Can it really be over?

Wow! In only a few days I will be flying out of Tanzania! My flight to Turkey leaves Tuesday! I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I am very eager to get home, sigh a big sigh of relief that I survived, and begin to think toward the resumption of studies in September. On the other hand I am really sad to be leaving Tanzania. I love being here, have grown to love so much about the people I've met and places I've seen and the dalla dallas that are always an adventure. A Canadian I met this past week even noted that my speach has changed and swahilified! Friendly greetings and smiling children and stubborn bargaining over prices, rice and beans with a bit of mchicha and meat, learning a new language bit by bit, random conversations in the dalla dallas or walking down the street, (including one in French when I met some Congolese women who spoke French but not English OR Kiswahili, and I found myself finding Kiswahili words sooner than French ones...) good laughs with locals about the differences between wazungu and waswahili, etc. Some things I haven't done that I wanted to- take a Kiswahili course, travel to other parts of the country like Arusha/Mt. Kilimanjaro or Tanga, check out other missions agencies and how they do things, etc. But, it is over for now- I have to answer everybody's biggest question of whether I will be back by saying 'kama Mungu akipenda'- if God wishes, because how can I be sure what the future will bring- but I do have a very strong desire to return. I will be surprised and sad if I am never able to come back.

Anyway, I will cut short these philosophical musings here, as I'm sure I could go on for quite a while without getting anywhere concrete. The concluding point is that I have a lot of tension in me between how much I eagerly anticipate being home and how much I really see this place as another home. I'm sure that isn't a big surprise to anyone who's travelled to work in some other part of the world. It doesn't mean life has always been easy here, but I really feel blessed to have been able to live these 10 months in this country of Tanzania.

And, a quick note about heading off to Turkey- I'm not sure what my internet access will be like there, so this may well be my last blog entry! I might be able to run into an internet cafe to check mail, but chances are I will not be able to write much back or even look at the blog. So, come Tuesday, I will be off...

Testimony Time, Power and Sweet Singing

Wow! Pole sana everyone! It has been a really long time since my last blog. Life here in Dar is still going well. I'll share some general update stuff, then share a fun story...

-My work at the international school during the week has been moving from background helper to more concrete teaching work, which is reall great. I've had the opportunity to teach a lesson in a secondary history class on African history, as well as do some exam prep; I've taken small groups of German students to work on what they've been learning together; finally, with a maternity leave resulting in potentially no primary music classes, I've worked with the music teacher and am doing a few weeks of music class myself (with another teacher around) which has been tons of fun.

-I've discovered where to find the best coffee in town, although it is really far from where I live- but still, a couple rainy afternoons spent sipping some wonderful coffee while reading a great book.

-I have been walking long distances somehow, and dragged one of the youth from the church I'm helping at on the weekends on a long hike down the Ocean Road near the city center, ending up at the fish market where I got to see the variety of ocean fish brought in and the stands of really beautiful seashells brought in from a few remote coastal/island areas of Tanzania. My young friend nearly died- I told him something is wrong when a mzungu is more able/willing to walk long distances than a mswahili. :)

-There have been wageni (visitors) at my house, which has been great- some friends of people I know in Mwanza en route there, and others friends of the couple whose house I'm living in. It has been lots of fun, especially as I'm otherwise alone in a big house with big walls separating me from my neighbours. Company is always great!

-Plans are more set now. I will leave Dar before the end of May, and head to Turkey before arriving home July 6. I'm excited to explore some new places!

