An African Bug's Life

Hello! Welcome to an Easter special blog post! We’ve compiled a post composed of all the bugs, critters, and other creepy crawlies that we’ve encountered out here in Tanzania. Most of these we will certainly not miss when we’re back home. They can stay firmly in Africa! Hopefully you won’t find this post too distressing! A lot of the bugs have been pictured after they’ve been either “Doom”-ed or had a dose of my size 10s. Apology for the length of the blog, though most of it is photos rather than text!

Spiders

Yes there are plenty of spiders out here. The most common ones are the brown ones (pictured with the pencil), which are harmless. Though they do look pretty nasty and move pretty fast. There are some flat ones, which are not pictured but we have a couple in our choo (outside loo) - keeps us entertained when we’re relieving ourselves!

Brown Spider

We’ve also seen what we think are funnel web spiders. The only reason we think it’s a funnel web spider is because it decided to make a funnel web above the front door to our house! Not sure if they actually are, or how they relate to the deadly Australian variety. These photos were taken shortly before it got “Doom”-ed.

Funnel Web Spider 1

Funnel Web Spider 2

There’s also this very cool looking spider about 30m from our house. Not sure if its dangerous or not, but we’ve left it alone.

Cool Spider 1 (front view)

Cool Spider 2 (back view)

We found this hairy one under our bed, but as we moved the bag it was living in, it lost a couple of legs and also got a dose of “Doom”.

Spider Under Bed

This weird spider has massive arms which go out from it. It was pretty big, about 2-3”, and we found it in our bathroom. It got a dose of “doom” but was taking too long to die, so got an additional dose of my size 10 site boots.

Weird spider 1 (alive)

Weird Spider 2 (dead)

This spider was cool because it was carrying an egg sack. It was found outside the Helsby’s house.

Egg Sack Spider 1 (under side)

Egg Sack Spider 2 (top side)

Scorpions

We’ve had a few interesting experiences with scorpions, but thankfully have really felt God’s protection from them. We mentioned a couple of posts ago, that we found one in Esther’s nappy. Well this morning, Lucy was making the bed, and found one under her pillow! We though it was dead, but I poked it with a knife, and it was very much alive! We’ve also found one in the laundry bag a few weeks ago.

Scorpion 1 (found in house)

Scorpion 2 (found under Lucy's pillow)


Scorpion 1 (found in laundry bag)

Cockroaches

We’ve had a few cockroaches in the house, but they have been “Doom”-ed. There are also plenty in our choo. When I say in our choo, I mean literally in it! You look down the hole and they’re running round the sides of the pit. We do get the odd one running round the inside of the choo while we’re visiting. I suppose watching all these bugs in the choo are the African equivalent to reading magazines! ;-)

Dead Cockroach (sorry it's blurred)

Toads

We get loads of toads and frogs this time of the year as it’s the rainy season. When we have an evening rain, there is often a chorus of toads and frogs croaking away. We see quite a few outside our house in the evenings.

Toad Outside House

Snails

There are massive African snails out here, and are very prevalent in the evenings in the rainy season. Their shells are at least 3” in diameter, if not bigger.

Large Snail Outside House

Crickets and Grasshoppers

There are loads of crickets and grasshoppers out here. The evening air is filled with their song. We do get the odd one in our house, but again they are quickly dealt with!

Cricket

Grasshopper

Ants and Siafu

There are loads of ants and siafu here. I won’t talk too much about the siafu as I’ve already mentioned them in an earlier blog post (9 February 2010). Ants get everywhere, and are amazing at finding even the smallest crumbs of food around. We have a load by our sink that we see moving in lines trying to carry off a dead bug or a crumb of food.

