KBC News ... Mugumu, TZ

Ella Mary Rain

2010-05-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

So I'm guessing everybody already knows about our BEAUTIFUL little daughter, Ella Mary Rain. She came along on March 11, 11:08 pm. Another surPRISE and emergency c-section. At least this time I didn't go through a full labor again. I was delighted to find out I had a little girl after coming out of the grog of drugs...I couldn't believe it. A tiny little 6 pound 3 oz bundle and absolutely perfect.

Now it's two months later, and Ella is almost 14 pounds. She's a hungry little one who is doing her best to keep up with her brothers already. Right now she's sleeping peacefully next to me in her car seat. I'm working a bit here at the Imara office. Tomorrow is our last day...that is another post.

But I just wanted to put up a couple pictures of the THREE kiddos...so much fun.

Hope to post more about what's been happening in our lives. We leave Africa in two weeks from TODAY and I can't even wrap my head around it....

My biggest regret is that we haven't put enough time into keeping in touch and keeping everyone informed on what's happening - this blog is a case in point. Our life here has been rich, full, difficult, awesome, amazing, bizarre, and meaningful. Wish I had shared more about all that. Will try to at least post a few more times just to reflect a bit on it all.

But now my girl is crying and I should really pay attention to her.

Until next time...peace.

Buses

2009-10-09T00:16:00.000-07:00

(Aside #1: A couple of weeks ago I - Kurtis - was coming back from
dropping of a SALTer at their home stay and had an accident. Went off
the road right where there happened to be a small bridge and riverbed
so the car ended up on it's side. But with enough people, police and
of course money (!) it all got taken care of.)

Woke up yesterday to the sound of our neighbours praying ....

(Aside #2: Our church is having a seminar of some sort this week and
so some guests are staying next to us. Every day they "pray" from
10-11pm and then from 5 or 6 to 7am. No word of a lie, the first time
we heard them we thought they were mauling our dog, but I checked and
he was on the porch. So it must be another dog, so I went over to
check and no there was no dog, it was just people "praying". Anyway,
I could go on a theological rant at this point but I might end up
sounding like I'm also mauling a dog...)

... and realized it was 6:09am and the bus I wanted to take to Musoma
left at 6. Buses are the one thing that almost always leave EXACTLY
on time. So ran to town and grabbed a small van-$5 that took me to
Bunda where I grabbed another bus for Musoma-$3. Also grabbed a
yogurt-$1, biscuits-$.30 and peanuts-$.20 Got to Musoma at noon and
found out that the last bus (so I was told) left in half and hour so I
guess I was spending the night. Did my business: car insurance (see
Aside #1) and car parts. Got a plate of rice, fish and beans and a
soda-$2.50. Found out that the fundi (handiman) who was cutting some
replacement mirrors for me was already done AND that there was another
van going back to Mugumu so I was in luck!

So got a ticket back to Mugumu-$5 and somehow managed to sleep for
a few minutes on the very uncomfortable van ride. We had just gone
through the half way town to Mugumu when the bus careened off the side
of the road and came to a halt. (If there had been anything else but
a field by the side of the road or if we had been going any faster I
wouldn't be writing this.) We climbed out and yep, the front left
wheel had had enough of the van and decided to part ways, it was
sideways and jammed up inside the wheel well. The van guys
immediately set to work as if we'd be up and running within an hour
but the rest of us knew that van wasn't going anywhere for a while.
(I should have taken some queues about the quality of the van from the
fact that both the tout and the driver had to hold their doors closed
as they drove.)

So we called around (I didn't want to take too much of a lead as
the "mzungu") and eventually someone called a taxi from Mugumu and we
all agreed to chip in-$8. But he also asked that we start walking,
luckily no one had brought any huge luggage. So we, a troup of 2
women (1 pregnant), 1 toddler, and 5 guys, distributed the luggage and
walked for the next 2 hours or so.

I'm not good at illustrations but picture this group walking
through a very typical african setting of huts and scrub brush
shooting the breeze about the accident, previous accidents, cell
phones, wives using cell phones, whatever. At one point we came up on
a small hut selling some local drink so we all had some and they had a
good laugh at the mzungu drinking this stuff. After 2 hours the women
were tired and the car should really have arrived so we crashed
someone's "porch" and waited. (Remember that the nearest brick house
is a long way away, everything is mud and sticks.)

Turns out the rescue car had got a flat and when it finally arrived
just at dusk I realized it was striving to emulate the van we had left
behind. But it was our best option so the 7 of us and child plus the
driver piled into this tiny sedan and drove off. The drive home was
slow because the puncture was unrepairable so we had no spare and the
tires were bald. And not without the required fishtale off the road
as well as a tire removal in to check the brakes. But we got back to
town by 9pm.

Then the driver INSISTED on driving ME home, ALL the way home,
(which is difficult because they are installing a water pipe to the
hospital so our house pretty much cut off by a small ditch) "because
he was my neighbour" but then asked for money when we arrived. I
exclaimed that this is exactly why I wanted to walk and gave him $2
and walked away.

The kids were in bed but Carla had spagetti and sausages (a big
treat!) and even some red wine ready. We had electricity so I even
had a hot shower before eating AND the neighbours forewent their
nightly prayer meeting so that was nice and that was my day! (Though
they were back at it early this morning.)

Once again, I know that God is taking care of us way more than we
even realize.

lest

2009-10-06T13:28:00.001-07:00

lest the previous post leaves you wondering what we actually DO here...

last month we gave away 40 bikes to community home-based care and orphan volunteers from the 14 villages that we focus on. it was a fun day. A church in Ohio, Salem Mennonite, donated the funds needed for the bikes. They will make a HUGE difference for these volunteers!

highlights

2009-10-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

So, here are some highlights from the last couple / few months:

We had dear friends over this last year, Peter and Verena, who were SALTers (Serving and Learning Together)with MCC. Pete did a year in Shirati about 2 1/2 hours north-west of Mugumu, and Verena did a year teaching English at a Bible college in Musoma. We often had them over on weekends and we grew to love them dearly.

In July their term was up, so we had to say goodbye to them in Arusha...

we miss them a lot already. They were great friends.

Ben and Aaron just being cute...I think this picture is old but I hadn't posted it yet!

Ben got a puppy, Lobo, for his fourth birthday. Our good friends Kristopher and Rebecca Hartwig were nice enough to pass him along to us. He's a pretty good looking dog, 1/4 ridgeback, 1/4 shepherd, and we don't know the other half!

A couple of months ago he looked like this:

and now:

I wonder who's winning:

These two make a good wrestling match as well:

Ben's FOURTH birthday:

My little baby is growing up too fast:

We have "birthday week" at our place since Kurt's, Ben's and my birthdays all come about the same week. This year we celebrated our 30th by going to a resort on Lukuba Island on Lake Victoria. It was beautiful. We stayed in a thatch-roof stone banda, enjoyed a beautiful hike to watch the sunset, and lots of swimming with the boys.

We also took a game drive in Serengeti just for kicks:

In early September, our good friend from Winnipeg, Amanda Furst, came to visit us for a week. She was AMAZING...she made us HAMBURGERS...grinding up the meat, lighting up the little charcoal stove, and BBQing them. She also can make some awesome jewellery. We loved having her around. She's already at Tanzanian local so she was easy company - spoke great Swahili and could navigate her way around town in no time.

Yes?

And one final note:

So this picture was actually taken when I was expecting with Aaron. Now I just need to get another picture like this with the boys...because we are expecting again. MUCH to our surprise, and delight, and trepidation. This next one is due end of March!

something to smile at

2009-09-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Check out this wicked birthday card, made by Kurt's sister and brother-in-law, Rebecca and Matt Van Otterloo.

Aaron is lucky - he has his OWN birthday - June 4th.

Then...July 25th is Kurt. August 1 is my turn. And poor Ben comes along August 2nd.

This year we both turned the big three o. Now we are wise and learned. :)

Anyway, this card was awesome. Thanks guys.

curls

2009-08-06T03:12:00.001-07:00

ryan and kristen

2009-06-25T11:54:00.001-07:00

we love you

ryan and kristen are two of Ben's favorite people.

ryan is kurt's younger brother, married to kristen, who I've known

since I was a 3rd grader and she a kindergartener with my sister.

they've been living in nairobi for the last 3 years, and we

were lucky to be able to see them every time we went up there.

now, good for them but unfortunately for us, they have

moved to Juba, Sudan to continue their work with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

So we will miss them.

Juba might just need to be our next vacation spot. :)

Any playgrounds there??

