Our church this morning was surprisingly upbeat. Surprising, because it’s Good Friday, the day when Christian commemorate the crucifixion and death of Christ. Not exactly cheerful subject matter. In my western Christian tradition, it’s normally a fairly somber day, with a focus not only on Christ’s suffering but our own […]
Recently I was attacked while walking along a beach near our friends’ place out of town. A guy who was working on his boat on the shore called out to me after we’d greeted each other (essential in Tanzania) when I walked past, then followed me, grabbed me and stole […]
A local church here in Dar posted an explanation (in English) about why Good Friday is called good. Their answer was that it is good because his death leads to a resurrection, so in the end it is good news. They mention that his suffering was for our salvation but […]
As our water woes have continued, the question I keep wondering is, how long will this go on for? If someone just told me: there’ll likely be no water until it rains, I think I might find it a little easier, but instead we keep being told, ‘tomorrow’ or ‘on […]
Last weekend we had the chance to go to a mahari(dowry)/engagement celebration. In the past we have been included in the church service where the ring is put on and the party afterwards. However, this time the ring ceremony was to happen on the same day as the dowry. We […]
TAFES has been having its annual month-long Staff Orientation and Training camp (SOT) in September and I was asked to conduct morning aerobics on weekdays. I jumped at the chance as it is a not-so-secret ambition of mine to become a fitness instructor one day. It was considered a valuable […]
This week there was a discussion in my network here in Tanzania about Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Did David being conceived ‘in sin’ mean that his mother committed adultery and he was illegitimate? Admittedly the grammar of the […]
Meet Jesus at uni 