Time

It’s February half term (midterm) here for LVCA, but the secondary school doesn’t have one. No time at the Kindergarten this week apart from the free English lessons that Arne and I do on a Wed and Fri afternoon. It varies from having 7 people to 2 and their English speaking levels of all of the people who have turned up are different.

Cultural values: Time vs event, as ‘westerners’ we are time orientated, for example most of us are punctual and we like to schedule our time or have our time scheduled for us. Whereas Africans are event orientated, a ‘come what may’ and not really tied up to a schedule. If I haven’t told you already, they say ‘you have the watches but we have the time’. My example: I turn up for my first Kiswahili lesson this week, turns out it’s the annual school meeting, everyone has to be there including my language teacher, then to my third lesson and he’s not around at all, I head into the centre and I bump into him on the way. When I first got here that was hard to get used to, and now it’s one of the reasons I go to him for my lessons, so I don’t wait for him to come to me. However now though I know that’s the way this culture works and I’d like to think I can cope and live with that.

On Sunday afternoons at about 2pm a passenger ferry comes to Kahunda, it has an amazingly loud horn. Well I was there when it ‘docked’ (pulls up to the bank). There were a fair few secondary students watching on which was why I was there in the first place. One student had a camera with him (the one with the film and something else you have to do manually before each photo). Inevitably I got asked to be in a picture which turned into fair amount of pictures or (picha – that’s how they pronounce it and said lightening quick). They were really eager to be in a photo with a muzungu.

Corn on the cob

After my hour of Language learning the other day I was making my way to the pitch to do some touch rugby, which didn't come to fruition on that day. I walked past a teachers house and there were a load of students there, so because of my sheer nosiness I went to investigate. Turns out they were there for punishment for not turning up to the morning jog. The punishment was to scrape the uncooked corn off the cob, the corn is then ground into flour to make ugali (see a previous post for ugali description). I thought, I'll give that a go and I did one in the time it took another student to do four, so either I was really slow or he was super quick, it was the latter. After this I stopped, then some student said something so I thought 'I'll show him'. Well pride certainly does come before a fall. I stayed and did about 15-20 cobs, my hands felt a little sore after (not the fall). Later on as I was throwing the rugby ball around with a couple of students and I looked down at my hands and saw that I had a nice couple of blisters on my thumb, ouch! (that's my fall)

The next day I'm there and a student just rips a branch off a tree, nothing unusual about that but I tried my Swahili and asked what he was doing. He started walking towards the pitch and said 'snake'. Ok, I followed closely behind; they were still playing football until they saw him trying to pick it up with a stick. He couldn't quite pick it up so I gave it a go (with the stick) and carried it off the pitch. By the way it was a tiny, tiny thing probably 40cm long but not even 1cm wide. As I was carrying it off a student said 'alive' or something to that effect, and sure enough it was moving a little. Once off the pitch I picked up a brick and threw it at its head once to kill it twice to be sure and a 3^rd time as a safety measure. That's my first kill of a snake, as I wasn't the one who killed the black mamba on Christmas day. Snake related the students were telling me how they don't like walking through the forest as there are a lot of snakes in there in particular, cobras. Oh ok thanks for letting me know and absolutely petrifying me. I'm thinking about getting a walking stick encase one literally crosses my path. The idea of standing stone still till it has gone doesn't sound even slightly attractive.

I don't like talking about snakes, it makes my imagination go wild. I'm trying to not let it get running by believing myself that there could be a snake at my feet and that little itch isn't just an itch, I'm just going to stop right there and go and do something else!

Two till Four

School Debate : 2-4pm on a Saturday afternoon at Kahunda Secondary School. (it’s in English)

The motion: To fail education does not mean to fail life.

I did get involved which was fun, I was asked by a student to explain business and something about Europe which I didn’t get. Naturally this is where my knowledge from studying business studies for four years should come in. But I found it amazing how quickly you can forget things you’ve learnt. I couldn’t think of the definition off the top of my head so I blabbered on about being self employed and the private / public sectors until there was the sound of a wooden spoon hitting a desk = time is over (for whoever is talking). Then there is a chance for someone to ask a question or to raise another point. It Ended with the proposers 20 points to 15.

