety under the cabinet. Before we had any time to think we heard voices outside our door. Have we mentioned yet that neighbors can hear everything that’s happening in your house and vise versa due to screen windows? Well you can, and thankfully we have some very protective and chivalrous neighbors. I recognized the voice of my language helper, Mama Twa along with a few male voices. She had brought her husband, Baba Twa (Father Twa in English) and a neighbor with her. Without thinking, Emily and I left the cornered rat in the kitchen all by himself because we were more terrified of someone seeing us without a khanga on! We quickly got dressed, grabbed our dictionaries, and answered the door. Through some charades and limited vocabulary, they understood we had a rat in the kitchen and sprung into action. One man was armed with a stick and the other our broom. The sneaky rat ventured from under the cabinet to the table with the stove in one swift scurry. Emily, waiting in the front room on a stool, stood anxiously, while I (mostly because I was curious and wanted to see how this whole thing was going to go down) peeked back into the kitchen. Before I knew it the rat jumped off the stove top cooker onto the floor and was gunning right fore me! At this point I decided I had seen enough, and as I ran into the living room I heard the painful smack of the stick on the concrete floor…followed by several other quick smacks. Surely they had killed the rat! I found myself standing on a chair in the front room right next to Emily, Mama Twa just laughing at us. Upon reentering the kitchen I saw the rat in a puddle of blood, the last bit of life twitching out of him. I grabbed a bag, and Baba Twa picked him up by the tail and placed him inside to dispose of him somewhere. We were so thankful we had been rescued. The thought of killing a rat myself didn’t seem too appealing. Plus, it made for a good language lesson the next day as we all sat on Mama Twa’s porch and rehashed the tale of the rat in the kitchen. We baked them some carrot cake as a “thank you for killing the rat” present, and they loved it! This is just one of the ways we are connecting with our neighbors, and little by little we feel more at home here in the village. We are very blessed to have such caring people to come to our aid, and it makes us feel secure to know there are others looking out for us. It is a funny story we won’t soon forget, and some small part of me is thankful for that little rat scurrying into our kitchen. Just one more little adventure in Africa. PS- I attached a picture of the kiddos with me waiting for porridge at the school! Teaching is going well, and I will update more on that soon!
Well I hope you have enjoyed this tale Sarah has written. Sure was an adventurous night and I was thankful through it all we were able to depend on our neighbors. Good for relationship building. Now I just have a quick summary of the day I had today. I want to remind you that all these things happened in one day. Not everyday is like this though. The day began at the school where I see children to address health needs. I have been washing a child’s head everyday due to ragging impetigo she has probably had for months that has gotten way out of hand. Today it has worsened severely, so please pray for healing, as I am concerned about a possible blood infection if we cannot get this in control. Then a man came to our house seeking my medical, well nursing really, opinion. He has a sick sister and grandmother. I think we figured out that the sister may have celiac disease due to her severe intolerance to certain foods, and then we went to see his grandma. Going to his house opened the door to making me aware of a plethora of health issues. His 80+ year old grandma has severe leg swelling, high blood pressure, voiding frequently, and how am I going to assist with this problem when she cannot even get out of bed to take to the doctor. I will encourage them to just care for her as best they can. Then they introduced me to a child relative who does not talk as a 6 year old. While sitting to play with him I quickly realized he could not hear. I screamed his name and did not even so much as look up. I am going to try to find some resources to help him, but not sure how this will go about in Africa. While still at the same house with all the health issues, they introduced me to a older woman who showed me her breasts due to what she thought was just a sore which she has had for several months. In looking at the growths on her breast, I have a feeling that it could be cancer. There are multiple outgrows of lesions, very sad. We encouraged her to get to the doctor. Then as I was riding home on my bike, I met a very pregnant lady. She was due 12 days ago and asked me to feel her belly and it seems as if the baby is breach. I felt as though they were asking if I would deliver the baby. And I said she really needs to get to town, as I believe this could be a very difficult delivery in the village and I am not going to deliver it. This is just a bit about my day. This is not a typical day I remind you. But thank goodness I feel the Lord’s peace through it all. I am only capable of so much and I am trusting to Lord to guide my words and who to see. The community just sometimes needs to be reminded that I am a pediatric nurse, not a family practice doctor. Thanks for reading a long post.
Many Blessings,
Emily and Sarah
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Week 2 in the village!
