Going from month to month creates a wide variety of environments and cultures. However, I thought that Africa would be almost the same type of living situations and cultures wherever we lived.
I forgot that Africa was very colorful.
Very colorful in the different cultures.
The environment.
The music.
The clothing.
Everything.
This is also the same for our living situations each month. There are so different from one another. From one extreme to the other.
In Uganda we lived at a home with our contact and his family where we were all given beds. We had electricity, but only in the boys’ room. We would find wifi at the Western restaurant in town. We were served food that was cooked by our contact’s wife. We ate a lot of bananas. The toilet was a wonderful squatty and we had bucket showers where we had cold or warm water, depending on whether it was sitting out all night or if it was a shower that was taken in the afternoon, or water that was generously boiled for us. We also got to learn Lugandan and try to communicate with the people there.
Lugandan:
Waybehloo: Thank you.
Mehkwanagay gwangay: My Friend
Saboh: Sir
Naboh: Miss
Oriatia: Hello
Balungi: I am good.
Jendi: I am OK.
Babiyre: Older girl twin
Nakato: Younger girl twin
In Kenya the girls lived in a building where we could set up our tents while the boys lived in one of the rooms of the clinic. They were able to sleep on a bed and set up their tents. We did not have electricity. We did not have wifi. We ate food that was prepared by a chef that cooked for tourists for 18 good years. We ate a variety of Western and African food. The toilet was a brand new latrine and the shower had a faucet, but sometimes the water would run out as you were covered in soap from head to toe and conditioner sitting in your hair. Then is when we would have bucket showers. We got to learn 2 languages this month: Kiswahili and Masai. I thought learning one language was hard enough.
Masai:
Sopa: Hello.
Sopa aling: Hello hello!
Ashay: Thank you.
Ashayoling: Thank you very much!
In Uganda we lived a 5-minute drive away from the biggest town and a quiet but bumpy road away from the main street. Beautiful green trees and birds surrounded us. Our security system was the 2 dogs that were The Sandlot dog. They guarded our lives every night.
In Kenya we lived 3 hours away from the nearest town. We were a 10-minute walk from the gates to the Masai Mara Game Reserve, safari anyone? We were living in a National Geographic Photographer’s paradise. We were living in the rolling slopes and hills that the Lord carved with His hand. We also lived in the middle of a ranch as we constantly tried to fight off the cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys off of our front porch. With that came the flies. The one time we did not have a fly swatter. However, Michael became very talented at killing flies with his bare hands. Our security system there was our door that had a lock on it. I do not think that any of us would have wanted to step foot outside because of the local hyenas roaming by every night.
In Tanzania, it has been quite different. When we first pulled up, all of our mouths dropped and we cried out, “What in the world? Where are we?” We pulled up to a gated area and it looked like a mansion, by World Race standards, to where we were going. We are living at a compound this month where the Pastor has rented out five different buildings to host different missionary groups that come to Arusha. He hosted 18 Racers the last month, other World Race teams, Passport groups and many more over the years. The girls are living in one building where we were provided mattresses and our own rooms. I am in a room by myself this month. What? Rare. And a big deal. The boys are split up where 2 are in one room with a bunk bed in one building. The other boy stays in a room with an evangelist that works alongside Pastor. The bathrooms are squatty potties that FLUSH and the showers are a work in progress. Currently it is a standing shower but the water comes out of a pipe, one day to be a showerhead. There is running water and electricity here. We find wifi in town at the local Western food restaurant, Barrista. The Pastor’s wife and her friend prepare our meals. We are served typical African food: rice, beans and kale. Sometimes we are surprised with Western food, such as chips (fries) and chicken. We are learning Kiswahili this month, so it is nice to continue practicing the little that I learned last month.
Kiswahili:
Shikamo: Greeting (to Elders)
Jambo: General Greeting
Mambo: Casual Greeting (What’s up?)
Poa: I’m fine.
Misuri: I’m good.
Bwenasufia: Praise God!
Asante: Thank you.
Asante sana: Thank you so much!
We live 5km away from the city. It is so beautiful. Everywhere we walk I feel like I am going on a Nature Walk and going somewhere quiet and secluded. We walk on lonely dirt paths up and down steep hills that are covered in puddles of dust. There are green trees everywhere and new plants that are growing. The mountain hills are beautiful and covered in clouds early in the mornings and beautiful to look at. Our security system here is living behind a gated area that is locked and we cannot leave unless we are with a local. We also have a lock on our doors to each building and a lock to our rooms. After living in an area like the Masai Mara last month, I forget to lock up and feel claustrophobic because we can not roam around the land.
I am thankful for the variety of living and so thankful that the Lord created each one of our cultures to display a different part of His character.
It is neat to look back and see the variety of living in different places. I can say I’ve slept on the roof of a church in India, in the jungle of Nepal, on the beach of Thailand, on an island of Malaysia with 17 people in 3 bedrooms, with a mouse in Cambodia, in a hotel in Vietnam, camped next to the Nile River in Uganda, in the Masai Mara with the Masai people, and now a room by myself in Tanzania.
I have eaten so many different things as well. Chipatti, rice, curry, rice, popcorn, mo mo, rice, sushi, octopus, rice, naan, rice, banana chips, tarantula, rice, chicken, dog, rice, banana, matoke, rice, ugali, mandazi, mangoes, rice, beans and kale. There are a lot of different foods but you can see that a majority of the foods are rice.
Some of the foods I do not want to eat for a while are rice and peanut butter. I am not going to complain when it is served to me, but they are not going to be my first choice for any meal for a while.