Following debate I did my Bible study in a baking hot classroom, we looked at sin. I was so grateful to our student friend Regan, who interpreted for the couple of form 1 students who came because they can’t yet speak English.

2 + 1 = 7 … Try again

Well I've been through 5 months of 10 already and they say time flies; it must be in a rocket.

The secondary students loved it when I came and ate with them (they had a good chuckle at the muzungu eating ugali); they have 'stiff porridge' called ugali, with 1 cup of beans for lunch and again for dinner. The ugali comes in blocks - looks just like a white brick, literally. You break a bit off and mould / ply it in your hands and then scoop up a couple of beans. It's not awful but twice a day every day bar one or two meals when they have rice (instead of ugali) it's very… well repetitious.

Have I already mentioned that we now have a working freezer in our house! It takes a fair amount of time to freeze and runs on Kerosene, but it's really nice to be able to have a cold drink, really nice. Also I have learnt how to cook fish Tanzanian style as well as beans; they're both staples in this area. You have to cook the beans for about 3 hours not 'fast food' you should appreciate that can of baked beans a little more next time you have beans on toast.

So I have taught a couple of maths lessons to the LVCA (Lake Victoria Christian Academy) 1st graders, the new teacher has been ill and not very consistent so I've taken a couple of their maths lessons after the PE. You know the deal 2 + 1 = and 3 + 1 = . I'm glad God gave me fingers it certainly makes demonstrating the sums easy, even across a language barrier.

I have been meeting regularly with my language helper. Catch and throw have been useful phrases to learn for PE, as well as 'remind me of your name' especially for the couple of hundred secondary school students.

Oh I forgot to tell you on Christmas day we killed a 6 ft black mamba.

‘Typical’

If there is such a thing as a typical day this is how it goes...

Wake up from the monkeys running across the shade roof, put the kettle on the stove and if it's my day on the laptop put the battery on charge over at next door. Have a mug or two of coffee, pasteurize the milk again (or get out of the freezer) the milk. Weetabix, porridge, toast, fruit or leftovers are normally on the breakfast menu. Sometimes I write up yesterday's day in my dairy, if I hadn't done it the night before.

May get to go on the laptop before I head up to LVCA (Lake Victoria Christian Academy) at about quarter to 9. When I arrive I set up the activity that the first class will be doing and then Arne and I teach the PE one class after the other (there are 3 classes) 20 min each from 9-10. Sometimes we will stay and have a cup of ugi (maize flour porridge) with the last class (1^st grade, the eldest). Or help with one of the classes.

Back home between 1110 and 1130. Usually I will head into the centre and do some 'shopping' tomatoes, onions, bananas, pineapple, cucumber, rice etc. I will spend some time talking to the people I regularly see and talk to and practice some of my Swahili, to their great amusement. Everybody you walk past you greet with a Shikamo if they are older than you or a Marahaba in response to a Shikamo. Other times I will spend some time on the laptop which is daily rotated between Arne and I. Later on I'll think about cooking lunch, then actually cook it. We make most of our own bread too so that's fairly often.

I have my quiet time either in the early afternoon or in the evening. At 1500 I usually meet with my language helper for an hour. Friday lunchtime I will be at the secondary school for their youth church meeting type of thing. From 1600-1800 is sport time at the secondary school, weekdays. On Thursdays there is a church 'youth meeting' at around 1500/1600 so I'll catch most of that and go later to the sport time. Now we have just started free English classes on Wed and Fri at 1500 – 1600 so language learning on those days is after PE at LVCA, now I'll catch Chai time (tea break) in the staff room at the secondary school. Saturdays I'll go and spend time playing cards or talking to the students, I have just done my first Bible study with them on a sat afternoon. Sunday Church is at 8-11ish or a trip to an island getting back as late as 2ish.

Most evenings I will take an empty milk container back to Mama Dominos house (where we get out milk from) and spend some time there trying to talk with them or learn something in swahili. Thurs, Fri and Sun evenings we meet at the Andersens house and whoever else is around, Thursday is Bible study night, Friday is Pizza night (with a game or film) and Sunday evenings we usually listen to a sermon in English.

