tumaini

A Long Overdue Addition

Beth here.

As many of you know, I have been delayed here in the States since the end of November (when I had planned to return to Mwanza) waiting for some health issues to be resolved. While I am away, Rachelle and Karen are doing an amazing job of assisting Ferdinand and Mama Nestori in the every day running of Tumaini. I am thankful during this time of unexpected delay to be reminded that God knows each need and is indeed interested in all of the details and is providing for the needs (sometimes before we even know what to ask). What a mighty God we serve!

While I am recuperating, I am using my "extra" time to work on Kiswahili - mostly memorizing vocabulary words while I have the chance. It's a "pseudo-language school" of sorts. Thankfully with technology these days (i.e. Dropbox) I am able to assist in some of the paperwork things for Tumaini so that Rachelle and Karen don't have to do ALL of that plus everything else. :-)

One of the things on my to-do list was to update the photo album of the children here on the blog with the five new children who arrived at Tumaini last April. I am so sad to type that date as it confirms that I have indeed delayed almost an entire year in adding our new children to the photo album. Instead of feeling guilty, I'm just glad to get it done!

That being said, please take a look in the photo album at the pictures of our newest children and the information about them that we were provided with upon their arrival at Tumaini. The album is in alphabetical order so here are their names in case you don't want to scroll through all of the photos:

Anthony Mallaba

Jacobo Emmanuel

Joseph Chawanja

Kelvin Tumaini

Neema Furaha

Enjoy meeting our newest little ones - officially now - even if it is almost a year late! ;-) 

Food Donations

A few weeks ago, our local Western grocery store called Dan and let him know there was a pick up available if Tumaini was interested. We were quite intrigued by the offer. The next week when Karen and I went into town, we introduced ourselves to the manager at the grocery store and asked if anything was still available. He called over a worker who then led us over to the buy one, get one section—and then pretty much said, “Have at it.” The store was definitely eager to reduce their sale stash, so they kept piling more and more things into our boxes. We tried to monitor the items they put in, but we did get quite an assortment of interesting items. I think we got about 4 jars of ginger jam. What do you do with ginger jam? I’m googling recipes right now to answer that question. J

 

The food we got is definitely more Western than what the kids are used to eating. We did go through and pick out foods similar to what they eat now. I keep waiting to see their reactions to the canned mixed vegetables—an assortment that included vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, and eggplant. Interesting.

 

What a blessing, though. We didn’t go into the store expecting much, if anything. We came home with 4 boxes overflowing of food goods. And of course it was really fun filling four boxes of free food! Who doesn’t like free?!

Tunamshukuru Mungu

On tuesday evening I was returning to the house from Tumaini, just before the kids got home. As I was walking down the hill I saw a large black snake slithering along the ledge above the garage doors, looking for a way in. Thankfully Dan had had some good screening/netting put over the vents in the garage, which prevented the snake from getting in.

I was also able to get one of the gardeners, who was still working, to come and help kill it. Joseph ran to get a stick from the shed and proceeded to batter the snake

He told us it was one of the biggest ones he had seen -or certainly that he'd
had to kill. There was then much speculation and excitement over the snake once the children returned.

 

Adventures

On Friday afternoon we decided we’d go to visit the village nurse, as she’s recently had a baby. So we braced ourselves for the hot afternoon sun, and the trek up the hill to the main part of Shadi village. Except that we didn’t realise that the nurse has another house, and is currently living there since she’s not working. We had no idea where her other house was, so we decide that since we were in Shadi anyway we’d go to visit another friend, and try to visit the nurse another time.

We walked for about another 10 minutes, to reach the house of mama Naomi, only to find she was also not in. The guy working in the field said she was at her father in law’s house, which since we didn’t know him we thought we’d leave it and visit her another day. (We later heard that someone had phoned mama Naomi and her husband and told them they had visitors –news travels fast round here, and since we’re about the only white people here it wouldn’t be hard for them to guess who it was!)

As we were heading back to Tumaini, we passed the house of another friend and decided to call in since they’d been asking us to come for a while. Their family is so friendly and welcoming and we had a lovely visit.

 

On Sunday afternoon we decided to visit the village nurse with some of our girls –we gave them strict instructions that if they came, they were not to complain about the distance. This was the first time that Rachelle or I had visited Nyakolekwa (another village near Shadi). We had a lovely visit with the nurse and her family, and a cuddle with baby Silvia. Part of our conversation included a discussion as to whether a hot or cold climate was better. The nurse said cold, because at least you can put more layers on, but her husband was adamant that hot was better. They also told us about different parts of Tanzania and how cold some of them were –apparently it makes your teeth chatter… I wonder if we’d agree… They were also telling us how hot Dar-es-Salaam is –that doesn’t bode well for our holiday next week!

 

After visiting mama Nesi we thought we’d call in at one of our cooks houses, since she’s been ill, an unable to work for a while. The girls told us it was very near. After about another 15 -20 minute walk we arrived. She was so pleased to see us, and we got to meet most of her family too. Her youngest son Abeli is nearly 3. Apparently he wants to go to America, but he was rather scared of us ‘wazungu’ (white people)!

 

It was very strange walking through the village in Nyakolekwa –the people really weren’t used to white people and it felt like we were a tourist attraction, with people staring, or yelling things at us, or trying to touch us. On the way home, we were glad that Mama Pendo (the lady we visited) and some of her family escorted us most of the way through the village before returning to her house (she may also have enjoyed showing us off), but it lessened the comments.

 

We made it back in about 30 minutes, but not before we had another invitation to someone’s house (which we unfortunately had to refuse since it was getting late). It was a lovely evening to be out for a walk, with most of the heat gone, and a gentle breeze. 

 

Something to make you laugh

Last Wednesday, just as Rachelle and I were about to head into town, mama Nestori came rushing over;

The bus had been particularly late that morning, and somehow two of our younger ones had slipped back inside their house unnoticed. (Actually one of them in particular is very good at slipping away when he wants to).

They were later discovered, after the bus had left, eating toothpaste!

Mama Nestori went to get them ready for school, since we would be near their school and could take them in.

As we got in the car, one of the children asks (in Swahili) where are we going? …Are we going to Makasudi’s wedding?

Then when we got to school, one of them was very quiet, but the other one was very happy and excited that they’d got a ride in Shangazi’s car!  

Finding Joy

Often when I go on a visit in the village, I’m forced to confront some of my assumptions on life. Suddenly, things that my Western culture tells me are essentials get thrown in my face. Yesterday, I experienced such a visit.

 

When you think of a home, what things are “essentials” on your list? Central A/C? Wifi? Let’s get a bit more basic. How about running water, a working fridge/freezer, and a heating system. Honestly, I’m talking about the absolute bare necessities. How would you feel if your home did not have a door, a roof, or flooring? Could you find joy in your circumstances?

 

Yesterday’s visit was such a helpful reminder that joy is NOT based on circumstances. Joy is based in Christ. I can have joy because of His sacrifice for me. I can find joy in every circumstance, just as Paul did (Phil. 4). Just as my hostess found joy in her home and family, despite her home’s “lack of necessities.”