Dear Readership, Doesn't that make you feel important? I never have time to reread my blogs, so I always hope I'm not repeating myself. I know I've done blogs on sights & sounds of TZ, but have I done smells? So, inhale this blog and I hope your imagination will make it come alive. At site one can always smell the cows. They bed about 50' from our livingroom so we can REALLY enjoy them. Otherwise, the cowherd has them grazing on the property. Barefoot and in tattered attire, he is constantly watching them. He has a long, slender stick which [View Full Entry]

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Dear Springtime blog readers, Here is your first autumn blog. In our Life Skilss-Health club we had 120 students packed into one classroom. That made our small group activity on decision making have 30 in it...small group? But, the kids are eager and want to be there,so how can we turn them away? One more note of local interest, today as we were waiting for a long-overdue bus, the entire student body of Mtumbi Secondary School passed by in clusters of green uniforms. They all 500PLUS SAID "GOOD MORNING, SIR...GOOD MORNING, MADAM." and the closest ones shook our hands and then [View Full Entry]

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Dear Friends at home. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. Our celebration will be a wee bit different this year, but I will make Irish soda bred and we have potatoes, cabbage, and carrots are grown locally. Breaded steaki will sub for corned beef, but the real bummer is no grasshopper pie! There are plenty of grasshoppers here, but they're too quick to catch. All around us we see green as the Usambara Mts. are always green, at least in the 7 months that we've been here. We are in Lushoto to pick up the 2nd 20 box shipment of books [View Full Entry]

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Hello Readers, Just a quick note to let you know we are alive and well. Have had the usual no power or no network problems, so haven't been able to blog. Time on the computer is running out so I'll try to connect again on Sat. Stay tuned. Love D & W [View Full Entry]

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Dear Far Away Faithful Readers, We have just completed a 2 week training seminar and are ready to write grants and tackle some of the issues that the village survey pointed out as being of importance to their health and well-being. We have lots of work ahead of us. It was also a time to relax and renew acquaintances with 1/2 of our group. Everyone is still energized and ready to push their sleeves up and get to work. We also had a mini-vacation from chores as the training facility did the cooking, washed the dishes, did the laundry, emptied the [View Full Entry]

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Dear Blog Readers, Sorry you haven't heard from us for awhile, but the last two times we have tried, the electricity was down and so...But, our big news from Carmel is that our oldest grandson Dylan joined 8 CHS seniors and attended Obama's Inauguration. We have to hear all about it; as it must have been an occasion that will always be remembered. A chance in a lifetime experience for a 17 yr. old. We were just happy to be able to see and hear it from a Guesti bar along with 7 Tanzanians who asked many questions and were all [View Full Entry]

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Dear Friends, We are in the City today. Yes, that means Lushoto. Everytime you read a blog it comes from our district town. We are here for the usual: bank, PO, internet, and supplies. But, we are also in search of electricity to recharge our phone, computer, and OURSELVES. We need a HOT shower in the worst way. So, a trip to Lawn's Hotel is in order. We have been busy conducting a village survey, both house to house and at meetings - some 64 questions on all aspects of life here, including needs and plans for the future. These must [View Full Entry]

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Dear Pumpkin Pie Blog Readers, You can give thanks wherever you are and we in Tanzania have so much to be thankful for: generous family & friends who are sending books and money for postage, letters, prayers, & encouragement. We thank you all! We had Thanksgiving at our site in the village of Maringo of 3,000 not counting livestock. These homes are family compounds with several generations living together up and down the little valleys. We talked to all our CA family on Thanksgiving and they had gathered at Emily & Paul's in SLO, some even in the motorhome. We invited [View Full Entry]

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Dear Blog Readers, Again thank you for your generosity with the school library project. Some books have started arriving and it is so exciting. More are coming so we hear! But, back to our village which is probably very typical of many villages in many locations in many countries. Each morning as the new day begins, according to the resident rooster, we hear the sounds of daily activity. Families brush their teeth outside while talking to neighbors or workers. Yesterday's bright sun has given way to an overcast sky with the look of rain. The newly planted green crops tomatoes, peppers [View Full Entry]

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Dear Blog Readers, And if you can read this you know who to thank...a teacher. How can you teach or learn without books! The library project has the OK and smiles of the headmaster and teachers, so begin to collect and send BOOKS...any type, subject. I think if everyone reading this blog would send whatever would fit into a bubble mailer or small box marked SCHOOL SUPPLIES to the following address Mtumbi Secondary School P.O. Box 131 Lushoto, Tanga, Tanzania East Africa we would have enough to put a book in every students hands. The teachers wanted classroom referenc [View Full Entry]

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