Wadudu.

One of the challenges we face everday is keeping the many wadudu (insects) at bay. They get everywhere. There are tiny, little ants that seemingly come from nowhere and there are bigger ants that swarm over your feet when you step outside and have been known to bite. There are mossies and sandflies (who I personally feel have the worst bite) and probably a gazillion others that I haven't mentioned. Today I was about to make some pitta bread (no electricity = no oven or bread maker so I am trying to be a bit creative with my cooking) and was just about to mix the flour and the other ingredients when I noticed this...

What you are seeing (and you will need to look closely) is a very fine sieve after sieving the flour. The darker brown blobs are wadudu a little bit like ants and the stringly like bits are the lavae. GRIM! It did lead me to wondering how often we eat these guys without knowing of their presence... probably best not to think about it too much though!!

Some Christmas Highlights...

This year, we decided that it would be nice to get away over Christmas, so when our friends Tony and Cath who live on the mainland invited us to spend a few days with them, we jumped at the chance (particularly given the lack of electricity here!). We flew to the mainland on 22nd and then headed to their place on Christmas eve. Sadly, Cath had to head back to the UK a couple of days before we arrived, but she had left things extremely well organised and Tony was an excellent host to us. We haven't eaten so well in a long time and enjoyed roast lamb (Rich was a very happy boy!), roast chicken as well as a couple of BBQ's and plenty of bacon! Rich and Tony also managed to fit in a couple of rounds of golf at the local 9 hole golf course while I sat back and read undisturbed :)

Here are a few photo's of our Christmas highlights from this year...
Some visitors from the UK brought out a special Christmas cheese selection which we had been saving to take away with us, however given the lack of power here and the fact that our fridge cannot survive on just a few hours of generator power a day, the cheese started to expire. Here is Rich enjoying this special treat. (How big is his smile?!)


I decided this year that we would have a local style tree decorated in our lounge. This is a Baobab tree which has been made from banana plant leaves. You can see that this year we had lots of parcels arriving before Christmas (unlike last year when they all arived afterwards - African post...) from family and friends. We were blessed with all sorts of exciting bits and pieces, including more chocolate which I am trying to reconstitute in the fridge at the moment!!

One unexpected effect of the power shortage is that the internet has been pretty fast lately (I guess most people have no power to get online) so we have been able to have some good conversations on Skype for a change. This picture is taken during our chat with James, Anna and Will who made us our very own snowman!!

Christmas lunch with all the trimmings!! We had crackers, stuffing, bread sauces, chipolatas, Christmas pud, custard, mince pies, cream, roast potatoes, chicken.... (not necessarily in that order.)

One of Rich's highlights was being able to watch the footie on a decent sofa. Here he is enjoying watching Man U (eventually) thrash Hull City Doesn't he look comfortable?!

This evening we are heading out with our friends to the outdoor food market to see how they celebrate New Years Eve here. Apparently they will have Pashpashi (fireworks I think...) at midnight and if it's like any other celebration here it will be jam-packed with people.

Happy Christmas and New Year to you. I am slightly in awe of just how quickly 2009 has passed and all the incredible things God has done with and for us over the last year. I am excited to see what 2010 brings us!

Rumours and raised hopes.

Almost every day now we hear people talking about when the power is going to come back. On Friday there was talk that it would come back on Friday, on Saturday there was further talk that it would come back over the weekend. We generally pay little attention to these rumours. It is better to expect the worst and then have a nice surprise when the power eventually does come back on. Again today there was another rumour that the power would come on. There was even a time we could expect the miracle – 4pm. We waited, not really expecting anything much to happen. Just as well really because it didn’t... However, half an hour later or so, as I was visiting a friend, the power did indeed return. Hoorah! We got all excited and were saying how thankful we were to God that the power had returned; although I did tell my friend that I still wouldn’t be surprised if the power went out again. Guess what... the power went out again after a measly 10 minutes and we are once again bila ya (without) umeme!

Shopping!

