Kwa Heri – Goodbye & Habari – Hello

Saying goodbye is never an easy thing. It always leaves me in a funky state that paralyzes me for some time. It is not a fun thing to do, to say goodbye to people you love and know. Over the last year, we have done our fair share of goodbyes. We said goodbye to our house, our jobs, our food, our belongings, our friends, our family, our country, our life. It was a temporary goodbye though, until we return from our time abroad. We welcomed a new stage of unknown, a new journey to another way of living life. Now we know what that journey looks like, and today we said goodbye again to the life we had come to know in Chamwino.

Over the last couple of days, we have been trying to grasp the reality of knowing that we are leaving this life in Chamwino. We are at a loss of words to describe what is like to not know if we will ever see friends from Chamwino and Tanzania again. We can’t just come back in eight months or two years, heck we are not sure if we will ever be able to come back again. As we often say here, if God wishes we will see Chamwino again. We are going to miss those we came to know, love and depend on so much while here. There are many people who felt like they have become family to us. As we said our goodbye’s, we were told that we are relatives here and no longer just friends. It is difficult to comprehend this when we have been spending almost every day for the past eight months with our closest friends in Chamwino. Nicole mentioned in the last post about the bibi and her two granddaughters; there are many others who we can’t imagine leaving and not knowing their daily happenings. After all, we can’t just skype or email or check their facebook. It is people like our friend Nasson, who have enriched our lives beyond what we thought was possible when people from different countries, languages, cultures or continents meet. Nasson is one of those people that you just want to be around every day. He has this joy in his life that just radiates and permeates everyone around him. He has a gift in telling a monotonous story that would normally be a 10 second explanation but turns it into a five minute story that has us bent over laughing the entire time. He is a man with a very good heart and soul. He has brought so much joy into our lives and there will be a big void without him.

We knew this day would come, but there was no way to prepare for it. We have gone through many different emotions. How different will things be for us when we return to America? We have our routine here, but life in America does not operate like life here. The everyday basics that must happen do not work in our American culture. Greeting all of our neighbors in the morning is not necessary. Will it be difficult transitioning to a place where it is not normal to ask every person you meet on the way to work how their morning is, how they woke up, how their family woke up, had they eaten breakfast yet or to give my greetings to their father? It is automatic for us to ask this now, but soon it won’t even need to enter my head. Greeting elders in the respectful manner by saying shikamo (shee-ka-mo) is completely absent when greeting elders back home; but it is automatic for me to say this and feel like I must say this to my parents or grandparents. It will be the basics that will really be difficult to transition from like saying asante (thank you) and pole sana (very sorry) in English instead of Kiswahili. I have already made several mistakes in switching fully back to English like the other day when I was making bookings for our hostel and I finished with saying asante instead of thank you. Those will be the fun mistakes and rewards in a way for merging as much as possible into another culture and language.

We both would love to stay longer, but we can’t and that is when it is time to stop looking at the grass on the other side of the fence and take in everything that has been given to us. We are so incredibly thankful for our time here. Thankful for the people we have come to know. Thankful for the people we will miss.

However, we are also so excited to return because home is where we came from and honestly where we belong. The other day, we saw a group of women we know sitting together in a circle and picking out the rocks in rice that they were preparing for guests coming to town. As I watched them chatting up some conversation that was probably just small talk I was reminded again that they have something we don’t, a sense of belonging. They were just picking rocks out of rice, but what was really going on was a group of friends sitting and sharing their lives together. We miss that. We have been stretched beyond our limits in more ways than one, we have been given so much from the people we have met, enriched beyond our imaginations, we have gone to the lowest of lows and the highest of highs; and yet we know that without a doubt we have a home in another place and that is where we our community is. We long to be back with our family and friends, with our community of people that has shaped and developed us over the last 20 plus years of our lives.

We left America to go on a journey to find out more of who we are as individuals and as a couple and in hopes that we had something to offer too. We found out a lot about ourselves and made relationships that will be in our hearts forever. Kama Mungu akipenda tutarudi tena- if God wishes we will return again.

