Kate in Tanzania

To be Known

2011-04-08T22:02:00.000-07:00

Throughout the course of this sickness, I've started to feel like I've lost myself somehow. At church, I was known as that girl who leads the praise team. At school, I was the loud teacher who likes to blow things up. And in public, I was that person at the movies who laughs out loud at scenes that nobody else thinks are funny. But I haven't sung a song since the first week of February, my students are taking most of their notes on their own out of a textbook, and I haven't laughed out loud without coughing since leaving the States over two months ago. Somewhere along the line, I became the quiet person who gives people a "2 Thumbs up" sign and smiles sweetly at things that are funny. People who are meeting me for the first time have never heard me sing and watch me nod or shake my head in order to be an "active" part of any conversation. When my principal asked for "last words" of encouragement to the other members of the teaching staff, I had to ask them all to lean in and listen closely.

Now, people aren't talking about my laugh or my voice or my "musical abilities." In my "Get Well Soon" and "Going Away" cards, they were saying things like, dedication to my students, great trust in the Lord and faith in God's promises. Not that they wouldn't have said these things before, but it probably wouldn't have been the first thing that came to mind. (At least it's never been mentioned as much as it was this time. :)

I think, in some ways, I have lost myself. I'm no longer the "loud, laughing, praise team leader." Now, I'm simply known as a Child of God.

But I think that's better.

Musings on Going "Home"

2011-03-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

Muse, muse, muse... I'm only a few weeks away from leaving Dar for, what could be, a long time. And I am still trying to process it. As I organize filing cabinets, re-write curriculum maps and photocopy assembly music, I am listening to people say, "Kate, go home NOW. You can't breathe!" While that is true, I am also watching the faces of my 10th graders drop when I say, "Your exam is in a month, but I am leaving in 2 weeks," or listen to my 9th graders who so sweetly ask, "But will next year's teacher be as good as you?" To the people who want me to stay, I have to say, "I'm sorry but it will be better if I leave" and to the people who say "Leave now!" I have to say, "I'm sorry but it's better that I stay for a little while." To both I say, "Please pray that I can endure."

I am studying Hebrews with a group of women every other Monday night. Last week, we started a brief outline of the "Hall of Faith" Chapter... Hebrews 11. One of the things we talked about were the "rewards" for the faith of all of these people mentioned, and how they died without ever receiving the "promises." But yet, they endured. Our study concluded with the first few verses from Chapter 12... "Consider Jesus... who, for the joy set before Him, endured..." We talked about the point that the author was trying to make for the Hebrews who had and were enduring heavy persecution for their faith... the encouragement this message of promised rewards must have been. An encouragement to endure... because of the Home that awaited them.

My last few weeks in Dar have been and are a slow walk of endurance. (I say walk because there is no running for me right now.) Every day it is hard to breath. Every lecture I have to speak softly and pray the students in the back won't be too loud. Every moment I hope that the power stays on so that I can sit in the dry, air-conditioned air. But I will endure for two more weeks. Because there is still a job for me to do, students to teach, curriculums to map. Acts of service that were designed for me and that God is giving me the ability to complete. But I can endure for two more weeks... because I know that at the end of this is a plane ride, Dad-hugs, Mom-cooked meals, cuddles and movies on the couch with my sisters, and help. At the end of this is Home.

If there's a harder way...

2011-03-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both, but being one traveler long I stood. And looked down one as far as I could... and I, I took the one less traveled by... and that has made all the difference."

-Robert Frost

Weekly dinner tonight with good friends. One, I hadn't told yet about leaving Tanzania early. She was shocked, as I was last week when I made the decision. But things aren't getting better... sometimes it feels like they're getting worse. Sometimes it feels like all I do is complain about my health. And sometimes, it feels like I am losing my mind because of the medication. It's been almost 6 months of injuries and sickness... 6 months of being envious of the PE classes as I watch them run by my office... 6 months of people praying for my health and healing.

And I'm still sick.

In a country where the Prosperity Gospel is prevalent and practiced, to tell people who have been praying for your healing that you are STILL sick can be embarrassing and confusing. And the response is always the same, "I'll keep praying, You just claim your healing." But at this point, I have started telling people to stop praying for my healing! If God wanted me healed, I would be healed. At this point, it seems like He has something else in mind. So people who want to pray for me, I've asked them to pray that I would be open and yielded to God... regardless of what He has planned. And people look at me funny.

It's not that I don't want to be healed, it's not that I don't believe God wants to heal me, it's not that I don't believe He's capable of it... but if He has something else planned, THAT'S what I want. Even as a small child, when I was talking to my parents about accepting Jesus, my Mom said, "Katie, you are safe. We can keep you safe." and I responded, "No, Mom. I don't want to be safe. I want to be SAVED." (As a 5 year old, I had no idea the weight those words would carry in my life.) And the night before I loaded my suitcases into the car, just barely over a month ago, still feeling weak and worn but needing to get back to my students, my mother remarked, "If there's a harder way, you're always going to take that one instead."

And maybe she's right... maybe I do look for the harder way. Maybe the reason I'm still sick is because God knows I need a break. Or maybe He's given me this personality because the harder way has always been what He had planned for me. Regardless, there are two things I now know for certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt... 1. God is in control, even when things go "wrong" and "sorrows like sea billows roll" and 2. I don't want to be Happy and Safe. I want to be Holy and Saved.

NOT this Little Light of Mine

2011-03-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

There are 2 things I have learned tonight... 3 for which I am grateful.

1. No matter how many you live through, power outages never get easier.

2. It is extremely difficult to check for chicken pox/shingles using only a flashlight and a mirror.

3. A bedroom has significantly more light when a candle is placed in front of a mirror.

I don't know why I've never thought of it before... placing a candle in front of a mirror. Maybe it's because after leaving the classroom, I try to forget that I know things like Laws of Plane Mirror Reflection and the principles of refraction which cause candle glow. Maybe it's because I have only recently brought back the lovely, Ikea taper candle holders which my sister-in-law encouraged me to buy (Thank you, Erin, they really come in handy!) Or maybe its because my mirror is on the other side of my bedroom and when I'm reading by candlelight, I tend to put the candles on my bedside table. Regardless of the reason, tonight, during one of our many scheduled power outages, I placed a taper candle in front of my dressing table mirror and marveled at the many things I was suddenly able to see.

and then the song "This Little Light of Mine" suddenly started to bother me. Yes, Jesus is the Light of the World. Yes, we are His hands and feet. But I can't help wondering if the church would be better off if we all spent less time worrying about how we are going to shine our own lights and spent more time trying to reflect His.

So perhaps instead of "taking the light to this darkened world" we should be thinking, "You know, Jesus is the Light. Let's all go be mirrors!"

The Persistent Widow and Phone Calls with American Airlines

2010-11-10T06:25:00.000-08:00

Let me catch you up to date...

Yes, I am going to be in Cincinnati for Christmas because I have a wonderfully supportive home church.

Yes, I do have to fly home.

Yes, it is possible to purchase tickets on this side of the ocean.

No, my travel agent did not book the right tickets.

Yes, this is a problem.

