A couple of months ago, Mama Velo, our normal house mama, starting sending her daughter Esta instead of coming herself. We heard that Mama Velo was sick but then we heard that she was better, and yet, she had not returned. Why not? One of the things we learned in […]
We’re back early from Arusha and the last few evenings on the St John’s university oval, there’s been some sort of rally. We think they’re just using the oval rather than it being a student thing — semester doesn’t start for another two weeks and students aren’t really back yet. […]
Gender is a complicated and tricky topic. I feel like I’m only scraping the surface of understanding it in Tanzania, and of course it’s a continuing conversation among Tanzanians themselves! I’ve been hesitant to write anything on it for fear of oversimplifying, but blogging is like thinking out loud, so […]
For Christmas Elliot’s grandparents sent us some money to have a blackboard made for him on the side of our house. We needed a fundi to do it and found out that a catechist (like a student minister) of a local congregation does this kind of work. Very few catechists […]
Last week I wrote on Facebook: As one commenter put it, that’s a lot of ‘likes’ for a non-life event! It’s lovely that people were so supportive – language learning is a hard slog and the triumphs are few and far between. And we Aussies love a bargain! But behind […]
When I get told off for dressing my son inappropriately, sometimes I try to give reasons to explain why. For example, I might talk about the weather or his level of activity. However, I commonly receive the same baffling reply, ‘Well, you’re in Tanzania now!’ When this happens, I think […]
I’ve been thinking about friendship recently. Almost eight months in, our Australian friends are starting to ask us if we’ve got local friends in Dodoma. Our September supporters’ letter says, ‘We certainly have people we know and talk to on a daily basis — but that’s not necessarily the same as friendship!’
Meet Jesus at uni 