Siafu

Snakes

There are snakes out here, though we’ve only seen two types – grass snakes and sand snakes, both of which are thankfully not poisonous. Though there are cobras, pythons, black mambas and puff adders, which are poisonous! Here are a couple we found, one while I was working on the pipeline! Who’s going to volunteer to turn on that valve?! There’s another risk for your risk assessment…

Grass Snake

Sand Snake on Valve in Manhole

Centipedes and Millipedes

We see quite a few centipedes around. They are pretty fat, long but generally harmless. If they feel threatened, they curl up into a spiral. Esther picked up one and brought it to me as a present! The millipedes aren’t very nice though. They bite and hiss, and are much smaller than the centipedes. I don’t think we’ve seen any, but we may have got them confused with what we think are small centipedes.

Large Centipede

Mice

Lucy found this mouse in amongst our dirty laundry in our house. You’ll be pleased to know that we released it outside our house unharmed. I know it looks cute and furry, but it is still vermin!

Mouse (found in laundry bag)

Lake flies

Lake flies are just plain irritating! Have you seen the “Swarm” episode of “Planet Earth”? Well as we’re by Lake Victoria, we often get lake flies. They are harmless, but are small enough to go through the holes in mosquito screens. They are attracted to light, so we get them hanging around in the evenings. Though they don’t last very long, and will die that night. So in the morning we get a thin covering of lake flies over the horizontal surfaces. Here are some on Esther’s seat. Also notice the gecko on the top left hand corner of the first photo. It’s picking off the flies!

Lake Flies on Ceiling (gecko top right)

Lake Flies on Curtain

Dead Lake Flies on Esther's Seat (in the morning)

Wasps

The wasps here look pretty viscious, especially when you get a close look at their sting. Their stinger looks to be around 5-10mm long. However in our experience they seem pretty docile and unaggressive. They do fly in to our house, but just fly around in a very unannoying way, then just fly out again. Haven’t had any problems with them. The only slight problem they do cause is when they decide to build a nest in home appliances. The Helsbys found a nest in their barbecue. We took it out to find the nest filled with dead spiders which the spiders place there as food for the larvae, once their eggs hatch.

Wasp on Mosquito Net

Wasp Nest with Larvae Feeding on Dead Spiders

Dragonflies

The dragonflies are cool. They don’t bother us, but look like they’ve got pom-poms on their wings! When we go out walking, they follow us to see what bugs we may disturb so that they can feed on them.

Dragonfly with Pom-pom Wings

Butterflies

There are loads of very pretty butterflies around. Don’t really know anything more than their colour! But below is a selection of the ones we’ve seen.

Butterfly 1

Butterfly 2

Lizards and Geckos

There are plenty of lizards and geckos about. The lizards vary in colour, with the male ones being red and blue. The more colourful, the better they are at attracting a mate. The geckos are more pale and have sticky feet. We have quite a few living in the walls and roof of our house. We generally don’t mind having them in the house as they eat the other bugs. But they do often leave gecko poo lying around – often stuck to the walls! Sometimes, they fall off the ceiling and you hear this “splat” sound, and turn to see a rather dazed and confused gecko lying on the floor!

Lizard 1


Lizard 2

Gecko

Beetles

There are loads of beetles around, but we generally don’t see or hear then until the evening. We normally hear a loud buzzing, and then a collision into the mosquito screens! Plus we see some when we visit the choo in the evenings.

Beetle

Bugs in food

Oh yes, and how can we forget bugs in our food! We have ants in our sugar and these little bugs in our oats. For breakfast in the morning, we have oats with milk and sugar. We get the oats from the Helsbys, who buy it in bulk. Generally the first lot of oats tend to be fine, but as you work your way through the bag, the bugs find their way in, and by the end, you’re trying to pick out the bugs and their larvae before you eat the oats. Here’s a video clip of the additional protein in our cereal!

Video Clip of Bugs in Breakfast Oats and Ants in Sugar

Fish Eagle

A fish eagle nests on top of a tree by the Mavuno beach. It’s pretty cool. And obviously not a bug!

