Safari

When I last blogged we hadn't gone on safari yet.

Let. Me. Tell. You.
It was the experience of a life time.

We saw elephants...

 and baboons....

 and lions (oh my!).

 It was awesome. We got to spend two nights in the Serengeti and saw all the elephants, lions, zebra, hippos, baboons, water buffalo, and wildabeast that you could ever desire to see.

God is awesome, and His creation is overwhelming!

Our Survey of Tanzania, and near death by Dumbo's mother.

Here is the low down of our survey by numbers, just in case you don't want to read the whole post:

• 8- the number of days we were gone on our survey trip.
• 2000 ish- the number of miles we drove, which doesn't seem too bad until you compare it with the next number of...
• 45- our average mph.
• 7- people packed into one land cruiser.
• 2- towns that Brett and I depleted the total number of Diet Pepsis to zero.
• 4- the number of times we had to pull over so Carson could use the little boy's room. 
• 5- different ipods were listened to trying to appease everyone's musical taste.
• 3- the number of times we were charged by an elephant. For real.
• 3- the total number of stars that our 3 hotels would receive in the states when combined. 
• 1- waterfall seen, climbed, and enjoyed. 

For those of you who don't know what this survey thing is, it is an effort of missionaries to look at other areas so that future missionaries coming to said areas aren't coming in blind. Our trip was from Geita to Kigoma and Mpanda, Tanzania. Usually on surveys you try to have some sort of town observation, and interviews with local church leaders or other expatriates if they are available. Since the interns know practically no Swahili, we conducted the town observations and a few of the english interviews. 

Our first stop was Kigoma, which is on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Let me tell you, it was b-e-a-utiful. Incredible. We conducted our survey work, and also got to go to an English Bible study with several missionary families and other aid workers. The since of community was an awesome thing to get to be a part of. Something that I have missed a lot while being here in africa is getting together with a big group of other Christians, so that was very encouraging.

The next day we got back in the car for the trip to Mpanda, where we did another town observation, and we got to meet people who work for SIL, and are working on translating the Bible into local tribal languages. While we were with them we got to eat some incredible Mexican food, but that is besides the point. 

The next day we got up to do some more work, and then that afternoon changed my life.

I am serious.

It was amazing.

Incredible.

Ok, so maybe it didn't actually change my life, but it was pretty stinkin' awesome. 

We went to Katavi National Park which is near Mpanda, and I mean, we lived the Lion King, minus the lions. And to think, we still get to go on Safari in the Serengeti. Is this real life?

 Katavi is known to have some of the best hippo viewing in Africa. They were just everywhere, hanging out in the mud like it was no big deal that a car full of white people was staring at them.

And then the craziest thing happened. We saw elephants all day, usually from far away. They are really cool, and they seem like gentle giants, but let me tell you... They. Are. Not.

 We got charged by a momma elephant.
An angry, large, car-crushing elephant.
I wish I could tell you that we were brave and handled it well. We didn't.
We were scared and putting that Land Cruiser in reverse like there was no tomorrow.
After 20 minutes we were able to drive like the wind away from them, and escape the with the car unharmed.

I mean, AWESOME, right?

The rest of survey went by relatively calm compared to that, but we did get to drive into the Tanzanian country side with no idea on where to go to church, only with the plan of finding a group of believers and worshipping with them. We did find a church to worship with and spend the day with, and it was so encouraging to be able to be a part of their family. We ate some meat that apparently was from the eland animal, which is super illegal to hunt in Tanzania. So awesome, we broke the law. Oops.

The last day of survey we spent at Jakobsen Beach, which was literally the prettiest place I have ever been in my life. We swam, laid out, and spent lots of time together.

With the end of survey comes the end of internship. We have our going away party tomorrow, and then off to Mwanza to go on Safari. Next Wednesday we leave to come home, and on Thursday afternoon I will be back in Edmond.

Our life in Tanzania has been crazy, but we have loved every minute a lot of it. We will be incredibly sad to leave our host families and other teammates here in Geita, but we will never forget it!
So if you have made it to the end of this blog, thank you. I know it was long, but maybe I will have less to tell you about once I get home (doubtful).

Also, Go Teams USA and Tanzania!

Cooking with Mama Merica.

Today we got to go to town and cook a lot of food with a lady named... well, I thought her name was Mama Merica, but then other people called her different things. So, instead I will just refer to her as Mama.

The day started with something that I hope to never experience again.
De-heading fish that are mostly dried but sometimes slimy is gross.
These are degaa heads. Gross. They smell TERRIBLE.

Kelcy was super excited to work with the fish. Not really. At this point, we were a little concerned that our hands would smell like fish for the rest of the day, but then we proceeded to cut sweet potatoes, garlic, and onions, so all of the smells kind of mixed together. 

