Goodbye Tanzania

This is the last time I will write "Tales from Tanzania". We have now officially left the country we called home for the last 4 years. 

Tanzania will always hold a special place in my heart. 

It is the country where my children have grown from babyhood to childhood; where they have celebrated most of their birthdays.

For Joel and Ben, it is the only home they remember and for Esther, it is the home where she has lived the longest period of time and been the most settled. 

Joel took his first steps on Tanzanian ground and learnt to talk here (even a little bit of Swahili to add to his English!). 

It is in Tanzania where Andrew has completed and enjoyed his first assignment as a MAF pilot.  

It is the country where I have learnt a new language, learnt a new culture and made some deep and wonderful friendships. 

It is a place where we have been privileged to meet incredible people, see incredible scenery- and also survive brief encounters with some rather frightening wildlife!

Tanzania is a land where we have had to step out of our comfort zone into unfamiliar challenges and sometimes intimidating situations- but we have experienced the amazing help of God through all of them and we have learnt from them. 

It has been the place where we, as a family, have made some amazing memories. We will always be so thankful for our time in Tanzania!

It was with heavy hearts that we left Dodoma last Monday morning, on a MAF flight bound for Nairobi. I think the only Parker who didn't cry last Monday was Joel- he was too confused about what was going on with all the upheaval and activity!

The Dodoma international MAF staff came to wave us off at Dodoma's tiny airport. Our Swiss friend and Andrew's MAF colleague was the pilot in the caravan plane, which taxied slowly up the runway to the place where we were all waiting. On seeing the plane, my mouth went dry and my adrenaline level was at an all-time high, as its arrival marked the final task- that horrible flatness of having to say our last goodbyes, mixed with the anxiety of all that lies ahead and the organisational pressure of making sure we had all our bags, all our passports and, of course, all 3 of our children!!

Thankfully, Ben was on good form to lighten the mood as the plane came to a stand-still!

 
Another passenger, unrelated to MAF, kindly offered to take a group photo of us all. It was a surprisingly civilised photo, as those final moments felt completely confusing for me! We all managed to untangle
 from the chaos of hugs and recover from tripping over bags with blurred vision from teary eyes, admidst all the shouting of final promises to email and Skpye! It's lovely to have this photo of us all at the airport and nice of the unknown American girl to be so thoughtful.

Our friends then gathered around us to send us on our way with prayers for safe travels and for our future paths, wherever they may take us. Then it was time to look resolutely ahead- to walk to the plane and to climb aboard, Esther and Ben holding tightly to their teddies, who have been a strong source of comfort for them in this transition (and thankfully get to travel free on MAF planes!). We managed a few waves out of the plane window before the aeroplane engines kicked into action:

The plane lifted off the tarmac just at the point where the MAF hangar stands. A fresh barrage of tears was unavoidable as we saw the hangar staff all gathered at the open hangar door, waving up to us as the plane ascended...and began to soar...

We snatched a final peek at our old home, behind the large white hangar building on the left of the runway:

We had our last view of Lion Rock and the area around MAF, looking unusually green in this rainy season.
Goodbye, Dodoma! Goodbye Tanzania- we will always be grateful for the privilege of 4 years spent in this peaceful African country!

...2 hours later, we landed and disembarked at Nairobi's aiport:

Hello, Nairobi. Hello, Kenya. But that is a whole other blog.