Perched Fish Eagle

Control Measures

So to combat the bugs, we either use “Doom” or just step on them. If they’re pretty big and will make a big mess, then we generally “Doom” them, sweep them up and chuck them out. Since we’ve put thresholds on the doors, the number of bugs we’ve found inside the house has substantially decreased. The reason the houses out here generally don’t have thresholds is that the Africans just like to sweep the dirt from their houses straight outside. They don’t bother with a dustpan. I definitely prefer the dustpan and threshold option due to the much fewer bugs!

Doom!

Three Birthdays and a Funeral

Hitesh – The focus of the construction has now moved to the building of the first staff house, which will be the Helsby’s house. They’re currently living in the volunteer house. When they have short-termers like us coming over for a few months, we would stay in the volunteer house.

Just a bit background to the staff house – it was originally contracted out to a local contractor to complete the foundation, base slab and drainage. It was the same contractor bloke that kept on talking to me when we first arrived and wanted my address – see earlier blog (posted 7 March 2010). Anyway he got sacked because he cut corners by not putting in any lateral reinforcement to the foundation wall below the ground floor base slab. For the non-engineers: concrete is very good in compression (squashing force), but poor in tension (pulling apart). When you have a wall supporting anything, you need to have reinforcement the form of steel bars to take the tension forces, otherwise the wall will break. We found out that he did not put any lateral reinforcement (steel bars along the edges) because we were using a tractor to compress the soil under the ground floor, and the wall broke! It actually didn’t have any steel in it, when his contract explicitly said he needed to put steel in. So as a result, we (Mavuno) have to do the work ourselves, including rebuilding the wall.

Monday was spent re-preparing the slab for concrete. I say re-preparing as we actually started to pour concrete on Friday. But I happened to check the levels of the walls and found that the building sloped about 40mm from one end to the other. Hence, we had to do a bit of a Tanzanian botch job to correct the concrete we’d already poured on Friday afternoon. Then spent the whole of Monday re-positioning the forms and putting in marker pins so that the concrete is poured to level. The sacked contractor put the walls in place, but put them in using a 4-foot spirit level, hence over the 25-30m length of the building, the errors mount up. I was using a laser level to check, which is a lot more accurate. You may get the impression that we take 1 step forward and about 5 back, and you’d be right! It is very frustrating. It’s really hard to believe the locals when they say something’s ok, then you go back and check, and it blatantly isn’t. There are the core group of guys working here who you can trust, but some of the new people need a bit of chaperoning.

Tuesday was a hard and tiring day, as we continued to pour the slab. I was actually helping to lay the concrete and get it as level as possible. About 60% of the slab is poured, but it may be awhile before the rest is poured as we need more gravel. Now guess where the gravel comes from? Nope, it’s not from a quarry, but the locals collect rocks and literally sit and break them with a hammer! No joke. You quite often see groups of people making gravel on roadsides. There are currently a bunch of about 5 women making gravel on site. They get paid by the bucket full. I tried to get a picture of them doing it, but they wouldn’t let me take their picture. Though I will try and post a picture of some other gravel makers when we see some.

