November Photo Challenge - ART!

When we were back in the states, Marc found a TV show on Netflix called "Tinga Tinga Tales". They are short, 12ish minute cartoons which tell traditional folk tales from Tanzania, like "Why the Giraffe has a long neck". Our kids fell in love with this show, and quite honestly, it's a kids show I can watch repeatedly without getting sick of. The cartoon animals are based off a type of art here in Tanzania, called Tinga Tinga.

This type of art is named after Edward Tingatinga, who it originated with. He trained 6 students to paint as he did, but was killed in 1972. Now, the six have grown to an estimated 500 Tinga Tinga artists in East Africa - many of whom are related to the tingatinga family, but not all. There is a cooporative in Dar where some of Tingatinga's relatives still paint, and where the best & most original paintings can be found. We love to visit and watch the artists at work. They use industrial paints, not typical artist paints, and they have to wait for each layer to dry before moving to the next part. You can walk outside & see paintings in various stages drying in the sun.

Beyond Tinga Tinga, there are other types of paintings at the markets, as well as hand carved sculptures out of ebony, called Makonde, hand made beaded necklaces, wall hangings made out of banana leaves, beautiful textiles - so much beauty and color!

This is Tingatinga - the Medina family (in who's home we're currently living) had these made & were on the kids door when we got here! So sweet! You can get Tingatinga in many sizes!

This is NOT tingatinga, but another type of art we found in a shop. We got these three paintings for less than $20.

I love Elephants!!

hand carved nativity out of ebony

baby Jesus from the nativity set

walls & walls of art!  

 

November Photo Challenge - Safety

Living here in Tanzania, we are the minority. This could be another post altogether & someday, maybe it will be. Today, however, I just want to focus on the issue of safety.

While there have not been any moments where we have felt threatened or in danger, we do have to be precautionary as we live and minister here. Most of the threats and dangers of living here are everywhere else in the world as well, but because we are white, we have a bit more of a target on our back. The stereotype of white = affluent is actually mostly true, so it's no wonder we are looked at as having so much!

Two families who came around the same time as us have been affected more directly than we have in regards to safety. One family, a mere four days after purchasing a vehicle, had it vandalized in their driveway during the night - parts stolen, window broken. Their water pump to their house was also stolen.  Another friend was walking to Bible study when a car pulled up next to her, pushed her down & tried to steal her belongings.

So, while we don't live in fear, we try to be smart.

We have bars on all of our windows

 

We have locks AND extra bolts on our doors. When we go to sleep at night, we actually lock most rooms off. We have a door that divides the living spaces from the bedrooms that we lock and bolt each night. We also have a security system.

 

We have a gate and our home/compound is surrounded by a wall with broken glass at the top of it. We have security lights on the house and wall that we leave on all night as well.

 

Minnie

Along with that, we have guard dogs, Frodo, Precious & Minnie. Minnie may be small, but can that little one bark!


Precious

Frodo













As we have mentioned before, we are so, so grateful to have moved into a furnished house where the family is letting us use all of their belongings.  They are moving back to Dar this summer, so we will start purchasing our own household items soon. We also got two puppies a few weeks ago, as the dogs above are only on loan. :)



Puppy #2

Puppy #1

So these two cuties are our own dogs, that we hope will be big and ferocious enough come summer to really be our guard dogs. They are half German shepherd, and half Rhodesian ridgeback - they should be pretty big. They are still nameless - feel free to comment with your suggestions!




While these precautions are not fail proof - walls can be climbed over, dogs can be poisoned, bars can be cut - we hope that they give second thoughts to anyone wondering what might be inside our walls. We do always appreciate prayers for protection, and we trust God's sovereign will for what he has for us while living here.

November Photo Challenge - Isaac Daniel

Isaac is doing really well here. I was a bit apprehensive about all day, every day school for him - and honestly for me too. It's a big transition to have your oldest not be home with you most of the day! He absolutely loves HOPAC and his class. He's making some good friends, though he still misses his friends & cousins back home.