We love and miss you already.

papa

2009-06-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

my dad came to mugumu for a couple of days about 2 weeks ago. He took an all night bus from Nairobi to Musoma, then hopped on three different buses to get from Musoma to Mugumu. We were impressed.

Again he impressed Ben with his golf skills. And got lots of time to hold Aaron. I just loved these pictures...

we've been trying to figure out who Aaron looks like, but this picture gave me an idea:

mzungu

2009-06-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

my babies

2009-06-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

birthday boy

2009-06-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

we just had a low key celebration for aaron's birthday last week, june 4th to be exact. i had worked all week so I took the day off to be with the boys all day. made a peanut butter pie, which I've never made before, but the recipe looked too easy and delicious - and it was pretty good! But then I remembered that you're actually not supposed to give babies peanuts...hmmph...so I made a banana bread cake as well. Aaron has the nickname "Kobe" which means "turtle," not too many people use it, but it's sort of fitting since he was born with wide eyes and looked like a turtle coming out of its shell. So thus the reason why the cake is decorated as such.

With all the focus on dessert, I neglected to think about supper - so Kurt went to town and picked up samosas, and just before it started getting dark the power went out, so we took some blankets outside and had a samosa picnic in our yard and came back in when the mosquitoes started coming out. Had some birthday cake with a neighbor to the ambience of a kerosene lantern, and aaron licked up all the frosting he could, but by then he was exhausted and couldn't even bother to stay up for more.

All in all, a special day.

happy birthday little buddy.

Aaron

2009-06-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

The squeally, delightful smiles and noises

The unique shapes of all your toeses

you are ONE

and growing and learning and being

and with every breath and cry and laugh we pray

than in HIM you might live and move and have your being
we thank Him for you

our moonshine boy

why i don't blog much:

2009-06-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

A typical HBC day:
- A volunteer that we hired to be part-time in the office while Elibariki was away, just had a baby on Monday. She called me at 7 in the morning on Monday, asking me to come and pick her up while she was in labor (and had been all night). I called the Imara driver and we met at the office where I grabbed gloves, then we swung by and picked up a nurse midwife who does VCT at Imara, then we drove the 14 km to her village. I called her to let her know we were coming, and she said she had already had the baby. About 15 minutes later we walked into her mud hut, and a traditional birth attendant had helped her deliver the baby safely and had tied and cut the cord. A healthy baby boy. We wrapped the baby up and I got to hold him as we took them to the hospital so that they could get some medical attention and the baby could get some ARVs. We brought them to the ward and talked with the PMTCT nurses. From there I ran home, and then got ready for the HBC volunteer meeting – which meant biking and getting the keys to the church, making sure we had enough forms for the volunteers etc. Went to the office and remembered that I also had to orient 3 nursing students who would be with HBC for the week. Talked with them and then we went to the HBC meeting. After the meeting I worked in the office with volunteers and clients, giving out money for milk, and dealing with all sorts of issues. Went home to feed Aaron. While I was home, was asked to return right away as the District HIV coordinator needed a list of 200 clients from us. So went back to the office and got that ready for him, then did a medicine inventory count (which we do every month). And before I knew it it was 6:00 pm.

our life

2009-04-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

our house: big water tank up front where we collect rain water:

the zebra roundabout, downtown Mugumu:
(since then, the head of the zebra has been shot off by a group of bandits who came into town with a stolen car, robbed a gas station and escaped by shooting bullets into the air so the police would know where NOT to go)

no this is not from our front porch.

but we will take anyone who visits us when we are in nairobi to this place:

aaron was the in oven here (just had to explain that bump)

the center of attention:
at a church fundraiser

everyday life

2009-04-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

so my friend amy suggested I post some pics of our everyday life here,

so here are a few...

this is our last night in Nairobi, from here it's off to Arusha for meetings, and we will likely not arrive in Mugumu until mid-next week.

It's been a good trip - the beach was wonderful.

Kurt came back safely from Mt. Kenya, although he didn't summit Batian, he did climb to another peak, Lenana, which he said was beautiful.

The boys are well save for Ben burnt his foot yesterday with some boiling water, looks like it will be about the size of a cookie on the top of his foot, so please pray for his healing. It doesn't seem to bother him except for when I have to clean it, so that is a good thing.

Ben, Aaron and I have all been fighting runny noses and sore throats, probably a bi-product of the hot humid coast air and the air-conditioned room we stayed in.

But it has been a wonderful break.

So...to the pictures...

Our yard: or a fraction of it actually:

Ben's room:

(with a quilt that only took me 2 years to make!)

running on our favorite walk outside our place:

need I explain this one?

tired of beans and rice:

ok so these weren't exactly our everyday life, I'm uploading photos and these came up first so I wanted to post them quickly....

More coming!!

work

2009-04-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd put up some pictures of the work that I do here...

I do home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS.

We have almost 600 clients in Serengeti District, but we focus on clients from within 14 villages that are a bit closer to Mugumu.

I work with 28 volunteers and 2 full-time staff,

doing home visitation, transport to and from hospital for emergencies, providing medications, nutritional supplementation, soaps, and praying for clients who are sick.

The majority of our clients are women over the age of 40 who are married.

Last year we registered 18 new clients under the age of 10.

People living here do not have it easy - from food and water resources, to paying for children's education, to transportation, to lack of employment, to broken families, to health care, everything is a challenge. Many of our clients live in very isolated settings and it is a major barrier to them obtaining good health care.

Sometimes they come all the way to the hospital but there is no doctor available to see them.

Mugumu does have a clinic supported by the government to provide free services to people living with HIV. And they receive free ARV medicines. But there are still challenges to making sure that they get medicine for opportunistic infections without having to pay. We stock meds to give to those with prescriptions.

So that is my work - visiting people in their homes, at the office, in the hospital. Advocating for clients who are admitted to hospital. In general just trying to support them.

We also work with over 200 orphans from 5 different villages...helping with school fees, and nutrtional supplementation.

So this is a typical home-based care run:

driving over paths like this:

to get to homes like this:

for clients like this:

this is Mama Benja, or Mary Benjamin Tumbo, the orphan coordinator, and one of the most incredible people I have ever met.

I think that getting to work with Mama Benja will have been one of the biggest blessings in my lifetime:

Here are some pics of a supply distribution for orphans,

They need shoes to go to school:

And school supplies:

This little boy was too cute:

And here are a couple pics of a food distribution we did, 2 buckets of corn per family unit:

And here'sthe woman who makes it possible for me to work:

Mama Daudi, who watches Ben and Aaron.

She has a lot of experience looking after western kids, has a great sense of humor, is incredibly strong in mind and spirit, and one senses the Spirit of God in her.

We are so thankful for her!

So there you have my work in a nutshell...

on safari

2009-03-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

kurt and i, and the boys, live about an hour's drive to the west from

serengeti national park. we have driven through the park I don't know how many times already, since the park separates us from the mcc tz office in arusha. so on the way

to and from meetings, we pass through serengeti national park,

and then ngorongoro conservation area. Ngorongoro has a huge crater in which many animals live, it's known as an eighth wonder of the world. We have not yet been able to go into the crater to see the animals, but we enjoy the view from the top.

anyways, we live in serengeti....

so we get to see animals. driving just about 20 minutes from our home we often see giraffe or zebra or gazelle.

so I wanted to post some pictures that we've taken here and there, for the particular reading pleasure of some little boys I know back home in Winnipeg -

so Ayub and Sam, and Carter, Max and Nicholas, these are for you!

And Rosie and Jillian - we hope you get to come and see them too someday!

sunrise just outside of mugumu on our way to the park

a little safari baby

elegance

these are the cape buffalo - the fiercest animal in East Africa. you do not want to mess around with these things.

In Swahili they are called "Mbogo."

"Mbogo" is also my Dad's name, given to him by the Kikuyu more than 20 years ago.

And now, people in Mugumu call Ben "Mbogo," or "Mbogo Mdogo" (little Buffalo).

Quite fitting, really.

we had a snack at Olduvai Gorge, the "cradle of mankind" where they have found a large number of bones and ancient artifacts, including the oldest footprints ever found.

this tree was very exciting...look closely...

after 10 years of living in Africa, I finally got to see a leopard.

this was a huge pod of elephants, more than could be pictured - probably about 8 babies in this particular pod. They crossed right in front of us - very humbling.

there are more pictures of lions and giraffes and hippoes...any interest to see them?

paradise

2009-03-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

hello everyone!

sorry for the three month silence.

we're back in Nairobi for a couple of weeks. it was a long stretch in mugumu - three months, and the only time i got out was for a game drive in serengeti one day. but, we welcomed the rhythm of daily life, waking, eating, working, sleeping. ben and aaron have continued to sprout and are happy, happy kids. Aaron has gained 6 pounds in the last 3 months - bananas and uji (millet porridge) work wonders.

we're up here for kurt to conduct an MCC meeting about technology in developing countries. right after those meetings are over, he will be climbing Mt Kenya for a week with Morgan, a long-time friend from Canada. They will be making their second attempt to summit "Batian" the actual peak of Mt Kenya, which is quite a technical climb. So if you think of these two fellows anytime from April 1-8th, please say a prayer for their safety.

