Pole Sana!! (Very sorry!)
I am very sorry for being so bad at posting my last month or so in Tanzania. I honestly had a post written for about 3 weeks trying to find a computer to post with no success. I eventually gave up and decided to wait til I got home to write another post. For those of you who do not know... I am home!! I have been for about a week now. (Sorry that I waited a week to post. I am really bad at this. =/ ) I will try to explain my last 6 weeks or so. No there's too much. Let me sum up. So after Christmas I went back to the base. I spent New Years at the base after welcoming in the new year with a over-night prayer service at the big stadium in Dar es Salaam. That was a cool experience! I cannot think of a better way to start the New Year than praying with my brothers and sisters in Christ! I did a lot more work at the clinic. The immunization clinic on Wednesdays was my favorite thing. I was able to do a lot on that day. If I knew Swahili I probably could be running the place. Actually the nurses would try to put me in charge and do things on my own. But I would always have to ask them questions because people would start speaking to me in Swahili and I would have no idea what they were saying. In January I went on 3 village medical outreach trips with Dr. Joel. I could say they were one of my favorite part of my whole experience. The first one I went to was in the village of Mzenga. On this trip we went house to house treating patients. While there I met a nurse from Texas, Monica, who has been working there with the people. This was my favorite experience of them all. This showed me what my future could look like. After spending a couple days doing that I fell in love with the idea of doing medical missions in the future. The next village we went to was the village of Jaja. We had to take a plane there because the only other way to get there was by boat and that takes somewhere like 7 or 10 hours or something ridiculous like that. So we took about an hour plane ride to Jaja. It was the most beautiful places I have seen! It was so green! But I guess it would be if it is almost impossible to get there. There we set up shop in a building and the people came to us. We had Faulstino, a man from the base, come with us to talk and pray with the patients. 10 people came to know Jesus on our trip! The next one was to a village close to the base. I am not sure what the name of the village is. But again the people came to us and we had someone there to pray with the patients. The last few weeks of my stay my Aunt Lori came to visit me/make sure that I came home (it was a very important job my mom gave her... my mom really wanted me home.) We went to Mikumi National Park and did a safari. We also went to the island of Zanzibar before leaving February 12. We flew to London and stayed for a couple days before I returned home last Wednesday February 15.
Asanta Sana! (Squashed banana!) (Thank you very much!)
Thank you so much to all of you who were praying for me, sending me messages, and just reading my blog! It means so much to me! Seriously! You all helped to make my trip possible. So thank you so much! So I am officially back. If anyone wants to get a hold of me through Skype, Facebook, Email, or phone I will be excited to hear from you. Thanks once again!
God bless,
Sarah
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas from Tanzania!!
Merry Christmas Everyone!!
So here in Tanzania it is Christmas Day. I have been listening to a bunch of Christmas songs lately to try to make it feel more like Christmas. I have made my own version of classic Christmas songs to kind of sum up what Christmas is like for me here in Tanzania.
"Let It Blow"
Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fan is so delightful.
Since we no place to go
Let it blow! Let it blow! Let it blow!
It doesn't show signs of dropping.
Sweat from my brow I'm mopping.
Since I don't like my sweat to flow
Let it blow! Let it blow! Let it blow!
When we finally get to the night
How I love going in the wind storm.
But if the electricity goes with the light
All through the night I'll be warm.
The mosquitoes are a flying
And to the sun we're still goodbying.
We hope that the temp stays low.
Let it blow! Let it blow! Let it blow!
"It's Not Beginning to Look at All Like Christmas"
It not beginning to look at all like Christmas
Anywhere you go.
You can lay in the sun with the book
Green everywhere you look
Feeling chill in the air? Heavens no!
It not beginning to look at all like Christmas
Sand all over the floor.
But the scariest sight to see
Is the snake that might be
By your own front door.
To get away from the heat
And maybe even get a seat
On the Doladola we wish.
The fan we want to feel
And to have a nice meal
With chicken or beef or fish.
And rice and beans I long to have
Cuz Ugalui's not my favorite dish.
It not beginning to look at all like Christmas
Anywhere you go.
There's palm trees by the seashells.
And wherever you look as well.
Sturdy kind that doesn't mind the wind blow.
It not beginning to look at all like Christmas
Soon the drums will start
And the thing that will make them sound
Is the song that will pound
Right within your heart.
"The Electricity Song"
Ugali cooking on an open fire
Mosquitoes nipping at your toes.
African songs being sung by a choir.
Electricity that cones and goes.
Everybody knows that electricity that glows
Help to make that houses bright
But they when the electricity goes
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.
They hope electricity is on its way
And that it will be here to stay
And every mother and child is going to cry
When to electricity they say goodbye.
So I'm offering this simple phase
To all from 1 to 92
Although its been said few times few ways
"Much electricity to you!"
"A Holly Jolly (Ugali) Christmas"
Have a holly jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year.
I know there won't be snow
At least not any here.
Have a holly jolly Christmas
And when you walk down the street
Say Jambo to friends you know
And everyone you meet.
Oh ho the beans and rice
And for lunch Ugali
Something else would be nice
Eat something just for me.
Have a holly jolly Christmas
And in case you didn't hear
Oh by (U)golly have a holly jolly
Christmas this year.
That is all I have for now. I hope you have enjoyed my African version of these classic Christmas songs. I would like to tall you how I have spent my Christmas this year. The people left on the base all were included in their version of Secret Santa which they called "Angel." On Christmas Eve we were to guess who are Angel was. I had Mama Faith. I gave her pop, crackers, lotion, and a pot. I was worried that she would know exactly who it was since I do not know Swahili that well. We did this for a day before Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve we had a wonderful lunch of rice, chicken, and salad. It was a nice break from the Ugali lunch. After the lunch we all headed to the beach. It was so much fun! It was the first time they had gone to the beach as a group. Many people did not know how to swim. Actually pretty much all of them did not know. My friend Kapesha was the only Tanzanian that knew. So it was funny to watch the look of terror and excitement on their faces as they went in the water. They like to play a lot of games. We had races, tug of war, wrestling. It really was so much fun. We did not really have dinner. But during dinner we had a little service with worship. We had snacks after the service. During snack time we played the Angel game where we guessed who are Angel was. I guessed Kapesha and I was right. Mama Faith did not know her Angel! I was very happy about that. On Christmas Day I went to church with Dr. Joel. It was a Swahili church. These church services last so long! We were there 4 hours and we left early! After that I went to a missionary's house that I know from a long time ago, Eric Belz. The Belz family are American. It was so nice! We were at this house that was owned by these people from Zimbabwe. They had a nice house with air conditioning! And they were great cooks!! So that is how I spent my Christmas holiday.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I miss you all! Merry Christmas from Tanzania! =)
So here in Tanzania it is Christmas Day. I have been listening to a bunch of Christmas songs lately to try to make it feel more like Christmas. I have made my own version of classic Christmas songs to kind of sum up what Christmas is like for me here in Tanzania.
