Dictionary, Bible and lots of Prayer

These are the three essentials for getting through homestay. For eight nights we stayed in Matula with the Safwa people. It is near the town of Mbeya right at the border with Zambia. It was absolutely beautiful. From my house I saw down in to a valley and looked out on to mountains. I saw a sunrise and sunset everyday.

I suppose you'd like to know a bit about my family. My Baba's name is Isaka. Mama's name is Upendo, but everyone calls her Mama Elebia (the name of her first child). They are both 45 and were married (not arranged) at 19. They have five kids and one grandchild. Elebia is the oldest and she is 25. She has one son Falasi who is five. They were around most of the time. Deudi is 19. He is in Zambia so we didn't meet him. Anastasia is 15 and she helped around the house with everything. Kajuna is 7. He went to school during the day. Karebo is the youngest at 4 years old. He and Falasi played all the time and are so stinkin cute! We always had other random kids at our house too. It took a while for them to not be scared of us wazungu (white people).

The first two days we planted beans which resulted in five blisters on my right hand. At times we also helped in the kitchen which was a small room with a fire and poor ventilation. One day we went to fetch water with Mama. It was about a 20 minute walk involving a steep hill down to the river. We carried a bucket each up the hill. Boy was it rough. Mama naturally had a five gallon bucket on her head with ease. When we got to the top I tried to carry it on my head. It was hard and I don't think she trusted me. We carried it in our hands...for only small periods of time so we didn't get tired. Mama would take it from our hands and carry it. She's superwoman I'm sure.

We did a lot of sitting around and talking. This is where a dictionary is suddenly your bible. Two days we played soccer (wazungu vs. Tanzanians). We went to choir practice twice. Wherever you are, when you see someone, you greet them. To make it more complicated, they greet in their tribal language of Kisafwa. You say "Mwagona" and respond with "Ewane." They also often speak Kisafwa to each other so you don't know what they're saying. They're usually talking about you. If you have low self-esteem, do not go on homestay. They're super nice, but you will be laughed at frequently.

Let's talk food. For breakfast we'd either have boiled potatoes or mandazis and bananas. Mandazis are these donut type things. They are so yummy and bad for you! Breakfast also came with chai which was delicious. Our Mama made it by throwing avocado leaves in the boiling water. Then adding tons of sugar. It was the best part of the day. Every lunch and dinner we had ugali except for having cooking bananas once and rice twice. Ugali is this dense doughy stuff made from water and corn flour only. It is very bland and filling. You roll it in a ball in your hands to eat. We either ate greens, beans or chicken with it. The greens are most often which I wasn't particularly fond of but it grew on me. We once had eggs with ugali which wasn't too bad. Let's just say meals were...predictable.

The first two days were pretty rough. I was on the verge of tears, but not sure why. I think I was uncomfortable mostly. I clung on to 2 Corinthians 12. As we got more comfortable with each other each day it got better. The time we sung together in the house brought us together. I realized I had a wonderful family. The home was full of joy and love. I learned so much. I have tons more stories and wisdom to share when I return.

After our time was over, we headed to Lake Malawi where we'd spend three nights. It was cloudy or rained pretty much the whole time which was unfortunate for being on a beach. I still had a great time relaxing.

The first day, we postponed the canoe trip because of weather. The second morning it was raining when I woke up and there were massive waves. When breakfast came it was no longer raining. We watched the water while we ate. It calmed a bit. Eli then decided we were going to do the canoe trip. It was still cloudy. It was optional but decided to go. About 3/4 of our group went. Let's just say nobody should have gone out.

Before my canoe got pushed out a wave crashed in and got me soaked. The trip was pretty long. It was very choppy weather. A majority of our group either got sick or at least felt nauseous.  As we got close, it began to rain. Everyone came in cold and wet.

We then watched pottery be made and then could purchase. Right after Eli said we had to get back before the weather got worse. It had been raining hard the whole time. I was in the smallest canoe with three other girls. For about 2/3 of the trip back we were pounded by rain while rocking in the waves. There were many time I was sure we were going to tip right over. I felt like we were on some survival show or should be filmed for a movie. We sang hymns in the storm for comfort.

When we had gotten closer to shore we had to wait a bit to figure out how our boat and another (we were the last two) should come in. The waves were not good to ride in on. I ended up moving to another canoe. A few from our boats and previous boats had to jump in and swim in. This water was not particularly safe for swimming back. Eventually my boat kinda crashed in. We had to get out quickly so waves wouldn't take us away. We then had to walk the beach back to the resort. When I got there all wet and cold, Hannah (who had not gone) handed me a warm cup of chai which was wonderful.