Tuesday evening was a bit strange. We ended up going to a funeral – well the burial bit of it. I had finished work and was heading home, but had picked up our washing and some milk from the Helsbys. As I got to the main road, there were loads of people heading the other way. It was the whole village of Kitongo going to the burial. Loads of people were telling me to come with them, and I tried to explain that I’d drop the washing and milk home and then come. I eventually got home and dropped everything off, then turned back to meet Esther and Lucy, who were waiting for me on the road. We caught up with the procession and followed it into a corn field. The men were at the top end of the field burying the coffin. The women just sat and watched on the side. We didn’t know what to do, so we just sat and watched. Then thankfully Dave and Becky arrived, and Dave and I went to where the men were. All the men had to be involved in the burial part. So what you’d see is people just shifting dirt around in between four branches that were used to mark the position of the coffin, as it had already been backfilled! So I took my turn with the shovel and shifted some muck about, then someone came and took it off me for their turn. The locals were all really pleased that we came and “took part”. When someone dies in the village, the whole village mourns for the person. There’s a big stigma about not dishonouring the dead, and respecting the “spirits of ancestors”. Many Africans claim to be Christians, but their lives actually reflect a syncretism between Christianity and animistic beliefs. Then you get the whole witch doctor thing. Won’t talk about witch doctors today, as we haven’t met any! I have met a former witch doctor, but that was just in passing. Anyway, after the burial bit, there was a eulogy of the person that died. He / she was 40 years old and had 4 kids. I’m not sure whether they were male or female as there are no masculine or feminine pronouns in Swahili like he or she! Dave was translating for me, but couldn’t tell. We walked back home with the locals, and they were so happy that we were there and were part of the village. Hopefully they’re accepting us wazungus more and more! There’s normally a period of mourning after the burial where no work is to be done as a means of paying respect. Wednesday was the day of mourning. They take is very seriously if you are found working. You get fined. Though organisations like Mavuno are allowed to continue working. The days of mourning can be a real problem during harvest time or planting time. Often the days of mourning can be three days long. Dave and Becky were telling me that in one village they were staying, people kept on dying during the harvest time, and the villagers couldn’t go into their fields to harvest. The harvest got spoilt and people literally starved. It sounds pretty ridiculous to us, but people out here fear offending any spirits in case they get cursed.

The rest of the week has been fairly quiet. I had a day off on Wednesday as it rained the whole morning, and only really cleared up later in the afternoon. Hence I was able to spend the day with Esther and Lucy, which was great. Thursday was Lucy’s birthday, but I was working cutting and planing wood for shelves for the store room in the first family house. Working with wood out here is always a bit more challenging than at home. Even just putting up shelves requires you to make batons from planks of wood (which are still green – they haven’t been dried!), and try and find a source of power for the tools – normally involves using a generator. Friday morning I actually got to place some of the batons that I’d cut the day before. Check out Lucy’s entry to see what we did the rest of the weekend.

Oh yes, forgot to mention about my hand. It is healing extremely well. So well in fact that I haven’t had to wear a bandage for most of the week, and have full mobility with it. Touching it doesn’t cause any pain, so praise God!

Lucy –The weather has definitely been on the change this week with a fair amount of rain during the days now as well as at night, and today has been positively cool; in African terms at least. I had to wear my fleece most of today, which is the first time since we arrived!

On Monday Baseki (our neighbour) came over for chai and a chat (well, as much chatting as I can manage on my very limited, but very slowly improving, Swahili). I do enjoy having her around to visit although conversation really is quite hard. Still, she is very patient!

On Tuesday Baseki’s brother-in-law, Kahabe, popped around. He is only 12 and he came around asking for “dawa”. He had managed to graze both his knees (“goti”) quite badly and so we put some antiseptic cream on them for him, and told him to come back tomorrow (“kesho”). He did come back the next day and after having had some more cream put on his knees he kind of just waited around looking at our kitchen table, which happened to have a couple of pens and pencils on it. It was all a bit odd really, but seems to be fairly common, particularly amongst the kids. I think partly they are intrigued to see how these white “wazungu” live, but also a part of them is kind expecting us to give them something. I did give him a banana, but still he waited. It was a little uncomfortable. He kept saying things, but I didn’t understand what he was asking. However, as we were about to go out we kind of made our excuses and he left. All a bit tricky really.

