I got back in Singida around noon on Thursday local time and meant to get right on a blog entry that afternoon. But have you ever stared at a blank page with so much to say at one moment and no clue how to condense it all down to one writing or where to start….
Tag: Tanzania
The Baobab Tree proverb
When bringing teams over to Tanzania, they always want to take pictures of the baobab tree (I have sometimes called it the balboa tree because that is how many locals pronounce it). Various species can grow to be 98 feet tall and 112 feet in diameter and they have been carbon dated at 1275 years…
The Walking Retread
Sorry for the play on the TV show name but it seemed appropriate for today’s discussion. As I have talked about some in past blogs, one of the things I get to do a lot of is walk. I normally walk 5 miles (total-3 at the site and 2 in town to the bus station)…
Memorial Day Overseas
Wow, Memorial day is tomorrow and to be perfectly honest until I started seeing all the Facebook posts I had not realized it was here. This is probably one of the more significant “holidays” to me other than Easter and Christmas. More so than Independence Day or even Veteran’s day and the ever growing list…
A second visit from the states
Had a second visitor from the USA this weekend. Rob Schadt with http://www.pommernvillagechoir.org and http://www.soul-lit.com (spiritual poetry) came for a quick visit (arrived Saturday and left Monday morning). This was interesting for me because William is stateside for his daughter’s graduation from Wofford, so this was the first visit I was responsible for. Fortunately almost…
It had to happen-first Hospital Visit
I am going to cover two parts of this out of context because I want to bring in the positive items first then we will deal with the less fun activities. The first good activity for me is that my blood sugar was really low this morning-low enough I treated myself to a chocolate bar…
Videos, Visitors and Care Packages Oh My!
It has been some happening weeks here in Tanzania since my return or more importantly the return of my laptop from Nairobi. After getting a week behind in my work with the repair of my laptop and then the trials and tribulations in getting it back in my hands, I had to spend a large…
Oh the fun of visas
Before I actually get started this week I am going to deviate-I know I do that a lot- and make a request for assistance. Rev. William Makali and his wife Martha would like to come stateside to see their daughter graduate college. This is not an FDM USA sponsored trip so he has to raise…
Learning a Language-I promise this did not start as a gripe session
Ok this was a blog I was holding off on as long as possible hoping that God would answer my prayers in an overwhelming positive (for me) fashion. But apparently He really wants me to work to learn this-Kiswahili. I have spent hours every day working through my grammar books and dictionaries. I have created…
Communication and Banking
Before I get started on this week’s blog entry, let me thank everyone who helped make the first Barnabas Bear Newsletter a huge success. I am hearing stories of a Chick-Fil-A in New York that printed the newsletter at their cost and gave it to customers purchasing a kid’s meal. Another story from California is…
Steve and Barnabas 