Meet my Friends

Before coming here, my friend, Phil, who has spent a considerable amount of time in Africa, gave me some great advice, “Get connected to people as soon as you can.” As I look back on the past couple of months, I can see the wisdom in Phil’s advice. Please, allow me to tell you about some of the friends I’ve made here.

1) Mama Naseebo

In a sense, I’ve inherited a friendship with Mama Naseebo. The teachers here before me (now gone) hired Mama Naseebo to help them out with cooking and to provide her with extra income. They developed a close relationship with her that has continued despite their absence. Mama Naseebo always welcomes us into her home. Her presence makes our house a home. We are so lucky to have this woman in our lives!

2) Godlove

Godlove is a student in Form 3 here at Sawala Secondary School. He is a constant example to me of humility, servanthood and joy. Not a day goes by that Godlove does not have a genuine smile on his face. He is always ready to help with whatever is needed - whether that be helping me communicate with a student in Kiswahili, helping fetch water, or delivering a message. The kid has a huge heart; he is truly amazing.

3) Tatu

Tatu is in my Form 1B class. She personifies cheerfulness. This girl has such a hunger to learn! It’s super rewarding to teach her. I’ve written about Tatu before. Both of her parents have passed away and her uncle helping to support her and pay her school fees. It amazes me that in spite of all the hardships she has been through, Tatu displays such a genuine joy.

4) Mama Luce

Even though there are many other dukas (shops) before Mama Luce’s and her duka is the furthest from where we live, I never really mind the walk. Mama Luce is a beautiful, cheerful woman. I look forward to seeing Mama Luce each time I go to buy food at her shop. I am always struck by this woman’s generosity - often she gives me a gift (perhaps a package of biscuits, a soda, bananas etc.) when I come to visit her. Not long after meeting Mama Luce, she pulled me aside and in broken English communicated, “I want very much to learn English.” So this week we have started informal English lessons together. I hope our relationship will continue to grow through this.Mama Luce is a beautiful picture of joy and generosity to me. I am so grateful for then opportunity to know her!

5) Ayoub

I know I’m not supposed to have “favorites” in my class, but I do, and I Ayoub is one of them. Ayoub is short and quiet, thoughtful, very smart and loyal. I love this kid! I have high hopes for him.

It occurred to me today, that adjusting to a new culture is much like falling in love. I’m certainly no expert in the love department (hence my current single status), so take the following comparisons for what they are – simply my thoughts based on my experiences and current paradigm.

When you initially “fall in love” with someone, you think they’re the best thing since sliced bread. The honeymoon phase is euphoric. You think, “Now this is the way life should be.” But inevitably, reality eventually sets in: cracks appear, potential “deal-breakers” emerge, the not-so-great stuff in the other person (and yourself) becomes apparent. Eventually, I think, you get to a point in a relationship where you say start to say “I love you” and really mean it. “I love you” means, “I love you just the way you are – cracks and all. There’s stuff about you that I don’t care for, stuff that I hope will change, but even if this stuff never changes, I love you. I love you for who you are and not for who I think you should be.” And then, maybe, you get married. You make a commitment “for better or worse…”. And there are probably days when you say to yourself, “What the hell was I thinking?” I think/hope there are also days when you are so clearly reminded of why you fell in love with this person and you are filled with gratitude for the treasure you have. Perhaps Sarah Groves says it best in her song Loving a Person: “Loving a person just the way they are, it’s no small thing…it takes some time to see things through.”

So…this is my understanding of falling in love. And as I expressed before, I think it’s one of the best ways to describe what it’s like to adjust to another culture. For me, the honeymoon phase with TZ is over. There’s a lot that I love about this culture, but I can also see the cracks, the not-so-great-stuff. I find myself in a place where I’m trying to adjust my expectations and learn what it means to truly love. It’s a process, that’s for sure.

Picture this: 50 students gathered around a little 8.5 X 11″ laptop computer screen. Many are squished together on chairs, some stand, others sit on tables in the back of the room. Blankets and burlap sacks cover the windows to make it dark in the cement, basement-like school room. Welcome to Sawala Secondary School Cinema! This is Bible Knowledge class. In preparation for Easter, I gave the students an opportunity to watch a segment of the Jesus Film - the crucifixion.

