Life in Old Moshi - June 10

Here is a picture of James’ first encounter with chungu (black army ants). The ants are the small black dots to James’ left:

These ants do not build permanent mounds. Instead, they bivouac constantly, and only settle briefly when the queen is ready to lay eggs. Since the entire group constantly travels, the queen is also small so she can travel. In the above picture this group was traveling behind the house of Flora’s mother from raiding a nearby shamba (farm) for bugs, which they were carrying to be food.

Below is a picture of the time James managed to catch a kuku (chicken):

A meal of cooked bananas in a meat sauce – a staple of the Chagga people who come from the Kilimanjaro region (Flora is Chagga):

James feeding a goat that Flora’s mother keeps behind her house:

A picture of Flora and her mother in the cooking area behind the house:

For our first few days here people have been coming to see us, so there has been no need to travel. This coming week we plan to start visiting people and places, so please pray for our safe travel.