Today, I am the student

Hello everyone. I hope you are enjoying our blog. I have come to realize that since I have been in Africa, I believe the Tanzanians have given me more than I have given them. Yes, I have helped raise money and helped provide them with clean water for many years to come. But when I prepared for this trip, I did not realize how much they would teach me. These are my lessons today:

  I have realized that hugging,touching and holding hands is a wonderful way to show love and affection and respect.Tanzanians are extremely affectionate.  Do we hug our children enough? Do we hold hands with our mothers?Our fathers? Our grandparents? 

   The Tanzanian children have NOTHING, but they create games, they make toys out of nothing, they run, and laugh, and run and shout and run some more!  Do our children have imaginations to create fun from a few sticks and rocks? How often do our children get bored when there's no TV, video games or other such stimulation? 

    I have witnessed 3 and 4 year old children hauling huge rocks at our worksite. I have seen young girls carry 5 gallon pails of water on their heads for miles.  They are learning how to help and contribute to their family and village.  How often do our children want something in return for their work? How often do they complain when we ask them to do a few chores? 

   I have seen what some villagers eat. Our daily rations of beans and rice I realized, is actually a treat for them. These people eat to live, where we tend to live to eat!  How often do our families complain if they run out of milk for the day, or they don't get desert, or they have no more ketchup for their French fries! 

   I have listened to some young women talk about how they have worked hard and saved money to help their parents, or to help put their younger siblings through school. I have listened to them talk of what they have given up to care for others in their family. How often do we put ourselves first? How  often do we push our kids out after graduation because we have this crazy idea that they don't need us anymore? Or we put our elders in homes because we don't have time to care for them? 

  One more: The women here respect themselves by covering up, and not showing off their bodies in inappropriate ways. Since women breast feed their children for about two years, you will often see them feeding their babies any time, any where. It is so comforting to know that women here can be free to do what God has created them to do; feed their young.  Isn't is ironic how we at home, do not always dress respectfully, and we sometimes show off our bodies more than we should, but when it comes to feeding our babies, we are embarrassed, we are ridiculed, and we are taught to hide ourselves in public?

OK, so I could go on, but I 'll close by saying that we need to be careful that we do not make assumptions about what we could do to help and teach others. We may very well become the students, with many things to learn. And today, I am grateful to be the student. Take care everyone and God bless, Roxanne (sorry it's so long but lots of emotions and thoughts go through my head here!!!!)

Life as it is

We have all seen the World Vision commercials on T.V. showing the poorest of the poor and images of crying children in despair. In my time in Africa so far I have not witnessed the stereotypical children that they have portrayed to audiences. A few days ago a part time worker at the compound named Veronica allowed us to see into her family's life. She was left by her husband with four children ages 16, 13, 10 and 1 &1/2 whom she lives with in her mud brick house. Within this house there is a single bed in which they all share, there food is kept in the same room so that it does not get stolen. Each day Veronica walks one hour to work and back and than she picks up her bucket from home and walks half an hour to fetch murky water from a hole in the ground. Some days she makes this trip twice, each time asking for aid to lift the bucket onto her head as one of her hands doesn't work properly. Although she is struggling and is on a list to receive a monthly ten pound bag of corn flour and doesn't have two fully functional hands, she raises her four children and she is happy. She is happy for what she does have, even if to use it seems like little to nothing. I see our daily waste, like a lid bringing joy to a small child he uses it as a toy he can run around with, the plastic bags we use everyday that you throw out constantly being used as a soccer ball bringing hours of fun to the many children living here. Even though they doo not have games systems or fancy toys they are happy because they have each other and value even the simplest things life has to offer us.