About a week ago, I finally got the confirmation email from my travel agent regarding my flights home. Problems:

1. The tickets were only booked through to Chicago but my final destination is Cincinnati.

2. The "special discount" tickets were $400.00 more than I could purchase online.

So, I have had to scramble to find some appropriate tickets. Cutting a long story short, American Airlines had some great tickets but I needed the reservation to be held.

Enter Customer Service... I call the States and speak to AA asking if my 24 hour hold can be extended.

"No."

Okay... you do understand that I live in Africa and am unable to bring you the cash for the tickets, right?

"Well ma'am you can call back everyday and renew your hold. "

Okay, I'll do that. I call again... I'd like to renew my hold.

"Oh, you can't do that."

What? The other lady told me I could.

"Well, you know these agents..."

No, but apparently I'm speaking to one...

"You see ma'am it's like when you go to a store and there are 5 dresses for $50.o0 and you need to put one on hold. If 4 other people come in and buy the other dresses, then all your left with is the one on hold."

Yes, thank you for the thrilling lesson in economics, now can you renew the hold on the "dress" that is left? After listening to her mumble and plink away at her keyboard for 2 minutes, my phone credit ticking away, I told her I'd call back. Two more times I called back to renew the "impossible to renew" 24-hour reservation.

Two days ago I called, once again to renew the hold, and was told my ticket price had gone up! But the lovely customer service agent (one of the few worthy of the title) found me a cheaper flight that left London later (nullifying the 4am drop-off one of my gorgeous Londoner friends would have to make) and arrived in Cincinnati earlier! Then yesterday, when I checked the reservation status online, it said held until next week!! (Which I was told by 4 different people was an impossibility in their computer system!) Yahooo!!!!!!!

I am thinking there are only two possible explanations for all this:

1. The Customer Service Agent was actually an angel in disguise. (a possibility I'm not ruling out.)

2. Because of my persistence in calling, American finally got fed up and did what I originally asked...which made me think about the parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8).

This parable has always bothered me. As a teacher, I HATE being asked over and over and over again the same thing. In fact, if I give you an answer you don't like and you ask me again, I will only become more firm in my original "un-liked" answer! So I could never imagine how God could want us to ask Him for the same thing over and over and over again. God wants us to nag Him? Shouldn't I ask Him and then trust that He hears and answers? Even when people have explained it to me, I still haven't been able to wrap my mind around it. It still just seemed like distrust and anxiousness. This experience with the tickets has changed my mind... all because of need.

I need to go home for Christmas. I need to be around my permanent people and meet my new niece. Because of my wrongly booked tickets, American Airlines was my only option for meeting the need. If that meant I had to jump through all of their hoops to get what I needed, then that's what I was going to do. Not because I was hoping they would change their minds, but because that's what they told me to do. So I was going to endure until the problem was solved. I think that's what this widow was doing... she had a need and knew the only way to get it met was through the king. So, she continued to jump through his hoops and endured until the problem was solved.

So it is with God and prayer. I'll keep praying, enduring until a "problem" is solved, because God is the only one who can meet the need. He is the only option. So if He says pray, then I will pray. Not because I want Him to change His mind but because He told me to.

A Bored Worship Leader

2010-06-07T05:10:00.000-07:00

I sing the song "Blessed be your name" a lot... on Saturday at Worship Practice, for 2 Sunday morning services, and for Monday morning assembly. It's one of those typical worship songs with 2 verses and a pre-chorus and chorus that can be repeated a hundred, billion, trillion times! I love the song... I really do. My housemate even re-wrote the song to fit our lives here in Dar last year! But let's face it, after singing it at least 6 times in one weekend, it becomes a boring song!

This last Sunday at church, we did a great song... before and after the teaching... in both services. It's a simple "1 verse, 1 chorus, 1 bridge" song. Yet, we sang it for 8 MINUTES during the first service! (Yes, one of my housemates timed it.) You try repeating the same words in succession for 8 minutes and see how you feel! I can't even count the number of times we repeated the chorus. Yes, the song specifically related to the teaching, but seriously! Didn't people get the point after the first time we sang the chorus? By the second service, it was new to the people, but repetitive to the worship team.

As much as I hate to admit it, I am bored of most of the worship songs we sing at church. (It almost seems like a sacrilege for a Worship Leader to admit to being bored of worship music... shouldn't I feel the Spirit of God infusing every word and phrase with passion and presence?)

(and now I am wondering if God ever gets bored of hearing the same thing over and over again... Maybe not... Rev 4:8 "Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty-- the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.' ")

and then comes the question, if the praise team is bored, should we fake it so that "worship" still has energy and passion? or just trust God to touch people with His presence and ignore how we feel? or skip the song and sing a new one?

Where am I going with this blog... not really quite sure, except to say that if anyone has any ideas for some new worship material, please let me know! It's hard to sing the same songs 6-8 times each weekend for 3-4 weeks in a row... especially when many of the songs are written in the same key (Jesus chords anyone?).

While cleaning off my "desktop"...

2010-06-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

Now is the time of the year when I condense all of the random files that I have stored on lots of different computers over the course of teaching, rushing, printing, and grading of one school year. While in the process of waiting for files to move to the "Recycle Bin," I ran across a collection of poems from last year's English teacher. I thought this one was a good one...

He Passed the Test

Long before
most of the world's
recorded happenings happened,
Abraham
underwent
his Ordeal by Hope.

He believed God
to be faithful who promised
a seed (concept not viable)
a son (less
than knife-edge survival potential)
a land (one burial lot -
a life-time's total investment)
and descendants in such profusion
that
their number would rival
the stars!

Mixed up, yet
fiercely battling
circumstantial contradiction
awesomely, Abram/Abraham
became the friend of God.

His trusting, tortured endurance,
his strong argumentative prowess,
and finely-honed obedience
crashed through ancient harsh blood-ties
staking all on God keeping his word.

His never-swerving conviction:
THE ALMIGHTY IS, AND HE ANSWERS
prefigured to men's understanding
the God
who raises
the dead.

Abraham's faith has earned him
A posthumous decoration
'Reckoned by God as righteous.'

With inheritance rights for the children.

-Grace Westerduin

Miss Connell, are you staying at HOPAC?

2010-06-03T01:52:00.001-07:00

...a question I have received a number of times the past few weeks. As Term 3 closes with Final Exams, Graduation Plans and House Sports Competitions, our students here are beginning to wonder which of their teachers they have to say, "Good-bye" to, and which they can simply say, "See you next year." After many discussions with AIM and the principals here at HOPAC, I have been able to say to my students, "See you next year."

Last "Fall" (aka: the Hot Season here in Dar), God very strongly impressed upon my heart that I needed to stay in East Africa... specifically, here in Dar es Salaam. But I knew that in order to stay on the field with AIM, I needed to take some Bible classes. (A problem faced by all of us AIMers who didn't go to Bible college.) So I started looking into online and distance learning courses. One of the other teachers here, who is also with AIM, directed my to Gordon-Conwell's Dimensions of Faith series. This looks like a great program, and I have already started Survey of the Old Testament 1! However, this takes time.... time... and more time... An issue I have struggled with here at HOPAC.

