Crossing the 6 month milestone

It has been so long since I last blogged...and I guess in some ways life has settled into a kind of familiar pattern for me so I don't notice the new and interesting as much as I first did. That's not to say there isn't plenty of new and interesting things happening here in TZ and when I take a moment to stop and take it all in again, this country still blows me away.

Some assorted highlights of the last month or so...

* Bible study. Corinne and I have started a Swahili (we don't do the teaching!) bible study at our neighbour's house on the week's that we're in Arusha. We have a great time together, singing, studying the bible, praying and eating and we are seeing a wide range of friends interested in the Gospel- from nominal Christians to Muslims. Please pray for these friends- they mean a lot to us.

* Mango season! The going price for mangoes over January is equivalent to 5cents each. There is nothing quite like enjoying mangoes every day for breakfast and spending a total of 35cents over the week. Up next...avocado season.

* Beautiful hot and sunny weather every day for the last month or so. I'm determined to make the most of it before the rains arrive. However... rain is also much needed and prayed for and is essential for crops that are being planted soon and for electricity. We've had power cuts almost every day this week (I'm writing this by candlelight!) and they are supposed to get worse until rain arrives.

* A great education team. I love how well our team works together and how everyone in the team has different strengths they offer. I love working with them all.

* The view of Mt Kilimanjaro most mornings on the drive to Keranse. It's stunning and takes my breath away every time.

* Finishing writing another unit of work. This is a part of my job that requires all my knowledge and more...I find myself asking God a lot for the words to write! I've just finished writing a unit on teaching Literacy in the Middle Years. One more unit to write then it's done. Upper Years Literacy, here I come.

At the end of January, I reached 6 months in Tanzania...and I have to stop and thank God for everything He's done over those 6 months. I have been blessed with amazing friends, a great organisation to work for, students who challenge and inspire me and a love for this country. On top of that, I have so many friends and family back home who pray and keep in touch. I truly am blessed. Thanks God.

We are looking for more mentors to do this job...this year or next year (or further into the future). If you know teachers who you think would be interested, I'd love to email them and let them know about what we do. It's well worth at least considering!

To finish today...here's a quote I read in a book I am just reading by Max Lucado. I like it a lot:

'God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called'.

We are ordinary people, but there is so much that we can do to make a difference if we just say yes and let God equip us for the task.

Be blessed

x Jo

Donkeys, Mangers and all things Christmasy

My Christmas day this year was unlike any I’ve had before. Thorn trees for Christmas trees, brilliant red flowers as decorations, real donkeys, stables and mangers, gifts of rice and beans and church congregations singing worship in rough but beautiful harmony. There was not a Santa in sight. I have to say, it was one of the loveliest Christmas Day’s I can imagine. There is something about Africa that brings the Christmas story to life.

Together with my friend Corinne and her parents I had the privilege of joining some Tanzanian friends for Christmas in a village not so far from where I live. Robert and his family are some of the most hospitable people I have ever met. They see having guests as a huge blessing and don’t even stop to think about the huge blessing that they are to us in return. So many of our Tanzanian friends have so little materially but are so rich in love, family and relationship with God. They truly are some of the richest people I know.

We left home at 7.30am Christmas morning to walk first to church just over an hour away. After a (relatively!) short service, we returned to our friend Robert’s family home and helped to prepare Christmas lunch. I am finally getting my head around cooking Tanzanian style but everything takes a whole lot longer when it’s cooked on little charcoal burners. The funny thing when we’d finished was that to our Tanzanian friends, the food was ‘wazungu’ stylem while to us, we were sure it was ‘African’ style. I guess we found a middle ground! Finally at 4pm we ate a feast of chickens, potatoes, vegetables and rice. Of course there was sodas as well, which is an essential part of any Tanzanian celebration.

Christmas evening was spent with my other Tanzanian ‘family’; the Joshua Foundation team. We ate together and gave secret santa presents. Everyone put in a lot of thought to their secret gift and it was a lovely time together.

Please keep me, our team and our students in your prayers as we head into the New Year and a new term for College. If you would like me to send you the latest newsletter from the Joshua Foundation just flick me an email on joellecbrown@gmail.com and I’ll pass it on. There’s some great info on what’s been happening in all our departments here.

So...to all my friends and family in NZ and elsewhere...Merry Christmas! I hope that you had a blessed and happy time wherever you were and whoever you were with. I miss you all lots!

