Bila shaka...

(Without doubt)...we are horrible at regularly updating our blog. For this, Ellen and I are both very sorry. However, the time has (finally) come and an update is here. I apologize ahead of time for any rambling that might occur... a lot has happened in the past 2 weeks!

On Saturday, February 12th, we were given the opportunity to climb one of the Uluguru mountains. We went with two of our teachers, Kadeghe and Eliah, and we were given two options: either climb to the peak, or climb to the waterfalls near the peak. Ellen and I chose to hike to the waterfalls, and we were very glad that we did! We began our journey on Saturday morning around 8 a.m. by hopping on a Dahla Dahla that took us into the center of Morogoro. From there, we walked to the base of the mountain and began our ascent. On our way up, the weather consisted of heavy clouds and misty rain, so we were thankful for the cool temperature. It was truly an amazing experience to observe Tanzanian women carrying baskets bigger than their upper bodies on their heads, walking barefoot, and passing us as they climbed the mountain to their villages. Needless to say, Ellen and I felt like wimps. After about two hours, we reached the entrance to the waterfall. To get to the waterfall, however, we had to descend an incredibly steep slope of slippery mud. We made it, and any dirt that we had obtained on our ascent of the mountain and descent down the cliff to the waterfall was quickly washed off. The water was very cool and refreshing, and the four of us had fun swimming and playing in it. After about an hour, Ellen and I heard thunder. We looked around and realized, "Hmmm. Thunder means lightning...and we are currently standing under a tree, in the middle of a pool of water. Maybe it's time to go." It started to rain, except it was not rain like Ellen and I are used to…it was more like a monsoon. We quickly informed Eliah and Kadeghe of our possible disastrous lightning situation and we began our ascent up the slope, which had turned completely smooth from all of the water rushing down its side. Using roots as leverage, we slowly made our way up the slope and reached the top muddy, but safe. After that, we descended the mountain as fast as we could without being unsafe, seeing as how the trail has turned to complete mud and there was a stream of water rushing over the tops of our feet. We reached the base of the mountain safe and sound, but tired, hungry, and muddy. However, we were very happy and had fun laughing about the big adventure we had just had.

The next day, Sunday, we traveled to a village called Msoga (the President of Tanzania's home village) to attend a church dedication ceremony. A beautiful church had just been completed and it could not be used by the village as a church until it was dedicated by the Bishop. It was another rainy day, which made for some interesting moments as the ceremony was held outside the church. All of the people attending were able to fit under a couple of canopies, so everyone stayed fairly dry. Approximately ten local pastors were present in addition to the Bishop, and seven choirs attended as well. Right after we arrived, we were served tea in the new church with the church leaders and elders, and then waited on our bench for the service to start. The service itself took about four hours long, which is the longest one we have attended thus far. It was great to hear all of the choirs sing and to observe the differences between them. Following the service, a big meal was served in the new church once again, but because of all of the people, we sat on the steps of the church and enjoyed the food. Actually, the food that was served in the church was specifically for honored guests, and there was an additional buffet line outside the church under the canopies for the choirs, village people, etc. Once again, it was very difficult to be separated from the people as honored guests, but we realize that it is the Tanzanian way of showing the utmost hospitality and respect. Following the meal, we climbed back into the car, and headed back to LJS.

On Monday we visited a Barabaig village called Sanga Sanga. The Barabaig are the other cattle raising tribe in this area, and for centuries, they had been the enemy of the Maasai. It was fascinating to observe their different styles of dress and to get a sense of the way in which they lived, and how it differed from the Maasai. We did not attend a service and we were actually only at the village for a couple of hours, but the sole purpose of the visit was for Pastor Hafermann to help the village elders settle a major issue involving thievery. Before we left, we were served rice tea, which tasted like rice krispies in pudding form; it was definitely different than anything we had ever eaten, but it tasted good! While we drank/ate our tea, the warriors and young women began a traditional dance for us (unfortunately, we couldn't stay for the entire dance) which was very cool to watch. The warriors were gathered around a tree a couple feet away, while the girls were gathered around another tree right in front of us. The warriors began to sing and after awhile, one or two girls would come out from behind the tree, face the warriors, and begin to jump in time to the music. As they did this, a couple of the warriors would jump in time with them. The girls would stop after 5-10 jumps and go back behind the tree; after they stopped, so did the warriors. Another girl would come out, jump, and two or three different warriors would jump in time with her. This continued on until we had to leave and both Ellen and I thought it would have been so awesome to watch the entire dance. After tea, we headed back to LJS and began our packing for our trip to Zanzibar!