Habari za leo? How is your day today? Say, "Nzuri!" That means good!
I just wanted to add a quick little blurb about our time in the village thus far! I have completed my first two weeks of teaching at the school, and I am excited that I am finally starting to get the names of the 70 students down. It is a work in progress, seeing as many of their names take me about 5 tries to pronounce correctly. They just look at me and laugh! It's so cute! I have a new found respect for teachers that have a huge number of students. I am used to keeping my own group of 20 or so having taught third grade, but I must say there is great joy in getting to interact with each student in the school. Teaching English can present some challenges since I don’t quite speak Kiswahili, but the teachers at the school are very supportive, and they help translate for me. Emily just completed the health assessments on the kiddos and the vast majority of kids gained weight! As a whole, the kids gained 63 kilos! We were very pleased with their growth as the school works hard to provide porridge for the kiddos each day. It is infused with a vitamin powder made from a local leafy plant they call the ‘miracle tree.’ We hope to continue to use of this powder in the school and throughout the community to promote good nutrition. This week we had our first dinner guests as we invited our pastor and his family to our house for dinner. It was a great joy to get to host them as a token of our appreciation for their help, support and encouragement thus far! They work so hard to lead the church, run the school and serve the community as a whole. We are very humbled and honored to work alongside such people. Emily and our friend Mama Hadija cooked the rice for dinner and, since we haven’t quite mastered cooking local food, Mama Hadija cooked the beans for us. We provided a potato and vegetable dish that was well-received and chocolate cake for dessert! It was a great success, and we were very thankful to share in some fellowship with them. On the language front, we continue our language lessons, and we are learning more each day. Just listening and writing down what we hear has made a huge impact. We spend about 4 hours a day on language learning from working with our language helpers to studying and listening to our digital recorders and then practicing our phrases out in the village. We have broadened our visiting to surrounding villages too, so it is fun to travel around. We have found that we tend to stick out. When I arrive home neighbors often tell me that Emily went off to visit in another village. If either of us doesn’t know where the other one is, we don’t even have to call each other on our cell phones. We just have to ask a neighbor! They know exactly where we are at all times. It’s pretty funny! We live in a fish bowl. We came into town yesterday to run our weekly errands, and we enjoyed a nice night in at the town house relaxing. Today Emily is attending a natural health seminar and I am working on planning out my curriculum for the next few weeks until mid-term assessments in the beginning of September. We return to the village tonight just in time for a wedding celebration today and tomorrow! These are big events and the first official wedding invite we received. We are excited to attend and continue to connect with the community! We will report back on the festivities next time! In the mean time, please continue to pray for our team, language learning, teaching and serving in the school, and connecting with the local people. We are glad you get to experience this adventure with us, and we will continue to update you on life in Tanzania! Can you tell I like excaimation points???
Peace out,
Sarah
I just wanted to add a quick little blurb about our time in the village thus far! I have completed my first two weeks of teaching at the school, and I am excited that I am finally starting to get the names of the 70 students down. It is a work in progress, seeing as many of their names take me about 5 tries to pronounce correctly. They just look at me and laugh! It's so cute! I have a new found respect for teachers that have a huge number of students. I am used to keeping my own group of 20 or so having taught third grade, but I must say there is great joy in getting to interact with each student in the school. Teaching English can present some challenges since I don’t quite speak Kiswahili, but the teachers at the school are very supportive, and they help translate for me. Emily just completed the health assessments on the kiddos and the vast majority of kids gained weight! As a whole, the kids gained 63 kilos! We were very pleased with their growth as the school works hard to provide porridge for the kiddos each day. It is infused with a vitamin powder made from a local leafy plant they call the ‘miracle tree.’ We hope to continue to use of this powder in the school and throughout the community to promote good nutrition. This week we had our first dinner guests as we invited our pastor and his family to our house for dinner. It was a great joy to get to host them as a token of our appreciation for their help, support and encouragement thus far! They work so hard to lead the church, run the school and serve the community as a whole. We are very humbled and honored to work alongside such people. Emily and our friend Mama Hadija cooked the rice for dinner and, since we haven’t quite mastered cooking local food, Mama Hadija cooked the beans for us. We provided a potato and vegetable dish that was well-received and chocolate cake for dessert! It was a great success, and we were very thankful to share in some fellowship with them. On the language front, we continue our language lessons, and we are learning more each day. Just listening and writing down what we hear has made a huge impact. We spend about 4 hours a day on language learning from working with our language helpers to studying and listening to our digital recorders and then practicing our phrases out in the village. We have broadened our visiting to surrounding villages too, so it is fun to travel around. We have found that we tend to stick out. When I arrive home neighbors often tell me that Emily went off to visit in another village. If either of us doesn’t know where the other one is, we don’t even have to call each other on our cell phones. We just have to ask a neighbor! They know exactly where we are at all times. It’s pretty funny! We live in a fish bowl. We came into town yesterday to run our weekly errands, and we enjoyed a nice night in at the town house relaxing. Today Emily is attending a natural health seminar and I am working on planning out my curriculum for the next few weeks until mid-term assessments in the beginning of September. We return to the village tonight just in time for a wedding celebration today and tomorrow! These are big events and the first official wedding invite we received. We are excited to attend and continue to connect with the community! We will report back on the festivities next time! In the mean time, please continue to pray for our team, language learning, teaching and serving in the school, and connecting with the local people. We are glad you get to experience this adventure with us, and we will continue to update you on life in Tanzania! Can you tell I like excaimation points???
