A Final Farewell

One of the fantastic things about our life with MAF is that we get to make friends and meet people from all over the world who cross paths with us here in Dodoma. We are blessed to have some wonderful friends and neighbours from far flung corners of the globe. Friendships are easily forged as we have a common basis of going through similar challenges- living in a different culture, learning new languages, understanding what it is like to pack up your life into suitcases and move across the world with little ones in tow... It is a great support to have such friends; they often become like extended family as they live alongside us, work alongside us and also make up part of our social circle.
However, there is a down side to our way of life. Many of us are working on contracts that come to an end and then it is time to move on- or for our friends to move on, leaving a gap in our tight-knit MAF community. The house next door is suddenly empty and silence replaces the eager chatter and happy laughter where our children's friends once played. It is strange getting used to the transience that makes up part of our lives. No matter how many goodbyes we have to say, whether it be to family and friends in the UK or neighbours here in Tanzania, the frequency does not make it any easier to say "Goodbye".
Despite that fact, it is still good to get together and give people a friendly send-off. Here are a few photos from the final farewell for our Irish neighbours, the Cousley family, before they left on Wednesday for their new home with MAF in Uganda- just to give you a flavour of our Dodoma get-togethers:

The Swahili Cake: "God Bless You"

above: Joel and Dad join in, but Joel's 3 other little friends sit with their mums on a nearby bench!
below: Esther finds different ways to amuse herself with her friends- it seems that making "sand angels" on the dusty, sandy Dodoma ground is much more fun than listening to grown-up chatter!

The boys prefer to spend their time racing bikes up and down the MAF compound, once they've had enough cake and Ben is delighted to join in with the "big boys" now that he can ride his bike like them!

Holiday Fun

In just over a week and a half, Esther will be coming to the end of her 5 week school holidays and will begin a new stage as a Standard 1 (Year 1) pupil. Ben will be starting Nursery on the same day. In the meantime, they have been making the most of these school holidays and having their friends off school as well.
Here are a few pictures of what the children have been up to over their "winter" break...
Playing Ballerinas

Feeding the cat

 A very exciting holiday activity- learning to ride without stabilisers! Here go the intrepid cyclists with Dad, off to MAF Compound B for a meal with friends:

We had a visit from a princess, who apparently comes from India and is called Isabella- she came to help me look after the boys and read stories to them:

 Yesterday was lots of fun, when 5 little cyclists got together to practise their new skills on 2-wheels, over on the football "field" (not a blade of grass to be found!!) at their school. We took a picnic blanket, drinks and cakes and the 3 mums and 6 children (including Joel) had a great time!

 There has also been time to hang out with pals in our MAF neighbours' gardens and even to sample fresh coconut, straight off the tree in this garden:

 One of the coconut trees:

Not to forget Joel, who has joined in the fun by spending time with his little chum David:

Calling all vets!!

In our little world of MAF Dodoma, we are all getting rather desperate for a vet!! The howling and yowling of tom cats fills the air as a constant stream of tom cats frequent our MAF gardens, seeking out any eligible female cats. Moshi is the current target, so I am rather fed up of chasing smelly tom cats out of my garden, brandishing my mop to shoo them away! If anyone knows a vet who fancies a holiday in exotic Tanzania, we can reassure you that they would receive a royal welcome!

We are pretty certain that Moshi is expecting kittens AGAIN, just a few weeks after we sent the last of her kittens off to its new home. The last kitten was carefully carried off by new owner, Margaret, in a cardboard box -expertly balanced on her head!

I expect in a couple more months, the process of finding homes for mischievous little kittens will start all over again- and a few more weeks after that, I shall be keeping fit again as I chase away Moshi's somewhat bedraggled, but very determined admirers, pictured below:

Joel's Clinic Visit

This week, Joel was due for his 3rd injection (DTaP/Hib) . Happily, we discovered that Joel can receive this injection for free here in Dodoma and that the missing polio vaccine element is distributed via drops into the baby's mouth.