"Let It Blow"
Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fan is so delightful.
Since we no place to go
Let it blow! Let it blow! Let it blow!
It doesn't show signs of dropping.
Sweat from my brow I'm mopping.
Since I don't like my sweat to flow
Let it blow! Let it blow! Let it blow!
When we finally get to the night
How I love going in the wind storm.
But if the electricity goes with the light
All through the night I'll be warm.
The mosquitoes are a flying
And to the sun we're still goodbying.
We hope that the temp stays low.
Let it blow! Let it blow! Let it blow!
"It's Not Beginning to Look at All Like Christmas"
It not beginning to look at all like Christmas
Anywhere you go.
You can lay in the sun with the book
Green everywhere you look
Feeling chill in the air? Heavens no!
It not beginning to look at all like Christmas
Sand all over the floor.
But the scariest sight to see
Is the snake that might be
By your own front door.
To get away from the heat
And maybe even get a seat
On the Doladola we wish.
The fan we want to feel
And to have a nice meal
With chicken or beef or fish.
And rice and beans I long to have
Cuz Ugalui's not my favorite dish.
It not beginning to look at all like Christmas
Anywhere you go.
There's palm trees by the seashells.
And wherever you look as well.
Sturdy kind that doesn't mind the wind blow.
It not beginning to look at all like Christmas
Soon the drums will start
And the thing that will make them sound
Is the song that will pound
Right within your heart.
"The Electricity Song"
Ugali cooking on an open fire
Mosquitoes nipping at your toes.
African songs being sung by a choir.
Electricity that cones and goes.
Everybody knows that electricity that glows
Help to make that houses bright
But they when the electricity goes
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.
They hope electricity is on its way
And that it will be here to stay
And every mother and child is going to cry
When to electricity they say goodbye.
So I'm offering this simple phase
To all from 1 to 92
Although its been said few times few ways
"Much electricity to you!"
"A Holly Jolly (Ugali) Christmas"
Have a holly jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year.
I know there won't be snow
At least not any here.
Have a holly jolly Christmas
And when you walk down the street
Say Jambo to friends you know
And everyone you meet.
Oh ho the beans and rice
And for lunch Ugali
Something else would be nice
Eat something just for me.
Have a holly jolly Christmas
And in case you didn't hear
Oh by (U)golly have a holly jolly
Christmas this year.
That is all I have for now. I hope you have enjoyed my African version of these classic Christmas songs. I would like to tall you how I have spent my Christmas this year. The people left on the base all were included in their version of Secret Santa which they called "Angel." On Christmas Eve we were to guess who are Angel was. I had Mama Faith. I gave her pop, crackers, lotion, and a pot. I was worried that she would know exactly who it was since I do not know Swahili that well. We did this for a day before Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve we had a wonderful lunch of rice, chicken, and salad. It was a nice break from the Ugali lunch. After the lunch we all headed to the beach. It was so much fun! It was the first time they had gone to the beach as a group. Many people did not know how to swim. Actually pretty much all of them did not know. My friend Kapesha was the only Tanzanian that knew. So it was funny to watch the look of terror and excitement on their faces as they went in the water. They like to play a lot of games. We had races, tug of war, wrestling. It really was so much fun. We did not really have dinner. But during dinner we had a little service with worship. We had snacks after the service. During snack time we played the Angel game where we guessed who are Angel was. I guessed Kapesha and I was right. Mama Faith did not know her Angel! I was very happy about that. On Christmas Day I went to church with Dr. Joel. It was a Swahili church. These church services last so long! We were there 4 hours and we left early! After that I went to a missionary's house that I know from a long time ago, Eric Belz. The Belz family are American. It was so nice! We were at this house that was owned by these people from Zimbabwe. They had a nice house with air conditioning! And they were great cooks!! So that is how I spent my Christmas holiday.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I miss you all! Merry Christmas from Tanzania! =)
Friday, December 23, 2011
Mzungu!!
