Today is 6 years since we arrived in Tanzania. We are often asked if we enjoy living here, but it’s not that simple. I find myself echoing the words of ‘For Good’ from the musical Wicked: Like a comet pulled from orbit As it passes a sun Like a stream […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
When we are not telling Elliot the Dragon stories on the way to school, I tell Elliot stories from my childhood. It’s a way of me being known by him, and he frequently requests them. They always start the same way, “Once upon a time, there were four little girls. […]
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
I knew I had to make a plan for my 36th birthday, or else I would just end up doing nothing, which didn’t feel right. I thought I’d like to do something celebratory, to take what Red Twin taught me and apply it. And my mentor Moyra had written to […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
My language tutor and I have been discussing the roles of various people in society: women, men, children, etc. Last week we were discussing the role of elders. Among other things, one proverb that came up was: Ashibaye hamjui mwenye njaa means ‘The full one does not know the hungry one’. […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Term 2 has started at school, so we are walking each morning again, and telling Elliot the dragon stories! Once upon a time there was a little dragon called Elliot. He had a dark green body and bright sparkly green wings. He lived with his Mama, Dadda and Callum dragons […]
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
It’s my 36th birthday this month. See how I used ‘my’ there? 35 birthdays have been ‘ours’, but this one is only mine. I think some people have this idea that twins limit and squash one another, that if they could disentangle themselves from one another, they would be more […]
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
As New Year came around, I watched discussions of New Year’s resolutions on Facebook. I don’t normally make resolutions, but I have in the past made yearly goals. However, my mind was a blank for 2019 apart from ‘just get through it.’ Grief makes your brain a fog. You can’t […]
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes