RubyFish

Two weeks ago, our Ruby wouldn't put her face in the water. Swimming is a weekly class for every child at the school here, but it seemed futile for our land-loving girl.

Christmas holiday here has been hot, with temperatures near 100 each day and humidity over 80%. Fortunately, there is a hotel nearby with a nice pool and we decided to make it the pivot point of our little staycation. The first two days we went, both kids spent most of their time in the kiddie pool, and one day I let them wear life vests in the big pool just for a change of pace. Even getting them to take them off and work with me on swimming skills was a struggle.

After a couple of days away from the pool, we returned, expecting more of the same. Ruby, however, apparently had spent her days off practicing in her head, and surprised me by putting on her goggles and going right underwater! After pulling her up and realizing she was not drowning, we practiced a few more times together and the last couple of days at the pool she has been jumping in nonstop!

We had to build in a 'no-swim' day today because Ruby was getting very tired, and a little pink despite liberal sunscreen. But we will hopefully get in one or two more swimming days before school starts again, and will look forward to Tuesday morning Kindergarten swim times for the remainder of the school year!

Christ Eve Poem

Waiting
for my Christ-time rituals
idols of my upbringing
Yet rich in their absence
eternity for eternity
Waiting
Waiting
For possibilities
from the God of possible
Waiting
Paitently and not
for the baby King
God in skin
eternity in time

Praying
me of little faith
to faithfulness embodied
mortal to forever
impossible to possible
nothing to all

Waiting
for faith resilient
patience beyond me
for understanding beyond understanding
in restless peace

Believing
promises
your sureness
your rightness
beyond my perpetually flawed reason
you are beyond time
eternal spirit
born tonight.

A Thousand Words

Devaishers in Dar - Devaishers Gone Wild!

Len's Mom and Dad sacrificially made the trip to see us over Thanksgiving, coming in the hottest part of the year and joining us just as power cuts came on full force! They handled it all with such grace and we were blessed and humbled by the gift of their presence. There is something refreshing and nourishing about having guests visit from home. I can't tell you how encouraging and humbling it is to have a loved one make the trip!

The Devaisher count in Dar was up by 50% for two weeks, breaking all previous records.

 We tried to show them our everyday places, and also some special places we have found:

Angitis Indian restaurant - all smiles after butter naan, chicken, dahl and paneer. :)

With Papa Deo and the Mounts in Bagamoyo, a stronghold of the slave trade.

The kids were giddy to have Grandma and Grandpa in the house, and loved every book, game and song.

Shopping at Slipway got overwhelming quickly with so much selection and 100 degree heat!

Ruby was proud to show off her Grandma at school - this map is painted outside the door of the K classroom.

Along with Bagamoyo, Ron and Karen visited Zanzibar and our friend Baker gave a great tour of Stone Town.

The church below is the first Christian church in Zanzibar, and is Baker's home church.

Stone town street - they are twisting and narrow, with motorcycles and bicycles frequently careening through.

Definitely some big smiles! The kid on the right jumped in the photo at the last second and then wanted me to pay him for his photo, not uncommon if you photograph people here. But he didn't get any money for his sneaky tactic here.



(More!) Devaishers in Dar!

Negligence? Dereliction of duty? Call it what you will...I am blog-deficient. Obviously, the earmark for my blogging time in that bloated bill of a budget in Congress got cut somehow.

The truth is, a lot of what I write in my journal isn't fit to post here. Rambling thoughts that may depress you. Hurt feelings not appropriate to share. Those of you who know and love me even though, you are patient, amazing people. Those of you who don't know me that well yet, give it time.... ;)

I've posted some on the dailiness of life here (as opposed to the weekliness or monthliness) and would like to share some more photos and thoughts with you about that.

Above is a long-shot of our area, taken from a friend's house who lives near Ruby's school. Our roof is just to the left of the grey and white apartment buildings with red roofs. I like this shot because it shows the ocean, and then the peninsula and even a little of city center in the background.

Below is a very typical roadside shot, with the blue plastic chairs of a local restaurant and random vehicles in the background. Some of you will recognize the roadside carpenter's handiwork near the school. These beds are model 01 and model 02, and I noticed this week they have added a model 03 since this photo was taken.

Henry and I spend a lot of time together since Ruby started Kindergarten this fall. He recently requested that I cut his hair, so we occupied most of a morning moving around the house, getting the job done in several locations.

 Henry also loves to help in almost any way he can, and the kitchen is no exception. We recently made some gluten-free goodies for one of Ruby's school events:

Henry loves riding in the bajaj! Here I am on the way to help out with swim lessons at Ruby's school. Having one vehicle has forced us to communicate better and use alternate transportation when necessary, both of these are good!

And chilling out on our new bench and cushions!

 Ruby recently had International Day at her school. Eleven countries were represented in Kindergarten alone!