Being a Mzungu (a white person) has its pros and cons. Here in the southern part of Tanzania, Mzungus are a rare thing to see. So whenever go out the people always shout, "There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmitt!" (Okay I could not help myself there. =) ) But seriously I usually hear, "Mzungu!", "Jambo Mzungu!", or something similar. Mostly I get stares from people. This week I was still recovering from my sunburn. When my skin peeled on my face, it left behind very painful raw-like skin. So after a couple days I had a nice, very noticeable scab thing on my face. "Just in case I'm not enough of a freak already, let's add a tiara!" (Anyone know what that is from?!? =) ) But for me it was marks on my face instead of a tiara. So for a few days I was getting a lot of looks from people. But back to the pros and cons. One thing that the Tanzanians think when they see a Mzungu is that they have a lot of money. (which compared to them may not be so inaccurate.) But that means that when buying things in the market in the local villages, they might bump up the prices up to 4 times more than what they usually sell it for. That is not so awesome. I guess another con would be all the look that I mentioned before. I sometimes forget that I am a sight to see here. It probably is because there are enough of us Mzungus here on the base to make things seem a bit different. All of them European besides myself and Dr. Joel. Mostly Germans actually. Another thing neither pro nor con... being a Mzungu attracts other Mzungus. I have been to town 3 times. And 2 of those times I have had a white person come up to me to ask me a question. I must look very knowledgeable or approachable or something. I do not know. All I know is that I have no idea as to the answer to their question. I just refer them to my fellow companions who know. So probably at this point you are thinking to yourself, "You have told up about the cons. What about the pros?!?" Ah! Let me tell you about the pros. Well there is really only one that really matters. I said before that being a Mzungu attracts African. Well being a Mzungu also attracts Africans. But what I mean by this is a more "romantic" attraction. Just in the past week I have had a man at the clinic tell me he loves me. Another man asked me to be his lover. And Sunday a man proposed to me! Yes it is true. I am even a heart breaker here in Tanzania. ( I say that with the utmost sarcasm I can muster.) It was not exactly how I envisioned getting proposed to. I was on my way back from a village Kimazichana where I went to church to hear my friend Santos speak. (Just a little side note on that... Most of you might know that I am not much of a speaker. I definitely do not like public speaking. But these Tanzanians are very persistent! Santos convinced me to speak a little in front of the church. It was not for very long. And there were not that many people. And most of them did not understand what I was say so my new friend Geoffrey translated for me. But I promise you that by the end of my trip they will be asking me to preach whole messages! Now back to your regular program.) We took the Dola dolas (I think this is actually how you spell it but I am not sure. Spelling has never been a strength of mine.) So on the way back I got a seat in the front with my friend Jane from Zambia. That was very nice because that meant that I would not be crowded by other people coming and going on the bus. And it was a good 2 hour ride. So it was nice to be comfortable. But being in the front and right by the passenger window (I guess it would technically be left not right. Get it! Because they drive on the left. =) )I was very visible and an easy target for those who wanted to converse with me. At one of the stops, a man asked if I knew Swahili. I told him "kidogo" or a little. His friend then came over and they were asking me if I was married. I said, "Hapana." (No) Then they gave me this speech about how it was time for me to get married because I was the right age for marriage. And that I should marry his friend. Ha asked if I wanted to marry him! Luckily I was saved by the bus. The bus pulled away while he was continuing to convince me to marry him. So all you Mzungu ladies out there that are single and wish to be married... Come to Tanzania. The men here will be more than happy to marry a nice Mzungu lady like yourself. So that was my first marriage proposal. Probably not my last either. You know I am just realizing that I do not even know what that young man's name was. Hmm... I should have thought to ask. But I guess he did not know my name either and he asked me to marry him. So I guess knowing each others name is not so very important. For what is in a name anyways? But I will keep you guys updated on any further proposals.
No real update on prayer requests. I am still trying hard to learn Kiswahili. I do feel like I am understanding better. Which is very encouraging! Even the people here have noticed. So thank you for your prayers on that. Still pray for the work in the clinic. I am slowly doing more and more which is also great! One more think about communicating with me. I am now able to get on Facebook again. So if you want to message me there or email me I would be happy to hear from you! =) Thank you all so much for your support and prayers and for reading this! Love and miss you all!
UPDATE: (Like from those shows like Unsolved Mysteries =) ) I have been trying to post this blog for more than a week now. With the unreliable internet and power outages it makes posting difficult sometimes. And in that time I have had an update in the marriage proposal thing! You must be thinking to yourself, "Already?!? How is that possible?!?" Well like I told you before... I am a heart breaker. (Sarcasm again if you did not catch it.) A few days ago I went to the local market to buy some things. Well the store owner asked me to marry him! Then just today a man asked where I was from. I told him America. He asked, "Where Obama is?" I said, "Yes Obama land!" (That is what they call America sometimes.) To that response he immediately hugged me and before I knew what was happening kissed me on the cheek!! They REALLY love Obama here! =)
No real update on prayer requests. I am still trying hard to learn Kiswahili. I do feel like I am understanding better. Which is very encouraging! Even the people here have noticed. So thank you for your prayers on that. Still pray for the work in the clinic. I am slowly doing more and more which is also great! One more think about communicating with me. I am now able to get on Facebook again. So if you want to message me there or email me I would be happy to hear from you! =) Thank you all so much for your support and prayers and for reading this! Love and miss you all!
UPDATE: (Like from those shows like Unsolved Mysteries =) ) I have been trying to post this blog for more than a week now. With the unreliable internet and power outages it makes posting difficult sometimes. And in that time I have had an update in the marriage proposal thing! You must be thinking to yourself, "Already?!? How is that possible?!?" Well like I told you before... I am a heart breaker. (Sarcasm again if you did not catch it.) A few days ago I went to the local market to buy some things. Well the store owner asked me to marry him! Then just today a man asked where I was from. I told him America. He asked, "Where Obama is?" I said, "Yes Obama land!" (That is what they call America sometimes.) To that response he immediately hugged me and before I knew what was happening kissed me on the cheek!! They REALLY love Obama here! =)
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Nzuri Sana!!
Hey guys!
Sorry I could not post last time I blogged. I was using the internet in town (Dar es Salaam) and my time was running out. But this time I have more time to tell you what I have been up to the last 2 weeks!
So after 24 hours worth of travel I made it to Tanzania. After I stepped off the plane, got my visa, and went outside, my first impression was, "Man! It is HOT!!" Seriously! I do not think I have sweat this much in my life! And I have done a lot of sweating in my life. Trust me. I mean I knew it was going to be hot. Dr. Joel (the director of the clinic) had told me so. And I had found out before I left that November-February are their summer months being the hottest of the year. So I was somewhat prepared... or so I thought. But I certainly was not prepared for the heat and humidity! It is anywhere from about 80-90 degrees. But it feels at least 10 degrees hotter every day with the humidity. I would have thought that my years in Mobile, AL would have helped to prepare me. But unfortunately (or fortunately however you want to look at it.)I avoided the hot summer months there which would have been decent preparation. Anyways... enough about the heat.
Dr Joel picked me up at the airport. With God's perfect timing, he arrived a few minutes I stepped out of the airport. We headed to the YWAM base in his car. One interesting thing about Tanzania is that the cars drive on the left here. I did not realize that when I came. So that in itself made for an interesting ride because I have never ridden like that before. But it did not need it to be interesting because there were so many new things to be seen. Tanzania is very beautiful! Plus the drivers here are CRAZY!! I am pretty sure that I would have a heart attack if I had to drive here. No joke. I know they must have "Rules of the Road" here. But sometimes I wonder. Dar es Salaam is the biggest city in the country. Thus a lot of cars and people. There are a lot of pedestians, bikers (both bicycles and motorcycles) and drivers. And everybody just seems to do whatever the want! People seem to be walking all over the place. Crossing the street wherever and whenever they like. I am not the jaywalking police or anything like that. I jaywalk like the best of them. But when there are hardly sidewalks and cars are speeding down narrow roads, not stopping until they are about an inch from the object in front of them... Let me just say I would think twice about jaywalking. The scariest thing about it to me is how close the cars go to other cars, pedestrains, whatever. The roads are not very good once you get outside Dar es Salaam. The view is very pleasant though to make up for it. Whether we are passing a local market or passing on a hill that overlooks a group of houses and palm trees, it is all very beautiful to me. The traffic and roads get very bad around this one particular market about half way through. They are doing construction and the drivers are mad so things get pretty chaotic. After this place, things die down a little and the roads get a little better. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get to the base.
