I'm now in the sixth week of my stay and it's been a busy two weeks so here's a quick update!
Last Saturday the weather finally permitted us to start clearing the plot where the church is constructing its new building. At the moment the kindergarten is being used on a Sunday but, for the church to grow and function properly, a building is needed. Steve and Gill won't be out here forever and they need it to be separate from WWT. So early on the Saturday morning we made our way down to the plot and started clearing by picking up rubbish, stones, raking the cut grass, trimming trees and burning the grass and branches collected. As most people living nearby don't have bins they tend to use unused plots as their rubbish tips leaving the plot with an interesting collection of toothbrushes, shoes, smashed plates, endless plastic bags, bits of roofs and windows and even a pair of pants which I had the pleasure of binning.
Since it's been strange weather recently, acting more like the rainy season in April and not the summer it's supposed to be, we hadn't been able to get this done as obviously the grass needs to be dry in order to burn it. In the end it only took 3 hours as three others from the church were working as well. Although it was sweaty work I actually really enjoyed helping out and seeing another part of what Steve and Gill do.
Thankfully it was dry last Thursday so we were also able to get to the kids club in the city as hadn't been able to go for a few weeks because of the rain. They were all very happy to see Steve and Gill and had obviously missed it for those weeks.
At the kindergarten on Tuesday, it was the parents meeting where they have the opportunity to come into the day care centre and see how their children are being taught and what they are learning. Gill started doing this a few years ago when they were losing kids from WWT from parents pulling them out and putting them into school early. This was because the parents thought it was a strange way of teaching and thought that a school would push them more. However when the parents were invited in to witness this learning style, they were able to see how successful it is and much more interactive than a teacher lecturing from the front of a classroom. It is fairly normal for teachers to use sticks to enforce lessons in Tanzania. And since then I think it's been a success, the parents really seemed to enjoy it and obviously the kids loved it!
After kindergarten on the Tuesday, I went with Gill to do some shopping for the food packages for families who cannot support themselves. Gill and Steve help support two families, Aziza and her two boys and Bibi Joyce and two grandchildren.Aziza is too ill to work and Bibi Joyce too is too old, so every two months, a food package is put together for them. they are given enough food to last for two months and the parcel consists of the necessities plus a few extras. Sadly most Tanzanians have to live on less than $1 a day and the food packages given work out at $2 dollars a day between the three people in each family but it gets them by. Here's a list of the contents:
- 30kg of rice
- 10kg of beans
- 25 kg of maize flour
- Box of biscuits
- 10kg of sugar
- Soap
- 10 litres cooking oil
- Toothpaste
- Bag of sweets
- Salt
- Dried milk
- Coffee
- Jam
- Tea
- Baby cream
- Blue band margarine
- Peanut butter
- Money for fresh veg
Here's a picture of Gill shopping, as you can see it's a bit different from buying in bulk back home! Below is a picture of one of Bibi Joyce's grandchildren Katherine taking home some of the food and I can tell you, that journey wasn't too pleasant! When we helped take the food down to Bibi Joyce's house, the path was infested with red ants and boy do they sting! So I can completely sympathise with Ella and Sam in Zambia, they're small but nasty!
Apart from all this, it's been the normal routine of helping out in the kindergarten and kids clubs and with whatever else comes up. I'm still enjoying my time here and still being challenged daily so thank you to all of you for your thoughts and ongoing prayers. Things to pray for would again be the langauge as it's one of the biggest challenges and that I will be able to build relationships with the people around me despite this! Also prayers for energy and encouragement for Steve and Gill in all the work that they do and that I might be able to help them in this work wherever I can.
It's funny but being away from everything I know and feeling quite isolated from most of the people around me here has left me feeling vulnerable and I've been questioning whether I know who I really am. It's a typical and sometimes cringy question I know but I didn't take a gap year to 'find myself', I went to find more of myself in God through serving Him. And of course, He doesn't disappoint. Here's His answer through Peter Maiden's book 'Discipleship Matters':
"So who am I? It is so critical as Christian disciples that our identity is not found in our position, our work, achievements or in anything other than the fact that we are sons and daughters of God. That's a title that can never be bettered or lost! And this realisation brings incredible freedom. You no longer have to do things to prove yourself, to make a name for yourself. You are now fully free to serve God and his people. The need to be self-serving is gone."
I thought I would share that with you all as I don't think it ever hurts to be reminded of the incredible gifts we have been given, I know I needed to hear it!
I hope you have all had a great couple of weeks and enjoyed your pancakes (some of them looked divine) and thank you for all your continued support and prayers, they make a big difference to me.
TTFN,
Lottie xx