Peace out,
Sarah
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Language Week
Greetings Friends,
We have just passed the one month mark since departing St. Louis. Time has flown by. First a little update on my last post. The little baby girl, whose name means “Success,” is doing much better. I have not been back to the village to see her due to my language course, but the couple on our team, Wayne and Joyce, paid her a visit and say she looks much better. Praise Jesus! I look forward to seeing her early next week and will plan to closely follow her status and growth. It is opportunities like this that I look forward to.
This week we have been diving deep into a language course called LAMP. It stands for Language Acquisition Made Practical. It was developed by a couple who traveled all over the world in missions and came up with this way to learn languages. It is not an intense Swahili course, but a course on the Biblical importance of learning the native language as a means for ministering and relating to local people and how to go about learning a language in a practical way. We learn things slowly and by lots of repetition. Each day we take the phrases we learn and go and practice it with at least 20 people with our language helpers as assistants. I like this style of learning as I just need to hear things over and over again and practice them over and over again. The course also teaches lots of games we can use with our language helpers in the village. Swahili will come and it requires of step of faith in trusting the Lord through this all. Often I get tired and just want to be done, but I must keep persevering. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” We will each be meeting with our language helper for 5 hours a week for likely our entire time of service.
Next week is the big week as we begin our work, myself as a nurse and Sarah as a teacher. What we keep saying is that to walk on water, you must get out of the boat (Matthew 14). We will be living on our own, starting our work, and no longer have the crutch of a constant interpreter. Please lift us up in prayer. We are excited, but also nervous at this responsibility we have been given.
Hey kids! It’s Sarah now! Emily has done a great job of summing up our time so far and we have both learned a lot this week about the importance of language. Being a teacher I keep evaluating the program, and it’s really applicable and effective. The entire team has gone through this course, and they are fluent speakers, so that’s encouraging! We have slightly different goals since we have committed to being here one year, but I am eager to get the language process going. It is so important to use this as a tool to depend and rely on people in the village to help with this process too! Hiding and studying in our house is not an option. By going out into the village and embracing the humbling moments when we forget the meaning of a word or mispronounce something will actually show our neighbors and friends that we are trying. There is a Swahili proverb that says “Haba na haba hujaza ki baba.” It’s easy to read-just phonetically sound it out! It means you put a little bit in and a little more in and it fills the bucket. This is one of the phrases we’ve learned to share with people. As I like to say, “Slow and steady wins the race!” Hopefully the language-learning process will provide some humorous blog posts! In all seriousness though one thing this course has taught us is that language is ministry. Meeting people where they are at by communicating on their terms in their language will promote trusting relationships that allow us to serve them in real ways. Though it will be difficult, we are excited to apply the tools we’ve learned to grown in our language skills!
Any who-back to school! As Emily mentioned I start teaching on Monday! I even get to wear my snazzy uniform-a bright pink blouse with a grey skirt! I am eager to teach the kiddos and get to know them! I am also excited to get to know the teachers and support them. Thanks to generous donations from some teachers from my school in the US, I was able to bring 3 big bags of school supplies and resources to the school, and I am eager to organize them and plan how to implement new activities with the kiddos! It is important to be consistent with the current instructional methods, but I hope to blend in my style and incorporate some fun interactive games. The students range from 5 to 7 years old, so I get to play up my teaching! They are so precious, and I just want to love on them and get to really know them. We will definitely keep you posted on our first week!
