All the students arrived in fine form at the Dar es Salaam Airport this afternoon. Even some of their Swahili teachers showed up to welcome them.

Once through immigration and with bags all collected, everyone loaded into a bus to take us to the Salvation Army compound where they will stay the night. This is also where the Swahili classes will be held.

We checked everyone into their (basic) accommodations, got them tanked up on water and sodas, had the teachers talk to them a bit, and then set them loose to wander about for awhile. Once the sun was down and things started to cool off we had an orientation meeting, a time for questions, and a chance to sing a couple of hymns and pray together before having supper.

Most of the students were fading pretty fast by the time we left them for the night. It will take a few days to recover from jet lag. Hope they all sleep well tonight. Us too! :)

Tomorrow they will have breakfast in the little canteen there and we will have another orientation meeting. Then around 11:00 am all the host families will come to collect their student for the weekend. Many will see each other in Church on Sunday again, but there should be lots of stories to tell by Monday morning.

We are all very grateful for safe travels and happy arrivals!

The students were much more bright-eyed and bushy tailed this morning after a wash, a pretty good sleep and a breakfast at the Salvation Army place. We met this morning for a hour or so of more orientation and opportunity for questions. And to hear some words from our local coordinator, John Wambura (who is also host father for Britta).

Then the host families began to arrive, greet their student and whisk them away to their new homes. A little nerve-wracking and plenty exciting.

A couple of notes about the pics... Charity went home with Lydie's family as her host mother needed to take someone to the hospital suddenly. Alex went home with Noah temporarily as his host father is expected to return from Norway anytime. Matt was taken home with Isaac's host family as his host family is not yet back from a family trip to Syria.

First off, we wanted to get a pic of Britta with her host mom and host kids on the site. Britta wanted an active family and she got one! Here she is with just three of the five kids. She always seems to have one in tow or on her lap.

We were *very* impressed with Leah! Not even 48 hours in the country and there she was singing -- and dancing (gasp!) -- in the choir. Because many of our connections here are with the Mennonite church, a good number of the host families are Mennonites. So we get to see almost half the students at Upanga Mennonite Church where we attend on Sundays. They even had to greet the congregation and introduce themselves in Swahili.

After church we were invited to a delightful afternoon sharing lunch and visiting with Rachel's family.

Enjoy the pics!

We are off and running now, trying to get over the "firsts" so we can settle into a routine. Today everyone had to figure out how to use the bus system to get out to the Salvation Army for Kiswahili classes. Their host families sent someone along to help them the first day but the crowded buses and learning the routes were still quite challenging. The last pictures are of students crowded into buses on the trip into town for lunch.

The Kiswahili teachers introduced the program and then split the group into four groups to get started. We also did an academic orientation and listened to stories of first impressions.

After lunch at the YWCA cafeteria came a walking tour of downtown, ending at the Mennonite Church where many of the host families met the students to show them how to get home.

All in all it was an exhausting day but full of many of the first triumphs. Note that their faces are still smiling!

We had 18 of the 20 students on time for the beginning of language class this morning -- up from just 10 yesterday so we must be making progress! It is quite the job for them to figure out how all these little buses work, where they go, where they *stop*, and when the whole system is snarled in huge traffic jams! They *are* figuring it out though and we were gratified to see that all of the students seemed much more confident about finding their way around when we sent them home this afternoon.

One afternoon a week (usually Wednesdays) all of the students come to "kwetu" (our house) to share lunch and stories and worship and singing. The students will lead the worship part in weeks to come.

This is a good opportunity to reflect together on what they are fascinated about or puzzled about as they observe and experience life in Dar.

We haven't posted pics for a couple of days and will try to make it up to you with a small flurry of them today!

Wednesday after the Kiswahili classes we all went to the U.S. Embassy to hear their take on what the United States government is doing in Tanzania these days. We were able to hear from the First Secretary of Public Affairs who gave us an overview of the various units within the embassy and what they do, and the objectives and scale of the programs sponsored by the U.S. in Tanzania. To everyone's surprise (including the embassy staff's) the Ambassador himself chose to talk to the students and shared with them for nearly an hour. The U.S. is making truly enormous contributions towards fighting and treating both HIV/AIDS and malaria in Tanzania although that is not necessarily widely known as the war in Iraq dominates the headlines.(If you are interested, you can take a look at the embassy website:

http://tanzania.usembassy.gov/index.html

Sorry, no pics from the day as cameras are not allowed inside the embassy.

Thursday and Friday have followed what will be our standard schedule for most of the time in Dar -- Kiswahili classes in the morning, load onto a bus to the university (getting there about noon), having lunch at the amazingly inexpensive student-government-run cafeteria (under $1 for a good meal), relaxing until about 2pm, then having a lecture by a univerity professor on one of a large range of topics for about an hour. Then the students are free to hang about the campus and find their way to their homes by bus in the afternoon.

The students are finding the campus to be a welcome relief. It is beautiful, shaded and uncrowded with space to sit alone or in groups and relax, work on homework or talk with friends. And there are monkeys and baboons about to entertain you as well. Really!

We are happy to report that Alex and Matthew have finally been able to move in with host families after having some temporary quarters doubling up with other students. Matt's family had some delays in being able to take him and we found a new home for Alex when we found his intended host wouldn't return from an overseas trip until much later than we had thought. But they are both tucked away safely now, Alex on Sunday night and Matt on Monday.

Some of the pictures are of lunch at the student union, University of Dar es Salaam, classes on household items at the Salvation Army and some photos of a visit Peter and Jan took to the home of a friend who is involved in arranging tours and transportation for us across the Serengeti.

All of the students are getting pretty good at negotiating all these little busses we use to get around Dar. We *thought* they were crowded before, but we were wrong. NOW all the school kids are back in school and of course they need to use the buses too! It is all part of learning about the realities of life in Dar.

Now that we have finalized all the host family locations, I can let you see all of these on Google Earth. Now to use this file you will have had to have downloaded and installed the Google Earth program from earth.google.com. Then you can RIGHT-click on the following link, choose Save As to save the file to your computer (make sure it saves with a .kmz extension) and open it in Google Earth (with File -> Open). You might want to spin the earth around to Tanzania and zoom into the Dar area to see the locations. If you crank up the heat in the room you are using to, say, 90 degrees or so you can better share the joy of the experience.

kmz file for Google Earth

Students on the Tanzania SST are expected to employ the anthropological discipline of “participant observation”. In their essays we want them to write “thick descriptions” – rich, detailed descriptions of the things they observe. Here is a fine example from Bekah, presented here with her permission.

A couple of notes: First, many people in the group have had experiences on public transportation in a variety of developing countries. And many thought they knew what “crowded” meant. All agree they were wrong. Busses in Dar are something else altogether. Students have been fascinated with observing and learning the unique etiquette and appropriate body language when all remnants of “personal space” are gone. Dar is huge and students spend a lot of time on dala-dalas and they have proven to be one of the most challaging and fascinating aspects of life in Dar.

Second, a little further explanation. To become a dala-dala, a normal size minivan is fitted with 15 seats + the driver. Adding several sitting on the engine cover behind the front seats facing backwards and several standing, figure 22 person “normal capacity”. That’s before you add all the other adults and school children than need to get on. If you have a minivan handy, put 22 people in it sometime and see what we mean. For an even richer experience, go ahead and turn the heat on full blast and then stay in there for an hour or so.

Now, Bekah’s essay:

Transportation in Dar: scenes from the mzungu girl on the dala-dala.

I would consider myself to be an adventuresome person. In the past I have enjoyed activities like skydiving, freefall, whitewater rafting and traveling to “out-of-the-way, locals-only, if-you-get-lost-noone-will-find-you” places. But nothing – NOTHING – could have prepared me for the unique experience/thrill/power-prayer-time that is public transportation in D’salaam.

“But what,” someone might ask, “is a dala-dala?” In order to truly discover the answer to that question, they need to ride one. But if that is impossible, perhaps I can paint a mental picture of what it encompasses…

Imagine a mini-van/minibus, usually Toyota or Isuzu and an early model. Inside everything is stripped so more seats can fit in. (Think no trunk space).

Once the seats are all in – and covered in vinyl – it becomes necessary to upholster the ceiling with your choice of loud, gaudy “budget hotel lobby” carpet – preferably with some sort of fringe going around the edge – and install some sort of pipe as a handrail on the ceiling. On the outside of the bus in is necessary to paint a brightly colored strip all the way around with “City Bus” stenciled on the side and the route stenciled in white on the front above the headlights. After you have the basics down you can decorate your dala-dala with inspirational messages like “God is Great” or “Viva Manchester United” or “Still Alive” on the back and front windows.