So as to not worry back here in Nairobi, I've weaseled my way into going to Malindi, on the coast of kenya, to a beach resort for a few days. the only catch is, it's along-side the senior class of Rosslyn Academy. Forty-seven 18 year olds to share the pool with!! my mom is one of the senior class chaperones, so it will be a fun time. we leave tomorrow and will be back on friday.

i would love to be able to put up some more posts about our life, but that is contingent on how much the boys sleep! :) aaron is a cat-napper during the day and that makes everything a bit tricky. but i will try. it's recently been deeply impressed on me how much we need to be sharing with our friends and family back home about our life. It would be nice to be able to post more often!

for now, here's a picture of Ben learning to ride a tricycle in Arusha last year. hopefully, more to come!!

the bean and the bug

2008-12-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

this was taken in Musoma, on the shores of Lake Victoria. we go to musoma to stock up on propane and do errands - it's about a 3 hour drive from us.

our gardener, Samwel, with curious onlookers.

my dad came to Mugumu for a week in September - among other things, he taught Ben how to whack a golf ball (75 feet in the air), flicked a lizard to it's fate over the hedge, met many of our friends and finessed his Swahili.

my mom and aaron - precious

Ben

2008-12-20T05:18:00.001-08:00

So as not to leave out Ben, here are some recent pics of my gorgeous, edible three year old boy.

(I realize I am totally blogging backwards here!)

National Geographic - eat your heart out! :)

Ben has anywhere from 5-20 friends come to our yard on a daily, perhaps hourly, basis. Many of them are quite a bit older than him. Although at times we feel like we are the neighborhood kindergarten, we are thankful that Ben has playmates at a moment's notice. His Swahili has really been picking up lately - important words like "jongoo" (millipede), "kono kono" (snail), "mjusi" (lizard), "acha" (stop), "njoo" (come), "hapa!" (here), "ona" (look) etc.

one of his favorite activities is "fishing" off of our porch

turning 3 on august 2nd. we had about 10 neighborhood kids over for a party on the porch. i decorated the cake using a ziplock bag. Ben didn't seem to mind.

We had a day at Rosslyn where there happened to be facepainting - he wanted

"Lightening McQueen" - the "famous racecar!"

Aaron

2008-12-20T04:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Aaron...

There are SO many more though - although, I do admit, as the second child, we don't have a picture to record every second of his life, like we did with Ben.

little aaron - two months

first smile caught on camera - 2 months

i like to call him my "little bug"

brothers

aaron has the smallest mouth I've ever seen. however, when he smiles,

it takes over his entire face. so adorable.

a "record" shot...or two

2008-12-20T04:48:00.000-08:00

Ngorongoro Crater

Wildlife

catching up

2008-12-20T04:20:00.001-08:00

From Nairobi...

We really don't come up here to Nbi all that often...it just seems like it's the only time we get around to blogging! I thought I'd throw together some pictures from the last few months and I hope to post some more pictures in the coming days.

Aaron is six months old now - starting solids, laughing a lot. He was born with his eyes wide open and he is one curious little baby. He loves anything exciting and new. He is a well-traveled little baby already - driven all over Kenya and Tanzania. Poor guy has had no choice but to be a rugged adaptable little baby.

Ben or "Mbogo" (Buffalo) as people in Mugumu call him, after his Grandpa French (Papa), is only the best little athlete the world has ever seen. This guy can hit baseballs and golf balls, throw a frisbee, kick a soccer ball and bounce a basketball and hit a tennis ball like it's just an extension of himself. Yes, I'm totally bias.

We're about to enjoy a week of relaxing in Nairobi. It has been a great but very busy last few months - highlighted by a visit from Opa and Oma Unger from Winnipeg. They stayed with us in Mugumu for two weeks, and then we had a week of vacation with them - traveling through Serengeti and Ngorongoro with them, spending a couple days in Arusha, and then some more time with Ryan and Kristen in Nairobi. Ben was in heaven with his grandparents' visit - so much attention. Opa can make matchbox cars the most interesting thing in the world - or stories about tails. Aaron made sure to secure a place in his Oma's arms every chance he got.

We love you Opa and Oma!!

Ben and Opa studying a caterpillar

Serengeti

Tasty

A bloggable day

2008-11-12T01:39:00.000-08:00

Last Friday seemed worthy of a blog so I'll try to do it justice.
Ben got me up around 6:30 and I took Aaron so Carla could sleep for
a few minutes longer because Aaron had been up quite a bit. By 8:30
we had had the regular entourage of people including our gardener,
househelp, babysitter, milk delivery and neighbour.
(As a background to the whole day, Carla's sister had gone on a
trip that Monday and had planned to return by Wednesday or Thursday.
But she hadn't returned yet and no one had heard anything since she
left so Carla was feeling pretty ill.)
Walked to work around 9 and went through all the greetings with
everyone. Quickly looked into an issue with our little network at
CBHPP and then went to staff devotions. Found out that a few of our
staff including our director had spent the previous night in the car
having gotten stuck in some mud in the middle of nowhere.
So after some discussion we decided that me and two other guys
would go and pick help them out. So after picking up mud extraction
tools and food around town we were off. It really wasn't too far but
the roads got progressively worse.
But finally we found them half way between one village and another
and they were really, really stuck. The rear differential was pretty
much covered. So I pulled up behind them and hooked a rope up, we
hooked up a winch to a tree and we had our first shot but it didn't
budge. Over the course of the next 3 or 4 hours we dug down and
jacked the car up. We watched as the rain came approached and, right
when we were getting ready for our second try, it hit hard. Of course
people had gathered around so they came for shelter in the car so I
had a lady and her two kids and another guy in the car for the second
try. But low and behold, I pulled, people pushed, mud flew and they
got free! (I really think we had some extra hands pushing because I
did not think it would come free with all the rain.)
So we had a bit of a celebration and then we were off to tackle the
journey back. The roads had only gotten worse since the downpour so
at one point the other car did a full 180 spin out and at another
point I had one wheel a couple of feet off the ground and was tipped
over so far that fuel was leaking out of the fuel door - which I later
realized did not have a gas cap.
When we arrived at the closest village we stopped to get some food
and one guy even went to buy shirts for everyone. That's when I
realized that my wallet was missing. For once I actually knew exactly
where I had put it. I also then remembered that one guy had been
in my car for quite a while by himself after the rain started. He
had behaved sort of strangely when I got in but I hadn't thought
anything of it at the time. Anyway, so we collected some village
council men and drove back over the worst part of the roads (see
paragraph above) and to his boma or collection of huts. At first his
kids said he wasn't around but then we saw him and he came over to
talk. Of course he said he didn't take it but I'm almost certain he
did (and I'm not one to say that lightly) but what could we do.
So back to the village we go and as we stop by the village council
hut we see a couple of guys fighting with a crowd around them. They
run off and the crowd follows. What's happening I ask, "Oh some guys
are fighting with pangas." So the council man continues with writing a
letter on my behalf and as my eyes adjust to the hut I realize there
is a woman squatting on the ground with a kanga around her head which
is dripping blood. She had tried to get in between to youth who were
fighting and had been hit. There is one youth standing at the door
and he starts scolding her for her actions and blaming her. At one
point he turns to me and asks, in surprisingly good English and big
wide eyes, "So what do you think of us Africans?"!?!?!
So needless to say I was quite taken aback, it is pretty rare to
find someone who speaks English that far out in the bush, and man what
a question at such a time. So I said something about there being bad
people and good people in Tanzania and in Canada. Our director took a
brief look at the gash on the lady's head and thought it would be OK.
And then we were back in the car and driving back to Mugumu. We
arrived home just as Carla got the call that her sister was OK.
Unfortunately the only picture I have of the day was taken on my cell
phone. It's a blurry picture of one of my friends just after he's
stripped down to his undies and trying to run away from my limited
zoom on my cell phone.
I will try to blog and write somewhat more often.