There are jobs that come up throughout the week that I am responsible for: pumping the water for our house, topping up the freezer with kerosene (inc. buying the kerosene) and ensuring our water filters have water in.

Turns out this is more like what my week looks like! Rereading through this it doesn't sound like an exciting blog but hopefully you get an idea of what a 'typical day' looks like.

Overnight

Arne and I only had 11 days in Kahunda between coming back from the TZ Men's retreat, and heading up to Mombasa for Christmas (the short term retreat). We arrived back in Kahunda to no cat, our house help had been feeding our cat and another we were looking after. But this cat ate our cat's food and so our cat left, maybe it's time for a dog!

I was at the AIM Short Term Retreat over Christmas, nice location 5 minutes from a white sandy beach, just south of Mombasa on the Kenyan coast. Of course it was the people I got to spend it with that made it enjoyable and different to a 'normal' Christmas. We had various fresh seafood for Christmas dinner. But as we talked, I said how it didn't feel like Christmas. We came up with a few reasons: because it's so different from what I'm used to, there isn't the usual full on commercial build up to Christmas like there is in the west, not spending it with any of my blood relations, the climate being hot instead of cold, being so far from what's happening at home and finding it hard to imagine or relate to what is actually happening at home.

Losing my passport/leaving it on a bus on the way up to Nairobi wasn't the smartest idea! It was going to be 6 weeks wait in Nairobi for the new passport. But instead I have received a temporary passport which will get me back into Tanzania.

I have had the privilege of being able to stay with the Short term coordinators and their family, which has been great fun and helpful. Today 5^th Jan I am heading back down to Mwanza on an overnight bus. Probably around a 13/14 hour ride.

Travels

So on Sunday the 20^th Novemeber we left Kahunda on the bus, which broke down briefly on the way to Sengerema (a local town less than 2 hours by car from Kahunda), then a dala dala up to the ferry crossing (To get to Mwanza from Kahunda you have to get a ferry across an estuary to Lake Victoria). A dala dala is a small mini bus which can apparently fit twice the capacity of a minibus or even more! I sat in the front with 3 other men, two of them were sharing the drivers seat, so one of them had the gear stick positioned in between his legs. We were hailed at one point, normally for a lift but this time it was a pikipiki (mortorbike) driver asking our driver to change his money. As our driver got out, the guy sharing the drivers seat held the brakes for him, so it was practical, at least to share the drivers seat.

We went on a safari in the Serengeti, we left from Mwanza at about 0815 and had a 2 hour drive to the Ndabaka gate of the Serengeti National Park, where we quickly stretched and then entered! So on this day 1^st of 2; we saw zebra, wildebeest, warthogs wandering, a pair of lions mating, 3 cheetahs one of which chased a Thompsons gazelle (unsuccessfully), a leopard tucking into its dinner, another leopard lying down on a rock, elephants eating, hippos & crocodiles, baboons, giraffe grazing, buffaloes, monkeys and a fair amount tourists taking pictures, although some of them couldn't have just been tourists with the size of some of the cameras we saw, they must have been from the National Geographic or something!

The next day we got really close to a cheetah it was only about 1 meter from the car, we saw thousands of wildebeest migrating, herds of zebra, crocodiles, giraffes running. A black and white monkey (colobus), more hippos, a leopard taking a toilet break from chilling in a tree, a bunch of vultures pecking at a carcass, a couple of eagles. Many other birds. When we finished on the second day at the gate at about 1700 we switched cars at the gate into the Andersens, and stayed a night in Musoma on Lake Victoria. Then the following day we drove up to RVA getting two flats along the way, picked up the Andersen's kids and arrived in Nairobi at 1930. Got to watched some of Man U v Rangers, that was fun.

Flying Ants: fried flying ants make a great appetiser. I have a picture of me eating one but can't put it up yet, sorry! (taste like popcorn, don't look good though)

Water, gas & heat

We ran out of gas for a couple of days when we arrived back from Dar, we have a 30kg gas ‘bomb’ (gas canister) which powers our stove. For a day or so we used a kerosene stove, which I burnt our popcorn on – not so good. Our generous neighbours (2 short term missionaries) have leant us their spare gas bomb, lovely clean gas heat!

