Departures & Transitions: When one door closes, another will open

Hello everyone, greetings and love from Kiabakari!

A lot has happened since I last wrote and  it has been an interesting and challenging few months. 

For those of you who don't know, in July I wrote a request to extend my stay here in Kiabakari. It is truly insane and inconceivable i have been here for two years! Over the past year two years I have started my first job post-unniversity, moved thousands of miles from home, learned a new language, been immersed in a new culture and new community. I have been and am, immensely happy and extremely grateful for my experiences in Kiabakari. There really isn't a way I can fully express how much I have enjoyed living here and how much this place has woven it's way into and around my heart! 

I was recently in Arusha for about a month to get physical therapy on my arm (also for those of you who don't know I fractured my elbow in an accident early in July and still haven't regained my range motion, it's getting better now, it's just experiencing what barbie does daily because my arm is always slightly bent). Anyway, when I first arrived in Arusha, I was told I needed to go home asap and have surgery on my arm. I was then told if this was the case, my term here would be finished and my friends in Kiabakari would have to pack my things and ship them to me. Wooosh... Devastation... 

The morning after this  I woke up to an email from a doctor who said  I should stay and do PT as originally planned. That should always be the first course of action. Hallelujah!! No words. I was and am so happy I didn't have to end my time here in this way.

A couple weeks later the task force for the churches that sent me had a meeting to decide whether or not my extension would be possible... (I should say, no one else is being sent after me, and extending my stay would mean another year of funding...) needless to say, I wasn't too hopeful to get a yes...

I got the letter, it was Saturday night I was already in bed and I couldnt bring myself to read it. So, I prayed instead. It wasn't that i was praying for extension and asking God to give me my way(even though we all like to do that at times). Rather, I was praying for peace no matter what the decision was. It was then that I realized something. As much as I would love to stay longer in Kiabakari, and as hard as it will be to leave, I shouldn't waste too much time being upset, because.... Drum roll... God can and will use us, wherever we are. And not just by location, but wherever we may be in life. We just need to be willing to be used...(so why waste lots of time being down when we life doesn't go exactly how we would like it to!-easier said than done I know...but true none the less eh?)

I think as soon as that thought occurred to me, God was shouting DUH at me. So often I think people feel what I am doing is exrtra-ordinary. Well, while it may be out of the ordinary, it by no means is extra ordinary. I am doing something I love. I am loving and living life, and trying to follow Christ's example (as many of you do too) it just happens to be in a small village in Northern Tanzania. I wake up, work, eat, sleep just like you, wherever you may be located. 

After feeling at peace with whatever decision the email may bring, I opened it. The decision has been made and I will be coming home in December in time for Christmas with my friends and family  and I will not be returning for another year here in Kiabakari. 

While it still breaks my heart to know soon I will blink and have to be saying goodbye to my family and friends here, I have decided to enjoy each moment left, (and preferably blink as little as possible).

It brings me great comfort to know God is everywhere (how amazing is that!) and he will use me and stay with me wherever life brings me. We are all called to love others and be a light in this at many times dark world. Whatever we may be doing wherever it may be, from a smile, going out of your way to help someone or standing up against injustice. And that is what I intend to do no matter where I end up! (So for those of you itching to ask what's next?? That's my answers for now and other details will fall into place in their own time!) One door is closing and I'm certain another will open :)

Until then, peace and blessings to you all. I can't promise to take time to write another blog post while I'm still here, but who knows. If not, thanks for those who followed my time here! :) your love and support means more than you can know! And your prayers are much appreciated as I prepare to leave close some doors and transition into the next open doors (not sure what they are, but confident they'll appear:) 

With Love,
Annie

"Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family.  Every minute should be enjoyed and savored."  Earl Nightingale

"A very small percentage of the people in this world will actuallyexperience and live today. So many people will be stuck on another day, another time that traumatized them and caused them to spirituallystutter so they miss out on this day."— Steve Maraboli 

Evangelism: my original prejudices and what I've come to realize

I read something on evangelism tonight that really struck me I had to write about out: 

"[w]hen we opt for rescuing souls over loving neighbors, compassionate acts can soon degenerate  into evangelism techniques; pressing human needs depreciate in importance, and the spirit becomes the only thing worth caring about... When we skip over the Great Commandment on the way to fulfilling the Great Commission, we do great harm to the authenticity of the faith."Robert Lupton 

Wow. Really, wow. I was rereading part of his book about rethinking ministry to the poor, and it hit me. Something has changed in me. 

I recall when I first heard the description of my current "job". Teaching English at a Bible College training evangelists. I'm not going to lie, now that I remember clearly the whole Bible College for Evangelists part of it made me apprehensive (ok, the teaching English in another language to adults worried me some to, but that's another story!). 

For those of you who know me, the thought of evangelizing used to really make me uncomfortable (if you didn't know that, consider this my confession). Thanks to this reading, I feel like I finally somewhat understand why. 

So, before coming to Tanzania, when I thought of evangelists or evangelicals, the pictures that so often flooded my mind were the people standing in public places yelling at you, condemning you, basically threatening you to believe in God. Or, those in public places not giving you a chance to choose for yourself if you would like to listen to them or not. . Forcing you to hear, their outlook on salvation. Or those who love to talk at you but leave no room for discussion ... Basically only negative things came to mind :/. 

But why?? I feel like I have a strong faith in God and I believe Jesus died, our Savior to forgive us our sins aaand moreover I think it is a good thing for more people to know about this amazing love and grace of God ... So then what is my problem exactly? 

To be honest I now have forgotten much of these reservations. It wasn't until I read this passage i remembered I had them in the first place. Truth be told, the school I work at, the people I work with, and the evangelists I have the honor to teach are such blessings to my life. So... what is the problem ...??

The problem is this, as Robert Lupton pointed out in his book, if we start focusing on evangelizing without remaining focused on God's love and how we are to share that first and foremost, we focus too much on saving souls rather than loving our neighbor.

 Lupton gave an example at a Bible college he visited in the states. When all the students were focused on evangelizing, rather than love. So a student raised the question whether or not telling someone about Jesus and saving them ultimately was not love.. (see above quote for Lupton's response!)

 So, what has changed? I guess I've grown to realize while I one-hundred percent agree with Lupton, my students devoting their lives to being evangelists have shown me how wrong my original  prejudices were. Just because you devote your life to evangelism, does not necessarily mean an autofocus on soul-saving and a disregard for human needs, compassion and well, love. My students become extremely involved in their communities, do many home visits (in which can take hours, and feels a lot more meaningful and personal than all of my prejudicial and pre-Tanzania experiences/feelings.) 

So... My problem... I let my prejudice and my own negative experiences with evangelists at home effect how I looked at evangelism as a whole. Luckily, I have been blessed to witness evangelism paired with love and compassion of the human, rather than just a soul. 

Blessings

Annie

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22: 37-39

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of age." Matthew 28:19-20

Lions and cheetahs and Buffalo- Oh my! Camping in the Serengeti!

Hello Everyone!

I hope this finds you all well! I wanted to make sure I made myself write about my recent trip camping in the Serengeti because it was quite a memorable trip and not only due to the crazy exciting and sometimes a little worrisome situations we found ourselves in!

A week and a half ago, I had two Danish friends visiting. One from Dar Es Salaam named Lars, whom I met at Christmastime, and the other named Christian, Lars' friend visiting from home. Lars has been volunteering for ten months now and wanted to see beautiful Mara, Tanzania before he headed home (who can blame him ;) why more people don't come this way is beyond me... 

Anyways within the short visit, we had many adventures. One day, we went to the 'big city' of musoma (including my favorite spots, chai, beach on Lake Victoria, and the one mzungu restaurant in all Mara.) Another day we hiked a small mountain to an awesome view of the Serengeti lake Victoria and much of the Mara region. (however the grass was nice and tall, in many places taller than me and it felt like we were swimming through it! (we were all very thankful we only saw one snake and it wasn't interested in us!)

Then, the big kahuna: overnight camping trip, no guide Serengeti!

