Well I'm back home, and have been for a few days. I am finding it quite weird, but I just need to give myself time to adjust back to this culture! During my time in Zanzibar, my travel home and my few days here I've been reflecting on my trip and here are some of my thoughts:
What were my highlights?
Take a deep breath, this is a long list!
+ Getting to know people in the communities we worked in and building relationships, especially with the children who were amazing and such good fun to work with! It was also great working on building projects with locals who work so hard, especially a lady called Tabatha (who gained the nickname 'The Machine'). It was also a huge privilege to get to know Mtani whose joy and faith really inspired me.
+ The incredible natural beauty of the area. My favourite spots included: the road to the market garden where you had an awesome view of the lake; kyamajojay where you could see for miles out towards the lake and the surrounding hills; up Eagle Rock where we would go and watch stunning sunsets behind the lake.
+ Sunrise up Eagle Rock on spiritual reflection day. This deserves to be a separate highlight to the previous one because it was just SO amazing. The colours were incredible and worshipping together as we saw the sun come up means this was probably my highest point of the whole trip.
+ Rehema! So much to say about Rehema: I loved spending days off there, relaxing in such a peaceful environment (unless we were playing Irish snap, in which case peaceful is not the best word...!) with delicious food and milkshakes. It was also one of my favourite projects we spent time working with. Spending time with the amazing ladies who make the products for the shop was so good. They work so hard and it's a really lovely environment to work in and they were so welcoming and it was a real privilege to work alongside them. Rehema craft days also meant chai time (see my highlight about food!) It was very cool to see them moved into their new workshop by the end of my trip too. The Christmas fair we organised at Rehema was also great fun and it went really well - one of my favourite days of the trip.
+ Seeing the market garden develop over the time we were there. The first time we visited, it just looked like a field of weeds but by the time we left, the first plot was well developed with the maize and sweetcorn plants nearly as tall as me. It was great to see the dedication of Dowdi and the other guys who work there everyday and to see them taking some initiative with planting some watermelon, okra and cucumbers in a spare patch of land that wouldn't be used for a few months.
+ Building projects - these were a lot more fun than I thought they might be. I especially enjoyed concreting for some slightly peculiar reason! I loved seeing things like the chicken shed and water tanks develop and grow over time, and it was nice to see them through from start to finish. The day out at Murangi was another one of my favourites because we got to demolish things and brick lay (which rivals concreting for my favourite building thing to do...) but we also had a picnic by the lake which was super cool. This is probably the highlight that surprised me the most, I never thought concreting and brick laying would make it into my trip highlights!
+ Living with a group of Christians, spending time praying, worshipping and studying the bible together. I particularly loved studying the book of Esther with Jess and I think it's currently my favourite book. During the trip God challenged me on a number of things and I definitely feel my faith has been strengthened through it. I'll blog about this separately at a later date.
+ Swahili: it's a beautiful language and I loved learning and using it. My Swahili is still very basic, and is better in some areas, such as ordering building materials, than in others, like holding a normal conversation with someone!
+ Material shopping was great fun. I love the African material with all the vibrant colours and beautiful patterns. Material lane was one of my favourite places in town as there were loads of shops with all the gorgeous fabric hanging outside.
+ I wouldn't be a proper foodie if food didn't appear somewhere on my highlights list! Although there were some things I missed including cereal and milk, food is another of my somewhat unexpected highlights. I knew the fruit would be amazing (mangos, pineapples, bananas and passion fruit to die for) but I expected to be fed up of everything else by the time I left, not missing it when I got home! Sodas were so good, especially the passion fanta, to which I might have developed a slight addiction and have possibly brought two home for when I'm having withdrawal symptoms... The hostel lunches of rice, beans and beef were also surprisingly good and I am definitely missing those. Chai time at the hostel was also so good, with battered potato and goat skewers being my favourite, closely followed by mundazi and chapatti. I LOVE chapatti, and I learnt how to make them whilst I was in Kenya so I can make them at home. Chip omelette (chips mayai) is another very good Tanzanian dish which I will definitely make at home, despite Mum's protests that they aren't healthy.
+ Oddly enough, our special leaving service makes it onto my list of highlights, not because of the goodbyes, which were sad, but because the atmosphere was incredible. We started off by sharing chai, chapatti and mundazi (which is a highlight in itself as we have already established) whilst a decent Tanzanian storm was raging outside. Then the singing and dancing together went on for a while and it was such good fun. The atmosphere was electric, with everyone joining in and the speakers turned up over the noise of the storm. I won't forget that in a hurry.
What things did I find the hardest/ what were my low points?
Inevitably there are a few low points, but only a few and they are nothing in comparison to the highlights. It is also a comfort to know that God uses the difficult things we see to spur us into action, and uses our weaknesses to demonstrate His strength.
- Seeing the way some people in town treated mama, our friend with downs syndrome. It made me both upset and angry to see them hit him or take his money or shout at him and to know there was very little I could do to change that, other than trust it to God.
- Seeing Mtani when he was in too much pain to even sit because of his sores, which meant he was confined to his bed and couldn't even use his chair when we'd got it adjusted properly. However, I am so glad we were able to take him to the Coptic hospital in town and get them seen to and to see him recover towards the end of our trip and to know he was much better when we left.
- My lowest time was probably when I was feeling too ill and tired to work and having to stay at home. I felt quite guilty as there were things that needed doing and everyone else was working hard, but God used that time to challenge me on other things and to make me think.
There's so much I'll miss from Tanzania (mosquitoes, mosquito nets, mosquito bites and anti-malarials being about the only things I won't miss!) I had the most amazing time, and I want to say a HUGE thank you to GoMAD, Graham, Deb, Andrew and my team (who I already miss loads) for making it so good. And to everyone who supported me financially and in prayer who helped make this possible. And of course to God, who planned this all before I was even born and who walked with me every step of the way! I'll post some pictures and another reflections post over the next week so check back soon.
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