Well, now back to Emily or Emmie as they call me here! Thought you might want to know a bit about what I am doing. My primary focus is caring for the children at the school and children who have disabilities in the community. I plan to do health assessments on all the school kids (they have height and weight measurements from the start of the year for me to track their progress). I will address health needs of children at the school as they come up. And I look forward to starting consistent exercises with a few toddlers who need to learn how to walk and sit up (one has cerebral palsy and another has Downs Syndrome). And I will expand my nursing practice as I can and as I feel led by the Lord. I am considering implementing a nutrition program (will expand on this later).
And I will leave you with a funny language story. I was saying goodbye to an older lady I had met. I thought I was saying, “Tutaonana” which means, “We will see each other,” a type of goodbye, but instead I said, “Tutaoana” which means, “We will marry each other.” So I proposed to a 60 year old woman with just the difference of one "N". Must keep a good sense of humor!
Mungu Akubariki (God Bless You),
Emily and Sarah
We have just passed the one month mark since departing St. Louis. Time has flown by. First a little update on my last post. The little baby girl, whose name means “Success,” is doing much better. I have not been back to the village to see her due to my language course, but the couple on our team, Wayne and Joyce, paid her a visit and say she looks much better. Praise Jesus! I look forward to seeing her early next week and will plan to closely follow her status and growth. It is opportunities like this that I look forward to.
This week we have been diving deep into a language course called LAMP. It stands for Language Acquisition Made Practical. It was developed by a couple who traveled all over the world in missions and came up with this way to learn languages. It is not an intense Swahili course, but a course on the Biblical importance of learning the native language as a means for ministering and relating to local people and how to go about learning a language in a practical way. We learn things slowly and by lots of repetition. Each day we take the phrases we learn and go and practice it with at least 20 people with our language helpers as assistants. I like this style of learning as I just need to hear things over and over again and practice them over and over again. The course also teaches lots of games we can use with our language helpers in the village. Swahili will come and it requires of step of faith in trusting the Lord through this all. Often I get tired and just want to be done, but I must keep persevering. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” We will each be meeting with our language helper for 5 hours a week for likely our entire time of service.
Next week is the big week as we begin our work, myself as a nurse and Sarah as a teacher. What we keep saying is that to walk on water, you must get out of the boat (Matthew 14). We will be living on our own, starting our work, and no longer have the crutch of a constant interpreter. Please lift us up in prayer. We are excited, but also nervous at this responsibility we have been given.
Hey kids! It’s Sarah now! Emily has done a great job of summing up our time so far and we have both learned a lot this week about the importance of language. Being a teacher I keep evaluating the program, and it’s really applicable and effective. The entire team has gone through this course, and they are fluent speakers, so that’s encouraging! We have slightly different goals since we have committed to being here one year, but I am eager to get the language process going. It is so important to use this as a tool to depend and rely on people in the village to help with this process too! Hiding and studying in our house is not an option. By going out into the village and embracing the humbling moments when we forget the meaning of a word or mispronounce something will actually show our neighbors and friends that we are trying. There is a Swahili proverb that says “Haba na haba hujaza ki baba.” It’s easy to read-just phonetically sound it out! It means you put a little bit in and a little more in and it fills the bucket. This is one of the phrases we’ve learned to share with people. As I like to say, “Slow and steady wins the race!” Hopefully the language-learning process will provide some humorous blog posts! In all seriousness though one thing this course has taught us is that language is ministry. Meeting people where they are at by communicating on their terms in their language will promote trusting relationships that allow us to serve them in real ways. Though it will be difficult, we are excited to apply the tools we’ve learned to grown in our language skills!
Any who-back to school! As Emily mentioned I start teaching on Monday! I even get to wear my snazzy uniform-a bright pink blouse with a grey skirt! I am eager to teach the kiddos and get to know them! I am also excited to get to know the teachers and support them. Thanks to generous donations from some teachers from my school in the US, I was able to bring 3 big bags of school supplies and resources to the school, and I am eager to organize them and plan how to implement new activities with the kiddos! It is important to be consistent with the current instructional methods, but I hope to blend in my style and incorporate some fun interactive games. The students range from 5 to 7 years old, so I get to play up my teaching! They are so precious, and I just want to love on them and get to really know them. We will definitely keep you posted on our first week!
