Steve's in Africa... You should pray!

Can it really be over?

2008-05-23T03:41:00.004-04:00

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

2008-05-11T13:09:00.004-04:00

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

2008-04-09T09:31:00.004-04:00

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...

2008-03-31T09:02:00.002-04:00

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

2008-03-18T14:22:00.003-04:00

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...

2008-03-15T02:20:00.003-04:00

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

2008-03-10T03:53:00.002-04:00

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...

2008-03-03T12:56:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-02-25T01:20:00.002-05:00

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?

2008-02-18T02:56:00.004-05:00

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???

2008-02-10T10:13:00.000-05:00

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...

2008-01-31T03:26:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-21T04:52:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-01T03:47:00.001-05:00

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!!!

More Christmas News

2007-12-28T12:40:00.000-05:00

So I wanted to update you all also on the other Christmas celebrations I have had. First of all, the day of Christmas Eve- I had a great relaxing morning, making crepes with syrup and nutella and singing along to the entire double C.D. of Handel's Messiah for fun. After an afternoon with the kids, I spent an enjoyable Christmas Eve by myself at my house, listening to music, baking Oma's christmas cookies which turned out really well, chatting with my mom on the phone, and then with friends on msn- so I wasn't even really alone, which was great. Christmas Day I went to Starehe for the morning, stopped at Mama Sophia's for an hour hanging out with her family, then headed through the downpour to Trent and Rhonda's house in town, where the Lipinskis (and Rhonda's parents who are here) were joined also by Simon and Greta. We had a crazy good turkey dinner (I contributed a tomato salad) followed by dessert (I contibuted my Oma's christmas cookies that I baked...) and a gift exchange (I got some Kenyan coffee and a couple of mugs, which will be very useful, and I gave 3 wooden carved candlesticks that I got from the market in town). We all enjoyed it a lot! Finally, today I went out to the farm with Simon and Greta, and had some fun time with the Starehe boys there (they are the exiles- living there because of behavioural issues for a few months now), singing some Christmas carols, reading scripture, learning spoons, (oh- side note, not sure if I mentioned it yet, but I've introduced the game 'spoons' to Tanzanian children- it is wonderful:) and eating some more of my cookies. It was so good to see them, and I hope to make it out to the farm more often in the new year.
Anyways, that's the summary of my christmas events. I had a great time, and have lots to be thankful for- God is good. I hope everyone at home had a good Christmas too. Blessings to everyone who is reading this!

Christmas with the kids...

2007-12-23T09:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with the kids at Starehe.

It involved some singing, (Silent Night and O Come All Ye Faithful, both 1st verses in English and Kiswahili) reading cards people sent for the kids, some Bible reading from Luke by Rhonda and some from Isaiah from my bible study by Robert and Steven, a song by the mamas (which was fabulous- they can ALL sing!!), and then a big chicken, rice and beans dinner which was amazing, followed by soda, and then gift bags for everyone. It was a great afternoon, everything worked smoothly, and the kids enjoyed it a lot, especially the chicken. :) The Lipinskis, Rhonda's parents, Simon and Greta and I will celebrate together on Christmas Day, and I'm bringing my attempt at recreating Oma's Christmas cookies. Hopefully they will turn out!

Steve the cook? You must mean someone else...

2007-12-17T15:47:00.001-05:00

I know you are all wondering why this entry begins with a picture of food. Maybe you think Steve is showing a meal someone cooked for him, or a fun time at a restaurant in town. But no... this is much better...

So this evening I used my last piece of precious chicken. As I think I've mentioned already, meat is expensive and often sketchy. So, this was the one piece I had frozen from the bag of chicken Patti and I bought over a month ago. I decided to use Patti's recipe for butter chicken that I think she found online. I proceeded to cook it- a bit sceptical of whether or not I could recreate that experiment. Remember, for those of you who at this point are forgetting, (or for those who don't know me well enough to know) I am not a cook. I am a beginner, barely knowing anything about it. So then I finished the butter chicken, and finished the rice, and put it together and began to eat. At the time I was talking with my friend Laura on msn. I suddenly interrupted the flow of the conversation and began expressing wonder and amazement. I had managed to produce the most amazing meal! It was just incredible! Such flavour! I couldn't get over it. I mean, if my Omas produced something this good it would be no big deal, they routinely cook amazing dinners. But how long has it been since I've had Oma's cooking?? And this is ME we are talking about. So I had to apologize to Laura, because of the abrupt tangent that captured my attention. I told her some things just become very worthy of celebration over here. My butter chicken is clearly one of those things.

