Arusha, Saturday & Sunday, March 4 - 5, 2017

Saturday wasn’t much to write about until evening.  I had invited 8 friends to join us for what I call our “Last Supper,” the final meal we have with friends before we return to Spokane each year. One couple could not come because of scheduling reasons, but I was planning for the 6 who had said they were coming. Because of the limitations of my kitchen, e.g.,only two saucepans and one small skillet, four glasses, etc., I decided to have the Kundayo cook do the meal for us.  I told Mazo that I wanted vegetable curry, a chicken vegetable dish, rice, cooked greens, and a fruit salad.  Mayo decided we should have an avocado salad, too, which was fine with me. Then, at the last minute, three of our guests had unexpected changes in travel plans and had to leave town early, so I was left with only three guests, plus us; five in total.  I was not happy but decided we would just have the best time we could anyway.

At 6:30, our guests arrived: Sharon, Tanzania’s MCC director; Eric Rowberg, the owner of HabariNode, a computer service company; and Eric’s daughter, Nashesha, who was wearing a Roger’s High School T-shirt. They are three of my favorite people. However, I wished Nshesha’s mother had been able to come, as I would like to become better acquainted with her. After some wine and soft drinks, and chips and guacamole on our terrace, we walked over to the garden terrace, where there was a table set up for us with all the dinner service Kundayo could muster. The food was excellent, the conversation very interesting, and I think a very good time was had by all. A small hedgehog even made a quick trip across the garden lawn for us. I especially enjoyed having no clean up and dirty dishes to do.

I was sad when I awoke Sunday morning, as it would be our last Sunday at ACC until next year. So many of the people who attend there have become very good friends, and I miss them when I am back in Spokane. My friend Linda gave the morning message on the three temptations of Jesus, and I thought she did a remarkable job both in content and presentation. It's wonderful to hear so many sane sermons week after week. After the service, I wandered around giving my good-byes and taking a few photos as I always do.

Best dress of the morning

Bridging cultures

Because our friends Linda and Mark couldn’t join us for our Saturday dinner, Linda invited us to dinner at their house on Sunday. She was adamant that we had to come to their house before we left later in the week.  So, after church, we rode with another friend who also had been absent Saturday evening out on Ilboru Road to the old Lutheran mission station, where Linda and Mark live. Linda had invited several of our friends to join us, and also present were three doctors who had just arrived from the States to volunteer at Arusha Lutheran Medical Center for several weeks. Linda is remarkably efficient and whipped out a dinner of roast pork, escalloped potatoes, fresh green beans, cooked carrots, cooked red beets, and a leafy green salad.  For dessert, there was not only the usual fruit salad but also Girl Scout cookies one of the doctors had brought with him. Conversation and festivities did not end until after 3:00. Sharon drove us back to Kundayo just before the Whitworth student group was scheduled to arrive.

Mama Kundayo was out sitting under her tree, so as soon as I divested myself of my Sunday baggage and had a drink of cold water, I joined her. While we waited for the Whitworth group, we caught up on our activities since our last palaver. She was up and down a lot giving orders to the three workers who were trimming the palm trees, bushes, and flowers in her courtyard, a place where I have never ever entered. From what I could see through the open gate, everything looked fine to me, but Mama has more finicky standards than I do. There were a lot of shouted comments, shaking of her head, and heavy sighs.

I wasn’t watching the clock, but sometime around 4:30, a small bus drove in and unloaded the Whitworth group: 16 students, two professors, and a professor’s spouse and two small children. I didn’t ask John what he was thinking but I think he might have been as happy as I to be completely free of any responsibility for this group. Managing a group of students is complex and wearing enough, and I cannot imagine how much that may be further complicated by having a non-teaching spouse with two small children, ages five and three, in the mix as well.
Megan, the lead faculty person, kept coming over to where we were sitting and telling me how very, very happy she was to see me again.

The students were soon moved into the apartments where they will stay until Tuesday morning, when they will be handed over to their host families. We retreated to our terrace, and Megan soon arrived for guacamole and chips before the group’s dinner at 7:00.  John and I were still fairly satiated with Linda’s feast, so we just had some leftovers and ice cream with mangos. The students must have been tired because I heard nothing at all from any of them. The Pentecostals sang and a dog barked, and all was as it should be.