Easter and my birthday!

It has been so refreshing to celebrate Easter here. There aren't chocolate eggs everywhere (it was nice to have a packet sent from home though!) and people are focused on the true meaning of Easter. On Good Friday Rehema was closed so i was able to join the Go Mad team for a service at Mikaringo church which was really good. Then on Easter Sunday i went to the cathedral with the team. The service started at 8.30 and 4 hours later it finished! It was an amazing service though and there was a true feeling of celebration. It is amazing how much can be put into a service. There were baptisms, communion, auctions, lots of singing and other bits where i didn’t really know what was happening! There were several different choirs and we were one of them! Being up the front of the cathedral is something special. I love their singing and dancing and the spontaneous dancing that broke out in the congregation every now and then!  The bidding was also very interesting. They started with the usual kind of stuff and then produced chickens and a duck and pieces of material. The bidding was a bit more confusing at the cathedral because people didn’t always bid against each other but just added more to the price to raise the price of how much something went for. This is because the collection was done by area and everyone wanted their area to give the most so went crazy in the bidding. One piece of material went for 107,000 tsh (i would usually buy for 25,000tsh!)! The auction went on for quite a while! One of my highlights from the service was when a guy was asking visitors to stand up and wave and he then looked at us and began asking us to stand when the bishop interrupted him and said we weren’t visitors! I am a resident of Tanzania, not a visitor. That feels good to say and i don’t think that feeling will ever get old!

I also just want to thank those of you who sent me birthday messages and emails. I am now a grown up 20 year old! I had an amazing day full of surprises. The night before my birthday i was asked if i was going to join the Go Mad team the next morning to listen to a sermon. The sermon is at 8.15 and as it was my day off i was thinking of just having a lie in but Deb told me i needed biblical teaching and i should probably go! So the next morning i do as i am told and the sermon was really good. After the sermon Deb came and blindfolded me and a few bumps later i am sat on my porch being served mango, French toast and coco pops! After opening some awesome presents and cards from home I am told that i will be going on an adventure to find clues that lead to presents. A few hours later i had been to the orphanage, Vink’s house, my old bed in eagle lodge, a neighbours chicken coop, up the track to the soda shop and eventually ended up up eagle rock enjoying a picnic (marmite and cheese sandwiches...yum!) with Nat and Deb. The trail took me to some of my favourite places and people and places with special memories. The team came up to eagle rock  later for games and then we watched the sunset in the rain. By then i thought that must be the end of the surprises but oh no! After sliding down eagle rock (unfortunately that is literally speaking, i have the bruise to prove it!) i found the team on my porch singing happy birthday and i go inside to find a puppy in a box! As a child i always put a dog at the top of my Christmas list. I never got one though, probably because my parents knew i was scared of dogs! Now a lot of things have changed and liking dogs is one of them so to have Kipwriggler come and live with us on my birthday was just the best. The day still wasn’t over as we went to eagle lodge for pizza and a time of worship and the best chocolate cake! After (finally!) getting my birthday cake i thought the fun must be over but i was wrong again. I had just finished locking Nat and I in for the night when Deb comes round and tells me she has come for a sleepover! Food, films and facemasks later my special day is over. It was such an incredible day and it showed me what amazing friends i have. I thought it was exciting to have a birthday in Africa last year even though most of it was spent in an airport. Little did i know that i would have another birthday here and be spending it with people who have become such special friends!

Kip is settling in to her new home well and we are having lots of fun with her! The first few nights  she spent a lot of time howling which resulted in us feeling like sleep deprived new parents but thankfully she is now much better.

My last day as a 19 year old!

WARNING: Some of you may not want to read this first paragraph...it is about a beautiful secluded island that I escaped to for a wonderful weekend!

A boat came to collect us at Tembo beach here in Musoma and then 45 minutes later we arrived at Lukuba Island and was greeted by a man holding a tray of non alcoholic cocktails with crystallised sugar around the rim and a slice of lemon! We were then shown to our cabin on the beach which was beautiful. The food was amazing and there was lots of it. Each meal had 3 delicious courses and although i loved them all i was most excited about having weetabix, custard and bacon (not together of course!). We had time to do devotions together and also to have a time of worship and listen to a great sermon together and play games. We went on a sunset walk and it was awesome to be given a soda and popcorn when we reached the end of our climb up! Going out canoeing, swimming in the pool, going round the island on the boat for sunset and chilling on the beach (keeping a wary eye on the monkeys! )made for a very relaxing weekend and I could have happily stayed there for several more days! Previously i wrote about a big storm and hearing the loudest thunder i had ever heard but that was nothing compared to the storm we had on the island. It was right above us and the whole sky lit up so i could see the beach outside and we had to shout to be heard above the noise! It was very surreal in the morning to wake up and hear the water calmly lapping outside.

I get an extra day off once month and last week I spent it all with Go Mad and had a really good day. In the morning we went out to Kyamajoje and it was incredible to see the progress on the health centre. It is looking so good and i couldn’t believe how much had been done since I last saw it! We then went to Mtani’s house where the team are building him a toilet. That is also coming along really well and I was able to help move the lintels onto the pit. It will make such a huge difference to him when that is built. In the afternoon I went with the other team to the chicken sheds and had a wonderful time with Anifa and her family. I absolutely love what I do at Rehema and the women i work with but it was so lovely to be able to spend the day with the team and be back in the villages.

Yesterday Rehema had the Easter Fair. The Friday was a busy day and we were there until late transforming the shop and putting out new stock but we had the awesome Go Mad team there with us being a big help. It was then an early start on the Saturday to finish putting up decorations and setting up the games. It was great that so many people came and at one point they were queuing up to get in! The atmosphere was just what i had hoped for, the children were running around playing games and having a great time and the adults were all chatting to each other and watching the children play. The egg and spoon race was so much fun and watching everyone get involved in that was super and it felt like I was at a school sports day! Then it was time for the Easter egg hunt where the children had to find a silver egg made of paper and then find the ‘chicken’  (aka Callum on the Go Mad team who was dressed up as a chicken) to get some mini eggs! It was great to look around Rehema and see people relaxed and enjoying themselves. The day was so much fun was a very good day for Rehema.

I can’t believe how fast time is going here and that tomorrow is my birthday and I will be turning 20! How exciting!