Right now, lots of animals are in the western corridor of the Serengeti, meaning not too far from my school. We went through the gate nearest to us, which meant we had a good distance to go prior to reaching our campsite. We saw bunches if zebras wildebeest, giraffes, elephants, gazelles, hippos, ooooh and many many birds, right Lars ;) We realized we needed to start moving quicker to reach our campsite well before dark. 

(this is the part in my not yet exciting story where I need to explain something.) The car we were driving had Soma Biblia (read the Bible) on the front and back. I didn't realize the importance of this to our trip! )

Okay, so as we got closer to Seronera we passed a work crew fixing the road...in the middle of the Serengeti (what a job). Some of them shouted at us: Biblia! Biblia! So Lars stopped and have them some small pamphlets/Bible stories that he brought with in case this happened. They took them and graciously thanked us, but as we were about to take off again they yelled "subiri! Subiri! Umepata puncha!" (wait, wait, you've gotten a puncture!) Sure enough... We had gotten a flat tire. Luckily, it had just happened and it couldn't have happened in a better spot! (no lions or other damgerous animals and help!) Although Lars and Christian knew all about changing tires, the Tanzanians working there jumped in to help and it went really quick. They thanked us again and didn't even ask for anything in return for their help (often a rarity with car assistance in Tanzania! At least for wazungus).they sent us on our way and explained how to get to the petrol station where we could patch up our tire! 

We made it to town got our puncture fixed and hurried off to our campsite .. However, Five kilometers before our campsite were not one, not two, but THREE lions lounging on rocks. (Oh. Boy.) So, we pulled into the campsite, in  the middle of the Serengeti, near lions and set up our flimsy plastic tents. As we were setting up our tents, a man came up and asked if we wanted kuni (firewood). He explained "Ni nzuri kutengeza moto itakulinda. Juzi simba wamepita hapa. Kama unawasha moto hawataingia." (it's good to make a fire it will protect you. Two days ago lions were passing through here.  If you light a fire they won't enter.) SAY WHAT?!?! Oh. Boy. Yes please we'd love firewood. (okay  so if I wasn't a little concerned about the lions we saw lounging close by, I was now slightly close to terrified. 

Daylight was leaving and you're not supposed to drive in the park after dark but, we didn't pack much food, so we had to find the local food places for some quick rice and beans. As we drove back dinner, 10 kms from camp was a big herd of buffalo, and sure enough our lion friends were still lounging on the all too near rocks.  (I hoped they would stay put, but lions hunt at night). 

I know you Minnesotans will nit believe me but it was COLD!!! I was wearing two sweaters, leggings under my skirt, and two scarves. (Meaning it maaaaaaaaybe got under 60 and I'm in serious trouble when I come home in December!!) We built our fire and sat by it while playing cards for a while-- We had met a nice family on a camping safari with their cooks/guides. As they were eating their cook (who had lent us matches), came and invited us to eat any leftover food after the family had finished. (we hadn't eaten lunch- and surprisingly the local place we ate at didn't give us the normal heaping portions that leave you full for a couple meals, so we had some room for more food). So we graciously accepted.

(Note we are entering my favorite part of the safari..)

A little later we went into the dining area were they had set three place settings for us. Before we started eating, we knew it to be good to ask if there would be any cost. 'No,no, no! He said please don't. We saw on your car soma biblia and we know you are Christians too, and, we wanted to welcome you to food and conversation. We also didn't see you eat.( Wow. Wow. Wow.) They gave us some soup delicious we thanked them... (but of course those of you who have ever gone on a safari with a company know the meals are wonderful and huge), so once we finished the soup  the cook brought clean plates followed by various dishes (tilapia, coconut curry peas, green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and papaya  AMAZING! As was the conversation.

The cooks were so kind, I saw God  in them and in their actions and words. He told us a story about a tine he and a customers

came up on a broken down Land Rover in the Serengeti. The customer told the safari guide / cook that they should stop and help knowing the cook was able to fix the car. They stopped and he worked on the car over an hour, which put him and his customer behind schedule some. After fixing the car, he apologized to the customer and told her they could stay longer and he could pay the difference. She said it was no problem and that she was happy to help the others, and they talked about the Bible and how important is to help one another out- even if you do not know who it is you are helping very well. It  was just really neat to hear his story and to see someone being so kind to us- without knowing us at all simply because he believed it our job as brothers and sisters in Christ.

 This night stuck with me and probably always will as an amazing example of how we are to help one another out, even if we do not know each other- we never truly know when our kindness can affect one another. I could only think about how in our own churches, with people we know and sometimes those we know very well, we often don't go out of our way to help one another, certainly not when we are inconveniencing ourselves. (Meaning although these cooks had already washed a round of dishes and had already boiled some water for the nice family to have tea and coffee they would do it all over again for us, even though they didn't  know us and needed to be up before 6 a.m...) The cooks kindness and words also thoroughly comforted me and I was able to sleep pretty well - not too concerned about the lions, buffalo, leopards, elephant's, and the hyenas running around our campsite (good thing they scare easy- glorified dogs!).  I am quite thankful for this amazing experience- and as amazing as the whole animal aspect of the trip was, and surviving the lions that were so close by- I think this is my favorite part of the trip! ( side note: I also asked the cook/guide what his favorite memory of all his Safari trips were when it comes to animals, and I will put it at the end of this blog AMAZING!!)

In the morning, we got up and packed up bright and early (okay minus the bright) and left before the sun and ourselves were fully awake. We only paid for 24 hours in the park, so we wanted to get our money's worth. we definitely did. We ended up seeing a great sunrise over the Serengeti (see picture) LOTS of lions in.fact  we even saw an elephant fight a lion (lion lost- ran off). Once the elephants all moved through we saw the lion was a father and there was also mama and two cubs in long grass with him! Pretty amazing. we also saw the wildebeest migration outside of the park on our way home, which was also pretty amazing and got another puncture. Which made the trip home quite a long one.

This was an amazing trip, so grateful I was able to experience it! Thanks Lars and Christian for inviting me along and for coming to visit! 

Much love to all of you back home! Hope you found my long story interesting!

Annie

Additional updates: 

1.  As for now school just closed for about five weeks and I was quite sad to see my students leave! but, apparently a break was okay as soon as they left I took a two hour nap and started googling Zanzibar for when my friend Erika comes at the end of the month!! 

2. Just had a lovely visit from my friend Stephanie who is working in Kigali and bussed over here! It was nice to spend a few days with her, I appreciate our conversations and, she spent some time showing me some helpful sites for potential future jobs :) thank you!!!

3.The cook's story: this is amazing. I asked the cook what the neatest thing he has seen on safari and he told me the following.. One day we saw a cheetah approaching the road and an, impala on the other side so we parked between the two. The cheetah jumped over the hood of the car and started attacking the impala, only it didn't kill it or eat it, it strangled it and left it half dead. He said he was confused until  the cheetah returned with small cubs and gave it hunting practice on the semi conscious impala. (holy buckets, can you imagine witnessing that!?) 

Cultivating gratefulness

Picture this:

A white, blonde female riding her bike on a small dirt road. It has just been raining, the air is cooler and lacks the normal stickiness. In them evening light the banana trees and the growing harvests are vividly green against the muddy ground. She greets those she meets on the road and they greet her back as well. They do not know one another, but they greet one another as friends just the same -as is custom. She arrives at her destination, church. She meets two amazing women. They sing hymns and pray with one another. She leaves and as she bikes home she is overwhelmed with gratitude for where she is, her experiences and the relationships she has in such a beautiful place. Then two of her friends jokingly try to knock her off her bike and laughing they all wish each other to have nice evenings:)

Yes! You may have guessed it, this is a true story and one I thought I would share to update you with my feelings lately. Many people ask me how I'm doing and how I am enjoying myself here in Tanzania. Well, here it is. I am so grateful. I love it. I'm enjoying life here as I hope you are in your own home :) 

Before I continue, let me say a couple of things. Turns out (as you may have  guessed) I am not good at blogging regularly. I wish I were better at it but apparently I'm not. Sorry for that- but it is what it is. It takes time and effort to write a blog and a lot of times I don't feel like I have a lot to say as life here is becoming well  normal to me. So if anyone takes time to read thus,  welcome to a new chapter in the blog.