Last night a good friend talked to us about how when we stay in a place we cannot fully leave as we will always leave part of heart in that place. So today we start our journey back to where part of our hearts are and we leave a piece of ourselves here. Tutaonana Tanzania, tutakumisi wewe kabisa. See you later Tanzania we will miss you for sure.

Leaving

Four days now I have been trying to figure out what to say. First we left our internet in Dar, then we ran out, sorry mom and dad for getting cut off while skyping, and now I just find myself with a loss of words. We have three days left here in Chamwino and four until we leave Tanzania. Will life be different when we return? Have we as people been changed, molded by the experiences we have had and the people we have come to know?

As is often the case in my life, I feel now that I have more questions than answers. I was calling it the “grey affect” for awhile. Meaning life is always a lot more of grey than either black or white, that both truly exist in every place. Now I think I might not say grey, I would say colorful. Yes, grey is too dull and while no place is without its shares of both joy and hardships every place is colorful and full of life.

Saying goodbye is difficult. It’s always difficult right? Man, it was hard to leave Seattle and then again to leave Colorado. It has been hard being away and now it’s hard to leave here. For those of you that have followed our blog with us during this time we are very thankful. It is our greatest hope that you have had the opportunity to see a glimpse of a place that exists very far from your home and that here too there are people similar to yourselves moving forward with you in this thing called life.

In a short summery I wanted to tell you about a family that has touched our hearts here.

The child is called Stella. She is nine years old and the older sister to a rambunctious four year girl named Lina. Stella first stood out to us at Sunday school because of her boldness in participating in class and the incredible skills she had in leadership. She was not shy in correcting our Swahili or inviting us to her home.

As it turns out we had actually already heard of Stella two year ago, but had forgotten. Two years ago Stella and Lina’s Mama died and we had heard of them through our good friend who now resides in Seattle. The girls are now being raised by their Bibi (grandmother) and Babu (grandfather). This is heart breaking, but if I can take a moment to highlight the Bibi. This Bibi is such a leader in the community. She along with another woman leads one of the traditional women’s music groups here in the church. She is a presence here for sure.

The two girls are always so well cared for and as an observer they appear to be so well adjusted. They are, if I can simply, say beautifully Gogo. They speak both Swahili and Gogo and have been given a great gift from their Bibi; that is a deep sense of belonging.

Some of my most favorite memories come from visiting their home. Once while singing with the children an elderly woman came and led us all in traditional Gogo children’s songs. Another time the Bibi attempted to teach us more Gogo through Swahili and we both thought our heads were going to pop! Other times we simply got to be with this family.

This is why it is hard to say goodbye. Stella told me once that because her Mama died I could be her mama in a way. While no person will ever fully replace her mama I was honored to in some small way be part of this family. Brian and I called their Bibi, our Bibi. In just a few days we won’t be around to visit Stella and Leena and their Bibi. In walking down the streets we won’t be greeted by hugs from these children and many others.

We can only hope that our lives have been forever changed from these people, that in knowing them we are better people.

When we recognize the unlimited amount of blessing and opportunity we have in our lives, how do we live differently? Because somewhere in this world there are people so incredibly different and yet so incredibly similar to us and we all need each other.

Bibi leading Muheme music.

Stella in 2008 when we first visited.

Lina and I with Mwalimu Anna.

Stella leading the children in Gogo music.

One of our favorite pictures, an action shot of her smile. She is the one in the orange.

Children’s Center Running

Today we have had the privileged opportunity to spend the entire day with the children’s center. This is the second week of operation for the center and it was a joy to see it in progress. Currently there are 50 children coming per day; 25 come to the morning class and 25 come to the afternoon class. All 50 children are united for lunch in the middle of both sessions.

The community surrounding these children is so beautiful. We have been so encouraged to see the families taking part in the center by escorting their children and obtaining uniforms for them. There is one child in particular that we know quite well from our time here in Chamwino and it was so fun to watch her in class. In other settings she is really quite shy but today she has been smiling all day and participating in everything!

