I like bananas, I think that mangoes are sweet

As we approached one of the few "stands" at the market (meaning the produce was on a shelf-like structure and not laid on the ground) last Thursday I looked over the cucumbers, lime-type fruits, and aha! There they were. MANGOES. Tiny little green things that look nothing like any mango I'd seen before but they had the tell-tale swoopy lip at the top. "How much?" I asked the young boy standing there. After a short English/Swahili conversation we walked away 13 cents poorer but two mangoes richer each! They were hard, but I placed mine on our kitchen counter with a great hope and excitement! I had heard only good things about Tanzanian mangoes and had been waiting for them to show up at the market. Yesterday I declared one of them ripe enough and YUM! Well, a new sort of yum. They're sweet...ish. They've got an interesting zing to them. Apparently it's just the beginning of the mango season. Ahh I hope it lasts for the next 7 months.

Yesterday at the end of preschool Kezia, Anika, and I took the kids on a walk to buy bananas from the ladies who sit outside of the ADRA gate, on the other side of the compound we live on. They were so well behaved! These kids love bananas. They love any food! I'm not sure if their bellies are ever full. Buying bananas is something that us volunteers do more than once a week. It's such a normal thing for us and so special for the children! They don't get to see very much. I love when they are given new experiences, like going to the local supermarket/restaurant for chips and Fanta.

Lazaro getting the last bit of Fanta that the straw couldn't reach (and taking it very seriously).

Two weeks ago we found out that one of the older girls from downstairs is 6 months older than what we've thought for the yearish that she's been here. A man who we believe to be her father came by to visit and told us this new information. It's not too surprising, she's big! But what's sad about it is how developmentally behind she is in comparison to the children that we now know are younger than her. She does not respond to much in preschool; not the music, hardly the coloring, and rarely with any books. I can tell that something is off with her...but I don't know what. I've asked a few of the other volunteers to look for signs of delay and they've seen it too. But still, we don't know what it is. Another thing is that she is a follower so if Musa is running around during song time and is getting attention for it, she will do it too. So she often ends up with her nose in the naughty corner missing out on games and puzzles. I don't know what to do! If any of you readers have suggestions, words of wisdom, or stories of experience that would be wonderful.

Anyways, it's time for this fruit lovin (especially for so cheap) girl to get under the mosquito net and catch some zzzz's. :) Usiku mwema!

Side Effects

One of my favorite things about being in Tanzania and working with Cradle of Love is that every time I step out onto our porch that overlooks the area where the children play I am greeted with, "DAHYA! DAHYA!" which is not a Swahili word, nope. It's little Jackson, Lazaro, Musa, Nina, and Anya yelling my name. I'm struggling now, as I have been so much lately, with putting how this makes me feel to words. These children are so adorable. But really what it is, is that they are mine. They are my children (along with all the other volunteers past and present and nannies) for the 9 months I am here and forever more. Because I don't get to spend a TON of time with the babies downstairs it is so meaningful that these children KNOW me! True, it is mostly my precious preschoolers that call for me but even still, we're lucky if we spend a full hour and a half together during school. Ahh my cup runneth over!

In other news...Safari was INCREDIBLE! It was quite the last minute decision for Anika, Kezia, Alison, and me but we embraced it with backpacks packed and our caps donned! Not really. But it's fun to imagine us looking so silly. Friday morning we ventured to Terengeri National Park. Mom, there were tons of baobabs!! You would love it. We saw zebras galore, impalas, wildebeest, warthogs, giraffes, elephants, ostriches, gazelles, babboons, and lions! The highlight of Friday was the lions. We sat around watching them lay under a tree for a while wondering if we would see some action with the nearby zebras. Apparently it wasn't their time to hunt...it was mating time! Our guide knew that if we waited long enough we would at least see them get up and move around. We did see that...and more!

See Mom! Baobabs! The elephants rip the bark off at the bottom for food.

Elephants kulala.

On Saturday we woke up early to a wonderful breakfast of toast, crepe-like pancakes, papaya, tea, and coffee. After eating way too much, we were off to see Ngorongoro Crater! On the drive there we watched the sunrise. It was breathtaking. We saw a lot of the same animals at the crater but it was such a different landscape. A few new animals we saw were hippos, rhinos, and those birds that sit on hippos...herons I think? Lions came right up to our car on Saturday, it was great. I also got quite a bit of naptime in the afternoon while we drove around looking for more animals. :)

Sunday we went to Lake Manyara. I loved it. Lake Manyara is HUGE!! It's 127 square miles. It felt like we were oceanside and made me miss home. The air was cool and sea(ish)water scented. We got to see giraffes a lot closer and more birds. Oh! We also saw flamingoes!!! They were far away though. After a warm lunch back at our campsite we were headed home. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive back. I finally felt like I was seeing Africa. Watching the Maasai women walking a worn path across the African land with their empty water buckets in tow was one of my favorite sites. We had a few hours of driving which allowed me some time for much needed reflection. Again, Safari was incredible.