In Kindergarten, Isaac is one of three Americans. His classmates are from all over the globe. He's learning Swahili, taking swimming lessons, and beginning to read. He and another little girl (who has already claimed him as her husband in the future!) were voted by their class to be the KG reps on student council. That means each Wednesday, Isaac misses a break period and goes to meet with the other student council reps to talk about things in the school. He takes it pretty seriously and gets excited about coming up with ideas.


He's starting to understand that not all of the children in his class and in our neighborhood are believers in Jesus. He's wondered about a few of them and been so bold to ask a few as well. We are trying to teach him how to be a good friend, despite differences in belief. He came home excited the other day, saying, "Mom! Did you know that Josh, Daniel & Timothy (our Pastors kids) are here for the same reason we are? To tell people about Jesus!"


Those who know Isaac know that he can be a bit, um, intense at times and can get easily frustrated when things don't go as he hopes. He's still got those moments at school, but his teachers handle him beautifully. We continue to use the phrase that he learned last year in Young 5's - "You get what you get & you don't throw a fit!".


One of the things I'm loving is our family Bible & prayer time each evening. Most nights, we gather together & read a Bible story and then we take turns prayer. Hope is still repeating after us mostly, but Isaac has started to really pray. He's picking up things from listening to us, his teachers at school and church. What a sacred job to raise a child. We are so thankful for the ease of his transition to life in Africa, for his friendly, caring, eager attitude and his love for God!


I had a video of Isaac helping to lead motions for a song during International Day in front of the whole school! It wouldn't load -  pole sana (very sorry!)

 

November Photo Challenge - International Day!

Today was a special day at HOPAC - International Day!

It was a half day of school with no classes - most students dream, right?

 

Students were asked to dress in their country's colors or traditional dress instead of their uniform. Marc wore a U of M shirt and Isaac represented the D with a Tigers shirt. This is one of those days that I regret not buying the family those Old Navy shirts that go on sale after July 4th. :)

The first part of the morning was spent in assembly, where they sang the Tanzanian National Anthem, a worship song and then had a few performances from students.

 

 

 

 

After assembly, students were dismissed to go visit different booths that were set up in each classroom representing countries. Primary students had a 'passport' that they could get stamped at each country. Most booths had posters or pictures of their country, some interesting facts, some props that depict their country or traditions and flags.

 

After their 'trip around the world', students had a competition with facts they had learned about the countries, and then were dismissed to the food booths! Almost every country represented in the school population, which is over 30, had a food booth set up where you could try traditional foods. AMAZING. I can't even recall all the delicious foods I tried, but my favorite was probably the Indian or Ethiopian.  The USA represented well with apple & cherry pie, popcorn, hot dogs, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, Kool-Aid, Sweet Tea and some other baked goods. Um...we might not be the healthiest nation. Just sayin.

 

 

 

The day ended back in the 'covered court' (gym) with a Parade of Nations. Each nation was called and they were able to parade around the gym with their flag while their national anthem played. Think of the Olympics taken down a notch or two. It was beautiful.

International Day was the culmination of "Pamoja (Unity) Week" at HOPAC. It was a recognition and celebration of the immense beauty and diversity represented at HOPAC. It was  to see Isaac cheering on his classmates as they passed during the parade - he's always coming home telling us where his new friends are from. We love HOPAC and are so grateful for this school and community!!

 

November Photo Challenge - Transportation

Traffic here is crazy.

For starters, you drive on the left side of the road & the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. Opposite of what we're used to in America, which took some getting used to.

Another thing to get used to is the lack of traffic rules/laws. I'm not exactly sure there is a lack of  rules/laws, but more that people don't know them/don't abide by them. I've seen a couple of speed limit signs in the whole city. You're constantly passing others & being passed. There are Bjaji's (3 wheeled little taxis),  pikipikis (motorcycles) and bicycles all over the roads, weaving in and out of traffic, driving on the median, etc.

There is a main road by our house that's being worked on. It's a bit of an obstacle in getting to & from school, to the store, etc. It's created horrible traffic and trips that should take 10 minutes are taking an hour or more.

So, today I'm thankful for those crazy bjaji's that are all over the roads. Marc has found a guy named Junior who has become our go-to Bjaji driver. If we're in need, Marc sends him a text (using google translate since Junior speaks Swahili) & he's usually available. The other day Marc needed to get to a store, so instead of facing the traffic, he called Junior and it took no time at all! On Monday, Marc was home with the napping girls while I was coaching the swim team & instead of loading them up to come get me in the traffic, Isaac and I took a bjaji home.

While it can make me a bit nervous as you see them make some pretty daring & foolish moves at times, and there are certainly no safety features like seat belts or airbags, it's a fairly easy and cheap alternative to driving at times.

Most people don't even have the choice to drive - they have to take a daladala, pikipiki, bjaji or walk. It certainly tests my American sense of safety when I see little little kids on the back of a pikipiki  or see kids Isaac and Hope's age walking down the busy street with no parents. Things are different here. Independence comes earlier out of necessity. Having options is a privilege. But that's another post altogether. :)

We are very privileged to own a vehicle, and I am thankful for that today as well and try to be generous and gracious with it.

 

November Photo Challenge - Thankful for National Parks!

In October, Marc and Isaac had a week off from school and my cousin, Lauren was here from the States. Of COURSE we had to go on safari (which means 'journey' in Swahili)!

 

We live in Africa, after all!

 

We drove the 5-6 hours to Mikumi National Park (http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/mikumi.html), though not without being pulled over - a very common occurrence here. We stayed in a little lodge a few kilometers from the park entrance overnight and went in Tuesday morning. Being residents, it only cost about $15 to get into the park (and I don't think we had to pay for the kids!). We drove our own vehicle (Toyota Noah mini van) and hired a guide for 15,000tsh (about $9.25) to navigate us through the park and to spot animals for us.

 

We were able to sees elephant, zebra, giraffe, cape buffalo, warthog, crocodile, hippo, lion, impala, wildebeest, and baboons. It was incredible to see them so closely and not in a cage! Our van has a moon roof that we could open, stand on the seats and get a great view of the animals and landscape.

 

One of the best moments happened as we were driving TO the park. Marc spotted 2 Lions off the side of the road so we pulled over & watched them for about 15 minutes. They walked right in front of our van! Lions are not always spotted, but we were up early enough (about 6:30am) which is apparently when they are more active and on the move.

 

Before we left, our church took an offering as a 'thank you' for my years of ministry there. We were blown away by the generosity of our church family. Half of the offering went directly to Christian Reformed World Missions, and the other half we tucked away for little adventures like this one. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to explore and enjoy the country that we are serving in and another piece of God's big and creative world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

November Photo Challenge - Thankful for Geneva Claire!

Today is a pretty easy one - we are thankful for Geneva Claire as it's her 1st birthday today!

She's starting to attempt steps & getting a bit more fearless. She has climbed UP a slide on the playground with no help! Her knees & hands are always dirty as she crawls around the tile floors. She's sleeping TONS still - 11ish hours at night, a 2-3 hour morning nap and a 1-2 hour afternoon nap. She's waving, blowing kisses, shaking her head yes & no and tries to say "Hi doggy" every time she sees the dogs.  She's got 7 teeth, her hair has lightened quite a bit being here and she's a typical Dutch girl with bright blue eyes. She's a pretty happy and content little one and is quite popular with some of the secondary students at HOPAC. I show up with the girls to pick up Marc & Isaac and a few of Marc's students always come over & whisk Geneva away to play. She loves music & tries to sing along and dance when she hears it. She's not much of a cuddle bug unless she's not feeling well - sitting still doesn't seem to be her 'thing'. Many Swahili speakers think her name is Jennifer...if you say Geneva "Gen-e-va" with an accent it sounds just like Jennifer! Fitting, as she looks so much like her Auntie Jen, Marc's sister!

We love our little Eva and are so thankful for her!