So these were just a few of my adventures in the past two weeks. This is my last post in TZ! I may be able to write in Kenya so we'll see. Here's a glimpse of my last two weeks... Wed. the 11th we head to the tea plantation in Mufundi for two nights. Next weekend we will spend cleaning up. Manday the 16th we will head to Dar. The 17th we'll spend on a little island. The 18th we head to Nairobi! I will be back home the 27th! I miss you al!

Let's Go Camping!

So the beginning of this week was spent at the Msosa campsite. It was so relaxing and just wonderful!  We were able to swim in the river nearby which was divine (and brown but that's more fun). Tuesday we went on a long hike up to a waterfall (only about ten foot). It was a great place to swim, relax and eat lunch. The hike was also great exercise. This was probably the most restful trip yet. We also got s'mores! Oh how I'd been craving a toasted marshmallow!

Around the fire at night we began sharing our bio projects. We had to observe an animal, choose a behavior, come up with a hypothesis for it and then create an experiment. They were fun to hear. Around our site were lots of monkeys. They were quite interested in our food! Campsites in Africa are slightly more wild than in the states. Let's just say leaving your tent at night could end poorly :)

Well Sunday we leave for village homestay! I'm a little nervous but I'm hoping for the best. I've heard it's a long drive (8 or so hours). I am doing mine with Megan Earl so that should be fun :) Say some prayers for us. Right after eight nights there we will head to a resort at Lake Malawi! This semester will be over before I know it! Love and miss you all :)

Bethany

Ruaha Round Two!

The beginning of this week we found ourselves in Ruaha National Park again. We stayed at Mwagusi, a fabulous five star lodge. You got served every second and the rooms were just gorgeous. While out on game drives we saw a few new animals- hyena, ostriches and wild dogs! The wild dogs might not sound that exciting but it is actually a huge thing. I could tell from Eli's reaction. They are an endangered species that is so hard to see. This was Eli's first time seeing it and Dr. A has only seen them one other time in Ruaha. This was a big deal and we were lucky to see them. Unfortunately, no leopard sighting. One room did have a leopard run in to the side of their banda in the night and many heard its heavy breathing. When the sun goes down Ruaha gets crazy! It's fun to fall asleep to the yelps of hyenas and monkeys running through the river just outside! And the only thing protecting you is the tent around your bed. The rest of your place is open!

Well nothing else new has really happened. The rest of the semester is quite full. Each week has some trip. Monday we will leave for a two night camping trip. Next Sunday (the 25th) we leave for homestay! Sorry for such a short post! Hope all is well with all my reader! Love and miss each and every one of you :)

Maasai Madness and Minor Surgery

So the one thing that I was freaking out about before leaving has happened. I got a jigger. I was lucky enough to be the first of the trip AND the worst Angie (our nurse) has ever removed (out of over 20). It must have been in there for a decent amount of time. I had the "minor surgery" (as Angie calls it) on Friday, March 2nd. We did it on a mattress out on the grass in the sunshine. Adele played in the background. Amanda held my hand and Chelsey rubbed my back while I leaned on her and Will. Hannah helped Ange and took pictures. It took about an hour. I did not watch it during the procedure so what I am about to tell you is what I was told afterwards and from pictures.

Before she started, Angie told me what had happened and what was about to take place. She said this little bug had hopped in to my toe on my right foot. It anesthesizes your skin before so you don't feel it. Then it lays edds. The black spot I saw was an egg sack. Angie's goal was to remove that without breaking the sack.

Angie then went to work. When she was moving back the skin to get the sack out she noticed how big it was. She decided she needed to break it. She didn't want to cutt off more of my toe just to get it out whole. So she broke the sack, took it out and then had to remove the eggs now in the hole in my toe. When removing the sack, some black liquid oozed out that she still doesn't know what it is.

There were then two "rings" around the sack. The first was like a callus bowl. This is why removing the sack (about first 2/3 of operation) was not too painful. It was not attached to too many nerves. So the first ring was a bit painful causing a few squeezes of Mandy's hand and some "ow"s. The second ring was the worst. This was directly attached to the nerves and tissue in my toe. This involved about 5-10 minutes of awful pain. Imagine an awful shot that doesn't end and ripping a bandaid of all at the same time. I could not hold back tears. In the states they'd probably freeze it but we're in Africa and we feel everything!

After an hour, it was finished. A lot of blood had come out of a teeny toe and now I was left with a large, bright red hole. It went past the transluscent skin so the red and pink tissue is what you see. I set the record for the largest "jigger crater" in Houghton in Tanzania history. Woo hoo! Angie bandaged me up. I clean it everyday. The skin has to grow from the inside out now. It is healing very quickly which I am grateful for!

