Dear Family and Friends,
Have another journal in the works with pix of our seminar at Kisarawe -- 'bout time you think ? -- since you have already traveled with us there twice and we start our next seminar here at Mwangaza on Monday.
But today's stories are begging to be told -- you can be the judge of whether or not they are begging to be heard.
We received 2 young women as guests this afternoon, one a Maasai who is studying to be a teacher of English. We have met Nanja several times and have been in her home -- you may remember a 2008 picture of Sharon with a cell phone to her ear while standing among a gathering of women and children between some grass and dung homes. A DeKalb couple supplied a scholarship for Nanjaa to attend the Masai Girls School and to continue with studies in education. Small world, Yes, but "you ain't heard nothing yet".
In 2005 a woman from California went on safari to Tanzania. She was moved by the poverty and challenges, and decided to provide a scholarship for a student who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to attend high school. One of the quality schools she heard mentioned was Enaboishu, so she googled it for more information. Because the google entry mentioned Mike, Lamont, and Jake being at Enaboishu on a mission trip to work on school room ceilings, the California lady used the internet white pages to find and call Mike for input. She later moved to Colorado and made contact a few more times, as she returned to TZ and began investigating the options for building a school in an area of villages where there was none. The last we had heard, she had married someone from Tanzania.
Today, when Sharon was visiting with Nanja before I had arrived to join them, she asked her about her son and family. Nanja said that her son is fine, almost 6 now. But she went on to tell about a lady from Colorado who married the father of Nanja's son. She even named the lady, and Sharon almost fell off the couch. We tell this not out of humor, but out of amazement of the shrinking world. Because in the tradition of Masai culture, they were married, this man is her husband and he is fully responsible to provide for his son.
Our second young woman visitor is an American who is volunteering for her second year in Tanzania, having helped start a non-profit support organization and fundraised for a new school in a small village near Dar es Salaam. Eileen also teaches English while there for 4 months and helps with the organizing and administration of the school. Eileen is perhaps 24 years old. Small world ? Her father is DeKalb High School's Principal for the last couple of years, and her very long distance guide to and around Arusha & Mwangaza has been David Msseemmaa. David (or Daudi, as he is better known here), is, of course, the son of Martin Msseemmaa, our God-given connection to Mwangaza and Tanzania in 2001.
Lastly, we did laugh out loud at the comedy of efforts in trying to arrange a taxi for Eileen to return to town and her hostel. Mary E. Laiser had personally picked our taxi when we grocery shopped when visited her at the Diocese office Tuesday afternoon. Loaded down with foodstuffs and Tanzania memorabilia, we were not going to do well trying to walk up Ilboru Road's steep hill in the afternoon sun and dust. She even negotiated a very good price for our ride, half of what "nzungu" could negotiate for ourselves. After Mary's initial information, his 6 words of English and our 4 of Swahili were enough to get us to our door. Knowing it is always a good idea here to have reliable taxi information, we took the driver's name and phone number for future reference.
So, I rang up Onesmo and he promptly answered. However, my English startled him and he quickly hung up. I tried again, using Mwangaza and Ilboru Road in hopes that would stir his memory. No luck. So, I decided to walk the 50 steps from our house to Mwangaza campus, hoping to find one of the staff who would share our request in Swahili. While I walked, the phone rang and I saw it was Onesmo, but decided to wait to answer, as know we are running low on minutes.
Finding faithful Andrew, Mwangaza's talented fundi who also watches carefully for our well-being, I explained and he agreed to call for us. However, when he dialed and the call was answered, I'm standing there wondering why in the world Andrew began speaking English.
For, of course, as I walked to find someone to speak Swahili, Onesmo was frantically finding someone to speak English -- luckily they quickly switched and Onesmo was soon at our gate.
Seminar pix to follow soon,
Peace and love,
Mike and Sharon
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