Khan's

On the last day of September, I finally got to try Khan's.  Beth and Michela both had been talking about it as one of their favorites, so I was excited to go.  

Khan's is an Indian barbecue place.  By day, it's a car parts store, but once the business day ends Khan and his men pull the grills out into the street and set up tables on the sidewalk, so they are only open after dark. (Although they also do catering for special events sometimes). 

 You order plates of meat (beef, lamb, or most famously, chicken) and naan (plain or garlic) for your table, and then make a trip to a table with sauces, side dishes, samosas, and something they call Zanzibar pizza.

Jackson gets his sauces while Khan (in the middle in the vest) refills the silverware container. 

Two American nurse practitioners, Donna and Karen, who visit every year to help out at the clinic, went with us, since they had never tried it.  We all ate until we were stuffed, and had leftovers to take home.  The only downside to the evening that Tizo's (Beth's husband) left mirror was stolen off his car from where it was parked up the street.  Khan came out to commiserate and offer advice about having the license plate number printed on the glass (as most cars do here, since mirror theft is apparently a thing here.)  

There are more tables on the sidewalk across the street.  

Spicy grilled chicken...yum.

Jackson really isn't impressed with my photography skills.

My Classroom

Well, the day has come: the Preform students are arriving today.  This is their classroom, where I will likely be spending a lot of time.  At this school, we just have one class in each grade (each with 35-40 students) and each grade (called a form here) has one classroom where they have all of their classes, and the teachers rotate instead of the students. There are more desks than we need right now, and they're rather dusty since this classroom has never been used before, but it won't take long to get everything in order. 

Ngarash Church

The view of the church from the road.

On my third Sunday in Tanzania, we went to the Ngarash church.  This church is just around the corner from the school, right across the street from the clinic.  The current preacher, Saiguron, is the accountant for both the clinic and the school. 

The building itself is a rough unchinked log building, lined with plastic sheeting inside.  It has a hard-packed dirt floor, and there's a little churchyard out front lined with rocks.  As you can see in the picture above, there is also an outhouse if needed.  I wish I'd gotten a photo from a different angle because there are some traditional round mud huts just to the left of the building, but they are blocked from view in this photo by the bushes. 

Tammy and Deborah chatting with one of the church members after services.

The building was filled up by the time the sermon started; it's a small congregation but has several elderly people and several children.  Mr. Shekwavi, the headmaster of the school, was the guest preacher today, and Saiguron did the singing and the Lord's Supper.  Here in Tanzania, the communion meditation is functionally a second sermon; it's usually nearly as long.  

As usual, the service ended with a song during which everyone exited in a line, shaking everyone's hand along the way until they reached the end and joined the line until it wrapped around the churchyard.  The Ngarash church is very friendly and I really enjoyed meeting the people there.  I'm not sure what it was, but of the three churches I've visited so far, this one felt the most home-like.  Starting next week, however, I'll be worshipping on campus with the students.  I hope to visit at Ngarash again sometime, though! 

School of Preaching

Today I accompanied Beth and the kids on several errands; we went to the butcher, which was down a long, bumpy road that looked like it was leading nowhere.  Despite being very out of the way (you'd never find this place by accident), the butchery was very nice.  It's owned by a South African expat, and has high-quality meat.  

We also stopped by the school of preaching in Kisongo; they have a farm that helps to support the school, and they sell eggs by the tray.  Michela wanted to stop and see if we could pick up a few trays--it's amazing how quickly we go through eggs.  I've gotten into the habit of eating a couple for breakfast every morning for the protein, as the Shorts typically eat less meat in their diet than I'm used to (and as a diabetic, I feel a lot better when I have plenty of protein with my carbs).  Omelettes are my go-to when I need a quick meal, too, so I guess going through eggs quickly should be a surprise.  

Some of you may have heard of the school of preaching here; I know of several preachers from middle Tennessee who have visited before.  The church was originally established in Arusha, but moved to its current location in Kisongo, a small town just outside of Arusha, a few years ago. The school is associated with Bear Valley.  I haven't actually been inside myself, although there are various lectureships and other events open to area Christians, so I'm sure I will at some point.  There are two American missionary families that live in the area; Justin and Anna Maynard have been there for a couple of years and live right by the school and the Duncans live about a fifteen-minute walk away.  They arrived the same week I did. 

If you'd like to know more about the school, here's a short introduction:

https://www.kellercofc.org/missions-andrew-connolly-school-of-preaching/

If you'd like to hear about the work of missionaries I know here:

The Maynards: http://goatgirlgazette.com/

The Duncans: https://havegodwillgo.com/

There's a beautiful view over open fields to Mt Meru from in front of the preaching school.  This photo looks like it has a filter on it, but it does not; the late afternoon light combined with a bit of haze created a natural filter.

