Final views from Dar

I am amazed at the speed of the internet in the West...my pictures uploaded so fast! It used to take me most of the day at school to get a few pictures uploaded and here I am able to do it in a few minutes...crazy!

Here are the pictures that I tried to upload before I left Dar...enjoy...

From the SELOUS...

The view from our plane looking out over the vast Selous Game Reserve...the scenery was breathtaking.

Alanna and I posing in near the Rufiji River

An elephant by the side of the river

A wild dog...they look just like normal house dogs expect they are very fierce (apparently!) Most of their population live in the Selous. This was the first time I had seen them.

More animal pictures...you can never have enough!

A hippo on the river. There are hundreds of them on the river and this is the closest picture I have ever got of one...just after I took the picture, this one started doing the breast stroke toward us...literally! It was swimming right at our boat, quite fast might I add, and was a little nerve-racking since hippos are HUGE and actally quite dangerous.

Speaking of things charging at us...the very next day while on a game drive, we stopped to watch this herd of elephant in the distance. All of the sudden one of the elephants reared up and started charging at our car, at an alarming rate might I add. Our driver immediately started to drive away but the elephant kept charging. It ended up following us a good distance, even stopping once to regather the herd. It was amazing to see! Our guide said that he had never seen this happen before but he had heard of a herd of elephant that did not like cars...probably because of the poachers. (We did ask after we were far away what would have happened if the car had stalled or got stuck and the response we got was "that would be a big problem"...not too comforting!)

The stunning beauty of a sunset - a good reminder God's love for us!

I like this picture!

Alanna and I on our boat safari

Self-portrait...we are getting quite good at these since there is no one else to take the picture!

On to ZANZIBAR...

We went to Prison Island, which is a small island off the coast that was once used to house slaves, but now is the home to some massive turtles. It also has great snorkling...but it was freezing when we got out!

Another self-portrait

And another...

We decided that we wanted to get henna done so went searching for a place to do it. We stopped at the first sign we saw and decided it would work...little did we know. We picked our designs from a large book and the lady set to work (after going out to buy the henna which should have been our first sign). She started with Alanna and ended up with nothing like the design she had picked and what she had done was not very good. I decided to go ahead and get mine done as well since Alanna had and mine turned out slightly better because we had learned our lesson. We laughed a lot about our "budget" henna and were glad that it started to wash off a few days later.

I love this picture because it not only shows our henna but also shows how tan I am compared to Alanna...it made me feel good!

Final Travels in Tanzania...School is over and Alanna is here…

I was going to add some pictures to go along with this but the internet was really slow so I was not able to...hopefully I will get the posted soon...

School ended with a whirlwind of activity and goodbyes. Melissa left a few days after we finished but then Alanna arrived and so started our 5 weeks of travel! My mind is filled with thoughts of leaving Tanzania but I have not had time to process these thoughts yet, but will pass try to articulate them in a blog in the near future. For now, you can all live vicariously through our travels so far…

After spending a few days here in Dar, we headed to the Selous National Game Reserve. It is about a 30 min flight (on a small puddle jumper plane) and is one of the parks that I have not been to and I heard good things about it. Although it was not the best safari I have been on, we enjoyed ourselves and it was great to get out of the city and away from the business and just relax. I have been on many safaris (at least 15 that I can remember) and I am still amazed and reminded of the beauty of God’s creation. All around were signs of His creativity and His amazing love for us. From the smallest bird to the largest elephant to the most amazing sunsets, God made everything for you and me. It is not possible to go on safari without turning back to God in praise and adoration for all that He has created.

After being back in Dar for only one day, we headed out Zanzibar (a small island off the coast of Tanzania). In my three years here, I have been to Zanzibar many time, but have not made it over there this year and was glad for the chance to make a final trip there. Zanzibar is a beautiful place with a rich history (It was the last place slaves stopped on their way out of East Africa). Zanzibar also has the best beaches I have ever seen! We spent our time relaxing, snorkeling and shopping…nothing better.

We are now headed to Europe (where we will be joined by Daniel) for three more weeks of travels…I will try to update with some pictures of I am able to.

I still cant believe that I am leaving Tanzania tomorrow…

Youth Photo Scavenger Hunt

Last night, for our last youth of the year (sad!), I planned a photo scavenger hunt. The kids were divided up into 7 different teams and each had a list of pictures that they had to take, either at a specific location or doing a certain pose. The kids loved it! I was in a group with the girls from my small group and we had a blast driving around, screaming at the top of our voices (which I am feeling today) and taking creative pictures. We were going to offer 2 different prizes - one for the first team back and one for the most creative pictures/stories. Unfortunately when we got back to the house and we just about to start looking at all the pictures (which is the best part), the power went out! It was so anticlimactic! So we were not able to look at all the pictures, but I think the kids still all enjoyed it and it was a great end to the year.