So, mock Steve's lack of cooking skills no longer- he has managed to produce a truly excellent meal. (not that this means I have become an expert- don't take this to mean I'm bragging about having become a chef- I still know very little, including how in the world this meal turned out so well :) So, hopefully much more food-related learning and goodness to come...

Steve's Reading List...

2007-12-10T02:47:00.001-05:00

So since I knew I'd be living by myself for most of the year, I brought with me some friends for company... i.e. half my library. (well, for those of you who know just how big my library is, it really isn't anywhere close to half- but still a good number of books) So I thought I'd do a bit of book reviewing to tell you what I've been reading and do a few recommendations while I'm at it. I've really had some good stuff to read.

The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky- 19th Century Russian novel, about a guy that is in a way Dostoevsky's vision of someone as close to Jesus as it gets, who is considered an innocent idiot by everyone else and who just doesn't fit into wealthy Russian society of the time- stirs up some interesting ideas of society's reaction to a Jesus-figure. Long and slow, but really great character development.

The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis- a collection of letters written by a experienced demon to his demon nephew about how to ensnare a young man. Very witty and at the same time convicting.

Cross-Cultural Servanthood, by Duane Elmer- this book focuses a lot on what it means to be humbly learning and not having superiority when working in a different culture- very key for me here, and dealing with some of the things I feel are not very well done by missionaries working here making it hard for me to figure out what it means for me.

The New Friars, by Scott Bessenecker- Wow. This book talks about young people moving into slums and garbage dump communities in major poor-country cities to be an incarnation of the Gospel to the poorest and most desperate people, and traces their radical lifestyles to historic monastic/missions movements in the church. I've had to question my own unwillingness to give up comforts here and how separate my life in Mwanza is from the most desperate... what will it look like for Jesus to change me into someone willing to go into the garbage dumps to be with people there??? And can he accomplish such an impossible task given how selfish I still am even though it looks like I've given up a lot to come here to Mwanza to hang out with the kids at Starehe? I really recommend this one.

The Bible Jesus Read, by Philip Yancey- An overview of his understanding of why it is good to read the Old Testiment... making some insights into how much there is for us to relate with in the wide range of people's experiences with God.

Reading the Bible with the Damned, by Bob Ekblad- Wow. I've finally finished this one. It is one of the most life-stirring Gospel-revealing books I've encountered. It is all about seeing the Bible through the eyes of God's liberating of the outcasts of today who are usually ignored and who are the very ones most needing to meet a God who specifically reaches out to them. So good!

Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller- I was sceptical of this one, because it seemed like such a fad-book, but it is really good. It is a collections of rambling, on all sorts of topics, and very honest and revealing, i.e. very much something that I like and can relate to. He has a lot of really interesting insights in how his journey has been and where it is going, and usually doesn't end up giving some new fad party line like I expected it to.

Race Against Time, by Stephen Lewis- Also an amazing book. Lewis writes so compellingly about AIDS, about crisis and life in Africa, and the response of the West/the UN/etc. And where the world could be heading if people were willing to care deeply. Not a book that will change everything and fix all the problems, but great to open people's eyes to see what's been going on in the world.

1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus, by Charles Mann- I read bits of this for my cultural-historical geography class at WLU (a course I loved while not enjoying the not-nice professor) Its title is clear, and it goes into the richness of civilization in the americas before the Wazungu came (some things apply so well both to my present home in Tanzania and back home...) It especially highlights the scope of the disastrous spread of disease that came with Europeans that he argues was the main reason for the weakness of Native cultures to resist the dirty hairy Europeans who came. Very well written.

Many more books to come from the Library of Steve, especially some African novels I've picked up lately and some of the history I brought with me from home. Hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been reading, since reading is what I do mostly when I sit by myself most nights and enjoy the quiet restful time.

Wow!

2007-12-09T07:24:00.000-05:00

So now that I've done a few of the basic general description blog entries, and more will continue to come, I'll mix in a bit of where I'm at now, not just generally what I'm doing or where I am.
Mostly I've been doing very well, enjoying life here, loving my work with the kids. The biggest factor to my being able to say that I'm doing well is that much to my surprise, God has proven himself to be near enough to me that I'm not overcome with being alone and away from everyone back home. I miss everyone, of course, but God is showing me that I can function without the tangible support structures of home, because He is enough. I actually feel like He's enough, not just knowing in my head that He should be. And my response to that- is wow! He can do pretty amazing things if He can bring me to Africa for 10 months and guide me in not being anxious or lonely. The better you know me the more you realize how amazing it really is- if how I'm doing would be still dependent on how many long conversations I participate in over coffee sharing life, making decisions, figuring stuff out, etc., I'd be completely starved right now- but the great thing is He can change people in ways that would seem to be impossible. Bwana asifiwe is what I have to say to that. (praise the Lord!)

