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!!