Since I last wrote: (has it really been three months??)

I have battled some nasty sicknesses, which has not been so fun. Even thigh I felt awful, i apparently didn't look it because when I went to be tested for various things at the local clinic ( which I will not do again), the man drawing my blood told me I will marry him... No, not a question... I only wish I was still throwing up at that moment... but I just gave him my blood and left. you'll be happy to know that I am feeling happy and healthy now and for that I am very thankful.

My baba came to visit! :-) it was so wonderful having my dad here and getting to show him off and show him as much as possible in a few weeks. I really enjoyed his time here and it was really hard to see him go again.  But my mom is very happy he is home- even more so that he's been doing lots of chores while she is at work (way to go dad! :) he is enjoying retirement.

Luckily, as I mentioned briefly in my last blog post I have amazing students and it makes my job so enjoyable. Really I feel blessed and fortunate for my experience is here and am really enjoying teaching ( minus not always the English grammar part... Which it times is just a frustrating language! - but don't tell my students I said that!) I also think I am losing some of my vocabulary which I do not like so much- I am reading lots, which I love, and so it is not so much recognizing the words, but more so using them! It's sad.. And there have been many occasions I cannot think of the English word for something in Swahilli... Oh well it always comes eventually  ( to peel... How can you forget that!)

It has been 20 months now since I have been here. Although to some, that may be a big statement, I feel pretty much impartial to it. What is 20 month anyway? Time goes by so fast lately and the more I think about it, the more I am trying hard to measure my time here in moments rather than hours, days, weeks, months... etc. It is a pretty challenging thing since I am at heart American and lived for 24 years in a busy fast-paced society where efficiency, accomplishments, and careers trump most. To go from that busy place to Tanzania, where people are not living by jam-packed busy schedules, but rather from event to event ( as life brings them of course) not worrying or looking at the clock to rush off to the next thing or as I love about it a place where others take priority and taking time for others is a key part of the daily agenda. Something I can only hope to take home with me to the land of the quicker the better.

Perhaps this happiness stems from the feeling that my time here is so limited. Only until Christmas? Oy! That seems like tomorrow. Well, I am determined to enjoy it. The students here however have been scheming for ways for me to stay. Along with the board of the school, we had a meeting in which their solution to me leaving was for me not to leave... Um okay that's not really a solution, but it is nice that people want me to stay!

okay, I guess that is all I will try to be better especially over break, but I cannot make promises of course ;). If you are ever wondering how I am doing, wanting me to blog or worried for my lack of writing a blog or anything feel free to email me! (abunio@gmail.com)

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers without you this with I'll be a lot more difficult. I'll leave you with these words from Emerson:

"Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you and give thanks continuously. And because of all things that have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Much love, Mungu akubariki,

Annie Bunio

A new year

Hello everyone (written February 1)! Greetings from my home, sweet home, in Kiabakari, Tanzania. I've been back a couple months now, and despite some illness, it's been nice to be home. I had an amazing time and quite a wonderful adventures with all my travels, but it was such a wonderful feeling to come home. I was lucky to have two trips over our long "summer" break! (yes, summer here ... not that it ever gets to be truly winter)! First, I had a wonderful time in Arusha visiting wonderful friends and family. From Arusha, I traveled with my "cousins" Jessie and Eric to Rwanda, via bus. We took buses from Arusha to Nairobi (Kenya), Nairobi to Kampala (Uganda), and Kampala to Kigali (Rwanda). <4/5 East African countries via bus!> It was a really long trip, all in all about 34 hours on three buses (7, 14, and 13 hours)! We also decided in order to avoid the costs of hotels, it would be a good idea to take overnight buses and see the cities in the afternoons...(good idea?? Well... It was an adventure, I'll leave it at that... ;) It was interesting, tiring and frustrating -but we got there in one piece, and I'm very thankful for that! ( and also very thankful for the various strangers that genuinely helped us along the way from emergency toilet situations, to directions, and even rides!) I had such an amazing time in Kigali. I was so lucky to spend a day at the orphanage I had volunteered at nearly three years ago! It was so wonderful to see some of my brothers and sisters there and catch up with them...( I hope to go back again before my return to the states!) I also got to visit my Rwandan mama and her new baby (my brother :) what a proud moment he's so stinking cute!! I had a wonderful time catching up with friends, seeing my old home and making new friends too :) I'm very fortunate for this trip. After our time there I took an 17+ hour bus to mwanza and the next day a few hours to get me back home! I'm so thankful for safe and blessed travels! For Christmas I traveled (again...) to the coast with my Danish family here in Kiabakari. It was a very Danish Christmas (complete with dancing around the Christmas tree), spent with many wonderful Danish families in Dar Es Salaam. I had a wonderful time surrounded by wonderful people who welcomed me into their family and made me feel at home.  Then for New Years I went camping along the Indian ocean near a place called Tanga :) it was pretty amazing, relaxing filled with well camping, hammock time, swimming, reading and great company. :) Now, I'm back in Kiabakari, where things are wonderful. The week before school started, I spent a lot of time working on English curriculum for the school, including daily lesson plans and a workbook of exercises (good, but definitely work!) It was nice to get a bunch ready and finished though. :) School "opened" January 14. The students came slowly ... We didn't start teaching until the following Monday, when we had three students. With prayers and encouragement, this past Monday (January 25) we reached a total of 7 students. Last year we started with 25.  We don't expect more students to show up. It's a little strange having so few students, and at first I think we(staff) were all a bit discouraged, but I came to realize and ask myself where the sense in that was.  I try to think about how this is the last year for these students at the school and despite the small numbers, they deserve the best we have to offer. Therefore I need to put more time and energy into my teaching to make his the best year possible (getting focused on numbers doesn't help). So far I've been EXTREMELY impressed with the students this year!! Four of the seven are returning students from last year. I was told this year would be more difficult for me, as many of the students are older. This made me so worried that going into my first day of teaching I could barely sleep!  Well I'm happy to say  it was wonderful (in fact I think my classes have all been great, thanks to my students). They have been very motivated, participate a lot in class, and are trying very hard! Outside of classes as well, I'm amazed by the great example they set for being in community with one another. They have cleaning duties every week, but instead of dividing them, they have decided to share all of the work instead and work together. One student told me "Where one person has a job, we all do." (pretty big difference from last year!) I feel so blessed for this all and truly look forward to getting to know the students well, since we are so few :) this is all proof to myself that there's no sense in worrying about things until I know what it will be like! (plus this was not in my control I have to trust God's bigger than so many things I spend way too much time worrying about! That's about all for now! Sorry to write so much I'll try to do better about updating every couple weeks! Until then much love to you all from Kiabakari! Annie Other stuff: 1. In 40 days one of the coolest guys I know will be arriving in Tanzania!! To visit me!! My dad :) cannot wait! 2. Obama lives in my backyard poor guy has fleas and worms.... But he's running around and happy and a good kisser (I'll add a picture ;) 3. I climbed a few local mountains the past weeks, fun and great views over the Serengeti and lake Vick 4. Read a great book by my favorite author Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie) he wrote a new one "the timekeeper" my mom sent it for Christmas! It's a quick read and very much worth it!  It was a good lesson to me about how precious time is and how it's not to be taken for granted, rushed, or bargained with! Time is a gift  God- we're the ones measure it, but it's not up to us how much we get!  pictures:(in order) sunrise over the Indian.ocean, my kiss from Obama, and grocery.shopping (market) (16 months along in the journey and 10 and some to go;)

Happy Holidays; Thankful: Thorns have Roses.

 Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happiest of New Years to all of you!! (you may think I'm confused with my timing...Thanksgiving has passed, Christmas isn't for a couple of weeks and New Years beyond that...) But... Aren't all of these holidays full of attitudes that we should be mindful of more than once a year? After finishing my first year teaching and a year living in Kiabakari, I've taken some time to reflect a bit on the past year and the year to come.