Us with our wonderful guide, Goody, overlooking the crater floor.

So, side effects. After getting all checked out by my doctor back home before heading here I was given a prescription for 9 months worth of Lariam, an anti-malarial. I started taking the pill a week or two before I left and didn't really experience any side effects. Since being here I have had some RIDICULOUS things happen, which I think are related to the drug. The first one was the "Lariam dreams". I had these incredibly vivid dreams of tarantulas crawling across my neck, my head covered in boils, and Anika and I flying through the sky hand in hand. The tarantula one was so bad that I jumped out of bed and kind of stamped in a circle trying to flick the imaginary spider off the back of my neck. Thankfully my roommate was on a camping trip for the weekend so I didn't disturb her. The next night when she was back I was awakened by the light coming from the object in my hand and my roommate talking to me. When I became fully aware I found myself at the foot of my bed, holding my flashlight, shining it under the covers looking for bugs. Goodness!! So the next side effect I've experienced happened two nights ago. I had an awfully fitful sleep because every way I tried to lay was uncomfortable. Each muscle in my body was sore! My wrists, neck, shoulders, legs, everything! And then today, while cleaning up my room I noticed that my hands started feeling funny. It was sort of like I'd been on a super long hike and all the blood had drained to my finger tips. Yep, swollen hands is another side effect. And the last side effect that Danielle has experienced goes to.....pins and needles! Yeah, now, as I'm writing this, my fingers are going bezerkos. It feels like they are "waking up" from "being asleep" and it's taking all day. I can just imagine waking up in the middle of the night tonight and feel like I'm rolling around in prickly little pins. Oh I think I've had enough of this drug! I'm nervous that the side effects will get more serious and more serious leading to the major ones like paranoia, depression, and hair loss!! Maybe it's better to just get malaria once and not have to deal with all this crazy, I really don't know.

Well....this sure has been a long winded blog post. I've enjoyed writing it though! I think I might be getting into the hang of blogging. Comment it up, write me, skype me, I miss home! I'd love to hear how each and every one of you is doing. :) And share more funny stories about the babies. Love you all. :)

Oh, and one more thing that deserves to be blogged about (as said by Shae): only in Africa would the one time you need to check the toilet (after use) for wiggly creatures would the power be out, causing you to go to the restroom with a headlamp. Sorry if that's too gross, but we found it amusing!

Writing at last...

Okay okay oookay. Here I am, blogging at last. You know, I really just need to claim this blog as my own. I think it would make blogging a bit more comfortable. In any case, here goes an update on things going on in Eastern Africa! :)

Preschool has gotten a ton better! It's so much fun. We've got our routine down and the kids have started chiming in now and then during song time making it less of Danielle's solo time. Last week I found a recipe for finger paint that Staci and I used for science/art, it was great! We had leftovers so I took it to preschool! They loved it. Thankfully it WAS edible so their curious little mouths didn't harm their pudgy little tummies. They've also gotten into Duck Duck Goose. Lazaro goes around the circle saying, "Duck, duck, duck....okay COME COME COME!!!" Musa has a hard time saying goose. He stands behind the "goose" with his hand placed on their head waiting ever so patiently. Oh, with a faraway look on his face to boot. We have fun. :)

The weather is hot hot hot! And getting hotter hotter hotter. I was pretty drenched in sweat after hanging my laundry to dry yesterday in the noontime sunshine. African sun doesn't mess around. OH I was doing laundry because I'M GOING ON SAFARI THIS WEEKEND! We're leaving tomorrow morning and will be back Sunday afternoonish. So three nights and two days. Woot! I will be better about blogging after safari, I promise!

Today I had an amazing opportunity to go with Anika to a village home and cook! We met Emmanuel this weekend through Darren whose work coincides with ADRAs. Emmanuel is 15 years old and goes to a sponsor school in Arusha. He dorms there most of the time but this week is holiday so he is at home for the week. He invited us to his home to see more of his life and to learn how to cook authentically!