-Yesterday I managed to finally beat my mom, who has always preemptively called me on every key special day, preventing me from initiating something for her... I called for Mother's Day a day early, and thus was able to reach her before she "did me a favour and called me first" like she always does. Finally I win! :)

So, here's my story....
Sunday, a week ago, we had the sound system at church all set up and ready to go, the worship team had practiced, the microphones were set properly, and we were all ready to start, when the power went out. They could get a generator, but it would take a while and make the service start really really late if we waited for it. So, I am glad to say that in the test I managed to pass- for those of you who know about my trip to Serbia you may remember the lesson God was trying to teach me stemming from smoking keyboards and off-key singers, it seems He wanted to check if I had finally taken the lesson in... :) Rather than panic, or wait for ages for the generator, I proceeded to lead in some a capella singing. We began with Il m'a sauve, which I have been teaching kids both in Mwanza and here in Dar, to celebrate how he has saved us, loved us, washed us, touched us, etc. And then stopped for some old-school testimony time that was so hugely encouraging. I tried to remind people that while umeme (power-electricity) was missing, we still had reason to praise Him and anyway still had Mungu (God) and therefore the more important kind of power was still present. The testimonies then flowed out of that, and people just wouldn't stop. Instead of having to coax it out of them, it just began gushing out... what he has done in their lives. It kept going long after I figured it would. And then we sang, in English and Kiswahili, Hakuna Mungu kama wewe (There's no one, there's no one like Jesus), one of the local Kiswahili favourites- and they were singing like I've never seen/heard them sing before. So great! So, in it I was able to share my little story too, from a few days previous. On the Friday I got up way too late and was going to miss the beginning of primary assembly where I had to play piano for the national anthem (of Tanzania- which I now know). Images of everyone being upset at the irresponsible volunteer Mr. Schalm were floating through my head. I had just shut off my alarm upon waking up, and fell right back asleep. So I quickly got ready and headed out, but there was no way of reaching the main road where the 3 wheeled bajajis are always waiting, who can take me the rest of the way to the school. I told God as much, informing him that without a ride sasa hivi (just now) I would never make it, and noting that such a ride was not possible as the bajajis are never just hanging around in the subdivision by my house. Well, a minute later as I was walking, a random work truck stopped and the driver asked me where I was going. I told him, and he told me to get in. (all in Kiswahili of course) So I did. No, this is not hitchhiking; people use whatever random transport all the time, just not normally wazungu like me. So not strange that a truck would pick up a random passenger, but strange that he would ask me, which is something the taxis and bajajis do but trucks don't. So we got to the main road, and I asked him how much I owed for the ride- expecting the sort of price from a bajaji or dalla dalla. He waved me off, refusing to be paid, and then drove off. I was able to get a bajaji and reach the school even a few minutes earlier than needed to play Mungu Ibariki Africa (God bless Africa) for the primary assembly. So I was able to contribute to the testimony time Sunday during our wonderful service without umeme. Some good local yelling and whistling (part of any celebration or excitement) followed the story, and such enthusiasm was far more than normal for this rather subdued English-language church. So, some more Bwana Asifiwe was in order, and is in order, and I gratefully declare it again alongside the church and alongside all of you who are learning to say it back home!

Whew, that was a long one- hopefully it makes up for the month of no updates. I miss you all and will be home soon!

My Dar Adventures

So far I've managed to have a few great adventures in Dar. I've eaten a full meal for 700 shillings (70 cents for us Canadians) with Obed and endured a 3 hour service in Kiswahili that I didn't understand much at all, done a lot of walking around, made a deal for something at the woodworkers market from initial asking price of 65000 shillings down to 10000, visited the big local market at Kariakoo... Monday though was The day of adventure. My friend Richard and I wandered around in Kawe, finding the local market there and then having chai and chapatti for breakfast together. From there we found the Msasani Slipway, the crazy posh restaurant/shopping complex, though without having our money slip from us as is intended there. We discovered where the Shirazi graveyard ruins are, got yelled at there by a few men who came after I had begun taking pictures (we had asked those standing around if it was ok and they said yes) and Richard had to argue with the man for 20 minutes or so, ending it somehow with becoming friends- a very Tanzanian way of dealing with an angry or offended person. We wandered through one of the local fishing villages/markets at Msasani Bay, then headed to Cocoa Beach, one of the few nice beach areas still open to the public and not set aside for hotel guests. Finally we accidentally found ourselves at the Tingatinga arts cooperative center before heading home, where local artists make the art that originates here in Tanzania called Tingatinga- colourful and abstract pictures, especially of animal scenes. I really love adventures like this- wandering around and finding places to see and enjoy, and Dar is a good place for it! May the adventures continue...