While playing football at the back of our house our water pipe to the shower was broken. So I was showering outside under the guttering during thunderstorms (which I prefered to our normal shower) otherwise having a bucket shower or at our neighbours. Because of the broken shower pipe which can’t be fixed till we get glue from Mwanza we have a small but permanent leak, this means we run out of water faster. When we run out of water it has pumped, from a well at the back of our house up to a huge water container = running water for the house. Today however there was a bolt loose on the generator, I am too incompetent to be able to put it back in place and tighten it. Rather I am too scared in case it causes any damage to the generator or engine. Andy isn’t around to fix it and his worker has malaria so I decided I’d rather wait for him to get better than for me to attempt to tighten a nut and bolt. Really regretting not taking GCSE engineering! It rained this morning so we have kindly been given rain water from our neighbours to wash our dishes and flush our toilet etc. Wow, just goes to show how much I am taking for granted, running water, stove and shower.

I have successfully taught a load of students up at the secondary school how to play rounders! It didn’t take half as long as expected, that was a relief. They seem to enjoy it; I had a band of boys waiting for me when I went up the other day. I say rounders but it’s more like a combination of baseball and rounders because I introduced the rule three ‘outs’ and we swap fielders and batters. There’s a young lad called Jovine (not sure on the spelling) who can’t run so he’s the bowler, it’s one of the only names I have managed to remember because I shout it a lot. I shout his name because when the fielders have the ball they tend to through it to a guy on a base, for example 3^rd, he then sees the batter running to second rather than stumping his base he throws it to the second base guy to stump the batter out but the throw isn’t accurate so the batter can get a rounder no problem. So I shout to get them to throw the ball to Jovine, they are starting to understand. Jovine got hit in the head twice with the hard rounders ball and once in the leg, there was a mutual decision to revert back to playing with a tennis ball. He was more fortunate than another lad who received the bat to his mouth, accidental, but there was a deep cut on his upper lip. He got 7 stitches at the clinic which is a stones throw from the secondary school. After this incident I emphasised that the blue cone is where the batters line up, and that you drop the bat after you hit the ball (because we have only one bat).

On Tuesday I’m going up to Nairobi for AIM’s Kenya Conference at Rift Valley Academy (they have Rugby posts, so am packing a ball). Afterwards we are going down to Arusha for the Tanzanians Mens’s Retreat, which will be really good because I have met them already at the conference in Dar last month. So looking forward to a bit more travelling, bus journeys.

I am now a resident of Tanzania. Unfortunately it doesn’t get me a discount into the Serengeti.

Our shower has been fixed!

Secondary sport

On Saturday I went along with 130 other school students on a bus to a village a couple of villages away, where there were different sport games, basketball, netball, volleyball and football. We were told that the bus would be leaving at 2 so we arrived at 5 mins to 2, 2 hours later the bus arrives. The bus driver then tried to turn the bus around but got stuck in some sand so they had to dig the bus out.

The journeys were pretty squashed. The bus is like a normal sized coach. I counted 134 including me Arne, Marlene, 2 other teachers and the bus crew (guys who run the bus). One of the students has a vuvuzela, remember the world cup? There were a couple of students who had whistles and the boys chanted their songs while the girls shouted theirs. It was loud, actually loud is an understatement! On the way I sat on an aisle seat and a student sat on my shoulder, fortunately on the way back I was the last on the bus save the bus crew member who hangs out the door, so I stood next to him while he danced with death.

The netball game everytime there was a score that schools supporters would run on to the pitch dance, shout, scream and what ever else, then quickly run off again. Funny to watch. As the football game was drawing to a close, the bus started it’s engine. Then it started to move, the final whistle went soon after this and the students ran to the bus like ants to jam and it seemed as though they thought they wouldn't all get back on.

Zzzzzanzibar.

Well I've just had a couple of days holiday, here on spice island.

