Idyllic Setting

On Thursday 7th October, we braved the Tanzanian highways and made our way to Dar es Salaam, for a weekend retreat for MAF Tanzania's international staff. The journey there was a little stressful, as poor Ben had been ill with vomiting and still had a fever. After a negative test confirmed that he did not have malaria, we set off rather later than originally planned and made our way to the Big City of Dar, keeping a careful eye on Ben for the non-stop 6 hour drive. Dispensing medicine in a 5ml spoon at high speed proved to be quite a challenge, as I twisted around from my front seat to reach both children with their medicine! Calpol for Ben: anti-biotics for Esther...

Esther had had a nasty cough and fever prior to our travels and we had decided to put her on children's anti-biotics which we had in our medicine cupboard. Not being medically trained in any way (unless a First Aid certificate counts??), the decision was a little stressful, but with the lack of reliable medical help available in Dodoma, we sometimes find ourselves in a bit of a pickle with medical matters and end up doing what seems best, after a bit of advice from other MAF staff and the nearby German nurse. (Thankfully, it helped and she is now better.)

So after a bit of a worrying start, we were finally on our way, into Dar, with a nightstop at a Catholic Guest House, then across the city on Friday morning, onto the ferry and towards the South Beaches.

It was a real treat to find ourselves beside the seaside for a weekend of teaching and time together as a team. The name of our venue was "East Africa Dream". As you can see, the setting was idyllic!

A great setting for our MAF meetings:And a great setting for the MAF kids to get together and play as well!There was time on Saturday afternoon for us all to enjoy a spot of swimming, in sea water that was as warm as a baby's bath!The sea also provided lots of opportunity to dig for fish and starfish when the tide was out: