The road less traveled...

Well, it was another 12 hour day today…and I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t As exciting as Friday-maybe because it wasn’t my first service…or because we had so many people. Sometimes I am selfish and want Pastor’s and Luka’s attention all to myself because I just love to learn from them and I had to share them today :(

*Before I discuss today, I want to bring up the situation in Kenya…which, hopefully many of you know is the country right above Tanzania and to just think that I am practically in paradise and 10+ hrs North of here there is so much turmoil going on…well, such is life I suppose. Anyway, Dec 27th I believe was a flawed election and so protests/riots/demonstrations have been happening- in Nairobi and also Mombasa and other cities. I say this because actually a few people studying @ the School here with me for a short time fled Kenya and came to Tanzania. MeeHaa, whom I’ve mentioned before is here learning some kiiswahili…she will be here for a couple months though! Nicole, from Germany, is a doctor and was working with an AIDS organization in Nairobi and is here just for a short while to learn a bit of the language in the meantime while she figures out what to do (she arrived just this past Thursday I believe). And LeeAnn, the pastor from Virginia, was in Nairobi with her husband who is a doctor. They were supposed to be in Kenya for about 6 weeks or so, but they spent a week in house arrest before eventually deciding it’d be safer to leave so her husband stayed in Arusha (northern Tanzania) and she somehow had a contact that knew Pastor H. (remember, he is a celebrity, so it doesn’t surprise me)!! :) So, that’s who I’ve been hanging out with this weekend especially!


Today’s adventure started at 8AM, as it was pouring rain when we left Morogoro (after a great breakfast…Im really liking mango even more~ now that I know how to prepare it)! We were a full vehicle with Luka and Pastor H, Moreto (another 21-year-old teacher here at the school), Olivia and her friend Dawn (24? And 31~both of whom fled Kenya and are now in Morogoro working), LeeAnn (27), and my friend Andrea from Germany that is here studying with me (26). So, I am a youngin in the group today and it definitely put me in my place today…
We had to drive about 2 hours- on primary (tar) road though…except Pastor H. said there were about 20 speed bumps on the way…he wasn’t joking!!! I was squished in the back with Andrea and LeeAnn and Pastor H. kept asking if I was still “with us,” haha.
I definitely hit my head on the ceiling one time though…but at least it was fun!! :)
The road was also more curvy and we went up and down hills…it was nice to see some new terrain! I tried to sleep a little bit, but was pretty unsuccessful! Then, we turned onto a secondary road for about 10 minutes and stopped at a church that Luka had built. Right next to the church is the Evangelist’s family’s house and they served us tea and something like chapati (remember, like a soft tortilla shell), only much thicker, and with some cinnamon on it maybe?!
At the beginning, I said I was “put in my place” today…well, during tea time it was more of a conversation between Olivia and Dawn and Pastor H. as they are very well-educated and have so much experience…Dawn is a doctor and Olivia is also in healthcare or some type of medical work. I was intimidated by (or maybe just jealous of) Olivia as she learned Swahili here in the fall and went to Kenya to do work (although is obviously back here), and she is VERY good at it!! I honestly feel “stupid” because I can hardly communicate past greetings or my name or where I’m from. It is very frustrating at times, because I just sat quiet. Olivia also can talk with Luka and Moreto and again, I’m just listening… what’s most frustrating is that I do love languages and want to learn, but I also have these other 2 classes through Wartburg that are obligations as well and take up a lot of time. I don’t know if I mentioned this before or not but Andrea asked me how I am motivated to study the language and I said well, I just love to learn… but she’s right- because I’m really just taking it for “fun!” I get asked sometimes where I’m going to work after I leave here or what I’m going to do and I simply say that I’m just studying here and then going back home… so part of me wants to just learn the language during the day and that’s all I get, but in order to fully participate in my cultural immersion one has to know the language…it’s a toss-up! I may just choose one night to maybe stay up all night and try and catch up on what Ive learned so far, so that makes sense and I can get a better handle on the language…
It was definitely humbling though, as I was thinking, who am I to think I’m so special or I’m so great…and I’m just a young idealist, I can’t really do anything… I guess, that’s what happens when you meet people just like yourself… I realized that these women were also super passionate about what they do and specifically in a developing country…I don’t mean many people like me back home, but it was different meeting some older women who have been through/are going through grad school and are really just living their lives/doing their jobs that they love!

