James at Ngorongoro - Part 1 - On the Crater Rim

This past week we went to the Tanzanian national park at Ngorongoro. Ngorongoro is a collapsed volcano which has formed a large bowl that serves as a natural wildlife preserve. Here is James sitting in the car we used to travel in the park.

The entrance to Ngorongoro.

The trip up the crater rim.

At the top of the rim we saw this view.

Here is James on the rim of Ngorongoro crater.

More about James' trip later....

A Visit with James' Great-Grandmother

Last Sunday we went to see James' great-grandmother, whom we estimate to be 91 years old. She lives in Natiro, which is very high on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Here is Flora with her grandmother.

From left to right: Latifa, the younger sister of Flora's mother, Baraka (the youngest of Flora's brothers), Flora's mother, Naomi, and Naomi's mother Grace (flora's sister).

James discovered the cows behind his great-grandmother's house.

The group gathered outside great grandmother's house.

Some picture of great-grandmother's house.

A view from the front of great-grandmother's house. That is Moshi way down on the plain.

Mwenge University

Recently we attended a seminar for Tanzanian teachers at Mwenge University in Moshi. Here are a few pictures from around the campus:

The building and classroom where we met:

Life in Old Moshi - July 18

The obligatory James-with-a-chicken picture:

Mama and James getting water.

Mama and Naomi halping with the bean harvest (which was meager because of the heavy rains).

Life in Old Moshi - July 11

Mr. Moshi and his wife stopped by for a visit. Mr. Moshi is a geography teacher at Kolila Secondary School.

The rains seemed to have stopped (finally!). Here is the harvest of the beans that did not rot because of the excessive rains. First, the dried plants are beaten to dislodge the beans.

Here are beans and chaff mixed together after the dried shells and plants are removed. Removing the chaff is QUITE a tedious undertaking!

James and mama watching the ongoing harvest of beans.

From left to right Myrene, Present and Rosie sitting on one of the sacks of beans. Rosie is pretending to drive a car.

The leftover shells and plants will be sold as food for cows and goats.

Brave Boy

This past Sunday evening James came down with a very high fever, diarrhea, and vomiting. Because the next day was Sabasaba (a Tanzanian national holiday) there was no medical care available.

On Tuesday we took James to Jaffery Charitable Medical Services, a clinic in Moshi. James was pretty dehydrated, so he had to have an IV to replace the fluids he lost. We returned for a followup on Wednesday, where he had another IV. Both of the following pictures were from Tuesday.

In addition to a total of 3 IVs, James had blood tests done. We want everyone to know he was a very brave boy and did not cry when they gave him the IV and took the blood sample. The doctors and staff took very good care of James and were genuinely concerned about his suffering.

Kilimanjaro

The weather cleared enough to see the two main peaks of Kilimanjaro. The largest is called Kibo and has a beautiful snowy appearance.

The other peak is Mawenzi, and has a more rugged appearance. Even on a clear day it is hard to see the features - usually it looks like a dark rock.

There is a story about Kibo and Mawenzi and why they are so different.....

Once upon a time there were twin sisters named Kibo and Mawenzi. Both sisters were very beautiful, but quite different in personality. Kibo was hard-working and conscientious, while Mawenzi was lazy and irresponsible.

In time both sisters married and had families of their own. One day, Mawenzi irresponsibly let her cooking fire go out (this is as serious as putting a dent in the family car). Mawenzi went to see her sister Kibo to obtain a burning piece of charcoal to start her cooking fire. Kibo gave it to her in a container and told her to go home quickly before it went out. Mawenzi started home, but along the way she met her friends and started talking. The talked for so long that the fire went out, so Mawenzi had to return to her sister.

Kibo was upset that Mawenzi had let the fire go out, but gave her another and admonished her strongly not to let it go out again. Again Mawenzi started for home, but this time she stopped to rest and fell asleep beside the road, where the fire went out again.

Once more, Mawenzi returned to her sister Kibo for another fire. But this time Kibo was so angry at Mawenzi's irresponsibility that she grabbed a mwiko (a large wooden spoon used for cooking) and chased Mawenzi home while beating her on the head.

And that is why Kibo is so beautiful and Mawenzi is so ugly.

Matemboni Primary School

Matemboni Primary School is a government primary school in Old Moshi. This is where Flora attended school when she was a little girl