VBS at Kisongo

The church of Christ in Kisongo (the town halfway between Monduli and Arusha, which also has the Andrew Connoly School of Preaching associated with Bear Valley) has quite a few children both who already attend there and in the neighbourhoods around it, so children’s activities and outreach have become an important part of their ministry.  They hold ‘Children’s Seminar’ which is similar to a one-day VBS as well as week-long VBS, which was going on this week. Tammy, Beth and I took the kids one day.

There were one hundred and twenty-five children there that night, and one of the missionaries who works there told us that they were up to one hundred and sixty by the last night.  It was beautiful to hear so many children singing and learning Bible stories.

The grass and sticks are on the floor because the lesson was something about birds and there was a nest-building competition.

Here's a video of the singing!  

Arusha church of Christ

On my second Sunday in Tanzania, I went with the Shorts to visit the Arusha church of Christ.  They have friends who are members there but had never visited for a service.  It's still the school holiday, so we don't have the Sunday service with the students and are using the time to visit other area churches. 

The Arusha church of Christ is down an extremely rough little road by the railroad tracks and these huge silos just south of downtown Arusha.  I'm not sure how they get down to the building at all in the rainy season; even though many people walk down I imagine it's a bit of a mess.  It was worth the trek, though, as the members are a nice group of people.  

After church, we spent a while outside while the Shorts caught up with various people that they know and I was introduced to many new people.  We went to lunch after with the Kambarage family.  Mr. Kambarage is an elder in the Arusha church and a respected church leader here in Tanzania.  He owns a mechanic shop, as well.  He and his wife have three children, who all came--the eldest son is an accountant in his late twenties, then a daughter who is twenty-two and working as a housekeeper for an American family we know while also finishing her degree, and a twenty-year-old son who is in trade school.  I ended up at the end of the table with the three younger Kambarages, who all speak good English, while the Shorts chatted with their parents in Swahili.  I enjoyed getting to know them, and hope to see them again in the future. 

There was a great view of Mt Meru from in front of the church.

Banana Farm in Ngarash Juu

The road up to Ngarash Juu

Late one afternoon, Tammy and I drove up a little side road along the road to the school.  The neighborhood around the school is called Ngarash; up here a few hundred feet further up the side of the mountain is called Ngarash Juu (Upper Ngarash).  At first glance, there doesn't seem to be enough up here to warrant naming the place, but as we parked by a little lane I could see small houses hidden in the trees.  It turns out the hillside is dotted with little farms, mostly growing bananas. 

We walked down a side lane not wide enough for the car a couple of hundred feet from the dirt road.  The lane is bordered by high hedges that mark the edges of the properties.  We stopped at a gap in the hedge and called out "Hodi!" to enter.  

Those who live in Ngarash Juu have an incredible view.

Tammy and my shadow on the path.  She's carrying a rake, not a walking stick. 

We're further up the side of the mountain than the school, but still a good ways to go to the top.

We stopped to see Baraka, one of the students from the school.  He is an orphan, but has two older brothers who have watched out for him.  This is the banana farm of his oldest brother, and he was helping out during the school break.  He had asked Tammy if he could borrow a rake, so our visit was to deliver it.
  

Baraka hard at work between the banana plants.

I learned several things about banana plants while there: the central part of the plant is actually an underground section of trunk (which I later learned is called a rhizome); the banana tree is actually in the herb family, and the aboveground trunk is actually made up of leaf sheaths and is more of a very large stalk than anything like a tree trunk.  This stalk can grow ten to twenty feet high.  Each stalk can produce fifty to one hundred and fifty individual bananas.  After the bananas are harvested, the whole stalk is cut down to the ground, because each "trunk" only produces one bunch of bananas.  The underground base sends up new shoots every six months or so and continues to do so for years; it only takes nine months for a shoot to grow into a ten feet high stalk and produce bananas.  

Baraka got right to work with the rake, cleaning up all the bits of leaves and debris from harvesting bananas.  Tammy knew I hadn't been to a farm like this before, and she asked Baraka if he minded me taking a few pictures around his brother's place, which he didn't.  His brother has a small mud house with two rooms.  Outside, there is a little log building, unchinked to let the smoke out, with an outdoor kitchen area.  His nephew and two nieces were playing outside; one of the girls is Stella but I didn't catch the other two's names.  

Late Afternoon in Monduli

It was a warm late afternoon on a Saturday in September, and the warm light was perfect for getting a few more shots in Monduli as we were driving around.  

Most roads in Monduli are sloped, as the town is on the side of a hill.  

Next the police station, there is a large field (called the Police Field) that is used for playing soccer as well as community events and fairs.  On either side, the road is lined with these beautiful Jacaranda trees.  Later they will be covered with purple flowers.

There's a much larger market on Thursdays and Sundays, but this vegetable market is open every day.   

Our neighbor, Happy, Albert's wife, works at the market; this is her booth.  (The woman standing by it is not her, though.)

