Hamjambo!

Hello again!

This week has been great! The Christmas fair at Rehema on Saturday went really well. Lots of people came and lots of money was made in the shop and the cafe, and on games. The kids had so much fun and the Rehema ladies really enjoyed themselves too. Face painting was a particular highlight, and many of the team got their faces painted too (you're never too old!). On Monday Jess and I helped the Rehema ladies make Christmas cards which I always enjoy because it's such a lovely environment to be in and it's a chance for some great conversations with other team members who are there too. Mid-morning we had chai time, although Jess and I didn't actually have chai, we opted for a soda instead with our chapatis and mundazis (battered doughtnut things).

On Tuesday I went out to a village called Murangi, which is about and hour and a half south on Lake Victoria from where we are staying. It is amazingly beautiful out there and it was a fab day. It started off with (controlled) demolition and we took part of a wall down, we then replaced the wooden window lintels with concrete ones, and then learnt how to brick lay as we built the walls back up. About half an hour after we had arrived, before we had properly started work, we were told by the locals it was time for chai, so we sat around on plastic garden chairs under a tree. The chai was delicious, but when the bowls of rice came out, my heart sank. I can never eat the portions of rice the locals give us - they're huge, but fortunately one of the lads helped me out! As we were so far out of town, we couldn't go back to the hostel for lunch, so we had a picnic by the lake which was really nice, despite the rain.

I experienced my first school lesson on Wednesday which was really interesting to see. We taught the kids about preventing malaria, as well as playing some sport with them and teaching them a few songs in English. At the end of the lesson (all thanks to Natalie...!) the kids figured out how horrendously ticklish I am and I was tickled to the point they got me on the floor! All good fun though! In the afternoon we went back up to the market garden, which was great to see as everything has really grown and the insects are mostly being kept under control.

Yesterday we visited the leper colony in the morning. The kids there are amazing and they were completely fascinated by bubbles, more so than a lot of the other kids out here. We helped to clean the wounds of the older lepers. Their wounds are so disgusting, one of them had maggots in but they were so happy to have had them cleaned by us. One of the men loved dancing so we put on some music and had a wiggle! After lunch we went to buy chicken food, and whilst we were sat in the market we became aware of a car horn going and suddenly realised it was our truck. We ran back to the truck to see who was in it, and who should pop out but mama, our friend with down syndrome who always finds us when we're in town, who had spotted the car but couldn't find us so he thought he'd use the horn to get our attention!

The pranks have gone to a new level this week, and it is definitely a state of war in the house. Toothbrushes frozen in glasses of water, coffee in the shower head, boxers stapled up round the house, lightbulbs hidden, phones hidden in bedrooms with alarms set for ridiculous times in the night etc. The boys are really uninventive and just resort to throwing water at us or copying our pranks.We will win!

Mtani's chair has been fixed the way we asked, and although there are still a few small amendments to make, we can do them ourselves. He is still struggling with some pressure sores he has on his bottom, meaning he is unable to sit down so he has spent the last week or so lying on his bed. At least we bought him a matress before this happened so he is more comfortable than he might have been. We are taking him to hospital next week to hopefully get this sorted properly. I did struggle with seeing him in so much pain, but he is always so smiley, despite his situation and I really thank God for his joy. Hopefully we can sort some things out to make his life easier.

Magani has had his op on his leg and it went successfully, but we have been unable to contact him for about a week now so we don't know whether he has been discharged or not and we are a little concerned. Just praying that God will have his hand on the situation and we will be able to contact him soon.

Prayer requests:

Magani - that we would be able to contact him soon and find him safe and well
Wisdom - that God would show us how to best make use of our final week out here
Chickens - our chickens are due to be slaughtered this week but they are very underweight. Pray for a sudden weight gain so that we can slaughter them before they eat too much more food!
My health - my stomach is playing up a little this week, so please pray that it will settle again so I can properly enjoy my final week in Musoma.

Finally, you're lucky this week, I had time to sit and wait for a photo to upload!

Chai time at the hostel