These pictures are taken from a recent shopping expedition. The girls and I were looking to buy a 'buibui' the long black over dress thing that women wear here. Normally, just looking at the women wearing them is enough to cause us to break out in a sweat, but we thought that it would be a good idea to at least try one on and see how it felt to wear it. Plus, we thought it would be a good idea to have one to take home to show all you guys what the local trends are!


Julie was the first to try and she actually did buy this outfit. The women here really love the 'bling' and you can see around the cuffs all the beading and sparkly bits. This is a VERY toned down buibui. They also come with matching headscarfs.

We also tried on a 'ninja' as modelled here by Julie (any captions welcome! Just put them in the comments section. Will publish the best!) These are unbearable to wear in the heat and humidity here. Just 30 seconds is pure torture.

Although I tried this one on, I didn't buy one in the end. Apparently I am too 'bonge' (pronounced bon-gay) which as far as I can work out, translates as chubby - charming! Whatever, one thing I have concluded is that while the local women look stunning most of the time in this gear, the head covering generally just do not flatter white women!

Water

As expected, due to the lack of power on the island there have been massive problems for some people who have been unable to get hold of water as their tanks have dried out and their pumps have been out of action.
Seeing an opportunity to get involved and help out, our team bought a couple of 1,000 litre tanks and put them in the back of a van alongside a long hose and a petrol powered water pump and headed off to the reservoir that is the town's water supply.



At the reservoir - it is underground and you can see all the pipes being used by all the different vehicles that had turned up for water. These included cement mixers, water tankers and other smaller vans and trucks like ours.


Clearly we weren't the only ones with the idea. Many other people were supplying water but charging the equivalent of 50p for a bucket of water.

Filling up the tanks in the back of the van.

Rich operating the water pump and chatting to some of the local children while they waited around to hopefully get some water. One of the hardest parts is when the water runs out and there is nothing to give the people still standing around. There are so many people who need the water and just not enough water to make sure everyone has what they need.

People bring all sorts of containers to collect the water, from big bins to water bottles.

This is a common sight these days as people head out in search of water.

As soon as they see the van, people appear with buckets crowding around to try and get their free water.

Another day, another problem...

It seems like each day we wake up our teram faces a new challenge here on our island. This morning it was the sudden reality of there being no diesel anywhere on the island. We had suspected that we might face this problem soon, what with many petrol stations not having generators to pump what they do have and people using their diesel generators, but not this soon.
For us it is less of a problem as we share a petrol generator and our car runs on petrol. However, our team leader has both diesel car and generator and is into his last stocks of diesel (thankfully he stocked up when the electricity first went out).
However, all is not lost! I remembered a mad-capped scheme that my parents embarked upon a couple of summers ago when my dad found out that it is entirely possible to run a diesel engine on vegetable oil! Believe it or not, they did and it worked! I told this to our team leader and his Dad who both chuckled, but they have been shopping and bought many litres of vegetable oil for the generator.
However, the lack of diesel on the island is not just a problem for us. Apparently the whole public transport system of 'dala dala's' runs on diesel, as do the ferries and all the hotel generators. We have been told that there will be more diesel from Friday... we will see.
It is mind boggling to see how far our reliance on electricity extends and how much the world around us comes to a standstill without it.

Umeme umezimwa!

The elctricity has gone!
Many of you will be aware that our island is currently without electricity due to a problem with the cable between us and the mainland and the fact that there are no available spare sections of cable to repair the problem... you may well ask WHY new cable wasn't ordered when the last spare was used, we certainly are, but here there is often no answer to the 'why?'.
The power went out at around 8.30 am on Thursday morning and we have been advised not to hope for it to return soon.
In the meantime, praise the Lord, we are able to share a generator with our neighbours which allows us to have a couple of hours in the morning and another couple of hours in the evening to keep our fridges going and to keep phones and computers charged.
The biggest problem when there's no power here, is that people are unable to pump water from their wells and into the water tanks. Many people are able to get water from alternative sources such as communal wells, but there are many places in town where there is no other source. We have already been approached by someone important about distributing water in places where there is no alternative water source and if there continues to be no power this is likely to keep us fairly busy for the next few days and weeks.

Our shared generator, for which we are EXTREMELY thankful!