Some recent examples of Him showing up in unexpected places to encourage and teach me....
Tini has been encouraging me to 'get out' and participate in what little social life there is in Mwanza among the NGO/volunteer type crowd (it really isn't a big crowd) of young people. As a result, I stumbled upon a young English-speaking Christian med school student who asked me the 2nd time we met if I was interested in studying the bible with him and a few others. I had to laugh- of course I'd want to do that, and I figured it would not happen while I was away for the year. Also, an elderly couple named Simon and Greta are at Starehe for a few months until January, and I get the privilege of praying with them (communal prayer has been really absent despite my attempts to suggest more) almost every day!! Finally, one of the kids who has spent most of the time I've been around at Starehe seeing me as his enemy for whatever reason, has suddenly decided to begin to look pleased when I smile toward him, and showed up 2 times in a row to bible study now that the rest of the older boys are home from school and not just the Standard 7 grads. What's going on? Some things have really discouraged me the past few weeks, and then God goes and dumps at least 3 huge blessings that I didn't dream could happen, leaving me wide-eyed and stunned, muttering Bwana asifiwe all the time because I can't get over it all. So exclaim Bwana asifiwe along with me and spread the word- He's not kidding when He says that nothing's impossible with God and that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. Amen!

So, to continue describing things...

2007-11-29T13:53:00.001-05:00

So before I went to Dar I had started the catching up on showing stuff about regular life here, beginning with my house. Here is stage 2. These are pictures of my immediate environment outside of my house. Nyanza Glass compound has maybe 25 houses, all pretty much the same as mine but mostly in much worse condition inhabited by what I would call middle class families who have nicer houses than average but are not fully removed from any other neighbourhood, with mostly outdoor cooking and lots of chickens and the occasional cow. They are either on the long winding road that leads from the main road (which heads straight into town) or on a little offshoot from it- and the winding road winds up a bit of a hill. 'Village life' begins at the back fence of the compound, with paths leading up into the hills which are very much still rural.

There is a nursery school across from my house, full of cute and funny little children, none of whom have anything to do with Starehe or my work. The kids make lots of noise around 8am when they are waiting to be let into class. If I happen to be up and out of the house by then (a very rare thing) they run up to touch me, grab my hand, and giggle a lot.

Most days when it is sunny, which is most days, I am involved in a game of hide-and-seek with this lizard. He has become my friend. He's always 'hiding' (he isn't very good at it- I find him nearly every day) and I always do the seeking. He likes the sunny places on the trees, always the same few trees, so my job isn't hard. I say hi to him/her and am on my way. I need a name for the lizard so I can stop saying hello to the generic name 'lizard' (mjuisi in kiswahili) or 'little friend' (rafiki kidogo). So you should all hold a meeting and decide on a nice name for him.

This is the field in front of my house- my house is the right one on the picture, and the school is somewhere to the left across the field.

There is a gatehouse where there is almost always a gateman/guard whose primary job as far as I'm concerned is to say hello to me whenever I leave or return- always in Kiswahili, and often with something beyond the typical 'habari' just to make sure I'm on my toes and still learning... There are 2 men, they have shifts it seems.

My road comes into the main road almost right at the corner where the Nyegezi road heads out from the main road, almost making a 4 way intersection but not quite. There are shops on the side of the Nyegezi road, from the corner all the way to Starehe pretty much. My side of the road, the side where my road is on and where Starehe is on, across from the shops, is just a dirt path including random garbage dump area and silly large advertisement for a cellphone company. One of the shops half way there (it is a short distance) is Mama Sophia's shop (her house is behind it) and this is Mama Sophia, my friend and surrogate mother who makes darn sure I'm keeping myself fed and who thinks I've never recovered properly from malaria because I've lost weight... She's the closest thing to an Oma I have here, both fussing about my eating habits and feeding me excellent food on occasion, and also worrying always if her food will taste good when everyone knows how wonderful it always is. While I'm on the topic of Mama Sophia, she has a son who has become my friend- he has a good job in the mines somewhere and comes home for a few days a month, and speaks english well but with a heavy accent. He has insisted that I visit whenever he comes back, and makes his mom and sister feed us (which is excellent, but a bit chauvinistic, which is completely natural in the culture.) His name is Nubi. He really likes televangelists, his job and ugali, and is about 40- Mama Sophia is around 60 and her mom who lives with her and only speaks Kisukuma is said to be over 100. Who knows...