“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” ― Alphonse Karr

I've taken some time to think about the past year, the joy, the challenges, the exciting and dull days... and this year for me, Thanksgiving has taken on a whole new meaning. A much deeper sense of how much I truly have in my life to be grateful for.  This, newfound sense of all the blessings in my life would not be possible without ALL of the experiences I have had here in Tanzania. The way I view myself and the reality of the world and situations I live in, and therefore the gratefulness I have for my life and all of these experiences would not be the same without the past year in Tanzania. 

So what is it that I'm more mindful to be grateful of this year? 

I'm more mindful of the harsh realities for so many around the world, and so grateful for how blessed I have been in my life. 

I'm grateful for the opportunities I have had in my life, even the most thorny, challenging and painful ones, because those tend to have the ability to teach us something meaningful and have the capacity to bloom into a beautiful rose. 

As I've become more aware about vast inequity in places in the world, I'm grateful for being raised in a household where I was taught no one human being is better than another. Not even based on various attributes, such as economic status, gender, race, education, age, etc. 

One thing that has been brought to my  full awareness while I have been living here, is the large gap here between women and men. I've written before about the inequality between men and women in the area I am living in, and this has made me very grateful for the opportunities I have in my life.  This is not to say where I am living is an awful place where every single woman is oppressed and doesn't enjoy life. However, that being said many women face challenges unimaginable to many of us as well.  I do not want to portray the village I'm living in, in a negative light, however it has challenges , just as everywhere in the world. For instance, I would argue women still lack equitable opportunities and rights to men the United States.  However, we have come a long way and through many experiences, I am more grateful for what my grandmother and mother had to endure not so long ago to gain certain privileges for women that many in the world still struggle for today.

 Something else that strikes me is how little people need to survive and yet can be quite happy... (key word, need). I face it quite often here traveling in various villages seeing adorable, content children playing with broken toys (if they're lucky), pebbles or seeds or dirt more often. It never ceases to amaze me and so often shame me. It is all to easy to get caught up in our excess, especially this time of year, the season of "giving".

The last thing I'm overwhelmingly grateful for is my community of support. I have two of the most amazing and supportive parents in the world, wonderful supporting friends and family both near far away! Also I'm so blessed by an amazing group of people here in Tanzania that being here is so much easier than most you back home imagine. For all of that I'm immeasurably grateful.

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Many people (myself included), don't realize the privileges and freedoms we have, we can so easily take them for granted. Living here facing some difficult challenges and seeing some of those around me facing even more unimaginable challenges  has made me so thankful for the privileges I have and the wonderful people I'm blessed to have.

Happiest of Holidays to you all from Tanzania.
Mungu akubariki ~God bless,

Annie Bunio

Three of my  holiday movie quotes:

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." - Dr. Suess

"No man is a failure who has friends." Clarence ( It's a Wonderful Life)

" Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about. Lights, please. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." Linus Van PeltFrom my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.

Updates! Graduation and travels

Hello everyone from Arusha! I know what you might be thinking... arusha what? Or why have you not been blogging??? (thanks Tom Morris for getting on my case, I cannot believe it's been almost two months..I will do better!!)... Anyways, let me attempt to fill you all in on some of the crazy, amazing, wonderful and challenging things that have been going on since I last wrote. Last I wrote we had three weeks left of teaching exams and then graduation. It went by so fast! It's been planting season so we also had some days in the fields planting and digging up weeds, by hand, or hoe rather.. It's also been raining which just meant a few days of heavy mud hoe work... Not easy, but good work and nice time working with the students. I'll attach some pictures of a myself and a couple.students that did work with me on a Saturday morning. you'll enjoy our mud shoes...the mud cakes your shoes.so I've learned to ditch them right as I enter the field, then the mud will cake to your feet and form new protective mud shoes :-) I also have purchased some wonderful tire shoes Enough about shoes!!! The last few weeks of teaching went by really fast. The very last week we had some wonderful Norwegian Bible school students who came to Kiabakari and helped in the classroom for a week! The students did a project with these Norwegian visitors and it was a wonderful way to wrap up the school year. It was nice to see many students asking the visitors questions and really trying to use some of what they had learned. Halloween visited Kiabakari this year, I decided, being born in the Halloween Capitol of the World and all, (yes... Anoka MN) that I needed to share this with my friends in Kiabakari...so I explained trick-or-treating in my class, then I invited everyone students and coworkers alike to come trick or treat at my house in the evening...of course.costumes mandatory. It was wonderful, everyone came I made.cookies and it was a lot of fun (lots of Obama costumes...:) best Halloween ever! I also taught the Norwegian children how to carve pumpkins....they were thrilled they loved it and look forward to it next year as well :-) I think the last big update is graduation and travel plans! Graduation was nuts and wonderful! A lot of preparation and work, but it was wonderful to see the students graduate. Each student was given one invitation to invite one guest, I was honored when one often of my students invited me! ;Graduation was also really surreal... These are the students I moved to Kiabakari with, and now moving on, it will be different in January... I don't think it will fully sink in until then, but until then I can officially say I've finished a whole school year teaching, and crazy enough have been in Tanzania over a year! Nuts! Travel.. I spent two days on the road by car the first day, ten hours to Nairobi, Kenya. Then on Thanksgiving I got up early and got on a bus to Arusha, Tanzania (ok i may have woken up.at 5:30 instead of 6 to indulge in a HOT.shower :-) I arrived in Arusha late afternoon, on Thanksgiving :-)It's been wonderful to see "family" and friends here! ;I am so thankful to be here and was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with a potluck of 62 people and even got invited to a second Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend. Amazing! I'm having a wonderful time with my adoptive parents here in Arusha Linda and Mark, who I am so blessed to have in my life, they are such wonderful examples for me to be around, and they treat me like a daughter :-) so lucky! Another thing I'm thankful for is the opportunity to go back to Rwanda! Two of my friends here and myself, will travel by bus from Arusha to Nairobi, to Kampala to Rwanda! Stay for a few days and then head back through Tanzania, where I will head back to Kiabakari! So that is what I've been up to for those of you who've been anxious to know!! >Thanks for reading!< Annie

Other fun things...
1. I dug up a sweet potato the size of my head, called it my child, when I asked my students if it looked like me they said without hesitation, yeah, it's white...
2 Obama is living in my backyard.. Lady the dog had puppies, due to premature birth all died but one spurred by (awesome) election results, I named him Obama.
3. Somehow hearing Christmas music at 80°makes it feel like I'm listening to Christmas music in July.. But it's advent... Hmmf it'll come...my mama's sending me It's A Wonderful Life!

If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all... Personal reflections

Hello Everyone-

I’ve decided to allow myself to write some of my own reflections and contemplations of late. So, if you are looking for updates this blog post may not be what you are looking for (but you can scroll to the last bulleted list with the heading updates: ) However, rather than merely giving you updates of life events here in Tanzania, I would like to take an opportunity to write some of my own personal thoughts down. Therefore take the following reflections with that in mind- they are my own personal reflections spurred by current events, some discussions with friends home and here, and also a sermon I gave (in Swahili :) this morning. (They do not necessarily reflect the school I work for or the ELCA or Synod-).

This morning I was asked to give the Muhubiri or message at our daily morning chapel service. The weekly heading is Imani iletayo ushindi = Faith will give us victory... (Roughly translated-)_. My reading came from Micah: -7:7-10. Reading these verses I decided to take some different angles on the reading - the more blatant connection to me seemed to be that although Micah is writing at a time of trial in his life, he continues to have faith in God. Verse 7 discusses how Micah will continue to watch wait for the Lord and he knows God will hear him. However, another point I wanted to make was Micah’s discussion about his enemies. I didn’t so much want to touch on the wrath that would befall on his enemies.... rather Micah’s assertion that God is our judge.

I feel as a person of faith, part of having faith is allowing God to do His job, and not try to do it for Him. Therefore, as Micah asserts God is our judge, which means two things to me...

