...to Zanzibar by motorcar...??

When I mentioned our weekend outing to a certain old roommate of mine (boo?) she cited this song line... which I had never recalled hearing in an actual song. So - I have some learning to do.

By the way, if you didn't get it, we're leaving tomorrow morning (saturday) for Zanzibar. And no, it won't be by motorcar, or else we'd get there and have to turn around right away. Not to mention the problem of the Indian Ocean. We return Monday night, resuming classes and the general (not so boring) routine on Tuesday. To my parents and other responsible parties: I'll try to send an email, but count this as your official notice of my whereabouts this weekend. ;)

I don't think I ever finished the story I started about our previous weekend outing, but all in all it was tremendous. We did some hiking and running back down the large hill, enjoyed the children, and I even learned a new meaning of my name. According to the Chagas tribe, who live at the base of Kilimanjaro, lora means 'something sweet.' That was largely why I said I was staying. :)

Today was our second work day at Mt. Meru hospital - this time all day and much more productive since we had a better idea of what needed to be done. Merete and I ended up working primarily on light fixtures the entire time. We had an interesting experience as one of the student nurses took us from ward to ward, barging right in on a pelvic exam, walking past a basket full of 6 tiny newborns wrapped in colorful kangas (traditional patterned cloths), and handing us much more than we could feasibly fix in one day. I think it was definitely an experience in different opinions and misconceptions about what we are able to do. At this point, if anyone asks me if I am able to fix something, I will tell them I can try my best, but never will I ever say, "Oh sure, that should be easy," until I am absolutely certain it is finished, in which case I can say "it was easy," but that's rather unlikely, too. To give you an example, today we ended up working on four long fluorescent units that had rechargable batteries, but could also be run on AC power. Two of them turned right on, so we returned them to the floor after a quick wipe down. Later, we discovered on the other two that the missing fuse we hadn't really been able to justify was in order to allow the battery to charge so it could actually run without being plugged in. In the US, this might not be a big deal - just leave it plugged in - but here, we are left in the dark for at least 10 minutes every 2 days or so, and that's on a compound with people monitoring the power and ready to turn on generators as needed. As we worked on those four lights, we also ended up with a total of 6 lantern-type lamps with three fluoresecent bulbs each, none of which turned on. You'd think this was a simple problem of needing 18 new bulbs (expensive!!), but it turned out to be a variety of problems from broken plugs (put on a whole new one), to toasted resistors, to blown fuses, and some unidentified problem that allows it to charge while plugged in, but would only run on battery power - you had to unplug them to get them to work! Combine this with a half hour walk each way to get to the parts stores, find the right parts if they have them, and then come back to find that someone had unplugged all the units you'd left charging - small picture of what technicians in the developing world have to overcome, and that just for lights to see what the doctors and nurses are doing.

Let me skip to this evening and a very different topic. We arrived home just in time for afternoon tea (beautiful), and I ended up in a conversation with one of the young men doing a development studies program here at TCDC while watching ping-pong out in the lawn. He was full of questions about America, life, and my opinions. It got to politics, then religion, and then his question of 'what kind of Christian are you?' Not denomination, but wanting to know radical, moderate, or as he called it, 'social christian.' I had a little bit of trouble answering that, but I think I explained myself alright - then he follwed with 'are you saved?' My immediate answer was 'yes.' which I was almost even surprised to hear come out of my mouth so quickly, because I do tend to gaurd how much I share, though I'm not proud of it. The best part was that he stopped his ping pong game, reached for a handshake and then asked if he could share it with someone. A quick interlude of swahili and I was embraced by one of the men sitting nearby chatting. They expressed their joy to hear a white American respond with the answer I did, since they don't hear that too often. I don't know if they realized how much that meant to me - perhaps because I didn't realize how much it meant until I was there and letting God hold me close in this circle of Tanzanians who love and cherish the same God and the same teachings I do.

For those who didn't get my slightly homesick notes, this was an answer to prayer. While I've figured out how to live far from my family and still feel very close to them most of the time, I missed my church home and the community that provided the most. The American students with us are great, but the vast majority don't believe as I do, and it makes deep discussions difficult, as well as general perceptions of things different. Being able to sit and continue talking about America, Tanzania, and the world that I am sharing with these Tanzanians, and know that we all hold a very similar worldview even as it is hugely different, was incredible.

Caroline, our coordinator, was just asking today if any of us could see ourselves staying here long term, and at the time, I said I would definitely consider it. At the time, I was thinking that I would much more likely consider it if I had a family to bring and share the experience with. Now I know that that family is very alive and well here, too. Perhaps I should be more guarded, but I'm excited to see what long term does look like. For now - enjoying the sweet conversation and the chance to do what I can in the time I've got.

P.S. Geckos are pretty cool on a white wall when they think they're not being watched. :)