As a full-time Chemistry teacher, and part-time Swim Coach - Lifeskillz Teacher - Worship Leader, my free time has been limited and scarce. A problem when I need to listen to at least 3 Bible lectures a week next year. Also, HOPAC has been unable to find a Physics Teacher for next year. With a minor in Physics, and 5 years of experience teaching it stateside, it was a conversation I knew would be coming... "Kate, would you be able to teach Physics next year?" At first, I refused knowing there would be no way to teach Chemistry and Physics AND still carry all of my extra-curriculars. After a number of discussions, and prayer from many different people, it has been decided that I will teach both Chemistry and Physics, part-time, next year and drop all of my extra-curriculars until I have finished with my Bible Classes. An arrangement I balked at at first, thinking, "Then why am I here? I could do that in the States!" until God gently reminded me that He didn't call me to stay in the States... He called me to teach here.

So when this school year ends, in three more weeks, I will spend some time in the States with my family, then head back to Tanzania for a few more years of work here at HOPAC. God has been so faithful these last two years... let's see what He has planned next!!

Copy Room Conversations

2010-03-15T01:52:00.001-07:00

It's true what they say.... you don't really learn something until you have to apply it. Even with language school last summer, conversing in Kiswahili is still a challenge for me. I live with English speakers, I teach English speaking students, and, even though my pastor speaks 5 languages and uses every accent known to man, I go to an English speaking church. I don't get a chance to USE Kiswahili. So, my language is still very limited. One day, one of our administrative secretaries scolded me because I have lived in Tanzania for two years and still can't hold a descent conversation. She then told me to come in every day for a 5 minute conversation. Now, I have two walimu (teachers) in the main office who refuse to speak to me in English for at least 5 minutes after I enter their space. If they say something I don't understand, (Samehani, sematena pole pole.) (Excuse me, say it again slowly.) They laugh. When I respond in my halting accent, they laugh. If they speak really quickly and then ask me a question and I respond "Sijoui" (I don't know), they laugh.

I get laughed at a lot.

But I am now actually applying what I learned last summer. It's much easier for me to understand what I hear, but recalling the vocabulary is still an ongoing challenge. (At least, I'm not recalling all of my French first like last summer. "Habari yako?" "Comme ci comme ca... oh, je suis desolee... oh, man.")

Oh well... pole pole ndio mwendo. (the slow way is the best way)

The Way Things Work...

2010-02-11T03:06:00.001-08:00

Today I have been bombarded with images of the way things work here in Dar. (or don't work here in Dar.) It all began this morning as I walked to the top of our school grounds to run and pray around our soccer field. (Our pitch is elevated at the top of our campus... not sure why... it usually only has the affect of allowing the soccer balls to roll a LONG way before we can retrieve them.) I stepped onto the pitch, and SQUISH!... mud everywhere. Did it rain last night? I'm sure I would have heard it... No, now I remember... there were firetrucks at school last night, emptying the water from our swimming pool!

Why did the swimming pool have to be emptied? Because the water was green.

Why was the water green? Because we had extra people in it.

Why do extra people make water go green? Because the Chlorine isn't working.

Why isn't the Chlorine working? We have no idea....

or had no idea...

After getting fed up with the pool, our coordinator took two bottles of water, put the on the desk of our building and grounds supervisor, and said, "Order water tests." His response? "We have already done this." He handed her a document two years old that said our water on campus was NOT SUITABLE FOR USE IN A SWIMMING POOL. In fact, it was "Not suitable for domestic use" at all. So why did we empty the pool? Because somebody filled it with the wrong water.

and where did the water go? Onto the soccer field... leading to a quickly scrawled email from our Secondary Principal... "The soccer field is closed until further notice."

My journey continued in the Teacher's Lounge this afternoon. Our Lounge is in our new Admin building here on campus... the one where the air conditioning has been broken for three weeks because the company installed a central a/c system and nobody in all of Tanzania knows how to service it. I noticed a hole in one of the walls in the bathroom this afternoon... a random hole in the middle of a tile with strange wires sticking out of it. What is the purpose of this hole? I don't know. Why is it there? I have no idea. What are the wires for? Who knows. And why doesn't this hole-wire setup go anywhere or do anything? Your guess is as good as mine.

Finally, on my way back to my office after homeroom this afternoon, I noticed some "maintenance work" going on outside one of the classrooms. (and by classroom I mean the old building that has severe termite damage... huge sections of it fall off daily. Not kidding. Pieces of the wall actually fall down daily.) What was the maintenance work you ask? Termite treatment? no.
Roof supports? Nope.
Replacement of broken glass in windows to make the room secure? Not even close.
It was patch work. Using a saw, one of our workers was widening a hole so he could repair it. Repair a hole in a building that is literally crumbling away because of the termites.

At least I can rest assured that our students here will be safe from "domestic use" water, overexerting themselves on a soccer field, wires that carry power and small holes in the walls of their classrooms.

The Return of the Teacher and Girl Gab aint all Bad!

2010-02-04T02:40:00.000-08:00

One of my housemates from last year has returned to sub for the Bible Teachers who are on Home Assignment with their Children until Easter Break. It is so great to have Lisa back in town! The first day back at school, I was walking to the office and I heard a loud voice calling, "MISS CONNELL!!" I turned around and saw Lisa running towards me. So I responded, with equal enthusiasm, "MISS HENDERSON!" We hugged, jumped up and down, and squealed as only two extroverted, uninhibited women could do while surrounded by astounded students. (Just the ones who were new this year... everyone else understood what was going on.)

It's nice having Lisa around again... and since we have already been through the "You're driving me crazy, rinse your dishes!" and "Well, you ate all the peanut butter!" it is much easier to just hang out and talk. Like old friends... picking up right where we left off.

Last week, we went out for coffee to chat, hang out and talk about our vision for the Youth Group here at HOPAC. (Since the Bible Teachers were also my co-leaders, Lisa has stepped in to help with the Large Group Teaching on Friday nights.) It has been great to watch God at work... at first, Lisa and I had very different ideas about what God wanted us to do. But, after much girl gab about various feelings, emotions and desires for the future, God gave me a topic for the next theme: Heart Surgery. Lisa had also been wanting to do something to encourage our students to give away their WHOLE hearts to God... not just part of it, or to just connect intellectually with Him, but their WHOLE Hearts. And of course, our current theme will end the week of Valentine's Day... so starting a new theme with the word HEART in it is just cheesy enough to work for Youth Group!

maybe we should decorate in red and pink that first night...

...maybe not.

Youth Group and Science Fiction

2009-11-24T00:34:00.000-08:00

The fact that I am a SciFi Fan should not come as a shock or surprise to anyone who has met me, seen me or even heard of me from friends. The fact that I spent most of my late nights in college watching The X-Files in syndincation with my roommate should also not cause any heads to be scratched. So the fact that our youth group messages for Term I are based on a SciFi movie should not cause any real alarm, but might, instead, trigger a sigh and a shake of the head in response.

The movie The 5th Element (starring Bruce Willis) is a SciFi movie about aliens, the end of the world and good versus evil. (what else would you expect?) In order to fight the "ultimate evil," Bruce Willis must gather the 4 elements (Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water) and place them around a perfect, supreme being (the 5th element). [Yes, the spiritual overtones ARE subtle and hard to decipher.] In Youth Group each Friday, we have spent two weeks talking about each of these 4 elements and places where they show up in the Bible.