So before all this jigger nonsense we had our trip to the Maasai. We were there, camping in tents for two nights. I think part of me is still processing all that took place. It was such a drastically different culture to experience. I think it may be my favorite trip so far because of how challenging it was. It was totally new and forced me to learn through provoking questions and thoughts that shook me up. There were parts of the culture that I loved and never want them to lose, but also aspects that just broke me. I won't go in to full detail here, but can when I get home :)

Our schedule there was packed full! When we got there we set up camp in the woods. Some warriors led us out to a field area where we met more Maasai. A girl, Neimbasha, took hold of my hand and stayed with me all night. The guys (with the help from some of us girls) in our group killed a goat and cow. The cow they also skinned and butchered. I did not watch too much of this. The rest of the night consisted of lots of dancing. All the guys got involved and some of the girls were given beads and taken in to dance with the women.

The next morning we went back out to where they keep some cows. The girls were going to milk the cows. Before milking you had to put on the ladies' outfits. I did not get to do this. I just watched. The milk was put in to gords. The cows were not tied up so it was a bit tricky. The milk was then fed to the children in another gord. I was able to do this. I got dressed up in the garb and got a child plopped in my lap.

We then went back out to the cows so the guys could let blood from a cow. They took an arrow to the neck to draw blood, but not kill. The warriors then drank the blood. After, the guys were taught how to start a fire. Then we had some games. There was high jump, long jump, limbo and archery. I was SO proud of our guys in jumping. They really proved themselves. Limbo is not a Maasai thing so Americans could dominate that :)

After that, us ladies were able to have some Q&A time with a couple of Maasai women. This was my favorite part. They were very open and honest. It was fascinating and also heartbreaking. We saw how male dominated a society it was. They all wished they were men because life would be easier. Women do most of the work. They're not friends with their husbands. The relationship was described like that between a strict teacher and student. They all had scars from multiple beatings. These absolutely beautiful women serve their husbands just hoping not to make even the smallest mistake. When they asked us questions I found it difficult to describe our culture. For them, it's all laid out and everything is the same. Our lives are so diverse. We have such immense freedom in deciding what to do with our lives.

Later that afternoon we went and had our faces painted by the warriors. We could then purchase items from the women. It was then a night of dancing. When we went back to camp, it rained. Alot. Many tents flooded so a good chunk of people slept in cars. My tent wasn't too bad so I was in it all night.

The experience is still kind of surreal. You feel like their putting on a show or just doing some fun things with us, but this is their life. Well sorry this was oober long but so much happened! This week is super super busy but Monday we leave for our second trip to Ruaha National Park. It will be a nice break. In about 2 1/2 weeks we'll have village homestay! Love and miss you all!

Bethany

You Eat MORE!

Hello all! This past weekend (Thursday afternoon-sunday morning) we had our town homestay. Hannah and I stayed with a family who actually lived in a village just outside of town. Now don't let that fool you. I'm pretty sure our house was the biggest and nicest in the village. House quality varied throughout. We had to ride with our Mama Christina from town in to the village on a dala-dala (like their busing system in large van type vehicles). Once in the village we got off and walked up to a big gate. My thought was 'oh there must be some houses behind here in a gated community.' Nope. The gate was for their house. All around their house there were gardens that Baba planted. Absolutely beautiful. The house had 3 bedrooms, a living room, dining room, two storage rooms and a garage (Which contained their mitsubishi). The ceilings were all ten foot. The living room had 4 couches and 4 chairs lining the walls. We had a whole entertainment center. Hannah and I shared a bed in a room shared with their "servant girl" Zuwena.

Zuwena did pretty much everything-cleaning, laundry, dishes, cooking. I would say she is around 16. Mama is a receptionist at the Diocese of Ruaha. Baba is a mechanic I believe. There were two sons- Givin (10) and Filipo (8). They both attend school. They have a daughter, Prisca, who is 13 but she was not there as she is away at boarding school. The whole family, except Zuwena, spoke English which was super nice.

One night Baba came in to the living room and told us he was going to check on his small farm (we were unaware of this at the time) and asked if we wanted to come with. We said definitely! So we hopped in his very old but super cool mint green car. The boys also came with us while Mama and Zuwena stayed back making dinner. We drove a little bit to another part of the village. On the way there he stopped the car at a shop and rolled down his window and bought us some bottles of pop. We then got to his farm. He has 3 acres of land with mango, potatoes, maize and beans growing. He also owns 20 goats there! One was just born a few days ago. So cute! It was a lovely farm and he was so proud of it. On the way home we stopped at Mkwawa Magic Site. It was a small zoo in the middle of the village! Totally unexpected. We saw baboons, monkeys, crocodiles, flamingos, pythons, a variety of birds and two ostriches! Behind the zoo they had a playground area, grass area for events and even a huge lounge area. There were little places to hang out, dining area, drink places, music and a river running through. It was so nice and random! I think that was my favorite outing. Baba is so funny :)

We ate SO MUCH. Mama was determined we always needed more. I was never hungry. The food was amazing though! Dinner was always interesting. We ate in the living room because Baba loves the tv. We watched this really strange and poorly made soap opera. At times it was disturbing. At other times it was downright funny. Baba said it was a Kenyan channel.

