Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

This week we encountered some strange weather.  After a couple of weeks hitting into the 100s the weather broke Monday afternoon in a strange wind storm that made visibility about 5 feet due to the sand storms.  Overnight it started to rain and by the next morning the temperature had dropped to the 50s where it stayed almost all week.  It was not until yesterday that the sun peaked out and started to show itself from the cloud cover.  Personally I loved the cooler temperatures though morning baths were eye opening and I had to moderate my power consumption since there was almost no sun all week to recharge the solar system.  In fact the highest percentage of power from the panel that I got was 5 all week. During our "Reading with Barnabas" program this week we featured a video from another daughter, Lily, from my high school friend.   She read the group Dr. Suess' Cat In the Hat.   The kids get really excited when they see me walki...

This last week has been overflowing with activity and so many big things started that I am going to have work them all into the next couple of blogs.  First up is our normal Reading with Barnabas segment.  This week we used two videos.  The first was a second video made by my High School friend's daughter, Lila.  She and her sister have made several more for me to use.  The one I used this week was short, so I added in another video from Storyline Online featuring Reid Scott reading "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" written and illustrated by William Steig.  The kids are loving have someone close to their own age reading books for them.  They also loved watching Sylvester, a donkey and animal they are very familiar with, shaking with fear and hugging his parents.  I also got a couple of videos sent to me via Facebook that I have to download still featuring horses which I think the kids will love seeing someone ride a horse.  I just ho...

The school is officially on a two week break that started on Monday (technically the school closed on the Friday before but normal weekend activities took place leaving me to the break activities starting on Monday).  Part of the two week break will consumed with the required trip out of country.  It really is a wonderful thing the two week break falls at almost the midpoint of the 1/2 year semester. So what do I do with the week between school closing and my going to Kenya?  I clean the school.  It is something I have been wanting to do for a while.  Let's be honest, 40+ kids age 5-8 are going leave a mess.  Most noticeably on the walls at about the 2 foot mark is a consistent discoloration in all the classrooms and the outside walls. They cannot help but but their hands out.  Unfortunately, Tanzanians typically clean the floors on a regular basis.  They sweep the ground nonstop.  But even in medical facilities they don't nor...

Hello everyone,  it has been a while since I could get internet and power at the same time and therefore it has been three weeks since I wrote a blog.  That means this one is going to be long.  Thought about breaking it out but every time I do that one blog gets a lot of attention and the other gets very little. Christmas Staff party Things that I hope to remember to cover: Feelings about this last week in Tanzania Work Done on Site Living inside the new house Building Furniture Eyeglass Program Graduating Kids from the Pre-school Barnabas Injury Report/Update Thanksgiving with Friends Christmas Party at the Site Nduguti Crochet Class Feelings about this last week in Tanzania Going into this I realized I would have split feelings over my life in Tanzania and my life in the USA but that has not been as much of the case as I thought it would be.  While I have made some friends here and couple that are good friendships it does not really compare yet ...