Time Out

It is that dreaded time again. The season of "Packing Up Our Home".

Already, the house is starting to look chaotic everywhere that I turn....

Being at home with me while I start the packing up process, Joel tries to help out where he can!

These are busy times. Sorting and decision-making for packing feel exhausting (should it be packed up to go with us to SS, should it be sold here, should it be packed for our few weeks in Nairobi??). Andrew is frequently away in Dar es Salaam for flight exams, tests and practice. This week he is away from early this morning until Thursday evening. The children need their mum for the usual day-to-day school run, packed lunches, home-work etc. And unfortunately, the children keep getting sick (Ben is lying listless and sick in bed as I write this). I know I should be all calm and patient, but the stress levels are rising!

Thankfully, I have had 2 opportunities recently for some Time Out! :-) Time away from the disorder of a slowly dismantling home and time to rest from the necessary recent demands. I really have appreciated the last 2 weekends- a real gift at an unusually busy time!

Two weekends ago, I went on a 24-hour Ladies Retreat.

The location: a nearby convent, just 30 minutes up the road from our home:

 It was such a calm and peaceful location, nestled close to a grove of orange trees:

The setting was surprisingly rural for a convent so close to Tanzania's capital. Nearby residents were completely quiet- but I guess that is not surprising when they mainly seemed to be tortoises, in all shapes and sizes, right down to this little cutie:

The people:  we were 11 lovely ladies!

We had plenty of time to take stock, reflect and rest: I really enjoyed the break. I had never been to a convent before and to my surprise, I enjoyed the peace and quiet, so I told Andrew that maybe I should return and perhaps join the nuns? He laughed out loud and said I would be fine until "Silent Time" and then I would probably get expelled for talking.... Cheeky! But also true! 24 hours was just enough time to enjoy it without missing my family too much, as well as my friends and, of course, a jolly good natter!


The second "Time Out" opportunity was this last weekend. It was our MAF international staff weekend away.

The location: a conference centre situated in the beautiful highlands of Morogoro, a 4 hour drive from Dodoma:

 There were lots of activities, fun times, staff talks, games and movie-time, as well some music times, where some of  the kids played their mini-instruments...

 ...to join in with us grown-ups on our larger musical instruments...

I snapped some shots of our Sunday morning service:

And I took a couple of pictures of "The Pilots" deep in conversation about flying matters- the 5 men who currently fly for MAF within Tanzania and 1 new pilot who is settling in before he "replaces" Andrew on the Tanzania team in January 2014:

 The people: and finally, here we all are: the International Staff team of MAF Tanzania:

It was a great weekend away and wonderful to spend some much appreciated "time out" with our work colleagues/ friends before moving on to join a different team in a different place...

What We've Been Waiting For

It's taken 3 and a half years and multitudes of kittens, but finally a vet came to Dodoma!

Last weekend, we were finally able to have our pet cat, Moshi, "fixed" by a vet! No more kittens for Moshi...

The visiting vet comes from England, but is currently residing in Morogoro in Tanzania. She came just for the weekend. Her Saturday schedule was hectic, as families based in Dodoma booked all of her time in order to have their pets seen to! Her work started at 9am, with cats galore lined up to see the vet, to have their rabies vaccines updated and the necessary procedure to help reduce the massive cat population of Dodoma!

Moshi knew something strange was going on, although she did not make too much of a fuss as Andrew carried her over to see the vet...

The "surgery" was our neighbour's lounge! It was transformed from a comfortable living space into a sterile surgery, with all kinds of rather menacing medical instruments, syringes and potions carefully laid out on the dining table and a chest of drawers magically turned into an operating table! Moshi howled with protest at the injection to put her to sleep, but it wasn't long before she was stretched out for the operation to begin...

An hour later, we were called over to fetch a completely "blotto" cat... We tucked her into a cardboard box- no nice cat-carriers available in Dodoma! Esther helped me to fetch her, to carry her home:

 Moshi had to be tucked up warmly with blankets, even in the shimmering heat of Dodoma. The drugs available to put an animal asleep for an operation are not as advanced as the medicines available in the UK, so the vet explained to me that our cat would be unconscious for up to 24 hours and that she must be kept warm, as her body temperature plummeted.

It was Sunday lunch time before Moshi came around. In the meantime, her 2 remaining kittens were running riot in our garden, tearing up the grass and plants and creating mischief...

...all the while crying for their mum and searching for her in the oddest places, like the top of our back door!!

