February 2012
3 posts
And Now, Another Countdown...
Well, it’s a official: we’re wrapping up our last week here in Mbeya. Monday, we head to Dar es Salaam for our flight to London, then Toronto. We’ll take it slow, breaking up the 12 hour drive into two days. We plan to stop by Iringa, where we spent four months in language school. A new batch of Bible translators are there now doing what we did a half a year ago!
And another...
I'm Freaking Out/Let't Make it Official
(If you want to get to the point, just scroll to the bottom.)
I’m turned over and peered at my phone just to check the time before I turned in:
February the first, two thousand and twelve.
01 Feb 12
02/01/2012
However you prefer.
Most of you somewhere in North America were still basking in January. Ah, January, only the first of twelve months. But no, not me, not us. My heart took a...
January 2012
5 posts
The Garden
“There was a house halfway round the world, and I was invited in…”
Patrick Wilson, Big Bird in a Small Cage
We had never been Tanzania, and now, we live;
We had never never learned Swahili, and now, we speak;
We had never pulled a carrot of the ground, and now, we’ve plucked;
He had never eaten a fresh strawberry, and now, he harvests.
3 tags
I Get Paid to Study the Bible.
It is not lost on me what a privilege and joy this is. Especially when all around me, Tanzanian colleagues are pouring the heart and energy into translating the Bible into their mother tongues – for themselves and for their people.
A lot happens when I'm at the office.
TGIF #1
Heading into Friday and it will be my (Toby’s) first complete week of “work.” Counting back since I was a grade four teacher…it’s been a long time. The time has not been wasted though. Through all the school and training I am humbled to finally be sitting at a desk in Mbeya, Tanzania, at the Mbeya-Iringa Cluster Project office of the Uganda Tanzania Branch of SIL. Who...
December 2011
6 posts
So This Is Krismasi
One of the down sides of being a ‘missionary’, they say, is having to say ‘good bye’ to so many, so often. What ‘they’ fail to mention of course, is the upside of meeting, connecting and fellowshipping with so many people you wouldn’t otherwise encounter. For Christmas (or ‘Krismasi’ – Swahili, yes) two friends from language school paid us a...
And We Have Touch Down
It’s been a week since we’ve arrived in Mbeya. And we are so, so, so thankful. Although we’re ‘home’ in terms of place we’re still in search of a ‘home’ as in a house. For now, we have been graciously put up by our friends Camilla and Netta.
Since arriving I (Toby) have already been into the office and oriented to what our work will look like. It...
Time To Go Home.
Early Monday morning we head back west, twelve hours by car, to Mbeya. Home. Finally.
Finally, we get to unpack. (Although we don’t actually have a house yet.)
Finally, we get to cook and plan our own meals. (Yes, this mean we’ll have to clean up after ourselves too.)
Finally, we start working on Bible translation! (Sort of, Toby is starting in the linguistics department.)
Since...
New/News/Letter
We’ve just sent out an ‘official’ newsletter (you know, it’s only only official if it’s a pdf), if you didn’t receive it, and would like to, drop us a line.
November 2011
9 posts
Spot the Visitor?
One of our last visits to the village nearby the campsite :(
This is Mode. | môdē |
Mode. (Modesta.)
Warm. Friendly. Inviting.
We shared lots of time with her during our homestay: cooking, singing and laughing.
Mode is hospitality in the flesh.
3 tags
Homestay: Epilogue
Washing. Cutting. Sweeping. Cleaning. Hoeing. Sowing.
I woke up early Thursday morning to a flurry of activity. I stood there amazed. Early? I was up and about at 6:30…and late. Clearly, everyone had already begun his or her work for some time.
How is this possible, you ask? For the average family unit in Canada – what is it, 3-5 people? – there aren’t even enough people to cover...
WatchHomestay Day 3:
Loretta’s theory that Judah hasn’t had enough furniture to ‘surf’ on has been confirmed. He’s flying around the living room.
Homestay Day 2
Something didn’t agree with my stomach last night. An epic battle ensued. I guess I failed to mention the guava-type fruit that I ate freshly picked off a tree…unwashed. Loretta is convinced that’s the culprit. I was just trying to fit in.
“If your call is bigger than your challenge then you will succeed.”
– Canon Isaac Anguyo during the SIL national conference in Uganda (via thefosters)
October 2011
4 posts
Break and Broken
Our break from language school was an eventful one, to say the least. The plan was to visit Mbeya, where we’ll eventually be stationed to get a lay of the land, visit the office and get to know our colleagues, and begin to look for housing. Oh yeah, and also take a mini ‘break’ at Matema, a small beach town on the northern tip of Lake Malawi, about three hours away. We were told...
Halfway to Somewhere
It’s official. We’ve just completed our eighth week of language learning, the half way mark of our schooling. We have a break next week and we couldn’t be more thankful…and thankful is most appropriate as many of you celebrate Thanksgiving back home in Canada. Have that extra piece of turkey for us!
Our final assignment before the break was to go into town and to...
Safari Njema 1/1
Safari.
For most ‘safari’ means going to see lions and giraffes and such. Though it can and does mean that, ‘safari’ in Swahili means, more generally, a journey, expedition or trip. This past week we had one of our first safari’s as a family. The first leg of the journey was taking an 8hr bus ride back to Dar es Salaam. The second leg was driving back in a car. A car...