On Thursday it was my birthday (bizarrely enough it was Wayne’s birthday, and one of the Helsby children’s birthday the day before mine, so we’d had 3 birthday’s in 2 days) ! I had a really nice day, although obviously not the usual birthday things… no going to the cinema, the theatre or going out for a meal here! In the morning we had our usual Thursday morning kids ‘worship time’ at the Helsbys. All the kids get together and sing choruses and worship God together. As soon as I walked through the door they sung Happy Birthday, which was really nice. Then after the worship time I headed back home with Esther and Milka and her 2 orphan kids, Mariam and Jona. It’s becoming a bit of a tradition that they come over for chai on Thursday mornings. I asked Milka if she could see if Baseki wanted to come too so she came around and just as we were sitting down Velo, our home help popped around. She hasn’t worked for the last couple of weeks as at first she was not well and then her son, Paulo, was unwell too. So she was just coming around to tell me she would start work again on Monday. So I invited her (and Paulo) in too. So all in all there were 4 adults and 5 kids around for chai which was really nice. After they had gone I prepared lunch for the 3 of us and Wayne, who was coming to lunch too. He is the other volunteer out here at the moment. We had a nice lunch together and just chatted about life out here.

Birthday chai time

In the evening Becky had invited us all over for dinner. So we had a gorgeous spaghetti bolognaise followed by a big chocolate cake which they had made especially for me – which was lovely!! After dinner Lauren and Megan (age 6 and 4) performed their version of Happy Birthday whilst banging on saucepans with metal spoons – was very touching! The two of them had also looked through the things they owned and picked out things to give to me, as a birthday gift. I was really amazed at their kindness and generosity and also their willingness to give away their own possessions. The following morning Hitesh presented me with a small wooden cross that he had made himself for my birthday, from local materials. I love it!

Birthday cake

Singing Happy Birthday

On Friday I actually did some work!! I went out in the afternoon for a couple of hours, to measure out the existing water supply pipeline here. This runs from the pump house, where it draws water from Lake Victoria and then delivers water to the individual homes out here. At present it is only feeding a couple of homes and the compound/workshop/dairy area. In the future though it will feed more water tanks for more houses and is also likely to be used for irrigation of the fields of crops that Mavuno will be planting. Once I have all the data needed I am aiming to model the existing system, and I should then be able to advise them on future works.

Yesterday was cool, and a bit different. We went to a place outside Mwanza to visit Jana (who I had me on the Ladies Day that we had a Mavuno about a month ago), and her husband Dan, and two kids Grace and Silas. Jana had invited us over if we got the chance and the Helsbys were gong to visit their neighbours, and asked if we’d like to come with them to visit Jana. We had a really good day just hearing about how they came to be in Africa, (they’re originally from the States) and the kind of work they’re involved in. They’re living on an area of land which has been bought by the organisation they work for. On this land there is currently an orphanage housing 51 kids and a training college, training up locals to become pastors of churches. Jana’s husband is currently involved in planting new churches in the area. There is quite a big problem in Africa that many pastors of churches have very little knowledge of the bible and no training in it. This has led to some incorrect teachings becoming prevalent throughout Africa. As such, there is a real need for training in the bible for those who want to become pastors.

Whilst we were there we also got to spend a bit of time with some of the older kids, blowing bubbles, and playing in the sand pit and in the mud. We had a LOT of rain whilst we were there; hence it really was very muddy. It was good to see these kids, many of whom have simply been abandoned by their families, having so much fun with simple things like bubbles and sand!

Blowing bubbles

More bubbles!

Esther has been really good fun this week. It’s amazing to see her change and develop and learn to do new things. One of her new achievements this week is to try and make a moo sound every time she sees or hears one of the local cows. She hasn’t got it quite right, but it’s very sweet to watch her try!

Esther – I has been learning all about different animals and the sounds they make. Daddy and Mummy said that we’d hopefully see some lions soon, but for now I have this great book with lots of pictures. I have been practising the noises that lions make.

Esther practising her lion's roar!

Pole Sana and the Power of Prayer

Hitesh – It has been a bit of a slow week in terms of the work done, but it has definitely been very eventful. Before I start to go into what we’ve done this week, I just want to talk a little bit about the types of support we’ve had. We’ve had financial support to be out here, and we’ve already talked about God’s provision on the money front. However the most important support we have had is in the form of prayer. Why do we pray? Prayer is a form of worship to God, and by praying, we are asking the almighty, all powerful, and all-knowing God to help and intervene in situations and circumstances. God loves us and He wants to relate with us, and it gives Him great pleasure to answer our prayers.