I know I haven't blogged in nearly a month but I'm really not feeling wordy so this is where pictures will speak! :)

...Okay this is frustrating. Three days later and the pictures won't post. Check Facebook soon?

"Darasa Time" with "Delan" the "Teach"

These seven sweet faces are my preschoolers (L to R back to front: Musa, Lazaro, Rahma, Hope, Mariah, Bahati, and Dorcas). This was taken today before class started. They are sitting outside of the classroom door and have just received a speech from me about how when the teacher says "ssshhhh" everyone must "ssshhh." They get into putting their finger to their lips and "ssshhh"ing. It's encouraging and gives me hope that they will be quiet little students and entirely attentive to all that goes on during our short time together. Today, for the most part, my hopes became reality.

Normally we begin our time together with a story. Books don't hold their attention all that well because they don't understand very much English and they honestly aren't that interested in staring at pictures. Volunteers and nannies don't read to the babies in the baby home so these kids haven't had exposure to the wonders of reading/being read to. So instead of struggling through story time we had singing time! It was mostly Danielle singing time. They sat and stared as I went through every "ooh," "aah," "sshh," and "wooo!" verse of "Jesus' Love is Bubbling Over." By the time I got to singing the "Window Washing Song" with/to them I could not contain my laughter. Here I was, seated on the ground in front of 7 toddlers and Anika, putting my all into these old Friday chapel classics. And seriously. The looks on their faces...I don't think they have ever experienced something like that before. Sure, they've been sung to here and there but it was like a show for them, hand motions and all. I could hardly sing, I was laughing so much. I was nearly crying!! I was overjoyed with how attentive they all were! After every song they would clap their hands and smile soo big. Anika told me to keep singing because she too realized what a gem of a moment it was! I think every afternoon will be started with songs from here on out, no matter if it's just me singing and them staring or what.

Now, don't get me wrong, preschool is still very hard and filled with a lot of "classroom management" difficulties but with class starting out that way it didn't seem as difficult. Today there was still, almost consistently, someone in the "naughty corner". We even had to take Rahma back to the big house because she would NOT listen. She laughs in the face of authority! Oh that girl. We'll figure something out, I know it. But with a song in all of our hearts everything seemed to be more pleasant. Juice time is always a favorite of mine because they sit and giggle and enjoy their tasty drinks. Puzzle time is great because they are actively using their brains and I LOVE IT. They need that educational stimulation.

After walking the kids back over to the big house, sterilizing the potty chair, chatting with Allison, and putting things away in the classroom I hung out with the rest of the babies that aren't quite preschool aged yet. It's crazy, you know those baby swings that are like diapers? Well they have a swingset with three of those type of swings and they fit two kids in each swing! I don't know if it's just me but I had never seen anything like it before. The thought of putting two kids in one of those swings had never crossed my mind! So I stood there pushing six kids on the swings. How efficient!

It's been a long week and I have been taught a lot. Teaching Staci has been going well, we had fun using glitter glue today. :) God has been revealing Himself to me in new ways everyday. I'm learning to trust Him with the little seemingly insignificant things. Those little things sure do add up though and work together to create one beautiful relationship. How amazing it is to have a god that cares about all the little things in each and every corner of our hearts. Enjoy your weekend and a very very happy Sabbath! :)

First Day of School

Oh what an afternoon this has been. It was my first day teaching preschool to the toddlers at the baby home. I was so excited! I had everything planned out—what colors they would learn, how well they would sit and repeat after me, how they would giggle while doing the hokey pokey, and how fascinated they would be with the puzzles. Shoe throwing, biting, screaming, crayon eating, peeling things off the walls, and all other misbehaviors were not in my schedule!! Little did I know they would FILL my oh-so-perfectly-planned schedule. Ugh. It was a rough beginning. Thirty minutes into our preschool time I was fighting tears. Thankfully Anika was in there with me keeping the mood somewhat light.

There are so many barriers between me and these kids. I don’t speak Swahili, I’m a stranger, and they are used to volunteers being in and out of their lives. I don’t know! I don’t know what to do! I felt like such a mean person today and I HATE that. Someone was constantly seated inthe naughty corner. I went to Davona’s office after the two hours were up and just cried. She was not surprised which is a comfort to me. She is going to come in with me tomorrow afternoon and give me a proper introduction and explain to the kids that they need to listen to me and follow my directions. I did not think it was going to be this hard but I know that it will get better! I’m sure that they will know and understand “school time” a lot better after 9 months. It’s only one day, the first day, and it will be an uphill battle but the view from the top will be breathtaking, I hope!