Well I can go on and on about my host family but that's all I'll say til I get home. We had a great time. This coming Tuesday we are going to spend a few days with the Maasai! I am super excited. Hope all is well wherever life finds you. Love and miss you all!

Bethany

Lions, Giraffes, Hippos oh my!

Hello all!

I'm not gonna do a long post because I have things to do in town, but I will lot you know about our trip to Ruaha National Park! We were there for two nights. We saw giraffes, hippos, elephants, kudu, mongooses, and even LIONS! In one day we saw a total of 19 lions! Our first sighting was of a pride of 10 lions out with some elephants who went to lay down under a tree. Later on our evening game drive (around sunset) we found a group of nine- 4 females and 5 cubs. Boy were the little cubs cute! Eli took our car off rode and drove right up. One of the mamas was about 10 feet from my window. Insane! We're all safe. No worries :)

The first morning there I woke up in my banda to the sound of hippos outside. It was right on the river where a lot are. In the morning they were returning to the river after a night of feasting. What a cool alarm clock that was! I sat on our front porch and watched a beautiful sunrise. I looked across the Great Ruaha River and saw a mother and baby hippo on the grass.

The next morning we had a game drive at 6:30 mainly devoted to birds. It was darker than normal. Hippos are out of the water when the sun is not out. Hippos walk around our bandas at night (Maasai men escort us back after dinner). Therefore this morning was slightly dangerous to be venturing out up to the main dining area. As me and Hannah are walking we see Lisa and Angie (Chaplain and nurse) drive in a car near us and tell us to hop in. They were driving trying to pick up walkers knowing it's more dangerous. We continue driving looking for people. Suddenly we see 5 of the girls booking it for our car. They all cram in to the middle seat breathing quickly. We learn that they were running from a hippo. It came in front of them (about 10 feet from Torie in front) across the path. Let me remind you that hippos are VERY dangerous animals. So they just ran. Luckily it scared the hippo a bit and they made it safely. Glad we were there at the right time! After the adrenaline wore off they could laugh about it.

Well I think that's all I'll share for now. This weekend we have our town homestay so look forward to hearing about that! Love and miss you all!

"If You Wanna Learn About Culture, Don't Ask a Fish"

Well the title is just one of the very funny quotes that get uttered every morning in class. This one is from Dr.A.

Well Sorry I didn't get a post out last week. I'll try to do a run down of some things that have happened here. Since my last post we have been at campus. Classes are going well. We have reading every night and next week we will start running in to our first quizzes and tests! We also have a project for Bio for the semester and a bird journal so all you Houghton students, don't think we're slacking here :) Swahili is still intense but our teacher is awesome and I think we're all learning quickly.

I wanna tell you about my new friend Horatio. He is the parchment spider who has taken up residence in mine and Hannah's banda. He only comes at night and leaves in the morning. He stays on the ceiling and does not bother me (our terms are clear in order to keep the friendship). He just eats bugs all night while I sleep peacefully. He's about 3-4 inches wide and super duper flat. Google one because I can't get my pictures on to the computer right now. I have gotten used to him and sleep just fine. I know. Crazy for me to say! What is Africa doing to me?!

The other day some of us walked to the local village and talked to some people. It was very difficult to communicate but I know this is the best way for us to learn. We also played with kids. They're super fun. We didn't have much to play with but we were creative and figured out how to get them smiling. On our walk back home, a group of boys (ages 5-10?) Walked us about halfway. They were fun to run around with during the long walk. I'll be sure to go back lots more. It's fun to walk around and hear kids yell "Wazungu Wazungu!" ("White people").

Yesterday we went to our first African church. It's a pentecostal church that one of our cooks pastors. It was fun and we were able to sing for them, along with introducing ourselves. The service was two hours long. Afterwards we were outside with some very shy kids. They were a tough crowd to play with! Some of the boys decided to chase some. They made a girl cry. Way to go. Giving white people a good stigma! At least the parents were laughing! They also gave us all bottles of pop which was very sweet.

Once a week we've been having story time with Bwana. We go up to the Knapp's and sing and then hear Dr. A tell some of his life stories. They are so awesome to hear!  What an amazing testimony his life is!

I have been having a blast getting to spend lots of time with the Knapp children, Indigo and Ezra. Such a joy! Indie isn't talking but she's starting to get my name. She's 14 months and has finally started walking on her own!

I think that's all I have for now. Wednesday we leave for Ruaha National Park so hopsfully I'll have lots of stories then! Love and miss you all!

Bethany