Holiday Fun

Since Dodoma does not offer much in the way of events and distractions for children, holiday times continue to provide a challenge for us mums from overseas in terms of keeping little ones happily occupied. Over the Easter Holidays, several of us mums organised events to keep the children busy.

On Easter Tuesday, we hosted an Easter Holiday Club at our home, with Claire on hand as my excellent helper and with Andrew on hand to entertain Joel at the MAF hangar and in his MAF safety office, so that I could focus in the older children. Ten children took part in Easter Activities and Games. Our parcels from the UK proved Most Useful  as we used the paints and craft materials and some little Easter chick chocolates to decorate Rice Crsipie Chocolate nests.  It was a fun morning!

On other days, Esther and Ben joined friends at their homes for Movie Afternoons, where the host family put on a child-friendly film in their "home cinema", using a projector to make a large screen and even providing (free) "cinema tickets" and popcorn to make the experience like a "real" cinema!

We also joined in with a couple of morning walks around the local Dodoma reservoir. Joel enjoyed these walks too from the relative comfort of his pram- it was somewhat bumpy, as we clambered over the rocky and muddy ground around the water, but with a bit of help from other parents, we managed to get Joel's pram all the way around on both walks! It was wonderful to see the gorgeous wild flowers that are still in bloom after the recent rains- a rare sight in Dodoma, but the rains have been good this year and it was just so nice to be out and about and to see the local flowers:

The children kept busy at home too.
Esther spent a morning making Christmas decorations (!!), using the craft activity from a fab parcel that arrived here from England recently. It had been posted in October last year, but arrived in time for Easter! So why not enjoy the contents and make the decorations??! We will just save them up for December!

 Ben was as delighted as ever when some late rains fell, providing mud and mess especially for him to play outside with his diggers -and of course an ideal opportunity for Ben to wear his beloved wellies and waterproofs:

 As for Joel, the holidays were a great opportunity to get his brother and sister help him to practise his walking skills, up and down the garden- although Ben seems less confident than Joel, with his cycle helemt on his head in case they all fell over together! Joel was just beaming as they walked up and down the garden together, developing his confidence with every step:

 A busy and fun holiday for all. Now the children have been back at school for a week, albeit with a bit of a slow start, as last week and this week are both 4 day working weeks, with a public holiday last Thursday and another one tomorrow! However, once May gets going, the long 10 week school term will settle in, with a long wait until the next holidays...

Easter

We had a really lovely Easter this year.

Easter started for us with the Easter Production at "CAMS"- Esther and Ben's school. The younger children sang some great songs for us, with Ben and the Nursery + Reception class :

and Esther with her classmates:

The Secondary pupils of the school acted in a fabulous play depicting the miracles of Jesus, such as healing a  lame man when his friends lowered him down on a mat through the roof ...

...then the events leading up to Easter- from the betrayal of Jesus, his arrest, crucifixion and then the resurrection. It was beautifully portrayed through great acting and some moving music and singing from the pupils. Joel came along to watch with me and we arrived early enough to get Front Row seats and have a brilliant view of the action!

Before the show began, the Headteacher announced some winning pupils who have received certificates for various competitions this term. I was delighted when our little Esther was called up front to receive a certificate for a poem she had written in an English Writing Competition! She came up to stand next to pupils from the older classes and proudly held her certificate for the Standard One (Year 1) prize:

Easter itself was extra-exciting, as our recent UK visitors had left us with real Easter eggs, plus we has 2 very egg-exciting parcels from England full of wonderful Easter treats! There are no Easter eggs on the shelves of Dodoma's shops, so it was a special treat to have real English chocolate and eggs to add to our Easter celebrations!

 One parcel had some fab paints, brushes and Easter stamps inside, so we had fun with these, painting hard-boiled eggs for a topical display:

 There were some very cute, knitted chicks in the other parcel, hiding tasty chocolate eggs under their yellow knitted wings, so we made a sparkly Easter nest for them- and rounded off our Easter activities with my attempt at home-made hot cross buns:

 I have to say, these hot-cross buns turned out to be rather tasty, which was a relief. Last time I had tried to make hot-cross buns was 8 years ago, in my pre-bread-baking days ( ie. pre-Africa!!). On that occasion, Andrew had come home from work and exclaimed, "Great! I see you've made rock cakes!" (!!!)

On Easter day, we went to the morning service at Dodoma's cathedral. It was very busy, with extra capacity seating provided outside under a canvas...

 ...and Tanzanian-style decorations inside, especially set up to mark the day of celebration, complete with flashing fairy lights:

We hope you all had a Happy Easter time too!

Stressful Noise

 I know I have said it before: Dodoma is a NOISY place! Tanzanian culture is full of noise! It seems that music and noise are for sharing with all of your neighbours. We have had a very noisy week here, as loud music and enthusiastic preaching have been broadcast every afternoon and evening at full pelt across our local area, mingling with the sounds of the mosques and also public announcements. These public annoucements are shouted from loud-speakers mounted on cars that are driven around the neighbourhood (it appears that anytime is fine to make these loud public annoucements, night or day). And just to top it all off, the 05:30 sermons have started up again at full volume. EVERY day, at an amazingly punctual 05:30,  the preacher at the pentecostal church about 1 mile away from our home starts yelling and shouting. The noise level has to be heard to be believed.

It is incredibly stressful. Every day, we have no choice but to be woken in the dark at five thirty and then are forced to listen to a kind of  talk, which is not just shouted but sometimes screamed at us, sometimes sounding rather frenzied or angry. For at least 45 minutes, the noise fills every corner of our home and there is nothing we can do to turn it off. Any ideas about sleeping again are dispelled, as it is impossible to rest with that kind of noise in your bedroom. After 45 minutes of being surrounded by that kind of noise, you do not feel able to sleep again. Often, one of more of our children wake up too, so then us haggard and tense parents roll out of bed to begin the usual morning jobs, but instead of feeling rested after a night's sleep, we feel uptight and cheated of the final hour of sleep.
To try and catch up on missed sleep we must be in bed about 9pm, so then the evening jobs are left undone in the hurry to get to bed once the children are all asleep. Jobs left undone build up and so the cycle of stress continues. These jobs can't even be done during that stressful hour from 05:30, since waking children require our attention.
If you haven't already picked up on the fact, I am feeling very stressed by the way this noise is imposed on us and the way that my sleeping time is being stolen by some stranger!!
Last week, Andrew went to see the preacher at his church and pleaded with him to turn down the volume. The man said he would try and it was great that he listened to Andrew and turned the volume down a little- but not enough to stop waking us. The preacher also told Andrew that this is a permanent plan, agreed by a group of elders from his church! Argh!!! I can feel my blood pressure increase as I write that down here! Whilst I respect his vision to share his faith with the wider community, I struggle to understand why this man and his colleagues want to disturb the early morning peace EVERY SINGLE day, when he could just as easily preach in the evening when at least people are up and about, or even an hour later at 06:30, when it is at least light.
The man acknowledges that he has recieved several complaints, but he still feels that many others enjoy his broadcasts, so is worth continuing!! Personally, I don't see why those people can't tune into the local Christian radio station at 05:30 if they want to hear early morning sermons, since many homes here in Dodoma do possess battery operated radios even if they do not have electricity.

The whole situation is so stressful for me! I am feeling a little ragged around the edges through lack of rest. I really, really don't want to get up at 05:30 every day, Saturdays and Sundays included!! If I didn't have work to do in the day and could have a siesta, it would not be such a problem - if I didn't have jobs crying out for my attention once the children are in bed in the evening, I could cope. However, this is not the case and the tension I feel when I get woken and shouted at every day is not easy to put up with.
I drove to his church last week and took a photo of his mega-speakers on the roof of his church- carefully angled to fill the air with noise in every single direction:

I'm just grateful that the man responsible for the noise wasn't there when I took these pictures, as I was feeling very ungracious and uptight at the time and may be sitting here regretting an emotional outburst on my part- which could have been very unhelpful in a culture where a woman's opinion is of far less value than a man's and where it is considered very inappropriate to express anger in conversation. So the saga continues -and if any of you are wondering why you don't hear from us very often, it is because every spare moment outside of our immediate tasks is taken up with trying to catch 40 winks, in order to try and maintain a tiny bit of sanity in this stressful environment!

Visit to Dar es Salaam

Before Mum and Dad left Tanzania, we all drove down to Dar es Salaam, to spend a few days there with them. It was lovely to have a few days of holiday together with Mum and Dad before they jetted off from Dar es Salaam airport, back to a colder and wetter England...

Our car journey from Dodoma to Dar es Salaam on the Friday was a mere 8 hours (!!), with a lunch stop under a shady tree by the roadside, sitting on our picnic blanket- quite a pleasant spot if you ignored the flies buzzing around!

