Not Used To...

... RAIN!!

Dodoma's climate is described as "semi-arid" (according to climate information on the "wikipedia" website) and for 8 months of the year we are highly unlikely to see so much as tiny droplet of rain. Therefore, the "rainy season" between December and March is of vital importance for local Tanzanians, providing the opportunity to plant and grow their crops, which can then be harvested and stored, or sold to provide income for the family. In a country where subsistence farming is still the norm, even as a top-up to wages earned in town, crops are a lifeline.

However, many locals have been concerned at the lack of rain over the past month. My houselady Jane told me that her maize crop was not growing as it should. MAF employees who work in the hangar here in Dodoma told Andrew last week that if we did not have rain in the next few days, their crops would fail- taking with them the hope of income from selling food, plus food they had been counting on for the family, not to mention the waste of all their hard work since November in preparing the soil, planting and tending their crops.
People here depend on the rains: if they do not come, crisis ensues. Last Sunday, the wife of the bishop of Dodoma stood up in the church service to plead with us all to pray for rain, as the crisis point was looming. Another week without rain would mean crop failure for many in our region. A serious matter.

Therefore, imagine the suspense here in Dodoma when the skies clouded over on Wednesday afternoon, thunder rumbled and lightening began to flash across the sky... we almost held our breath as we waited to see if this storm would pass over, or whether life-giving rain would fall... I heard the first drops of rain about one o'oclock in the morning and gentle dripping of the first raindrops soon gave way to the welcome sound of heavy rain beating against our tin roof. I went back to sleep again very grateful for this blessing of rain!

On Thursday morning, the rain was still falling as the children set off for school. As I took the 3 of them to the school bus-stop, Joel seemed most surprised at being bundled into a pram with a rain-cover; a new experience for him! Esther and Ben were thrilled with the novelty of wearing raincoats and wellies to school! I just had to take a photo to mark this unusual sight of my children crowding under an umbrella on a  wet and muddy Dodoma morning:

 Jane came to work with a big smile on Thursday, pleased with this gift of rain and the prospect of healthy crops. The rains eased off by lunchtime, but a dramatic and exciting thunderstorm on Friday evening preceeded another welcome rainfall. The children were greatly excited by the wild wind, the loud crashes of thunder, the bursts of lightening which lit up the whole night sky...and by the excitment of our leaking house, which is also not used to rain! Heavy rainfall seeps through our lounge wall, dripping through cracks and pouring over 2 electric sockets (which we avoid using!!)- 3 towels and some cloths helped to soak up some of the water...

 On Saturday morning, I went to my Ladies Keep Fit Class, which is held at the swimming pool for an hour of "Aqua Fit". Out of about 16 ladies who come along to the class, only 5 of us turned up on this damp, cooler morning, as the rain had lasted well into the night- and we 5 were the ones from colder climates- 3 Brits, a Dutch lady and our German teacher- all of us a bit more experienced with grey skies, able to handle a bit of rain and cooler air!! Funnily enough, there was no sign of any of the African ladies, the New Zealanders or others used to warmer weather!!
However, despite the depletion in number of ladies, we were all repulsed by the increase in the number of water scorpions, who seemed to have been enjoying an overnight gathering in the pool to celebrate the rain! Nasty weird-looking creatures, who we removed from the pool and squashed- at least 15 were lying dead on the side of the pool when I arrived:

 A couple more surfaced while we were exercising and 2 cheeky fellas climbed up the arm of the Dutch lady and another crept up my leg, creating much screaming and hilarity from us ladies! They look like giant cockroaches and do NOT make pleasant swimming companions:

 The rains had also brought a few frogs to the pool, but unfortunately for them, the pool must have been too deep, as it was the bloated corpses of frogs who floated up amongst us and had to be thrown out of the pool by the braver ladies (not me!!).

It is funny how unused we can become to the rain, despite coming from a rainy country myself. It is amazing how much more I now appreciate rain- despite the bizarre creatures that reveal themselves with each wet season! It has been a wonderful few days of RAIN!!!

Noisy Dodoma!

I am so thankful for power cuts! For the last 3 mornings, I have been able to wake up when I choose, rather than being forced awake at 05:30 by the booming of loud speakers from the Anonymous Preacher! Recent rain and thunder have knocked out the electricity, so peace has reigned over the pre-dawn darkness of Dodoma, as there has been no power for the loud speakers to blast noise into our homes :-)

Over the past 2 weeks, the early morning noise has been continuing. We have been informed that the 05:30 noise is not actually the local preacher speaking his own words and preaching specifically for this area, but rather it is a church about a kilometre away playing tapes of other people preaching! So this is the noise we hear every morning. It is incredibly loud. On Friday last week, the tape ran from 5:30 until 6:25. Fortunately, Joel had woken me up around 4am in the night and I was able to pop in my ear-plugs after looking after him and settling him again. I went back to sleep and only woke up again in time to hear the final 15 minutes of the sermon. (I only put in ear-plugs in the wee early hours, as I don't like to wear them all night in case I can't hear the children if they need me).