Now the dala-dala is ready for passengers. If you want to catch a dala-dala it is important to master the “forward-jostle” method, as well as the “Yo! I want on that bus!” wave. Once mastering these important methods has been accomplished, you wait at the side of the road for awhile – usually enough time to gather a small crowd of similar like-minded people. Seeing your bus approaching you try out your wave … and get a wave back from the conductor as it speeds on by. Frustrating, but not an uncommon occurrence.

Another bus approaches and you are delighted to see that it is stopping. As you run towards the door you can estimate that there are at least 30 people crammed inside. No matter, at least 5 more will fit in, 8 if there are small children.

Practicing your “forward-jostle” you are able to physically get your front half and feet on the bus and at least one hand on a cleverly placed pipe. The rest of you is hanging off the bus but the conductor swings up and presses you in a little more as you speed off. The conductor, whose body is currently very close to yours and actually keeping you on the bus, is excellent at multitasking as he is somehow able to hold on, collect money, make change, make small talk with passing dala-dala’s, yell out the stops and remember when and where you want to get off. As you approach your stop you can yell “susha!” and off you go, still alive to see Manchester play and praise God!

For only 300 Tanzania Shillings [about 28 cents US] all these thrills can be yours. Nothing in the US can even compare.

Transportation in Dar: it’s a wild ride.

Bekah

This weekend we had an extended field trip to the historic town of Bagamoyo, about one and a half hours north of Dar and on the coast. Some of the oldest ruins of mosques and tombs at Kalole near Bagamoyo date to the early 13th century and were built by the Swahili culture. The town, built by the Sultanate of Zanzibar, was the launching point for the trade to the interior including slaves and ivory in the early 19th century. Many of the buildings were later taken by the German colonial government and, after WWI, by the British. Bagamoyo today is a smallish fishing village, with a thriving art community due, in part, to the presence of the College of the Arts.

We were able to visit many of these archaeological and historical sites, including the catholic mission and museum. The students also enjoyed a swim in the ocean after getting a LOT of sun walking around the town. In the evening we were treated to a drumming and dancing lesson from College of the Arts teachers. On Sunday the students had a little time to walk around the town, explore the ruins, think about what it may have been like when the slave caravans were active, and chat with some of the artists working in Bagamoyo.

This trip was the student’s first chance to see some of the countryside outside of Dar es Salaam. They had a good time together at our guesthouse called “Mary’s Nice Place” (and it was!!). They also had a chance to demonstrate their “tree-hugger” credentials with the amazing, centuries-old baobab trees.

Sorry for the paucity of pics the last few days. Here are a bunch of them for you to see that we are all alive and well (but sweaty) here in Tanzania.

It is back to business this week after the field trip to Bagamoyo last weekend. The language school is responsive to students' and our suggestions about instruction and there is much more Kiswahili speaking and listening and dialog this week and much less grammar and english in the classroom. We think this will better match what the students need right now, but it does make their little brains sizzle -- students are pretty much exhausted by the end of the second hour.

Everyone seems much more at home now with the transportation system, knowing how things work, where to get on and off etc. Since not everything is quite so new now and they have a chance to more closely examine this place, their reflections in the essays they write to us are much more detailed. These are pretty interesting and we will try to get some more of these posted for you as we go along.

Here are a few pics from the week. Tom Meyers (Director of International Studies at GC) is visiting this week helping us evaluate how this new program is going and what it might look like in the future. He met the students as they came to our house Wednesday for our 'together' time of sharing and worship, and had a chance to talk to them about how they feel about things so far. Once Tom's baggage arrived (24 hours after he did) he was able to distribute the letters you all had sent. Thought you might like to see what joy letters from home bring to their faces!

This afternoon is a field trip to a local radio station (where they will interview some of our students) and TV station (not sure what will happen there), hosted by Leah's host father. He is a producer of documentaries for both radio and television and has offered to show us around. I will try to get some pics of that experience to share with you too. Internet speeds here are MUCH too slow to allow me to upload video and sound files, but maybe we can get Tom to take some back with him to share on this site.

Peter

Our time in Dar es Salaam is more than half over now! After Kiswahili classes this morning the students had an exam, writing an essay about some of the things they have been learning in the lectures at the University and in their readings.

After lunch together at the Salvation Army, they traveled into town to the location of the Upendo Radio Station in the Lutheran Center. Leah’s host father, Pastor Magafu, talked to them about his work producing radio and television programming on behalf of many denominations that are part of the Christian Council of Tanzania. Religious programming – Christian, Hindu, Muslim -- concerning social and political issues in Tazania are allowed – even encouraged – on the national radio and television stations. There are also more than 100 independent newspapers published in the country. This surely represents a level of press freedom found nowhere else in Africa.