Hope you all are doing well!
Kurtis

2008-08-14T11:27:00.001-07:00

Last week I (Carla) had to send in a progress report for work, and for one section they asked us to share a story. So I told the following story that happened around February. I realized that I have not shared much about my actual work here with MCC, so I thought I’d post it as it kind of shows our daily reality here. And just some general background info: Kurt and I work for Mennonite Central Committee, and are seconded to a local organization called Community Based Health Promotion Program. The program does HIV/AIDS education and prevention, voluntary counseling and testing, home-based care for about 500 clientele from 14 surrounding villages, and helps clients with income-generating activities. It’s really quite an amazing program working in a very difficult environment with little resources. My job title is “home-based care coordinator,” and I work with 3 Tanzanian full-time staff in the HBC office. (CBHPP has about 10 or so full-time staff). Kurt is working to get the offices set up with computers and internet as well as doing general maintenance. He is also becoming Mugumu’s computer guy so he gets lots of requests to help doctors or pastors or so-and-so’s with their computers. We like our work although many challenges come along with it.

Right now I’m actually on mat leave – technically I have until September off, but will be helping with a 3 week home-based care training seminar that starts next week. So I will take more mat leave off after the seminar is over.

Anyways…to the story…and of course, the promise to try to post pictures sometime soon:

We had a client come to the office with her 2 month old child. The mother, Bhoke, was crippled in one leg but had walked the 13 km from her village to Mugumu center with the help of her aging mother, so that she and her child could get medical assistance. When I met them they were gettinig ready to leave Mugumu to walk back to their village, but they had not yet arrived at the hospital. They had decided that it was too late to visit the CTC clinic and needed to start walking home as to arrive back before dark.

We told them that we would drive them to their village if they visited the CTC. They were able to go and see a doctor, who started the baby on antibiotics for a chest infection. We started taking them home, stopping at a duka to buy their medicine. As we were leaving Mugumu, we found out that they had nothing to eat at home. So we went back to the office and gave them a supply of a mix of ground rice, millet flour and peanuts. As I drove them home I was asking about the health of the baby - he just seemed so small. And I found out that the mother was only breast-feeding him twice a day, because she was told not to breastfeed him if she was infected with HIV. So she was trying to give him a small amount of uji at home. This was disturbing to me, and I encouraged her as best as I could to breastfeed the child when he was hungry.

A week later, the baby was admitted to the hospital for malaria and pneumonia. The mother stayed in the hospital with the baby. At Mugumu hospital, patients are dependant on family members to buy medications and bring food supplies to them. However, since they lived 13 km away and had come unprepared to be admitted to the hospital, they had no food with them. The grandmother left Mugumu to find a source of milk to feed the baby, and the mother stayed in the hospital. A day after they were admitted, I went to visit them, bringing some bananas, milk, water and millet flour. The mother and the baby had both not eaten in over 24 hours, and the grandmother still had not returned.

I held the baby in my arms and helped Bhoke find the small outdoor shed behind the hospital where there are some firepits. She built a fire with some twigs. I gave her an old pot and some utensils, and she cooked up some thin uji mixed with milk for herself and the child. I tried to educate her about how to know if her baby was hungry, and how to prepare the uji so it was not too thick for the baby to swallow. I tried to encourage her to know if her baby was getting enough food. We went back to the ward where she tried to give her baby some food but after a couple of spoonfuls he was unable to take more and she gave up.

Over the course of two or three days I visited them in the hospital several times, asking about her baby's food intake, talking with the nurses and pushing them to weigh the child regularly and monitor his progress. In two days he went from 2.5 kg to 2.0 kg. It was very frustrating to feel like people (including the mother) had already given up hope that this baby would survive.

Walking home from the hospital after a frustrating encounter in the hospital I was wondering about hope. Was it reasonable to have hope for this baby? What kind of life would he have even if he survived - living in a remote village, a crippled mother, an aging grandmother? Little access to food, and a small chance of obtaining an education. And then the story of Moses came to me. We know the end of Moses' story, but what about the beginning - the parts where the Israelite babies are being murdered and the desperation of a mother who gives her baby up to the mercy of a river. How bad would things have had to have been for a mother to let her child go in such a manner? And I realized that if God can bring up a person like Moses out of a situation of desperation and despair, that we are certainly called to have hope for each infant, each baby and each child. It is not up to us to decide what kind of a future a baby might or might not have - it is only up to us to choose to fight for and love each child, and leave it all up to God.

One day I went to the hospital to visit them and they had been discharged. Feeling surprised that they would discharge a baby that was losing weight daily and obviously still sick, I talked with a doctor and got the baby tested for anemia. He was highly anemic so I got a prescription for iron supplementation. Then we drove them home with an adequate food supply (the grandmother was able to find a source of milk from the community and we had offered to pay for it). And an HBC staff person who lived close to their village agreed to follow up with them after a day or two.

A week later I learned that the baby had died at home. And although I knew that this was likely to happen, I still felt overwhelmed with sorrow. On the one hand, he was in the arms of Jesus, yet on the other hand, it was the poverty, the lack of education, and the lack of adequate health care that led to his death. How do we work to improve these circumstances so that more infants do not need to die?

Later, the same day I learned of his death, another mother came to CBHPP with her 2 year old child. She had travelled 60 km, getting an expensive ride on the back of a truck, to have her child seen by a doctor. She had obtained for him a prescription for antibiotics for pneumonia. She came to our office to get her prescription filled. But when I asked about his symptoms they did not sound like pneumonia - fever, stomach pain, diarrhea. I asked if he had been tested for malaria, and she said he had not. So I walked back to the hospital with her and asked a CTC doctor to test the baby for malaria. He had a count of 100 (!) and was admitted for IV Quinine over a number of days. I visited them from time to time and helped them get food and medicines. After a few days her son was healed from malaria and they were ready to go back to their village. As she was leaving she told me "If you had not refused to give me the antibiotics until we had tested him for malaria, he surely would have died at home."

To me, the stories of these two mothers and their children illustrates the kind of place we work in and the challenges faced. People living in remote villages with little access to health care and little funds to travel to Mugumu. Mothers with no health education and little empowerment to make decisions for their children. Inadequate and incomplete hospital treatment. Lack of food and lack of funds to buy medications. Children dying preventable deaths. The hardships seem overwhelming. And yet we are still called to have hope for each child, to fight for them, to rejoice in the small victories, and to ask God to give us strength to continue working towards justice so that children do not have to suffer needlessly.

A day in the life of...

2008-07-13T04:50:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 11. Well I don't know if it was typical or not but I
just thought I'd write a bit about Friday, July 11, not because
anything special happened but just to start writing about day to day
events instead of "deep" thoughts or significant happenings. (I also
don't know why I'm blogging right now since I have a ton of friends to
email.)

Yesterday Ben woke up around 6:15 so I took him to the bathroom and
then said it was too early to wake up so I slept in his bed while he
lay there. At some point he got out of bed and got himself breakfast
by eating the tops off of full loaves of pumpkin bread which is how I
found him. We played Lego for a while, he has 8 duplo blocks so there
are only so many tower, bridge, stair combinations that you can build
but he had fun and is certainly getting the hang of it.

As usual our gardener arrived at 8:00, our househelp, Mama Daudi
(Mama David), arrived at 8:30 and the milk sometime after that. (Our
normal househelp had a baby last month as well so she's on leave and
now the lady who normally watches Ben is helping around the house.
It's really a great situation but it's a long story.)

I was trying to do a little computer work in my office (in our
house) but I have an issue with the grounding in my house and kept
tripping a breaker. By the time I "fixed" the ground the electricity
really was off so I couldn't do that work anyway.

Carla went to CBHPP to just check in with everyone and say hi. She
met a volunteer who just arrived this week from Illinois, I'm not sure
what she'll be doing but she's here to help. I stayed home and
watched the boys. Ben's quickly learning his alphabet and has words
associated with almost all the letters of the alphabet. We spent the
morning stacking the letters and identifying them (flying for F,
muffin for M, tree for T, etc).

Carla got back around noon and fed Aaron while Ben and I had lunch.
Biscuit, chapati and cucumber for Ben, left over heuvos rancheros
(sp?) for me. Then Ben went for a nap and I wrote some emails and did
my MCC worker report. At some point Mama Daudi made ugali and sukuma
for herself and Carla and I had joined them for a bit more lunch.
(Carla and I are really getting addicted to the local food - even,
dare I say, ugali.)

I forgot to mention that these days we usually have on the order of
10-20 kids playing in our yard at our swing. Sometimes it seems like
mayhem, sometimes they are all in a line waiting their turn at the
swing. We did have a rubber ball that they played with a lot but then
one of them wore cleats one day and it got a serious hole in it. I do
have a really nice new soccer ball waiting for Ben's 3rd birthday and
I'm wondering how or if to bring that outside.