So a trip to the clinic was planned with Joel's little Swedish friend David (born just 2 days before Joel). We went to a nice Mother and Baby clinic run 4 days a week at an orphanage near Dodoma called "Village of Hope".

First, the babies are weighed. No lie-down scales for Joel and David though. In Tanzania, babies are weighed by hanging from the scale, while sitting in a little cloth "bag" purpose-made, with leg holes. I found it all quite tricky to organise at first, but eventually Joel was hanging suitably, while the helpful nurse recorded the weight on Joel's chart.

Afterwards came the injections for the boys. I was a little confused about the Tanzanian vaccine, as it had an extra ingredient to the English one, adding in Hepatitis B. Since Joel has already had that vaccine (carried back by us in a flask from the UK), I wasn't sure it he should have it again as part of a combination vaccine and the nurses were also unsure. Yet help was at hand, as my friend Mirjam (David's mum) had the phone number of an American doctor who happened to be staying on the MAF compound this week. We called him and he advised us to go ahead.
Joel and David screamed their protests as they had their combined innoculations against Diptheria, Tetanus, whooping cough, influenza (Hib), Hepatitis B and also received their polio drops! Poor little things. It was just all too much...the only relief for some was a good sleep on the way home!
Joel and David in their car seats returning from a Village of Hope visit:

Getting Ready to Let Go

Yesterday saw the start of a process to say "Goodbye" to our friends and neighbours at MAF Dodoma, as the Cousley family prepare for their move to MAF Uganda later this month. JulieAnne, Glenn and their children Joshua, Benjamin and Esther (such great names!!) will be sadly missed by those of us remaining in Dodoma. After 6 years here, there are several farewell events planned for them, which began yesterday with an official MAF staff farewell in the hangar.

JulieAnne had gone out to a village with a team of doctors and evangelist church workers yesterday and as we all gathered in the afternoon for the Farewell, we first had to await her return from the village, on board Andrew's flight. There was great excitement when Andrew flew in to land at Dodoma and taxied over to the MAF hangar...Our Esther and Ben were first to break away from the waiting crowd of MAF families and workers, to greet their Dad as he cut the engines and disembarked from the plane, closely followed by JulieAnne's Benjamin as he rushed to meet his mum: Ben was keen to help his pilot Dad carry his bags, while JulieAnne headed to join us at the hangar:

The other passengers were also being greeted, including this chicken who had flown back from the village in Andrew's plane! (a gift for JJ, who works in our ISD office at MAF)

Some of the children had fun trying out the passenger seats on the now-empty plane :
Then it was time for the first of our "Goodbye" ceremonies to begin, as the Cousleys gathered together and prepared to cut their amazing home-made cakes, featuring the flags of Tanzania, Uganda and a map of Africa (made by a gifted friend on our Compound yesterday morning).
Speeches and gifts followed as we all enjoyed our cake and bottles of fizzy drinks:
There will be other occasions to wish our friends well before they leave, but this first event is helping to break us in as we prepare to mourn the loss of great friends from our tight-knit MAF Dodoma community.

It's the small things...

It's definitely the small things in life which can make a big difference! My shopping experience here in Dodoma has vastly improved since our return from England, thanks to the egg boxes I brought back in my suitcase! Who would have thought an eggbox could be so helpful?? Previously, I would buy my eggs, be handed them in a little black plastic bag and inevitably, at least one or two would be broken by the time I got home! Very frustrating.

Now, no more Tanzanian shillings are wasted on broken eggs, as I can take my cardboard boxes to the "duka", have my eggs safely stowed away and return home with as many as I bought! I may be smiled on as the rather odd foreigner, but it's worth it for all those cakes we bake here with our lovely, unsmashed eggs!

A Picture of Health

An update on Joel's health as promised-with lots of pictures, especially for his Grandparents to enjoy!! He has had a good week and apart from a little cold, is far better- much to my great relief.
I'm not sure how much help Dr Esther and Dr Ben were in Joel's improvement, but at least he's had a happier week!