The base is a very beautiful place as well. Being about 30 minutes from the Indian Ocean allows this part of Tanzania to be fairly green. The base is 86 acres technically. But most everything is located near each other with the rest being plant life. The base has a lot of ministries. They have a preschool, primary school, vocational school (for carpentry and tailoring), and a DTS (Discipleship Training School). A lot of the people here have done the DTS program (which is a short program that helps grow your relationship to Christ). Everyone I have talked to about it cannot say enough good things about it. They have the clinic (a mini hospital). This is where I spend most of my time. And they have a lovely garden. Here they grow fruits and vegetables. Mango season is now. So mangos are constantly falling from the trees. And the children here are always eating them up. They are very good. There are 2 dorm like housing and about 3-4 houses that the permanent staff live in with their families. The room they put me in when I got here was very nice. It was pretty big as well. It was about the size of my dorm room for all of you who know how big that was. It even had its own bathroom! With a Western toilet!! None of the other rooms have that. They have community bathrooms for everyone else. The shower is placed on the wall in the bathroom. It was a really nice set up. I was so happy. It was one of the most exciting things to me. The other being that they have clean water here so I do not have to worry about getting sick from the water here. But like the saying goes, "All good things must come to an end." They moved me to a room next door for a night. Then they moved me across the hall to a room with many bunkbeds. So it feels kind of like camp. It does not have its own bathroom unfortunately. But I have been able to rig the mosquito net up a little better in this new room. Plus the mattress is a whole lot better! One thing that has been an issue here in the area are the power outages. In fact part of the reason it has taken me so long to post this is because the first time I tried the power went out in the middle of it! So Aunt Karen... you were right! Thanks for all the lights. Let's see. What else should I mention about the base... Ah the kitchen! They have a special building for the kitchen. They cook over an open fire. They have a oven to bake bread in (which they have every morning). Meals are pretty simple here. Bread in the morning. Ugali for lunch. Ugali is an African dish. It is made with corn flour and water. It has a very thick consistency kind of like mashed potatoes but thicker. They eat it with some sort of stew that they make. Usually just vegetables in the stew. They take the ugali and form it into balls. They then dip the balls into the stew to eat. Ugali kind of reminds me of grits to a certain extent. And some of my Southern friends know how fond I am of that. (It is not my favorite food in the world.) For dinner they either have ugali again or rice and bean/stew. I have been very fond of the rice. Outside the kitchen they have these big stone sinks. One is used for washing the dishes. The other has 4 smaller sinks to wash clothes in. I wash clothes by hand for the first time last week. (Even did a "load" today.) I felt kind of embarressed and priviledged when the people here asked me if it was my first time. It was not bad though. I think I miss the dryer the most because of the speed of the drying.
So now that I think I have covered most of the stuff that is on the base, I will tell you all the highlights of my days since arriving here. So my first day here, I took a tour of the clinic. It is not very big. It has 2 exam rooms, 2 patient rooms that have about 5 beds a piece, a pharmacy, a closet-like area to get blood samples, a lab, an injection room, a room for wound care, a labor room, and a delivery room. So a nurse, Mary, is taking me around telling me about the clinic. We go to the delivery room and there is a woman in labor there. (The women in the delivery room are the women who are in the later stages of labor.) She tells me she is ready to give birth and hands me a pair of gloves! So I have been in the clinic for about a total of 5 minutes and I am already helping deliver a baby! It was a baby boy. I helped clean him up and weigh him. 2.7kgs. Then we continue on our tour. On Wednesdays are "Baby Shot Wednesday." I am not sure what the Kiswahili name for it is. Something watoto. I will learn it and get back to you on that. It is a day that the mothers come in with their babies to get immunizations. But the second day I was here I helped with that. I was so tired though. Jetlag was still in effect. I mostly helped with the drop of Polio vaccine that every baby gets. The next day I helped in the Pharmacy. The patients bring the list of medications that the doctor orders and we hand them out. Like a pharmacy in the US. I mostly was just trying to learn things the first several days. Most people here speak very little English. And since I speak kidogo Kiswahili ("little Swahili") it makes things kind of difficult sometimes. But everyone is so patient with me. The nurses try to help me out, teaching me new vocabulary. They laugh at me a lot. But it is all good. On Friday they had a graduation ceremony for those in the vocational school. It was SO much fun! I had no idea what was going on. But I could tell some stuff without knowing what they were saying. They had a lot of song, dance and skits. It was very cool! The ceremony lasted 4 hours for the 10-15 students graduating! Just imagine if ceremonies lasted that long per person in the US! I think the ceremonies could last weeks! But afterwards they had a nice meal for everyone. There is a Norweagan family here: Rune and Elfrid with their children Hannah Joy and Samuel. Samuel is the cutest little boy. I have seen him learn to walk while I have been here. He is not yet running but I am sure that will come soon. He has very blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. (Sorry Andy. I still prefer the blue.) They have been so kind to me since I have been here. They speak very good English. So it is nice to talk with them. The first Saturday I was here they took me to this little resort about 2 kilometers or 5 minute drive from the base. It was very nice. It had a pool and a restaurant. It was nice to have some good food. On Sunday I went to a Kiswahili church. A guy from the base, Brighton, came along to be a translator. There was a lot of dancing here as well. I did not really know what was going on for the most part here as well. But it was very good experience. After church we visited a family who had lost a family member. We sang hymns and had a short message at their house. Community is very important. I like that a lot. For those of you who know I do not drink pop (or soda or coke or whatever you want to call it) I have a confession... I had pop. I told myself that if someone offers it to me I will drink it because it is a real treat here. So I did not want to be rude and turn it down. The family offered everyone a bottle of pop. I had a Fanta. And it was really good. That sums up week 1.