A hard days work...

With the workers at the school due to finish next Friday, the powers that be decided that it would be nice to take them all out on a fun day trip to a nearby sandbank. The powers that be are mostly the men on the team and the whole plan sounded like an elaborate excuse to get a day away from the office and playing at the seaside instead!
From the look of the photo's it seems like everyone had a great time and the day was a huge success.

Rich decided that it was the perfect opportunity to try out his new kite surf board. What better than to attach a rope onto the back of a fast boat and try wakeboarding! This picture was taken around 6.30 am before the workers arrived. Look how incredibly still the water is.

One of the workers about to head off and catch something for lunch.

Man food! Of course there had to be a BBQ! Although most of the workers have spent most of their life on this island, they are unable to swim. We therefore provided them with life jackets which they went on to wear for the whole day.

Another man essential - a football! (complete with the ultimate in football accessories - a life jacket!)

Apparently the guys spent ages just floating around in the water.

Team photo.

Advent

Yesterday, being the first day of December and therefore the first day of advent I got to open my advent calendar! Mum had bought it for me before we came back, but because of the heat here we need to keep it in the fridge to stop the chocolate from melting:)
Rich took a photo to mark the occasion so I thought we would share the moment with you all!

Happy Advent!

Defending the civil engineer

Just wanted to add my defence to the last sentance on the previous entry.

The day of heavy rain came when we had an important visit from the German Embassy in Dar es Salaam to see how we had spent the funding that they had given us. Everything was looking good and clean the computer lab which they had funded was all ready as can be seen from the recent picture below.

The rain started mid morning when our important visit had already taken place but the civil engineer who couldn't go home and sit out the rain had lots of work to do....

It can be seen below that the engineer, here caught on camera, was the one who was in the rain wading through the waters insatalling emergency drainage systems and pumping out the lake of which our island of a school was a temporary resident.

Flood!

After two days or so of continuous, heavy rain, the water spilled over from the flooded road and into our school. These photo's were taken a couple of hours after the sun had come up to dry the land, but you can still get an idea of what the school had looked like during the downpour.

This picture is taken from the road and shows how the water entered the school. Apparently a couple of hours earlier the entire central courtyard area was under water coming in from both behind the school and the road in front. All the pits that have been dug or are being dug for different purposes are now all under water and completely invisible. Hopefully this afternoon the workers will put fences up around these hidden dangers.

The water also made it into the classrooms. Apparently the computer lab was safe from the water, but this classroom which is next to it was almost entirely under water.

These boxes were retrieved from the classroom and are currently drying out in the sun.

Seems to me like we need a civil engineer to come up with some sort of drainage system...

Some reasons why we love our little island.

1. We love our team! They have become our family here and we miss them so much when they are not here! Don't they all look lovely?!

2. Watching the sunset over the sea here is just so incredibly beautiful. (We just have the odd one or two pictures of the sun setting...)

3. Going to Forodhani gardens, an outdoor foodmarket here. The food is great and you can drink sugar cane juice with tangawizi (ginger) and lime. Yummy!

4. The colour and clarity of the sea.

5. EVERYONE is happy to take time to talk here. Particularly when they realise you know their language, they want to know why in the world a mzungu has bothered to learn it.

6. The colours here are so bright and vivid. The sky is so much bluer and the trees are greener; when it comes to clothing or painting a house - anything goes!

7. (This is one for Rich) The lack of health and safety procedures!

8. Learning to kite surf!! Great times:) We have yet to get in the water but even flying the kite is amazing! We had a lesson on a 9 metre kite and now are going to get a bit of practice on our own 12 metre kite (MASSIVE!).

Some reasons why we love England!!

Having had a wonderful couple of weeks back in october, we were reminded of some of the many reasons why we love England!

1. We had great fun visiting family and friends. My one regret is not taking more photo's than I did. In fact this is one of the only ones we have of any of our family. This is Rich with his best friend and nephew Tim and niece Kerenza.



2. The English seaside! We had many walks along the beach in Eastbourne, in all kinds of weather. It is just exhilarating and so beautiful. We also saw filming at the pier which was a little bit of excitement!!