In our prayer letters, one of the things we’ve asked prayer for is protection over us, and especially Esther. We have been greatly encouraged by your messages, and especially any words you have had for us from God. There have been a number of instances where we have felt God’s protection for us, but will only mention three.

A couple of weeks ago, we got up in the morning and after breakfast went to change Esther’s nappy. In it we found a dead scorpion! It was small, about an inch long and we’re not sure how it got in there, as I didn’t see anything when I put the nappy on! But Esther was completely fine. There wasn’t any sign of a bite or sting or any mark whatsoever on her, so praise God for that!

This week we got an email from a good friend in our church that’s been praying for us. She had a picture and some verses from God saying that He is protecting us and looking out for us, and wanted to encourage us that God is with us. We read this email on Tuesday morning. During Tuesday afternoon, Lucy found Esther chewing something green, and took it out of her mouth. It was a small piece of unburned mosquito coil that she’d picked up whilst exploring the garden. Those coils are full of insecticide, and we were initially worried for Esther, but were reminded of the email we received that morning. Esther has been completely fine and hasn’t shown any ill effects! Praise God!

The third incidence involved me on Wednesday afternoon. I was trimming some plastic pipe with a 4” angle grinder, when it slipped and hit my right hand just below the knuckle. Blood literally sprayed out, and I had to hold it tight to stop any major blood flow. I had thought I’d hit the vein, as blood shot out pretty quickly! I managed to walk to Wayne, who was driving the tractor close by, whilst clutching my hand. He took me the Helsby’s house, where Becky gave me first aid. I had visions of tearing down the road to Mwanza to hospital, but thank God the cut missed the vein, the tendon and bone. It is a deep cut, as you can see in the picture. Thank God that the bleeding stopped very quickly, and the Helsby’s had some butterfly stitches that were brought by Becky’s parents, who only just left last Monday! The wound has healed really well, as the stitches have done the trick, plus I have full mobility. It is still slightly sore, but that hasn’t stopped me writing another lengthy blog – sorry!

The grinder cut on my hand

Anyway, I took Thursday off and helped Lucy look after the kids (see below), and took it very easy on Friday. Though I did spend the afternoon helping to cast a concrete slab for the first staff house!

Oh yeah, forgot to explain the title of the blog. Well the power of prayer bit is obvious, but “pole sana” (pole pronounced “poleh”) is Swahili for “very sorry”. All the locals keep coming up to me, pointing at my bandage and saying “pole sana”. I think I may have even adopted a new name! Actually I’m known around the village as Baba Esther, literally Father of Esther. As soon as you have a child, you get know as Baba … or in Lucy’s case, she is Mama Esther! Anyway, time to go!

Lucy –We have spent today (Sunday) in the house today which has been really nice. It’s been pretty rainy all day (the rainy season has now started although is generally at it’s heaviest in April and May). We did ‘church’ at home this morning listening to one of the sermons from our home church that we downloaded the other day. I also spent nearly 2 hours shelling peanuts! Mavuno grow peanuts and I learnt and saw (for the first time in nearly 33 years on this earth) how peanuts grow! We bought a bag of them from Mavuno and boiled a big batch 2 nights ago. Never realised how long peanuts take to shell and just made me realise, once again, how easy it is for us back in the West – so much of the initial preparation of food is done for us.

This week, on Thursday, the locals who work for Mavuno village were treated to a day out in the Serengeti. Around 7 guys, plus their wives went along. None of them had ever been before, with the majority of them having spent their entire lives living about an hour’s drive away. The main reason being is the cost of transport to, from and within the reserve. The entrance fee for a local is around 75p (the non-resident fee is, in contrast, $50!) But the cost of bringing a vehicle into the park is $200. Needless to say, they all had a fantastic time and saw lions, giraffes and elephants – all for the first time. I was talking to Milka (the first on-site “mum”) and she was so excited about seeing an elephant. Until now she had only ever seen one in books.