First, we as the imperfect human beings we are, have to have faith that God will grant us His righteousness, which comes through grace (Acts 3:21-24). We have to trust God to judge us. A scary thought perhaps, but my own personal theology of God is not that he wants to gloat over us (as Micah depicts his enemies do) rather if we truly repent and ask God for his grace we will be forgiven and (verse 9) “He (God) will bring me out into the light; I will see His righteousness.”

The second thing, which is really where I want to give my emphasis in this reflection, is that God is our one judge, so we can all put down our gavels. Micah puts the trial of his enemies into God’s hands. A verse that gave this point even more clarity is Romans 14:4- “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

Despite your religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, race, occupation whatever else you want to put in the blank... I do NOT feel we are not called to be judges- (hence being judgmental) here on earth. However, truly as of late in our world I see more and more judges coming into the works, in such a destructive and distressing way.

As the presidential election nears in the United States people really like to pick up their gavels and tote them wherever they go. Turn on a T.V. for all of 15 minutes and you are bound to see some political advertisement filling your heads with negative thoughts towards the “other”...being the political party you won’t be voting for come election day. Go on facebook and see numerous harsh, insensitive words in debates between various ‘friends’.

Perhaps those of you who are educators can also lend your observations. Have you observed your students and perhaps even staff enjoying talking about the other students (and or staff)? Did you see what so and so did the other week, or what she wore?! Hmmm... Unfortunately it is the truth and it happens all over the world- in different ways sometimes yes, but we live in societies that encourage us to judge others. As Morrie Schwartz said “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.” I hope we can stop buying this judgmental culture so many are being raised in. (I am by no means saying I am guilt-free in passing judgment either! It is an easy thing to fall into.)

Another place we can just as easily find judgment is in the church itself, good old church politics. Yes, church politics (the perfect dinner conversation I’d say!). No one can say honestly church politics do not exist. Look at the way various Christian churches are continually dividing and splitting into different churches or even just caught in numerous arguments based of various things such as gender, sexual orientation or which creeds should be said at Sunday services. Certainly focusing so much on these issues takes way from the true meaning of a church... and takes away from spreading the love and grace of God.

I was discussing this with a friend and he asked me if this means I feel we should not have court systems, or some kind of international responsibility to put a stop to injustice. For those of you who know me, you know this is anything but true. I am very passionate about international justice and the fight against human injustice. So am I a big hypocrite? Maybe... I would like to think not, but chose what you may.... let me explain further...

You see I would like to assert a difference between justice and judgment. Of course I feel people who have committed injustices need to be brought to justice here on earth. However, I think there is a difference between bringing that person to justice and judging that person for the mistakes they have made. THIS is the real kicker- and the really hard thing to do (which is why many of us fail at it time and time again.) Of course there are people in this world who have committed major atrocities and it is more than easy to judge these people personally. But I think this is where we need to leave God to His work.

Whether you are Christian, Agnostic, Buddhist, Muslim, White, Black, Purple, Green, Male, Female, American, Tanzanian, Chinese, Straight, Gay, Human, Alien .... hopefully you catch my drift... I hope we can all agree that passing judgment on others for their own personal individual ways of life does us no good. Others have judged us all at least once in our lives for various personal things, and we all know how horrible that can feel.

Judging others can have serious ramifications as well. Take for instance when ONE person recently chose to make a video passing judgment on a major world religion. That ONE person chose to spread a message not of love and acceptance but of hate and rejection. The ramifications of which extended throughout the world with violence, animosity and turmoil. We have to remember our actions, the way we treat others who may not be exactly like us- have serious ramifications whether it be the way in which you negatively impact an individual life, or your actions/ words have ramifications worldwide... (You truly can)... Perhaps we should remember the phrase so often told to young children... If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Spread peace not turmoil, spread love not hate, accept others for who they are, not who you want them to be- after all if we were all the same, life would be quite boring. No, I’m not saying it’s easy- but does that mean we shouldn’t try to do the right thing?
Amani, Umoja, na Upendo- Peace, Unity and Love- From Tanzania-

Annie Bunio

“You love those who don’t love you. You love those you don’t like. You love those whose ways are distasteful to you. You love every man because God loves him.” Martin Luther King Jr.

“All humans are humans. There are no humans more human than the others.” Romeo Dallaire (UN Chief Commander in Rwanda during the genocide)

A few updates on Tanzanian life-:
1. I woke up to army ants all over in my house at 6am on Saturday morning! I evacuated for a full day until they eventually left. Not so fun! 2. The heat has been dreadful, I almost constantly feel like I am going to sweat or bake to death... the rain came a little yesterday (I’ve never been so happy for rain..) so, here’s to hoping it will stay for a while and help water the crops that have now been planted... they need it badly!
3. We have three weeks left of teaching and a couple weeks of exams and then the students will have their graduation ceremony. It’s been a bit of a crazy realization that come January a new year starts and the students that have been here with me since the beginning won’t all be returning for the next year... strange.
4. An owl showed up at my house last night and fought with the puppies until I stepped in and retreated deciding I don’t need to get clawed by an owl in a place where quality healthcare is well.. not close by... So... eventually I stooped to barking at the owl myself and it flew off.... Everyone I have told this story to has laughed profusely especially my gardener Nyawena who could not stop... so hopefully it brings you some joy too.

Quarter of a century... Survival of the fittest? Oy!

Hello Everyone!

Warmest greetings from Kiabakari.. literally- It has been so hot here lately- everyone is hoping for the rain to come soon! Yesterday we put a thermometer in the sun and it hit up to 50˚C (a bit over 120˚F!) In the shade it’s often in the upper nineties and in the house its well in the eighties! Uffdah! So yes, you have my most sincere warm greetings!

Needless to say, I’ve made it back safe and sound! The trip back was long and tiring, but it was wonderful to arrive to such wonderful people- from landing in Nairobi- all the way back to everyone here in Kiabakari, it truly has been good to be back with the wonderful people here.

That being said, it has not been an easy transition for me, and it’s not easy for me to admit (feeling guilty since I do have such wonderful people here..). It was harder than I thought to have to leave my wonderful family and friends again, even though I am so grateful for all the time at home, wow, it’s hard to be around such wonderful people (yes, you)...and leave again! It took me a couple weeks to feel alright about being back, and still to think about the my time remaining can sometimes be daunting and discouraging, however... deep down I believe it will go by fast-- -and truly I have to remind myself how wonderfully blessed I am to have this opportunity. Not many people can say they have been able to have the experiences I have, so in the long run, I feel lucky... though I do have my moments.

Two big things that happened to me personally in the past week are, I got older and I reached my one year anniversary of arriving in Tanzania! So... the big 2-5, I can now say I’ve been around a quarter of a century... oh joy... My birthday was really great. Many people asked how people celebrate birthdays in Tanzania, but the truth is, most Tanzanians don’t celebrate their birthdays at all, in fact some don’t even know their exact date of birth. However, the other missionaries at school were not going to let me get away with not celebrating. I woke up early to go on a run and watch the sunrise over the mountains :) How can my birthday be bad with a start like that : ) Then I got home, wondering where my puppies as my back gate was open to my house.. I walked in, and almost got a heart-attack for my birthday- my family here decorated my backyard with balloons and pictures (the missionary children made—some are pretty hilarious, ie-the one of “me” in a bright bikini diving after a volleyball... oh if only I could wear that in this crazy heat... but if trousers are not allowed, certainly bikinis are frowned upon! :) It was great, a total surprise- we ate breakfast (and cake! : ) the students and other staff came and joined us- it was wonderful! Per Danish tradition I even got cinnamon dumped on me, because I’m now 25 and still single... thanks Inge-Marie and Simon...haha - Then Inge-Marie and Kjersti- my two cool big sisters took me to Musoma for the afternoon and we sat on the beach at Lake Victoria – it was a nice way to spend my birthday!