A millipede we encountered recently...Len's finger for scale. These black and red ones are harmless, but there is a blue/grey variety that is just as big and has a nasty stinger you don't want to encounter.

This is a funny wine box warning Len's dad found recently at a restaurant. Looking down our road, I can see where the wildly careening bajaj could be a problem for the person who drinks and walks on the road.

And as a parting gift, here is a shot of a Zanzibar fish market. One of the ways I know I've lived here awhile is that when I pass a table of fish like this, I check to see what they have. Once a week or so, I'll buy something if it looks nice and fresh. :)

Photos in this post by Ron Devaisher.

SalaSala Ministry

On Thursday afternoons our pastor and his family, and some friends, drive out to a field near a stone quarry in an area called SalaSala. Located just behind the HOPAC school Ruby attends, it is one of the many poverty-stricken areas of Dar es Salaam.

For an hour or so, local children come and play, talk and be social. Soccer and rugby pitches are set up for older kids and blocks and toys, jump ropes and hula hoops await younger children. Many of the young girls around Ruby's age come with babies on their hips and backs; they spend many hours a day caring for younger relatives. Kids Club is a rare chance for them to be children themselves.

Henry and friend James enjoy playing with the younger boys

For the last couple of weeks, some donated toy cars have been a big hit with the younger boys.

Soccer is a huge hit with the older boys. Driving through almost any populated part of Africa, you see soccer matches going on with makeshift balls and pitches. Having real soccer balls is a big draw at SalaSala.

Most weeks, we have some music and a puppet show for the younger set, presented by volunteers' children. This week, we spent the first half hour playing and talking with kids, then surprised them with a giveaway day - England soccer jerseys (generously donated by an Elim church in England) and mosquito nets!

Some of the younger girls helped size jerseys to kids. With over 100 children present, it was a little chaotic but everyone was well-behaved...

...and very thankful for the gifts!

Ruby and Henry love this place. They usually see it as a big playdate - they don't see the poverty or dirt or disease. They don't know the bigger picture yet - that we hope to provide more services to the families here, that most of these children will never finish school and some will never start, that it is about so much more than playing together - yet in many ways, they know more than we do. Loving people where they are, for who they are and treating them with respect and dignity is a beautiful thing. May we be able to see life through the eyes of a child!



Voices in the Night

It took several minutes to discern that I was awake and not dreaming. A man's hushed voice was speaking in Swahili to another man who answered in one-word increments. Not familiar with the house we were watching for friends, I tried to remember how far the gate was from our bedroom. It was three in the morning. Should I be hearing voices if they are walking by on the road? Is the night guard inside the gate or outside? I really could not remember.

I tried to stay calm as I evaluated the situation. Trying to understand the hushed voices speaking a language in which my vocabulary is maybe at a toddler level. Realizing that two voices were now many.

The men were rattling the gate, attempting to open it. I grabbed for my headlamp and thought of possible weapons in the house. The house wasn't as secure as ours; the windows here were plentiful and paned; the security bars and windows were one. Even the doors would be little work for anyone with a metal bar.

I decided to try scaring them off. Others have told me that people here who break into houses don't want confrontations, they want stuff they can sell. The power was off but I turned on my headlamp and shone it outside, losing my night vision in the process as the light reflected back at me from the windowpanes. I told Len, who may be the world's deepest sleeper, to get up. He didn't move. I heard the gate opening and footsteps all around the house suddenly, someone trying the front door, footsteps outside the window. I jumped in the bed and shook Len awake, telling him people were outside everywhere. He woke up quickly.

We decided to take the fight outside to them, and when we stepped outside there were four men standing along the front of the yard, all dressed in black, with one or two more men over to my side.

Either we looked scary or scared, and they were trying to come up with the English words to explain to us what was happening. From what we understood, they were from the security company and had been summoned by the panic button at the house. There is one button inside that I knew we had not pushed, and the guard said he didn't push the one on the outside. Whatever caused them to come, I was glad no blood was shed and we all got to have a little excitement that first night in Arusha.

I suspect the night guard accidentally pushed the red panic button as he attempted to switch the power supply over to generator from the non-existent Tanesco source. (the power was out most of the time we were there, which is not really that unusual to us anymore)

Road Trip - Arusha!

We packed up the truck and went to Beverly...well, Tanzanian...Hills. Wanting to take advantage of Ruby's school break to see more of Africa, we decided to go visit friends in Arusha. The kids are expert travellers and the travel went well!

There were plenty of reminders of those whose journey didn't go so well though; we saw at least four wrecked and/or burned out trucks. I took this photo on the way home; when we had passed a few days earlier there were about two dozen people with tin cans trying to scoop up oil that had leaked from this tanker, and others were sorting through the engine for parts.

