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.

My interesting Sunday...

Sunday I had a fabulous day. It really all began over a week ago when my friend Ruben invited me to join him and some others for a game of Kuhhandel, a great German game (he had the Dutch version) involving trading cows, figuring how much a given animal is worth to you to risk $ on it, and then trying to swindle the others in trades of animals so that you get good animals and lots of money in the process and they get nothing. 2 German women were playing with Ruben and I, who were friends of his, and none of the 3 of us had experience in the game, so cocky Ruben was in the end very obviously going to win. Obviously, that is, unless the community came together for the common good of the community as a whole, and put aside selfish ambition and gain (which was clearly going to fail anyway because Ruben had practically won already) in favour of a last-minute attempt to prevent Ruben from winning. To rally the rest of the community to the communal cause, (i.e. the 2 Germans) I offered freshly baked cookies, nice coffee, french toast and fruit for brunch, and a walk in the hills. They accepted and the community triumphed, and poor Ruben who doesn't like to lose lost. It was really great. Then on Thursday we had our communal morning, where the 2 young German ladies came over to Nyegezi, we had a beautiful walk followed by brunch and cookies and it was really great. There they invited me to join them Sunday for another brunch actually at their place, so I accepted and thus found myself having a wonderful Sunday. After church, (which was great too, but church at Starehe is usually pretty great) I went to town and found their house and had a great time there. Ruben ended up coming too, and there were a few others, and we were served German cheese, real multigrain German bread, and German chocolate from Anika's dad who is visiting her this week. So great! And then it began to rain. Sitting inside sipping tea we suddenly looked outside to discover that it was HAILING in Mwanza!!! There were chunks of ice falling from the sky! Nobody here knows what hail is! Crazypants! Then when it stopped we went to a Gospel music concert in town organized by one of the churches, which was a lot of fun! Pizza with Ruben and then dalla dalla ride home just as it got dark finished a really great day! Sadly I have no picture to show you of the hail.

September...

Some of you may know that I've had wonderfully theoretical plans to go to grad school in the fall once I'm back home. Some of you also may know that I had a horridly frustrating time trying to do scholarship applications, which just didn't work out at all, and then the university applications, involveing every possible difficulty with internet, printers, faxing, not knowing what to write for statements of purpose, forgeting something and needing to bus back home to get it, computer crashes, etc. Mensch was I frustrated! And because of how poorly it was going, it was mostly all stress and discouragement. But in the end the applications to McMaster and Queens both got done, and were received, leaving me relieved and ushering in the months of waiting for responses from the univeristies... waiting that lasted 3 weeks for McMaster and 5 weeks for Queens. I got into both. I almost couldn't believe that this was what I was reading on the acceptance emails. So, after so much frustration, there is finally a good outcome. :) Bwana asifiwe! And both offer a T.A. position and a bit of a scholarship! So now I get to choose where to go- Hamilton or Kingston, and I'm leaning toward Hamilton. So that is my news from this week- hopefully a little more exciting and nice than last week's entry! :) hahah... Anyways, I feel the need to repeat Bwana asifiwe, and that's about it for today.

Worms?

It has been a while since I have had to mention any health-related incident. It is time for another update. Don't panic though, it isn't an emergency or anything. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with worms. You understand? I do not have worms. (well, maybe I do, but this isn't it... who knows! :) What I have is ringworm. It is some kind of fungus that forms a circle, and is easily diagnosed based on this circle. It is quite common among the kids, and given that it is contagious, it is almost a wonder I haven't had it until now given how much the little

ones play with me. I get to put anti-fungal cream on it, and hopefully it will be all gone within a couple of weeks.

Good pain???

Two wonderful (and inherently somewhat violent) games have been somewhat of a tradition or special past-time for some of us from LCF (the Laurier Christian Fellowship group, for those of you not from Laurier). One of them, I have been glad to hear, has carried on, namely Squamish, which I am sad to say is difficult to bring to Tanzania due to lack of snow... the other, however, is well suited to this country as it is to Canada, can be played indoors or outdoors, and only requires a deck of cards and a set of spoons. Yes, that's right, I have managed to introduce the game of spoons to unsuspecting Tanzanian youth. We began a tournament among the older boys, which has now finished, for the 1st 3 players to reach 10 wins assuming 2 winners per round. It was mostly a Christmas holiday tournament, I'm just a little late in reporting about it. For those of you who are not aware of this game, you should be- so go find out. Anyways, you spoons veterans who have seen much spoons-related pain over the years would be proud to hear that a new generation of hardy players has arisen. A good deal of excellent wrestling over the remaining spoon, some very interesting shapes of spoons having been fought over, and spoon marks on hands have been the result of these boys willing to give it their all. :) It has been a lot of fun, and has ruined a few decks of cards- I think I will try to give the younger boys a chance sometime soon. Oh, and I can't wait to join in some spoon-related fun when I get back in the summer...

Hiking...

This one isn't specific to the last week or anything, but in general I've been enjoying walking/hiking a bit in the hills behind my compound. The Mwanza region has lots of hills and ridges, with massive boulders just sitting in often really precarious positions that make you wonder how they got there... Anyways, really really beautiful! God sure had some fun in creating the landscape here, and I've so enjoyed exploring either by myself (once I got to hang out with some kids who were playing soccer) or taking other volunteers up. Here are some of the sights!