So speaking of the kids, after I had written some emails and
reports, Ben and I went outside to fly his kite. There was virtually
no wind but I got it up once for a few minutes. The next time I tried
running around the field to get it up but of course some trees snagged
it so it took about 15 minutes to get it down and then Ben had gone
off to his swing.

Later we drove to town to buy some curtain rod hardware and do
various errands. Going to town is always interesting because usually
it involves visiting a minimum of 10 little dukas because each one
sells this but not that. (For example, the main hardware store had
one curtain rod in stock, it was on the ceiling with plastic sewage
traps hung off of it. But they didn't have the ends for supporting
the rod. So I tried about 3 other hardware stores but no avail. We
also wanted chapatis so that we could have egg burritos for supper but
it took 3 "restaurants" to find one with chapatis.)

Now of course I've forgotten the details of the evening. But after
some great egg burritos (we brought back salsa from Nairobi) I'm sure
there was some playing with Ben's little tool station, some no-get-me,
aka tag, a bath, etc. I think the electricity went off for a while
and I also think I spent an hour holding Aaron watching an episode of
an 80's BBC series called "Connections" that I found on our computer.

And then it was bed for two exhausted parents but luckily we would
at least have a few hours to ourselves on Sat morning with only the
milk lady dropping by.

can't get enough of this little guy!

2008-06-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

The frequency of these updates in the last couple weeks puts our year to shame!

But here are some more pictures of Aaron.

Update: At our dr's appt yesterday we found he had gained 500 gm (a pound) in the last week - so now he weighs in at about 8 pounds 3 oz or so.

We just got his passport so we plan on heading back to Mugumu early next week. Then he'll be our bush baby.

well...

2008-06-23T02:25:00.000-07:00

the men in my life:

More pictures!

2008-06-23T00:40:00.000-07:00

These were taken the day we left the hospital - June 6th. Since then Aaron has gained at least 1/2 a pound or so. Right now I've got to run but I will try to put up more pictures soon!

the little one

2008-06-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

with his big brother:

with my dad: (or his hand, rather)

with Auntie JoJo

Little Aaron was given to us on June 4th. He came early - due date was June 19th, and we had planned a c-section for June 9th. But when I started having regular pain every 10 minutes or so on the evening of June 3rd and after three hours of denial that this could actually be labor, we headed to the hospital where I went through a full labor and then an emergency c-section. Kurt was able to be there through the whole thing, and was able to hold Aaron during those first wee hours in the morning while I recovered from surgery. All the details came together so well considering we had only been in Nairobi a week and hadn't really had time to prepare for the delivery. My sister Jo came with us to the hospital for support, and my parents drove over to the Mennonite Guest House at 11:00 pm to stay with Ben. So I was able to leave him in their care without too much worry. Everything has been a blur since. We came home from the hospital on Friday and have since been learning how to the parents of two. Ben calls Aaron "Kanga" for some reason unbeknownst to us. He was pretty cute when he first saw Aaron - tried not to smile but right away wanted to hold him - which lasted about half a second. He seems not to mind Aaron's presence but isn't too interested for now. We're now staying in a duplex next to my parents here at our old stomping grounds, Rosslyn Academy, a place I have loved since I started first grade here in 1985. It's great to have mom and dad a couple steps away. We will be here for a few weeks sorting out birth certificates and passports so we can take Aaron to Tanzania. We are so loving our new little boy, a little cuddly sleepy boy who loves to nestle up in our necks. I think because he came so quickly we're still wrapping our minds around the fact that he's really here, that we are parents again, that Ben has a little brother. It is amazing and we are so thankful. Aaron Jacob Unger. We love the name Aaron. Jacob is the name of Kurt's Opa and my brother. Right now Aaron is being held by his father, resting on the couch. It's time I feed him and go to bed...

Aaron Jacob Unger

2008-06-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

Introducing..

Aaron Jacob Unger.
Born June 4th, 1:57 am.
6 lbs., 11 oz.

Nairobi, Kenya.

A culture of preparedness...

2008-04-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

So this subject line has been on my mind for a long time (since before I left
Canada) and many different aspects of it have crossed my mind so we'll see where
this goes. I wasn't even sure if "preparedness" was a word and then I read an
article in the Canadian Mennonite that used the word "preparedness" and I
thought I'd better write my two cents.

This material certainly isn't new, it's been covered under the lenses of
future/present/past centered cultures and even materialism. But I want to
discuss it under the lens of "preparedness".

Most of the people reading this blog have grown up in a boyscout culture
where the motto "Always be prepared" is respected and valued. We see it all
around us, I remember biking in Winnipeg and the bus benches on Pembina had a
picture of a police man and the words "Have a plan" - though I was never quite
sure what I should have a plan for, which may have been the point. The Canadian
Mennonite recently featured an article about preparing for a pandemic and often
features articles about preparing for retirement or the death of a loved one,
etc. We are certainly a culture of preparedness.

Let me give some examples of what I feel preparedness looks like for us. I am
often encouraged to make sure that I have tools, oil, rope, water, etc in our
truck in case we get stuck. Our truck has two spare tires and 2 gas tanks. We
are very conscious about how much water we use because if our rain tanks run
out, then we don't know what we'd do. We would like to get some patio furniture
for when we want to sit on our porch. I would like to get a cell phone that can
do internet since currently we can only access the internet through Carla's
phone and sometimes I can't go online all day (!). I built Ben a swing and a
sandbox for when he wants to play outside.

Now some examples from Canadian culture. We put money away and pay UI for
when circumstances deteriorate. Our organizations and governments are filled
with offices and documents explaining what to do in particular situations. A
cliche example (and the one that set me on this path) is that we buy our SUV's
for when road conditions are poor. (Who remembers the SUV commercial that
justified the need for an SUV by saying that the various exceptions to good road
conditions really are quite common.) On that same note, we get the truck for
when we need to haul stuff, the cabin for when we want to get out, the boat for
when we want to get out from the cabin, the rotary car buffing thing-a-ma-bob
for when we want to buff the car. I recently heard that the lifetime total run
time of the average power drill was 8 minutes - we buy or are given that drill
for those eight minutes over the next x number of years before we forget we have
it and go buy another one.

So how does preparedness play itself out in the lives of the people here. We
often give spur of the moment rides to people, at their bequest, and drop them
off 100's of kilometers away without money, clothes, a plan or even in forming
anyone from where they came or where they ended up. But they are perfectly
comfortable doing this. People here share everything from rides on bicycles,
clothes & furniture to food and money. We would say they do this without much
planning. One recent visitor had brought 2 bottles of Peptobismal with him and
after realizing that his gut was adjusting fine he gave one away. The recipient
family used it up within a few days, again we would say, without thinking of
when they really might want some. The day to day activities of our clinic seem
to be largely dictated day to day. The only time we really seem to plan for
next week, month or year is when some outside donor organization asks us to,
otherwise it's simply dealing with the day to day.

So I don't want to criticize either culture. When my father-in-law recently
traveled across Kenya with hundreds of Kenyans, he and many of them were very
glad that he had brought a flashlight for when it got dark. When our neighbours
don't have water, they appreciate that we aren't concerned about how much water
we may or may not have 6 months from now, they need water now. When I build a
swing and a sandbox for Ben, all the neighbourhood kids are very happy to play
with them.

But a couple of things I want to point out. It struck me that our
preparedness is a huge contributor to our ecological footprint. All these
things that we buy "for when ..." are maybe not so needed. Also, I remember
reading a short article out of The Manitoban [U of M newspaper] where the auther
recalled being at the end of his rope in the Caribbean and other places and how
something just happened to work out. He even went so far as to challenge the
readers to test it for themselves; to place themselves in a situations where
they had no backup plans at all (How foolish!! we say) and to see what happens.
One challenge (sheesh, I hope this doesn't sound like a sermon!) for anybody
who reads this far is, try to analyze how much of your daily activities could be
categorized under the "for when ..." idea. Whether it's buying that drill or
preparing for the weekend. Another thought I just had this morning was that I
wonder how much this preparedness stifles us. As we were driving out 60km to a
remote dispensary, some hose started leaking fuel. Since I had brought all my
tools along I was determined to use them and was having quite a time thinking
about it. Our accountant took one look at it and simply suggested kinking the
hose and tying it. I felt a bit silly. But who knows how much more we could do
if we didn't insist on preparing for everything ahead of time and just learned
to role with the punches.

Likewise, I think the culture here is benefiting from the exposure to the
idea of "for when ..." especially as it is becoming westernized anyway. I've
read how society and culture developed here over the last millennium as a coping
mechanism for the various ecological and social crises that struck this
continent. Not that the crises are abating, but now that the world is much more
global, these problems might be better addressed with a more prepared culture.