Whilst many of you reading this may not be against the principle of Christian preaching being publically broadcast, for us here in Dodoma it is extremely tiring that it is so very early in the morning. The timing could be far better! After 2 weeks, many of us from overseas feel weary. There are bags under our eyes and there have been tears as we try to cope with the lack of rest. It is not just being woken up early and having the sound of shouting in our homes, but also then adjusting our evenings so that we can try to get to bed in time to get enough sleep before 05:30! This can mean that the tasks we normally accomplish in the evening when the children are asleep have to be done another time, or pile up and don't get done, making us stressed!

On Thursday last week, I used my session with my language helper to write a letter to the pastor of the church where the noise comes from. Language helper Mama Kambenga was extremely helpful- she also finds the noise disturbing and feels tired. With her assistance, a culturally-appropriate letter was composed in Swahili to respectfully greet the pastor, but to politely request that he either reduces the volume or changes the time of the daily broadcasts. 13 of my neighbours willingly signed the letter and Mama Kambenga's husband, a local Anglican minister and government councillor, delivered the letter for me.

Now we wait to see if anything changes. In the meantime, I continue to enjoy the power cuts and remain thankful for the 3 peaceful dawns enjoyed over the weekend and this morning!

Cultural Differences

There are some cultural differences which are hard for me to understand. Living in Tanzania means living amongst a people with a very different mindset; at times this can cause a clash in our ideas and attitudes. This fact has been highlighted in a tiring way this week.

On Sunday morning this week, we were woken at 5:30 by the technical sound of a microphone system being tweaked and tested, with a highpitched squeak being broadcast across the darkness of Dodoma and straight into our bedroom. Then suddenly, a man's voice burst into life down the airwaves of the microphone system. It took a little while for our sleepy brains to realise what was going on, but it soon became apparent that a local preacher appears to have a new mission: to preach a sermon into the pre-dawn darkness of Dodoma, with the help of a very loud speaker to reach as many people as possible.
I was feeling very annoyed at being woken so early and it was impossible to go back to sleep, as the local dogs and cockerels began to compete with the preaching, which finished off with a flourish at 6:15- by which time we were thoroughly awake and I was rather cross and grumpy at missing out on the final hour of sleep on a weekend morning.

On Monday, my day started at 5am. A thirsty Joel woke me first and the sounds of the local mosques with their daily prayer call mingled with Joel's demands for attention. I was just settling back down for a bit of sleep again, conscious that my alarm would be going off for school preparations at 6:25. However, sleep was to elude me, as the voice of the local preacher forced its way into our home again at 5:30! This time, the preaching was louder than ever, but it was hard to follow all of the Swahili so early in the morning, making it a frustrating disturbance. At 6am, Andrew left for work, so the day had started and it seemd more sensible to just get up as well , as any hope of rest or sleep had completely escaped me.

On Tuesday, I was ready for the onslaught of noise! Andrew was away overnight, so I had access to an extra pillow- it is brilliant how effective a pillow on your head can be to cover unwelcome noise! The enthusiastic preaching has continued every day this week, but amazingly, it did not wake us on Friday morning, so I was delighted to see my bedside clock displaying 6:30 when I first opened my eyes. What a lovely lie-in!
This morning, Joel woke at 5:30, his early morning muttering shortly followed by the electronic sounds of Mr. Preacher's microphone being switched on and then the inevitable preaching. However, after feeding Joel, I finally had a revelation- ear-plugs! I reached into my drawer and unearthed my new friends- 2 little ear-plugs- what a wonder of modern technology! I actually managed to get a little bit of extra sleep before getting up with Joel and Ben about 6:45!

It has been a tiring week. It is hard to catch up on that missed hour of sleep every day. Many of us from overseas are feeling disgruntled and fed up with this early wake-up call. We are all hoping that this is a short term thing, but it could become an everyday addition to the daily noise we have learnt to put up with from all the local mosques, howling dogs and enthusiastic cockerels. Interestingly though, many of the Tanzanians we ask about this early preaching seem to be in favour, as they start to get up around 5:30. The Christian population seems to welcome the preacher's message as a good opportunity to give equal voice to the Christians in a community used to daily prayer calls and preaching from the mosques, which are broadcast across Dodoma on loud speakers from 5am. The Christians have also been saying that it is good to hear this preacher pronouncing blessings over Dodoma and praying for the country of Tanzania.

