Tag: Life in Tanzania Page 12 of 26

Untitled Post

On March 22, 2012

I know, it’s been a week since I’ve written. Sorry, I don’t want to make you wait that long. Because I’m afraid you’ll stop coming back.

The car is getting serviced, so we are stuck at home. It’s raining, which allows for blessed breeze. We enjoy it while we can, knowing that as soon as the sun comes out, so will the humidity. Esta and I just finished cleaning the oven. It doesn’t look much different, considering it is 10 years old. But my old lady oven keeps on baking my bread perfectly, so I can’t justify replacing her.

Mama Raymond is here to do the girls’ hair today. Dora is on, Lily is sitting patiently, and Mama Raymond just took a break to pull an enormous breast out of her shirt and feed her baby. No one in this house blinks an eyelash at that.

Pretzel rolls are rising on the counter. Josiah is outside with Paul, our gardener, who is roaring him around the yard in the wheelbarrow in the rain. I just wrote an article for the HOPAC newsletter on how if we want our kids to unplug from media, then maybe we as parents need to do so as well. And now I am on my laptop, blogging. Ha.

I have lots of posts in my head, but they are all frivilous and will probably go in the “Interesting and Amusing in My Daily Life” category. But my camera is broken (a new one is coming) and I am afraid of using Gil’s big ol’ honkin’ one.

Plus, I just don’t feel very frivilous right now. It’s been a hard week.

You know those weeks? It’s not like anything tragic happened; just a whole lot of little sorrows and frustrations and hurts that build up until they spill over all at once and you become a blubbering mess. I think I shocked my poor husband, because I am only very rarely like that.

But this Mommy thing is hard, you know? And you know that it requires sacrifice, but sometimes it seems like you can’t give away anything else. And then you find that you do it anyway. And you are tired of feeling guilty and tired of picking up one more toy and just tired.

And sometimes, I’m tired of Africa too. But here I am.

But today is a new day and God’s grace is always sufficient and Heaven will be much, much better. Pretzel rolls really help too.

Meeting East Again

By Amy Medina

On February 20, 2012

In Other

I guess it’s been the month of Indian experiences for us.

We’ve known Menka and her family since kindergarten, so when she invited us to her Jain Temple for a fund-raising event, we went.

And so we had lots of fun playing carnival games, and Grace and I got our hands painted with henna, and of course the food was fabulous. Which is quite impressive considering that Jains are not only vegetarians but also don’t eat anything that grows under the ground, like onions and garlic and potatoes.

We certainly did garner a lot of attention though….considering that we (or rather I, since Gil is not white) were the only white people there, and our children were the only African people there. Everyone was very kind and welcoming, of course, but I did wonder what exactly went through people’s minds when they saw us that night. 🙂

East and More East

By Amy Medina

On February 1, 2012

In Other

Way back in 2001, when Gil and I first moved to Tanzania, I was teaching at HOPAC full-time, but Gil was helping with an Indian church plant. In Tanzania.

There are actually tens of thousands of Indians in Dar es Salaam, let alone the hundreds of thousands throughout east Africa. Almost all are Muslim or Hindu. And they have lived here for generations, so they are Tanzanian citizens. But still very Indian in culture.

(2002)

Many of these families send their kids to HOPAC.

So in order to help the HOPAC teachers better understand Indian culture (and because I just love it myself!), on Saturday I took a bunch of teachers downtown to teach them a little about it. We visited the mosques and Hindu temples. We listened to some friends who are working in these communities. We had great Indian food. And of course, we went shopping for Indian clothes!

After Africa, India is my favorite culture. So I get the best of both worlds. 🙂

It’s Okay; I Like the Sun After All

By Amy Medina

On December 21, 2011

In Other

Night before last, the thunder woke me up. I kept waiting for the kids to start screaming, but they slept through it. I did not.

Yesterday I had plans. Visit social welfare; take the girls to the salon.

We left the house, and our first stop was to get fuel. Problem #1: No fuel. And we were almost on empty. Went to four gas stations. Nothing.

Uh oh.

I took the girls to a salon near our house instead of the one in town. Decided to go to social welfare the next day. Got home and started to realize how bad the fuel shortage was. Plus, we had no electricity and no fuel for the generator. I found a gas station with fuel and waited in line for 45 minutes. Filled up our car, and our extra tanks for the generator.

Last night, the thunder started again and didn’t stop for something like 9 hours. Now, I was annoyed. Once again we had to scrap our plans for the day.

Then we started hearing. Bridges out. Not just flooded bridges, but washed away bridges. The bridges that connect us to town, actually. After 36 hours with no power, we finally found a friend who just came over and fixed it. Hooray for our friend Hans!

I got online and started to see the pictures.

And I’m sorry for complaining about the sun. And I am ashamed for complaining about my messed-up plans. Because this is what parts of my city looks like right now.

And two more days of rain are forcasted.

Please pray for Dar es Salaam.

Giving Thanks

By Amy Medina

On December 3, 2011

In Other

Our mission team in Tanzania has a tradition to celebrate Thanksgiving together each year. We are all from America, and we are as much family as we’re going to get out here. This year, the Medinas hosted. All 40 of us.

Things that are the same as Thanksgiving in the States:

1. Turkey

2. Pumpkin pie

3. Excessive and absurd amounts of food

4. Lots of laughter and fun

5. Very very grateful hearts

I think that’s where the similarities stop.

Things that are different from Thanksgiving in the States:

1. Finding a turkey was a major undertaking. Finding one that wouldn’t cost $1 per bite was even more of a challenge. But we did it.

2. The pumpkin pie, as well as absolutely everything else on the table, was completely from scratch. Meaning, we cooked down pumpkins for the pies. And dried out bread cubes for stuffing. And peeled real potatoes and mashed them. (Okay, I do know that this does occasionally happen in America as well. Not trying to insult anyone.) I did not do all the cooking. It was a huge potluck, and my part was only baking the rolls and some pies. We have amazing cooks on our mission team….you kind of have to become that way if you want to eat anything more than scrambled eggs in this country.

3. Oh, I was wrong. The cranberry sauce did come from a can. Which someone had brought with them from the States.

4. The fourth Thursday of November is not a holiday in this country. We all had to work, and thus we held our meal on the fourth Saturday of November.

5. The power went out right before the guests arrived. We had been trying to cool down the room by blasting the air conditioning in the living room before they came (which we rarely use), and so we had to turn on the generator to keep it going. The generator did not like all the power we were using, so we had to choose between the air conditioner and the lights. The lights went off.

6. Having 40 people in the house in 90 degree weather, even with the A/C, still caused a profuse amount of sweating. Lots of people ate outside.

7. The marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes were pink. Pink is the primary color of all marshmallows in Tanzania.

8. I used pineapples and bougainvillea as part of my centerpieces.

9. There was no football, no parade, and nothing, nowhere was on sale.

But it still felt like Thanksgiving.

We started at 1:00, but many people stayed until 9, snacking on leftovers and playing games for hours.

There are many things I am thankful for, but this team is a major one. We are all so far from our families, but they fill us up with love and affection. My kids call them all “Aunt” and “Uncle.” They are amazing people with amazing stories and are doing incredible things for God’s kingdom….reaching the very unreached….community development through health care, teaching English, building wells….training Tanzanians to be missionaries….equipping pastors.

My first choice would be to be with my family on Thanksgiving. But this is the next best thing.