The evening after my birthday was an action packed evening, making me wonder if reaching a quarter of a century means you need to be on top of your game- survival of the fittest so to speak. First, I got called out of my house to see a nice big snake- between my house and my neighbors... Woah-- Okay – so my previous experience with snakes were all quite small, but this was a big FAT puff adder... not nice. It was killed, and ever since I am a little more careful walking around in the dark to look where I am going. (Bluck!) Then some friends came to place cement in the cracks where the ever-present bees have been entering my roof and building their hive. They’ve shifted some now, and have started coming in my sleeping room... having bees crawling on my mosquito net in the morning is not the most pleasant wake up call... They sealed the outside...but it made the bees a little less than happy- so they started flying around angry and coming through my ceiling boards.. there were so many flying around in my room- I followed sound advice and went elsewhere to sleep.... A good old bee evacuation. I don’t know what that means for survival of the fittest, but even though I gave up my house for a night, I survived so I think it’s okay :- ) I’ve also decided if the bees, snakes don’t get you, the heat will, or the tarantulas that fall on you (yes, that happened).. or the 8 young men visiting from Norway who have the ability to pick you up fully clothed and throw you in a kiddie pool... They’re lucky it was warm so I wasn’t too angry! ;)

Other than all of that, teaching is going well, yet it is proving to also be quite challenging. I’m working hard and trying to encourage the students (we’re in past tense mode and they’re not fans of all the irregular verbs.. at this point, neither am I!) Maombi with the women at church is going well, we have had a few weeks were there has been over a dozen of us! It’s really great. Uffdah..I think this blog is long enough for now, but I was long overdue for an update ..I will try to do better! Promise! Otherwise, before leaving I got a smart phone and am using that at the school for my internet- it has been working pretty well, skype is sometimes working, email is great and even facebook! It’s been wonderful to have for teaching and also I am loving keeping up-to –date with news! Or if you’re into hand-writing letters My address is: Shule ya Biblia Kiabakari
SLP 100
Kiabakari, Tanzania

Thanks so much everyone for all your birthday wishes and all other support, I cannot begin to explain how much it means!

Miss you all- Mungu akubariki ! (God bless!)
Annie

Other random items:
1)Petey and Tubby are here and happily living in my backyard... I love them- but sometimes I get frustrated, it’s like having children sometimes!
2) A thank you to the Norwegians who took me to Kijereshi a nice place near the Serengeti with a pool! It was a lovely pre-birthday present :-) So relaxing and lots of fun! Thanks guys! See you next year!
3) Happy Birthday to my mama- love you :-) You are wonderful!
4) Eating veggies from your own garden tastes better than from the market, or store..
5) I split wood by axe- no further explanation needed.
6) Stove 3, arms= 0 yay burns!
7) The word hairisha (Moved or delayed) is very close to harisha- to have diarrhea.. don’t tell people the bishop had diarrhea... oops...

So Different, I can't even imagine...

Hello Everyone from much closer to home than my normal posts!  I wrote this reflectiony- blog after being home a while and it sure is encouraging as I start to make my way back to Tanzania for another year and a half to read this again :- ) Hope you enjoy it too - - :)

It's strange to be writing a blog post from the comfort of my parent’s home in MN.  I've been home for about 3 weeks and that is simply nuts to me! My time home so far has consisted of packing in visits with friends and family, my brother's wedding and my college roommate's wedding.  :)

I wanted to take a few minutes to write some of the reflections I have had since I’ve been home... or coming home as it may be.  You see, as I made my trek home, I had to start thinking about what to tell people.  People love to ask the following questions-

“How is Africa?”  “Are you happy you're home?”  “Do you really want to go back?”  and my personal favorite - -“What are you going to do when you're all finished?”  (I still have a good year and a half right?? well.. okay maybe it's time to start thinking about it...!) I just wish the answer Tanzanians love to hear- I am not sure, but God knows - works on everyone here as it does there :)

Anywho- There was one comment in particular that really had me start thinking about things, and that was: "I'm sure it's so different, I can't even imagine." 

Something in this comment really struck me... I was in the Amsterdam airport on my way home, and for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about it.   So different, I can't imagine it.  Yet to me, it doesn't seem so different at all...  It took me a while to figure out why this statement made me feel so uneasy and why I felt it wasn't really true, let me share with you my thought process in unraveling it! 

Here's how some of my thought processing worked:  Different??  Really?

 Hmm....   Here are some of the differences I came up with....

1) Bugs and Snakes-  There are a lot of creepy crawlies that I don't  particularly care for in Tanzania,  and for those of you that know me- as a camp counselor I would pick up spiders and snakes (yes, in MN our snakes are small and non-harmful).  However, in Tanzania, there are a lot of large bugs and snakes (which I learned from waking up to a cobra in my bathroom the first morning in Kiabakari)-  that I cannot safely/ am not willing to pick up.  One of my least favorite are the giant cockroaches that live in my pantry cupboards! I am not missing them here in MN.

2) Water-  I have to boil my water, (and apparently for longer than what I have been boiling it for.. bwah bwah..yay stomach parasites and other fun things! ).  It takes time yes, but in reality it makes one think more about water and not wasting it.  Here, in the US where a person can turn on a tap pretty much anywhere and drink to their hearts content.  Also, if we forget to turn the tap off and leave it run, it won't run out anytime soon.  :(  But please don't do that!).   I also don’t have hot water... meaning cold showers!  Which isn't awful, it's just an additional caffeine shot to my mornings- meaning it helps wake me up - -which is good, since I don’t have my normal coffee supply, and it also decreases the number of showers I take ;-)

3) Mosquitos: I don’t know if you know this but as many of you do, mosquitos are the true state bird in MN... However, Mosquitos in Tanzania are dangerous.  The area around me (Mara, Tanzania) is one of the worst areas for Malaria.  So, it means that I sleep in a mosquito net and get more irritated at them for biting me than I would at home :)

4) Patience isn’t just a virtue, it’s a necessity.  Things take longer.  If you’ve ever heard/ experienced the phrase “African Time” you know what I mean. Things are more run on a schedule of well, when this is done then we move on... meaning things take longer in general and there aren’t specific time frames for things.  My biggest example for this is church services.  Church, is what happens on Sunday.  So, when that is finished then you can do whatever else you need to do, meaning services range from 1.5 hours to 5 or 6 hours.  :) But, this also contributes to a more relaxed atmosphere and less stress of being on time to things, because a lot of times things start, when everyone shows up... also increasing the need for patience at many times. 

4) Roads:  Most of the roads around me are dirt roads, there is a giant paved road that is being worked on that stretches down to Mwanza and up to Kenya.  But around the village it's dirt... or slippery mud during rainy season (I don't advise running (aka falling) - in it).

5) Language:  Here in Kiabakari, Swahili is the first language, and the language I use most (unless I'm with the other mzungus (or white folks), mostly being the other missionaries (which for them English is their second language as well- - I’m slowly working on my Danish and Norwegian... (and by slowlyl I mean it...sloooowly).  But Swahili is used, at church, at school, in my teaching (of course paired with English), walking on the road and in the market.  (It's a fun language though :) 

6) CULTURAL: Here's where we get into more serious differences. However since they are cultural differences, these are not things we can simply classify as good or bad, rather we accept them as they are, differences; and simply work and hope for change in those things perhaps deemed as unequal or discriminating.  Some minor things that are different to home culturally living in the village include: Women must wear skirts. As a Christian you may not smoke or drink any alcohol.  Elders are to be respected, from the way you greet them, to the way you speak with them and by all means you must listen to them.  

One other large cultural difference in the area I am living in that at times has been personally challenging is the way women are treated.  I have written about this before in my previous blogs, but as a recap, for the most part women are to be subordinate to men.  They are not allowed into all work positions (including they are not allowed to be ordained in my region, or be leaders in many other spheres of the workplace).  As far as marriage goes, the men are to rule over the women and in many cases it is not an equal bond as the woman must listen and obey what the man says.  

However, as we may or may not agree with these cultural differences I remind us all that they are simply that, cultural differences and as frustrating as it may be at times it does not make anyone better or worse as a person or culture.  It also makes me think about how in the not-so-distant past, women in the United States had to work hard to gain many rights as well and I am very fortunate for the privileges I have had growing up.  It has also been quite interesting for me to see in some respects how women's freedom is changing slowly within the church, and also the huge differences when I travel to the larger cities in Tanzania and Kenya. For instance in Arusha and Nairobi, you will find many women wearing jeans (usually the younger generations).  

