Greetings to you from Musom! I am here now traveling with a delegation here from the Maryland-Deleware Syond.. I forgot to update telling everyone I was leaving my home for the past 4 months (Arusha) because I found out on short notice and was quite busy figuring out transportation/ packing/ and saying goodbye to my Arusha family- well so long for now anyways!
Musoma is good- I think there are definitely more mosquitos here than Arusha with the Lake nearby- woohoo! But.. as my Journey/ Ox friends know I’m horrible at wearing Mosquito spray.. so still have yet to use it in the 4 months since I’ve been here... oops.. haha good thing I packed 4 bottles! Maybe I’ll start... labda (maybe).
Anyways- I’ve been traveling with the delegation we’ve been all over the Mara diocese – we went to a village in Mugumu (4 hours from here inside the Serengeti) – Bunda Hospital ( I stayed out of the maternity ward this time after the last - ) Rusoli- and Kiabakari!! : -) I must say in all this travel I am SO happy to have my Swahili training... Even though I feel quite inadequate at times- I am able to understand a lot of parts of church services/ meetings and am able to hold conversations (unless the person things- ah she’s fluent and starts speaking quickly.. then I nod a lot and say ndiyo- yes...) haha hope I’m not agreeing to anything too crazy! Most people tell me I am doing really well though so that’s nice- since really from here on out it will be what I am using to communicate primarily—gulp!
I am pleased to tell you all how happy I am after my visit to the school- It was amazing – So good to see some of the coworkers I Had previously met. Also – there are 2 new young families at the school 1 from Denmark (Sonja I’m sure you’re happy about that : - ) and one from Norway- so we may be speaking Swahili with each other too! They were very nice and welcoming- so I’m really happy to feel like we’ll have a good staff Kiabakari family. I even saw my house! It’s ready for me to live in! I’m so happy- It’s pretty bare right now- but- after some trips to the market and unpacking ALL my bags finally- I am sure to make it feel somewhat like home.. I’m determined and we all know what happens when I get determined... It WILL BE a home! I’m even going to plant a garden : -) I was telling some of my friends furnishing the house fully may take a bit because we don’t have target or Ikea nearby anywhere- small dukas and markets ( maybe—maybe 1/50 of the size – teehee)- coming home next summer may be quite interesting after almost a year here.
I will move to the school Wednesday when the delegation leaves and I am feeling ready to begin this next stage of the journey. As many of you are aware there have been many complications with everything so far, and I appreciate all your support and prayers over the past four months. I am very happy to move forward from all this – and with grace- (what would we do without it) I am excited for all the parties involved in this partnership to move forward and work together in true accompaniment– Bega kwa bega-
Thank you again- Bwana Yesu Asifiwe (Praise the Lord)-
Annie