Wind:
1. Jesus walks on water and Peter did, too, until he was distracted by the "wind noise." What is the wind noise in our lives that distracts us from keeping our eyes on Jesus?

2. Based on the song "Mind's Eye" by DC Talk. It has a quote from Billy Graham... "Can you see God? I can't see the wind, but I can see the effects of the wind." What happens when the wind slows? Does that mean there is no more air? No. Take a breath in a still room. The air is still there. What happens when you can't see the "effects" of God? (i.e. No blessings in your life.) Does that mean God isn't there? No. Take a breath and remember that God is ALWAYS there.

Water:
3. Fear versus Afraid. If you aren't afraid of the water, do you treat it too casually, forgetting it can kill you? (I asked a kid to let me hold her head in a bucket full of water... then challenged her that she said she wasn't afraid of it.) If you're not AFRAID of God, do you still FEAR Him?

4. Amos 5:24 (in context)[Thanks, Bret for the idea!] God wants justice and righteousness in our lives. He saved us to make us Holy so that He can be in relationship with us. The youth were challenged to "be Holy as I am Holy." I asked what does God want? And they all said, for us to love each other, to be forgiving, to be in relationship with Him. No one said for us to be Holy. So we talked about how sometimes it is easy to sin because we know we are forgiven. Here, God says be just. Be righteousness. (Be holy!) It was an interesting night. (We also discussed burnt offerings and sacrifices and what it meant to the Israelites when God said I will no longer accept these... v. 22/23. The Precepts Study I am doing on Leviticus came in handy that night.)

Earth:
5. Gil used the illustration of rocks, pebbles and sand in a jar. Everything fits only if you put the BIG rocks in first... which represents our relationship with God and making Him a priority. The students had trouble descerning what was a Big Rock and what was sand. (Xbox is NOT a big rock by the way...)

6. Gen 2:7, Ps. 103:13-14. We are dirt. God made us that way. God is compassionate because He remembers that we are dirt. When you forget to be Holy, when you sin, go back to God. He knows you're dirt. When other people sin against you, remember they are dirt... just like you. So treat people like dirt! (it works on a teenage level... trust me.)

We have two weeks left before our Christmas party (that's the 5th Element part) and we get to talk about Fire. I may even break out my Bunsen Burner for these!

(Yes, my choice of topics and my excitement for them did inspire the first Nifty Nerd Night. Someday these guys will realize how cool the Kingdom of Nerds really is!) (Did I just end that sentence with a preposition? :)

Fear

2009-05-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

(One more about Service Emphasis Week...)

I learned a great lesson during SEW... I felt like I got one step closer to a conundrum that has plagued me for ages... a question that has caused sleepless nights and paced corridors in homes, college dormrooms and monasteries for weeks, years, centuries... What is the difference, really, between having fear and being afraid? If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as Proverbs states, how is it that we are supposed to love, worship and draw close to that which we fear?

Swimming lessons and SCUBA diving has helped me get one small step closer to an answer.

During swimming lessons with the women of our support staff, we started with 10 women, most of whom were deathly afraid of the water. We had them get into the shallow end, and walk in a large square so they could find the boundaries in which they felt secure. Most of them gripped the wall of the pool so tightly that I praised God for the adhesive holding the back of the tiles in place. Amy and Laura were doing a great job with the women. They started with all the basic strokes and some of the women started venturing out farther and farther from the wall. One young woman decided she wanted to try kicking on her own, without the protection and security of the wall. So with two fun noodles tucked securely, one under each arm, she pushed off from the wall. She kicked with all her might and succeded, not in moving forward, but in flipping herself over. She immediatley panicked and started screaming for help! Laura looked up at me, "She's in 3 ft of water, she can stand up!" I replied, "She doesn't know that. You need to help her up." Laura rescued her and calmly led her back to the wall where she could grasp the slippery tiles and regain her balance. Afterwards, she realized she could stand up, and was in no real danger, so she laughed at herself good naturedly. By the end of the week, she was doing the elementary backstroke and the freestyle kick.

I had my own "afraid" experience that same day. We have a large problem with black algae growing on the bottom of the pool. The only way to clean it is to scrape it... with some sort of blunt tipped instrument. But, you can only hold your breath for so long and the constant dive-resurface motion only accomplishes a large headache and ringing ears. So, we rented SCUBA equipment to scrub the bottom of the pool. Two of the lifeguards are certified divers and my roommates sister, who is also dive trained, was visiting that week and offered to help.

Laura and Jo prepping the equipment.

Learning to SCUBA is on my list of things to do before I die so I was VERY EXCITED. Learning to SCUBA is on my list of things to do before I die because I never wanted to do it because I am afraid of it. (Being an asthmatic, I tend to panic with anything that restricts my airflow.) I was VERY SCARED. Jo (my roomies sister) suited me up, taught me how to breathe and jumped in the pool with me. I got my head underwater, then panicked. I resurfaced immediately. There I was, in a 9 foot pool, surrounded by my students who I had trained as Lifeguards, taught them how to control their fears, encouraged them to do more, be more, train more... and I was panicking because I couldn't breathe normally. Jo talked me through it. Mind over matter. I was afraid but I had nothing really to be afraid of. Yes, I did make it down to the bottom of the pool. I did "conquer" that fear.

All 4 students working hard on the bottom of the pool.

Afterwards, as my lifeguards went back down to finish scraping the bottom of the pool, I had some time to think about the difference between fear and afraid.

I was afraid because of past panics... past experiences... past pain. These women were afraid because they didn't know what to do. Now that we had learned what to do, how to conquer our fear, were we really better off?

I wonder now if we have really down a good thing. We have taught the basics in swimming. But, have we taught the proper respect for the water? Now that these men and women are no longer afraid of the water, have we put them in greater danger?

I'm a trained Lifeguard. I have pulled numerous people out of dangerous situations. I can swim for an hour straight, cover a distance of 2 km and still get out and take a cycling class. But I never swim alone and I never swim in the dark. Why? Because I have a healthy respect for something that can kill me. If I ever take a casual attitude towards a body of water, that's when trouble starts and accidents happen. I'm not afraid of it, but I have a healthy fear of it. I respect what it is capable of, but I take every opportunity I have to enjoy it.

That's what I learned about be afraid of God and having a "fear of the Lord." I cannot take Him too casually or lose my respect for what He is capable of doing, accomplishing, creating. But, I also need to take every opportunity I have to enjoy Him.

Suited up and ready to go!

SEW

2009-04-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

Service Emphasis Week

Last week, HOPAC secondary school was not in session. In fact, no teacher showed up to teach last week. No student sat in a classroom. No books were opened.

But lessons were still learned.

Each year, the secondary students spend a week on a short-term "service" trip. The secondary teachers are chaperons, team leaders and service planners. Some of the groups went to orphanages. Some went to Tanzanian prisons. One group even traveled to "the bush" to work with the Masai in Northern Tanzania.

I spent the week camped out at the school with 4 amazing students: Josh, Niko, Laura and Amy. (All of us from different continents... yes, I got teased about my "weird American accent.")