I had to keep them separate from their mum from Saturday onwards, to ensure that they did  not feed from her and cause infection to Moshi's wounds. The noise was horrific as Moshi called for them and they pitifully miawoed for her! I felt like a tyrant, keeping them apart:-(

 Finally, by Tuesday evening, the kittens, who are big enough to fend for themselves, had been sent off to new homes with Tanzanian friends, who want them as rat-catchers...it will be a very different life for them, just as Moshi starts her new life without having kittens every 3 months!!

The Homecoming

On October 23rd, Andrew left Dodoma and flew off into the African skies to spend 2 and a half weeks in Uganda. He arrived safely in Kampala, ready to undertake his training to fly the larger MAF aircraft, the Cessna 208 caravan. This is the aeroplane he will need to fly in South Sudan when we move there next year.

On Thursday this week we heard that Andrew had passed the necessary flight tests, after his intensive training course. I am now married to a "caravan" pilot!

Today, Andrew came home to Dodoma. Two and a half weeks felt like a long time without having Andrew around, but today we celebrated his return and we celebrated the successful completion of his course!

The children were very excited as we prepared for Andrew's arrival this morning! They worked hard to create a posh place for Andrew as we laid the table for a family breakfast:

At 8am, after preparing the breakfast pancake mixture and gathering the flowers from our garden, we started getting ready to cycle around the corner to the main airport. It's not very far! Although Dodoma airport is officially an international airport and the only airport of Tanzania's capital city, it is no Heathrow. It is hardly a melting pot of the nations, but rather a pleasant, quiet little spot. We cycled straight in to the airport through a side gate and up to the main building. It was peaceful and calm, especially so early on a Saturday morning:

We convened outside the door, ready to walk straight through onto the airport's tarmac where we could watch the skies directly above the runway, ready for Andrew's arrival. Three eager little faces beamed at the camera as we parked our bikes outside (no bike locks necessary :-)- the relaxed nature of Dodoma is definitely something we will miss when we leave):

After greeting many familiar faces of the airport staff, who are always so welcoming to MAF people and after chatting a while with some pilots who were having their business jet refuelled on the tarmac in front of us, we saw the "Flightlink" plane arrive from Dar es Salaam. This plane was bringing Andrew as one of the passengers:

There was a happy reunion and then it was time to climb back onto bikes and head home, round the corner and up the road, for that yummy breakfast, with the newly qualified MAF caravan pilot!

Stark Reminder

This week I was reminded about the reason I wash all my fruit and veg in "Milton" solution after purchasing them from the market.
One by one, I  move my vegetables or fruits out of the shopping basket...

...and into the bowl of "Milton" sterilising solution:

Joel and I had been to the market as usual, straight after the school drop-off  for Esther and Ben. It was early in the morning before it gets too busy. It was only 07:45. Some stall holders were still setting up.

After buying my fresh tomatoes, peppers and carrots, a little old lady gestured to me from within the dark alley-ways that make up the pathways between market stalls. I thought old ladies were supposed to be kind- all twinkly eyes and friendly smiles. This old lady did NOT fit my naive assumption. She grinned a toothless grin at me, then pointed onto the ground to show me something. I should have known better, seeing the glint in her gleaming brown eyes, but I looked at where she pointed. And shuddered. There on the ground was a growing pile of RATS!!

These vile creatures were being plucked from among the pile of vegetables where I had just been busy purchasing our week's healthy food supply! The stall holder was delving into the pile and extracting rats who must have been busy feasting all night. He must have squashed or strangled them in a deft manouver, before casting their still-warm but lifeless bodies onto the floor nearby. When I last looked, the heap of grey rodent bodies was getting higher, as the goosebumps on my arms got taller!

I felt ill. I wish I hadn't looked down. The old lady cackled as I glanced at her again. She then sauntered off in the opposite direction, soon lost from view in the gloomy labyrinth of the market's alleys. She seemed delighted by my instinctive reaction of revulsion towards the horrible sight I had witnessed. I must have confirmed all her suspicions about being a softie white-woman who can't handle a few little rats!

Joel was more fascinated than repulsed, but he doesn't share his mother's phobia of rats! I stood dazed for a minute or two, much to the amusement of other stall-holders, then I resolutely marched on towards the car. I drove purposefully home, headed to my larder and took down the tub of "Milton" sterilising tablets. When I can't be sure what might have been crawling or running riot on our food all night, I'm not going to take any risks! It was a good reminder of just why I spent so much money on "Milton" tablets last time I was in England!