Ellen's e-mail excerpts

March to June '07

March 30, 2007
So far so good…no sickness and no travel woes. It is very difficult to be back here for whatever reason. Tomorrow we drive halfway to Tanzania, then to Shirati on Sunday. Thanks for the prayers. I definitely felt peace and God’s presence during the flights over from the US. We are all oh so tired and Keith and I slept most of the morning away! Guess we’ll be back in the swing of things in a few days. Love to you all!!! Ellen

April 13, 2007
My health is much better after a number of nasty tests of sorts that needed to be done. I ended up self-treating with antibiotics in January and am doing well now. We were in the States from Feb 10-Mar 27. A great, but terrifically BUSY time as we spoke at a number of different churches, schools, and other groups. We also had guests staying with us in Shirati just 3 days after we returned from the US and just got back yesterday from taking them down to the airport in Musoma (and getting car fixed, stocking up on supplies, etc). We had a great time with them and we very sad to see them go. Whew.

We are off to Dar es Salaam next month to look for housing and have the kids tested for placement in a Christian school in August. We plan on moving to Dar in the end of July, Mungu akipenda! Keith will be continuing work with the Tanzanian Mennonite Church…building capacity, development, and being a liaison for Shirati Hospital to all the gov’t and NGO’s in Dar. Me, I have no clue what the Lord has in store for me. There is the possibility of working on some writing, women and children’s ministry, and maybe an agricultural project. It will be the first time in 14 years that I have not been around one or more of my kids 24/7 and it seems strange. I know that it will all work out. I just wonder how different our lives will be six months from now!?!?

April 13, 2007
Life is ok here…HOT at 96 degrees, electricity goes on and off each day this week, getting some school lessons done between doing laundry and making bread and all the other things. We had a great time with the Jensens, our guests from Dar es Salaam. They have 2 daughters, one who is 15 and an 11 year old (who was just diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes). The mom, Elise, had to stay behind in Dar. She works with US AID and is director of the Tanzanian AIDS program. Peter is an agriculturalist working part time with the Peace Corps. Peter and Elise are friends of Keith’s from the Peace Corps in Haiti in ’85. Peter is going to check out some housing options in Dar for us before we visit them next month. Guess our move to dar is going to come fast, but I am SOOO looking forward to it. One scary thing is that the Jensens all remarked at how cool it was here compared to there!!!! There is little humidity here and the temps are a bit lower. There, the temps often go above 100 at this time of year with high humidity!!!!

Bye for now. Just taking a break between tasks.

May 11, 2007
Me, I am so-so. Fine right now. It was so incredibly hard to come back here. I miss the life of predictability, structure, ease of travel, ease of cooking, laundry, etc, etc, etc. I would say that I have gone through a depression since we have been back. I have been very angry at myself for a number of things…not completing school work for the kids, not handling living in Shirati much better…on and on. Sometimes I have a hard time in April because of Easter and my dad’s traumatic death and all the stuff that goes with that. This year was ripe. Female issues, getting back from the States, having guests (for 5 days shortly after we got back from the US, fun, but a MAJOR let down when they left… I just couldn’t stop bawling recently. I sat in church by myself the second Sunday after we got back. I couldn’t stop crying and had to leave halfway through the sermon. I kept thinking of all the missed opportunities. I still am not fluent in Swahili and it is next to impossible to follow a church service. I couldn’t even find which Bible verses they were reading and I was looking around me and asking, trying to figure it out. It is so unbelievably frustrating. It’s like I go to church for the appearance, because we are expected to go. No one cares that we get absolutely NOTHING out of it….can’t even tell you what they preach about. What’s the point?? I now worship at home with cassettes of Bowmansville services that we have. I was so thankful that the Bishop made a point to translate most of the service last week for Gerry’s baptism. If they weren’t speaking English some, it probably would have been another embarrassing time of bawling. I feel I have missed so much. I have no deep friendships here in Shirati. I am a person who loves people (although not a crowd). I love to get to know who people really are, in their hearts and souls. I am not much of a small-talker. There are some women I have met that I just know I would have a great relationship with, but I can’t communicate with them, aside from basic stuff. I also am disappointed that I didn’t do more with the choir. I know realistically that it is a huge effort that really has little reward. The one woman who I talk with, who is very patient with my poor communication, keeps asking me to come back, and she tells me of another missionary woman who was able to sing and dance with them (guilt, guilt). She said that I just need 2 months and I’ll be able to do it no problem. Yeah, right. We are not even here for that long of a period before we leave. It was so cute last Sunday at the baptismal service (which was at a church by the Lake, much smaller than the Shirati church)…Leah was dancing with the one choir (that I was referring to…the whole choir came down to sing for the service…we actually stuffed 14 people into our car which holds 7!!! Verle had a whole bunch of folks, too.). Leah’s friends have joined the choir, so she was up dancing with them. She had a blast.

