Habari to our friends and family from the other side of the world! We wanted to carve out some time to give you all an update on our first month here in Tanzania!
When we arrived in Tanzania we were met with the first lesson of Africa. There is no such thing as lines or waiting your turn. People at customs pushed and shoved in order to get their visas processed first. In proper Canadian fashion, we did not make a fuss and simply tried to get our papers looked at in order to officially enter the country. After 2 hours, we succeeded in getting out of the airport. With our driver, we made our way to the local guest house in Dar es Salaam & after a long 22 hours of travelling we were happy to crash under our bug nets.
After a short, and much needed rest we woke up the next morning in Dar in preparation for our 5 hour drive to Mloka. Everything felt a little fuzzy. Raluca was feeling very sick from all the travelling we had done & from her malaria pills. Driving through Dar was an experience to say the least! There is a nature based reason behind traffic here. Like the elephant in the jungles, big creatures have the right of way, as the little motorcycles peal in and out like leaping impalas. The rest of the cars are like the wildebeests, making the best means to find a route to their destination. Though the drive was about 5 hours to the Baker’s camp, it did not feel this long. With every village we passed we tried to soak in all the culture, all the kids, and people waving, all the buildings, all the houses, all the animals, and we could finally see with our own eyes, for the first time, that life here would be very different from the life we knew at home.
The first week in Mloka was mainly spent settling in and acquainting ourselves with some of the villagers and staff. We also spent the majority of the week planning and raising awareness for the English school. One of our favourite parts of planning was spending a whole afternoon in the village posting our recruitment posters. We were frequently approached by little children yelling, “Wazungu, wazungu!” and asking for, “pipi” (candy). That afternoon, we met many little faces and introduced ourselves as “Maria (because my name is too difficult for many locals to pronounce) & Ben”.
Teaching English here has been such a blessing to us both! We feel joy as we see little faces light up as they run towards the school, ready to learn. We also feel joy in getting to know our adult students, slowly but surely. Ben & I have recently started an outreach social every Friday night for our adult classes. We decided this could be a time where we would have the opportunity to get to know our adult students a little bit better without the confinement of a formal class setting. Every Friday night we play soccer, and volleyball, and chat with our students about anything & everything. We pray that this outreach would serve as an opportunity to be able to further build our relationships with our students, and pour into them.
This past week, took us through a bit of a loop. The Bakers had invited the pastors from two local villages, Ngorongo and Mloka to stay at the Safari lodge, to treat them as honored guests and spend some time with a visiting pastor and his wife from Chatham, Ontario. At the same time, there was a women’s outreach program called the “Lydia project”, a sewing initiative for the ladies of the village. During this time, the women from the village created beautiful animal stuffed toys, aprons, tote bags, and dresses with colourful and, traditional patterns with the intention of perhaps selling them to tourists who pass through the village. During this time, Ben and I were also running a fulltime VBS for the pastor’s children and teaching our regular English classes. To say we learned a lot this week, would be an understatement! We learned how to depend on God to a much greater degree. He gave us the strength and joy to serve during some very long days! The Lord taught us that the VBS camp, though tiring to us, is a blessing to not only the children but also to their parents! By the end, Ben & I found so much joy in in seeing their little eyes light up when we would put on Veggietales (though they barely understood a word!), or when I read them a book, or when Ben would play soccer, and games with them. And so, even though the days were exhausting and we would come home with sore feet and heavy eyes, the lord placed joy in our hearts to know that we had invested in His children!
For everything beautiful here, there is something not so beautiful. Entropy rules the day in every facet of African life. Although there is a peaceful and quiet nature to all that goes on, there is a war raging in the back ground. The jungle surrounds us on all sides, and threatens to take over if not maintained. Sand and dust make operating any form of machinery nearly impossible and, the scorching sun drains almost everything it touches. Life in Africa requires a stubborn patience to persist when everything seems to be going against you. Hopelessness is crippling and can lead people to a dark place where no light shines. Yet when there is hope it shines through the faces of those who love and are loved by the Lord.
Since we have arrived (a month ago now) the Lord has personally taught us many things. Every day is yet so busy but you feel full because you are forced, and pushed to rely on the Lord. Here, it feels like there is a sense of urgency to rely on Him alone. We have often asked ourselves why at home we do not feel the same sense of urgency to rely and spend time with the Lord. Perhaps, it is because there are so many distractions, but perhaps it is just because we feel uncomfortable here, because in many ways, many things do not feel familiar to us. Many times, since we have been here, we have both felt convicted to change the way we live once home. We watched far too much T.V., and scrolled through far too much social media. But at home, it is so easy to fall into that type of compliancy with our relationship with God. It is easy to think, that the people at home in our country maybe don’t need God as much or that we do not need God as much because we have a perceived security in our money, and in our successes.
However, it is comforting to know that God does not forget about any of His people, whether in Canada, or a world away. His hand and love are evident even in the most remote places. We pray that we can continue to be a source of light and blessing to those that encounter us that they may see His love shine through and know that there is something more eternal to look forward too.
If you have read this far, we want to truly thank you for all of your support, love, and encouragement. We are thankful to have people who are so invested in this journey and are a part of this adventure.
For now we will say, “ tutaonana baadaye”!