Africa Experience - Tanzania - Day 18

July 13, 2013

Breakfast....

Off to worship!

I opened my journal to blog about this day, and the caption reads "Ah....what a day"!  We woke up on this Sunday and worshiped with the girls.  Pastor Jane and Jean led the service.  There were two choirs - the older girls (dressed in shukas and bright colors, form 5 and 6 girls) and the younger girls (in their school colors, red).  The girls wear a particular color for their year in school, and it follows them until they graduate....the older girls wore yellow, the second year girls wore red, etc.  We also received communion.

Euni and her daughter Naomi

The girls don't usually receive communion unless a Pastor presides over the service (maybe once a month).  Euni Simonson and her daughter also attended the service, and we enjoyed coffee and pastries with them afterwards.  We had a little time before lunch to start organizing and packing our suitcases.  What a chore!  Many of us planned to leave some clothes, shoes, and toiletries behind for the girls and some of the other people we had met along the way. 

At the end of the service, the girls auctioned of pens and pencils!

The beautiful sanctuary designed by David Simonson

Euni hugged and thanked
each one of us! 

For lunch, we enjoyed a meal with the school staff.  We had rice, fruit, chicken and a meat/veggie sauce.  They also treated us to sodas!  Following lunch, some of the form 5 and 6 girls offered to take us into town for the traditional market.  It was about a 45 minute walk.  We stopped at a couple churches along the way (one Lutheran and one Catholic).  At the market, we walked around.  We bought the girls (Naramatisho, Tumaini, and Judith) some things to take back and share with the girls in their dorm.  We picked out some oranges for Naramatisho, Tumaini wanted some bananas, and Judith wanted avocados.  A large bag of oranges (20) was about $2, and 2 huge avocados were less than a $1 total. 



On our way to the market.....



TIRE SHOES.....they make shoes out of old tires.
They cost about $5 and are worn by most
of the tribal people.  The story says
that when the men are out walking in the dirt,
you can not tell if they are coming or going
because the print left in the dirt can go
either way. 

Enjoying ice cream!

On the way back to the school, we asked if we could stop at the market.  We bought the girls some juice to have in their room and some ice cream for all of us.  The girls didn't like the ice cream so much - interesting! Tumaini said it was too cold! 

Kyler, Tumaini, Judith, Brett, Naramatisho, Toni, Connor

We worshiped with the girls again before dinner.  For dinner that night, Rebeka made a very good meat and spaghetti.  We spent the evening packing.  Our family was able to get everything in 6 suitcases, including a suitcase full of baskets and snacks/treats (cookies, coffee, candy) that we would share at KLC later for our Tanzanian service. 

Rebeka took great care of us!

We had some money left at the end of the trip, and some of us sat down together to decide who to leave money with.  It gave us time to reflect on what we had done, what we had seen, and where there was need.  Our overall Tanzania experience is one that we all knew would stay with us the rest of our lives!

 

 

Clothes being left behind.....