Kahawa

2007-11-28T14:49:00.000-05:00

So Kahawa is the Kiswahili word for coffee. I may have written that already on another post. Anyways, I came across this picture in Bagamoyo and had to laugh- some things don't change.

Speaking of coffee, when I was in Dar I had a macchiato with mocha cake worthy of Waterloo's Symposium. It was a beautiful moment! (and alas it did not last- Mwanza has no such luxuries) I even managed to find extra dark Lindor in Dar, and true to Stevian fashion I managed to bring them home to Mwanza and donated them to the cause of Tini's birthday party where Tini and the other guests got to enjoy a little bit of chocolate goodness. What excitement! Almost too much to handle. Now that fancy drinks and lindor are gone, I'm back to my normal (but still quite excellent) Magic Bean coffee from near Mt. Kilimanjaro that I get to enjoy nearly every morning.

My Safari to Dar

2007-11-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! There are many things I want to catch you up on now that I have better internet connection, but I figure I'll first do anything that comes up as it comes up. So I got to spend a long weekend having a little safari (safari=Kiswahili for journey, regardless of where to and if there are big scary animals to see) to the big city of Dar es Salaam. Dar is the main city of Tanzania, on the coast, no longer officially the capital but still functioning as the place where almost everything important is based/done. It has a few million people, so it's pretty big- and my city Mwanza is the next biggest with only some hundreds of thousands of people- like the difference between Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo, but with much greater distance between and with KW looking much worse and with much less going for it. :) I went to Dar to visit Len and Marilyn Mittelstaedt, a missionary couple I met first in Mwanza 2 years ago, their family and mine go way back. While there I got to see the city and have fun/relax. While there, I got to see the downtown, which is pretty impressive and big (very impressive compared to Mwanza's downtown), go to the National Museum, visit the wood carvers at the Mwenge Carver's Village (where you can actually watch people carve all the wooden carvings you see in tourist shops across the country- but here you can get very nice ones direct from the source, and with good prices given my increasingly bold bargaining), check out the University of Dar es Salaam, meet some students and hang out with them, see the Kaole ruins including a 13th/14th century mosque, and visit Bagamoyo, a sleepy old historic town that has almost no importance anymore but still has old buildings like the fort the Germans built at the end of the 1800s. (i.e. history-buff heaven...) And of course relaxing and enjoyin the company of my friends Len and Marilyn and go to church where they are pastoring now. All in all, I had an amazing time... but I was glad to leave the heat and get back to Mwanza where it isn't nearly as hot, although still much hotter than Canada where I hear it is snowing. :( Stephen is sad to be missing the snow.

Pictures of my house!

2007-11-19T03:48:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited right now! I figured out how to put pictures on my blog! Now you can all SEE how I'm doing IN ADDITION to my ramblings! Wow! So anyways, it takes a long time (and eats up my uploading budget for the broadband connection) so I will pick a few at a time to send, and eventually you'll have a more whole picture of what my life here looks like. So to start with, here's my house- House #8 of Nyanza Glass compound, Nyegezi (outside of Mwanza).
Here is my living room, complete with (very old) lazyboy chair and couch, candles for when the power goes out (fairly often) and my computer. This is where I spend most of my time at home, sitting and enjoying music, reading and coffee on my chair.
I have beautiful flowers growing outside- Harry and Elaine Mueller who are volunteers that often come for 1/2 a year for the last 5 years or so are not here now, but they have made the place look very nice.
And, here is my bedroom, with my bed covered by my mosquito net to keep me from getting bitten by malaria-infested mosquitoes. If they do bite me, it won't be while I'm sleeping!
So, I hope you enjoyed the little slide show- more to come later.

