Catching up on a few details.

Due to the weak and intermittent internet access you have all heard so much about, we were unable to insert as many pictures as we could so here they are after the fact. First the school.

Here are the children lining up for morning assembly and the singing of the Tanzanian National Anthem.


Here is Sister Gwynneth and I on my penultimate day of teaching inside the pre-school compound where my classroom was located.

Here are the boys looking spiffy in their school uniforms although in order to obtain this picture, I had to contract with Simon that I would say the uniforms are ugly.

This is the final layout of the penultimate game of Catan played Thursday night before Sally and I left. Note the red line across the board, my winning layout. At the time, I didn't know I'd have a chance to win again the next day!

Saying goodbye to Julietie and remembering the day at her house. We had some great laughs together although some of the Swahili words she taught me I won't be able to use in polite company.

Cloves from the spice tour on Zanzibar.

The beach on Bwejuu. A lot of activity relating to fishing in the morning and evening. On our first night we saw a man on a bicycle cycle down the beach just after dusk with a lit lantern hanging from a pool sticking out over his back fender. It was a beautiful photo but he didn't come the next night so I was unable to capture it with my camera. Later that first night, we saw lights out on the tidal flats and realized he was on his was to fish - pit lamping? This group was catching crab I believe.

I was careful not to take many pictures during my first few weeks at Holy Family School as I was unsure of the etiquette but the last week, with Sister G's consent, Sally and I brought our cameras to class and as you can see, the kids overcame their shyness (not!). They flocked to get their pictures taken but loved even more being able to see themselves on the screen. Getting them to stand still was not possible so there is not one picture of them fully in focus.

This is what the class typically looked like. The computers lined up along one wall with each one surrounded by children. In this class - Simon's Standard 5 - Sally is monitoring the end computer, Smon is helping with the next one and I am watching the two closest to me. For the most part it worked. Their mouse skills were so erratic that they would open applications unknowingly and suddenly they would be a click away from remapping the drives or connecting to a non-existent internet connection.

We will miss the road up to the school. It was a lovely way to start the day. The return trip was in full sun and the hottest part of the day so we don't miss it as much.

Our first weekend with ALGS was a holiday at Peponi, a campground/resort on the coast south of Tanga and north of Pangani. The snorkelling trip out on to a sand island on a how was lovely. The Dhow crew set up temporary shade, the boys circumnavigated the island on their stomachs and we had a wonderful lunch.

The morning routine involved unlocking all the door and padlocks and chains, hauling the bikes outside, filling bottles with drinking water and securing water and food and school supplies to bikes. In general a mechanical inspection was required as nuts and bolts shook themselves loose, mud caked into fenders and rubbed against tires and chains fell off with predictable regularity.

On our last Sunday we attended a Lutheran Church Confirmation service where about 400 people from 3 parishes were to be confirmed. We were there at the invitation of our housekeeper Julietie and all dressed in our best clothes to attend as much of the 6 hour service as we could stand in the heat followed by a meal at her home. The couple next to Sally and I are Alex and Emily, doctors from the UK in Muheza for 10 months. Alex is working on a ward and Emily is working at the clinic in the Diana Centre. Lovely people.

Julietie and her family after the service. She is on the right in her choir uniform. Her son Paulo is the one with the garlands around his neck. His father and brother and other family members fill out the picture.


Here we are at Julietie's home. All the neigbours attended just to see us. I think we were all worried that our presence took away from Paulo's day but Julietie was clearly moved that we came.

Sally using the wooden mortar and pestle to grind spices. She is sitting in a carved African chair which doesn't look particularly stable or comfortable but turned out to be the most comfortable piece of furniture in the room.