Be blessed!

x Joelle

A Tanzanian church experience

We had a great experience taking part in a church service over here this Sunday just been. Corinne's brother and sister in law were over from Australia visiting and someone happened to mention in front of a good Tanzanian friend that she is training to be a pastor back in Australia. Well...that was all it took to have a preaching appointment booked for her on the coming Sunday, in a church none of us had ever been too. Not only that, but I was booked to help with the worship and to sing a song or two. I love how spontaneously things come about here, especially if you're willing to say yes to most opportunities.

Sunday we kitted up in our Tanzanian Sunday best- really just a good excuse to wear our 'kitenge' which is the tailored outfits the women wear here. We caught daladalas to the other side of town to the Free Pentekostal Church of Sombetini. The Pentecostal churches here are known for their vibrant style and passionate worship, preaching and prayer. This church was no exception! I've said many times how much I love to hear Tanzanians sing and Sunday morning was another great time of worship. I felt really privileged to have the chance to sing a few songs with our friend Roberti, who is a great worship leader. I also had the chance to play and sing a song I had written, in English and Swahili. I love how Tanzania constantly pushes me outside of my comfort zone, and it's always such a rewarding thing when you get past your fears and just do something.

Gemma preached up a storm and God was in the place. She did a great job, especially as she hadn't spoken with a translator before. I was hugely impressed with how willing she was to just step up and take the opportunity when it came up.

Beautiful people, passionate worship and a great God...it made for a very good Sunday morning that I plan to repeat soon!

Mt Meru and the (almost) end of a term

It's crazy how quickly this year is flying past. With one week in Arusha and one week out in schools, it feels like every month goes twice as fast. I guess that's just a really long way to justify my lack of keeping up to date with the blog and keeping in touch with people. Sorry!

It's been a great month and a half since I last wrote, with heaps of adventures, a few dramas and lots of fun. Our student teachers are feeling the 'end-of-year-itis' that often hits at this time of year. To be honest, I'm feeling it a little bit myself! For the students, they have a pile of assignments and looming exams in the next three weeks. We definitely work them hard here at JTTC, but they will be awesome teachers for it. Already we can see so much personality and ability emerging and I have every faith that these guys are called to be great teachers.

On our side of things, we are working pretty hard right now trying to get things prepared for January 3rd when the students start back for next year. There's a long list of units that need finishing off...my current project is a unit on how to teach literacy. Actually, that's been my project for the last 3 months and I am very close to seeing the light at the end of that tunnel. Please pray for energy and wisdom as we write these units. The challenge is to teach good, sound teaching practice and to fit it well into the Tanzanian context in a way that is best for children here. It's teaching me a lot about teaching!

On another note, I'm happy to say I made it to the top of Mt Meru last weekend. What an great climb and incredible view at the top!Mt Meru is situated in the Arusha National Park which is about a 40 minute drive from where I live. You know you've arrived somewhere pretty cool when you drive past families of giraffes and elephants by the side of the road. The first 2 days are about 4/5 hours climbing. Then the 3rd day you leave the hut at 1am and climb 5 hours to the summit (in the dark). After about half hour up there we climbed all the way to the bottom of the mountain, arriving at about 5pm. The summit of Meru is 4568m and you look across to Mt Kilimanjaro from there. Needless to say, I slept very well the night I got back to Arusha.

So three more weeks of school for our students, then a couple of weeks writing and grading exams. After that I'm very much looking forward to a 2 1/2 week holiday. Thanks for the emails...I really love to hear from people and keep in touch with what's going on back home. Keep them coming!

xx Jo

Joelle

It's the little things...

I was talking to one of my local friends over here the other day and he asked me what I would miss if I left Tanzania. Surprisingly it was a very difficult question to answer. The problem was not the lack of things I love about being here- it was more that it's so hard to put it into words. Only 2 months here so far and yet the moments when I stop to think how much I love it are countless. So I've decided it's the little things that make me so happy here.

Here are some of my 'little things' from the last 2 weeks...

* Watching the great sunset every night from my kitchen window

* Understanding and remembering new Swahili words each day

* The hugs and smiles and enthusiastic greetings of the children at Arusha Joshua School (AJS)

* Teaching music at AJS and realising what great rhythm these kids have!

* Watching a football game at a soccer field with real grass

* Teaching some of our local friends how to play touch rugby

* A fresh chapati for morning tea with a cup of hot chai (tea)

* No one ever being too hurried to stop and say hello

* Seeing a snake in the wild for the first time ever

* Our student teacher's having 'light-bulb' moments

* Hearing our student teacher's talk about their struggles in education and how they have overcome

* Seeing our student teacher's realise how much God has called them to this course and to teaching

* Hearing from people back home and how everyone's doing

* Exploring the gorge and river near our house

* Smiles...so many smiles!