I am sad to say goodbye to all of these kids, but am excited to take what I have learned here and get plugged in with the youth back at home.

Here are the pictures that my group took with the accompaning stories...I must say that my group definitly would have won the most creative just because of the stories that we were planning on telling...not to mention that Savannah was the story teller and was quite hyper! Mine wont compare to hers, but you will at least get an idea!

Hugging a palm tree...

A family picture...now this is where the story gets interesteing...it had something to do with a scandal with the dad of the family having an affair with one of the children...like I said, we would have won the creative story...Lucy is the baby if you could not tell!

Reenacting a historical/famous event...can you guess what they are going...the Titanic! Which was what spurred the affair story because these 2 are in love in this picture, but in the pervious one Jo is the Dad and Savannah is one of the children.

At the beach, pretending to be sea creatures...we have an octopus, a fish and a dolphin...I am a fish if you could not tell!

Posing for a "glamour shot"...now we got a little creative for this one...we decided to do the jumping pose because my girls did this pose when they had their pictures taken!

Spelling out a word with our bodies...can you read it?? We spelled "elope"...again, not sure how we can up with that word but our story was going to tie it back to the previous photos.

At White Sands (a local hotel), pose of our choice...just trying to do something different!

With an animal of our choice...we chose to do the "thinking man" pose...now this is kind of a funny story. Another one of our clues was to get a picture with a HOPAC teacher so we went to one of the primary teachers house, only to find that she was not there and that another family was staying in the house...they got quite a shock when a group of screaming teens showed up at the door...but we still checked on off the list posing with their dogs!

With a Knight Support Guard (a local security firm)...we are posing as Charlies Angels

At Engen, pretending to pump gas

The whole group in the car...if you look closely my finger is in the corner of the picture (I was trying to drive!)

At school, doing a pyramid

With a HOPAC teacher...we ended up going to Mr. Feather's (our deputy director) house...I think he was teaching us our ABC's in our story...

At a duka (shop) buying fruit...now 2 things are wrong with this picture...one is that we are not really at a duka as they were all closed so we decided to go to "duka la Feather" (we did not break any rules since we did pay for it!). The second is that Lucy is holding a carrot which is not a fruit, but we read the rules wrong!

At Medinas, doing a creative dance...this was our last picture and is a little cut off because another group tried to sabotage our picture and bumped the camera!

We might not have come first, but we had a so much fun taking our pictures and creating stories...so many good memories!

Graduation

Well...not exactly graduation like we Americans think, but today we celebrated the "graduation" of grade 10 students. Before HOPAC expanded to grades 11 and 12, grade 10 was always the end of students schooling at HOPAC so we always held a graduation for them. This tradition has continued on a much smaller scale since grade 10 is no longer the end of HOPAC. However, we do have a number of students who are leaving this year so we wanted to recognize them and to celebrate the completion of their exams. In the upper grades, we do the British ICGSE and A-level courses which all have big exams at the end of them. This year I think the grade 10 took about 25 exams over a period of 5 weeks!

Being the grade 1o homeroom teacher, I got to work with the students to plan their assembly. This also meant that I had a chance to share a challenge with them. I chose to read the Dr. Suess book Oh, The Places You'll Go to them. I then talked about how life is a journey that has ups and downs but that Christ is the one sure thing and challenged them to put their hope in him. The teachers always divide up the students and talk about them during the assembly. We only spent about a minute talking about each student but it was great to hear the memories about each of them and to hear the teachers challenge the students. The students then chose to give a tribute to each of their teachers and it was encouraging to hear them thank the teachers for all that they have done. They all looked great and it was such a good day!


I have enjoyed working with this class so much...never in a million years did I think I would be working with a grade 10 class. I have learned so much from these students and I will miss them all. I started my challenge to them this way "It has taken three years, but I have learned that I like you!" It really has taken three years for me to build relationships with these students and for them to get to the point where they will open up a little more. I think that this year has been my favorite year with this class and I have enjoyed watching them step up to the plate as they prepared for their exams. The class put together a "memory book" for me and it was so encouraging to read the things they wrote to me...things they would never tell me in person, but it is great to see a little of the fruit of my time with them.

Join me in praying for these students as they all enter into the next phase of their life...

Philippians 1:9 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God"

Here are a few pictures from their graduation:

The grade 10 class: Cindy, Faith, Savannah, Madison, Lucy, Elsie, Christina, Hannah, Jenny, Melissa, Val, Isaac, Matthew, Naweed, Benji, Mikko, Woorim, Kasha, Marus, Robert and Boniface

Trying to get them all organized before the graduation!

