Arusha, Thursday, February 23, 2017

How did Thursday arrive so quickly?  For as slow-paced as our live can be here, the passage of time never seems to slow down. Only two more weeks until we’ll have to leave and return to Spokane. I feel like the Pushmi-Pullyu in Dr. Dolittle. If only one could have some form of time and space travel between places; I’d be in Spokane on many weekdays, but always in Arusha on Sunday—or when I wanted to eat out.

I spent the entire day doing absolutely nothing unusual.  How exciting can a 5-gallon bucket of soapy socks be?  John at least did one of his walks to a market to buy us some bananas (I like the Morongoro bananas best.) and eggplant, so I could make Congolese eggplant stew for dinner. I am very grateful for all the culinary survival skills I learned in the Congo, as now those simple recipes form my basic cuisine here. Better yet, John loves these dishes.

Before starting dinner, I went out to visit a bit with Mama Kundayo, who now seems to expect me to always show up when she is sitting outside. This evening, she wasn’t as regally dressed as she often is, but I always love the color and flow of her outfits as well as the style of her headdresses. We discussed my visit to Shanga yesterday and what I liked and did’t like. Beatrice was nearby to help with some translation, but when I got to the glassblowers, she had no idea what I was talking about. I promised to bring my computer with photos the next day. Just at that point, it began to rain, so I ran back to our terrace.

Mama Kundayo looking fine

Noriko passed by during our dinner and said she couldn’t go to church with us this coming Sunday but would be there the next week, our last Sunday at ACC this year. I just received ACC’s annual general meeting minutes and was stunned to read that their attendance has dropped 60% in the last several years. When the UN and the International Criminal Tribunal left Arusha over 5 years ago, that was a big economic and wazungu blow for all Arusha. Since then mission organizations and other NGO programs have been cutting foreign staff, some of whom would have been participants at ACC. I’ve noticed the attrition in the women’s group, but hadn’t paid much attention to the attendance on Sunday, as there are always lots of visitors and wazungu groups passing through who come. I hope that the church can weather the current changes and remain the uniquely diverse group it is.