A typical week in the life of Steve

2007-11-19T02:48:00.000-05:00

Wow- how lucky all of you readers are these days! 3 blog messages in a row, and more coming! Steve must be on a role- and maybe very excited about his new internet situation. J

First an untypical tidbit of life taking place outside in my yard this morning as I write- 2 roosters are having it out with each other, and one is definitely winning- lots of noise and random roosters running across the yard. Too funny! (at least 2 of my neighbours have chickens running around, but I’ve never seen a chicken war until today…)

Now to my main purpose for this morning- to answer the request of a few of you for a description of what a typical day or week looks like. Excuse my ramblings- this one is going to be long. J

On the typical day I wake up between 7 and 8, and get up around 8ish. I shower, which is worth mentioning because I almost always have wonderfully hot water with good pressure for which I am forever thankful for! I prepare my cup of coffee (the wonderful Magic Bean brand from Moshi, near Mt. Kilimanjaro- excellent coffee! It comes in classic, gold and continental, of which ‘continental’ is my favourite. I can buy this coffee at the U-Turn grocery store in town. A quick note on coffee- if you ask an innocent Tanzanian who knows no English for coffee, you will get a nasty surprise- a slap in the face- either it means I want a slap in the face, or is rude enough to warrant it- instead you should ask for kahawa). Sorry, I told you I’d go into tangents- you may worry it isn’t really me writing if I didn’t. I have a little French press to make my coffee, and it is pretty decent- a gift from Paul Poole-thanks Paul! I sit on my 1980’s lazyboy chair and put on some mellow morning tunes and enjoy a few minutes of relaxation. Sometimes I eat breakfast too, either cereal that’s way too expensive from the grocery store or some toasted bread with margarine, and sometimes fruit like banana or pineapple. Then I head out at 9 or 9:30. Most days I head to Starehe and spend the whole day there, minus a 1 or 1 ½ hour lunch break, until 6 or 6:30. I do bible study and/or highschool prep with the Standard 7 grads (5 boys, 3 of which will go to highschool in January) in the morning. At lunch I go home, eat leftovers, bread, beans, cucumber salad, soup, eggs or grilled cheese (i.e. 1 or 2 of the above, not all of those every day…J) In the afternoon I do some prep for the various study sessions, play with the little kids, hang out with the older ones, and from 4-5 do homework/study time with the kids who go to the Isamilo International School, the expensive British-system private school that a few lucky ones get to have support to go to. There are 11 of them in total, and usually Tini and I both help them, with other volunteers/staff helping the other kids who go to different schools. On the way home I often stop by at Mama Sophia’s to say hi, show her I’m still alive and pick up some veggies (onions, tomatoes, green peppers, spinach). Once home, I rest for a bit and then cook myself supper (unless there are other volunteers around in which case we take turns) and eat it, usually by 7:30 or 8. Then I sit and read, play Risk or Age of Empires on my computer, listen to music, pray, sing, etc. until going to bed at around 10:30-11:00. The 2 exceptions to this day are the weekend and the 2 mornings I have off. On Saturdays I help make sure chores are done at Starehe in the morning, give piano lessons with Steven and Paul Oscar, and hang out, and in the afternoon I go to KVCC the church in town where the 13 and up kids go for activities/sports/hanging out for the afternoon. Sundays I go to KVCC every other Sunday for church, and stay at Starehe the other Sundays, setting up sound and sometimes playing keyboard for the service a bit. Sometimes I’ve gone out to lunch with the Poseins Sundays in town, or I stay at Starehe and eat with the kids. Mornings off usually involve either a whole morning of wonderful resting, reading, singing, praying and now internet, or going to town via dalla dalla to pick up groceries from the U-Turn or the big market, and anything else I need to get or do. So that’s my typical day/week. My rambling is done for now. J Hope you enjoyed it.