As there is external funding coming in, this center is able to provide nutritious food for the children two times per day. It appears this is a big hit with the children as they all kept telling me how sweet the porridge was this morning. In Swahili the phrase is ‘tamu sana’ (tah-moo sah-nah) meaning so sweet or so good!

The local team working on this center has put together a schedule that includes basic reading skills and math skills as well as arts such as music to encourage the preservation of traditional Gogo culture. Some of the children only speak their mother language which is Gogo so the class is taught in mix of both Swahili and Gogo. For the children only speaking Gogo learning Swahili so young will help them transition easier into Primary School as it is all in Swahili. Here is a sneak peak at the center in action…

Children looking through story books.

Singing a greetings song with the morning class.

Practicing writing on locally made chalk boards.

A close up of a child writing the letter A.

Working with the children as they practice writing.

Washing hands before morning porridge.

Again washing hands.

'Tamu sana' so sweet is this porridge.

Some of the girls enjoying their porridge- 'uji' (oo jee).

Class time.

Counting in Swahili.

Again counting.

Using the movable chalk board so on hot days class can take place outside under a tree.

picking grass to make small brooms to help clean up.

Kilimanjaro

So here I am, listening to a little 311- Amber and looking at pictures from our Kilimanjaro trip with Chris and Meggie. Has it really been over a week now since we summited? Where does time go when we aren’t paying attention?

To date, I Nicole, have only climbed two large mountains, Mt. Rainer in Washington and now Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I guess the saying is ‘go big or go home’ huh?! Both trips however, have had a similar effect as I was waking up at midnight to start the trek for the summit. The effect or maybe better said, the thought, is always what the heck am I doing? How did I get here? Then we are off and the sun is rising six and half hours later and we are close to the top. Pretty amazing.

I think it is safe to say that as a group, our thought was that this trip was more about the journey than the destination. This has somewhat become the phrase we are using to describe our experience here in Tanzania too. Anyway, we took the Macheme route which is a six day trip in total. It felt like we climbed up one side of the mountain and then walked all the way around to the other side to summit on day five. Every day we hiked about six to seven hours. On day three, we reached about 15,000 feet elevation and then promptly hiked back down to 12,000 feet to spend the night. It felt a little disheartening going down when we knew the point was to go up, but again it was about the journey.

We started the climb to the summit at midnight on the fifth day and reached the summit about 7:00am. The summit hike was more difficult than I had expected, but truly incredible on top. Oh yeah and this earned us the honor of being able to say we killed the Kili! Coming down was actually harder than going up, although it did feel good at first. After a dissension of about 8,000 feet we spent one final night on the mountain and then hiked out in the morning bidding the world’s tallest free standing mountain goodbye.

In pictures here is a glimpse of the trip.

Kili from our hotel pre-climb.

Brian and Chris acting as porters, day one.

Mmm... good good food every day!

Headed up day two.

Night three after reaching 15,000 feet and now back at 12,000 feet, still strong!

View of the mountain from our tent night three.

Our way back up to 15,000 feet day four.

Why we enjoy these two so much!

Chris and our porters beating the clouds, day four.

Summit! Or fake summit. We still had like 45 minutes to walk around the crater to the actual summit.

6:45 am Continuing on past the false summit

7:30am Actual summit, morning five!

Chris and Meggie ahead walking down past the glaciers

Nicole and our guide walking above the clouds among the glaciers

A rest just before heading back down.

View of the mountain on our hike down day six.

Mushrooms on the way down.

Drinking the Kili after hiking the Kili!

Yep, they climbed and drank the Kili too.

Guest Post

Over the last few months we have been blessed with hosting eight our of dear friends from home here in Chamwino. The following is a post about their trip to Tanzania from Chris and Meggie. It was a joy to have these friends and hard to see them go. So enjoy a bit about Chamwino via the words of someone new!