Yesterday, he also enjoyed a visit from Elizabeti, the wife of Gadi (who helps us out around the MAF garden here)...
...and found himself the centre of attention in the MAF hangar in the afternoon:

The Issue of Health

One of the biggest challenges as a Mum here in Dodoma is the worrying lack of reliable healthcare. Bringing a small baby out to Dodoma was a scary step for me. In the last few weeks, this concern has really been highlighted. This past week has been particularly upsetting and stressful.
On Sunday last week, our MAF programme manager, Ian, slipped on a wet floor and painfully broke his hip. In order to get reliable medical help in these circumstances, Ian had to be airlifted out of Dodoma to Nairobi in Kenya on Monday. A MAF plane had to be flown down especially to accommodate the stretcher that Ian had to lie flat on. He has been operated on and now spends his recovery time up in Kenya. Dodoma simply lacks the medical facilities to deal reliably with such a situation.
Meanwhile, in the Parker household last weekend, Andrew was getting over a nasty stomach bug accompanied with high fever. On Sunday, Ben joined the crew of invalids with vomiting, upset stomach and fever, followed by Esther, who developed ear-ache and fever on Tuesday!Fortunately, these were minor ailments.
But sadly, on Tuesday morning, we received the much more serious news that one of our MAF guards had lost his beautiful 6 month old daughter in the night, to a bout of pneumonia. This dreadful news comes just 4 weeks after another MAF Tanzania couple who work here in our Dodoma office lost their 4 month old daughter suddenly. As a team, we have been upset and saddened by these awful losses.
When Joel suddenly developed a high fever, diarrhoea and a cold on Tuesday night, fear hit hard. If this was a serious illness, how would I find the correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment here in Dodoma, far from any modern hospital and far from easy access to a wide range of peadiatric medicines? In the dark of a Dodoma night, my imagination ran away with me, especially as recent sad events played on my mind. Andrew was away until Thursday in the north of Tanzania, with no contact. Without his calm influence, my stomach was tied in knots as my mind played over some of the frightening possibilities of illnesses that can be contracted here.
On Wednesday, I did a malaria test as Joel's fever burned. Thankfully the result was negative.
The high fever continued until Friday morning, with a short reprieve, before it climbed again from Friday afternoon. By this stage, Joel had paid a visit with me to the local clinic on Thursday- a long 4 hour visit. A stool sample was taken, a blood test done and another malaria test. A 2 hour wait followed for Joel's test results, where Joel and I attracted much attention as the only non-Tanzanians and where I got the opportunity to practise my Swahili with some of the other mums.
No concrete results showed up- just signs of a virus, but thankfully no malaria. The Dr was very helpful, warning me to keep Joel hydrated, especially in this hot climate. I left the clinic with sachets of oral rehydration fluids and set to work at home sterilising our baby syringe to begin the rehydration process.
By Saturday, many tears had been shed, the Calpol box was getting emptier and our thermometer had put in much overtime! The fever and diarrhoea continued. Anxiety settled like a lead weight in my stomach. Having any of my little ones sick is always a concern- but here in Dodoma, Joel seems extra vulnerable.
On Saturday afternoon, a kind leader from our local church came over with a friend at our request and prayers were said for little Joel. On Saturday evening, Joel slept really well, fed really well and finally, my over-used thermometer began to show lower and lower temperatures... :-) Today, he seems much happier and so far the fever is staying away. As Joel improves, my stress levels drop. We'll keep you posted...

Wash Day at the Parker's

No, it's not clothes...it's our fruit and veg! They need to be cleaned in sterile solution and then rinsed and dried prior to being eaten or frozen for later use, just to make sure we don't pick up any unwanted bugs or germs: another of those little domestic tasks in Dodoma. This is how my kitchen looks after a trip to the market, with our "oranges" drying out nicely on a teatowel (Tanzanian oranges are usually green!).

Meanwhile, in the garden, Jane works on washing and cleaning our grain, freshly bought from the market, setting it out in the sun to dry, before we put it through our Kenwood milling attachement and make our flour for brown bread: Now that the grain has dried out, Andrew and Ben try out the milling action on our Kenwood... hopefully we'll get some nice brown bread when the flour is ready!