Those are some of the differences I came up with.  I by no means mean to minimize them, as they are differences that I live with on a daily basis.  However... what I realized as I figured out the similarities that smacked me in the face was why I felt things weren’t so different after all.

Similarities :)

1)    All in all... People are people no matter where you go- we may look different, we may speak different languages and we may think differently on some things, but all in all we feel the same feelings and emotions and we share in may similar experiences.

2)    The Importance of Community:  Think about it... How much support have you received from various communities throughout your life?

 No matter where you go, no matter where you are, we are communal people. Whether it’s friends, family, church groups, sports teams, whatever it may be - We as human beings need community- People always ask me- what is it like living all alone in Tanzania.  My thoughts as I think about it now are- I don’t that would be weird and hard, but there are actually roughly 42 million citizens of Tanzania!!  (Neato) - - I know that is the smart- aleck answer and that most people mean being in a house/ moving to this village alone mostly... but I don’t feel alone.  The community that God has put me in is simply amazing. I am blessed and amazed by the wonderful friends and even family (as it feels like to me) I have been given in Tanzania.  I’ve also discovered that if we share God’s love as Jesus commands of us in John chapter 15 vs 9-12  - we will be surrounded by this community wherever we go- how amazing is that?!

3)    LOVE- The love and help I’ve experienced from those in Tanzania has been pretty amazing... For those of you who have been to Tanzania you’ll agree that we could all take some lessons on hospitality, caring for your neighbor and the amazing help you will receive even when there is little to give.

Maybe in the grand scheme of things- I felt the statement of – So different... I can’t even imagine it- - was so odd- because, even halfway across the world we’re not so different after all.  After all we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ, we’re all children of God- and if we all do our best to follow Jesus’ example to love all those we come into contact with, no matter what the differences may be between us- cultural, gender, religious etc... we will always be united through that love. :- ) 

John 15 : 9-12 Jesus Said - “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, jut as I have obeyed my father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  “

3 Claps! :-D

Hello Everyone- 

Wow- It is definitely time for an update!  Saa inakimbia sasa!  Time is flying – well here they use running- but it’s not only running- at least not with my speed of running!

I am pleased to tell you I am much healthier than my last post!  I got quite sick in/ after going to Nairobi- and couldn’t eat much for a good week.  But- don’t worry I am eating plenty now :- )

Well- really the time is going by SO fast- I will be home in just over a month- it’s completely nuts!  My countdown in my office is as follows:

Days until Arusha: 30 days

Days until I land in beautiful Minneapolis 41 days

Days until my big brother gets hitched :- ) 52!

Holy cow... it’s crazy that it’s so close when I started my countdown around 100 days until I come home.... Don’t get me wrong- Things are for the most part going really well- and being here definitely feels like home now... and it has occurred to me so many times how different my countdown would be if I were not coming back to Tanzania in August, instead of sheer joy and pee-my-pants excitement.... I would have a heavy heart knowing I would have to leave this place and the people that are starting to etch permanent marks on my heart and soul.  Besides- I am NOT done learning .. (thought I’m not sure we as humans, ever really are..). It’s not that I think I will ever “figure things out..” so to speak... but I am having some great and not so great experiences- and doing my best to engrain each of them into my bongo kubwa- (literally translates to big brain...) My students love when I use that term- You have a bongo kubwa so use it to think-- or I have a bongo kubwa so I know when you’re trying to get away with something you’re not supposed to ;-)  They also like when I say sijazaliwa jana... I wasn’t born yesterday... I am not so sure that these idioms always translate directly- but I think they get the points still!

One thing that has been impossible to ignore is what I will call the woes of a young female in the village...  I think I have written some before about the area in which I am living and the way women are to be submissive to men. Well, usually I am respectful of this and try to be very respectful to the men in the village especially pastors and leaders kwa kawaida- per usual here in Tanzania.  However last week- I had enough with the students treating me different than the other teachers because for me I have two stigmas against me, 1. I am young.. (even if I feel old, at least half my students are older than me some much older, 40...)  and 2.  I am a woman.  Oh boy.

  Last week I was mwalimu wa zamu- the head teacher and the rest of the teachers were all in a seminar held at the school for pastors.  This meant a few things- a) I had more lessons (yippee!- I really do like teaching) b) we had visitors  c) I was in charge of all cleaning and other work projects.   This is my LEAST favorite thing of all to be in charge of and my least favorite part of being head teacher.  Giving the students their jobs takes so much effort- and some of them really argue and argue with me.  It’s always been this way- but this past week was worse.  Over and over again arguing- not doing what I asked.  Finally I had enough- and I needed to talk to the principal about.  As far as myself- I have decided I am done arguing with students if it happens again.  I will tell them once maybe twice and if they don’t do there work- they can deal with the principal- who was very supportive.  It’s just strange sometimes to be at a bible school for evangelists and be treated without much respect. Plus I feel it necessary to say it’s not  all of the students- maybe around half and also I have found it quite interesting to see how things are changing here slowly for women.... Oh well- life will go on... just the woes of a young female in the village.

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Other than work projects teaching is going well.  This term has gone by so fast!  It’s been really short with trips for evangelism on the weekends, harvesting, and other things- I just hope that I can get through most of the things I would like to teach  by November!  (Our school starts in January- November!)    The video is also coming along slowly... It takes a lot of time to answer questions and work together to translate answers then record... but I am determined to get some of it done for this summer!  It may be a preview of sorts but it will still be insightful ( I can say this because I have been working with the students and heard their answers! : )

On other news, I became a Godmother!  The Danish missionaries here Inge Marie and Simon had a baby- (who I met and returned to Kiabakari with from Nairobi)- and they asked me to be God-mom- What an HONOR!! Plus it is tradition here that the Godparents hold the baby while it is being baptized,  this means I held little Hanna (my God-daughter) while she was being baptized! (And she was so good- sleeping most of it- meaning she was squirming and I didn’t even get close to dropping her phew!)  And yes- I think it is safe to say I’m no longer afraid of babies for all you friends back home- I am holding them and exposed to them very much here – why was I afraid again?? They actually aren’t super breakable as I thought! Who knew!?

 As far as my other 9 children go... the puppies... I am so ready to sell the majority of them! I love them... most times... but they are also 1) very loud 2) smelly at times  3) pooping/ peeing more often  4) Escaping more often 5) did I mention loud.. at all hours?  6) they have given me fleas... (not the first time...hooray...)  But also I am very attached to one or two of them- given them names and everything- the one I will keep is named Penny- or Pendo (Which means love in Swahili- but I think I will call her penny mostly !)

Lastly- the biggest and most recent update is about Ibadaa this morning.  Every morning we have Ibadaa service, including liturgy a short message and singing.  Someone thought I should be included in the message portion... so today for my first time I had muhubiri- or the sermon/ message.  Ahh!  Also it follows a calendar- so each day is an assigned scripture!  I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep much last night.  BUT- it went really well :- D  I got three claps!!  Three claps is something they do in Tanzania as an honor/ appreciation- you get three claps.  I was pretty proud. Plus the principal Sube thanked me in his announcements asked for the three claps- and then said I am now Tanzanian and my swahili is as though I have lived here for 10 years.  (Yes I think I was blushing... :- ) But I am pretty thrilled about it all : -D!!  I got three claps! :D Hooray!

Other Random/ Interesting Experiences:

1- I bought my bike! :- ) In Musoma I picked one up- and I love it- a used mountain bike- I just cruised home from Maombi and the local market on it- I got  back only a few minutes after the person driving a car! :- )

2- I’ve started singing with the choir at church- it is fun! : -)

3- I had a nice run in with Siafu- (army ants) they were close to my house- and I was worried about the puppies... they could wipe out all nine of them if they wanted... So – as I was monitoring where they were headed..I got bit :( Not only that but found out.. firsthand this time where the phrase ants in your pants come from.. and it’s not a phrase to be taken lightly let’s leave it at that. Oof!