As both Milka and John (the on-site “parents”) went to the Serengeti, I was asked to look after the 3 children they care for – Esther (age 9), Mariam (age about 5) and Jona (aged about 2). Esther was at school during the day and so generally I was just looking after Mariam and Jona. At first, it was a bit daunting. They don’t speak English and I speak very little Swahili and no Sukoma, the local tribal language… But they are lovely kids and were really pretty easy to care for! Hitesh was around too for most of the day (see above as to why!) so that definitely helped. We picked them up at 7:45 in the morning and brought them back to ours. In the morning they played with Esther and her toys, and drew pictures. We then went to the Helsby’s for lunch, and they then came back to ours for a nap. Both Mariam and Jona fell asleep on our bed, with no complaints, and no noise whatsoever. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know many kids who would do that in somebody else’s house – but as Becky explained they have, until now, lived such an unsettled, neglected and unloved life, that they have probably learnt to accept whatever happens to them, which was so sad to hear. In the afternoon we headed back to the Helsby’s for them to play a bit with the other kids, whilst Becky, Amy and I had a bit of a bible study. We then headed back here for more playing and then dinner. We hadn’t planned on having to do dinner so it was a bit of an odd mix – but they loved it. Pancakes, Peanuts, Avocado, Mango and Bananas – they devoured it all. And just kept eating whatever we put in front of them! John and Milka arrived at ours just before 8 to pick them up. I was really glad we could help out - this was such a ‘special’ day for John and Milka, and the others.

Esther and Mariam

Mariam, Lucy, Esther, Esther and Jona

Yesterday too, was an interesting day. I was collecting some of our washing to take over to the Helsby’s to use their was machine, and as I lifted up the clothes, which is always a high risk operation as there is often a spider or some other bug beneath, out ran a mouse - a very cute and small mouse, but a mouse none-the-less. It definitely surprised me, but was preferable to some of the very big spiders we have around here. We caught it under a bowl and released it outside.

The Mouse

During the afternoon, for 3 hours, we had an AIM Prayer Day, held down on the beach at Mavuno. There were only 9 of us there – but it was really good to meet some other missionaries and find out a bit about what work other people are involved in, in Tanzania. Also to be able to pray together for the work that’s going on whilst surrounded by the beauty of the beach definitely helped. We also saw a fish eagle sitting on a nearby tree surveying the surroundings.

In the late afternoon I popped over to visit the Catholic Choir who were having another practice session. I wanted to give them a copy of the disk we had made for them of them singing, last week. (see last blog entry). I couldn’t believe the reception I got. They started clapping as I approached them, and then when I handed the leader the disk, he literally jumped for joy. He was so excited and was jumping around, thanking me again and again. He then opened the envelope with the DVD in it and his hands were shaking. The other members of the choir too, were so excited. They all gathered around to look at the DVD. It was such a small thing for us to do, I felt so incredibly humbled and amazed at the happiness it brought. We have so many CDs and DVDs at home, so many electronic gadgets, and ‘things’ in general, and yet I don’t think I have ever seen someone so happy to receive a gift. I left feeling pretty privileged but also very thoughtful.

Esther continues to do well, and is such a big source of happiness to us. Today she learnt a new trick of putting Hitesh’s shorts on her head and over her eyes, and then tried walking until she bumped into something! Not the most sensible move ever, but very entertaining for us. She is now also getting to the ‘helping out’ stage and wants to be involved in whatever Hitesh or I are doing – it’s lovely to watch – if a little frustrating at times!

Esther helping with the peanuts

Esther – Harrow again! I has had a fun week and got to play lots with my friends Kate, Jona and Mariam. It was all rainy today, but Mummy and Daddy still took me out for a walk, though I was all cover-ded up, which was good fun.

Going for a walk in the rain