How to Feed 160 Students

 The school cooks are preparing for the new term.  Feeding nearly one hundred and sixty students three meals a day, plus teachers and staff for lunch, for the three-month term requires several tons of corn.  The recently delivered bags are being stacked high in the storeroom off the kitchen.

Here is the school kitchen.  There's a store room on each end.  The big vats in the center are used for cooking massive amounts of beans, rice, corn, and ugali (a staple of Tanzanian food; it's similar to very thick, stiff grits, but with a smoother texture).  Sometime I'll try to get a picture when someone is chopping greens.

The corn that the school buys is 'rough'; it needs to be cleaned of any bits of chaff, debris, etc. before it is used.  Albert, the school driver and general jack-of-all-trades, rounds up his family and friends who have a free weekend to work for a bit of extra money, and they spend all day out in the hot sun around a big mesh table sifting and cleaning the corn by hand.

Preform Entrance Exam

Prospective students and parents are beginning to arrive!

Saturday, September 15th was the main day for prospective students to come and take the preform entrance exam.  The exam has sixty questions: forty in math and twenty in English. Many students, most along with their parents, arrived to give it a try.  It was an exciting day for me, as the students who were accepted would soon be my students. I tried to talk to as many of them as possible, but most were quite shy and rather nervous that day.  

Waiting to get started...

They had two and a half hours to take the exam, and then the teachers gathered around a table, grading as quickly as we could while the students and teachers waited to hear the results.  I helped for a bit, but the other teachers were able to work much faster without me as they’ve done this before and could speak in Swahili together, so I got out of the way and helped in sorting out the application forms instead.  

The regular school year starts in January, but students finishing Form 7 (the last year of primary school) take a major national exam during the summer and then have the last term of the year free.  So, we (and I assume other private schools must do it as well, as no one seems surprised by it) have a nine-week course for prospective students from the end of September through November. This is a great chance to get to know the students and make sure they will be a good fit for the school both academically and socially, and helps to get everyone on the same page (they come from a variety of primary schools of varying degrees of academic rigor and from across the country) so that in January they will be prepared for Form 1 work.  While as a private school there are school fees, we do offer scholarships to students who qualify but come from difficult circumstances.

At the end of the day, we had a list of nearly forty students who were invited to attend preform and, assuming that they pass their classes in preform, become students at Alpha Omega full-time in January.  Preform will begin September 24th; I’m looking forward to getting to know them all!

Heading the hear the results announced!

The View from the Shopping Center Parking Lot

A few more photos for you today...I don't think I'll ever get tired of photographing this mountain.  It was especially clear this evening when we came out of the grocery store at Sable Square (a shopping center built in a South African style that is on the outskirts of Arusha in our direction).  Mt Meru's rocky peak was glowing in the last of the evening light, so I snapped a few shots with my phone.

Here's a zoomed-out shot of Mt Meru in the distance, from the grocery store parking lot.

Driving home in the sunset light.

Up to Monduli Juu

The road up to Monduli Juu

On Tuesday, Beth, her kids, the Short girls and I drove up to Monduli Juu.  Juu in Swahili means upper or higher; our town on the lower slopes of Monduli Mountain is usually just called Monduli (or sometime Monduli Chini, which means lower Monduli, if we need to specify), while the Maasai village up on top of the mountain is called Monduli Juu.  The school is along the Monduli Juu road, so we passed it on our way. The road quickly becomes quite steep just past the school as it winds upwards.

Sometimes elephants come down the Monduli Juu road late in the dry season as they risk coming closer and closer to towns to find water; they've been seen almost to the school in particularly dry periods, but we didn't see any.  Probably for the best, anyhow; while elephants aren't usually particularly aggressive animals, they are large and often nervous at being out of their usual area further from so many humans and have been known to charge at cars if they feel threatened.  

It's late in the rainy season, so there's been little rain since May.  The fields are dry and gold this time of year.

Farmers working in a field along the way.

The town of Monduli Juu, up on the mountain

The landscape up on the higher parts of Monduli Mountain.

 Our destination was the home of Ralph and Twyla Williams, a Canadian couple who are missionaries up there.  Twyla often teaches jewelry-making classes as well to help some of the local women supplement their incomes, as there is a lot of poverty in the village there.  Twyla often invites the kids up to do crafts together; they made some bracelets today, but made plans for her to teach the younger girls to knit or crochet sometime soon.  

They gave me the tour of their home; in the two years they’ve been there they’ve planted quite a few fruit trees and done several projects to improve their home.  

A beautiful plant in the Williams' yard

Twyla helping to get a thorn out of a shoe.

The view from Ralph and Twyla's front yard.

 I especially enjoyed the drive up and down the mountain for the views on the upper slopes (going up) and the views out over the savannah (going down).  As always, I took quite a few photos!

Almost back to the school.