January bits of news

Not much to write today, but it has been a bit since I last wrote so I'll catch everyone up a bit. The new nursury school at Starehe headed up by Tini has now begun, which is pretty exciting. The beginning has gone mostly really well I think. The kids are all back to school, study time is back after school (but now in the new school, which the kids love) and life is back to normal after the excitement of the holidays. Some new volunteers have been here, first a couple of German girls, now 4 men from Alberta, and in the other house a young couple from Alberta as well. All very nice, we've had lots of fun, the guys and I played the Farming Game (board game a bit like monopoly) last night and had lots of fun. University applications are underway, not sure if they will all get in on time though because TTCL has been under a lot the past few weeks. Hopefully that is better now and it will all go through. And, the directing couple that was in Canada for 2 months is back, so now all 4 are again around which is nice. Anyways, that's all for now, and more to come as long as internet is back to normal now. :)

New Years

Today is New Year's Day. This picture shows how my day began- or more properly how the adventure that was New Years Eve ended. Joyce and Randell, and all those of you readers who stand for adventure and 'going local' vs living the comfortable western existence, you will enjoy this story. So to explain, this is my new friend Ruben, a Dutch medical student who lives in Mwanza until September. He is eating chapati and drinking chai masiwa (milk-based local tea) and I am doing the same just across from him- our 'cafe' is a little table with 2 benches, and covered with a bit of corrugated metal roof, with walls as you see on 3 of 4 sides. We had breakfast this morning at this little place, together for less than a dollar. It was actually a great breakfast, minus the flies swarming me.

So, the beginning of the adventure- yesterday after leaving Starehe I headed into town to meet Ruben, who had invited me to join him in visiting a friend for New Years. I was expecting a nice urban family setting, like the other friend we have visited in town. However, when I met him I realized the plans were not quite what I was expecting. We began by waiting for a dalla dalla to Busewelo, and the beginning of my fear was that I didn't know Busewelo and it was definitely not in the city. Then he told me we were headed to an orphanage there to celebrate with the kids (his friend was a volunteer there) by killing a goat for a New Years dinner. Visions of goat intestine floated to my brain, as well as sleeping on the floor with the cockroaches and mosquitoes in a rural orphanage. Then our dalla dalla broke down, was semi-fixed a few minutes later, broke down again, etc. a few times, until we decided it was not worth it, and didn't get back on, and the dalla dalla man got angry with us because he thought we weren't paying, which in the end we didn't because it drove away and we were still standing on the side of the road some distance away from the town center. We found another dalla dalla, but it was so full that it hurt to sit. Mind you, they are always full- this was full even for locals who are used to it. Then part way from the main road to Busewelo, we stopped to let people off, and the broken dalla dalla drove by, also pausing- the angry man saw me, began shouting at us, and evidently tried to convince our new dalla dalla driver to kick us out so we could pay the angry man- I have hadly seen a man so angry in my life! Our new driver seemed to be on our side and didn't give us up to the angry man, so we kept going and arrived in Busewelo. Busewelo is a small place- a village a good distance from the more urban 'suburb' of Nyakato, where we left the main road. We walked a few minutes and arrived at the home of the orphanage volunteers only to find that they were not home. Ruben then spent a few minutes accidentally calling the wrong number to reach them. When we finally did, and began walking back to Busewelo Corner, it got dark quickly, so we found ourselves to be 2 semi-lost Wazungus in the dark nearly getting knocked over by all the bicycles without lights. This was what I would call the climax of the 'oh my goodness I'm not comfortable with this at all' part of the evening which Ruben found amusing- he is never afraid and isn't overly concerned with comfort.

We reached the Corner again eventually, found the shop the girls told us to go to, where their local friend Christina was the shopkeeper. We waited there until they arrived to meet us, and they took us to their orphanage. This is where the adventure turned into enjoyment. We hung out with the kids for about an hour, there was no goat for me to have to watch being killed and then eat, and the kids were so great. They seemed to have much less than at Starehe, were so much more appreciative of visitors, and were just delighted to spend that time with us. That kind of excitement does not exist at Starehe. There was a little Steven, who must have thought that since we shared the same name we should become attached at the hip forever-he clung to my hand the rest of the evening. There was dancing, clapping games, running around, and was a lot of fun. Then I found a kid reading from a Kiswahili bible, and when he finished I began to read outloud, and soon found myself surrounded by kids wanting to listen to me read- I found passages I knew in English and worked out the Kiswahili fairly well (I can read it decently well even though I don't understand much at all). When I tried to stop the kids wouldn't let me. They forced me to keep reading. Again, that kind of hunger I have not encountered elsewhere. The other big deal for me was that the couple who run the place LIVE THERE! I.e. they have a shabby room in the same little building where the kids live. This is a big deal to me- I have thought a lot about what it means to live apart from (and above) or WITH and ALONGSIDE the people you're serving.

Anyways, then the 3 volunteers took Ruben and I to the little restaurant/cafe/bar at the Corner, where we had a drink and enjoyed each other's company for a while. I hadn't eaten yet, so I decided to be brave and try the one thing they were still serving- some kind of meat kebabs of who knows what kind of meat. They ended up being amazing! Then we met Christina again at her shop, sat there for a while hanging out, and then headed back via taxi (much nicer than Ruben and I walking in the dark) to their house. We then had a fun time together, sharing thoughts on the year finished and the one starting, eating popcorn, playing games, 'ringing in' the new year, and staying up late- it was a very fun time and I appreciated being invited to join the three volunteers with Ruben for New Years.

For the night, Ruben and I slept in another house in their compound that is empty at the moment, and very neglected- we found 2 beds out of many more than that which were in working condition and had mosquito nets, and had a few hours of sleep before getting up, having breakfast, and then taking a dalla dalla back (uneventfully) back to town and then me back to Starehe. So, in the end, it was a very enjoyable New Years even though I was quite sceptical at the start with Rubens plans ending us walking in the dark a bit lost and hungry. It all worked out, and the adventure proved a good time! (no, this does not mean I have been full-heartedly won over to the side of care-free adventure- I will always be my Oma's grandson and need coaxing away from my cautious and safety/comfort loving self. )

Happy New Years everyone!!!