Tanzania Adventure in Missions: How to Barter for Food and Pictures of the New House!

Honestly, I think this has been the first truly normal week of school I've had since I've returned to Morogoro. By that, I mean that there were no interruptions to the normal school schedule, I didn't go anywhere, and we didn't have any visitors. It was kind of nice to get back into the routine again! Things have still changed since the move, but they're more permanent changes. Now that we have our own house, Kjirstin and I are sharing the cost for rent (which altogether is surprisingly cheaper than it was for me to have my own room at the pastor's house). Thus, the cost for rent is pretty cheap for us. But, we are now sharing the cost to employ a guard. Also, I found out a lady from our church who is a single mother did not have a job. I asked her if she would want to come over and clean a couple days a week and help us with our laundry. I found out that she had been doing the same kind of work for Matt while he was here. Although I know that we could do all of these things ourselves, I feel good that we are able to provide her with a job so that she can support her family. Altogether, these cost changes do not affect the overall cost per month for me to live here!! I was simply amazed by this!!

Another recent change is that the new missionary and I are doing breakfasts and lunches on our own from now on. We felt it would be too complicated for us to constantly be running back and forth between our house and the pastor's house. Also, the new school schedule (yes it has changed again, for like the 4th time this school year!!) is that we go from 7:40am-2:40pm with only one 40 minute break, but no lunch. It's awful!! I have been feeling terrible by the end of the day and I can only imagine how these growing children feel by the time they leave school. Apparently, not enough parents were paying for the school lunches, so they had to take it out. Well, I decided that this was not good for us to continue like this, so I decided that we could do sack lunches. So far, it's been working out fantastically. I'm sure I'll get tired of pb and j sandwiches, but for now I'm loving it! I've been stretching my boundaries a bit and I'm trying to get into the market scene. So far, I think I've been relatively successful and bartering for my fruits and vegetables, but I think I still have a ways to go with it all. I hope that through trial and error, I'll soon be able to figure out what good prices are for various things. But right now, I'm just trying to figure out how exactly to go about all of this. So far it's been a really fun experience! I got a whole hand of bananas (somewhere around 12-15 or so) for less than $1!! I've also bought some grapes (but, I don't think that I got such a good deal on them) and various vegetables, which were reasonably priced. In a way it's like playing a game, only, this time I'm using real money in real life.

In other recent news, one of my students at school was in an accident this past week. On her way home, she was crossing the major road and got hit by a pikipiki (motorcycle). Basically, the guy hit her and then just drove off. I guess I understand why he would be afraid to stick around seeing as he would have to pay for the medical expenses and have to deal with all of that. But, for me, it seems so inhuman and just plain wrong to hit a child and drive off. Luckily, a father who had just picked up his child at the school in his car saw her laying by the road, crying on the way home. He picked her up and brought her to the hospital. There, it was determined that she had a broken collar bone and would have to go to a hospital near DAR where they specialize in bones. She was taken there on Friday and underwent surgery. I heard that the surgery went well, but I have not heard if she has gotten to return home yet. Please pray for her and her family. Also, please pray for the safety of my other students. As I have mentioned in previous post, many of them walk far distances to go home, though many are able to take public transportation at least some of the way. In any case, I hope that this will be a good lesson for the other students to be more careful when going and coming from school.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

Well, in closing, I will leave you with some pictures of the new home!! Enjoy!! :D

Our kitchen. Unfortunately, the stove is super old and broken down, so we can't use it. But the mini-fridge and sink work, so we can do quite a bit with that! :D