We were asked to lead swimming lessons for our support staff: local Tanzanians who serve the school as office staff, gardeners, cleaners and maintenance workers. All four of the students have been taking Lifeguard training classes at the school, so they were asked to lead these classes during the week. We also had a number of service projects to complete around the pool area. These students were so dedicated, they were waking up at 6:30 in the morning (because we were sleeping in primary school classrooms and primary was still in session!) and working until 6:30 in the evening. 12 hour days, exhausting labor (scrubbing algae and painting), HOT, HOT Tanzanian sun. They were champs!!

The View of Our Pool from the Basketball Court

The sketch of the mural... designed by the team and perfected by the art teacher.

The finished product.

For me, the best part of the whole week was the swimming lessons. We got the chance to work closely with people we have very little interaction with on a daily basis. Now, we know their names, we say hi, we talk. Also, these are people who live in a coastal community, surrounded by water. Most of them began the first lesson terrified of the water. Most of them ended the third lesson able to do 2 strokes: freestyle and elementary backstroke. (Nobody is going to the Olympics anytime soon, but they're probably not going to drown either!) All 4 students have also volunteered their break times to continue the lessons. What an example!!

Teaching the Elementary Backstroke... Chicken, Eagle, Snake!

Josh teaching freestyle.

Nike teaching floating on your back.

The team... sunburnt and exhausted.

Laura said that she learned you could serve anywhere. "Everybody needs some help. You just have to find what God has given you that you can give to someone else."

Responsibility

2009-04-05T04:43:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the more responsible you are, the more responsibilities people give you?

How do you refuse to take on other people's responsibilities when their irresponsibility directly affects what you need to do?

How do you teach responsibility? Slowly, slowly or by setting certain expectations and "forcing" people to live up to them?

Bugs in Africa

2009-04-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, Virginia… there are bugs in Africa.

Yes, this post is dedicated to all the bugs in my life… the creepy crawlies, wiggling wormies and scampering insects that have gladly taken residence in my kitchen, classroom and bedroom.

First, I would like to pay tribute to Syd… Syd the Spider. Syd lives everywhere… underneath our water filter, on the side of the fruit basket, beneath my bed slats and behind the clear, plastic fruit drawer in the refrigerator. Yes, Syd does cause quite a shock when you first see him, but when you see Syd attack other members of the bug kingdom, you develop a fond place in your heart for Syd and all his brothers and sisters. (The only time we kill Syd is when we start seeing small bites on our ankles that do not compare to the normal, daily mosquito bites that have become part of our existence in Dar.) [Geckos are also really good at killing bugs…we love them… but they do also give us quite a scare because they lurk in dark places, behind cabinets, in air-conditioning vents, etc. ]

Next, the great flying termites! Some of the largest bugs I have seen here… not so creepy until they drop their wings and become small crawling insects that chew on woodwork and lay eggs. Then, it does begin to look like autumn because the wings are golden-brown in color and cover the sidewalks and grassy yards with paper thin, oblong shapes. Not a delicacy I have tried, but Tanzanians like their Flying Termites fried and sometimes dipped in chocolate!!

Third… MOSQUITOS!! (and I would just like to clarify, once and for all, Mosquito nets are not Romantic!!!!) Mosquitoes are everywhere in Dar, and they are especially vicious this time of year. They go for whatever piece of skin they can find… fingers, ears… I even got a bite on my baby toe last week. There is no blood there! Why would they bite there? We do everything we can to keep them away… bug spray, mosquito coils, nets dipped in repellent, bug screens, and finally… the piece de resistance, the Mosquito Racket!! It’s a bug zapper-tennis racket combined… really fun at parties. If all that fails, there is always the tried and true handclap to squash the little annoyances!

Ants, ants and more ants… I would mention these in detail, but they are everywhere, in everything, impossible to exterminate and even harder to see. As a result, we no longer call them bugs… we call them protein!

Ralph… Ralph is a cockroach. We call him by a single name because we refuse to admit that Ralph has brothers, sisters, children, parents… Ralph is one roach who lives in our kitchen. (we refuse to accept any other reality on the subject.)*

Finally, in learning to live in harmony with the bugs in our lives, we teachers have tried to take an example from our students, who not only accept the bugs that they must share life with, but see them as friends, pets, and distractions during a boring lesson.

*NB: we found a great Cockroach repellent recipe in one of our cookbooks. It works pretty good!

Christmas in January

2009-02-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

My Christmas packages came!!! I'm learning that it takes a least a month to get anything my family sends. As a result, I got to celebrate Christmas the third week of January when my Family Christmas Package arrived!! There were lots of practical useful gifts: tank tops, bug spray, lip balm and Chili Con Queso dip!! (We are saving the dip for a very special evening when we can make tortilla chips!) There were also some fun, unexpected gifts: DVDs of one of my FAVORITE TV shows and a really cute bag from Bonnie and Tim. (Yes, it's already being copied by sewing groups.)

After presents, Clare and I made pizza, then celebrated some more when the electricity went out and we had to make granola by candlelight. Happy Christmas!!

Assemblies, Servers and 80's pod people

2008-12-27T03:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am still alive. No, I have not been abducted by 80's pod people as certain facebook comments may seem to suggest. (David Bowie in space!?!) Yes, I have been a negligent blogger. We've had network problems at the school, and our resident IT man has a habit of coming into the office, saying, "I know the problem. I will fix it in an hour." and then disappearing for three weeks. I have come to learn that "I know the problem. I will fix it in an hour," is African for, "I have no idea what's wrong and I'm too embarassed to tell you."

So, this is not a long newsy post, but it will show a bit of what I have been up to. Every Monday morning we have assembly (aka "chapel" to those of you who went to Christian schools in the states). Each week a different teacher gives the main message. I was the first new teacher scheduled to speak. After much freak out, a friend here suggested I play one of my favorite songs, and "Open your Eyes" by Snow Patrol has recently topped the list. So, I put together a windows movie with images and pictures that relate to the verse, Romans 1:20:

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

Then, I used images and ideas from Chemistry and other sciences to point out some of the evidences of himself that God has put all around us. (Side note: This is why I LOVE chemistry... because of how I see the love and creativity of God when I study an atom.) Then I challenged the students to open their eyes and "see" God in a world where we spend most of our time looking at everything else.

Here is the movie: (I think you will need Media Player to view this file.) (and by the way, those "fuzzy" pictures are the best guess, so far, as to what an electron looks like as it is moving around the nucleus of an atom.)

What's for Dinner?

2008-09-30T01:17:00.000-07:00

There were many questions that I was asked repeatedly before I moved to Africa: Will you be coming home? Where will you live? Do they have cable? By in large, the answers I gave to most of these questions were correct. However, I have been surprised by the answer to the question, “What will you eat in Africa?” My answer was, of course, rice and beans. (and yes, we do eat a LOT of rice and beans here. When we get tired of rice (mchala), we eat ugali. When we get tired of ugali, we eat rice, when we get tired… you get the picture.) But, two American girls and a Brit can’t live off rice and bens forever. We start to get cravings… and having cravings can be a bad thing when grocery shopping. (12 bars of chocolate and 4 boxes of biscuits later…) So, we’ve had to improvise and make the most of what Africa can offer.