We have come from the 3 ½ day AIM Tanzania Conference, in Dar es Salaam. It was a fantastic time, meeting other missionaries from all over Tanzania. I can't remember being so excited about eating peas and other vegetables that we don't get in Kahunda.

The speaker was a Canadian pastor called Barton Priebe www.dhbc.ca.

So we jumped on a ferry in the morning conference finished and found a place to stay in Stone town. Did the tourist shops and found the main market which was interesting.

The next day we went over to the east side of the island and chilled on the beach, it was the kind of place you see on a postcard. I managed to get a couple more chapters of Lord of the rings 1 read too! I'm at the part where Frodo and co are at Bree.

The next day Arne and I did a spice tour, we saw and tasted some fruits as well: jackfruit, marmalade orange, custard apple (by far my favourite, maybe because the name is so good), starfruit and something fairly sour, orange in colour, forgotten it's name. The spices we saw growing were: cinnamon, lemon grass, cloves, vanilla, turmeric, ginger, pepper and cayenne pepper. Vanilla is fairly expensive here because apparently they have to pollinate it by hand! We had fresh coconut as well, one of the guys climbed a palm tree, cut off a couple of coconuts which hit the ground with a thud then just shimmied down again.

It's strange paying high prices for things, inevitable though because we're in a tourist hotspot. The 3 hour flight to Mwanza tomorrow should be much more comfortable than the 16 hour bus journey down to Dar.

Pictures!

Arrived in Dar yesterday: 16 hour bus ride the day before we took a bus and a dala dala (between a minibus and car) to Mwanza from Kahunda that took about 3-4 hours I think.

So slept under the stars on the roof of the guys who are hosting us here in Dar, nice breeze.

I am in Dar so have internet, enough to upload pictures!

See more on my facebook (they are uploading faster on there:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29929&id=100001021822378

or

http://www.facebook.com/jonny.oglesby

This is Kibera (the largest slum in Africa) located in Nairobi, which we visited. We were taken round and met the guy who heads up this project http://kiberampiramtaani.org/

This Picture is of me Margaret and Marlene on the catamaran just before leaving for one of the islands on my first Sunday here.

Boat trip

I have learnt how to make fish fillets! I used my recently learnt phrase on the lady called Adela, who we employ- mainly for our laundry. It was successful, fun and tasty. However I didn’t do the descaling or gutting because she did that when she arrived when I was leaving for the kindergarten. Next time I will be able to do it myself I’m sure. It was more similar to cutting the pork than I imagined.

Yesterday I arrived back from a 2 night trip to a village on a nearby island called about 1 hour by boat. I experienced a new kind of toilet and a new kind of shower, neither bad, just new, I managed just fine with them. The toilet was a hole in the ground and the shower a bucket one.

Bucket shower: A large bucket of water with a small container which you use to pour the water over you!

It was a trip I went on with a nurse (Arne and I live next door but one) she runs the clinics on different islands and makes trips out to them once a month. One day it was the mums and babies, they come and are weighed and see the nurse for any necessary vaccinations etc. I helped by writing down the wrights of the babies, on their cards (has a chart on also to see how well the baby is doing for its age). The next day it was the pregnant ladies, not a lot for me to do there, so I went on a walk with 2 of the guys from the clinic with my English/Swahili dictionary and a notepad, learnt some new words including cow and sick person (things we came across on our trip). The day before I played football with a load of primary school children, not all primary aged though! Left one of the footballs there.

Sunday we are heading to AIM conference in Dar Es Salam – I reckon it’s going to be a trip and a half. Bus to Mwanza, a 2 hour car journey, one time it took the nurse 12 hours. Then we spend the night in Mwanza and then take another bus down to Dar in the morning (I think it’s a 15hour ride). I have heard a load of stories about people’s different experiences of bus trips. One included the bus driver doing a hill start backwards at night on a road that has only similarities with a mountain road pass – I didn’t know that was even possible. And several times the men needing to get out and push. So I could be in for an adventurous trip.

Funny flower

Language learning I want to learn a very important phrase – please show me how to prepare a fillet of fish! So come Monday I will be learning how to prepare a tilapia fish.