We were given a tour of the radio production studios and the broadcasters showed us the equipment they use and the steps needed to get programming on the air.

The trip to the television station did not work out this time. Perhaps another day.

No field trips this weekend so students are free to pursue their own interests. Several are having opportunities to participate in weddings. We will have to see if we can get them to share some pics for you.

Tom Meyers had been visiting us for the last few days. Before he left on Sunday we had a chance to visit friends on the Kigamboni peninsula. Just a 10 minute ferry ride from the Kivukoni area of Dar es Salaam, it seems as though you are in a small town rather than part of a huge city. We thought we would share a few pics of the ferry getting there including some Dar skyline, and a few that Tom took as he was sitting in the front of the daladala on the trip back to our house and had a great view of the controlled chaos that is public transportation in Dar.

This week we are looking at art in Tanzania, trying to understand how the artists choose what to produce, what sells, how art has changed, how people make a living. Today after Kiswahili class lunch at the university, most of us visited an area close to the Mwenge bus stand where wood carvers work and a variety of small shops sell artwork. Most of the students have observed that there is very little art on display in their host homes and one has to wonder who buys all this work! Some of it is a very high quality and the craftsmen are proud and eager to talk about their work.

A small note: Bekah has found that she gets less unwanted attention on her way to and from her host family’s home if she wears hijab.

I think it is probably a good thing that most of these students are not as movement impaired as some of us parents! Learning the words and dance steps to some popular Swahili songs makes for a welcome break from grammar and dialogs.

Every week the students write an academic essay where they integrate readings and lectures with their reflections, and intercultural essay where they reflect on some issue or question after talking about it with Tanzanian family, friends and neighbors, and an investigation essay where they are out and about exploring some aspect of their environment.

Here is Ben's recent essay. We think it is a great example of the kinds of discoveries the students are making.

Community Investigation, Ben

From the first time I entered it, especially my first time through on a weekend night, I found my neighborhood to be a vibrant and wildly intriguing place. Just off Sam Nujoma Road by the OilCom Station lies Mwenge Mlalakuwa, my home for these five weeks in Dar. This street to my house is lined with dukas (shops), quite literally. From the corner store all the way to the last bar about 200 feet from my house the 10-foot wide dirt pathway boasts one store after another with barely a break in between. There are pharmacies, bars, general stores, barbers, just about anything you could ever need to buy can be purchased at one of these dozens of stores. The road is always lined with people. In the morning women with babies strapped to their backs fry maandazi. In the afternoon men sit outside their dukas and play checkers with old bottle caps. After dark the torches come out with people plying inexpensive delicacies like gum or grilled corn. And all day, everyday, groups of young children run around together playing with whatever combination of sticks, stones, and bags they are using as toys at the moment.

Mlalakuwa is quite the place, full of life and activity – dukas connected to living quarters, the line between home and business constantly being negotiated. It was not until I asked my brother Wanse to show me around one evening, though, that this neighborhood truly opened up to me. I now realize there is a whole new life beyond the street I walk everyday, secrets and stories concealed in a place I thought was becoming routine.

Wanse led me across the street from our home down a little alley I assumed led to a backyard area. Perhaps we’re going to visit someone? I followed quietly, as I’ve embraced the idea by now that I rarely know where I’m going or what I’m doing here! My sense that this was no more than a trip down a narrow alley into the neighbor’s backyard was only furthered by the fact that we greeted the neighbors on their back stoop from our path. It was dark, so I could not see the way ahead. Somehow, the narrow path kept going and before long we were in the middle of a labyrinth of uneven alleys just big enough for one or two people to walk across. Simple houses were illuminated in a mix of cool, bright fluorescent bulbs mingling and clashing with the warm, red candlelight of the neighbors. Women and children were huddled around fires preparing the evening meal. Here was a whole new Mlalakuwa I had never even imagined existed.

As we walked, I discussed the logistics of this place with my brother. He explained that some houses have electricity and others don’t. With the constantly uncertain state of the hydro-electric dependent power supply, though, all are accustomed to living without. The power went out as we were walking, only one harsh light piercing the sky from next-door neighbor Mlimani City shopping center offering a beacon of a reminder of what you can do if you have resources. As Wanse told me about the time the year ago when the power was out for four months a flicker of light appeared and a shout rose up from the entire neighborhood as the power returned. It was like nothing I’ve even heard and I will never forget its joy.

