24 November 2014

striving for justice in our own home.

We have already written a bit about our home security in Tanzania. As outsiders living in Mwanza, we are more likely to be targeted by those up to no good. Recognizing this situation, our organization requires that we live in a home surrounded by a wall or fence and that a security guard watches over the home at night.

Our home is no exception: the yard is fully enclosed by a wall and gate, and we hired a security company to provide a guard for twelve hours per night, seven days per week.

To us, this level of security felt like a bit much. I mean...are we prisoners in our own home?


17 November 2014

when are you going to have kids?

Okay ladies, by the title of this blog post, you can probably tell this one is for you. But gentlemen, I'd love for you to weigh in on this as well, as this issue - the issue of bringing little human beings into the world - is an issue that affects all of us.



After we got married, Michael and I would often get asked if we were going to have children, when we were going to have children, and how many children we hoped for. Well, at least, it felt like it was often. We would vent about these conversations in the privacy of our own home, as we didn't appreciate such intimate questions coming from anyone and everyone.

I would like to go back and tell that Ashley that those questions were nothing compared to what she would experience in Tanzania.


10 November 2014

graduation in tanzania is a nonstop dance party.

I teach entrepreneurship and the process of establishing and managing a group enterprise in Mwanza, Tanzania. Primarily I work with young mothers who dropped out of school due to pregnancy. Before they come to me for business training, they are sponsored by the NGO I work with (Education for Better Living Organization…or EBLI) to complete a four-month computer literacy program. At the end of the computer curriculum, a graduation ceremony is held at our office to celebrate their achievement.

What does this ceremony look like? Oh, it's a wild scene.


03 November 2014

coping with chaos.

Of course becoming a missioner and moving to a developing world country would be difficult. I expected that. Widespread poverty. Lack of infrastructure. Corruption. Good and decent people struggling to meet their basic needs. It comes with the job description…literally.

But I didn't know it would be like this.

There is a Swahili phrase for it: "shaghala baghala." It means chaos. Utter chaos. Without benefit. Chaos for the sake of chaos. And the shaghala baghala monster is sucking me in.