MAF @ Morogoro

We returned yesterday from a MAF Tanzania International Staff weekend away. It was a great opportunity to get away somewhere new, to meet up with our MAF friends who are based in Dar es Salaam and to generally recharge our over-heated "batteries" in this hot season here in Tanzania!
Morogoro is half way between Dodoma and Dar- about a 4 hour road trip from either direction, so it was an ideal middle-way meeting point for our weekend away.

A few photos...

Just the sight of those towering, lush, green hills right outside our family bedroom provided much-needed mental relief, after months of  staying in flat, dry-as-a-bone, brown Dodoma! It was a treat for my eyes and I felt myself relax as I enjoyed the different landscape and the colour green!

 It was good to have time to ctach up as a team and also to have meetings together in the airy meeting hall. We had a South African couple from Pretoria who came on the weekend as pastoral support and to lead our meetings.

 The Young MAFers also had fun, with a kid's programme running in the mornings to keep them busy...

 ...and the pool to cool them all down during the hot afternoons! Ben was delighted that he can swim again, after a week of not being allowed to get his chin or under his neck wet after his little accident. The superglue has done amazing work and his chin is now healed, easily surviving an afternoon immersed in the swimming pool!

 Although Joel did not go swimming, he did not miss out, as his little MAF friend next door, baby Grace, kindly lent him her inflatable travel-bath! Cute...

 Meals were fantastic- and as on any weekend break like this, there is always the added bonus of not having to shop for food, cook food or wash up any dishes :-) We gave a big Thank You to the kitchen staff before we left, to show our appreciation.

 After lunch on Sunday, it was time to head home. For the first couple of hours, we soaked up all the greenery we could lay our eyes on as the Tanzanian bush whizzed past our car window... but we knew we were back in the Dodoma Region when the countryside returned to the familiar flat, dusty landscape of our African home:

Back home, we are thankful for a great weekend away - and we wait hopefully every day for grey skies to bring much-needed rain to water the thristy land of Dodoma. Apparently, there was some rain when we were away in Morogoro this weekend, but don't tell Ben- he has been waiting for weeks for the opporutunity to play outside in rain- he has stacked his wellies, raincoat and umbrella as close to the front door as possible! He would be so very disappointed to miss the rare chance to get wet and muddy - and so we hope that there is lots more rain to be sent our way before Tanzania's rainy season is over!

Ups and Downs in Dodoma

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, with some happy things to keep us smiling and also some challenges.

On the plus side:

* Some post and parcels have finally being getting through, after a bit of a "postal drought"- we are still missing some items from the UK, but it is exciting when others are making it through :-)

 * Joel was well enough 2 Fridays ago to join his little buddies at our Dodoma Mums + Tots group on Friday mornings. Joel and his friends (and their mums!) have lots of fun catching up on the latest news!

 * On the home front, it's the little things which get me excited- like learning how to make my own museli for breakfast! If we can find museli in the shops in town, there are 2 factors to put me off: one is the exorbitant price and the other factor is the resident weevils inside the packets! So when new MAF friend, Michelle, was visiting from Dar es Salaam, she gave me a great recipe for our Dodoma breakfast. It may seem like a little thing, but it has certainly brightened up my early morning starts!

* Ben has discovered a new pastime- which is maybe only to be expected with a pilot as his Dad! Paper aeroplanes are all the rage in the Parker household at the moment- with enough planes flying around the place to make a mini-Heathrow! I am not sure how long this pastime will be tolerated indoors- picking my way over paper planes all over the lounge floor it starting to wear a little! This activity may have to be reassigned to an outdoors one...

* And finally- I never knew quite how much I liked Marmite until this nice, large jar arrived in our home last week! We have had 5 months of fruitlessly searching for Marmite on the shelves of Dodoma's food stores. I have even put in requests for Marmite to be put aside for us, should it perchance arrive one day at the local shops. Michelle from Dar, on hearing of our plight, kindly sent us this jar from Dar es Salaam, via travelling MAF staff. I have never eaten so much Marmite on toast! It's amazing how much you appreciate a taste of home when you've been denied it for a while :-)

 The challenges:
There have been little annoyances to sort out at home, such as this Ant Invasion at our back door a couple of Saturdays ago:

 And then there have been more health issues... Since I posted the photo of Joel looking well and happy, he became unwell again. This time, there were high fevers and some apparent discomfort in his stomach. Our 1st visit to the clinic revealed some pus cells in a stool sample, but the doctor wasn't sure if maybe he had a sore throat as well and so prescribed an antibiotic to treat a potential chest infection, "just in case he has a sore throat"- and this without ever looking inside his throat! I did not feel I should use them, so these antibiotics are still sitting in my cupboard!
Meanwhile, Esther was off school with a nasty cough and sore throat, so the doctor prescribed antibiotics in pill-form... which sounded easy enough, but it took us an hour and a half and seven visits to different phamacies before we found what we needed!
Over the next few days, Joel's fever got worse. It was difficult to know what was wrong and therefore how to treat him. Andrew was away in Mbeya last Tuesday when Joel's fever reached 39.8'C at midnight- and I felt the now-familiar panic settle over me. What should I do? Who should I ask for help? Where could I go? There are no straightforward answers to these questions in Dodoma.
I was extremely grateful when Andrew turned up earlier than expected on Wednesday, instead of Thursday and we were able to get a urine sample from Joel to the laboratory in town. The lab staff said that the presence of more pus cells indicated an infection needing a certain kind of antibiotic- which Andrew found easily this time! Since starting his antibiotics ( his 3rd course since August!!), Joel is doing much better.
Ben clearly did not want to miss out on the action though- and last Thursday, he came crashing off our swing and landed heavily on the tough concrete ground, splitting open the skin under his chin with the hard impact! Thankfully, Andrew was home to help clean up the blood and cleanse the wound (making it easier for me with my queasy reaction to open wounds!) and German nurse, Andrea, was available to come fairly soon to assess the damage. Andrea had some amazing medical "superglue" to stitch Ben back together! A less painful option than stitches and Ben recovered soon enough, with some help from a handy packet of "Jellybabies"!

 Now I think I shall go and have a cup of tea to have a  bit of a rest after all this busy-ness at home- and maybe a piece ot toast...with Marmite!!

Look Who's Feeling Better

We are thankful that Joel is now much healthier and happier! There's nothing like a bit of local avocado for lunch to cheer you up...