I asked where people go for medical care. He showed me the location of a small clinic just across the street from us I never knew existed. People can come there for simple medicines and treatment while more serious cases go to one of several nearby hospitals. I asked how a sick person with trouble moving would get out of the maze of tight streets, but he just sort of chuckled and moved on. Despite my lack of ever seeing it in three weeks, people do create some garbage here and there is a means of picking it up, as I finally witnessed Saturday morning. Wanse said it is supposed to happen once a week, but will often be less frequent. Men pulling carts collect the trash, stuffed in varying bags, with their bare hands, walking back these tiny alleys to collect from house to house. People are connected to the city water supply and everyone has extra tanks in case it is turned off that could supply a household for 2-3 days, according to my brother. He said people work at all different places, including offices, and that an average salary may be about 60,000 (about 56 US$) shillings per month. When I asked him how people support a household on this, he told me he wonders the same thing.

If there is one thing I’ve seen less of then garbage here, its police officers. I could count on my one hand the number of marked vehicles (maybe I just don’t know what to look for?) I’ve seen since arriving. Needless to say, this presence is less than awe-inspiring but Wanse assured me that people continue to follow the laws regardless of this lacking enforcement.

Discovering this new part of my neighborhood has today been one of the most astonishing things that has happened to me while here. I’m itching to go back, perhaps in the daytime next, to see what I can discover. I realized what I take for grant as “just happening” at home when I considered the questions I was asking Wanse. Would I know the answers to these for my own home if someone asked? As helpful as his responses were, I can still only imagine how this community functions. What would it really look like for a medical emergency to be dealt with here? How do you get a laboring mother out to the road without roads? How do you get to the hospital without a car, or a car that is parked so far away you ride daladala (bus) to pick it up, as Wanse said some do). What if I needed police help back in the depths of the community? How would they know where to find me? Perhaps I can only imagine how the inner-workings of Mlalakuwa really are accomplished. For the time being, though, I’ll keep my eyes peeled to see what I can see – if I found the garbage collectors, perhaps anything is possible!

Some of the students brought their cameras with them to our house on Thursday so that they could share their pics. I selected as many as I can manage to upload this time around. Some were taken in places we visited together and some are in their homes with their families. Enjoy! Note: I just discovered that the handy-dandy blog system renames the pics when they are uploaded so you can't tell who they are from. I will work on that. Ben, Benito, Britta, Matt and Rachel contributed.

It has been much cooler here in Dar for the last week or so -- more like mid-80's rather than mid-90's -- which has been a welcome relief. Unlike Goshen in the Winter, we LOVE overcast days here. But this morning the skies dumped a simply amazing amount of rain. Makes it hard to hear a Kiswahili lesson when it is drumming on the tin roofs and the flooded streets made the ride to the university interesting as well.

There are a few pics from church this Sunday at Upanga Mennonite. Our own Leah was front and center in the choir, and the entire service was led by children and youth which was pretty entertaining.

This is our last week of the academic part of SST. We are looking at environmental and conservation issues in preparation for next week when we take a camping safari across the Serengeti to get the group to Mara Region (near Lake Victoria) where most of the service locations will be.

There are also a couple pics of our son, Daniel, who was able to visit for a week on his way to his MCC assignment in India making his parents very happy!

On Friday the students braved the daladala busses to the Salvation Army compound for the last time as we finished the Kiswahili course here in Dar es Salaam. Everyone was evaluated – the students with an exam, and then the students had an opportunity to evaluate the teachers and the course. And then a chance to give fond farewells over snacks.

This weekend marks the end of our time in Dar and students are visiting each other, spending time with their families, doing some shopping and visiting places they had always meant to see but hadn’t yet gotten around to. Friday evening we had a lovely visit with Ben’s host family, talking way into the night solving the worlds problems. And this afternoon had a great time with Annali’s family featuring, of course, a wonderful meal.

President Bush arrived here in Tanzania today and this is a VERY BIG THING here! Signs and flags and banners everywhere. There were assorted bottlenecks at the airport and various roads being are scheduled to be closed around town over the next four days, all of which go with very tight security around this visit.

And there are a couple of pics from Benito from a trip several students took to Morogoro last weekend.

Finally, we wanted to share an essay that Annali wrote about visual art. We are blessed with a number of art majors on this trip and their insights and heated debates about the arts in Tanzania have been great.

