One of the common laments for westerners living in the majority world is how long it takes to do things. It’s often hard to work out why, so every now and then I record all the steps it takes for me to fix things. For example, it took me this […]
Since we moved house, I have joyfully returned to having house help. (The story of why is for another day.) Mama Pendo is a grandmother who comes twice a week to clean the house. This week she said to me very kindly, “Kama kuna tatizo, usinyamaze.” It means, “If there’s […]
It has become commonplace in the west in recent years to assert that the ways in which women experience oppression in Australia are minor compared to the oppressions that women in the majority world face, from gender based violence to lack of access to education, to maternal health, to poverty […]
“I want us to start with university students, to give girls opportunities for leadership and to build their confidence while they are still studying,” said one of our colleagues. This is a common sentiment among many in Tanzania’s middle class, that women’s welfare rests on them seeing what they could […]
A contact at Elliot’s new school offered to help us with our house hunt. As she was networking on our behalf, I heard her say to another missionary, ‘Did you see that beautiful big American style house? The 2 storey? I wonder if that’s available.’ I realised that her idea […]
We had three friends – a Kenyan, a Ugandan and a Tanzanian – come into our house for a visit and they were amazed at the children’s books on the coffee table, the basket of toys in the living room, and the posters around the house of daily routines, calm […]
As Arthur was dropping a colleague to the bus stop after she had come to do a sympathy visit with us, she told him that they really wanted to support and care for me. Was there anything else they could do? Arthur tried to work out what she was offering: […]
