Before Shirati, we (us missionairies and the visiting USA team) were invited to one of the orphanage’s employee’s home. Mwita, the day guard and farm overseer, invited us to his home for supper. Also present at his home were his grandfather, mother and friends and of course his kids.

Supper consisted of rice, beans, some green beef (Pam says it’s cooked with green peppers to account for the green tint, at least no one got sick), and bananas. I’m including some photos of Mwita and family and friends. Quite the exerience, but I do consider Mwita as one of the friends I’ve made here. He doesn’t talk much English, but him and I communicate quite well, especially when it comes to farm stuff. He’s also one of the kindest men you’ll ever meet when it comes to children, but is also one of the strongest indviduals you’ll meet, so not a man to mess with.

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Here we are going to Mwita’s house. We had to abandon the truck and walk maybe 1/4 to 1/2 a mile to the edge of the housing area. It was just a path and we had to jump a couple of small creeks to get there. Here Pam is figuring out how to jump the creek.

Still on the path, but we’ve now picked up half the neighborhood kids.

We’ve now arrived. The hut on the left is storage, the one in the middle is a sitting/living area, the one on the right I think is storage and that third tree in from the right is the men’s choo (restroom). The living/sleeping hut is in line with the storage hut and is the typical round mud hut. Photos showing it are later.

This is Mwita and his family, and yes that is a snowsuit. They don’t like the cold here at all.

Here we are gathered around some coffee tables brought out to hold the food in front of Mwita’s hut.

These are some of Mwita’s friends that came to the supper.

A couple of neighbor kids in snow suits. It had rained and cooled down some, probably to a little under 70 degrees.

Some of the USA team members led some games for the neighborhood kids.

This is Chacha a friend of Mwita, and his two wives. Chacha used to be our night guard at the house. The ladies seemed to get along quite well with each other.

Here is Mwita’s grandfather.

This was a real treat for all of us, real African hospitality. TIA, Mark

Some Shirata Photos

One note about Shirati that Pam left out, included with the bats that were present for supper, was a very friendly cat both nights we ate. It sure was howling for fish. Got kicked out one door, and just went around and came in another door.

I’m also attaching some photos of Lake Victoria and the shoreline. They were really touchy about photos, so couldn’t really take any of the village and people.

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Ok, just to show I'm still around and Pam isn't here alone, here's a photo of us on the shores of Lake Victoria

Below is the shoreline with the boats. Upper right is the new government fish house where all the fish will be brought and weighed and given to shippers. Upper left is an island that people will go to picnic.

The village we were in where all the fish come to is named Soto. The fishermen go all the way across the lake as there are no fish just off shore. They usually come back about 11am and we were there late afternoon. These were fish just brought in. We did eat fish two nights in a row and it was really good.

They have some really nice looking birds here, roosters for one, but they have some really ugly birds also. This is one, kind of a cross between a pelican and a crane with a little buzzard mixed in.

There are sail and outboard fishing boats. We saw one sail in and only had one fish in it, my kind of fishing luck.

This photo really touches me. This is Rhobi, the girl we were taking to see the bone specialist.

She had never seen a lake before. She did wade in the water, tried to pick shells from the lapping shore waters and here she is taking a last look at the lake before we go back to town.

Thanks to you all for keeping in touch and sharing these blogs with Pam and I. TIA, Mark

Good News Bad News

Mark and I took Rhobi to Shirati on Monday morning. Checked at the hospital about the doctor coming on Tuesday and to make sure everything was a go. Got our name on the list of people to see the orthopedic surgeon. Felt pretty good about that. We were told to be at the hospital at 10:00 on Tuesday and the doctor would arrive at 11:00 to see patients. We checked into our "motel". Not much by American standards but Rhobi and Anna, the matrine, thought it was very nice. We did not have A/C, or a TV, only one outlet and not running water. There was a large bucket where you could get cold water to flush the toilet and to wash up with. The bathroom smelled terrible, made me gag to brush my teeth. While we ate supper, the bats flying around the ceiling, kept us company. The 2 inch cockroach met us at the bathroom door. Neadless to say I did not get much sleep (I am very spoiled American but needing to have this Africian experence). So on Tuesday it was back back to the hospital by 9:45(we wanted to be one of the first ones there) we saw about 250 people waiting after we checked in. I saw some of the worst club feet I'd ever seen and bowed knees and saw several people who could only move on there hands and knees. Made our little infection look minor!

The doctors plane arrived about 11:00. You couldn't miss it, it was loud! We waited and waited and waited. Someone told us the doctor likes to go to the fish market and buy fish, another told us he was having coffee upstairs. Being American I thought this was very rude of him. Finally after a 3 hour wait it was finally our turn to see the doctor who looked at our x rays and said they were of poor quality and we had to have them retaken. So we paid the $15,000 shillings to have the x ray and waited in line for them to take the x ray. About 5:00 the x rays were done and we went back to the first line to wait to see the doctor again. We waited and waited and waited. Finally at 8:00 PM the nurse announced that the doctor was going home and every one would have to come back tomorrow. I pretended I didn't understand what he said, and I said , "No Swahili what did you say?" The doctor said come in we'll see you now! After 10 hours of waiting finally we see t he doctor who says, "what have you tried to get rid of this infection?" I told him, amoxicillin, Ceflasporin and Ciprofloxin and he prescribed another antibiotic and sent us home. I had not heard of this anitbiotic but the doctor said it was good against penicillin resistant staff infections. I am hoping that this does in fact work better than the other 3 I tried already. I want to thank everyone for thier prayers and well wished. We came prepared to spend a week and only stayed 2 nights. I am so thankful for the games, coloring book, sweat shirt, candy, crafts and other things people sent to me to keep Rhobi warm and busy. We waited 10 hours and every game and toy helped. So the good news is no surgery, the bad news is we spent a lot of time and money.
Wishing you all a Christ filled Christmas and to know the love of Jesus,
This Is Africa, Pam