At the end of the day, like most people, I very much appreciate my way of
thought, probably because it's been so ingrained in me. But it is healthy for
me to begin to see the advantages of looking at things from another perspective.

Thanks for reading...
Kurt

240V isn't SO bad

2008-04-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

Was working more in our attic on setting up our solar lights, which are 12V, when, ironically, I hit
myself with 240V. (Our house wiring includes 12V, 110V and 240V) And then I did it again in trying
to clean up the exposed 240V.

Luckily I didn't fall through the ceiling. So it's not so bad but the buzz lasted 20 minutes and I
still have a headache as well as some nice little burns on my leg and finger.

A pretty good weekend...

2008-04-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well, after a very busy couple of weeks of traveling and visitors we had a very relaxing weekend.

By 8am Ben and I had played in the car, installed a new AC belt and played with a chameleon. Had to
make a quick trip to town for bread since we didn't have any food in the house after all our
travels. Then it was a pleasantly slow morning, only one person dropped by - a stranger asking for
money. I went to town for a big shopping trip where I spent about $16 total on groceries. Ben and
mom played around while I fixed some curtain rods that had pulled out of the wall.
Spent a few hours in the afternoon changing the oil in our truck. This involved 3 trips to town
for various reasons such as "Oh, I need TEN liters of oil, not five." and "Uh-oh, how am I going to
get that filter off." (Just letting the engine cool did the trick.) Having 4WD is nice - just drive
up on a big rock, no messing around with a ramp. (Actually I did try a ramp but underestimated the
weight of the truck so it just bent.)
Played some more with Ben. (The kid has a crazy amount energy - our gardener was telling us the
other day how much he ran around the entire morning without stopping.) Went for a walk in the
evening and Carla picked a bouquet of wildflowers. We had an early supper which was VERY nice and
Ben got to bed early and we watched "The Fugitive".

On Sunday morning Carla gave me a haircut and got ready to go to church but then we just decided
to stay home. Carla made pancakes for breakfast and we listened to a sermon by Richard Rohr. Also
arranged our furniture a bit - we just got some living room furniture that we had ordered in January.
I played outside a lot with Ben - climbing trees, riding his tricycle, tipped over rocks looking
for millipedes - while Carla cooked up some Indian food since we were having our first "real" guests
over. Curry, rice, even dal! with all the toppings - it was delicious! It was also not too far
from a regular Tanzanian meal of chapatis, stew and rice - though putting the fresh tomatoes,
cucumbers, pineapple and yogurt on the curry was a bit strange for them. They are an older couple
that has very naturally taken us under their wing. We drop by for Ben to herd the cows or play
around and they come by with their twin grandchildren. She also delivers fresh milk to us every
morning.

Then we went to work on Monday morning only to find out that it was a national holiday! So we
had the morning to catch up on emails and take care of work stuff that had been put off.

So that was our very nice weekend.

Pictures

2008-03-14T01:30:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm sitting in the hospital compound enjoying the luxury of wireless internet. Had a big meeting here at the office of the District Medical Officer, talking about Home-based care needs for the entire Serengeti District. Hopefully we can work together to provide some care to areas that aren't receiving anything.

We have had a long 2 1/2 month stint in Mugumu with just a couple weekends at the nearest town/cities - Musoma and Mwanza. Tomorrow we are driving up to Nairobi for dr's appointments and to pick up some computers. We should get there in about 10 hours if we aren't delayed at the border and have no problems on the road. Now that the situation in Kenya is settling down we feel it should be fine to pass through some areas where there had been conflict. We are ready for a bit of a break and to see family. After Nairobi we will go to Arusha, then the TZ coast for MCC retreat. We are really looking forward to it. As we settle into life and work, we get busier and busier and we need some time to deflate.

These pictures didn't make it last time so I thought I'd try again, if anyone has advice on how to post pictures quickly PLEASE feel free to enlighten me! I'm really hoping to give a more detailed account of our day-to-day life here, probably in Nairobi where internet is fast and where babysitters are abundant!

Here are the pics...

Five months pregnant (last month), making bagels, this is our kitchen:

And a fish dinner that started with this :

And turned out like this:

It was pretty good!

2008-03-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

Sunday, March 2^nd.

Tonight Kurt and I are up later than normal. Actually much later. It is 11:00 pm and we are each going strong on laptops, communicating with the outside world that is somewhere out there. Usually I’m half asleep by 9:00 and drag myself to brush my teeth and stretch out in bed while Kurt unfurls our mosquito net and tucks it in. So, this is late. There usually isn’t much to do around here after dark. Although, some aspects of Mugumu come to life at night. We have some good friends, Eli and Linda Knapp, who have spent time in Serengeti and Mugumu, now living in the States (woohoooo, you guys are BLOGWORTHY!!! Eli loves to tease about that – little do they know the plans I have for them). Anyways, before we arrived in Mugumu, we had asked them to describe it. One of the things they mentioned was that they would often ponder as they laid in bed at night, “Why do all the dogs in Mugumu choose to bark at the same time?” And now, I join them in their ponderings. It’s the Mugumu nightlife…stray dogs barking and howling together. I also hear frogs, crickets, and doves. You know how things seem quiet until you listen and realize that there are noises everywhere? It’s the same when I sit on the grass outside…if I look closely, the grass is moving. Teeming with ants, termites, little harmless insects busy with their day’s work.

So, confessions. Blogs are overwhelming. There are so many details to choose from to spill forth onto your computer screens! We are glad you’re taking some time to read up on our lives. There is much to share…about life, work, raising a child here, pregnancy. Yes, our late but big and getting bigger news…I’m five months pregnant. Here’s the proof:

This was just less than a month ago, but the only “pregnant” picture on our computer thus far. And behind me you’ll see a bit of our kitchen. I made bagels for the first time, they turned out nicely, especially when I used yogurt to make cream cheese, I felt like I was back in Seattle eating a Noah’s bagel.

So, for some lucky people, pregnancy is blissful, romantic, full of wonder and excitement. For me, I feel like I turn into a wretch. I could barely get food down, for it only to come up again. All the time. And all this while we were settling into a new country, a new town, working new jobs, with new people. Believe me, we gave our head a shake at the timing as well. But anyways, the worst is over, I’m healthy again, and coming out of the “dark hole” of the first trimester and seeing some sunshine again. We’re happy for this gift, happy that Ben will have a sibling soon (we’re due in June). I’ll be going up to Nairobi for the delivery, since my parents are there, and it’s not too far of a drive. So…that’s our big news.

Someday I will post about my work, driving over goat paths to reach villages where our clients live. And about living here, of snakes and malaria, of friendships, of culture shock. We’ve figured out a way we can email our posts, which hopefully will save a lot of time and work in “blogging,” so maybe we can be a bit better about it.

But for now, here is what I cooked for dinner a couple of weeks ago.

It started with this:

And ended like this:

Here’s something I couldn’t have eaten a couple months ago! Fish with Mango, from Extending the Table for all you Mennos. Fish caught from Lake Victoria, shuttled 4 hours here by bus, sold in an open market. Mangoes and tomatoes and onions and salt. And that’s it! 100 mile diet!

Ben's latest

2008-03-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

I certainly don't mean to take over this blog but anyway...

The other day I was lying on my back on the bed and Ben was lying on my shins. I was bouncing him
and tossing him with enough force to justify a call from family services; he wasn't saying much
except "More" every time he fell off. But then all of a sudden we hear him say in this very calm
and normal voice, "Thank you daddy, thank you." And then a few seconds later the same thing, "Thank
you daddy, Thank you." Anyway, Carla and I found it very funny.

We were playing with his tee-ball set one afternoon and he was hitting it OK when he picked up the
tee and put it on the steps. He then ordered me to throw the ball to him and promptly whacked it
right back to me quite well about 4 times in a row. I was very proud.