On a lighter note, I had a reallygreat weekend! Church was nice, quite long, but I think that’s the usual here. Little Ruth found me again but my fingers stayed in their normal position for the most part. Sabbath afternoon was relaxing. I finished my book and candied some walnuts. They’re delicious! I’m enjoying experimenting with different sorts of foods. Saturday night my roommates and I went out to dinner in Usa. There’s a restaurant that is run by a sweet German couple and they were having barbecue night. The cook made me some spaghetti with veggies. Yum! I ate the salad they had there and I think I’m alright, not too many intestinal difficulties. :)

Sunday was a grand adventure! Anika and I took on the town by dala dala! We decided to go into Arusha all by ourselves. We had never been by ourselves before but we knew we could handle it. It was interesting finding which dala dala we needed to take and learning how the city works. We got a lot of groceries at the Village Market. It’s quite the western supermarket. A lot of the dala dala’s tried to overcharge us but we wouldn’t stand for that. We’re locals!

So there’s a little update on life in Tanzania. Please pray for me and for the baby home. Pray that I will have patience with the preschoolers and will know the best way to communicate with them. Pray that I won’t take everything too personally and I won’t get discouraged. Tomorrow begins 1st grade with Staci! I’m looking forward to it. Pray for that too, please!

I love and miss you all. Write to me! I love hearing from home or from where ever you may be. :)

This is part of the playground. That jungle is our backyard. :)

Delicious candied walnuts!! Makes my sweet tooth so happy!

Shae, Jacqui, Anika, me, Fritz (the restaurant's donkey), Becky, and Ashley out to eat on Saturday night.

A Perfect Day

This evening as I sat in the playroom holding two young boys on my lap I was surprised by a skinny little half clothed baby walking towards me. His name is Clinton and he was wearing a too small onesie (the kind without legs). It was only ¾ length on his arms and had some sort of girly design on it. The most surprising part was that the crotch part was unbuttoned and Clinton doesn’t use nappies anymore. I looked at him and just burst into laughter jostling the young ones in my lap. I said to him, “Clinton! Where are your pants?” And in response he got a funny look of embarrassment on his face and tried to tug tug tug on his onesie flap while sort of crossing his legs and covering himself with his hands. Oh I could not contain myself! He was so happy and was on a mission to get to playing after going potty! He turned around and sort of wandered back towards the changing room. A few minutes later the same exact sight appeared before my eyes. Oh that boy, he gave us all a great bit of laughter!

Glory took her first steps today, as far as we volunteers know. It is such a wonder to me how children learn to walk! She was so determined. She would wobble wobble wobble then fall but get herself right up on her feet again! And she would be laughing the entire time. Even though I have not been a part of her life for too long, I am so much more than proud of her! Her steps were so unstable but she was not scared. I watched her with absolute awe. It’s something that I need to remember in my life—that even though my steps may be unstable and I may not know what is ahead of me, I should not be afraid. God is my strength and is so much bigger, stronger, and more loving than anything seemingly scary that comes my way.

I got to work in my school room today! It’s a lovely little room with a beautiful mural on one wall. Staci and I, the girl I will be teaching, spent some time together playing games and getting to know each other. I think we will have a great time at “school” this year! Her mom has a wonderful supply of educational books for me to use. I need to start some sort of lesson planning so that what we do is mapped out. I’m a bit nervous and I know that I will be learning right along with Staci. I will also be teaching 6 or 7 of the toddlers. I need to figure that out too! I think we’ll do a lot of coloring and hopefully a good bit of dancing too. I love preschool. :)

It’s been such a beautiful day. Davona reminded us this morning about how we must remember to take big gulps of God and all His love and wonders so that we don’t run dry for these little love bundles. I entirely agree and I love picturing it. I see it as those three tiered fountain type things. The water pours from one bowl to the lower one and when that is full it tips over and pours into the final bowl. I like being that middle bowl! One day these babies will be there too. No, they already are. They serve as that middle bowl for me. Ohh God is so great!

There's me in my fancy pants classroom!

Jambo!

Happy Sabbath from Tanzania! I am here, safe and sound. I arrived at Cradle of Love on Thursday evening around 10. It is so wonderful here! I have spent my first few days getting to know how this place works—buying groceries, playing with the babies, showering, and trying to get a little bit of rest. With a time difference of 10 hours I am still quite jet lagged. This morning I woke up at 4:30 and was not able to go back to sleep at all. So, I set out to fill my day full of life here in Tanzania.