Monday afternoon to Wednesday evening I am going on a trip to a place called Kisabe on the island called Mysome the journey by boat is an hour and then an hour’s hike once we arrive. It will be a new experience for me – Swahili only. It will feel like a million miles from anywhere.

Figured out why nothing I was making with flour was working, I have been using cassava flour and not wheat flour, cassava flour is made from pounding the root of the plant (called cassava I guess). Cassava flour doesn’t have the same proteins in as wheat flour, so that’s why the pancakes never worked and always fell apart.

We went to Mwanza on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, it was good to see the city and have an ice cream – what a treat that is. Arne couldn’t find a single magnet anywhere, our bedroom walls are metal so magnets hold things on them, it’s pretty cool. Blue tack will have to do for now.

We eat out at a place where there was a TV and we saw some Rugby and cricket so I had fun trying to explain those to Andy and Arne. Didn’t involve to too many glasses, salt and pepper holders, tomato ketchup to explain some of the Rugby laws.

On the way back to Kahunda we got a flat which made it more interesting, with six guys in the car it was changed in seconds, literally you would have missed it if you closed your eyes for two mins. Possibly even world record time. I can now make chi, which is tea with some tea masala spice in it the tea is half milk, half water and sugar.

We a have a kitten –not decided on a name yet. The novelty wore of incredibly quickly for me, but it came near enough toilet trained –bonus! Still waiting for it to catch it’s first geko.

We (Arne and I) went to the church ‘youth meeting’ on Thursday, but where was the youth? Ah there’s a difference. Youth in ‘the west’ is generally below 20 I’d say. Here however it’s 45… yeah 45 years old. Funny, people in the west would probably like to be called youth when they are that age, am I right?

My cooking skills are broadening quickly, made butternut squash soup with squash from Mwanza, have been taught how to make cabbage coleslaw, a secondary student tried to teach me to make chapattis and Mandazi (close to a doughnut) but failed due to wrong flour, remember the process though.

Party Time!

So I have been in Kahunda for 3 weeks and have been to a funeral, a wake, a retirement party and a graduation party, that’s a lot.

So the latest thing I have been to was the graduation party of the form 4’s from the secondary school. So you have a picture of the day’s events on the invitation it said from 9am- It started around half past 11 we arrived at 12:20 and it finished around half five for the food and we got left at about half 6 after we had eaten. It is culturally acceptable to be late but not to leave early. It was rewarding to have the meal when we finished which consisted of rice, beef, plantain and cucumber which you eat with your right hand only. I really enjoyed the food and eating the way that they eat it. – can’t wait to get some cooking practice in!

You teachers out there may be saying ‘Graduation party? But it’s only September!’ Well here the school year runs alongside the calendar year. The form 4’s who have ‘graduated’ will sit their final national exams at the end of October.

I have been spending more and more time with secondary students – this is challenging. They speak English – some can say a few phrases others are near enough fluent, so it is easy to hold a conversation with them for longer than passing formalities. One experience: I tried to ask a guy how old he was and then for his age and again when his birthday was the response was consistently ‘yes’. They seem to say that to anything that they don’t understand rather than saying they don’t understand. Part of my reason being here is to practice conversational English with the guys.

Party = a formal occasion where the invited guests sit and watch presentations by the local choir, people singing, sketches, poems sang/read, publically give gifts inc. monetary gifts these total the majority of the party it is then followed by a meal.

Threw a rugby ball round with some secondary guys on a couple of occasions, they can pick up the spin pass fairly easily. Managed to do the simplest passing drill I know with a few of them. Their initial reaction when they see and hold the ball is to laugh which is also comical for me. I wonder how long it will take to get to a game of touch!? I can also see that it will require commitment from them as unfortunately because they have never seen a ball before we can’t just pick up a ball and play a game unlike football.

Each morning this week from 10-11am I have been at the kindergarten (Lake Victoria Christian Academy) doing the PE time for both classes. Ages range from 4-9. Arne & I have been progressively teaching Kickball (baseball with no bat and a football that is rolled not thrown and then kicked). The days when we were only teaching them to kick and run around the bases, there was a lot of sweaty running involved for me to fetch the ball, they thought it was funny when I had to do that.