Personally, I feel tired and frustrated with having all this noise imposed upon us. Whilst I may not be against the actual message of this anonymous Preacher Man (it's hard to tell, as I can't understand it all!) I would prefer it to be broadcast within daylight hours! Our American neighbour pointed out the following proverb this week (Proverbs 27:14) - it definitely expresses a sentiment that we can relate to:

"If a man loudly blesses his neighbour early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse." !!!

I'd Rather Be...

...relaxing with my feet up, in the shade, on a hot Saturday afternoon, when our indoor house thermometer shows 30'C. Outside, it feels far hotter. The heat makes us all want to don our swim suits and head for the cool waters of the pool on the MAF compound.
However, at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, my meat arrived in a sun-warmed bucket, swilling with fresh blood. Kind Tanzanian lady Elizabeti had been at the local Meat Market and purchased my meat order for me. I'm so grateful that I had Elizabeti's help to go to the market in my place, but there was still work to do at home once the meat arrived.
To try get the job done quicker, the whole family joined in- except for Andrew, who seems quite pleased that he was away from the action at home, busy instead in the MAF hangar monitoring the flight-following radio for another airbourne MAF pilot.

I cut the meat up into suitable sizes... Ben helped to wash the meat in Milton and get the bags ready for me to pop the meat in the freezer... Esther helped to spoon the washed meat into bags... Joel monitored my washing of the unpleasantly dirty meat bucket outdoors... Moshi cheered us all on with her "singing" at the back door- hoping all the while for left-overs!

 Saturday morning had been a little cooler, so we all headed into town before the heat of the day, to try out a new cafe which has opened and to sample their fruit milkshakes and juice. It was nice to have a bit of shade around town, as we are enjoying the greener trees and plants around Dodoma following the recent rainy season. All 5 of us jumped into the car and headed out, over the potholes...

 ... around the diversion on Dodoma's main road where lots of digging is going on...

 ...and into the streets of the town, where lots more digging seems to be going on:

 The new cafe was great and the fruit juice was delicious. We then took a walk around the corner to the ice-cream shop, where they sell some sweets, so that Esther could spend her pocket-money ( 500 Tanzanian shillings- about 20 pence). A pleasant little Saturday morning outing, despite the later tasks which required our attention in the afternoon!

A Week in Dodoma

The older children are back at school and settling down for their long 10 week term. Andrew has been out and about flying medical teams and church workers to the more remote villages in the environs of Dodoma. Joel has been busy playing at home and growing 5 new teeth all at once (!!) and I have been busy with school runs, house-work and settling back into the routine of our MAF meetings and mum's/baby group.

Over the past week though, there have been a couple of events to liven up the everyday tasks.
We have had another MAF farewell, this time saying Goodbye to short-termers Margaret and Andy, who have been with us in Dodoma for 9 months and have made such a positive impact on our life here with their dedication and hard work. I think all of us ladies will especially miss physiotherapist Margaret's Keep Fit classes and her excellent help with all things domestic, from getting me to actually grow basil in the garden ( I am usually a disaster when it comes to gardening- I am not one of those people gifted with green fingers!), childcare and health advice and even cutting our hair! Andrew will miss Andy's expertise and hard work in the MAF hangar with the Flight Operations Team.
We had a Farewell over the weekend at MAF Compound B:

 There was also the excitement of Andrew's birthday this week. No impressive cake for Andrew though! Just a little round chocolate cake from the rather busy kitchen of Liz. Still, it was enjoyed by all...

  ...especially Joel, who was even allowed a little taste- and he certainly made the most of it!

 There was a also great excitement when we received a parcel of delicious treats from friends in far-off Liverpool! There was double excitement for me- not only do I get gorgeous chocolate and super-tasty UK brand tea, but I even get a new tupperware container in the form of a Very Useful ice-cream tub! You can NEVER have enough tupperware in Dodoma to store goodies away from uninvited guests of the 6-legged variety, so a pacel packaged in an ice-cream tub is an extra advantage for me, as it adds to my collection of kitchen tupperware!

 This past week has also provided some perplexing brain-teasers to keep us on our toes... My feet normally look like this:

 ..but since yesterday evening, my left foot looks like this:

 My toe next to the Big Toe seems to have been bitten by some unseen East African creature, who has certainly left his mark. We are puzzled about what strange insect or being may have sunk little teeth into me, but I am hoping that the swelling and tingling will stop soon, with the help of anti-histimine from our medicine cupboard!
Meanwhile, there is another puzzle in the fridge, as we wonder what kind of hen produced these VERY white eggs which I bought in town last week?? Apparently, so the egg-seller tells me, they are definitely hen's eggs, but I have never seen such white eggs before! Most bizarre...