Living in Africa

After being here for three months, I have come to cherish some of life’s smaller joys as living in Africa has been a learning experience moment by moment. Today I am going to share with you some of the everyday routines that I have experienced since living here, so you can get a small picture of my life right now.
Work begins at 8am with morning devotions at the clinic. Since we don’t have any hot water in our house, I often get up just after 7am, skip the shower in the morning and enjoy a cup of coffee and breakfast. A short walk to the clinic from our home means we can leave a few minutes before 8am and get there on time. This will probably be the closest I will ever work to my home! Spending time in the clinic is what takes up most of the day, from filling medication orders, to caring for patients in the ward, our days are full. Lunchtime usually is around 2pm which on some days feels as if it will never come, but the time we spend with the Bundala family is always a treat. Wonderful Tanzanian food, great conversations in broken Swahili, and many moments of laughing! The afternoon often means returning to the clinic for some last minute details, saying goodbye and then heading home. Daily activities outside of work include washing clothes, going to the market, heading out for dinner or to a friend’s house, and playing outside with Tanzanian children from the compound.
Margaret and I have the wonderful pleasure of washing our clothes by hand, something that may seem time consuming but is wonderful with the heat to be able to splash cold water on our feet and soak our hands in it for a few hours. Although I look forward to coming home and getting my clothes very clean, I would say I do a pretty good job here!
Preparing food has been another adventure and we have gotten quite good at coming up with new things to make. Pasteurizing milk from our neighbour’s cow is a weekly routine and we have even tried making yogurt – what a treat! After a fun email of recipes from home, we made some banana bread and shared it with some Tanzanian friends here at Makongoro, they loved it.
There is a small market near our house which we walk to at least twice a week to pick up fresh pineapples, mangos, banana, tomatoes, green pepper and even fish some days. Most of the other food that we cook we get from a small supermarket here called U-Turn which we frequent often. Meals range from vegetable lasagne to stir-fried rice and local fish bake in our oven to omelettes with fresh eggs.
Developing relationships with all those living on our compound has been the most enjoyable experience thus far. We are able to go most places on this compound and come across someone that is genuinely interested in how we are doing and always has a smile on their face. This past week we have gotten to interact with many of the little children as they have come to our house to play ball and have a good time! What a blessing. I have gotten the opportunity also to meet some young Tanzanian women and enjoy hanging out with them too. I am learning things from all generations here!
Today, Mama Rebecca came over in the morning and we had the opportunity to read a few verses with her. I read them in English and she read them in Swahili. One that was very meaningful was a verse from 1 John “Beloved, let us love one another ... Wapenzi, na tupendane,” (4:7)
It is my prayer that you would today embrace this in your life as you continue to cherish some of life’s smaller joys and remember to love one another. Share your joy with others that you connect with and praise the Lord for all of His wonderful blessings.