3. Eating chips at the seaside with LOTS of vinegar!!

4. The English countryside, always so beautiful, in Autumn with the leaves changing colour.

5. Wrapping up warmly and going for long walks.

6. Being able to get a decent cup of tea:)

7. Knowing the rules of the road and that (in general) most people do what they are supposed to. (If you disagree, come and visit us and see what you think afterwards!)

8. Sleeping in a cosy duvet, all snuggled up.

9. HOT, POWERFUL showers.

10. Lots of lovely food!!

11. Being able to praise our Lord with LOTS of other people and to spend time with our brothers and sisters in Him.

These are just some of the many reasons why we love to call England HOME!!

A very happy day!

As many of you know, we were recently back in the UK for the wedding of our friends Mike and Mel. We had a brilliant time back in beautiful England and will put some general photo's up in a day or two. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the wedding.


The groom with his boys outside his house before leaving for the church.


Waiting for his bride with only Rich to entertain him in the meantime - you have to feel sorry for the guy! It was nice to be at a wedding ceremony where both the groom and bride get to be present and participate! The last few weddings we have been to, the bride had to wait for it all to happen without her before she was collected by the man who is now her husband!

Afterwards the VERY happy Mike with his beautiful bride Mel and his best man (who remembered the rings and got everyone to church on time!)

Rich enjoyed practising his arty shots on the classic cars.

A well deserved Peroni after the speeches:)

Building Update

I thought it was about time to post an update on how the building work at the school is progressing. The last couple of months have been very exciting as we have seen the roofing nearly completed, walls plastered and painted, floors laid, toilets being installed, wiring being put in... Here are a few recent-ish photo's of how the school is looking these days.

The big red square to the left of the centre, is the gate at the front of the school. To the right are the offices and classrooms and to the left is the workshop area.

Inside our computer lab - This is our most finished classroom as we had to have it finished in order to qualify for the grant for the equipment.

Here Jason is installing all the new computers in the lab. It's so exciting to see how it's all progressing!

Wazazi wa Richardi (Rich's parents)

Just over a month ago Rich's parents arrived on our little island to see just what it is really like here. They were with us for a very busy two weeks as we showed them our home, our work, introduced them to our friends and did most of the touristy things it is possible to do here. The following photo's are a few, selected from many, highlights of our time with Mr and Mrs O Sr.

As you may have already realised from previous blog entries, all guests are put straigt to work on arrival! Here Val is helping Rich to install an African style toilet in the mens bathroom.

Steve next to the installed toilets.

On their first day here we dragged them around town, showing them the warren of little alleyways that makes up Stone Town.

We also felt that they needed to see, smell and just generally experience the meat and fish markets!

We did allow them a short time to relax over lunch at one of our favourite restaurants here - they serve the most amazing fish and passion fruit juice.

A tourist must - the spice tour! You may remember a similar photo not too long ago on this blog. For some reason the tour guides insist on making you wear silly garments made from Banana plant leaves.

Another must is the outdoor food market - Forodhani gardens. here Val and Steve are trying the sugar cane juice. It's actually quite tasty and they usually add ginger and lime to the juice.

The last couple of days of Steve and Val's visit we headed to the mainland for a safari. This also doubled up as a birthday treat for Rich who turned 27 on our first night at the safari lodge. This photo is taken at one of our favourite restaurants in Dar es Salaam. It is an Ethiopian restaurant and the food and the atmosphere are brilliant. You can see that all the food is served on a communal dish and you eat with your (right) hand.

Our acommodation at the safari lodge. It is basically a tent on a platform, but is actually quite luxurious.

Karibu! Our tent

We arrived at this hippo pool just in time to see these elephants turn up and start playing around in the water. We were the only people there and it really was quite amazing to watch.

The last morning of our safari we were told by another driver that there were two lionesses sitting just by the road, having very recently killed a deer or some other unfortunate animal (it was quite difficult to tell). It really was awesome - they were literally less than 5 meters away from the car and just sat there watching us taking photo's of them! I have to confess to being just a little nervous!