Please pray for me as I continue to get to know and establish friendships with students at the secondary school.

Settling of scores

So on my first Sunday here in Kahunda and I went with the Andersens, Arne and Marlene. To a church plant on a nearby island and a fishing village called Burongero. The church is a fair few feet up the side of a hill so it has a great view of the bay Burongero is situated in. It was so cool to travel there and back on the Andersens catermerang! On the way it was pretty calm (no wind) so they have a 3.5 Hp engine to do the work of the nonpresent wind. However on the way back it was a fairly choppy and I got satisfyingly wet from the spray. The whole church service was in Swahili I couldn't understand anything – apart from Bwana Asifewe = Praise the Lord – I attempted to translate a verse into Swahili using an English-Swahili dictionary. But this will become less of a problem as I learn Swahili and sooner or later employ someone to help me learn the language.

We already employ a lady called Mama Esther – who does our laundry and some other bits of housework. This is culturally the norm, as it shows that as a wealthy person we are sharing our wealth by employing someone to work for us. It is very hard to communicate with her as I aforementioned I don't speak enough Swahili yet! So as you can already see a main current prayer point is Language learning.

My job title for my time here is 'youth worker with the AIC (Africa Inland Church)'. Arne and I had a meeting with the Andersens, a teacher from the school and the Pastor to look at the different youth groups that were already running and areas where we can be involved. The majority of them are at the AIC secondary school, about 10 min walk from our house. But the secondary school is closed for a weeks holiday next week so our schedule will fall into place when it starts back up again. (I may be confusing you because I am talking in plural, this is when I am talking about Arne and I (Arne and I are doing this year together – both having the same job title and also living together))

We went to the market in Kahunda – which is every Wednesday. Not exactly walking down Castle Street on a Saturday morning. We bought some tomatoes and cucumber. Also spent over two hours on Saturday cutting up some pork. When you buy meat here you don't so much as get a cut of meat but a portion that they just hack off for you so it is a 'cut of meat' but it doesn't represent something you would be able to pick up from Tesco, I'll get used to it. I am looking forward to getting a duck sometime, it will come alive.

We played football the other day with a load of lads from Kahunda. One guy asked for my football. That's something I am going to have to get used to as we have been told this will happen a lot. I say we played football, but it was like playing football on a really sandy beach. That's tough in itself until we figure that they were playing tiny goals – barely visible to the naked eye – made for an interesting game. But I am glad to report that the English and my team beat the German (Arne) and the team he was on, easily making up for the defeat we had to them in the World Cup.

But credit to the Germans they can make a good potato salad! Arne & I made a potato salad with potatoes cooked in a solar oven. The solar oven is basically a box with 4 mirrors attached reflecting the sunlight into the box. You just stick what ever you wan to bake in the box close the lid(made out of glass) and position the whole thing to make sure that the sun light is entering it. It was a fairly sunny day the temperature inside reached 130 C at one point. Then we just threw in a few bits and pieces and whala a German potato salad – not sure what made it German though!

 

 

Kahunda Time

Praise the Lord for a safe journey - reminded by RVA chi time that it is not something to be taken for granted.

So I am updating my blog from Arne's and my Kahunda home built by the Wycliffe Bible translators.

It's great place - as I am not going to attempt to try and upload pictures on this internet speed today you will have to rely on my descriptive writing - not exactly JK Rowling but hopefully you'll get a rough idea.

The house looks like a elongated circular metal tent - that makes it oval - with a brick kitchen and bathroom attached at the rear. The metal tent looking part is underneath a separate shade roof - which acts to prevent the house becoming like an oven!

It definitely beats my expectations mainly because my room is bigger here than at home, as is the kitchen.

Animals

When I woke this morning there were monkeys (green vervet monkeys) behind our house and just now goats have passed through our front yard, where there is a public footpath to the AIDS clinic. The is geko excretion on the wall in our kitchen - you can tell the difference between geko excretion and mice excretion because geko waste has a little bit of white on the end of it - useful. I have seen loads spiders but none that appear to be lethal. Apparently we may have a female monitor lizard living at the back of the house.