September 2011
5 posts
ELEPHANTS, LIONS AND GIRAFFES, OH MY! →
Cooking Tanzanian Style
As part of our language and culture learning, last week we got a chance to our hands dirty in the kitchen. Since we haven’t had much control over what we eat, it was nice to cook again (we can’t complain too much about it though, not having to think of our meals has been good too).
Everything we made, we made from scratch. This included the chicken which arrived alive and kicking....
Pep Talk Time
We’ve hit the language learning wall.
And it hurts.
A lot.
Five hours a day and four weeks in we feel like we’ve had just about enough. The novelty has faded. Our brains have reached their capacity for vocabulary and grammar. Stuff keeps getting poured in but there’s no more room. Worse, what was there seems to be spilling out as well.
To keep going we’ve needed a...
Weekend Randoms 2
Watching Judah learn to walk - and seriously, this is ALL HE WANTS TO DO NOW - offers us a neat picture of our own language learning journey. Having our hand held. Slowly. One step at a time. Hopefully one day we’ll do a happy dance like he does near the end of the video.
Speaking of language learning, FRENCH has been coming out of our mouths lately. Could you believe that? I guess...
Something Special
A few days ago I was walking with Judah. With his hands stretched as high up as possible, grasping tightly onto my hand, we prodded along slowly. As usual, my lower back began aching from the awkward shuffle. He just needs to get a weeeee bit taller.
An idea.
Why don’t we both walk with him, one hand each? My back was going to be very happy. So we each took one of his hands and we walked down...
August 2011
11 posts
WatchA Day in the Life of Judah.
We wanted to show just a few snippets of our ‘normal’ life here at Rivervalley through Judah’s eyes. We’ll be here for three months, which doesn’t seem like a long time, but it’s nice to settle just a little bit. It has been a wonderful experience thus far: the accommodations, the food and the language learning. Be sure to stop by if...
Aneti.
This is Aneti, Judah’s caregiver while we’re in class here at Rivervalley Campsite in Iringa. When we first arrived in Dar for our orientation it wasn’t easy to let others care for Judah. We were in a country we had never visited and handing him over to people we had never met! Still, we did it, and Judah coped even though our schedule was much less regulated and those caring...
Thought our blog was showing up here...
But clearly it wasn’t.
Weekend Randoms
Our home for the next three months above. I feel like I’m living in the woods of Nevada, though I’ve never been. Our American friend, Rachel, agrees, but she’s never been to Nevada either.
YOU ARE HERE dot via Google. Don’t know how much you can see, but there’s a main building where we dine. Our cabin or ‘banda’ is just up the hill. By up the hill I...
We're Here!
River Valley Campsite. We love it already.
4:30 wake up. Check.
Crazy bus loading experience. Check.
Giraffes, baboons, gazelles, and zebras. Check, check, check and check.
More pics to come. Have a great weekend.
T+L
Hello, My Name is...
Last Sunday we attended our first Swahili church service. Afterwards we had lunch in the home of one of the members of the church where we were treated to a delicious meal. It was an opportunity to visit a home of our Tanzanian friends and experience cross-cultural interactions first hands.
Our hosts were Baba and Mama Ima Sylvester. Who, you may ask? In Tanzanian culture it is uncommon to...
A Village Visit
This week we had the privilege of visiting the village of one of our co-workers, Allen Mchaki. We managed to squeeze all twenty-something of us in his home for a delicious meal as well as visit his neighbours and local church. Although it wasn’t far out from Dar es Salaam, it was definitely nice to experience the calm of the gentle breeze and rolling hills.
This is Africa (Too)
What comes to mind when you hear, “Africa.” The Serengeti planes? The Sahara desert? Whatever the image it’s probably not swaying palm trees or white sand beaches. This is probably a testament to both our ignorance (as North Americans) and the vastness of this great continent.
Our world right now is a hotel in Dar es Salaam and just across the way are those very things I never...
July 2011
12 posts
A Sunday Like No Other
A week ago on Sunday July 24th, 2011 we celebrated Judah’s first birthday and our seventh wedding anniversary…and I am humbled. I really don’t know how I got here (I’m not talking about Tanzania). A beautiful wife who loves me and accepts despite the fact that she actually, actually knows me. A healthy oh-so-loveable son…who looks nothing like me, but that’s...
48 Hrs and Counting
Here are some thoughts from Loretta written a couple of days ago…
Habari za leo!
Thank you again for all your continued support, we’re hanging in there! It’s also been (now more than) 48hrs since we arrived and wanted to share some thoughts as well as some praise items with you.
We’re staying at a hotel that has a generator! This is a big deal here in Tanzania, but coming...
Best thing ever. Ever.
It took a week, but Judah slept through the night!
4 tags
Lost and Found.
This morning we had a session on change and transition. It wasn’t until we named all the different things we’re experiencing did I begin to really realize how stressful this is becoming on us and our colleagues. Some of the ‘different’ things include washing and brushing our teeth with bottled water (and being wary of anything consumed that was in contact with tap water),...
3 tags
Friends and Strangers.
We’re in London…well Heathrow, beginning our twelve hour layover. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those who are covering us with your prayers. The flight was good and Judah was able to nap as well as, I think, flirt with the young lady sitting behind us.
Leaving our family at the airport was difficult, to put it mildly. It is ironic perhaps, even as our parents savoured every last...