Week 2: In the beginning of the week I went to town (Dar es Salaam) with some people to run some errands and get some supplies. It was quite the experience. It is weird how there are similarities between the city of Dar es Salaam and Chicago. But in the similarities there are huge differences. I do not know how to explain it. I guess I will just have to show you guys when I can get some pictures up. But we went to a store called ShopRite. It is a very Western store. It has many things that I recognized. I bought some Nutella there. I like Nutella before. But now I think I LOVE Nutella. It has made breakfast much more enjoyable. This week I also saw a monkey!! On the base! Coming down from a tree! It was remarkable! I was not expecting it at all. I had heard that people have seen monkeys here. But I was picturing something smaller. But this monkey was rather large! I wish I could have taken a picture of it. But it ran away too fast. I hope to catch another one before I leave. I guess I could take this opportunity to tell you guys about the living things here. There are plenty of mosquitos as you have probably already guessed. And plenty of other bugs. The worst of them all in my opinion is something I have called the Snormapede. I have called it this because it looks like worm sort of but it is longer and thicker. More like a snake. But it has these legs like a centapede. Snake + worm + centapede = snormapede. They are these black "things" that are about the thickness of a finger and about 2 fingers length. They have a hard shellish thing (at least it looks like that). But its belly and legs are red. The first one that appeared in my room had little legs. It did not seem as bad. But I was still not very fond of it. The thing with these bugs is that I do not want to kill it because I am afraid of the sound it will make when I do. I am not very fond of that crunching sound. (I had found out later that they smell when they are killed.) So I took a dust pan and threw him outside. The second one to come into my room... he is another story. His was so big! His legs being the worst part! His legs stuck out about an inch from his body! I called him Captain Crunch. But like his comrade I scooped him up and threw him outside. In my room there were also 2 lizards. Usually I am not very fond of lizards. But I found out that they keep other bugs away. So I am okay with them now. I called them Doug and Skeeter. In the roads people sometimes drive their cows and goats. And there are chicken everywhere. I am sure there will be many more animal encounters that I will have. This second week I helped with yet another birth. Another baby boy. This one was a little more traumatic than the last though. I think that maybe if I see too many of these births I might decide to never have children! But everything ended up okay. On Sunday I went to a church where they speak English. It was nice to know what was going on. It consisted mostly of Indian people. So they had someone translating into Hindi for some of them. It was very good. There I met these 2 German young adults I guess. They are both 20 years old. Jan (German version of John I think) and Deborah. They are both working with a orphanage about a 15-20 minute walk from the base. They also speak English. Which is very nice. I have learned to appreciate being able to speak with people more clearly. There are still some language barrier. But not as bad as with some of the Africans. That brings us to this week.
Week 3: So the Germans have every Monday off from the orphanage. They like to take advantage of their day off and go to the city or the beach. Well this Monday they invited me to go to the beach. It was my first time to go to the Indian Ocean. And it was wonderful! We took the public trasportation to get there. They have these buses called "Dolla, Dollas." These things are crazy as well! People fight to get on. And they pack these things like none other! You think that there is no way to fit another person and they somehow get 3 more on there! It is amazing really! There is no such thing as personal space on a Dolla Dolla. We got a seat for one part of the trip. But we stood for pretty much all of it. There was even one time where Deborah and I were kind of barely hanging on inside the door. It is not uncommon for people to be hanging on outside of these buses. But the Indian Ocean was so nice! The water was warm. It has been a long time since I have swam in an ocean or lake that was warm. I thought it felt very good. I guess it can get uncomfortably warm later in the day though. But the water usually is very clear. And in parts of the beach you could see that. But Monday it was not as clear as it usually is. But it was still lovely. We went to this beach that was by a hotel. So we got some good breakfast and were able to use some good internet. I do not have a computer here. But Jan was generous enough to let me use his. But his is in German which made it pretty interesting. On the keyboard the "z" and "y" are switched so I kept writing "zou" and "zesterdaz" and things like that. But I got used to it eventually. I was just grateful to be able to use it. As some of you know with my history of beach-going I probably should have used a lot of sunscreen. And you probably have guess that I probably did not. I did use sunscreen. but obviously not enough. Because sure enough I got pretty sunburnt. But I think that is the norm for me. So despite the pain it is okay. That leads me to today, Wednesday. Another "Baby Shot Wednesday" Today I actually felt like I was helpful! I got to give all the babies their vaccines! I feel like that might sound weird that I am very excited about being able to give shot to babies. But I was very VERY excited! I had someone there helping to translate. But I got the hang of things very quickly. I hope that this was the start of me being able to do a lot more. I have mostly been in the pharmacy. Which is okay. But I would like to feel more helpful.
Nzuri sana! This is Kiswahili for "very good." Things have been very good thus far. That is a good description for how I am feeling now (despite the sunburn). I would like to thank you all for keeping me in your prayers. I could not do this without your support and God's help. He has definitely been my strength on this journey. I have some prayer request if you do not mind praying for me. One thing is the language barrier. Just pray that I will be able to pick up the language quickly so that I am able to interact with the people more. I also ask for you to pray that I could be more helpful in the clinic. I know that will come more when I learn more Kiswahili. But if you could pray that the nurses would allow me to do more that would be wonderful. Also just pray for the people of Tanzania. In this area there are many Muslims. And many of them go to the clinic and the schools here. Pray that I and the rest of the YWAM staff would show Christ's light in their darkness. One last thing for now. Please pray that I will not get homesick over the Christmas holiday. Thanksgiving ended up being okay. And I feel like Christmas might not be so bad because it hardly seens like Christmas here (being 85 degrees and all!). But it would be nice to not feel so homesick. Thanks again so much! Thank you for your prayers. For reading all of this! I know this is very long. It was much overdue. Now that I am more settled in I am hoping to update it at least once a week. Well hopefully you will hear from me in the not too distant future. I love and miss you all my friends!
Sorry I could not post last time I blogged. I was using the internet in town (Dar es Salaam) and my time was running out. But this time I have more time to tell you what I have been up to the last 2 weeks!
So after 24 hours worth of travel I made it to Tanzania. After I stepped off the plane, got my visa, and went outside, my first impression was, "Man! It is HOT!!" Seriously! I do not think I have sweat this much in my life! And I have done a lot of sweating in my life. Trust me. I mean I knew it was going to be hot. Dr. Joel (the director of the clinic) had told me so. And I had found out before I left that November-February are their summer months being the hottest of the year. So I was somewhat prepared... or so I thought. But I certainly was not prepared for the heat and humidity! It is anywhere from about 80-90 degrees. But it feels at least 10 degrees hotter every day with the humidity. I would have thought that my years in Mobile, AL would have helped to prepare me. But unfortunately (or fortunately however you want to look at it.)I avoided the hot summer months there which would have been decent preparation. Anyways... enough about the heat.