Annali S., The Arts

Visual art in Tanzania is primarily dominated by two common types: The ebony carved sculptures of Makonde and the repetitive cartoon-like painting of the very popular TingaTinga.

Makonde carving uses large chunks of ebony and forms usually an animal, something related to "shetani" or spiritual representations, and "ujamaa" or working together. Ebony is a very hard wood and takes a long time to carve. Carving is embedded in Tanzania’s history. Ethnic groups specialized in these carvings long before colonialism and the current tourist market. The exaggerated animal and spirit figures reflect this time. The "ujamaa" are a perfect example of the influence of President Nyerere's socialism on every aspect of Tanzanian life, including its art. The figures in these pieces are intertwined and built on each other, helping each other out. People are still very proud of this vision even now, years after socialism has ended.

TingaTinga, according to our lecturer, was started by a man named Edward TingaTinga in the late 1970s. It became wildly popular and sold very well. People put together art collectives to make and sell in mass form. TingaTinga uses thick enamel paint (for bicycles) which the artists thin with oil. Most of the colors come straight from the tube. The figures are exaggerated, flat, repetitive and are usually animals or Maasai. There is usually a background with another object painted on top. Talking with the artists I discovered it takes about a week to complete a large painting, five days for a medium and two for a small. At Morogoro Stores they have stacks and stacks of these pieces. It is an art co-operative so everyone works together. Unlike some artists in the US, people here seem to strive to be similar. TingaTinga is collective art. People don't feel bad copying other people and self-expression is not the object. It almost seems like the artists are living models of the Ujamaa Makonde sculptures.

Most of this art is purely for tourist consumption. Artistic expression is confined to what sells. This is true for TingaTinga as well as some ngoma dance. The growing tourist audience from the west according to the book "Peformance and Politics" has influenced the ngoma dance shift to more traditional dance. This "performative primitive" builds on western expectations of the African "savage male" and "erotics female".

While much of this art is produced for the tourism market, it still expresses something about Tanzanian aesthetic, work ethic and sense of collectivity. I think it is impossible to create art, whether TingaTinga or ngoma dance, one’s whole life and never have some self-expression, whether conscious or unconscious, show through every once in awhile. The intention of TingaTinga is commercial. But despite catering to perceived tourist tastes, what actually gets produced and in what settings, still says something significant about Tanzanian life and aesthetic.

This week I and some others stumbled across an ngoma dance troupe practicing at the Nyumba ya Sanaa. The drums, traditional call and response, and gyrating hips matched Laura Edmonson’s description in “Perfomance and Politics” perfectly. It was a young group of 18-20, some students, half drummers and half dancers. There were about three women and the rest were men. Probably the most informally dressed of anyone I’ve seen here yet, many of them were barefoot. When five of us showed up, they invited us over and proceeded to perform a string of their songs. Most of the songs involved singing, drumming and dancing (choreographed and freestyle) and for a few, props like brooms and sticks. I was completely in awe from the beginning, and they just kept doing song after song. Then Thursday I attended Afrodynamix, an afro/jazz/hiphop group performing at the French Cultural Center with a completely different feel, more polished and done for a sophisticated crowd.

Then there are the loud, pulsating strains I hear every night of the ever popular Bongo Flava (Tanzanian rap) coming from the Segerera bars. My housekeeper listens to Bongo Flava on her mp3 player and almost every young person I've talked to about music cites it as a favorite. Then there is the always present gospel kwaya (choir) music. As I write this the radio outside my window just got tuned to a choir station. As explained by Dr. Imani Sanga, this music is an intercultural practice that takes and shares music from popular, traditional and international sources and integrates it. Trippy music videos often involve a singer superimposed onto some remote scene, and the repetitive dance movements point back to some of the more traditional and rural areas.

We are very thankful to report that all arrived safe and happy in Musoma this afternoon. The trip from Dar to Arusha to Lake Natron to Serengeti to Nata to Musoma (camping all along the way) was spectacular! There are lots and lots of pictures to process and stories to tell but that will need to wait until tomorrow. For the moment the students are tucked into the Mennonite Center Guesthouse in Musoma town. Tomorrow (Sunday) they will have breakfast there, then all come here to Nyabange (about 10 kms away and where our home will be for the next 6 weeks), attend church here, visit the Theological College, have lunch and then have the afternoon to play on the rocks on the mountain, walk down to Lake Victoria, or just relax together.

Monday most head off for their new host families and service assignments. Annali's assignment will be here at Nyabange and Alex and David will stay with us for a few days before heading to Tabora.