Speaking to the students

Me and Jenny - one of the students I got to speak about (she is also in my small group)

Some of my girls singing beautifully!

The class gave me some wonderful smelling flowers

and then they gave me a memory book, coffee and a carved box!

Finally...forever friends...Lucy, Madison and Savannah

Community...

Living in Tanzania has redefined my definition of community and helped me value the importance of living in community. As Americans, we tend to be independent and like to do things on our own; Africans (and most of the non-western world), on the other hand, are very dependent on community and those around them. I think we can learn a lot from them.

As Christians, we were created to live in community and the Bible often talks about how we are to encourage and build up those around us. The original church met together in community to worship God and spread the gospel. They did not have fancy church building, but rather met in homes and were a church as the Body of Christ. There are no fancy church buildings here, the church I attend currently meets in a Chinese restaurant (they are moving soon to the old movie theatre), but we have all come together as believers to worship together. Needless to say, my definition of "church" has changed since coming to Tanzania.

I have been so blessed to have been part of several amazing communities of believers. As a school we are a community and we meet weekly to pray for each other. My AIM team has been a family to me and we meet each Sunday night to fellowship and grow together. I will miss each of these communities when I leave, but I know that God has many new communities for me to become a part and I am excited about it.

A few pictures...

My AIM team here in Dar - on Sunday we all headed to the beach for the day as a final event together. Although the group has changed over the last 3 years, these people have been my family while I have been here. They have encouraged me, loved and supported me, answered my random questions about life in Africa and been there for me. Many of us are leaving Tanzania after this year so there will be a new bunch of AIMers coming in next year. Having this community around me has been one of my greatest blessings since being here and I now have lifelong friends around the world.

Several ladies that I meet with for a "book club" and time of fellowship each month. They also happen to all be from my mission and are a great group of women who I have learned a lot from. We have read and discussed a variety of books this year and of course had some great meals!

Just a cute one of Lucy and I

"I live in Africa" moments

I was driving through Kawe the other day and I had one of those “I live in Africa” moments. Now, for those of you who have lived overseas or spent time in another country, you might relate to what I am saying (or maybe it is just me??!). But either way, even after being here for 3 years, I still have those moments when I suddenly realize that I live in Africa.

Let me back up a bit and explain…Kawe is an area of Dar that we often drive through but it is an area that is very “African” – lots of people around, little shops and dukas by the side of the road, daladalas (buses) whizzing past you. I was driving through there the other day by myself and I was listening to my music and enjoying my drive. When I am driving I don’t often get a chance to look around because I am so focused on avoiding a pothole, a person, the random animal or the car in front of me. For some reason, this day the traffic was moving slowly which usually is annoying, but I was enjoying taking in the scenes around me. That’s when it happened…I had an “I live in Africa” moment…now, I am not going crazy and I know that I live in Africa but it sometimes becomes so much a part of my life that I don’t realize that I LIVE IN AFRICA! It is hard to explain but it is at these times that I realize how blessed I am to be here and how happy I am. I realize that I am exactly where God wants me to be right now and that is so exciting. I realize that I love Africa and that it will always hold a special place in my heart.

The moments come fewer and farther between, but they are very humbling and a good reminder of why I am here now. I love waking up in the morning and knowing that I am here for a purpose. As I am preparing to head back to the states in a few short weeks, my mind is filled with thoughts of sadness, fear and excitement. But as all of these thoughts run through my mind, I am reminded of the blessing that I have had of living here for the last 3 years and I know that God has so much more in store for my future which is exciting.

These two quotes come from The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom and sum up whats going through my head now (definitely a book I would recommend)

Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our path, is the perfect preparation for a future only He can see.

There are no “if’s” in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety. Let us pray that we may always know it.

It really is a small world...

When my parents lived in Bangladesh 30 years ago, the only way they could communicate with the world around them was by writing letters which would take many weeks to get to their destination. When my dad asked my mom to marry him, her parents had never met him before and had only saw a picture of him. They first met him 2 months before they got married!

How the times have changed...

Today, I can talk to my family every day (they call through the computer!), I can talk instantly through instant messenger with anyone in the world, I can even listen to the local radio station from home LIVE! Yes, right now I am listening to the WCSG LIVE - I am listening to the same thing that you might be listening to on the radio...I am even listening to the local weather and the traffic report...it is CRAZY!

Technology has really changed the world that we live in and while this change is not always good, I am grateful for the chance I have to be connected to my family and friends...it is definitly a blessing to me and I know my mom likes to talk to me too!

So as sit here and listen to the radio, it makes me miss you all and makes me excited to come home and be able to listen to the radio in my car! The world really is small...

(maybe I should email WCGS and tell them I listen on the internet in Africa...maybe I would make it on the radio!)