For my students at Sawala Secondary School. I really believe education is the pathway out of poverty for many of them. Pray that they will grow in knowledge as well as in their understanding of the love of Jesus.

Lately, it has been INCREDIBLY difficult to find time to recharge my own batteries. I feel like I’m “on” all of the time, which makes me easily susceptible to burnout and frustration. Please pray that I will find ways to carve out time to simply “be still and know that He is God”.

Just today I ran into Mama Naseebo (a good friend of ours) and she told me that someone broke into her house and stole all of her money. Apparently her husband had given her some money to store away and now it is all gone. Please pray that someway, somehow, this money will be returned to her and that she will know the love of Christ through this experience.

Give Thanks…

Jessica, the other teacher here from America, has been such a supportive, caring friend to me as I adjust to life here in Tanzania. I’m so grateful for her heart and friendship!

I feel like I am growing in my understanding of how to operate as a teacher in this culture. I am enjoying developing deeper relationships with my students.

Today a new teacher has arrived! Ann (from France) served with Village Schools Tanzania this past September-December. She has returned to teach for the next five months. Jess and I have had a fairly heavy work load lately, so Ann is a welcome re-addition to the team.

Disclaimer: I place high value on honesty and authenticity. Because of this, when I write I desire to be real about my joys (there are many) as well as my struggles while living/serving here in Tanzania. Please know that in the grand scheme of things I am happy, healthy and doing just fine — even if the tone of my emails/blog posts are occasionally less than super positive. J

So supposedly there are stages of cultural adjustment:

1. entry/fascination

2. subtle irritation

3. complete frustration

4. coping

5. adjusting

I think over the past few weeks I’ve been vacillating back and forth between stages 2, 3 and occasionally 4.

I used to hold 2^{nd chapter of Acts Christianity up as an ideal (”Everyone lived in wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.”). Now that I’m probably the closest I’ve ever been to a culture where this ideal is practiced, I think it’s a lousy idea. Obviously, Jesus and his followers had no clue about the joys of capitalism! (I’m only ½ joking.)}

The broom I bought has been known to mysteriously disappear. My knife (one of the 3 we have) became incredibly dull after I saw someone use it to repeatedly scrape dried gunk off of their wooden spoon. My umbrella has been missing for days – ever since someone “borrowed” it without asking during the last rainstorm. My basket of 40 markers that I allow students to use for drawing has been dwindling; today I counted 19 markers that remain. I’ve taken to hiding “my” things in “my” room.

On the flip side, however, I am CONSTANTLY welcomed into peoples’ homes, often served some type of food during the course of my visit, and have repeatedly been given unsolicited gifts of fruit and vegetables. This is the culture in which I find myself.

Last week I started an “art/drawing project” at our house for a completely selfish reason: I didn’t want to feel responsible to entertain all of our guests. People flow in and out of our home like a steady, never ending stream. I love that folks feel welcome to visit, but sometimes this makes it difficult to get “down time”. However, closing the door and putting up a “Do Not Disturb” sign would be the unforgivable sin in this culture and making it look like we’re not home is pretty much impossible. Since it is so rare to have an “empty” (i.e. visitorless) house, I went for the next best thing: a basket of markers and pile of paper to occupy our multitude of guests. The result? We now have students asking if they can come to our house during their morning school break to draw. The back of our door displays a collage of completed drawings, as does our living room. (We’re running out of wall space!) In some ways, my plan backfired, but that’s okay. J

The other day one of my students, Ayoub, showed up at our house with a bag. From this bag, he pulled out a BEATIFUL picture of Mary and baby Jesus which he had drawn on an old piece of cardboard. The title read, “Jesus Wis Born”. Jess and I praised his artwork, made a construction paper frame and displayed this drawing in a prominent place in our living room. Today Ayoub returned with another drawing – Jesus with sheep (The Good Shepherd). This piece of artwork is hanging in my room. It is a treasure far greater than any Picaso or Monet.