Dr Joel picked me up at the airport. With God's perfect timing, he arrived a few minutes I stepped out of the airport. We headed to the YWAM base in his car. One interesting thing about Tanzania is that the cars drive on the left here. I did not realize that when I came. So that in itself made for an interesting ride because I have never ridden like that before. But it did not need it to be interesting because there were so many new things to be seen. Tanzania is very beautiful! Plus the drivers here are CRAZY!! I am pretty sure that I would have a heart attack if I had to drive here. No joke. I know they must have "Rules of the Road" here. But sometimes I wonder. Dar es Salaam is the biggest city in the country. Thus a lot of cars and people. There are a lot of pedestians, bikers (both bicycles and motorcycles) and drivers. And everybody just seems to do whatever the want! People seem to be walking all over the place. Crossing the street wherever and whenever they like. I am not the jaywalking police or anything like that. I jaywalk like the best of them. But when there are hardly sidewalks and cars are speeding down narrow roads, not stopping until they are about an inch from the object in front of them... Let me just say I would think twice about jaywalking. The scariest thing about it to me is how close the cars go to other cars, pedestrains, whatever. The roads are not very good once you get outside Dar es Salaam. The view is very pleasant though to make up for it. Whether we are passing a local market or passing on a hill that overlooks a group of houses and palm trees, it is all very beautiful to me. The traffic and roads get very bad around this one particular market about half way through. They are doing construction and the drivers are mad so things get pretty chaotic. After this place, things die down a little and the roads get a little better. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get to the base.
The base is a very beautiful place as well. Being about 30 minutes from the Indian Ocean allows this part of Tanzania to be fairly green. The base is 86 acres technically. But most everything is located near each other with the rest being plant life. The base has a lot of ministries. They have a preschool, primary school, vocational school (for carpentry and tailoring), and a DTS (Discipleship Training School). A lot of the people here have done the DTS program (which is a short program that helps grow your relationship to Christ). Everyone I have talked to about it cannot say enough good things about it. They have the clinic (a mini hospital). This is where I spend most of my time. And they have a lovely garden. Here they grow fruits and vegetables. Mango season is now. So mangos are constantly falling from the trees. And the children here are always eating them up. They are very good. There are 2 dorm like housing and about 3-4 houses that the permanent staff live in with their families. The room they put me in when I got here was very nice. It was pretty big as well. It was about the size of my dorm room for all of you who know how big that was. It even had its own bathroom! With a Western toilet!! None of the other rooms have that. They have community bathrooms for everyone else. The shower is placed on the wall in the bathroom. It was a really nice set up. I was so happy. It was one of the most exciting things to me. The other being that they have clean water here so I do not have to worry about getting sick from the water here. But like the saying goes, "All good things must come to an end." They moved me to a room next door for a night. Then they moved me across the hall to a room with many bunkbeds. So it feels kind of like camp. It does not have its own bathroom unfortunately. But I have been able to rig the mosquito net up a little better in this new room. Plus the mattress is a whole lot better! One thing that has been an issue here in the area are the power outages. In fact part of the reason it has taken me so long to post this is because the first time I tried the power went out in the middle of it! So Aunt Karen... you were right! Thanks for all the lights. Let's see. What else should I mention about the base... Ah the kitchen! They have a special building for the kitchen. They cook over an open fire. They have a oven to bake bread in (which they have every morning). Meals are pretty simple here. Bread in the morning. Ugali for lunch. Ugali is an African dish. It is made with corn flour and water. It has a very thick consistency kind of like mashed potatoes but thicker. They eat it with some sort of stew that they make. Usually just vegetables in the stew. They take the ugali and form it into balls. They then dip the balls into the stew to eat. Ugali kind of reminds me of grits to a certain extent. And some of my Southern friends know how fond I am of that. (It is not my favorite food in the world.) For dinner they either have ugali again or rice and bean/stew. I have been very fond of the rice. Outside the kitchen they have these big stone sinks. One is used for washing the dishes. The other has 4 smaller sinks to wash clothes in. I wash clothes by hand for the first time last week. (Even did a "load" today.) I felt kind of embarressed and priviledged when the people here asked me if it was my first time. It was not bad though. I think I miss the dryer the most because of the speed of the drying.
So now that I think I have covered most of the stuff that is on the base, I will tell you all the highlights of my days since arriving here. So my first day here, I took a tour of the clinic. It is not very big. It has 2 exam rooms, 2 patient rooms that have about 5 beds a piece, a pharmacy, a closet-like area to get blood samples, a lab, an injection room, a room for wound care, a labor room, and a delivery room. So a nurse, Mary, is taking me around telling me about the clinic. We go to the delivery room and there is a woman in labor there. (The women in the delivery room are the women who are in the later stages of labor.) She tells me she is ready to give birth and hands me a pair of gloves! So I have been in the clinic for about a total of 5 minutes and I am already helping deliver a baby! It was a baby boy. I helped clean him up and weigh him. 2.7kgs. Then we continue on our tour. On Wednesdays are "Baby Shot Wednesday." I am not sure what the Kiswahili name for it is. Something watoto. I will learn it and get back to you on that. It is a day that the mothers come in with their babies to get immunizations. But the second day I was here I helped with that. I was so tired though. Jetlag was still in effect. I mostly helped with the drop of Polio vaccine that every baby gets. The next day I helped in the Pharmacy. The patients bring the list of medications that the doctor orders and we hand them out. Like a pharmacy in the US. I mostly was just trying to learn things the first several days. Most people here speak very little English. And since I speak kidogo Kiswahili ("little Swahili") it makes things kind of difficult sometimes. But everyone is so patient with me. The nurses try to help me out, teaching me new vocabulary. They laugh at me a lot. But it is all good. On Friday they had a graduation ceremony for those in the vocational school. It was SO much fun! I had no idea what was going on. But I could tell some stuff without knowing what they were saying. They had a lot of song, dance and skits. It was very cool! The ceremony lasted 4 hours for the 10-15 students graduating! Just imagine if ceremonies lasted that long per person in the US! I think the ceremonies could last weeks! But afterwards they had a nice meal for everyone. There is a Norweagan family here: Rune and Elfrid with their children Hannah Joy and Samuel. Samuel is the cutest little boy. I have seen him learn to walk while I have been here. He is not yet running but I am sure that will come soon. He has very blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. (Sorry Andy. I still prefer the blue.) They have been so kind to me since I have been here. They speak very good English. So it is nice to talk with them. The first Saturday I was here they took me to this little resort about 2 kilometers or 5 minute drive from the base. It was very nice. It had a pool and a restaurant. It was nice to have some good food. On Sunday I went to a Kiswahili church. A guy from the base, Brighton, came along to be a translator. There was a lot of dancing here as well. I did not really know what was going on for the most part here as well. But it was very good experience. After church we visited a family who had lost a family member. We sang hymns and had a short message at their house. Community is very important. I like that a lot. For those of you who know I do not drink pop (or soda or coke or whatever you want to call it) I have a confession... I had pop. I told myself that if someone offers it to me I will drink it because it is a real treat here. So I did not want to be rude and turn it down. The family offered everyone a bottle of pop. I had a Fanta. And it was really good. That sums up week 1.