 By the time we arrived in Dar, we were tired and hungry, so stopped for some fast-food at one of Dar's exciting shopping centres (we have nothing so modern in Dodoma, so it's always a novelty for us Dodoma-ites!).
After the meal, it was dark and getting very late. We headed off to our Guest House with heavy eyes, very much looking forward to a good night's rest. However, the Road to Sleep did not run smooth, as we got lost down some rather dubious backroads of Dar es Salaam, bumping around on dreadful mud roads in the black darkness of night! Finally, Andrew found the tar road which led to our destination. It was with relief that we drove into the entrance of the Guest House, but as we stepped from the airconditioned car, our tired senses were overcome; we felt Dar's hot and humid air enveloping us, a strong smell of seaweed filling our lungs and a cacophony of frog-song assaulting our ears! A tired Ben, climbing from the car at 9.30pm that night, could not stop laughing at the strange, loud noise of the frogs and was highly amused by the odour of rotting seaweed- but poor Dad was quite overwhelmed and wondered what kind of place we had brought him to!!

By morning, the frogs were quiet, the smell of seaweed had abated and we woke to discover a lovely garden and a delicious breakfast, which reassured us all that we had actually booked into a very pleasant place! In all, we spent 3 nights at this Swiss Guest House and it was a lovely place to stay. There was no more frog-song or seaweedy-stench, as these only occur on evenings when there has been rain- so despite our first impressions, it turned out to be a great base for us in Dar es Salaam!

We also spent 2 wonderful nights at a different location, with 2 nights at a beach resort on an island just off the coast of Dar es Salaam. What a beautiful place to have some time together with family.

 We all enjoyed the unspoilt, white, sandy beaches, the rock pools, swimming in the crystal clear sea and our "banda" accommodation right on the beach. The sound of gently lapping waves, the call of sea-birds and the animated chatter of monkeys were the only sounds to interrupt our excited children, busy discovering the beach with Nana:

 And there were some interesting discoveries to be made, such as this amazing sea-creature washed up on the beach:

 or this unfortunate crab, who fell into the deepest part of the swimming pool, where he sadly ended his days...

 After our Island Get-a-Way, it was back to busier Dar es Salaam and to our Guest House there. The children had lots of fun discovering creatures of a different kind in the large garden of the Guest House- thankfully, these animals were only models, but I think we forgot to explain that to a rather nervous Joel!

 Ben liked the cheetah best of all...

 ...but I was terrified of this VERY real spider living in one of the trees- this photo does not even do him justice, as I'm convinced that he was bigger than my hand- but I was not about to put my hand any closer to verify that theory!

 On our final day in Dar es Salaam, Ben and Esther had a great time with Nana and Grandad at the Guest House, swimming in the pool there and walking around the small fishing harbour nearby.
Meanwhile, Andrew and I took Joel to a private clinic where it is possible to get innoculations in line with the UK programme of baby vaccinations. Joel was booked in at 9am to have his MMR jab- an innoculation which is just not available in Dodoma. We then planned to go shopping at one of Dar's big shopping centres to stock up on supplies we can't find in Dodoma.
Unfortunately, our day did not go quite as planned...First of all, Joel seemed a little out of sorts and when we got to the clinic, he was running a high fever. The Dutch doctor there was very helpful and diagnosed an ear infection. I was grateful that Joel was in trusted, professional hands and that we were able to get a correct, clear diagnosis and the correct medicine. However, the fever meant that Joel could not have his MMR vaccination. The doctor asked us when we could bring Joel back to get this important vaccination? Andrew and I looked at each other- with a day's drive separating us from this clinic, we could not answer when we will be able to bring Joel back for his MMR. So he is not yet innoculated and we are not sure when we will next have the opportunity to take him.
On leaving the clinic, we were dismayed to find that thieves had got to our car before us:

This back window had been smashed and, annoyingly, the glass had shattered all over Joel's car seat inside. The door had been opened and we realised that 2 items had been stolen. The thieves got less than they bargained for, though, as the 2 stolen items consisted of Joel's nappy-changing bag (full of spare nappies, baby-wipes, cotton wool and a few items of spare clothes) and the folded picnic blanket (featured in the 1st blog photo above!). The picnic blanket, when folded, ressembled a laptop bag, so maybe they broke in thinking that they had scooped a prize booty of a computer-  but would later discover a blanket!! Still, it was frustrating losing things that are so useful to us- but we are thankful that we did not lose more.
The most frustrating aspect of the break-in was the hassle that ensued. I had to wait a long 4 hours at the clinic, with a feverish Joel, while Andrew had to navigate his way through a morning of discussions with an apologetic clinic staff, calls to MAF to find out about insurance for fixing the window and even a visit to the local police station to fill in a report. Andrew also had to deal with the security firm whose guard was supposed to be carefully watching all of the vehicles outside the clinic. The guard who had been on duty during our car break-in definitely had some explaining to do to his superiors! It has to be said that we were quite taken aback when members from the security firm turned up in force to investigate the matter: to me, it looked like they had come to investigate a bomb blast, rather than a minor car break-in!