The Turtle

2008-03-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

So the other day Ben and I (Kurtis) were playing outside; I think Ben was climbing trees and I was
feeding ant-lions. (Look em up on wiki!) Ben suddenly called out, "Look daddy, turtle!" and sure
enough a very nice sized turtle was wandering past the climbing tree. So I picked it up and took it
to show Carla. Our neighbour was walking by and mentioned that she thought it belonged to some kids
so after we showed Mommy, I left Ben to "fyaka" (cut the grass) and I went to the closest house to
see if I could return the turtle.
I found a mama cooking supper and we went through the greetings and then in my very broken
Swahili I explained that I found this turtle and I thought it belonged to some children and I wanted
to return it. That took a couple of tries and then I figured out that this turtle probably didn't
belong to her kids. Then it took a couple of tries from her for me to realize that she was asking
me to pay her something. That just about did it for me as I had already received a much higher than
usual number of requests in town that day. So I got a bit terse and I'm sure everyone understood
that there was no way I was going to pay for the privilege of returning the turtle. In the end we
did the polite good-byes and I ended up leaving the turtle there.
Then when I got back to our yard Ben was completely gone and it took about a minute before we saw
our gardener (who just happened to be going by on the weekend) bringing him back from the road. He
had been running full tilt probably looking for me.
So in about 90 seconds I managed to wreck the day for a number of people. The kids no longer had
their turtle, I was mad about automatically being asked for something because of my skin tone and
that I had blown my first meeting with this neighbour, the neighbour was probably annoyed that she
didn't get anything (except maybe turtle soup) and that I had been so rude, Carla was not too
pleased that I had left Ben and the turtle was most likely disappointed at becoming dinner that night.
..
A couple of addendums...
- That week we had just come back from a trip and found a great deal of water had been removed from
one of our tanks with a path leading from the tank towards this neighbours house though of course we
will never know for sure who took it. So that might have been on the back of my mind and why I
didn't have much patience.
- A few weeks later Ben and I were playing with his tricycle and some kids couldn't resist coming by
to watch. So we played together a bit and somehow the turtle came up. I mentioned that I had
returned it to that house and they took off right away to go find it so hopefully they did get it back.

Kurt's thoughts...

2008-02-17T10:50:00.000-08:00

So I (Kurt) often have "bloggable" thoughts and I thought I shouldn't
leave this all to Carla so here it goes - if I actually remember and
type everything I've thought about over the last few months this could
be quite long.

Backgound...
I'm doing IT work here in Mugumu. In geek speak, I get to clean
viruses off of PIII's with 64MB ram that someone had the bright idea to
load with XP. But my main focus over the next little while will be
networking a bunch of computers to share a 64kbps VSAT connection.

Initial Thoughts...
So some groups of Mennonites have some very conservative ideas about
technology and it's true value. And part of me is right there; although
I am a computer engineer (Professional Engineer too!) I'm in a bit of a
love/hate relationship. What good is internet access when many people
don't know when they'll have their next meal? (And now I KNOW people
who live like that.) Is this just another imposition of a western
tool/thing/way-of-thinking that needs some major thought and
readjustment before it is introduced to a rural African context? I read
about a UN forum where someone had apparently documented how democracy,
freedoms and general education DECREASED after the introduction of the
internet. (I definitely need to read up on that.) So those are just a
few of my skepticisms about my own work here that I deal with.
However, as I get to understand the situation better I see that there
is some use for it here. (Just to be clear, I was called here by the
local staff to pioneer internet. This was not something I nor MCC told
our clinic that they need.) It will certainly give people more access
to information to help them understand their own context better. And,
although I don't believe in "top down economics", I still hope that by
providing internet to the more educated people in the health community
here and to the wealthier people who can afford internet cafe costs that
it will trickle down to the rest of the community.

One liners...
Wealth is...
....having THREE laptops in our house in a town where 99% do not have
electricity or running water. (We have so much wealth in many other
ways but that's just one way.)
Culture shock is...
....wirelessly surfing dlink.com, linksys.com and newegg.com researching
wireless access points on your brand new Core 2 blah blah blah and
looking up to see a mother watching you with a sick child on her back
who very easily could have walked 15km to get to the hospital and now
has no way to feed herself or the child. (The hospital ONLY provides
medicine and a bed - I'll post a very illustrative picture some day.)
Power is...
....being a young 28 year old punk and giving water to the head of the
Tanzanian Mennonite church (a VERY wise, influential and respected man
and my boss) for a bucket of water.

on a lighter note,
Fear is...
....having your face covered by a blanket or pillow and know that at some
moment in the near future a 50lb two year old will land somewhere on
your body.

Other bloggable thoughts that I might get to some day...(so if you want
to hear them you'll have to comment!)
The Turtle (or How White Guys Wreck Everything)
A Culture of Preparedness
My Projects
The Information Superhighway in Dis-empowered Societies

So that's all for now, that wasn't too long now was it?

ok ok one more

2008-01-28T11:56:00.001-08:00

One more for Good Luck

2008-01-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

Everywhere we go we have company...

I wish you could click on these and see the big versions but I had to resize them WAY down...hopefully you get a taste for the place.

For the Friends who are actually still looking here...

2008-01-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

The Great Ngorongoro Crater...

We have to drive up the crater each time we travel from Arusha to Mugumu. To me, it's a wonder of the world - a crater full of wildlife.

This is my first post from Mugumu so I'm doing a test to see how long it takes to post a pic. So for now...just one.

This is just reassurance that we're alive and well!

2007-10-07T05:04:00.000-07:00

Galilee Song - Frank Anderson

Deep within my heart, I feel voices whispering to me.
Words that I can’t understand; Meanings I can’t clearly hear.
Calling me to follow close, lest I leave myself behind.
Calling me to walking into evening shadows one more time.

Refrain:
So I leave my boats behind
Leave them on familiar shores
Set my heart upon the deep
Follow you again, my Lord

In my memories, I know how you send familiar rains
falling gently on my days, dancing patterns on my pain.
And I need to learn once more in the fortress of my mind,
to believe in falling rain as I travel deserts dry.
Refrain

As I gaze into the night down the future of my years,
I’m not sure I want to walk past horizons that I know.
But I feel my spirit called like a stirring deep within,
restless, ’til I live again beyond the fears that close me in.
Refrain

We sang this song today to close our worship service at an international church here in Arusha. And the words gripped me. To live beyond fear. To leave what you have behind. It seemed like a sending song for us as we have three days to prepare before driving out to our final destination, Mugumu, for the first time.

Finally.

This small town, stuck between the borders of Lake Victoria, Kenya and Serengeti National Park, has been in our consiousness for almost 2 years now. We have done so much preparing now and my heart is restless to get there, to settle, to finally do the work we have been preparing to do, meet the people who are waiting for us, and be home. It will be a gruelling 10 hour drive from Arusha, the last half being extremely bumpy over roads in who knows what condition. We will load up as much stuff as we can into the Land Cruiser so with 4 adults, a toddler and a full load we will be squashed. But I'm excited to see more of TZ and to go through Serengeti on our way, and get a feel for the environment around Mugumu.

We have just arrived back in Arusha from 3 weeks in Lushoto. One of the more beautiful places I've ever been - the highlands of Tanzania complete with eucalyptus and jacaranda trees, rolling hills, cool weather. It was beautiful and we went on long walks everyday. Someday when I have time I will post pictures of that beautiful place. The highlight of our time was hiking up to a viewpoint with an 1000 meter drop-off overlooking the Masai Steppe (the plains) below. It was stunning. It was a challenging few weeks in other ways but God sustained us. Coming from Nairobi, Arusha seems so small, but now coming from Dodoma and Lushoto, Arusha is a metropolis!

I don't think we'll have internet access for awhile now. But please keep in touch with comments and e-mails. We love hearing from all of you, and could use your support in prayer over the next month especially as we settle into our new home. Pray also for the right person to watch Ben during the times that both Kurt and I need to work. We are hoping the community already has the right person in mind.

Thanks for your support everyone! Next time: from Mugumu!

Realities

2007-09-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

Due to our lack of frequent internet access here in Dodoma, updates and e-mails have not been flying. Right now I'm in the health office of my sister, Jo's, church. She is working here in Dodoma with MCC, doing home-based care facilitation for people with HIV/AIDS.

We've been here for about two weeks now, and head to another language school in Lushoto on Sunday. While we've been here, Kurt has done some research on a potential water development project, I've been able to accompany Jo on a couple of home visits, and we've had some down-time to spend with Ben and get to know Johanna's life here.

Johanna is a local. She lives with two Tanzanian friends and her Swahili makes mine embarrassing. They just moved into a house three weeks ago, and have had non-stop company since. Her roommates, Vero and Janet, have shown us exemplary hospitality and helped us use our Swahili a lot (they don't speak much English). We have enjoyed cups of chai and swinging in the hammock on Jo's porch, eating rice and beans, watching sunsets and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Because of those same mosquitoes, Kurt and Ben were both diagnosed with malaria last weekend. Ben's temp spiked to 40.5 on Sunday night and we, with Jo's help as well as her pastor and pastor's wife, managed to find a dispensary open on a Sunday night that could test Ben. He had been negative that morning (I had suspected something was off), but I guess it just took some time for the little protozoa to spread enough to test positive. Anyway, he was quite positive this time. Then Amos and Esther (pastors) led us to another pharmacy that had all the medicine we could have asked for. We were so blessed to have people who cared with us and who helped us navigate our way through Dodoma and get the help we needed. The whole thing was a lesson in faith and trust for me. I even let a stranger give Ben a shot in the rear. Which helped a ton and within 20 minutes he was perky again. It had been quite scary for awhile to watch Ben burning up and acting so lethargic.