This lady was awesome. We had no idea what she was saying ever, but she would joke around with us like any body else. It was great.

It was great that the ladies really let us help work with them. Kelcy got to stir... meat? and add all the onions and pepper that we had previously cut.

I am terrible at everything that comes to African cooking, apparently. The way I was supposed to mix the rice and throw it around was tough. Whatever. Haha. 

All in all, it was a great day. We had fun helping, and the attention that 3 mzungu (white people) received in the market was certainly good publicity for her business. 

Tomorrow we leave for our 8 day survey trip to the south of Tanzania. When people say something like "the south of France" you think something really luxurious. Not the case here. 

The trip will be over 15 hours each way, hopefully on a few paved roads. We are looking forward to driving through a national park however, mostly because we have been promised seeing at least a few wild animals. On survey we will be interviewing church leaders and investigating the area so that possible missionaries in the future will have something to take into consideration about the area.

When we get back from survey we will have 3 nights and then head to Mwanza to go on Safari. after safari, we go back home. CRAZY. Home is so close now, but Africa is now so important to us all. Going back will be great, but I am certainly going to miss it here!

All of your prayers would be great, because we will be spending a lot of time traveling these next few weeks!

Crying in an Outhouse: My African Bonding Experience.

Mwakiwasha Village is what you think of when someone says Africa.

I lived with them for a weekend of my life, and during that weekend I experienced a list of emotions that seem so contradictory until you live them. It was awesome, hard, rewarding, lonely, eye opening, and full to the max of rice.

When Brett dropped us off on Friday morning with two water bottles, some kilos of rice, and a mosquito net, we didn't really know what was coming. We knew that we would each live with a different family, and we were to work along side them, eat meals with them, and try to be a part of their lives.

That task wouldn't have been easy in the states, where different family habits might be weird to overcome. In Tanzania, when your new family speaks Swahili, you are even farther separated. You can't adequately explain that you want to help them cook, or figure out how to tell them for the thousandth time that you are fine just sitting on the ground with the kids.

How was I going to relate to a family of 9 that lives in a house smaller than my apartment? Do I try to understand what it feels like to live on a meal of rice every single day? What can I find that we have in common?

Well I can say on this side of the weekend that it was hard. But wonderful. I didn't wear a watch and I tried my hardest to not think about the time that was ticking by ever so slowly.

I loved playing with the children and helping Mama Mateo to do the dishes. I somewhat enjoyed sharing a very small bed with two children every night, and I hated eating rice. I missed being able to speak English to anyone who understood me, and I did in fact tear up in the choo (the Swahili word for bathroom). But then I remembered something incredibly important.

I am in Africa with a family who has welcomed me into their home with open arms. Their hospitality when they had so little showed me how I should act towards others when in comparison I have so much.

And now the part that you have certainly been waiting for, the pictures.

Our life, lately.

Well there is nothing like pig slaughtering to share again, but in the last week:

• we learned about some of the work going on in Geita region that other groups are doing. We went to a place called Nelico, where there is an orphanage and community outreach for things like child labor laws and family planning. Although Nelico isn't a religious organization, they told us how the work of Christians encourages them to keep doing what they are working towards. 
• On Friday the interns went with Alicia Groen to buy fabric and kaangas. Kangaas are a type of wrap around skirt that are a life saver when you are just so tired of wearing skirts. We then took all of our material (a considerable amount when you consider that only four of us were making purchases) to a lady named Suzie who will make them into purses and wallets and things like that. I think she may also be making Bryan a hat, which I am sure we will photograph as soon as possible. 
• Saturday was spent at the gold mine, with the Intern Babysitting night to follow. 
• We went to church with Calvin Groen at a new church plant here in Geita on Sunday. There were only about a dozen Tanzanians there, but their excitement about the forming church is an encouragement to the team here. 
• Monday was the day for our intern team to really get our feet wet and practice our Swahili. We walked into town where we (painfully) tried to order our own meals at a small restaurant, and then headed to the market to buy all of the food we would need to make dinner for ourselves and our missionary hosts. The highlight of the day was riding motorcycle taxis back up the hill to our houses, even though Kelcy and I thought we were for sure lost. Don't worry- we made it back safely, and our chicken tetrazini was delicious. 
• Yesterday was spent in Makiwasha village, where we got to see the church building they are working on, as well as building a stove for our friend Yohanna.

This coming weekend the interns will be split up and we will each be bonding with a family in one of the villages. I think we are all really excited, but I am at least really nervous. 

I know we are all getting to the point where we miss home, so your prayers would be appreciated, and emails with news of our lives back home are also nice to read. We love you guys!

This is the story of a pig.

Imagine the title sang like "(Absolutely) Story of a Girl" by Nine Days.

Or imagine that this blog is titled "Slaughterhouse Five".