Our arrival to Tanzania was like being  introduced to the Hickorys 2.0. Brian and Nicole have grown and changed in amazing ways.  Meggie and I lived with Brian and Nicole for 18 months in Seattle and we got to know them pretty well before they moved to Tanzania.  When we were picked up at the Dar es Salaam airport, we immediately noticed  Brian’s scruffy beard and that they were both very tan.  Of course they were the same friendly, outgoing friends that we knew, but they have grown older and wiser and their love and appreciation for each other has increased.

Dar es Salaam was very uncomfortable for Meggie and me.  We were immediately greeted by a wave of muggy heat and, as the day cooled, the mosquitoes attacked. To make matters worse, our camera was stolen before we even made it back to our evening’s accommodations.   We were more than excited to leave the next day for Chamwino village.

Our arrival to Chamwino was in sharp contrast to Dar. We were greeted by the familiar faces of the Chamwino Five who visited Seattle and also by the ever-welcoming nature of the Gogo people. In Chamwino we were able to breathe easy and walked throughout the village in comfort, except  for the fact that our face muscles began to cramp from smiling too much.  While walking the dirt trails of the village, we were greeted by just about every single person we passed. It was absolutely amazing meeting everyone that Brian and Nicole had become friends with and meeting everyone that they knew. They knew the names of dozens of little kids as they ran up to us to greet us either in Gogo or in basic English. These greetings were some of the first evidence of how Brian and Nicole have come alongside people in Chamwino village and created relationships, friendships, and developed trust.

Brian and Nicole taught us to say some basic greetings: Mi-hi-yin-yee , MBuk-wen-yee, Solo-wen-yoo, Sheek-a-mo, and Chilo Mwaka.  Whenever we said a greeting or responded in Swahili or Gogo, we would receive huge smiles of appreciation.  As Brian and Nicole taught us more language and introduced us to more people, we could see the value of their presence in Chamwino.  They were building the foundation of an educational relationship, where we could learn and glean from each other: ideas about culture, education, worship, dance and music, relationships, and life in general.  It was about the Dialogue, the conversation between cultures and being in relationship with our Neighbor.

We were invited to many peoples’ homes and ate such great food.  I learned that “fat” was a compliment meaning “healthy.”  While Brian and Nicole are both lean and in great shape, we complimented the Chairman of the village saying, “Thank you for keeping Brian and Nicole so fat!  We know that our friends have been taken care of while they have been away from us.”

Lastly, to prove that Brian and Nicole are indeed healthy (I said healthy, not fat!), we hiked up to 19,340 feet (5,000 feet higher than Mt. Rainier) to see how they would do.  Pamoja (together), we summitted Kilimanjaro via 6 days on the Machame Route.  Brian and Nicole never cease to amaze us with what they can do.

I know that Brian and Nicole are ready to come home to America, and Meggie and I are already excited to see them again, but I am sad for the relationships which they have built as they are stretched across the world.  It does make me happy to know that so many have been blessed by the presence of the Hickorys.

Children’s Center

In the middle of our whirlwind life here in Tanzania, we are attempting to try and keep this blog updated as we are failing to do with so many of our good friends from Seattle visiting us for the past month and a half. We have been able to share some of our fun experiences and stories, but definitely not all of them. Even worse, we have not been able to blog about the progress of the children’s center in Chamwino either. So, as much as I want to share our latest and greatest adventure which led us above 19,000 ft, I will hold that off for a later post so we can give an update on what is going on with the children’s center project.

As mentioned in previous blog posts, the community is currently working on starting up a children’s center that will provide pre-school educational classes for disadvantaged children in the community. We previously mentioned that elders of the community and children’s center team were going through the process of selecting 50 children for the pre-school program. It is now finished and all 50 children have been selected. Last week, an informational meeting was held with all the parents or family relatives to discuss the program of the pre-school prior to it starting in the beginning of April. The meeting gave the parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles an opportunity to be involved in the development of the pre-school program. They were informed about the schedule, curriculum and other essentials about the pre-school program, but also hey were asked to give their input as well. For example, it is very important for children to have uniforms here because it gives them a since of unity and pride, but it is expensive to buy uniforms. So the parents were asked if they wanted their children to have uniforms and if so, how will they pay for them. The group of parents sat around for a while discussing if they really wanted uniforms and if so how could they pay for them. They eventually decided they would like the children to have uniforms and would work together to find out how they can all purchase them. Once that was decided, they discussed what colors they wanted the uniforms to be. This is just one example of how the parents or relatives were brought together to be encouraged, informed and involved. It was really powerful to see the community working together to create this program for their kids.

