Arrived in Singida yesterday after 12 hour bus journey. It was a real experience! I firmly believe the main reason why the bus took so long was that it must've stopped about 20 times to allow people on the street to try and sell ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING to you... food/drinks/shoes/sunglasses/watches/bags you name it! And i was sitting next to the window and didn't really know what to do...so just tried to read my book. (FYI Chloe, finished No Time For Goodbye - couldn't believe how it finished, so many twists in the plot!) Also there is a problem with the busses [View Full Entry]

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Mambo marafiki wangu! (Some homework for you all…) Ok, so apologies again for taking so long to write this, I have no doubt whatsoever that my travel blog is the highlight of your days/weeks/months and therefore that I have failed you all with my lack of reporting, I am most sorry! So what’s been happening on this side of the ‘pond’? Let’s start with work! So strangely much of my time now seems to be filled teaching - not something I predicted I’d be doing at all but I’m actually really enjoying it! I’ve been doing sessions in 3 main seco [View Full Entry]

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What a week! So much has happened. First of all, I’m determined to become a member of the Kitongo Choir. I love to watch them dance and I have began to practice with them in the evenings. The other volunteers and I are the token “wageni” or foreigners. We pretty much just get laughed at, but I think I’m starting to get the rhythm. I got to see my first JBFC soccer (or football) practice! Ashley, Chris’ assistant, has started a JBFC soccer team which will play in a Mwanza league. The girls are super excited and practice with Ashley and [View Full Entry]

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On Tuesday my fellow volunteers and I visited the Kitongo Public Primary School which is about a 10 minute walk from JBFC. The school is made up of crumbling buildings that serve over 500 students. As we roamed around looking for the head master we gathered an entourage of Tanzanian children, holding our hands and examining our arm hair. When we finally found him we introduced ourselves and asked if we could observe some of the classes. In broken English he insisted on taking us on a tour of the school. My eyes grew wider in each classroom due to the [View Full Entry]

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Ate: 84 delicious curries in a row before being ill after opting for a ‘western dish’; guinea pig for 1 GBP; Christmas Day lunch at a street stall; luke warm bee grubs; steak with red wine for a month… beautiful Avoided: other travellers as much as we could; telling people what I did for a living; malaria… I hope; the worst of the recession… I hope; not a lot else! Canoed: through 5m flooded Amazon rainforest; in bull shark and crocodile infested waters; 1m away from giant mating green turtles; across, not along, hippo channels; int [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone! I guess it’s been a while since I posted… I’ve been in the field the last several days where I got to chase a bunch of elephants (yay!), and also- just as fun, to take all my field assistants into the park, just as a thank you for all their hard work. These are the field assistants who collect data on elephant raids in the villages where they each live- one in particular is from a very remote village that is some distance from the park, but still gets elephant raids. Everyone was very happy for the chance to [View Full Entry]

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So we're into September now - apparently the rainy season is supposed to start around the end of september/beginning of obtober - great. Just what I came here for, rain. The upside of it will be that it wont be so dusty here - I've gotten used to being dirty all the time .. the minute you step outside you're covered with dust and especially after spending 5 hours at Shalom with the kids. I'm used to the kids now and they're used to me (I think), they're really sweet and funny. Brielle left for Canada wednesday but luckily two more [View Full Entry]

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Things are starting to fall into place here at JBFC. On Monday we went into Mwanza, which is a small town of about 1.5 million people. The bustling streets reminded me of my experience in Ghana last year, though spiced with Indian undertones and Middle Eastern flavor. Although Tanzania is a bit more conservative in general than most West African countries, the people always greet me with smiles and the cultures is rich. After picking up some groceries and other odds and ends, we all (me, Chris, and two other volunteers) went to a hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria. [View Full Entry]

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Jacob and I are thankful for your many prayers on our behalf. Our time here in Malawi has come to an end. However, there were a few tales which remain untold, some of which I would like to share. Let me begin by saying that eating is what I have come to describe as one of my hobbies. It certainly helps if a missionary is adventurous in the food department. Some years ago, while visiting and preaching in Sri Lanka, off the southern tip of India, I had a rare culinary experience. As should become quickly evident, I am glad the [View Full Entry]

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Read a lot this year, as you do with so much extra time and without the criteria of ‘something escapist for the tube’. Think that this might be interesting for me only to look back on but do have, any case it is of interest to anyone short of something to read, a top five to recommend! Top Five Reads: (in no order) The Gate - Francois Bizot Written twenty years after his personal experience as a tortured captive of Khmer Rouge and then last days of the French embassy in Phnom Penh, absolute gripping yarn that you have to keep [View Full Entry]

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