But, for tonight, everyone is happy to be showered and clean and in a real bed!

The picture is of the whole group (including driver/guides and cooks) at the home (now museum) of President Nyerere in his village of Butiama.

Monday (Feb. 19) our group started the long camping safari to cross Tanzania and get the group from Dar es Salaam on the coast to Musoma on Lake Victoria. The first hurdle was for host families all over the city to get their student and their luggage to the main Ubungo Bus Station in Dar by 8am. Of course we were still missing one of them 2 minutes before the bus was to leave, but by some miracle they all made it.

The ride to Arusha is about 9 hours, but it is a pretty comfy bus (where you have your OWN SEAT!!) and on paved roads. There was a quick stop midway for everyone to grab lunch. After dropping off the rest of the passengers late afternoon in Arusha the bus took the group right to the Backpacker Hotel where we were to spend the night. All of us rediscovered a couple of other luxuries: cool temperatures (now that we were away from the coast) and hot showers!

Supper and breakfast on the rooftop restaurant overlooking the busy center of Arusha. The driver/guides and cooks who would accompany us on the rest of the safari arrived with their LandRover and LandCruisers and camping gear early in the morning. With all of us and all the luggage it didn’t look like there was ANY way we were all going to fit, but these folks were masters of packing. We all packed ourselves in and after another stop or two to load up on water and other necessities we were on our way,

From Arusha we were headed up to Lake Natron where we would camp for the first night. Not to far out of Arusha, and until you get into Serengeti, you are in an area of the country mostly occupied by Maasai people. Anytime you stop there are women who would love to show you their beadwork and convince you that you really need to buy some of it. There is a lot of really beautiful work and some in the group didn’t really need that much convincing.

Oldonyi L’Engai – Mountain of God – put on quite a show for us as we approached our campsite at Lake Natron. It is a VERY active volcano and every little while it would shoot huge plums of ash and smoke into the sky and down the slopes, then quiet down to just a wisp again. You will see it in various stages in the background in many of the pics. And at night, when we were camping only a few miles from the base, we could sit under the stars and watch the glow and the lightning generated within the ash cloud. Pretty spectacular display! We were pretty pleased with ourselves for having arranged this…

The first night camping when our tour people set up the camp we discovered the first glitch of the trip – although we had pads or air mattresses, they had forgotten to bring sleeping bags. Or rather they had gotten the idea somewhere that we had them with us. In any case they weren’t where we were! Fortunately many people had kangas or kitenges to wrap themselves in that first night and, in any case, it was still warm there. Knowing that Serengeti would be much colder, the next day we bought Maasai blankets – you will see these bright red and blue blankets in some of the pics.

All along the trip our three cooks managed to produce really good meals for us, plenty of food even though we have some students along that can eat prodigious amounts! Eating at night by lantern light under the amazing starry sky was a great experience.

We took an early morning trip from our campsite to the lake nearby while the cooks got breakfast around. The area around the lake is soft and muddy so we parked the vehicles and walked. Lake Natron is the breeding grounds for the Flamingos that populate most of the Rift Valley lakes of Tanzania and Kenya and there are lots of other water birds there as well. With the morning sun warming things up, the lake, the birds, the spectacular landscape and the Maasai bomas all together made for a great way to start the day.

Back at the camp the tents and all the gear got packed up while we ate breakfast (a person could get used to this style of ‘camping’!) and we were off towards Kline’s Gate at the North East side of Serengeti National Park. The landscape seems to change every few minutes as you travel.

(continued)

We got into Serengeti National Park about 4:30 Wednesday afternoon. Almost immediately after passing the gate you run across lots of animals. Though we had been seeing small herds of gazelles all along the way, coming across giraffes, zebra, buffalo and a a herd of elephants shortly after entering the park certainly got everyone’s attention. The Serengeti is an awe inspiring place and one of our very favorite places in the world so Jan and I felt enormously privileged to have this opportunity to share it with these enthusiastic students.

We camped at the Seronera Campground in the center of the park. Much cooler there and we were glad for the blankets. Keep in mind we are not talking “cold” from the perspective of a Goshen winter, but 70 degrees or so feels pretty cool when the coolest you have been for the last month and a half is a balmy 85 or so!

Most of the next day (Thursday) was spent exploring the park. After an early breakfast, we all set off for a morning game drive with the roofs open. There is so much to see – the landscape is, again, overwhelmingly beautiful and the animals are everywhere. First time out we saw a leopard sleeping off her nighttime meal in a tree – a rare site. I think Ben’s comment was that he never saw an animal looking more relaxed.