God is constantly so good and gracious. He's working in the hearts of our student teachers and we can already see misunderstandings and wrong ways of thinking beginning to change. Please pray for these 18 students that God will continue to give them the perseverance and wisdom to do this course well. We really see that they are going to be amazing, ground-breaking teachers at the end of it who impact far more than jut the students they will teach.

This weekend I'm heading on my first ever safari with 3 other friends. We're going to the Ngorogoro Crater and apparently it's spectacular. I can't wait. Photos to come...

A week in Keranse

Well after a week in Keranse I am absolutely in love with the place, especially the school. Almost all the teachers at this school were trained by our teachers college, and it really shows (not that I'm biased or anything!). The kids there are learning (some of the best scores in national exams in the area), well behaved and incredibly happy. The teachers love their job, love the kids and welcomed us and our student teachers with open arms. I'm really looking forward to spending time in the school and really getting to know the students and staff better over the coming months.

We had several organisational details to 'iron out' during the week, but it was great to see our student teacher embrace what is a pretty full-on training course. They are really getting stuck in to the work and life of the school. It's going to be exciting to see their growth and development over the next couple of years- there's so much potential there.

Miriam and I are living in a guest house about 15 mintues drive from the village in a town/village called Saanya Juu. It's basic but nice and we felt very well looked after. We have electricity in the house, as opposed to the other mentors who have it for only a few hours a day, so we feel pretty lucky. Its amazing how much more you appreciate things like electricity and drinking water when it's not always readily available like it is back home.

On a final note for today, I'm really thinking of and praying for all my Christchurch family and friends after the earthquake yesterday. Looking at the photos online I'm blown away by how this kind of thing can happen in little old NZ...its easy to assume it just never will. It's times like this that its strange being so far removed from everything happening on my home side of the world. Love to you all xx

Breaking new ground...

I have come to the conclusion that when internet is as sporadic as it is here, blogging may not be as regular as I would like. However, it also means that when I do get a chance to write, I have plenty to say...not that that was ever really a problem!

So, tomorrow morning us mentors are finally heading out into the villages that will become our 2nd homes for the time we are here in Tanzania. We have 3 training schools where our students are placed full time, and I will be based at the school in a village called Keranse with another mentor, Miriam. Our student teachers have had 2 weeks holiday, after completing a six-week block course here at college. Apart from that six weeks, their entire two-year course is spent placed at their training school. They will live together and over the course of a week they will complete units of work set by us as a college, study subject content in which they are weak, observe in the classroom, serve in the classroom, study biblical studies and how to apply it in all areas of their teaching...among other things. The real difference here to a distance learning course is that we as mentors will be with them in the schools every second week. We will work through units with them, model in the classroom, run intensive sessions if needs arise, mark their assignments and basically just stand alongside them and support them through their training. It's a unique kind of course and is breaking new ground in education here in Tanzania. I'm excited to be a part of it all. Please pray that God will give us mentors the wisdom we need to do this job well, and that he will give our students the vision and diligence to persevere when it gets difficult. The course pushes them to think in a very different way to how a lot of them were taught in school and it will challenge them, but we have a great group of students and I know they will do extremely well.

The last two weeks since I last wrote have been fantastic. I really am loving to get to know this country. My friend and I had the chance to attend a local wedding and it was a feast for the eyes of singing, dancing and colourful dresses! The next day we went to church with the family of one of the workers here and it was such an awesome experience. It's amazing how the language barrier can mean nothing when people are worshiping God-and the singing here is incredible. A whole room of Tanzanians singing in harmony just about takes the roof off. I love it! We introduced ourselves and I did it in Swahili so I was pretty happy with that, even if it was pretty rehearsed. One of the photos below is the family we went to church with. They are a beautiful family and are inspiring in how they have changed their circumstances around. In the photos they are standing in front of their new house-to-be which they have worked extremely hard for and really relied on God.

My Swahili is coming along and I am understanding a lot more now and getting quicker in my responses, but when I get frustrated with how much there is still to learn I try to remember it's only been 4 weeks. I really do feel like I've been here for months already.

Thanks to those who have sent emails- it means so much to hear from home and hear how people are doing and what you're up to. If you haven't...please do... And if I don't reply quickly, apologies for the internet but I really will try!