May 19, 2007
Things here ok. We leave for Dar tomorrow. I am dragging my feet. I am not anxious to be looking for a house, school, etc when I don’t know if we are really going to be moving there!!! Guess I just need to suck it up and act like this is where we are going. The lazy part of me is looking forward to having a day or two at the beach!!! I have been working really hard…no house help except for 2 hours this week!!! Stella has been off and on sick with malaria and she is almost due. She is very worried about the baby and delivery. Her legs and ankles are HUGE…she must feel so miserable. I have been making extra bread for her which she likes, and we bring her maji baridi (cold water). She had wanted me to be with her (why, I don’t know…I didn’t think she liked me that much!!!) when she was in labor/delivery, to pray with her and give support. It looks like she will be having it while we are in Dar which is a bummer (and a relief…I imagine I would feel a bit awkward being there). Anyway, I have had a lot to do and have been trying to review math with the boys which lasted for 3 afternoons….then I would be up late from cooking and cleaning up, etc. Everything takes so long to do here!!!! For dinner tonight I made spaghetti and meat sauce….Boiling and peeling tomatoes, cutting and grinding meat, etc. I am ready for a break. Our friends the Jensens in Dar have an AWESOME cook and I will feel no guilt whatsoever for sitting on my butt and letting him fix the meals!!!! I will probably make some breakfasts, but they are US gov’t folks and they get cereals and other stuff from home, so everyone is usually quite happy to eat that!!!

I hear rain coming so I better send this!! (Since rain leads to power outages!) Know I’m thinking about you and praying for you! Love, e



June 13, 2007
Things with us are ok. We just got back from a 3 week trip to Dar es Salaam. We are preparing for our move sometime in July. We were able to find a house to rent, which in itself is a major feat. It took a few days, lots of waiting, and the usual way of doing things in East Africa!! Some of the houses we looked at had 15 or more Tanzanians living in them and some of them were still sleeping!!! We finally found a house with 4 bedrooms that is CLEAN and well-maintained. It is fairly expensive, but it suits our needs well. Alex is especially thrilled to have his own bedroom which hasn’t happened in 12 years!!! There is also a separate building which has several rooms…one for Keith’s office, one for our friend Solar (he is beginning med school in August. The school is maybe a 10 minute walk from the house.), another room for our friend Michael (don’t know if you met him)…he is also beginning school in August in Dar, and another room for the gardener/askari. I am looking forward to having a WALL!!!!! The yard is small with a microscopic area of grass…that’s ok. There are several trees and a number of flower/shrub beds around. The boys are upset because the house is pink!!! Have to paint it a manly color of forest green, haha.

We also got the kids assessed and placed into a nearby Christian school. They placed a year behind their chronological grade, but I was expecting that as we have not completed 2 full years of school here. I’m just thankful they did very well on most of their tests, otherwise. Leah grade 1, Gerry grade 6 (grade 7 full), Alex grade 8. I am SOOO looking forward to them going AWAY to school. I love my kids, but I can’t stand to be around ANYONE 24/7 for months at a time!!! I am not sure what I will do with all my free time. I might take a week or 2 to just marvel at the silence1!!! I might volunteer at the school some, but mostly I will wait on the Lord to guide me.

Things are winding down here in Shirati. I am anxious to be moving on, sad to be leaving friends, dreading the 2-3 day drive cross country with 6 people and 4 dogs…one who barfs in the car, and Lord knows what else. We are hiring a lorry to take all of our furniture, etc, over. I am wondering (and have my doubts) about the whole moving process, Tanzanian-style!! As long as we all arrive safely, not much else matters.

