Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

I decided to save this story for a week so Doug and Frank can get home and forget all about checking my blog regularly before I tell it.  There is something you may need to get used to or accept if you come to visit our school.  The kids in our village area think all white guys are named Steve.  Even if they don't think it, they will run up to you yelling "Steve" until they get close enough to see you are not me. The twins getting ready for their debate speeches I have not encouraged it, did not even realize it was happening until Doug went for his morning walk and all the kids came up running yelling my name until they got close enough to realize he was not me.  I still did not realize how deep it ran until Frank started to talk to them and they kept calling him Steve.   The kids chant my name as the van rolls into the school because I am normally there to greet them when they arrive. Don't get me wrong, now that I know it is happening I love i...

It has been a busy couple of weeks here in Kiruani.   Doug and Frank from Blessed2BlessU Ministries, Inc. (the group I am working with to help build the school) came over from the USA to visit the site and set in motion our next big journey.   There are a lot of stories from these two weeks.   I cannot do them all justice in just one blog so I am going to split them up over a couple of weeks, but I am going to share a sample of the photos of some of our activities.   Frank and Doug with our teachers-Yes I am wearing my championship shirt on Friday like I am supposed to Doug with new friend Doug talking to students Frank talking to students With our Pre-School classes with our Standard Classes Normally when they come over, we spend most of our time in the valley with a side trip to see another project someone requested or to visit an orphanage they have connections to.   Normally they also stay at a house down the “road” a li...

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...