We had a very disappointing day today. After months of work to get VISAs for Anna, the director of Angel House, and Lucy, a student they were dennied VISAs. A lot of money has gone into sending them to the US. $400 each air fare to Daresalem,the capital, plus hotel, bus fare and meals for 3 days. Things have been in the works for Anna to accompany Dr. Lisa home and for Lucy to attend an American school for a couple of months. People on both the American and Tanzanian side are frustrated and disappointed. They had every piece of paper needed. Lucy had a letter from the school, physical, reason for going and the reasons for comming back. Anna just got married, has 3 children, a home, a great job and owns land here. There would be no reason for her to want to stay in America yet they were turned down. The other bad thing is that you can only apply for a VISA three times in your lifetime and they can turn you down three times.
So sad day here but the Lord is good all the time.
Blessings, TIA Pam

I finished my sample purse for “The Perfect Purse Project” we hope to be able to sell some of them either here in Tarime, Nairobi or back in Iowa at craft fairs. I’ve put in a photo of the front and back. There are two different fabrics used that coordinate with each other a pocket on the outside and several pockets on the inside. I noticed the price on the internet for the same purse is $35.00. I hope we can sell some and make a little money. I fugure it takes about 6 dollars to make a purse so I am hoping to sell them for 12-15 so with every purse sold they can buy material for 2 more purses.

Now let’s take a look at some of the landscape I see every day that reminds me of something out of “‘Horton Hears a Who”

This one looks like a Yucka plant with a huge stock.

This one is a tree and all the leaves fall off and then this "flower" appears on the end of the dead branches. Weird!

This one reminds me of pompoms on a stem.

This flower reminds me of a trumpet. It blooms about once a month but the blooms only last a day or two.

In Nairobi I found this bush near a bank. I love the different colors of flowers on the same bush. It was beautiful and I think blooms all the time.

I call these golf balls on a stick.

More golf balls on a stick up close. They have one layers of orange petals and reminds me of a cartoon type space ship. Behind is an oven that bakes bricks.

I know I saw this in "Horton Hears a Who".

Thanks to friends we now have 7 more new desks at the school. Things are really getting busy for Liz, Eric and Holly as preparations are made to open the new high school. We have a head master and a second head master. The next step for them is hiring teachers and we have had lots of interest in those positions. It will hard, I’m sure, to make the dicisions of who to hire there are so many qualified teachers.

Monday was a landmark day here at Angel House. We had 10 boys circumsised. Ages from 5-12. As you know there is a language barrier here and we use a lot of pantomime so use your imagination and pantomime circumcision. This is a big deal for them and it binds the boys together as they have all gone threw the same procedure. Liz and Eric bought meat for a celebration and Mark and I are going to buy soda for the circumcision celebration. Instead of wearing pants for a week they wear kongas, a piece of colorful cloth wrapped around the waiste. (Now they know what it is like to wear a skirt!)

While I was helping the boys in the surgery area, I was talking to the doctor he told me that when this procedure is done in the villages they many die because all they do is cut off the extra skin and don’t tie off the bleeders or put the remaining skin back together with suture. They often bleed to death or get nasty infections as they use the same knife on every one. (I would want to be the first one in line!) Not to mention no anesthia is used. So far are boys must be real men because all of them are healing nicely. So yoy can say “You Da Man” and really mean it because when your are circumsiced you also become a man and so if you have been sleeping on a mat you get a real bed with a matress. The village of Gamasara has been playing music and yelling a lot in preparation for their circumcision celebration. I understand the celebration goes on for days and they fly flags around the house to let everyone know about the circumcision.

Now as I am taking down the Thanksgiving decorations, it is time to put up
Christmas decorations. I know a lot of friends and family put Christmas up the weekend after Thanksgiving so we are late. The plan is to pool our money together and buy the one and only Christmas tree (that I know of), in Tarime, it’s about 2 and half feet tall, sort of a Charlie Brown looking tree, but a tree is a tree I don’t care how it looks. It has also been suggested that we buy a living banana tree and decorate it. Then I plan on down loading some Christmas music and hopefully it will seem more like the Advent Season. Liz’s father, a Methodist minister, sent us Advet Devotions for every day in Advent. I almost wish there was snow on the ground. (just kidding) Christmas Cards will not get to you in time so I want to wish all of you a blessed Advent Season and a Joyous Christ Centered Christmas Day. We are certainly blessed with wonderful and supportive family and friends.

Blessing,

Pam and Mark