My Birthday... and the Mwanza Charity Ball

2007-11-18T08:33:00.001-05:00

So as some of you might know, yesterday was my birthday. My first birthday celebrated away from Kitchener/Waterloo... So I thought I should tell you about my day. I got breakfast made for me by other volunteers. It comprised of french toast with syrup, eggs, and BACON, as well as apple juice and excellent Tanzanian coffee. (do you notice that my beloved OJ is missing from the list? That's because there is no such thing as decent OJ in Mwanza... :( but the rest was absolutely amazing, so I really can't complain at all...) I hung out with the little kids doing chores at Starehe all morning. Then I took a dalla dalla to Mkuyuni, the next suburb on the way to town, which has more stuff than Nyegezi. I hadn't stopped here yet. I found a great little fruit and veggies market with better prices than in town, and bought a black belt for 4000 shillings... i.e. $4. I needed it for the big evening. In the afternoon Tini helped me iron my suit (the suit that I had made for me in town from a very nice and skilled local tailor who somehow managed to produce a really good western-style suit for really cheap) and my white shirt, so along with borrowed shoes I was ready to go for the Grand Mwanza Charity Ball in the evening. It just so happened that the ball fell on the night of my birthday. It is an annual charity event where all the big-wigs (i.e. mostly all the Wazungus of Mwanza with a few non-wazungus)spend their money for orphanages and schools, including the one I'm at. Tini and I went together and met up with a few of her friends from town. There was a nice dinner, a live band playing, dancing, and a good chance to meet people who are also staying in Mwanza like me. I made a couple of friends. There was an incident with a drunken young woman trying to throw herself on me to induce me to get drunk on konyagi (the local liquer) which she had had much too much of already, and I guess I was looking like I needed to lose my innocence or something- very strange. Anyways, it was all in all a great day( minus the drunk girl). I also got calls from familyand a few cards/emails within a week of my birthday which I really appreciated. A bit more excitement in a day than I'm used to having... hahah.

I'm Still Alive!!

2007-11-15T15:28:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone,
This message has 1 main purpose: it is to tell you all that I am still alive, despite the rumours likely going around resulting in my being out of commission (i.e. not heard from) for 2 months. Internet woes and malaria, but much more internet woes as malaria only lasted a week, kept me from communicating with you all, for which I'm very sorry. But, there is good news. I now have highspeed internet connection at my house! Hence the resurgence on the blog which will begin as of now. :) So, look forward to many more blog entries, as I have many planned during the time of silence that I can now write in the next few weeks. Yay!

some Tanzanian humour...

2007-09-06T15:12:00.000-04:00

Things are going well here. There have been lots of good times already, including a good dose of humour. A few weeks ago when I was in town with Ron, one of the directors, trying to get internet from Africa online, I heard some funny things. First, he told me on the way in that he calls Africa Online “Africa Offline” because they are more ‘off’ than ‘on’. Then, when we got in, he informed the employee who came to help us that he wanted internet service for me, but that he had heard from many people that AO was unreliable and too expensive. The man looked at him in shock… but then they were both laughing. To top it off, Ron told the man that he had to tell us the real price, not the white person price, when the man told us how expensive it would be. Another time we were getting ready to leave a restaurant and the waitress asked Ron if he needed anything else- he told her he really didn’t need anything else- not even the bill. She laughed. So anyways, I’m having lots of fun here. The people are easy-going and like to laugh about things, and I’m starting to learn their (and Ron’s) sense of humour. Maybe one day I’ll even learn my first Kiswahili joke.

Life

2007-08-30T13:17:00.000-04:00

So I just thought I'd give a few tidbits of info about life here. I live in Nyegezi, a village/suburb/extension of Mwanza city, at the Nyanza glass compound, which is like a little neighbourhood/subdivision with maybe 20 houses. I now live not at the main guest house with the other volunteers but at the 2nd house rented by Starehe Children's Home where long-time semi-permanent volunteers Harry and Elaine live when they are here. I'm slowly eating less food from the U-Turn grocery store and more from locals here in Nyegezi- a small shop sells flour, rice (with the occasional small pebble mixed in), sugar, etc. and Mama Sophia, my new friend/surrogate mother who sells me wonderful veggies at cheap prices and shows me how to cook them. She is very concerned that I learn how to cook properly, and will have taught me a lot by the time I get home. I spend most of my time at the orphanage, and am just now working out what my regular schedule will be like.

I'm in Mwanza!

2007-08-14T12:43:00.000-04:00

So I have arrived. I am now in Mwanza, and loving it.
It is so good to be back.
We are safe, having a good time, needing prayer, and loving spending time with the kids.
I hope everyone at home is doing well too!

map showing Steve's house and the orphanage in Mwanza

2007-08-03T19:47:00.000-04:00

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=-2.583132,32.92212&spn=0.005241,0.009978&t=k&z=17&om=1&msid=112180900996484320311.000436d43d27b96ceff29

Steve's Random Question for Week 1

2007-08-03T19:27:00.001-04:00

Are you praying a)that Steve returns safely to Canada (like my Mom), b)that the Lord sends lions to Steve so He can shut their mouths (like Richard), c)that I don't come back (like Johnny Clem), d)without ceasing, i.e. 24/7 (like my Oma), or e)not at all... (shame on you...) ???

First Post

2007-08-03T13:19:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone, this is my blog.
I'm pretty excited... it is my first time having my own blog.
You should all be excited with me.
Thanks for checking out my blog.
:)