Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

Welcome back to Conversations with Barnabas Bear. A couple of items up front, the conversation is fictional (hopefully that was obvious) but are pulled from some of my conversations and observations during my time here in Tanzania.  The main purpose of these is to help everyone get to know the people in Tanzania a little bit better while having a little bit of fun.  These stories are told from Barnabas' point of view. We are headed back home.  It has been a weird year with the multiple trips home, having one ministry end and a new one startup.  It has been even more hectic than normal with Steve (I understand it confuses some when I call him dad) getting hit by the motorcycle in Arusha then coming back to work on the solar of the headmaster house only to have to make a last minute trip back to town to get a part for the inverter.  He was really busy wiring the house, doing final inspections on buildings under construction and saying goodbye to everyone. ...

Merry Christmas a little early.  Yes, it is that time of year though I am pretty certain you folks in the States are much more aware of that than I am.  My hotel in Arusha has a 1-foot high tree with presents under it.  That is the only decoration I have seen and it is interesting since the owners, who live at the hotel, are Muslim. At this time when everyone is busy trying to buy presents, trying all the various flavors of the Christmas season and of course for us Clemson fans, getting ready for the playoffs.  I always like to take a blog and remind people about alternative gift giving.  There are pro groups at this like Heifer International and Samaritan's Purse.  But even small groups like to remind you that you can give a gift to them in honor of someone.   In that vein, I have made up some JPG images of a one-sheet card you fold into a quarter fold card.  The idea is simple.  If you want to give a gift in honor of someone t...

This week in the blog (yes, I know I am not actually getting them out weekly right now) I wanted to talk a little about life at the new site.  This project is very different for me because I am currently not hands-on involved with any of the actual work going on.  Instead of focusing on budgeting for the next year, participating in the long-range planning of capital projects, learning about my new community and walking with a group of 20 something children most of the time.   view from front of house First, let’s talk about the weather some.  I cannot get a defined answer on what is rainy season here.  In almost all the areas I have visited in Tanzania there are a defined set of months when you know you can get rain and months you know there will be no rain.  It is their version of summer and winter.  Exceptions apply of course, especially along the coast where you are more likely to get rains throughout the year.  In Yulansoni it was lat...