So, there’s been this uproar in Sydney Anglicanism because John Dickson wrote a book suggesting that women could sometimes give some sermons in some circumstances. (I reviewed it here.) So then the more conservative end of Sydney Anglicanism had to write a response book. What’s striking about this debate is […]
Do you remember the lady at the gate? We’ve seen her a few more times since then, always saying she’s poor and needs food, but always with a different story. Sometimes multiple stories in the one day or the one conversation. She’s very skinny; she doesn’t look healthy; she’s shabbily […]
We’ve been planning with student leaders for an upcoming ‘semina’, like a day conference. One of the issues that came up was whether we should have a ‘sadaka’, meaning ‘offering’ or ‘sacrifice’. This is a collection, taken up at the end of a meeting. It happens at just about every […]
I helped out at a day workshop for girls not long ago. The topic was relationships and dowries came up during the question time. After I’d sorted out the language (the word for ‘dowry’ sounds remarkably similar to the word for ‘place’, especially in an echo-y lecture theatre!) I was […]
We don’t really have Tanzanian friends. There, I said it. One of the most common questions we get asked by our Australian friends is whether we are making friends here in Tanzania. The answer is ‘no’. We’ve been here for 15 months and we don’t feel like we have friends. […]
As we continue learning about life in Tanzania, one huge area that we haven’t explored much is ‘the village’. Something like 75% of Tanzanians live in villages. While we are working in an urban context, many students come to university from a village. Additionally, ‘village Tanzania’ seems to contribute significantly […]
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 […]
Meet Jesus at uni 