saturday

Well, its the weekend and it feels good to have so much done this week. Many of the peopel who work here at Engdi, the forigners, are leaving the base over christmas shortly, so its going to be a bit empty by the feels of things. I'm still plodding away with my music lessons with the training teachers, but it seems hard to find time to meet with them as they are coming up to exam time. I will try and find them this morning. It was fun last night, we went to the cinemas in Arusha and watched daddy day-camp. Although the movie was a very predictable it was funny.

heres an insane little poem by Lewis Carroll called :

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.


The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"


The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.


The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"


"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.


"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."


The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.


But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat--
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.


Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.


The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.


"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."


"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.


"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."


"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?


"It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf--
I've had to ask you twice!"


"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"


"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.


"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.


The Walrus and the Carpenter

bungalo ungalo

Hey, sorry no update for quite a while
My cup runneth over, yet time runneth short.
Its so good to hear from you all, Mum, The Burrens co, Roger, Paula and others. Its nice to be in touch with you so far away. Hey please don't bother signing up for blogger, just use the anonymous button at the bottom of the text box when writing a post and put you name a tthe end of you message so I know who it is.
Im really enjoying my time here though, even over here on the horizon and equator. I've just started working with Sue Dow doing Illustrations for the new science ciricullum she's writing, illustrating bible stories and images to use in the health section at the moment. There seems to be a abundance of work here for a huge range of skilled people, so if you think you have something to offer you should think about coming and helping out. It looks like I'm gonna be busy for the next month illustrating...AWESOME!
The Safari was great, and I have asked Sorawit to put the photos up which dad has on his laptop. We even saw two rhino and a cheetah. yup....
The music lessons are going well and the guys who I'm teaching are really enthusiastic and improving fast. Theres quite a few keen artists around all of a sudden.
I've moved accomodation to this great family called the Russells. They have four kids and have lived with the Massai for many years. Skyler is the oldest at 17 and wae've been jamming on the guitar for quite a number of hours now. Chase I went to the Gorge and drew with for a few hours which was fun. The other two are twins, a boy and a girl. They also have four really cute pups...they're awesome, and even sing a long to skyler on his Harmonica. Hes quite good and Im gonna try and learn off him, cause its very hard to learn by myself. And in two weeks I will be moving out of that house as well because they are moving...ahhhh, the only thing certain is change huh?

Well its good to hear home, and that the family liked the bracelets from the massai market, and that deb might be an ambassador, that Isaac liked his club, that geoff and Vas' and going to aussie soon and will have a great trip, that my friends have helped mum out (you guys are awesome), that the simmons' are all doing well and busy, and that I better go now. heheh, well God bless you guys....

Mwanza!!

Well, its been a great trip to Mwanza. We went on a small airline called Costal Air on a small plane There were only six people excluding us on the flight to Mwanza, but the 12 seat plane was full on the was back. We can say we’ve been to the Serengeti now! We stopped on every runway they have anyway and saw quite a few animals, including zebra, a Hippo and Gazelle from an aerial view. Oh and some giraffe…

Mwanza is a big city, with some 2.5 million people living there. Its crowded even at night when we arrived, with the streets full of people and crazy drivers. There were a lot of kids on the streets which was sad to see. They have these huge birds as well, giant Malabu, with big stringy necks like old sagging skin.

The trip to Shikomo, Nkoma, was amazing. It was a long ride to the village, but when we got there we were warmly welcomed by our sponsor boy’s whole family, including grandmas, uncles, and neighbours. The kids were very curious of us, and apparently had never seen white people (Wazungu) before. Musa, the boy we were visiting was a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing and all the attention he was suddenly receiving coming from a family of well over ten. His father had two wives…
We were formally welcomed, and it was a bit awkward for a while, but they quickly got used to us. We went to visit the school Musa goes to, a primary school of 1075 students, and about 100 pupils per class! World Vision are definitely doing a great job there, and it shows. The kids were great, and we took heaps of photos, I’ll get some on the blog soon…Its funny, but when I got out my camera they all backed away like it was a gun, probably because it was so big.
In the end I think Musa felt very special, and hopefully our visit encourages him to do well in school and prompts his father to send him to secondary school. Not many people get that opportunity in Tanzania, unfortunately.

We are going on a Safari for the next two days, keep in touch!

the weekend

Hello all,

its been good to go out to church in the villages of Arusha today. The building looked small from the outside, but inside was packed. It was a rickety old thing with an alluminium roof, but next to it there was the foundations of a bigger building. We, of course, had to sit at the front, and the singing was powerful. I don't no what it is called but the choir seemed to be hitting every note in every harmony avliable and probably a few that weren't. Their lungs are so powerful they definitely don't need a sound system. Its was amazing to sing with them and play a song as well.
We also met with Caroline of Harbour Vineyard's cousin and her husband and son which was nice. They were very friendly and generous, and I think I will be spending a bit of time with them over the summer.
We are leaving for the visit to our sponser child tomorrow, so I won't be blogging next week I suspect, but if you're reading this leave a comment. Its pretty silent arround here...and I would love to hear some voices from back home...

Small Mererani

Vtech

Hey,
just a quick note. This is a great article on the Virginia Tech shootings by Ravi.

http://www.rzim.org/resources/essay_arttext.php?id=21

enjoy

Nimelala fofofo

Yesterday and Today I've had a stomach ache and sunburn which have made life uncomfortable, strange bowel movements etc...ugh. But its been great to spend some time with the training teachers here, Im teachning some guys the guitar. They are quitre musically quick, quicker than anyone i've ever taught anyway. They probably have just never really had the chance to try out any instruments, although some of them have.
Life is so casual in Africa it seems, but it is also very harsh. The plants are strong and wiry, the insects huge and tough, and of course the mammals have a hard time too. The women do a lot of the work here, much more than at home, they are often out in the fields farming while the men sit and talk. The men get a lot of part time work. The kids get it pretty hard, with lots dieing of sickness and disease. Education is hard because there are too many kids and the government doesn't support the teachers enough, with like 60 children per teacher. You hear about lots of corruption of aid from overseas by government officials and politions who expect bribes.....
Nimelala fofofo. I slept like a rock in Swahili. Its been good sleep here, its really warm at nights so you don't need many blankets.....
Its really good to meet some people who are walking with god here, and to worship with them.

Mererani

Yesterday we went to church in Mererani. PC, the father of the household dad and I are staying at called it the wild west of Tanzania, and it really is. Its definitely the roughest town I have been at yet, kids all over the streets, gangs, and apparently lots of killings. It’s a mining town and 5-6 years ago it was a peaceful town, but then some South African companies bought up some mines and caused trouble so Im told. These mines are the only place in the world you can get the stone Tanzanite, so it’s a tight market.
The church we went to visit there was only small a few years ago, but it now has over 800 people who are their members. Dad spoke at their church and they enjoyed it so much they asked him back that evening, and I also played a song on an electric guitar there which was fun. I got to met a lot of the people there and some dudes who were both my age called Tumaini and Haneyst, who both have a heart for the young people there. It’s a rough town, and Haynest and his sister are orphans, while Tumaini’s father left his family at a young age, but they both have compassionate hearts to see the place changed for good. Pray for them, OK?
African roads are dodgy as, but we survived with the keen skills of PC, who actually used to be a cop in NZ. He showed us this notorious bridge which has people drive off it all the time, and the huge gashes in the protective barriers which are proof. The bridge is about 50-100 metres high!
Its been an interesting weekend to say the least, but to, Monday, I have an upset stomach, ugh….

Beautiful People