Life in Dar es Salaam

As of today, I have lived in Tanzania for exactly 3 months. Hopefully my sporadic photo-bombing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram has given you a glimpse of my life here. But I’ve also realized that some of those photos might need some explanation. As I continue to discover new joys and trials (albeit few!) of…

Photo Blog: School – Day One

There’s a lot more pictures on Facebook — check them out! Day one (and two) at HOPAC was a success…onward we go! Thanks for all of your prayers and support to make this possible.

First Day of School!

“The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him which he finds it hard to answer.” – Alice Wellington Robbins Tomorrow is the first day of school at Haven of Peace Academy in…

Kanisa

Today’s message at church was, as usual, entirely in Swahili. Which means that I don’t understand very much. What I do consistently get are the Scripture references. Today’s reference was Revelation 3:15, where God expresses his contempt for the lukewarm. It also helped that I knew the words for hot, cold, and lukewarm from my…

Life in Tanzania Q&A

Now that I’m finished with the bulk of planning for this school year, I finally have some time to answer your questions about my life in Tanzania. If this post only brings up more questions, or if you want to see photos of something in particular, let me know! I live here now, so some…

Settling In

I know that I promised another Q&A post, and it is coming. Eventually. I’m putting it off a little because one of the first questions people asked was what a “normal day” looked like for me here in Tanzania. Right now, I have no idea. Right now, there is no such thing as a “normal…

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore…

Life is different here. That might be the understatement of the month. Living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania is not the same as living in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That’s not a bad thing. Just different. For instance, in Indiana, there’s snow. In Dar, there’s no snow. That’s a good thing. At least until I get…

A Squeaky Wheel Kind of Day

The shopping cart I chose today had a squeaky wheel. A very squeaky wheel. The kind that screeches and whines down every aisle. The kind that leaves every single person in the store with a piercing migraine. And yes, of all the carts available, I chose the one with the squeaky wheel. This afternoon just…

The Last Week

I apologize for the disjointed (and lengthy) nature of this post, as it was composed intermittently throughout the final week of my stay in Iringa. I just wanted to share some of the little things that made this week special. On Sunday afternoon, after returning from church, Angelica and I embarked on my first long…

Church

On my last Sunday in Iringa, I attended a local church with Lucy, Amy, and Angelica. The service was entirely in Swahili and it was beautiful! The Tanzanian Christians worshipped with joy and enthusiasm. Despite not being able to understand the majority of the message, I was encouraged by being able to catch a large…