December 2008

December 2008
Merry Christmas!
We wish we could be with you this holiday, sharing hugs and laughs and good food.

One year has passed and still it does not seem like Christmas is here. Some things I will not get used to. I miss the change of seasons, the lakes and the snow.

Yesterday I washed clothes, hung them to dry in the hot sun. I was careful to hang my underpants on the line between two other lines with towels and shirts so that they are hidden from the view of neighbors passing by. That is the accepted rule in Tanzania.

John is fixing the latch on the bathroom door and putting a new plug on the electrical cord for our 2-burner hot plate. Having electricity is nice, but the last two days it has been out and this is not nice—back to candles, kerosene lanterns and charcoal stoves.

My garden is reaching a stage of harvest again. Soon I can pick cow peas, carrots, okra, sweet potatoes and leeks. Already I have gotten 9 huge Brandywine tomatoes from one plant. I have a "pet" that got into my garden today—one of our young school cows. She broke free from her rope and was feasting on my fresh cow pea plants. The leaves are some of the best tasting greens! I pulled her back to her feeding spot, retied her tether, and brought her a bucket of water. She was very happy, nudged me and accepted a pat on her nose and scratching behind the ears.

Two friends, Becky and Joan from Minnesota came to visit for two weeks, just leaving a few days ago. I met them at the Kilimanjaro airport when they arrived and we all flew to Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda. We were driven by a guide to the National Park (2 hours) to see gorilla. For two days we trekked into the forest finding a family of 12 - 20 gorillas, then sitting for an hour watching them. I will never forget sitting 6 feet from a giant silverback male and watching the 3 year old children playing "ring-around-the- silverback daddy" and beating their chests in play. One young gorilla came running towards me just as we arrived and grabbed my pant leg. He looked at me as if to say, "You're finally here! Come play!" In a family group there is only one silver back male that is the leader and father, then there can be 5-10 females (or more) and each mom has one or more children. The gorillas live to about 45 years. One group we watched had a one month old child that clung to her mother's chest as mom walked and climbed to the tree top into a nest.

Before we left Rwanda, we visited the Genocide Museum and talked at length with our guides about how the people are moving through the process to recover from 1 million people killed over 3 months. Their stories are hard and remarkable at the same time. They talked of the establishment of levels crimes and then levels of consequences, but that all that killed must do community service to rebuild the country. Also, there is a ceremony/gathering that happens once a year where people who have killed choose to stand and tell the people what happened, who they killed and what happened to the bodies of those killed. The guides talked about how difficult this is but how healing it is for everyone.

We had another 8 days together back in Tanzania bird-watching and living in glorified camping style at our site. It is always hard for me to say goodbye. We look forward to coming home for Christmas next year.

We will spend Christmas with four other volunteers and three Sisters from our village, at Amani Forest Preserve. There is a parish at Amani that has housing for volunteers from all over the world. There are beautiful trails through the tropical forest seeing chameleons, tree frogs, African violets, exotic birds and butterflies as well as Collobus and Blue monkeys.

I have enjoyed going to the Catholic Church and occasionally the Lutheran services available when school is in session. We have also been invited to celebrate important Muslim holidays with our neighbors. All services are in Kiswahili, so I understand very little. I can sing the songs but I cannot understand the sermons. When school is in session every Tuesday morning (6am) there is a Mass in English. But this Christmas, I will bring my English hymnal with us to Amani and sing Christmas carols together.

New Years will be back at our site. Our night watchman, Twaha, has invited us to his family home for dinner. Probably rice cooked in coconut milk, local spinach, beans and tea. We expect New Year's Eve will be drumming and dancing, and church bells heard from all the hills around us ­ as usual. Greetings to all of you and we hope you are well and content with each day.

We send our love and, of course, we think of you always. We send our prayers for a joyous celebration with family and friends this holiday. John and Randee