Week 2: In the beginning of the week I went to town (Dar es Salaam) with some people to run some errands and get some supplies. It was quite the experience. It is weird how there are similarities between the city of Dar es Salaam and Chicago. But in the similarities there are huge differences. I do not know how to explain it. I guess I will just have to show you guys when I can get some pictures up. But we went to a store called ShopRite. It is a very Western store. It has many things that I recognized. I bought some Nutella there. I like Nutella before. But now I think I LOVE Nutella. It has made breakfast much more enjoyable. This week I also saw a monkey!! On the base! Coming down from a tree! It was remarkable! I was not expecting it at all. I had heard that people have seen monkeys here. But I was picturing something smaller. But this monkey was rather large! I wish I could have taken a picture of it. But it ran away too fast. I hope to catch another one before I leave. I guess I could take this opportunity to tell you guys about the living things here. There are plenty of mosquitos as you have probably already guessed. And plenty of other bugs. The worst of them all in my opinion is something I have called the Snormapede. I have called it this because it looks like worm sort of but it is longer and thicker. More like a snake. But it has these legs like a centapede. Snake + worm + centapede = snormapede. They are these black "things" that are about the thickness of a finger and about 2 fingers length. They have a hard shellish thing (at least it looks like that). But its belly and legs are red. The first one that appeared in my room had little legs. It did not seem as bad. But I was still not very fond of it. The thing with these bugs is that I do not want to kill it because I am afraid of the sound it will make when I do. I am not very fond of that crunching sound. (I had found out later that they smell when they are killed.) So I took a dust pan and threw him outside. The second one to come into my room... he is another story. His was so big! His legs being the worst part! His legs stuck out about an inch from his body! I called him Captain Crunch. But like his comrade I scooped him up and threw him outside. In my room there were also 2 lizards. Usually I am not very fond of lizards. But I found out that they keep other bugs away. So I am okay with them now. I called them Doug and Skeeter. In the roads people sometimes drive their cows and goats. And there are chicken everywhere. I am sure there will be many more animal encounters that I will have. This second week I helped with yet another birth. Another baby boy. This one was a little more traumatic than the last though. I think that maybe if I see too many of these births I might decide to never have children! But everything ended up okay. On Sunday I went to a church where they speak English. It was nice to know what was going on. It consisted mostly of Indian people. So they had someone translating into Hindi for some of them. It was very good. There I met these 2 German young adults I guess. They are both 20 years old. Jan (German version of John I think) and Deborah. They are both working with a orphanage about a 15-20 minute walk from the base. They also speak English. Which is very nice. I have learned to appreciate being able to speak with people more clearly. There are still some language barrier. But not as bad as with some of the Africans. That brings us to this week.
Week 3: So the Germans have every Monday off from the orphanage. They like to take advantage of their day off and go to the city or the beach. Well this Monday they invited me to go to the beach. It was my first time to go to the Indian Ocean. And it was wonderful! We took the public trasportation to get there. They have these buses called "Dolla, Dollas." These things are crazy as well! People fight to get on. And they pack these things like none other! You think that there is no way to fit another person and they somehow get 3 more on there! It is amazing really! There is no such thing as personal space on a Dolla Dolla. We got a seat for one part of the trip. But we stood for pretty much all of it. There was even one time where Deborah and I were kind of barely hanging on inside the door. It is not uncommon for people to be hanging on outside of these buses. But the Indian Ocean was so nice! The water was warm. It has been a long time since I have swam in an ocean or lake that was warm. I thought it felt very good. I guess it can get uncomfortably warm later in the day though. But the water usually is very clear. And in parts of the beach you could see that. But Monday it was not as clear as it usually is. But it was still lovely. We went to this beach that was by a hotel. So we got some good breakfast and were able to use some good internet. I do not have a computer here. But Jan was generous enough to let me use his. But his is in German which made it pretty interesting. On the keyboard the "z" and "y" are switched so I kept writing "zou" and "zesterdaz" and things like that. But I got used to it eventually. I was just grateful to be able to use it. As some of you know with my history of beach-going I probably should have used a lot of sunscreen. And you probably have guess that I probably did not. I did use sunscreen. but obviously not enough. Because sure enough I got pretty sunburnt. But I think that is the norm for me. So despite the pain it is okay. That leads me to today, Wednesday. Another "Baby Shot Wednesday" Today I actually felt like I was helpful! I got to give all the babies their vaccines! I feel like that might sound weird that I am very excited about being able to give shot to babies. But I was very VERY excited! I had someone there helping to translate. But I got the hang of things very quickly. I hope that this was the start of me being able to do a lot more. I have mostly been in the pharmacy. Which is okay. But I would like to feel more helpful.