Fish Heads: that’s right… I said fish heads. When you live next to an ocean, you eat fish. Lots of fish. And not fish that you buy at the store (just ask Lisa about the Prawns). But fish that people catch, lay out next to a busy street, and sell. And that’s how we buy it. You see the fish you like (ooh, weaver…a red snapper…very tasty!) then you tell the man how many pieces (Ninaomba samaki tano. Tafadhali.) and he hacks off some pieces of fish, wraps it in newspaper and hands it to you. We clean it, scale it, debone it, and cook it. (We like to squeeze fresh oranges over it that we buy at the stall next to the fish stall.) But, we don’t often eat the heads… there’s not much meat on them.

Mexican: One of the cravings that we all frequently get is for Mexican food. The only problem is, we live in Africa, where there is no Mexican food. So, when we get a craving for tacos, we have a couple of options:

Ignore the craving. (Rice and beans is kind of like Mexican food…)

Make tacos using chipotis. (Chipoti is an Indian flat bread that is SO GOOD, but very greasy and not really a whole lot like tortillas.

Leave Africa, fly to Mexico, get Mexican food, fly back. (Hmm.. will AIM let us make this a special project for supporters?)

Figure out how to make Tortillas.

We’ve tried #1. The cravings don’t really go away. We usually settle for #2 because our “mamas” (our houseworkers) are chipoti pros. But, it’s not really the same. And since #3 is not really a feasible option (we’re having enough trouble getting Tanzanian visas, let alone Mexican ones), one of the first “foreign foods” I learned how to make it Africa was tortillas. To welcome our new short term missionaries in August, we made them a Mexican feast, with tacos (wrapped in my hand-made tortillas), guacamole (avocados are EVERYWHERE here… in Kiswahili they’re called parachichi), rice (of course) and refried beans (red African beans, boiled until we could no longer stand the heat in the kitchen, then mashed with a potato masher.) It was great fun! (and once the tortillas were made, a little salt, a little lime, baked on a cookie sheet in the oven gave us a reasonable facsimile of a Tostito. Reasonable… but not quite close enough. Why couldn’t Lays ship to Tanzania?)

Dinner in Kenya: One of the "Celebration Meals" that some friends and I enjoyed eating in the States was "Dip-things-in-things" night. We made "things" (guacamole, bruschetta, hummos) and dipped "things" (tortilla chips, baguettes, pita bread) in it. We had a sleep over with some friends in Nairobi a couple of nights before we left Kenya, and we "dipped-things-in-things" Kenya-style!

Dinner at a pub across the “street” from us: Really good food… really LONG wait. And lots of Kiswahili practice. They laugh at us when we order Ugali… and they’re even more surprised when we eat it correctly! (Thanks, Deb Liston for the practice. The rest of the girls here have been grateful for lessons.)

Birthday Bash!

2008-09-08T01:49:00.000-07:00

On August 27th, I had my first birthday in Africa. Thus began my last year of being in my 20's... and this was the first time in my life ever that I woke up and thought, "I wish it wasn't my birthday." I don't know if it's because my family was so far away, or if I feel like I'm getting old, but either way, I wished it wasn't my birthday.

The teacher's on the compound made it a much better day, though. They all wished me Happy Birthday before school, during school, after school. Then, they threw me a surprise dinner after school with balloons, streamers and LOTS of different types of ethnic foods: Pilau ya Cucu (a spicy chicken and rice African dish), guacamole (a staple at most of our meals) and Texas Sheet Cake (chocolate cake made with coffee). Then, two of the UK girls wrote me a Happy Birthday, Kate song where they found all he words that rhymed with Kate, then spent some time teaching me the correct pronounciation of my "English" words.

That weekend, most of us went to a nearby Beach where we read under umbrellas, played in the water, and walked along the sand. (Most of us got very crispy as well).

Our view of the Indian Ocean. (The island where I learned to snorkel is in the background.)

Helen (one of the new "English" English teachers) and I. We have lots of fun together because we have the same sense of humor, and we share a similar taste in music, movies, etc. (The American's like to accuse me of being a semi-traitor.)

That night, we went out for Ethopian food... authentic Ethopian food. No silverware, family-style, you-can-even-eat-the-plate Ethopian food. The servers sang me a song, made us al hold burning sticks and gave me a free tee-shirt.

One of my housemates and I. This is what the tables looked like...

where they set the BIG plates of food right in the middle of it. (The white stuff is a slightly fermented bread that you use as a "spoon.")

They all made it worth turning 29.

Pineapple and Power Outages

2008-09-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

Here in Dar, the electricity is… less than reliable. (To my friends in Zanzibar and the Chalbi Desert, I’m not complaining. I’m just learning a new phrase… add “Africa always Wins” to the “TIA” slogan bin.)

We’ll be at school, and the power will just go off for no reason. (My students in the States used to scream and say, “Yeah, no more school.” But then the power would always come back on.) Here, nobody even skips a beat. The power goes out and you pull your book a little closer to your face, your chair a little closer to the window, and move the now useless PowerPoint projector out of the way.

When the electricity goes off at school, we can count on the fact that the electric will be out on the teacher compound across the street as well. Two days ago, we got home and half of our house had gone out, including my bedroom, the stove and the refrigerator. (We had chocolate for dinner that night… Cadbury and Nutella.) Yesterday, the power was off while we were at school, so we went shopping for fruits and veggies to eat for dinner that required no cooking. By the time team and teacher swim was over, our power was back on. So, we decided to make a semi-Hawaiian-pineapple-tomato-casserole-thing. We had a Cassava root (a tuber that is popular in cooking here because it’s big and starchy, which my housemates thought was a sweet potato when they bought it) that we sliced, fried and layered in the bottom of a cake pan. Then, we sliced fresh pineapple on top, added sliced tomato, gouda cheese and fresh ginger, cinnamon and garlic. (a lot of this was done by candlelight because the power was on, off, on, off… and off again.) The power came back on as we finished, so we put it in the oven and waited… and waited… and waited. Finally, we said, “Okay it should only take a couple of more minutes.” Off again. “Okay… I guess we’re eating it now.” In the middle of dinner, some of the other teachers stumbled their way to our house, using candles and flashlights (torches) and joined our “romantic dinner for two.” On again. Just in time for us to realize that we had burned the plantains because the oven had held the heat.

After dinner, we all headed for bed. As I was getting in the shower, the power went off again. Clare starts screaming, “Help! I’m on the landing! I can’t see anything!” “Umm… I can’t come… I’m, uhh, in the bathroom,” I responded. Clare, being the helpful, caring roommate that she is, said “Okay, hold on.” She groped her way down the stairs to the kitchen and our Emergency candles. I can’t hear much, so I’m stumbling around my own room looking for my lighter to light my emergency candles when I see a strange glow coming from the hallway. It’s Clare, who has gone downstairs and is bringing me an emergency candle! I start screaming, “Stop! Stop!” She thinks something is wrong, so she starts walking faster, “Kate? Are you okay? I’m almost there!” I’m finally panicked enough to scream, “No! Stop! I don’t have any clothes on!!!” After a long pause, in which I’m trying to figure out how to hide behind a mosquito net then giving up once I realize that this is a lost cause, Clare starts giggling. “What?” she exclaims in her ever proper English accent. “I was changing out of my swimsuit when the power went out and I couldn’t see anything to put on.” At this point, we’re both laughing hysterically.