A visit to the brothers of charity

Yesterday we went to the compound of the brothers of charity. We brought them some clothing and five 100pound sacks of rice. The Brothers of Charity care for mentally and physically disabled men and boys. These people have been abandoned due to their disabilities. The brothers care for them as best as is possible. I was reminded of Faith and Light back home. When we arrived our group was a little shy but one man, his name is Joseph grabbed and held my hand as we toured the compound. When we arrived at their dormitories we saw many disabled people. After handing out some candy we were treated to many songs including Frere Jaques. It was incredibly sad to see so many suffering, and knowing that there are others without the comfort of the brothers of charity.

Today we returned to the village to paint the cisterns. After we finished Jamie and I played soccer with the kids. I suspect that a few of the children were playing hooky. I taught a group to play hop-scotch and to count to ten in English. Playing with the kids is one of the most rewarding parts of the trip. Found a scorpion today. And I carried a hedgehog, he was much friendlier and gregarious than Hobbes. Bishop arrives in Dar tomorrow and will arrive at the compound Saturday. We pray for his safe travels.

I am starting to hear the odd longing for ice cream from the group; but the food I miss the most is hot wings. Call me crazy!

Roxanne's thoughts

Our daily drive out to the village of Chihoni, Nala has been one of my highlights. We sit in the back of what looks like an army truck, so we have a clear view of our surroundings. The African life is SO different than ours in many many ways. In the capital city of Dodoma, people set up small spaces where they sell anything they can; bananas, nuts, sandals, sweet potatoes, clothes, sugar cane, lentils, etc. We also see several motorcycle repair shops. (I have never seen so many bikes in my life!)
Sometimes we feel like we are in a parade, as many people wave at us, especially the crowds of small children.
It is truly amazing how the children will find anything to use as a toy; a plastic bottle, a tire tube, a cap from a spray can, etc. When you see this, you realize how spoiled and materialistic many of us have become at home. When I look in their eyes though, I see something I do not often see at home. These kids spend the majority of their time together, and they are really happy. They play together, and create games together, and I wonder sometimes whose children really have it better!??!!
As we leave the city and head out to the country, I notice things are a bit different. The busyness decreases. I see some families who can afford it, with concrete brick houses and metal roof tops. Most in our village have traditional mud houses. From what I can see, most of their time is spent hauling water, laundry, cooking, tending to children, and the few cows or goats they may have.
It is insanely dry here, so there is a cloud of dust wherever you go. Tanzania gets 4 months of rain and 8 months where it is completely dry. Not much grows here right now, but the rains will come in December.
When we get to the village, many of the women are very willing to help us mix and carry cement. Father Tim says when they work alongside us they take much more ownership of the well project, and take pride in it. So we have been encouraged to let them work as much as they want so it is seen as more their  project than ours. Today we finished up the holding tanks and cleaned up the worksite for the Bishop's visit on Sunday. More about this later! Until next time, Roxanne

Deanna's message

The water coming out of the ground last week, establishing that the windmill worked was cool. The villagers rushed with their buckets to collect it and stayed up all night, not wasting a drop. This was not the true miracle or pinnacle, that occurred before we got here.
  Another village was designated to us who were desperate for water. They had three dry holes drilled. The mission was forced to pass by them and try at Nala. The first three holes drilled in Nala were also dry. It was this hole, the fourth that finally struck water. I would have loved to be there at that moment. The rest now is just work and we are just finishing up painting the holding tanks and filling in a trench. I cannot help but feel remorse for the village that had to be passed over.

The Village Of Hope - Morning visit

This morning we visited The Village Of Hope, this place is incredible! It started as a place for children with aids to die in loving arms and now its been blessed with the medicine that treats aids and runs as an orphanage, school both primary and secondary and a place were babies can be born without aids.

Quiet weekend

It's been a quiet weekend. We head back out to the well to finish it up tomorrow. On Saturday we went to the market in Dodoma and some of the girls bought kangas. The Kamloops group arrived and Bro arrived from Dar yesterday. Today was an admin day for fr Tim so we didn't go to the well but delivered some cornmeal to those in need; seniors without a family. Oh yeah, Vanessa, Danica and Katelynne made a cake... And it was excellent! It's late here. Blog more soon.