Field Trip - Makutano

Last Friday we went to Makutano, a Tanzanian Art Center.  We made paper mache cups and they dried over the course of the week.  Today we went back and the kids got to paint their cups.  I was so thankful that the artists were willing to help though, my perfectionist children weren't happy with how their "zebra" and "dinosaur" were turning out...but, after a bit of professional assistance, everyone was much more peaceful.  Thank you Marla for planning this outing, hopefully we'll have many more!

Getting some help with a zebra

Help with a dinosaur

Laura and Henry working on a dinosaur

Becky and Esther working on a ladybug or butterfly...not sure!

A few more pictures from Bagamoyo

I fully intended to have more to write about our Mid Term Break weekend.  On Monday, we were supposed to head back down to Dar and attend a concert for the Sala Sala Kids' Club Ministry with Britain's Duggie Dug Dug (if you don't know who he is, do a quick Google search ;)...and it's ok, I didn't know who he was either!)  Unfortunately, sometimes you just have to know when to call it a day.  Sometimes you can just have had too much fun and the kids were in that boat, they had hit their "invisible wall" and were tired, grumpy, etc.  We thought if we got back home early enough, they could have a short quiet time and then we could head to the concert.  It didn't quite happen that way...so we stayed home and had a family night.  Hope we can catch him when he comes to visit next time.  I hear the concert and Gospel message were great!

Here are a few more pictures from our weekend...

Building a sand fort with a seaweed moat.  They used mangrove seeds as the "spikes" to protect the fortress.

Sitting in the really great play structure at the Traveler's Lodge

Playing with our "big sisters"

Another view of part of the play structure

Look how big it is!

Bagamoyo....the rest of the weekend

This post might become a "Part I" as it's only Sunday afternoon and we still have the rest of today and tomorrow on our "Mid Term Break" from HOPAC and our normal "life" activities.
Did you like all those ""'s???

Yesterday, we took the one hour drive up to Bagamoyo.  We had known that it was close; but, it still seemed amazing that we could arrive anywhere so quickly in Tanzania!  We checked in early at the Traveller's Lodge, a wonderful place if you ever need good lodging that's close to Dar.  By 10 in the morning, we were walking down the sand and checking out some historical sites.

This is the Missionary Cross Memorial.  It commemorates the missionaries that "redeemed" the slaves from the slave auctions/markets of Zanzibar in 1868.  They took them across the bay and landed at Bagamoyo and started a settlement there.  They are obviously doing a bit of construction work around the site.

We went to the Catholic Mission Museum.  Quite an impressive display of local art and also newspaper articles and maps showing the history of Bagamoyo over the past 140 years.

One of the MANY pictures I took that showed some really neat history.  I liked how this one showed the different groups of Catholic missionaries and how they "spread" the Word throughout Tanzania over the years.

The Church that has been rebuilt on the original site.

The tower where David Livingstone's body was carried by over 500 "slaves" that he had redeemed.  They carried him here as a tribute before his burial.

The inside of the Catholic Church.  It is still active, not just a museum, with services happening every week.

On Saturday afternoon, we took some time on the beach.  A group of school girls started dancing and singing, it was quite the show and they were obviously having a great time.  Our kids are on the right hand side of the picture, they started building sand castles with some of the local children.

Sunday...we went and hired a local "tour guide" and we are SOOOO thankful that we did.  Otherwise, these ruins  in Bagamoyo would not have meant much to us.  Our tour guide, Doto, has been with the tourism board for 6 years and was an amazing fount of knowledge.  This room...held 25 slaves before they were taken to auction. Then, under the Germans, it became a barracks, it was for 2 soldiers.  The British took over from the Germans and it became a prison, it could hold 15 prisoners.  After Tanzanian independence, it was again a prison and held 5 prisoners.  It became a police station for a time and now, we walk into this small room and think of the darkness and sadness that this location has held over the years and we pray that the Light will shine into it!!!

These buildings have lasted for so many years because they are made from coral stone, taken from the sea.

We had to have a group shot, of course.

Liked the view from on top of the stairs.

An original door - leading into some of the larger rooms that served as headquarters for so many different governments over the years.

Friends.

The hanging place - where the Germans hung those that were rebellious.

One of the many graveyards that we found.  We had an interesting time bringing out our old German and reading the headstones.  These graves are maintained by the German Embassy.

One of the signs that we found in town.  We loved the part about the "Non bacteria ice" and the "Home made banana"

With our guide, the guys were talking about taking a Dhow boat ride to Zanzibar.  He was saying it would be about 5,000 tsh (maybe $3) per person for the 3 hour ride to Zanzibar....ummmm, thinking of a song that goes "A three hour tour...a three hour tour..."

Then Doto took us to the Kaole ruins.  Here, another guide was showing us the well.  It's fresh, cold water, not a km from the ocean.  It is a well that works, even in the dry season.  They put it next to the first mosque so that people could wash before they entered.

The boys in the ruins of the 13th Century Mosque built by settlers from Iran.

Definitely a place to pray.  It was interesting to be on the very site where Islam first made it's entrance into East Africa.  Anyone notice their ISMK t-shirts from Springfield, MO?

Some of the very many burial sites of famous Muslim leaders.

Again, these are from the 13th Century, they are made from the coral stone and have lasted all these years.  Cement, what they build with today, would maybe last 100 or so years.

The burial site of a couple found at sea, wrapped in each other's arms.  They were buried side by side.