Or you can think that this is a sequel to the children's movies about a pig: "Babe III: Babe's Final Hours"

Whatever you chose in the way of naming this post, be warned: these pictures are not to be taken lightly... They may make you nauseous, you may want to call PETA on us. Whatever. We are in Africa. Come get us.

This is the story of Babe the Pig, and the process of us turning her into some tasty ribs and pulled pork.

She just didn't think it was her time to go yet. Our friends with the rope and machete thought differently, however.

If you can't tell, that machete is in the pigs neck. It was quick and painless, I promise.

Moderately terrifying, but Brett handled it like a pro.

Bryan was sure to not lose his head. See what I did there?

 Severine, the pig killer. Yeah, his name is actually Severine.

After we shaved the pig, it was time to get down to business.

 We had to make sure to keep the intestines intact so we could make sausage.

Bry-man cleaning out the future sausage casings.

Kelcy was really enjoying herself, obviously.

 I believe that was a horrible mixture of ground meat and fat that tasted DELICIOUS. This picture was also necessary to show that I didn't just take pictures of the whole process, I actually did some work.

 Shoving ground meat into intestines. YUM.

 One of the finished products.

Very happy and full girls.

The 4th of July didn't have fireworks or a parade, but it was a day of Bocce Ball, Pictionary, and drinking a lot of CocaCola Light. Our Geita team may not live in the US, but we ate tons of meat and spent time together, just like any good Americans would. 

YOGTAOTIA

DISCLAIMER: Because I am doing a class this summer that revolves around my internship, there are going to be a few times that our blog posts are a little less about playing with kids and pythons, and more about issues like poverty mentality and learning Swahili. I totally understand if you want to skip this post and wait for our next blog, which will surely be more interesting. But in case you want to hear about the nitty-gritty of internship, or in case you have plenty of time to read my ramblings, this post is for you.

We are almost to week marker 2 of leaving home for Tanzania. We have seen the city of Mwanza, the town of Geita, even down to the (tiny) village of Makiwasha. Our time has been spent learning about the ministry that the Geita team members are involved in, and trying, often unsuccessfully, to help them in their work. Every other day we have Kiswahili classes, with Bible study and culture lessons on our off days. For those of you who think you don’t know any Swahili at all, you are wrong! Anyone who has seen the Lion King is already a pro. Rafiki (the wise old baboon) means friend, Simba means lion, and Hakuna Matata really does mean “No worries”, although you will seem like an idiot here if you try to use that with native speakers.

One of the classes that I have enjoyed has been culture. One of the first things that Brett said to us in class this week was that “A stranger has big eyes but doesn’t see very far”. As someone who has traveled quite a bit, I like to think that I am somewhat culturally aware. I try to abide by the appropriate dress even though I am getting a little tired of wearing dresses everyday, and I know that you should never just snap pictures of people, especially if they can catch up with you. But I sometimes fear that my “cultural awareness” really does blind me to the people behind that culture. It is easy to come to Tanzania (or Haiti, or Mexico, or wherever else), and see cute kids in rags and people who we assume must need our help because we are the Wazungu (essentially “white people” in Swahili). What I have failed to see for a long time are the people like Yohana, our new friend from Makiwasha. Yohana is a follower of Christ in a world that I would lose sight in. He is a smart and kind man who provides for his family, welcomes guests into his home, and shares the Gospel with his neighbors. He does’t see his relationship with Christ as something for Sunday mornings (which is Africa are more like Sunday marathons), and he doesn’t see himself as poor. He knows that God has blessed him, and because of that, he continues to live his life in the best way he knows possible. I am not going to go on a tangent about what the American church could learn from that, but it is certainly something to keep in mind.

I think I meant for this post to include more about poverty mindset and how I see connections of poverty mentality from here back to Oklahoma City, but that is another post at a different time. For now, I will leave you with a list of some #FirstWorldProblemsInAThirdWorldLife that Kelcy and I have been coming up with the past few nights. (No promise that these are under 140 characters, as well as no promises of them being funny to anyone but us. Also, please note the sarcasm of each of these.)

            -Uhg, I hate having to sleep under a mosquito net every night to prevent me from getting       malaria!

            -Malaria prevention medicine EVERY DAY?  Reeeeeally?

            -That security light outside of our house makes it sooooo hard to go to sleep at night.

            -OMG, is that a Chaco tan line or dirt line?

            -My tanlines are so uneven because of the various clothing regulations of conservative Tanzanians.

            -UHG. This huge portion of rice that they are feeding us that could probably feed a family of four is soooo bland.

             -WHATEVER. This purified drinking water tastes SO BAD. 

I promise the next post will be more fun, maybe about intern games or baby geckos everywhere. For now, remember, YOGTAO TIA- You only go to Africa once, This Is Africa. It's sort of like YOLO, but different.