Around the world, in a week!?

8 April 2010

This past week, I’ve been refreshed by meeting new friends and old from around the globe. No, I haven’t been out of East Africa, but somehow God has sent them all this way! We’re on a two-week break from school (which is going too fast, of course!), and I’ve gotten the opportunity to see some amazing people along the way. First off, I headed to Dodoma – which is technically the capital of Tanzania, but no one actually wants to live there… long story! Anyway, it was a refreshing time of fellowship spent with the Heffts – the family that I joined on the plane all the way over here in July. What a blessing they are to me!!!

We had Chinese – like the real deal! I loved the Afro-Chinese décor inside :). We also got to have dinner with the person in charge of CHED (Children’s Ed) in Tanzania, who I’ve never met but have emailed mucho… and play some wii at her house! Yay for fun times!

 Playing wii with the Heffts.  Unfortunately the power went out a few minutes after I took this picture... but in the meantime, it certainly was fun!

 My first time seeing Lion Rock.  Not sure why it's called that... but it's a sure point of reference in the city of Dodoma!

Here's a view from the bus as I was traveling back to Dar.  This kind of market is super-common here, and a lot of times, the more out of the way a place is, the better deal you get.  Tomatoes by the 5 kilo, anyone?

 

After Dodoma, I headed up to Rift Valley Academy, in Kijabi, Kenya. I had signed up for a teacher’s conference there, and despite finding out later it was over Easter, it turned out to be an amazing thing. You might remember I was in Kenya with some Hope-ites a few years back, and we had stopped through this same school for a couple of days on our way up to Churo. It was weird to be back without students and without all my friends from the previous trip, and I thought of them all often. But overall it was refreshing to meet teachers from all over Africa – either native or coming from elsewhere in the world – and fellowship, collaborate, encourage, share, and hang out with them for four amazing, COOL-weathered days!!! And Easter morning, celebrated with Africans, Americans, UK-ians, and all sorts of other people in a sunrise service, was AWESOME!!! I also got to meet up with an old friend whose parents I had first met in PNG, and another person who works with my professors at HOPE College! What a small world.

The Rift Valley, as seen from RVA (Rift Valley Academy)'s campus.  SO beautiful and cool!

A new friend I met at the conference, who has been teaching in Nigeria the past two years.  Be lifting up her school with all the violence around them lately!  And yes, that really is a jacket. and a blanket. on Easter morning. in Africa.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, a friend of a friend (or several friends!) that I’ve met a few times is living in Rwanda for a year teaching with Mission Teach. She’s in Tanzania on vacation over break, and I got to hook up with her and her friend for lunch here in Dar. We had mishkakis (kind of like shish-ka-bob) and “chips” (fries) at T-Square, then went in search of the Indian Ocean.

Jess, Alicia, are you jealous?  I’d say this kind of thing doesn’t happen every day… meeting up with old friends and new from all over the place in Africa… but then again, it seems like these days, it’s a common thing!