After the meeting, we had the kids all line up and get their pictures taken individually and then they were given a little gift from Chris and Meggie who brought tooth brushes and tooth paste for each child. The kids pretty much could not be anymore cuter while smiling shyly for a picture and holding onto their toothbrush in one hand and toothpaste in the other. Once all the children had gotten their picture and little gift, we had all the parents and children get together for a group photo.

Group shot of the kids with their parents or relatives

One other interesting exercise we have been able to take part in is visiting other pre-school programs in the village. It has been particularly encouraging to learn that this is not the only children’s center, but in fact there are three similar pre-school/children’s centers in Chamwino. All of them cater to different types of demographics in the community. One center costs a lot of money, but has two teachers who have created a wonderful learning environment with a lot of educational resources. Those who can afford it send their children there. There is a second center just down the road that seems to operate on a lower budget, but is run by a professional teacher with a great learning environment. The third is run by a Pentecostal church that offers a pre-school program for children from all around the community in efforts to meet the needs of families who want to begin their children’s educational learning early in preparation for kindergarten and primary school.

In visiting each one of these programs, we learned invaluable ideas and lessons from them. We were able to hear about how each program was started, where they have had success and hardship, what lessons they have learned and where they are planning on going in the future. Being able to observe these programs was a big learning tool for all of us involved with the children’s center. It was also an opportunity for us to inform them about the St. Peters children’s center starting up and share our ideas and visions for the pre-school program. At the end of the day, we were all able to learn from each other. It was pretty clear that everyone was in recognition that we can all work together in efforts to provide better education to their children.

Well, that is about it for me in this blog post. It has been long, but felt like we needed to get something out to update on what is going on with the children’s center.  Our next blog will be from a guest blogger about their time here in Tanzania with us. I know it will be spectacular.

Chamwino the bee hive

This week we have the extreme pleasure of having Chris and Meggie Inouye visiting us. This makes a total of three good friends staying with us as Karen Murphey is with us for another week before she leaves. We said goodbye to our friend Nicole Ide, who was with us for about a month while waiting for some visa issues to clear up in Zimbabwe where she is living for 18 months. It is hard to believe we have had eight people in total come visit us from America and this is not including two Tanzanian friends who flew from America back to Tanzania to visit their family and friends. We are beyond blessed to have such amazing friends in our lives who somehow thought it would be fun to travel all the way to Africa just to come hang out with us. Even more so, we truly humbled by the people here in Chamwino who have extended their welcome to all of our friends in true Chamwino style.

The past four weeks have been a whirlwind for us. Prior to February, our days were pretty consistent and operated on routine. Since then, we have been giving all of our visitors the grand tour of Chamwino. I feel like we are little busy bees, showing our friends all around the bee hive. We are flying all around showing them the neighborhood, eating with our good friends in the bee hive, saying hello to other bees we meet along the way, meeting with the queen bee here and there for business, traveling outside the nest to other areas, and then going back into the bee hive once again to mingle with more bees and show off our new bee friends we met outside the hive.  Yes in a way we are feeling like busy bees flying around sharing how this community operates.

In essence, Chamwino in one way or another is like a bee hive. Where everyone knows each other and they know where everyone is. You are always asking, “How is your day?” “Where have you come from?” “Where are you going?” “How is your home?” If you leave the bee hive, everyone knows you have left the bee hive. If you bring back new bees, everyone wants to meet the new bees. It is all one big working community. This is how it has been for us. We have been bringing our friends (new bees) to Chamwino and they are getting to meet the people in the bee hive.