Arusha, Sunday, February 12, 2017

John’s birthday!  This is the 5th time he has celebrated a birthday in Tanzania, and at least the 10th in Africa somewhere. The only times he had a cake were the two birthdays he had in Zanzibar, where Fadhila and the little girls insisted I buy one for him—or maybe it was really for the little girls. Today would be another cakeless birthday, but it would still be a special day.

Because it was Sunday, Ray came as usual at 10:00 to take us to church. The service was nothing much of note, but as always, I felt wonderful being with such a variety of people whom I now know as friends. Hearing my name during the announcements was a new experience for me, and I realized how entwined I have become with this group of people.  I will be hosting the women’s Bible study here at Kundayo on Thursday.  Now, we all need to pray hard that the ongoing road construction won’t interfere with access to our road.

After church, John spent most of his time talking to Rogers and discovered that he leads hikes and tours in this area. John hopes to set up a hike for himself to discover what there is near us and then maybe suggest a tour for the Whitworth students when they come in March. I visited with friends and then Elaine,one of the two elderly white women who have returned to Tanzania to live with their children here, motioned for me to sit beside her. She’s the lady I met as we changed planes in Amsterdam, and after she discovered I was from Spokane, we had a real bond because she lived in Bonner’s Ferry for years after she and her husband retired. I cannot imagine how many stories she and Eunie, the other woman, must have of living out in remote areas and raising their families. In both families, the majority of the children have stayed in Tanzania, and the mothers have now returned to live with them.

John and Rogers

Lifetime Tanzanians

When it was time to leave church, John and I decided to go to our favorite eatery, George’s, for more of their salads. They really are a wonderful change from the usual meat stew and rice or kuku na chipsie types of meals we usually have. Plus, the salads are so enormous that we can take half home and have another meal.

The birthday salad

George’s was pretty empty when we arrived, but it soon filled up, and a large group of American youth—18 in all—were seated at a long table to one side of us.  Within less than 5 minutes every one of this group was hunched over a cell phone. I wanted to stand up and get a photo of the group but restrained myself to a shot I could take from my seat. They no doubt had paid a lot of money to come here and instead of paying attention to their surroundings or talking about what they had been seeing or doing, they were engrossed in their individual electronic bubbles. It seemed clear that this wasn’t some sort of volunteer mission group, but beyond that, we couldn’t figure out who they were, and I didn’t want to ask.

Each in her bubble

Once we returned to Kundayo, John took a birthday nap, and the rest of the afternoon and evening passed uneventfully except for a brief and very windy rain shower. It has been thundering from time to time, but no significant rain has fallen for some time now.