It’s been a different sort of experience here. There are 3 German girls volunteering and I really love them but it’s hard to break into the their group with such a language barrier. They speak English pretty well but naturally they want to speak German! I went to sleep last night feeling a twinge of loneliness and longing for all of my WONDERFUL friends back in the states. During my devotions early this morning I prayed to God about it. I continued praying on my walk around the compound. It was such a gorgeous morning. The air was thick and the ground moist from the rain we’d had. I found a plumeria tree with a fallen flower. It was perfect. It had water droplets scattered all over the petals. I picked it up and ohh it smells so good! The flower is such a beautiful and yet simple reminder of God’s presence in my life and desire to LOVE me. Just now, I am filled with such a peace. Rachel, Michele, Chelsea, and Tanzi (and anyone else who has read Captivating) it reminded me of John’s whale and Stasi’s starfish. Do you remember that part of the book?

I wandered back over to the baby home and found the nannies changing the kids’ diapers. I shyly greeted them and in turn was greeted by a friendly little one. She grabbed my hand and took me to one of the play rooms where 10 babies were laying, swinging, and crawling around. I sat down and immediately had three of them around me. It was interesting, the first child that was in my lap definitely felt a sense of ownership. She would push away the others that crawled on me! It’s incredible to me how much these children need LOVE. And not just smiles and love pats but real good one on one “I am fully focused on you and am delighting in you” LOVE. It’s really what we all need but with these babies it’s more evident because they don’t have parents to give it to them.

After coming back to the apartment, eating breakfast, chatting with Matt and my mom I was in a car headed to church! I love driving around because I get to see everything! A lot people ride bikes here and walk. The compound is just off of a main road though so there is a bit of traffic as well. We arrived at church while Sabbath School was wrapping up. We stood outside and waited until they were done to go and sit down. There were so many children there! The Havilah kids go to the same church. Havilah is another orphanage that is here in Usa River. One friendly girl came and sat next to me. Her name is Ruth and she is five years old. I would look down at her periodically to find her staring at me with a shy smile on her face. Eventually she moved her hand closer to mine and started playing with my fingers. My, she was fascinated. She twisted and bent, pulled and squeezed, the works! She even tickled my arms then lifted up my arm and went for my armpit! Now, we were sitting in the second row so at that point I had to put a stop to the major movements but it didn’t stop her from playing with my bracelet and trying to break my fingers. While all of this was going on there were three girls behind us trying to sneak tugs on my hair. I would glance back at them and they would burst into giggles. So adorable! I really enjoyed my first church experience here in Tanzania.

We came back here to our apartment and made quite the Sabbath lunch! We had veggies, rice, and a peanutish sauce. It was pretty good but almost like straight up peanut butter. I’m excited to experiment more with the foods they have here. In a bit we’re going to take a walk with Davona, the director of the baby home. Then I think I’m going to head to Arusha, the bigger town here, to get Tanzanian shillings and maybe pick up some groceries. School and preschool don’t start until the 13th so I have this whole week to try and get a feel for what I’ll be doing! I’m looking forward to it.

I hope you are enjoying this blog. Please comment! And email me to at drjenson@puc.edu. The internet here is pretty good but majorly slow and sometimes it doesn’t load my email page at all. This morning at 4:30 it was super fast though! Please continue to pray for me and the other volunteers here and for this whole organization. Check out their website! It’s cradleoflove.com. There will be more soon!

This blog was written yesterday...the internet hasn't been good enough for me to post it until now! It's Sunday morning. :)

The beginning.

Starting this blog seems like such a huge deal. I have actually been putting it off for quite some time. To me it is the start of this huge and unknown adventure to WHO EVEN KNOWS WHERE (well maybe the people that were at the NAD meeting today...). It also feels like the end of my life as I know it, as cliche as that sounds. But really, it's just me taking a step further in my life with God as my guide.

As of now, I do not know where I will be going this coming year. I was supposed to have been voted on today but I haven't heard any news. I'm praying and praying and giving it over to God always but I absolutely cannot help but feel anxious! I know, in my heart, that my future is with God and He always has my best interests in mind, but I just don't feel it. But holding on to the knowledge really is the beauty of faith.

Anyone's prayers are always appreciated. These coming days are sure to be full of anxiety and question but always of God's presence as well. This verse is one that I have been clinging to for the past month, ever since Student Missions vespers when the reality of everything became clear:

"I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, 'You are my servant.' For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." Isaiah 41:9-10

This blog will hopefully be a peak into the journey I am currently on seeking out God's will near and far. Welcome. :)