Back to the day….
After tea we drove another 20 minutes on a Tertiary road and I knew we were close… (that’s been the pattern with roads lately…when we go to a village for a service it’s Primary, Secondary, Tertiary)!
We arrive about 11:45am and of course, greet many people…especially children as there were many in this small village! The church was open air- under a tent basically…made of sticks and a thatched triangle roof of bamboo branches. PastorH, Luka, and some of the other men go off to look at the spot where a cement church will b built (by Luka of course), and LeeAnn and I just sat. This place did not have nice benches, a few stools like 5 inches from the ground, and the “benches” were like 8 inches off the ground maybe and were made of branches…so from like 12:15-2ish while Pastor H. was registering all the baptisms (19 in all I think he did during the service today) I sat on the branches that would “brand my butt” as PastorH told us! However, we were entertained with much singing and clapping though as more and more children and Maasai mothers came. Finally the service started about 2:15-2:30pm and Luka was the Evangelist up front with Pastor H. this time. Right before the service I had given up my seat because a mother with a baby on her back was looking for a place to sit…therefore I stood in the back the entire time, where there was way less shade…but I didn’t mind. A young boy handed over a small baby girl to me so for about 10-15 minutes I got to hold her and keep her quiet. She really enjoyed grabbing my bangs! :) Then, the Maasai mother came and took her. During the baptism time (about the middle) it got really wild. This was a much smaller, and less organized area than Friday’s church and so it go to be just crazy at times!! Children yelling and Mama’s everywhere, and all of those to be baptized(many infants) were all up front! Then after communion was the offering where everyone files up to the front to put their money in a bowl, or whatever else they are offering… this is when 5-6 live chickens (kuku) were brought in with their legs tied together. So now, we have squawking chickens and crying/sucking babies, ornery children, and Pastor H. trying to preach/pray!
It was harder to follow along in the book because there are so many different liturgies and I didn’t have Luka to help me. But Pastor H. would try and also say a page or song number in English just for us!
After the service and of course the circle of shaking hands....there was an auction for the non-money offerings. Luka auctioned off the 6 chickens and I believe 4 of the 6 chickens went to wazungu (white people)…Olivia, Dawn, Andrea, and me of course!! I payed 4,500 schillings for it (about 5 dollars)! Although I don’t know the numbers in Swahili yet Luka just told me in English how much… don’t worry I have a picture!! Then there was a nice kitanga fabric/material and some bags of food… (all of us gave our chickens to different families by the way)! There was one young woman (with her baby) that I was drawn too and since before the service began we just kept smiling at one another…and after the auction I looked around the circle and made eye contact with her and I knew I wanted to give it to her. She shyly put her hand on her heart as if to say “me?” and I held out the chicken and she nodded and so I gave it to her! She was very grateful!!!
Then it was time for the food of course! The 8 or so of us get stools and some wooden tables and practically an individual large bowl of rice, with some beans and a few pieces of some meat on top…I had a lot of the rice, not much meat though… I was just super dehydrated and so the large bottles of water we received was wonderful!

It was 5:30pm when we finally left, after Luka pumped up one of the tires…this time we switched spots so now I could sit in the middle of the middle seat. I like this spot as I can see straight out the front window! After about a half hour I layed my head on my backpack in front of me and slept…often interrupted with speed bumps though! :) And to see the sun set in the WEST and Not the East (remember…different hemisphere)! It became dark eventually and when we were about 10 minutes away I stayed up to watch the heat lightning in the mountains. We got back to the Seminary about 8pmish and again… pretty wiped out!! I was also incredibly dirty so I showered and felt much better!
I am excited to get hopefully a full 8 hrs of sleep and am looking forward to a day off (as in, more of a structured day)! I haven’t studied my Swahili since last Thursday sadly, but can’t wait to start in again! I will have a new teacher because it’s a new week!

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow (Monday) marks the day I left two weeks before!!! Time is already flying by…

with a grateful heart,
Alana :)