Anyway, four days later and my family seems to have recovered. We are thankful and feel like locals now. What with malaria and eating dried fish, what else do we need to learn?

Some other realities have hit me as I have gone on a couple of home visits. I knew they would hit but still felt unprepared when they did. We went to see a woman in Jo's program who was quite sick. We pulled up to her home, made of mud walls, greeted everyone, and then sat down to talk and figure out what was going on. I can't give all the details, but I know I witnessed suffering that I will never be able to understand. She had three children, and the eldest, 12, was running the house...cooking the meals, feeding the babies. Her 3 year old was quite sick with a cough and her baby also had a runny nose, swollen eyes and rattly chest. The woman would take long pauses to cough and right away I suspected TB. I know I will need to learn how to co-treat TB and HIV...so many questions. To hear this woman try to talk, to watch her pain, to watch her tired children...I can't describe it.

During the visit Jo and the other counselors brought along an MCC HIV care kit which are distributed by the material resources center. My heart was encouraged as I saw the contents: cough medicine. tylenol. nystatin. multivitamins. vaseline. polysporin cream. bandaids. and then clean sheets and towels. The woman was in tears as she received the sheets...she doesn't have any.

Since then Jo and her coworkers have taken her and her 3 year old to the local hospital. We visited her yesterday and she seems to be feeling a bit better. I can't articulate at this point all of my thoughts. I only can sense my own passion for this work growing the more exposure I get. A combination of feeling helpless to deal with all the issues - from health to economics to justice....and feeling empowered that even little things, like clean sheets, can make a huge difference.

As Kurt has visited some nearby villages to research water issues he has faced some realities as well. Families collecting water, literally cup by cup, from dry river beds. People who are facing the fact that their water supply will run out in two months. How can people function without water?

So that is a bit of an update. Please pray for us as we learn how to be here. How to balance life and work and family and relationships. How to live with integrity amongst people who suffer. It is not an easy thing when we have so much.

Beauty

2007-08-17T03:31:00.001-07:00

My mom and Ben

Outside my parents' house in Nairobi:

On the way to school...

2007-08-17T03:06:00.000-07:00

Our path.

Adorableness.

Pictures of our life for the last month

2007-08-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

We've been enjoying lots of delicious bananas since coming here.

We walk by this banana tree every day here

at language school on our way to class.

Aunt Jo (Carla's sister) came up to Arusha for MCC meetings from Dodoma,

where she also works for MCC.

Ben was happy to see her and even yelled "JoJo!" when

she came through the gate.

This is the "unorthodox" bbq I mentioned in my previous post.

We had a goat roast for visiting MCC country reps.

I'm pretty sure we had a wringer washer just like this in Eastleigh.

Bedtime stories. This is at our reps place in Arusha.

My Dad, Chuck, and his dog, Mac. My parents had Mac from

1997-2002. He's been living in a great place since then,

but he remembered my dad when he went to visit last month.

He even remembered Mom, Wanjela (an amazing gardener at Rosslyn) and the

campus itself. Amazingly bright dog. He's worked his way

back into my family's home. They weren't planning on

getting him back...but how can you resist this dog?

Another important milestone: Orange Fanta.

My sister used to chug this when we were little.

This was taken when we went out for Ethiopian food with

my parents, Ryan and Kristen and about 10 other Rosslynites.

We were told not to bother bringing lots of toys along...

people were right.

This is outside my parent's backdoor at Rosslyn, Nairobi.

Is it surprising, giving the lineage, (grandparents, specifically)

that he is a big time ham?

Minneapolis airport. Ben loved the moving sidewalks.

Our last day in Winnipeg with the Unger Family:

Big Ben and Little Ben:
Doesn't he realize how special this moment is?

Swahili

2007-08-10T03:34:00.000-07:00

Kurt and I are in the throes of language school. Noun classes and possessive terms swirl through our minds as we try to sleep at night. Also disturbing our sleep are the screeches of invisible bush babies in nearby trees, a mosque call that happens more frequently than I think it needs to, and random monkeys jumping on our roof. Vilevile (also) we have a two year old who likes to wake up and yell "Mama!" so he can scramble into bed with us and ruin our sleep for a couple of hours. What a sweetie.

We are about 20 km outside of Arusha now, studying Kiswahili at a Danish development school and training center called MS-TCDC. However, my Danish has not improved. I don't know about my Swahili either, although I am soaking in the classes. After years of living in Nairobi it has always been a bit embarrassing to admit that my Swahili didn't go much further than "Sawa" so it is refreshing to get some formal training. Kurt and I are in different classes so we can't bug each other, but we do see each other at tea time, which is twice a day, if you don't include the tea I also drink at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

And speaking of eating, we have been going to sleep with bellies full at the end of every day. Rice, curries, fresh avocadoes and fruit salads for lunch; crepes and omelettes and fresh masala tea for breakfast. And the occasional culinary treat that I would attritube to the Danes - like beef sausages. I don't always eat those. While we were staying with our country reps in Arusha we were treated to goat, duck and lamb as well. Not as delicacies, but as food that was actually cheaper than cow or chicken. We had a big goat roast last weekend and as you can see the bbq equipment wasn't necessarily orthodox. (I say "as you can see" because I hope to post some pictures. However, this may not come to pass - the connection is slow and my blogging skills are even slower - but we press on).

I digress...

Every morning here we wake up early and get ready, sometimes with a hot shower and sometimes with a colder one....then we walk the path from our little "room" past banana and jacaranda trees to get to the dining hall. We drop Ben off at the kindergarten, which is easier at some times than others - you can pray about that - and then go to class all day. We get out and have more tea, and then play with Ben, eat dinner, do homework, and try to get Ben down. It's a fairly small world here but we are enjoying it. We'll be here for another two weeks, and then get an additional month of study in a different area called Lushoto.

So that's kind of our life right now. Ben has impressed everyone with his balling skills already and is keeping up with the big kids. The child care situation is good but it ebbs and flows. He's been a real trooper but I think all of the changes are piling up and overhelming him a bit. He'll be ok and we're looking forward to all the time we can give him this weekend.

Well, class begins in 10 minutes so I'd better try to post this...it just might take that long.

Travels and Birthdays

2007-07-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

London in a day.

Here are the boys at Trafalgar Square. Ben especially enjoyed throwing our leftover US coins into the fountain.

Sleeping on an airport bench; a true MK rite of passage:

And lastly,

here's a picture of Ben's early 2nd birthday party.

We celebrated it with my parents and Kurt's brother and sister-in-law,

Ryan and Kristen, in Nairobi.

He enjoyed blowing out the candle repeatedly.

We'll try to post pictures of Africa soon.

So it begins

2007-07-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

As I type there is bustle all around me. I'm sitting in my parents' old duplex at Rosslyn Academy. My mom is unpacking some bags that just arrived from the airport today, excited to finally be setting up home. Dad is out with Ben teaching him how to swing a bat. And Kurt is busy at work fixing lamps, computers, tables, and cameras on demand. I can smell a fresh pot of coffee almost finished brewing and I'm listening to tunes by Simon and Garfunkel.

And yet somehow, we are in Africa. How can Africa feel so normal?

We arrived here on Wednesday night after leaving Akron on Monday afternoon. We had a LONG 30 hour layover in London. It was fun, exhausting, and a little testing. Between jet lag, reclaiming bags, taking trains, buses, and the tube, finding places to eat...it was pretty exhausting. But we managed to get to Trafalgar Square, and snap a couple pics of Big Ben and Little Ben.

We arrived in Nairobi around 11:00 pm on Wednesday and got to the Mennonite Guest House 12:30 am. It was surreal. Of course, our camera batteries died in London and they didn't get recharged until now. So I've only taken 5 pictures of Africa and 3 of them are of Ben hitting a ball with a stick.

This post will not be long, since there is no time, but lots of chaos around me. We are happy to be back. We are excited about the moment, and also about what lies in wait. We are off to Arusha on Tuesday to start MCC Orientation.

I wil post some pictures and some more details when the dust settles in a couple of days. We are off to Ryan and Kristen's Kurt's brother and sister-in-law, here with MAF) tonight for supper. Ahhh, it's great having family on the continent.