The road pictured above is the major north-south highway out of Dar es Salaam. It isn't jam-packed, but the lack of passing lanes and the hilly terrain make for some really slow trucks going up hills and around curves. Then there are the buses...passenger buses regularly flew past us, not even slowing down for oncoming traffic. They are huge and pretty much own the road.



I hope they trust in God...they just flew past us
at well over 130 kph on a hilly, narrow road!



So, day one was driving. We arrived in Arusha at sunset, got settled in and ate dinner at a little country-club type place that could have passed for any country club in the U.S. It was close to the place we were staying and we went right to bed after we ate.

Our friends whose house we were staying in had actually just been in our house the night before - they received great news that their 2-year old adoption wait was FINALLY coming to an end, and were on their way to meet their baby for the first time! So we were staying in their house without them, but took the opportunity to pray for them every day and look forward to returning after they settle back in.

Arusha reminded me of what normal air feels like. I had almost forgotten, under the weight of the heat and humidity that is increasing daily in Dar. The Arusha air was light and breathable, and mostly, cool. Eating breakfast outdoors at our friends' house, overlooking Mt. Meru, it was easy to imagine I was in Manitou Springs. There was also an abundance of fresh strawberries, raspberries and lettuce of all kinds, which are not available in Dar.

At one such meal outside, Ruby asked Len, “Daddy, have you ever seen a black hamburger, black like your hair or cow spots?” and another time, “You are the only one in our family with black hair, Daddy. How do you feel about that?” Fortunately, Len is pretty secure in who he is.

The kids loved the yard and gardens, and cool bamboo poles creating a screen of sorts on one side of the porch.

Another place we visited was Shah Industries, which was just as it was pictured online: a dark, long building stuffed full of leather and wooden miscellany and assorted bone, metal and stone trinkets, from pretty jewelry to keychains and coasters. Lamps made from animal skin and bone, chairs of leather and wood, every sort of wall adornment imaginable. In business for over 50 years, almost all of their employees are living with polio or other disabling diseases. But here they learn trade skills and have steady employment. They also had a little garden with all kinds of wood carvings and asian goldfish in a huge tank.

Henry isn't so sure about sitting on the carved chair

Another place we visited was Shanga, a local project that employs deaf and blind men and women to create beautiful beads and items from recycled glass, and also they create metal, paper and wood items from found materials. Len bought me a cool bracelet recycled from old trucks.

Shanga jewelry/sewing shop

Heating glass bottles to create beads. The walls of the workshop are made of glass bottles, and the oven pictured is lined on the outside with beer can metal.

I am in love with Shanga and the work they do! :)

One other stop of note was to one of the many coffee plantations in the area. Len was happy to support their efforts and, while I thought the place was neat, I still find coffee really, really gross.

It did make a pretty picture, though

We were blessed to be able to go to church, share meals, and stay one night with our dear friends Alexis and Jackie Kwamy, who are loving Jesus and kids as well as anyone could, all over Arusha.

A few funny moments from the trip: wild monkeys and baboons running across the road on the way home. Also, roadkill we saw included a small crocodile-like reptile, a huge snake, and some kind of foxy-looking mammal. Roadkill we almost made included two donkeys, which were walking across the road but appeared to have stopped on the other side, but then lurched and ran suddenly right into our path; without smashing the brakes and running into the red dirt along the road, I would have squashed both of them. Thank goodness they were unmanned.

Not the actual donkey I almost hit.

The drive time was about 12 hours each way for us; I am told that it takes most people 10 hours with stops. Maybe we aren’t the fastest drivers here? The police seemed to think we are. We were stopped six times on the way there and three on the way back. Only once were we charged with anything (speeding), while Len was driving.

It was in a little town and the police officer had a radar gun he showed us that said we were going 63 in a 30. I wasn’t sure about that, as we hadn’t seen any speed limit signs, we didn’t see him clock us, and the numbers on the radar appeared to be stuck onto a digital screen, but we paid the 40,000 tsh ticket and went on. I later found out that since we didn’t get a receipt, the money likely went into the man’s pocket.

On the way home we stopped at a rest stop (one of 2 on the 10-hour drive between cities) that is known for its chicken and chips (French fries). We had also stopped at this place on the way there, but had to eat beef as they were out of chicken. So on the way home, we were pleased to get there in time for chicken.


Henry’s eating habits are like many 3 year old boys; he likes starch and sweets. We don’t allow him to overindulge on either, and were delighted when he said he wanted chicken. I tore off a couple of juicy pieces, but he wanted a ‘big’ piece like Len. So, we gave him a thigh and he went at it. We were kind of distracted with Ruby and the business of the place, and didn’t notice Henry again until he was holding a small piece of bone…he had eaten the rest of the thigh, small bones and all! He said he liked the ‘crunchy chicken’.