Suddenly, Clare’s phone chirps… it’s one of our teacher neighbors with a text: “I can hear you guys giggling. What’s so funny?”

A Hard Day at School

2008-09-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I cried at school. In the prep room, while my students waited patiently for me in the lab next door, I buried my face in my hands, let the sorrow seep into my heart and gave into anger, fear and frustration. Last year, I was a good teacher. Last year, I knew what I was doing because I had written most of the curriculums. Last year, I was able to make copies when I needed, print when I needed, and I could leave the office and walk back to class without getting rained on. I cried out to God in desperation,” Why did you bring me here? I hate Africa! Why couldn’t I have stayed in Columbus where I knew everything and teaching was easy and I was the best teacher that everybody loved? Why am I here? It’s too hard!” I eventually composed myself, and made it back into the classroom, where I set a bunch of stuff on fire. (Nothing like Chemistry demonstrations to relieve frustrations.)

As I was sitting here this clear, Friday night, relaxing and reading, I had my iTunes playing (Snow Patrol to set the mellow, contemplative mood). When my screen saver came on, it displayed the Family pictures from our most recent Myrtle Beach trip. All the typical pictures were there: sun-burned faces pressed together for close-ups, pairs of hands clasped tightly while feet strolled the boardwalk, and the blurred night time shots from the traditional putt-putt adventure. As the pictures passed in a random pattern, I noticed that in all the pictures I had of Matt and Hannah, she is pressed up under his arm. Her small body is tucked neatly into her father’s embrace, protected and encircled. These weren’t special, posed pictures; it’s just how they sit together. She crawls up on the couch and settles next to him, and he instinctively drops his arm behind her back and encloses her in a secure space.

As I watched these pictures pass, God pressed upon my heart his embrace encircling me. He has brought me here, but he has not left me. His arm is still protectively around me, and he has enclosed me in a secure space. He will guard me, protect me and love me. I turned the music off, went upstairs to the roof and stood… beneath the dark sky, filled with distant lights of planets and solar systems that I will never know or see. But God does. He knows them all, and he keeps me close to his heart, encircled and secure.

Now I am crying for a very different reason.

small Safari at a BIG game park

2008-07-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

We had one day off during ABO; lots of classes, lots of studying, lots of mingling... one day off. (They're trying to toughen us up before we get to the field :) Some of us, tired of ugali and sukuma wiki, went back to Nairobi for lunch and shopping. Some of us hiked the rust colored trails through Machakos. Others of us took a couple of Land Cruisers over the bumby, dusty, rocky Machakos road to Swala Game Park. I was one of the game park adventureres. A group of 16 of us donned khaki colored trousers, canvas vests with plenty of pockets, and various styles of fisherman-type hats. (Well, the missionaries who had been on the field awhile adapted such clothing. The rest of us just wore our jeans and tee-shirts.) The game park was once used as the local breeding ground for the Carnivore Restaurants here in Africa. The animals were "grown" as food for the "meat of all meat" restaurants. However, a few years ago the Kenyan government outlawed the service of big game meat at all restaurants. So, it's now a place for "tourists" to come and get their first "taste" of big game sightings in a "Safari-type" setting. (Insert groan due to bad pun here.)

We had lunch at the park (a break from traditional African food) and then set off in our vehicles to find giraffes, zebras (pronounced "Zehbras" by our British co-workers), wildebeasts and warthogs. One of my roomies, Juli, had a life goal to see a giraffe before she died. She definetely checked that one of her list! Mt. Kili here we come...

Giraffes... up close and personal. This one came right up to the car window.

A baby giraffe with zebras in the background.

Lots of impalas. We couldn't get too close becuase they are pretty skittish.

There were LOTS of monkeys in the trees right next to the place where we had lunch. This is a mama and a baby monkey. The baby kept trying to climb higher and higher, but the mama kept pulling him back down to this branch.

Look at the face on this one... so stoic. They didn't quite know what to do with all of us taking their picture.

Candace Gentry and I posing in an antique car that was parked at the restaurant.

Mzuri Monday Madness

2008-07-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Last night, we took a break from language learning and hung out with one of our teams who is working in Nairobi. At a theater nearby, they have a special deal called "Mzuri Monday Madness." (Mzuri is a Swahili word that means "good." For example: Habari? (How are you?) Mzuri. (Good.) ah, Mzuri sana. (Very good.) On Monday nights, you can see a movie and get a hotdog, popcorn and Coke for 380 ksh (Kenyan shillings... that's about $5.80). So, we saw the new Batman movie... the Dark Knight. And two things stood out from the evening...

First, it was quite the experiment in African culture. The movie was supposed to start at 5:50. At 6:20, we stood for the Kenya National Anthem before the adverts. At 6:30, the previews started. At 6:40, the movie FINALLY started. Plus, the lobby was PACKED both before and after the movie. 4 full theaters, 8 movies, 1 door in and out. (and please keep in mind that most Africans don't believe in queues and have no concept of personal space!) One of our group commented, "Good thing there wasn't a fire. We'd have never gotten out!"

Second (and this is the part that gets a little sappy), sitting in the theater, eating a hotdog in a stadium style setting, I was reminded of a time when I was 12 years old. Growing up in Houston, my school district had a special program that if you got straigt A's you got two free tickets to an Astros game. (For those of you who didn't grow up going to Little League games twice a week, the Houston Astros are an American baseball team that plays in the Astrodome... I know it's now called Minute Maid field, but that's lame...) Because I am the classic over-achiever, I got straight A's and received two free tickets to an Astros game... two tickets: one for me, and one for my Dad.

Now you have to understand about the men in my family and baseball. For as long as I can remember, my Dad and my brothers have played baseball. Most of my childhood was spent playing on the dirt piles next to Little League dugouts. My older brother's first sentence was,
"Want your bat, Dad?" They still play Church League Softball twice a week in Cincinnati. Baseball has always been something that bonded the men in my family. But I refused to give my ticket away. I wanted to go to a game. Just me and Dad. And the funny thing is, I don't remember the game... I don't remember who played... I don't even remember if the Astros won! But I do remember sitting in the stands, next to my Dad, feeling very grown up because he bought us hotdogs with EVERYTHING on them: onions, mustard, relish, chilis...everything. I had only ever had ketchup on my hotdogs until that night. But my Dad bought me a hotdog with everything on it, and we ate them at a baseball game... just the two of us.

and a hotdog at a movie theater in Kenya reminded me of it...

ABO in Machakos, Kenya

2008-07-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Traveling to Machakos...7 people in the back of a Land Cruiser

After hours of traveling, days of resting, and minutes of flurried computer activity, my first three weeks in Africa was spent in Machakos, Kenya sitting at a desk, studying. (That's right... the teacher had to go to class!) Our fearless leaders, Lauren and Donna, discussed culture, African worldview, different religions seen in Africa and the value of learning a language with us. We also studied safety and security in "Nai-robbery" versus a remote village and in an I$lamic culture versus an animistic African culture. We all found out that Africa is very different from a Western culture!! (I know, big shock...) For example: In America, you go to the bank and everybody lines up. You file through red velvet ropes, in an orderly fashion, waiting until the person in front of you is finished at the counter before you step up. In an African society, there is no such thing as a line. If you are finished, the next person who is ready steps up to the counter. This may or may not be the person who arrived next. This may or may not be you or the person standing in front of you. You may have gotten to the building first, but you may be the last person to be served. There is no such thing as a line (or "queue" to my lovely "great British" friends) in Africa! and since we live here...we have to be the ones to learn to adjust!