Nzuri sana! This is Kiswahili for "very good." Things have been very good thus far. That is a good description for how I am feeling now (despite the sunburn). I would like to thank you all for keeping me in your prayers. I could not do this without your support and God's help. He has definitely been my strength on this journey. I have some prayer request if you do not mind praying for me. One thing is the language barrier. Just pray that I will be able to pick up the language quickly so that I am able to interact with the people more. I also ask for you to pray that I could be more helpful in the clinic. I know that will come more when I learn more Kiswahili. But if you could pray that the nurses would allow me to do more that would be wonderful. Also just pray for the people of Tanzania. In this area there are many Muslims. And many of them go to the clinic and the schools here. Pray that I and the rest of the YWAM staff would show Christ's light in their darkness. One last thing for now. Please pray that I will not get homesick over the Christmas holiday. Thanksgiving ended up being okay. And I feel like Christmas might not be so bad because it hardly seens like Christmas here (being 85 degrees and all!). But it would be nice to not feel so homesick. Thanks again so much! Thank you for your prayers. For reading all of this! I know this is very long. It was much overdue. Now that I am more settled in I am hoping to update it at least once a week. Well hopefully you will hear from me in the not too distant future. I love and miss you all my friends!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Karibu!
Karibu! - This is a word that I have been hearing very much since I have arrived. It means "You are welcome." And I have felt very welcome.Tanzania is a very welcoming place. The people here (especially at the base where I am staying) are all so friendly. I feel as much at home as I could possibly feel being in another country. I do not have much time to post an extensive blog today. But I wanted to send a quick one to tell everyone that I have made it safely to Tanzania, and all my luggage arrived as well. Thank the Lord and thank you all for your prayers. For anyone who wants to contact me please email me instead of Facebook. The internet is so slow that I cannot read many messages and cannot post anything. As a reminder my email is scunningham15@rams.umobile.edu. Thanks again everyone! I love and miss you all!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
I'm Going to Tanzania!!
Jambo!! ("Hello" in Swahili)
Welcome to my blog! Here I am going to be blogging about my trip to Tanzania. This is my first blogging experience so bear with me. For those of you who are currently thinking, "Wow! This is her first blogging experience?!? There is no way because this blog is/will be so amazing!", let me tell you it is true. And I hope that it will be as amazing as you say. Or at least good at keeping everybody updated on my trip. Now for all those of you who are thinking, "Wait... she's going to Tanzania?!?" or "Well... I knew she was going but have no idea why and/or what she will be doing.", let me explain. I am going to Tanzania to work with a missions clinic there called Uzima Mission Clinic. It is located in Mwandege Village in the Mkuranga District which is about an hour south of Dar es Salaam (the biggest city in Tanzania). While there I will be working as a nurse. Some of my work might include working at the pharmacy (packing and dispensing meds), starting IVs, drawing blood for lab work, and even helping doctors deliver babies at the Labor and Delivery... you know the usual. (Okay so I am pretty excited about that!) I will be staying at the YWAM (Youth with a Mission) base while I am there. I will be gone from November 20, 2011 until February 12, 2012. That means I am leaving tomorrow!!
"How can I help?" Oh I am so glad you asked! First and foremost, I need spiritual support. There is definitely a lot to pray about. I ask you to pray for safe travel. That all my luggage will arrive in Tanzania. That I will be able to adjust to the culture and language differences. I ask for prayer for courage to share God's love to the people of Tanzania. There are a significant number of Muslims in the country. I also ask for prayer for the people that they may be receptive to the message. I pray that my work will be God glorifying. I have had some people ask me how to help out financially. I still need to raise support for my living expense like room and board. So I have set up a site where you can put money into my account through PayPal.
The site is: http://scunningham.chipin.com/tanzania-medical-missions
I do not expect everyone to be able to support me financially. So if you cannot I completely understand. But I hope that everyone can support me through prayer because I know that I am going to need God's help.
Thank you for reading my blog. I am not sure how often I am going to be able to update this. But I will try to update this as much as I can so you guys can know what is going on in Tanzania. If you want to get a hold of me, you can email me at scunningham15@rams.umobile.edu. I will try my best to respond to everyone. Otherwise keep a lookout for updates from me from Tanzania. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support for this trip. You are helping to make this trip possible.
God bless,
Sarah
Welcome to my blog! Here I am going to be blogging about my trip to Tanzania. This is my first blogging experience so bear with me. For those of you who are currently thinking, "Wow! This is her first blogging experience?!? There is no way because this blog is/will be so amazing!", let me tell you it is true. And I hope that it will be as amazing as you say. Or at least good at keeping everybody updated on my trip. Now for all those of you who are thinking, "Wait... she's going to Tanzania?!?" or "Well... I knew she was going but have no idea why and/or what she will be doing.", let me explain. I am going to Tanzania to work with a missions clinic there called Uzima Mission Clinic. It is located in Mwandege Village in the Mkuranga District which is about an hour south of Dar es Salaam (the biggest city in Tanzania). While there I will be working as a nurse. Some of my work might include working at the pharmacy (packing and dispensing meds), starting IVs, drawing blood for lab work, and even helping doctors deliver babies at the Labor and Delivery... you know the usual. (Okay so I am pretty excited about that!) I will be staying at the YWAM (Youth with a Mission) base while I am there. I will be gone from November 20, 2011 until February 12, 2012. That means I am leaving tomorrow!!
"How can I help?" Oh I am so glad you asked! First and foremost, I need spiritual support. There is definitely a lot to pray about. I ask you to pray for safe travel. That all my luggage will arrive in Tanzania. That I will be able to adjust to the culture and language differences. I ask for prayer for courage to share God's love to the people of Tanzania. There are a significant number of Muslims in the country. I also ask for prayer for the people that they may be receptive to the message. I pray that my work will be God glorifying. I have had some people ask me how to help out financially. I still need to raise support for my living expense like room and board. So I have set up a site where you can put money into my account through PayPal.
The site is: http://scunningham.chipin.com/tanzania-medical-missions
Or you can contact someone in my family to find out how to give in another way. You can contact my mom at movermary@aol.com. If you can please reference the blog, Tanzania, missions, or myself in the subject so my mom knows what it is for.
I do not expect everyone to be able to support me financially. So if you cannot I completely understand. But I hope that everyone can support me through prayer because I know that I am going to need God's help.
Thank you for reading my blog. I am not sure how often I am going to be able to update this. But I will try to update this as much as I can so you guys can know what is going on in Tanzania. If you want to get a hold of me, you can email me at scunningham15@rams.umobile.edu. I will try my best to respond to everyone. Otherwise keep a lookout for updates from me from Tanzania. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support for this trip. You are helping to make this trip possible.
God bless,
Sarah
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