4- I taught baseball : - )  Well- it’s a cross between baseball and whiffle ball! We used down tree branches / big sticks- for bats, and a soft ball wrapped in duct tape! It’s pretty awesome (as a side note- GO TWINS!)

Trip to Nairobi!

Hello from Nairobi Everyone- I had the opportunity to come to Nairobi Thursday-Tuesday- although Thursday and Tuesday were full days spent in the car... I took the bus up here on Thursday with another missionary and his two children a trip that included 2 hours in a car, 10.5 on a bus and some various stops along the way. It was a nice trip. Strange things are happening to me... Strange experience one:Friday I got up, put on my trousers- pants... Ahh- it was so strange! I haven't worn trousers for a few months now, and I felt naked in them! I slowly got used to them again.. Weird Strange experience number two: Where I am staying I could drink water from the taps- and brush my teeth from it- I was terrified at first so I drank just a tad to know if it'd make me super sick... but it did't- so then I thoroughly enjoyed it.. Strange experience number three: Shopping. Holy Cow. Shopping MALLS- huge- multi-level- stores apple stores, I went into a large supermarket and felt like everything was so foreign, 15 kinds of toothpaste?! what is this! There were things I didn't recognize and by the end I just left without seeing the whole store, because I was a tad overwhelmed... (but I did buy me some apples, oreos, and cockroach killer..) Strange experience number four: HOT shower...okay not strange, more wonderful.. it's nice almost not to have it- to know what I'm missing- because truly.. it's not a big deal to have a hot shower, just something extra that's nice.. Strange/Awesome/ Amazing experience number five: Getting internet to work so I could watch my best friend Carly Tonkin turn into Carly Peet-- PLUS getting to watch it together with friends in Hong Kong and be able to chat with them during the wedding! Strange/Horrible Experience Six: Getting SO sick that I wished death upon myself a few times.. Came out of nowhere had AWFUL fevers that would spike quickly.. plus spending some quality time on the bathroom floor.. an entire day in bed... meaning prolonging our return trip to Kiabakari because I was to ill to travel... That being said- I've been mostly upright 70% of the day today- fever free 90%- ate some and thus we will return to kiabakari tomorrow- It's been real interesting.. until next time Nairobi... ~Annie PS- Carly and Dave- Hongera SANA!! (congrats!)

Heri Ya Pasaka- Happy Easter!/ Video Project- would love input

Yesu Amefufuka! Amefufuka Kweli Kweli Aleluya!! (Christ has risen- He has risen indeed!) Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had wonderful joyous Easters – How can you not! Christ has risen! My Easter was a bit busy... I woke up expecting to be a little sad to wake up Easter morning alone in my house- but woke up to some really nice sunlight in my room and I also ate a piece of chocolate that I ration- (which always helps! I think chocolate and ice cream are two of the best medicines- I don’t know if I wrote about spilling on my computer- but that day we went to Musoma and I had a ice cream cone similar to a drumstick and I swear for a brief moment I had the thought of – I would rather have these in my life than my computer... but.. I am glad that my computer is reborn and working again.. and think I wouldn’t trade it for ice cream in reality.)

Anywho, my Easter: I went to church in a village called Butiama about 40 minutes from here, Mama Emma’s boy Daniel was getting baptized so I was invited to the service. This meant we had 3 different services, one for Easter Sunday, One Ibadaa for Chakula cha Bwana- (communion) and the last for Baptizo, the baptisms. The service itself was a bit over 3 hours. But it was great – I held Daniel for a lot of the service, including when he fell asleep literally 2 minutes after being baptized- so funny- (it was quite a workout holding him too because he is a big boy! (and extremely cute and well- behaved). Afterwards we were invited to a house for some chai.. and food uffdah after we went to Mama Emmas for more food and to visit and watch the movie The Life of Christ- with voice-over in Swahili... interesting yes... Then we came back to the school-at 6:30 so we left for church around 9:30 am... just a 9 hour day- uffdah! I was pretty tired but also happy.

This past week we had a seminar with some teachers/ pastors at 3 different bible schools. I was really happy to sit in on the sessions, we had a teacher/pastor here from Zanzibar teaching about Islam, (he studied Muslim Christian Relations for his Masters) He really shared a lot and challenged us to think about some things. It was a bit strange being the only woman in a group of 11 men, most being pastors and two bishops... I felt a little out of place, especially at the discussion we had about ordaining females... I was of course the only one who was pro-woman ordination... in this group – and unlike what is expected of me- I was open about it- but did reserve myself a little. I definitely felt like an outsider at this seminar in many ways- but it was really good to get in on these discussions to be more aware of how many (especially those higher up) are thinking on these issues... and also to be challenged to think of why I feel the way I do- it’s always good to be challenged into actually thinking about your beliefs, which I think all of us were...

Then something AMAZING happened on Wednesday- well first I was pretty sick- my stomach has been acting a bit strange – and I’m hoping it’s not a parasite or amoeba friend or worms, but.. the missionary here who was a nurse told me many times those even work themselves out of your system- so .. that’s cool I guess. (don’t worry I’m eating and everything!) BUT the amazing thing is.... The female dog at our school had PUPPIES! She had ten beautiful puppies and only lost one. However it was a very unfortunate time to be born, as rainy season is now in full force, they were born Wednesday and that night it was POURING and really cold... I couldn’t stand to wake up and have all the puppies dead... so.... I offered my guest room to them... so now I have 10 guests at my house- 9 teeny tiny puppies who still can’t open their eyes and mama- who’s afraid of me but I’m working on it... I sometimes just sit in the room and work so they she gets accustomed to me. So that’s that I’m pretty pumped and every break from school I run home to see how they’re all doing and count them all to see that they’re here and safe and sound.. :- ) I won’t keep all of them.. but think I may get attached and maybe keep one... the school says I could give it to the school when I leave to work here as a guard dog... so we’ll see...

That’s about all- I’m heading to Nairobi Thursday – Monday to attempt to have internet for my wonderful roomie and best friend’s wedding! (Hooray Carly and Dave are getting married!! =D!!!!! I’ll be travelling over 20 hours in 5 days- crossing the border twice and taking a few busses... :- ) So prayers for safe travel- are VERY appreciated!

Thanks for all your emails and continued support- I miss you all but am doing well here- getting ready for term two to start tomorrow- VERBS- (eek! If you have any advice for teaching verbs.. please email me!)

Hugs from me mama dog (who I’ve named Lady) and the nine pups (who are all lying besides me ...) from Tanzania-

Annie

ALSO- Please read the following about a video project I'm going to start this semester- I would LOVE feedback!


Take a minute to read this if you're interested in helping me in a project I'm undertaking here in the next couple years here in Tanzania all you have to do is read this and let me know if you have input! It's as easy as that!!!!!

What is it?? - So I've gotten some inspiration to create a video about life/ the school here in Kiabakari. What I plan to do- is interview my students asking them maybe 3 or four questions and then make a quasi-documentary including some of their responses and then footage from around the village here- and neighboring villages.

I just though this would A) be a neat opportunity for my students we'll work one on one answering first in Swahili- then translating it together into English- so it's also extra practice/ practical practice too- for their English B) Something for me to remember my time here from (no I'm not anywhere close to being done, but if I start now maybe I'll have some to share this summer) and most of all - C) Something to share with others which my questions will be focused around.

So why am I writing to you- Well I need some help deciding on a few good questions... Here are some that I spurted out of my brain somehow onto paper - but if you have better ways to phrase them/ other ideas-PLEASE let me know!! I am going to be introducing the idea to the students this week but probably won't start working with them one on one until at least the week after !


My Questions so far:

ο If you could share one thing about what it means to be a Christian what would it be?
ο If you could share one thing about faith...
ο If you could share one thing about being an evangelist what would it be?
ο Why do you want to be an evangelist?
ο If you could share one thing with people around the world what would it be ?
ο If you could share one thing about life in Tanzania/ Tanzanian culture/ or what it means to be Tanzanian... what would it be?

Okay these are just some I've been brainstorming- if you have any input- please take time in the next week to write! I would appreciate it- I'll also ask my students of course too.

Asante sana- thank you very much!

Mungu akubariki!

Annie