Moving across the country...

Friday was a very sad day for me. I had to say goodbye to the kids and to my friends in Mwanza. It was really hard. It was a really great day though. We took some of the kids hiking a bit in the hills, I had lunch with Tini, Hilmar, Lena and Emma at a new little restaurant in town called Binti Maringo which involved chocolate mousse dessert, did some football (for those of you back in Canada who don't know, the rest of the world calls soccer 'football') and one last Bible study with the older boys, gave some parting words, said goodbye to everyone, cried as I walked out of the gate of Starehe, and had a great evening at Tini's house where we had a going away party for me. So very sad, but a good day nonetheless. Saturday very early I flew out of Mwanza to Dar, where the heat was terrible. If anyone wants to come and suffer with me, come visit in Dar. Hopefully I'll get over it. Anyway, now my time in Dar begins- April and maybe 1/2 or 3/4 of May. I'm leading the singing at church on Sundays, and I'm going to a school nearby to see what I can do to help out during the week. Also I plan to do some holiday time relaxing, because I've worked a lot during my time in Mwanza and a break now will be very nice. Yesterday after church I got to hang out with my friend Obed, which was lots of fun- we each ate lunch (rice, beans, spinach, and a bit of meat) for less than a dollar each, i.e. a typical local food stand, and it was great- some of the people there just couldn't believe a mzungu was eating there. It doesn't happen often. So I'm thankful for my time in Mwanza, sad to have left, but excited about the time now in Dar.

Baraka

Baraka means blessing in Kiswahili. As I put my pictures from the last weeks onto my computer, I discovered I've had a fair share lately, so I thought I'd share them...

(sunset at Tunza Lodge outside of town on Lake Victoria, and then with Tini, Lena and Hilmar, baptism for older Starehe kids, some of my little friends hanging out at Nyegezi Corner, and the Farming Game with some Albertan volunteers here for a few weeks)

Decisions...

The decision is made. It is now final. No more back and forth thinking and worrying and stressing. And I didn't even need a whole bunch of hour-long conversations with friends and IV staffworkers to get there! :) (all of you LCF people are beginning to wonder now if someone hasn't killed Steve and begun to write on his blog in his place... ) So, I will be living in Hamilton, Ontario for the next year, probably then next 2 years. I think Queens was looking like a great option too, but in the end somehow I still felt like I should choose McMaster. So I will be studying history there. I'm very excited about this, I think it will be great.

Dar es Salaam

My time in Mwanza is slowly coming to a close. :( I will be heading to Dar es Salaam (the big city on the coast, the biggest city in Tanzania) at the end of March and staying there until I leave Tanzania. I will be staying at the home of my friends, Pastor Len and Marilyn Mittelstaedt, in Dar, while they are in Canada for their son's wedding. I'll be leading worship at the church they pastor at, which is an English-language church, working with the worship team and helping make sure everything is transported and set up. During the week I'll be volunteering at the HOPAC school, a Christian private school that Len is connected with, helping out there however they need me. So I'll be sad to leave Mwanza, especially all my friends at Starehe (I'm not sure if I will find any little munchkins in Dar who come running up to me and grab my leg and try to get me to sing Il m'a sauve with them whenever they see me) but am excited about this opportunity to help out in Dar and get to know the big city. In my free time I'll be able to relax, explore downtown, head to the beaches, and maybe visit some places outside of town reachable by dalla dalla. My departure date from Tanzania is still not set, (although it will be SOON!!!) but I'm planning on heading to Turkey sometime in mid/late-May, and taking a one-month June language course there. (that is, if my plans all work out) I'll be in Turkey then until early July and will be home latest mid-July. It will be nice to be home again, but that isn't yet- BADO- not yet... So, 3 weeks in Mwanza, maybe 6 or 7 weeks in Dar, and maybe 6 or 7 weeks in Turkey, and probably 4 months total, until I'm home.