In the 13th Century, this site was an actual port.  Over the years, the mangroves have taken over.  They "drop" their seeds, can you see all those "spikes" in the ground, and start growing.  The beach line is about a km away; but, the tide will come all the way up to this spot.

This is the spot were Burton and Speke tried to make their way inland to look for Livingstone.

We also saw a 500 year old baobab tree and got to talk to the children about animism and what that means.  The tour guide was telling us about locals praying to the trees and driving nails into it to give away their bad luck.  

It was a fascinating trip all around, and we learned so much about the sometimes not very pretty side of these early settlements and the nations that ruled them.  We are so thankful to be living today, that we are free, and that we know the Lord.  It makes me all the more conscious of the darkness that surrounds us at times.

As we came back to the Traveller's Lodge for a late lunch, the children were playing at the amazing park that is on site here. (Hmmm, I'll need to take a picture of that later on for you, it's very "Swiss Family Robinson" like in it's appearance)  They made friends with the children of the cook here at the Lodge.  Today was one of the children's birthday and our kids were invited to his birthday party at the beach.  We brought all of our kids back to the room, got them in their swim gear, and Indy took them down to the beach  That gave me the time to rest, Skype with my sister, get caught up on email, and update the blog.  

Thank you honey (you'll see this when you read the blog later) for a sweet time of respite and time to update our friends.  Thank you Craig and Carolyn for being such great travelling partners. This is one of those locations that I'm thinking we'll be returning to.  Thank you Lord for your many blessings!  Thank you that we have the Light!

A couple of days off

HOPAC is on their Mid-Term break and so we've had a few days off from our usual commitments, activities and school schedules.  We thought it would be nice to stay in Dar, at home, for a few days.  Well, knowing us the way we do, we can't really just "stay home" ;).....So, here is what we did on Thursday and Friday of this past week.

We hadn't been to Wamama Kahawa in about 2 months.  Imagine that?  Could we have stayed away from Starbucks that long in America???  I think now :)!  Anyway, the kids wanted to do a family breakfast at WK and so we went on over.  The kids were so hot, that they took the towels that they give you to clean your hands, and put them on their heads.  It was 8 in the morning!

As we were finishing up eating, Miss Friendly (aka Sissi), decided to review her numbers in Swahili with the local Maasai askari (guard.)

On Friday, we met up with our local homeschool friends and had an art class at Makutano.  It's a Tanzanian Art Center on the Peninsula.  We were learning about the paper mache process.  These were examples that the teacher put out.  WOW!  Amazing forming and painting.  The kids made a "cup" and will go back and paint it next week.

Our teacher, he was mashing up the toilet paper, adding water and wood glue and making the paper mache "paste" here.  Super gooey and messy!

Trip to a Tanzanian Farm

Many of you know that we have long wanted to live a more agrarian lifestyle.  We still hope that long term that will be in the Lord's plan for us, that we'll have our own farm; but, for now, we are committed to walking the path that He has for us in missions, as long as He wants us to walk it.

In the meantime, we can enjoy other people's farms, right?!

Well, at HOPAC, Indy has become friends with one of the local staff and he happens to also own a farm.  He had invited us out to see it and this was the weekend for our trip.  We were so thankful that the sickness that had enveloped the house had ended.  When Krypto got sick again on Friday we were worried that we would have to cancel...but, Thank the Lord, we got to keep our date!

Sissi dancing while we were waiting for Costa, the friend with the farm, at HOPAC.

Chickens...Costa had so many different kinds, too.  We hope that long term we can get eggs from him, he's trying to increase the flock right now, so they are hatching most of the eggs.

Talking to one of the cows...I think her name was "Matumbo" because she has a big stomach!

Sheep

Guinea Fowl

Goats and a Ram

A cute little puppy, that just happened to be named Smokey...funny, that is a common dog name around here.

Samson, who also works at HOPAC, helping Gwangi to milk a cow.

Yes, even Indy got in on the action...everyone had a turn.  Really, this was the kids' favorite part of the trip.  That, and when Costa's wife, Lucy, brought out a Fanta for EACH of the kids.  We usually make them share.  What a special treat!

Family Update

I let another two weeks go by without posting...sorry ;)!

It's been a long week, if I'm honest.  We had a very strange 24 hour bug that went through the house...and it went through 1 by 1, like a game of dominoes.  We had fever, achy bodies, headaches, and with Krypto it included some not so fun trips to the bathroom because of his stomach.  We got "most" of our school done and some outside activities.  You'll have to see my next post about our trip to a local farm this weekend.  That was really the highlight of our week!

Sissi working on a craft for school.  She uses up soooo much paper and crayons; but, she loves it.  I love that she is so content to be creative!

Gwangi working on his logic analogies book.

Taking a break and building some new Lego creations.  Another creative kid in this house!

The boys have joined the Primary Swim Team at HOPAC.  Here they are, getting ready to get on the bus for their first Swim Gala, it was down at IST (International School of Tanganyika) on the peninsula.

We did make it to Sala Sala Kids' Club this week...Sissi was sick on Monday (the day the boys had their swim gala) and Tuesday was clear...but that night was when it hit Indy.  The lesson this week was that Jesus is the "Light of the World."  Love this group!

Our landlord had some carpenters come out and build a pergola for this tree to grow over...we're going to have a tree banda!  Oh, for those of you not local, a banda is usually a thatch covered hut that people can hang out in, gets you out of the sun; but, you still get the breeze.

Some of the books that we're reading this week.  This is about half...we LOVE History and Literature...some of our favorite subjects.