Well, now back to Emily or Emmie as they call me here! Thought you might want to know a bit about what I am doing. My primary focus is caring for the children at the school and children who have disabilities in the community. I plan to do health assessments on all the school kids (they have height and weight measurements from the start of the year for me to track their progress). I will address health needs of children at the school as they come up. And I look forward to starting consistent exercises with a few toddlers who need to learn how to walk and sit up (one has cerebral palsy and another has Downs Syndrome). And I will expand my nursing practice as I can and as I feel led by the Lord. I am considering implementing a nutrition program (will expand on this later).
And I will leave you with a funny language story. I was saying goodbye to an older lady I had met. I thought I was saying, “Tutaonana” which means, “We will see each other,” a type of goodbye, but instead I said, “Tutaoana” which means, “We will marry each other.” So I proposed to a 60 year old woman with just the difference of one "N". Must keep a good sense of humor!
Mungu Akubariki (God Bless You),
Emily and Sarah
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A bit about health care in Tanzania
First off, I bet you are wondering about the picture. It is of Sarah and myself at a crossing point of a lake (a shallow area where you can cross the lake to get to other villages). Behind it is a man made waterfall. We biked to this spot one evening and took some funny pictures. What we are wearing is called Khangas. It is two large pieces of decorated fabric that have a proverb written on the bottom. One covers your skirt and the other is worn around your shoulders and/or head. We always where the bottom khanga, even while at home, and when out in public, we must wear a head covering and also a top khanga.
So I have a story to tell you. I was made aware of a month old baby that was not thriving and losing weight. Another team member of mine saw her last week and wanted me to examine her. I went on Tuesday and was very concerned. Her skin was loose, she was lethargic, and only feeding two times a day. I was immediately concerned and knew action needed to be taken right away. Today we brought her with her mother to a clinic in town. We first went to the Disabled Children's Clinic because not only is she losing weight, but there are also other physical concerns. The doctor saw us right away and without examining the young baby, said all these problems were related to her mother. He saw charms, bracelets, and markings on her head (cultural thing here) and attributed all these problems to the mother because of those things. I was very upset as I knew this mother was trying her best. She is trying to nurse the baby every 2-3 hours, but the baby would not nurse and would fall asleep. The doctor also said he could do nothing since the baby had not been weighted since birth (they are supposed to be weighted every month, but said had not yet). So after I kindly asked if he would mind examining the baby and he did not, I decided it would just be best for us to leave. Clearly this man was not going to help and me getting frustrated with him would not make it better, so we headed to the hospital.
After a series of many lines as the hospital and me having no idea what is being said (just me, the mother, and baby) we finally got to a door that said "Dacktari Watoto," Children's Doctor, and knocked and because they saw a Mzungo, me a white person, we were seen right away. I was praying frequently that someone would take action for this precious little one. I am concerned her time on earth might be cut short if there is no intervention. I met two great doctors and they were also seriously concerned. They took much time to examine her. I even brought my stethoscope for them to use as I was concerned about a possible heart condition. She was below her birth weight, had a serious skin infection, and they were going to investigate more issues that could be going on to cause her failure to thrive. They agreed that she needed to be admitted to the hospital for intervention and thanked me for bringing her in. I will try to keep you posted on her status. What a blessing how the Lord got us to two doctors who cared and were taking action. Please continue to pray for this little one. I got the name of the two doctors and I am thankful for their service and am glad to know they truly care.
This is just a little bit about what I am facing here, but with action and passion we can help people. I visited another hospital my second day in the village and was brought to tears as they did not even have water for the patients. You cannot even imagine the site at that hospital, but the one I want to today is much better.
On a lighter note, we head to the beach tomorrow for a few days of rest. Then on Monday we begin a language course. This course teaches us how to learn a language using skills and strategies. Continue to pray for our work permits and visas. We need those as we want to start working as soon as we are done with language class!!!!!
Thanks so much for all the encouraging emails we have been receiving. Our time at the Internet cafe is very limited so we apologize if we do not get to get back with you.
A most important note is that in a village close by, 11 men have committed their lives to Christ. After much time of storying the Bible, these men have chosen life with Christ. Pray for them as they grow and mature and also that it is a serious commitment. Two of the men have been attending church the last two weeks. A joyous site.
Thanks for reading and continue to pray!
Blessings,
Emily
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