ZANZIBAR!

Ellen and I with Ema at Forohane Park, waiting to experience our first meal of VERY fresh fish!

Right side of the table from which we each made our fish selections

Left side of the table

Fishermen bringing in the catch of the morning

Ellen and I with our green coconuts on the spice tour

Sunset over the Indian Ocean

Our trip to Zanzibar went very well and we both extremely enjoyed every minute of our time there! Unfortunately, I’ll only be able to give you an overview of what we did and saw due to there being SO much that we experienced! We woke up at 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning so that we could be one the road by 6 a.m. and get to Dar es Salaam in time to catch the ferry that would take us to Zanzibar. Traveling went smoothly except for some slow traffic in Dar, but we were happy for the lack of complications. The ferry ride took about two hours and before we knew it, we were stepping on the island. We made it to our hotel and put our things away. After that, we went exploring. Pastor Hafermann showed us where all of the little shops were and we became very excited to shop there the next day. During our three days in Stone Town (the harbor town), we went on a spice tour, shopped A LOT, ate extremely fresh fish in the harbor park, and spent relaxing evenings on the hotel roof. The Muslim community was fascinating to learn about and observe, and it was very interesting to learn about the history of the island and the slave trade that occurred there for centuries. We were sad to leave Stone Town, but at the same time, we were very excited to spend our last day on a secluded beach along the Indian Ocean. We enjoyed snorkeling while Pastor Hafermann took a well-deserved nap, ate fresh fish and pilau (spiced rice) for dinner, and spent the evening interacting with and being entertained by a group of young local boys who were hanging out on the beach. The next morning (Friday), we walked out onto the beach and watched the sunrise, as well as searched for some more seashells. We enjoyed a nice breakfast on the patio of our rooms and then headed back to Stone Town. We ate some lunch and then shopped a little more before having to board the ferry to take us back to the mainland. The traffic in Dar made the trip back take a little longer than expected, but we arrived back at LJS happy, exhausted, safe, and sound.

The very next day we traveled to a village called Mailo Ishirini. This was the home village of one our teachers, so he and some friends came with us, which was a lot of fun. The choir that sang during the service was, in both my and Ellen’s opinion, our favorite choir so far. They all had beautiful voices and sang with an incredible amount of passion. The interesting thing about this village was that it was made up of an entire family, or at least, they are all related even if it is a distant relation. We enjoyed the service and the meal that was served to us before we left, as well as learning about the Arobaini tree that the Maasai use for forty different medicines. We got back to LJS earlier than usual and enjoyed time to relax and sleep.

On Sunday, we traveled to another village called Mesela that was quite a ways into the bush. It had rained the night before, so the roads were very muddy, but it made for a great adventure! The church in this village had just been built and Pastor Hafermann showed us the place in the bush where the first worship service took place, and the tree nearby that got struck by lightning right after Pastor Hafermann baptized one of the church elders! There were MANY kids in this village, so Ellen and I had instant friends for the entire day. Pastor Hafermann had the opportunity to pray for a young girl who, the next day, was leaving her home village to move to another village and get married. The thought of such a major life step at such a young age (she was probably around the age of 15 or 16) was hard for Ellen and I to imagine, and we had the utmost respect for her as this was clearly an uncertain and scary time.

This past week was filled with Swahili lessons and catching up on Wartburg homework. This weekend we were supposed to travel to villages like usual, but Pastor Hafermann had to leave for a conference in Dar es Salaam at the last minute. Despite how much Ellen and I enjoy village visits, we were glad for some free time this weekend to finish homework, sleep, and to take some moments to relax and breathe. We are looking forward to another week and we are keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers!

Peace,

Laura