Well I'm itching all over now so will change topic...

The weather here is nice currently 35% humidity - gets easily above 80 here. The View from the front of our house is spectacular - Lake Victoria and a couple of islands. There are also cacti in our front yard - the cacti are will not be the best for rugby balls.

Pretty much set the house up today - water filter going through it's first cycle.

Here's a question for you would you rather watch the water drip through the filter drip by drip or watch paint dry?

Gas stove also set up, pressure lantern ready to try tonight and soda supply = full.

You must be able to tell that there has been some American influence on me already as I'm using words like yard and soda!

So solar will only work as long as the sun shines so I am going to run out of that soon - the sun is setting and we need the battery power for light.

Arrival

Have arrived safe and sound in Nairobi!

Wow it's different - new sounds, smells and tastes! I am travelling down to Kahunda on Sunday with Arne and the Andersens.

I am staying with the short term co ordinators for the Eastern Region of Aim - Peter & Katy.

Also I have finally met Arne, hopefully I will remember some more German as the year goes on!

Firstly though need to concentrate on the LAMP course - Language Acquisition Made Practical course - learning a new phrase each day and practising lots! Today we learnt 'H

abari za asabuhi?' - What news this morning? - which we practised lots at the local market!

This is a picture of some football shirts and shorts for children - donated by Swifts.

HBC

So 10 days to go till take off!

Last week I was a leader at Holy Trinity's Holiday Bible Club – Treasure Seekers.

It was fantastic – I really enjoyed teaching the memory verses, I did have a lot of help coming up with the ideas of how to present them differently each day. My favourite was probably Mondays which I tried to get the children to learn in a rap style!

Me next to the HBC banner

Preparations are coming together now – thinking more about packing, what I am taking with me – or what will fit in my bags!

This quick cricket set I have bought to take to Kahunda to introduce the sport to the young people there!

Started to say goodbyes now

Goodbye Andy

This is a picture of Andy and I

He has been such a help to me and always seems to say the right thing! He has explained and helped me to understand what I couldn't before - grace like a shower. Andy is a great role model to me, no matter what tem he supports internationally!



More Rugby Equipment

Terminator Rugby has been very generous in giving me a load of rugby balls and two boxes full of headguards (just wondering how I am going to get them to Kahunda)!
For more information about Terminator visit http://www.terminator.co.uk

The kit from Terminator - 19 balls and 2 boxes of headguards

Blog video update...I gave it a try and 23 takes later...

On the video I show a couple of things which I am planning on taking to Tanzania and I have some really good news!

My first ever blog video update. Should it be my last?

Orienteering and Partying

The Garden Party

The Garden Party was a big success raising just over £1200 ! There were up to 80 people there at a time.
I enjoyed it, so if you went you I hope you did too! The Jazz band was great, did anyone notice my dancing? – I hope not! The band had put a lot of their free time into practice for it and on the day! A big thank you to them and to the people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, and on the day!Picture: Me being interviewd by Master of Ceremonies Dave, on the bandstand!

By far the most frequently asked question was: 'When are you leaving?'
Comically that may change, at the moment I am leaving on the August 24th, but this could change to August 23rd.

Orientation

This was at St Johns College in Nottingham. From Monday 12th to Thursday 15th.
The time was spent in different sessions; culture, keeping spiritually fit, health, expectations, stress and others.There were 9 other short termers there, heading of to various places in Africa at various times. There various people from Aim International leading the sessions, they were very Godly people: good examples for me to follow!
If you’re reading this Jason – I’m trying to follow your tips you gave about communication!
It was an amazing time to spend with other people with similar motives and to learn so much in such a short period of time!

Arriving at St Johns for orientation


Now people are asking what I am doing until I leave…
I have a ‘to do list’ as long as my arm – soon to be as long as my leg!
There are lots of little bits and pieces I have to do, such as sort out copies of important documents that I will need to leave in Hinckley and copies to take with me, as a security measure. I hope you get the gist.