Settling In

By Jacob -

Jason on foot

A view from the porch

We are upstairs

Silas is pretty excited to have his bike back

Silas is getting bigger and is actually helpful with some things

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A Long Week

By Jacob -
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I am lying here on the bed next to Carmen, Esther, and Tivoli. The day has started and it is getting hot outside. Fortunately, there is a breeze and we do not have a power outage so the fan can keep running. It seems we get our daily (or more) power outage which lasts anywhere from a few minutes to five hours. I don't think you realize how nice it is to have consistent, reliable power until you just don't. The boys are outside somewhere, and Dinah is cleaning the house. The sound of construction and the occasional horn or loud music overwhelms the sounds of bustling Dar Es Salaam. Earlier this week on Sunday afternoon we moved across the city to a two bedroom apartment making our commute to language training a leisurely five-minute walk. Since then, we have found a fridge, borrowed two couches, and bought mattresses to sleep on and mosquito nets. We are quickly learning our way around the city! Jason contracted a fever, stomach ache, and runny stool on Monday. Thou...
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Navigating the Shortcuts

By Jacob -
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Getting to work has been an adventure of its own. Sometimes I drive, but lately I have been walking or riding my bicycle. It is a great  way to go over all the Swahili greetings (there are many) and get some fresh air (or be thoroughly dusted by a large passing vehicle). Many people walk great distances as few own cars and the public transportation does not go everywhere.  Below I have taken a video of my bicycle ride to work. I hope you enjoy! Some Blog Changes: I have aimed at keeping up a weekly blog but it is difficult to find the time to continue this aspiration. As such, we will be changing to a bi-weekly schedule.  Please let us know if there is anything you are curious about and would like to see a post on! We appreciate your feedback. We want to keep you involved in what we do even though we are half way across the world! Be Praying This week I am in Nairobi, Kenya (four hour drive North), visiting the MAF Kenya team in a day of prayer....
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Haydom

By Jacob -
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Tuesday last week I flew out with another MAF pilot, Kirstein, to Haydom. Our schedule was full with flights out to even more remote villages, and we would not return back to Arusha until Friday. On one of the afternoons we needed to haul to the maximum capacity of the aircraft, and so I was left on the ground.  As I waited to catch a few pictures of Kirstein taking off to the villages, these two girls kept begging me to take a picture of them so they could see themselves. They were quite pleased, and a little shy, when I showed them my camera screen. After he was off, I began my hike to the large hill beside the town of Haydom. Having grown up in the mountains of Idaho, I miss the tranquility and peace of being in the wild. Being away from busy city life gives me time to think and process. I began to contemplate how different Tanzania is from the world I grew up in. For instance, it took me multiple visits to the Haydom airstrip before noticing the ridicu...
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A Testament to Prayer

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On November 20th, only a few weeks ago, what began as a joyful welcoming of child into the world quickly turned into a terrible nightmare. One of which we would find ourselves caught in middle of. Helping a Friend My friend, Bernadetta was due and as a midwife, I regularly visited her for checkups and to help her with labour education. Unfortunately she knew very little as there are no checkups during the last 4-6 weeks of pregnancy and there are no childbirth education classes. Historically, giving birth to a child is the number one cause of death of women in Tanzania. As such, there is also a lot fear surrounding child birth.  It was 11:30pm when I received a call from Bernadetta's husband. Her water had broken and I had agreed to drive them to the hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital it was determined she would likely need a cesarean but they agreed to start with a pitocin induction. It was getting late (or early) and not being allowed to be with her I returned h...
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