Jeanette teaching Western Children an African dance on Cultural Night

But the real main purpose of ABO (Africa Based Orientation) was RELATIONSHIPS! We were living in dorms with students from all over Africa, meeting with from all over the world. The woman I led worship with is from Germany, the woman I shared my colored pencils with during class is from South Africa, and one of my roommates in Nairobi was from Northern Ireland. We are all serving in different parts of Africa as well. My roommate in Machakos is living in the desert in Northern Kenya. Two of the girls from the dorm are serving with Mu$lims in Nairobi, and a bunch of us have been called to teach TCKs (Third Culture Kids) both in Kenya and Tanzania. It was awesome to be around so many like minded people! 52 people, one heart to serve! and we learned so much about African culture...

Andrea (from Germany), Naomi (from Northern Ireland) and Me on "Safari"

One of the last nights we were there, one of my African dorm mates arranged a cultural night. She had each one of us do a presentation from our respective cultures. We had African songs and dances from MANY different tribes, American worship songs, Irish jigs and stories, and John 3:16 recited in over 15 different languages! It was amazing!

The Scott choir performing on Cultural Night

We also had "work" to do. Each Sunday, we had to attend a different service in the area. This was to give us a first hand look at how Africans worship and the different ways that "church" can look. The first two weeks, my partner, Candace and I went to Machakos Primary Academy where we taught the "junior high" (Primary grades 7 and 8) sunday school class. It was a mixed group of boys and girls who boarded at the school. We had so much fun! Their praise team began each service with acapella singing, dancing and clapping. It was so much fun to watch these 12 and 13 year olds be so uninhibited!

The last week I went with a group of girls to Maasii Boys School. (It's a Primary and Secondary boarding school for Boys...obviously.) These young men are amazing... and truly love hip hop and rap!! Their praise team began with acapella singing, then two of the older boys got up and had a competition... who could write the best rap song! All of the lyrics were written as praise songs, but the beat was entirely Hip Hop! It was amazing to watch 200 young men pump their fists in the air and sing and dance to lyrics like, "Today I'm gonna pray" and "Am I gonna make sin a habit? No!"

We also had many different sessions where we learned more about I$lam. We even visited a Mosque one afternoon.

Ready to visit the Mosque!

The evenings that we weren't in class afforded us time to bond with each other and explore some of Machakos. But those pictures will have to be saved until tomorrow...

Sad news from Home.

2008-07-23T02:52:00.000-07:00

Mom sent me an email letting me know that Texas Patches Full of Joy (known as "Patches" to his friends) was taken to the vet for the last time on July 17, 2008. God's timing is always perfect, and Patches was happy and full of energy right up until I said good-bye. I am so grateful that God let me have my last moments in Ohio with him, and that he let Patches spend his last moments with my parents and my younger sister. When I was no longer able to, they loved Patches, took care of him and gave him a home.

The-Middle-of-Nowhere, Kenya

2008-07-01T00:31:00.000-07:00

Today we leave for training in Machokos, Kenya. Each day, for the next three weeks, we will have daily lectures on interactions with Africans, how to cook chipote and mendaze, and what are the best Swahili phrases to help you learn the language. Machokos is pretty much in the part of Kenya that has very little internet or email access. So, this will be my last post for a bit. But never fear! I will be back at the Mayfield Guesthouse after July 22 where the internet is prevalent and well-used.
Mayfield Guesthouse in Nairobi, Kenya.

Modern day "servants" sending all their last minute emails to prepare for the field.

Where are we?

2008-06-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

This is a question that was asked many times during our travel over the past couple of days.

We (myself and 23 other missionaries) left Newark on Friday, June 27 at 6:30. We flew to London where most of the team continued caught a flight to Nairobi. 5 of us (myself, two other teachers at HOPAC, and a couple and their 2 yr. old daughter) had a 12 hour layover at Heathrow airport. (We were traveling straight to Dar es Salaam because you can carry 70 lb. bags on a British Airways flight, but you can only carry 44 lb. bags on a Kenya airways flight. Our training is in Kenya, so we would have had to ship the rest of our luggage...and you don't ship anything you actually want in Africa. If you want it really badly, customs agents will have you "tip" them for it. And if you don't want it, someone else will... someone else will probable still want it, wether you want it or not.) During our layover, three of us took the tube into the city to have lunch and hang out. Sitting in an airport for 12 hours seemed like a terrifying prospect. We found ourselves in St. James' Park, where we sat on a park bench, and took a very slow walk. We then had lunch in Piccadilly Circus. (The whole time, we were trying not to fall asleep! We just kept nodding off...especially at lunch.)

Back to the airport, 9 hour flight to Dar, 8 hour layover. Luckily, there was a restaurant at the airport this time. By the time we hit the last plane ride, the 2 yr old said, "Plane, mommy?" then she started to cry. We all felt the same way. 1 hour flight to Nairobi and a 40 minute ride to the guesthouse. Finally, after almost 4 days: a bed, a shower, and a change of clothes! (Part of me is very glad that I won't have to do that again for quite some time.)

What's the deal with Support?

2008-06-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to all of you who chose to be a part of my support team! God has been so faithful and I now have more than I need for both pledged monthly support and outgoing funds. All of the excess goes towards my work funds which I can use for special projects or as excess funds when needed.

Now that I am out of the country, any support/gifts should be sent directly to AIM:

AIM

PO Box 178

Pearl River, NY 10965

If the check is made out to AIM, it is tax deductible and goes into my work funds to be used for ministry, etc. If the check is made out to me, it is NOT tax deductible and goes directly to my salary and I can use it however I please.

There is also an option for online giving:

www.aimint.org/usa/online_giving/html and under "Name", simply type "Kate Connell."

Leavin' on a... you can fill in the rest.

2008-06-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it... my last night in the States until 2010. The thoughts going through my head right now... how tall Wynter will be when I get back, how Hannah will be potty trained, talking in complete sentences and getting ready to start kindergarten, how I will probably have a lot more nieces and nephews, and about how is it possible that my whole life for the next two years manages to fit in two 70 lb. suitcases and one 36.5 lb. suitcase. (It seems that I should need WAY more than that to survive... especially since my roommate brought 8 bags with her!) But the thought that keeps going through my head is how Jesus told the disciples to take their cloak and go. They had a lot less than 176.5 lb. of luggage! (Correction... 80 kilos! :) So, I'm going... with my cloak, my hoodie, my swimsuits, my first aid kit, my digital camera, my books... Oh, wait. Aren't I supposed to be learning to live a simple life?

Oh, well. I guess I still have a LOT to learn.

Flight times: Friday (June 26) 6:30 pm (Newark to Heathrow)

Saturday (June 27) 7:20 pm (Heathrow to Dar es Salaam)

Sunday (June 28) 3:00 pm (Dar es Salaam to Nairobi for 3 weeks of training)

Please pray for Safe Travel!