The vehicles weren’t always together so we didn’t necessarily see the same things but everyone had a great time being able to take our time observing the world around us. Those of us in two of the vehicles were incredibly lucky and came across a lioness stalking a pair of waterbuck. We shut off the vehicles and watched her stalk for a half-hour or so as the waterbuck, unaware of her presence, grazed nearer to her. Suddenly she exploded out of the grass and she chased down and killed the female waterbuck rightin front of us. Quite an adrenaline rush and we were all a bit stunned at what we had just seen. Let’s just say it is a VERY different experience than seeing it from a couch on TV. (This was not something tourists often see. Our family spent several weeks over the years camping in the Serengeti, and a few years back I spent three days a week for a year and a half there and never saw a lion kill.)

After lunch and packing up we did some more game viewing as we headed out of the park at Ikoma Gate on the North-West side. Now we were into the area where Jan and I feel very much at home. Some 12 years ago our family lived in this area while we did graduate research. Jan interviewed older people about their memories of what they had been told of pre-colonial history, and I worked in the Serengeti on their GIS project mapping vegetation and ecosystems.

An hour or so after leaving the park gate (oh best beloved) we arrived at our camping location for the next two nights at the Rogoro Cultural Center. Our good friend and brother, Nyawagamba Magoto, has created the center to house a small museum of some of the traditional items from the history of several local people groups, and also to try to attract some of the tourist traffic in the area to both the museum and a campsite. We were well received! They had butchered a cow for us so we had lots of BBQ’ed meat to go with the rice and ugali and other food. Both evenings we stayed there, local singers and dancers from the area performed for us way into the night around a large fire.

Very close to Nata, the Grumeti Reserves is a conservation effort of a private investor who has leased from the government control of a very large game control area. The model there is VERY high end tourism (a double in their lodges start at $3000 a night) who pay these high rates for exclusive access to these areas. All of the profits from the lodges and campsites are reinvested into the operation, and into the surrounding communities for projects consistent with conservation and environmental protection. On Friday the folks responsible for helping the communities plan for and use these moneys talked to us about the ins and outs of private conservation efforts, and spent a good part of the day showing us projects they have been supporting. Charity will be working with these folks and, on the other side, Benito will be helping out the efforts of the people developing the Cultural Center.

Another one of the projects is an irrigated garden projects in a tiny village called Bugerera 6 km or so from Nata town. This is where our family lived during our research, and where Matt will be living and working for service. For many of the students this was a first time close up and personal with rural life in a very (economically) poor area of Tanzania. Like a very large part of the population in rural Tanzania, these would be the folks living on something in the order of $0.65/day. Grumeti Reserves provide a ready market for all the high-quality fresh vegetables they can produce and make it possible for people living there to make a reasonable living.

Saturday morning we packed up the vehicles again for the last time for the 3 hours or so to Musoma town on Lake Victoria. On the way we stopped by Butiama, the home village of the late President Julius Nyarere. The students have heard a great deal about this fine man and the museum there houses press clipping and memorabilia from his life. We also visited his grave there. The large group picture (including our drivers and cooks) was taken here also.

Finally, on to Musoma. The students filled the Mennonite Center Guesthouse in the city to capacity and it was a comfortable safe place for them to gather, relax and eat for a couple of days before heading out to service. We had a final group worship service there after arriving on Saturday evening and collapsing into real beds.

Sunday we spent most of the day together in Nyabange, the old mission station about 10 kms from Musoma. This is where our family lived for 6 years in the 80’s – in fact the church has given us our old house for these 6 weeks! We joined with the Nyabange Mennonite Church congregation for church. Then the Mennonite Theological College of Eastern Africa which is also located here planned a really nice welcome for us that included lots of choirs singing and a fine lunch. Annali will be living here at Nyabange and working with the Theological College. Sunday evening we got together for our last meal together before service as people will start heading to their assignments early Monday morning.

Monday update: it is about 4:30 in the afternoon as I write this. All of the students have either arrived at their service assignments or are on the way. Except for David and Alex who will be going to Tabora: we have arranged for them to leave on Thursday. In the meantime they will be staying here at Nyabange with us. We will let you know when everyone is safely tucked into their assignments.

I hope you enjoy all the pics. There are lots more pics and stories about this trip to tell, but you may have to wait to ask the students yourself!

Peter