 We felt exhausted and very hungry when we finally manoevered our way through the infamous Dar traffic jams (they have to be seen to be believed!!) to get to the shopping centre, buy some lunch and get the goods we needed. It was a bit of a miserable afternoon for little Joel, who was hot and restless and whose dirty nappy could not be changed until we arrived at the shops to buy new nappies and sundries for him.
It was 6pm before we got back to the Guest House for our final Tanzanian evening with Mum and Dad. At least they had had a nice day with Esther and Ben! :-) We all retired early, after a lovely dinner together, ready get up at 5am in order to take Mum and Dad to the airport for their flight to England.

Shortly after sunrise, we dropped Mum and Dad off at Dar es Salaam International airport:

We said our farewells and then climbed back into our car for the long drive to our home in Dodoma, while Mum and Dad winged their way back over Africa and Europe and back to their home in England...

Seeing life in Tanzania

 Mum and Dad had the opportunity, while they were here in Dodoma, to see a bit of Tanzanian life and culture. My language helper, Mama Kambenga (seated on Dad's left, with Joel) was very welcoming and invited Mum and Dad to a meal at her home, with many delicious Tanzanian dishes to sample!
She also welcomed Mum to a visit at the Nursery School which she helps to run. Mum was able to see first hand the very structured Tanzanian education system at work, where children even as young as 3 and 4 are expected to sit still and listen on their hard wooden benches, repeating their learning aurally. There are few resources and the children only use pencils and paper sparingly. There is no craft work and none of the group work, reading books, bright posters on the wall or play equipment which we associate with Early Years schooling in England.

 Mama Kambenga took the children outside onto the dusty "field" (not a blade of grass to be seen!!) for a game of "Duck, duck, goose", all in Swahili, which the children loved! They raced around the circle with  delight and also joined in some group singing with great enthusiasm.

There was another visit to a Tanzanian home when we all went to see the newly constructed home of Gadi, who helps us in our garden twice a week. Gadi's new home is situated on a newly appointed building site, up on a hillside with great views over the flat plain of Dodoma, but in order to get there, it was a VERY bumpy car ride on muddy roads, severly pot-holed by the recent rains.
It is a long walk from the main road up to the house and takes his wife about an hour and a half to walk down the hill, drop their daugther off at school and then get a mini-bus taxi into town, to work in their market store each day. There is no plumbing available at the site to bring water near to their home, so water is fetched in a large container from a well down the hill and brought up to the house and carefully used over a few days. Electricity is also not an option for the family yet. As Dodoma develops, it remains to be seen how long it will take the government to implement better roads, water services and electricity for the people of its capital city.
Gadi's home:

Mum and Dad pose with Gadi in his lounge:

They were kindly invited to eat some "ugali"- the most typical of Tanzanian foods, served here with beans and eaten with your hands, as you roll it into a ball. Ugali is made with maize flour and water. As we see here, Mum was having great fun learning to eat her ugali and beans with her hands!

Mum and Dad also had a more sobering visit to "Safina" -which means "ark" in Swahili. (See blog entry from February 2011 for more information on "Safina"...)

  They witnessed the work of this amazing project, which helps and supports street children in Dodoma, along with providing a free, daily meal for these disadvantaged children and young people.  A moving experience, seeing these street children come along to the centre and joining in with singing and a Bible class before the meal. Mum and Dad reported that they were very impressed by the hard work and commitment of the Safina staff, although this visit meant that they also saw a sadder reality of life for some in Tanzania.

Joel's Thanksgiving Service

On Sunday March 18th 2012 at Dodoma cathedral, a year and 2 days after Joel's hasty arrival into this world, we had a very special service of Thanks for the wonderful gift of Joel, given to our family.
It was amazing to have Grandad here to lead the Thanksgiving part of the service. Although we always feel a certain sadness at being too far away to have all of our extended family present with us for special family occasions, it meant alot to us that we at least had both sides of our family represented in Joel's Auntie Claire and Nana + Grandad.
Claire led some beautiful prayers for Joel and Nana read out a really lovely prayer for Joel sent from Wendy in England, who had been there for me last year when Joel made his early apperance in a Lancashire hospital while his Dad was busy flying MAF planes in far-off Africa!

To mark the occasion, Joel wore his brand new Tanzanian shirt, made for his birthday by friends here in Dodoma! Here we are, up in the front of the cathedral:

Morning Tea in the garden:

 The fabulous cake, made especially for Joel by a very gifted cake-making American friend who lives on our compound:

 Once again, Joel enjoyed every mouthful of cake!

 After all the guests had left, we popped out for a pizza lunch at Dodoma's pizza place (opting out of cooking Sunday lunch ourselves!!). It was a very happy little Joel who came along- I think he thoroughly enjoyed the day, judging by his big smiles!