Stella had her baby while we were in Dar. A healthy baby girl named Ellen. I was really bummed to miss the labor delivery thing, as she had asked me to accompany her to pray, etc. Stella has been pretty sick off and on since March and has been in and out of the hospital. Malaria, mostly. Let’s hope and pray that she has seen the end of sickness for awhile.

Magesa has had such a tough year!!! He had a serious bout of typhoid/malaria/etc earlier this year. Last Friday he was in a serious car accident. Luckily he had no major injuries, but his head has been giving him trouble and he is to be medicated and resting for several more days. One of the other 2 passengers is in critical condition, so Magesa is very thankful to be alive!! He also hurt his knee pretty badly. I was angry at him because he walked all the way to our house on Monday to visit us!!!! We had just returned from Dar and he wanted to greet us!!! I put an end to that and have been driving him to dr. visits. I am constantly amazed at the resiliency and strength of our friends here. I know that I fall WAY short of their strength!!!! On a good note, Magesa has been building a home for himself (about a 10 minute drive away). It is a little smaller than our house here and it has been exciting to see the progress he has made.

Kezia has been accepted into nursing school. I saw her yesterday for the first time since she found out and she was just elated!!!! We were lucky to find a generous sponsor back home who is paying for all three years of school!!! The bummer is that she is required to board at the school, so she will be away from hubby and Peris for long periods of time.

There are 8 med students visiting for 3 weeks here and we are enjoying having them visit us. None are actually staying with us, but I am cooking some American-style meals for the group as they get plenty of ugali, rice and beans!!! Had a big pancake breakfast this morning and will have a Pizza night and a spaghetti night, too.

The local kids have been hanging out a lot at our house. Everyone knows that we are leaving soon. There are usually 15 or more kids here. Some come as early as 2pm, and they all stay until 7pm. I was doing fuse-bead crafts with them on Sunday….boy that was a challenge!!! They had a lot of fun, though. Our kids are going through a lot of emotions with the upcoming move. Alex has actually been much more sociable with the Tanzanian kids and much more tolerant of some of the annoying kids. It’s been good to see the change in him.

Well, sorry for the book, again. Know that we love you guys and miss you. Hope you can somehow visit us in Dar, maybe over a holiday?? There are some really nice beaches to go to.

June 27, 2007
I’ve been pretty blah since we got back from Dar june 7th. I can’t believe we’re finally leaving (12 days to go). I really don’t like living here, but there are many people I will miss…Dr. Chirangi’s ever-present smile and energy, Samwel whom Leah always runs to and he scoops her up, Julita…a friend from the hospital and choir (we just found funding to pay for her son’s 3 years of nursing school!!!!), Kezia, and Stella and William….many, many more. I will NOT miss the constant stares and people just standing and watching us. I keep saying, rather loudly, “walls, soon we are going to have WALLS around our yard!”. The stream of people coming to ask for stuff is going to get much worse as people know we are leaving and want to be sure to get something. I try hard not to be annoyed, since it is the nature of the African culture to ask, ask, ask. There were some visiting medical students here for a couple of weeks and we spent a lot of time with them. They kept coming to me for advice on how to deal with the steady stream of requests, and the issue of friendship….the efforts that many Africans make to be a friend in order to get something. It helped me to help the visitors. I had to constantly remind them that this is not America, and what seems rude to us (always asking for things) is not the case here. It is not right or wrong, just different. Hey, if you want everything to be like America….stay home!! I made several meals for the 8 students that were here as I remembered how much last year’s group missed food from home. Just a basic pancake breakfast was heavenly to them. I kept telling them how we TOTALLY understand how it feels to miss things from home. It was cool to receive a letter and pictures from a student who was here last year. Part of me feels sad for the future groups to come….I know the little bit we do to make their stay more enjoyable will be missed. We also take them on short trips to see more of the area…sunset at the Lake and also from a really cool lookout point called Oboke, taking them to the fish market, etc. We will advise the people here to make an effort to do those things with future groups. Gerry spent every afternoon and evening with them. They only work at the hospital/clinics in the mornings and early afternoons, so Gerry did a lot of stuff with them….sometimes not getting home till 10-12 at night!!! Gerry will really miss it here. Gerry just goes….everyone knows him, everyone likes him…this world is his, wide open and unconfined. I am nervous about how he will do in Dar, confined in school (in a uniform!) within a walled compound, big city (for Africa) atmosphere. I hope he is able to thrive there, too.