Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

Again I find myself struggling to write something.  This time the problem is more the topic I want to breach.  Memorial Day versus Veteran’s Day.  This is Memorial Day weekend and I have often reposted several items discussing why being thanked for our service to the country makes a veteran uncomfortable on Memorial Day.  The arguments are often articulate, well researched and really don’t help because they don’t really convey just how difficult it is.  I understand everyone wants to show respect, and consider how many over the years have not it is great to get that.  This year it has been especially hard for me as this is thirty years since I lost my brothers in arms and despite what any of the mind doctors say it does not get easier it in some ways has gotten harder. So I am decided to express my feelings in a form that does sometimes help me.  My writing.   I wrote the following as a possible chapter in my book that would provide a...

I have to admit that despite trying to create recurring article pieces for the blog, I struggle with what to write about almost every week.  This week for instance I just don't have a lot to discuss on my mind.  So I will do one of those multi-topic type posts that hopefully cover most of the wanderings of my mind. First up is a big thank you to a private donation so that we could purchase a brand new binocular microscope with an LED light to take advantage of the solar power generation.  The picture is of Gifty testing it out.   Second some pictures from my recent trip (a month ago) to Arusha.  These are travel pictures and one features a Masai hut style home. This last week I finished up working on the door jamb to the medical ward clinic.  I am always amazed that every door jamb will incur termite damage and need to be replaced but all the door frames are made not to be removed.  To remove one you have to pul...

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.  I would love some feedback on these so I know if I should continue and if so what types of conversations Barnabas needs to be having.  The stories are told from Barnaba’s point of view and because of that they are in English though I try to reflect some of the problems with the English translation. Meet Neema (which means Grace) and Chiku (which means chatterer or in some dictionaries it says canary).  They were along the dirt road Dad walks for exercise.  They were out herding the goats and cows for their family.  They are sisters and are about a year apart.  Chiku on the right ...

This week is my couple of days off in Arusha to recharge, eat up the almost American style food, have no troubles finding diet soda and so on.  It is rare to get a day off during the work week/weekend as there are so many things to be taken care of especially on weekends.   So I wanted to take a weekend and half a week in Arusha to relax and do some things I enjoy.  Oh what a great plan if only it worked.  The weekends before I went to Arusha the internet was so horrible in town I was having trouble taking my continuing education tests.  I have to have my 30 PDHs for my engineering license by the end of June.  I started going through the online courses and taking the tests about a month ago so I would have no problem.  So far I have completed the studying for 5 of the courses but have only been able to complete one test.  So that got added to the Arusha weekend only the internet only lasts 15 minutes and I have to restart the test each time it re...

Some kids drawn to our worship music I don't know if I have talked much about church at the village or in Singida.  I know I have mentioned Arusha Vineyard Church during my visits to Arusha.  To be honest, I have never liked going to the local churches in my area.  The first reason is obvious, my Swahili is not very good and the services are in the local language.  Again obviously (at least I hope it is obvious), that is my fault not theirs.   Second reason is I get a strong internal focus from these churches in that everything I do understand is mostly about what they are doing for themselves with very little to nothing mentioned about community outreach.  Some of this may be to my not being fluent in Swahili but some of it has to do with my coming from a church that has a 50/50 focus at least with a full 50% of the focus on community outreach/service.  It is something that must be mentioned that I know not all churches are this way in Tanz...

Conversations with Barnabas #2 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.  I would love some feedback on these so I know if I should continue and if so what types of conversations Barnabas needs to be having.  The stories are told from Barnaba’s point of view and because of that they are in English though I try to reflect some of the problems with the English translation. Today Dad is busy building a new chair for the house.  It is apparently a complicated chair because he has been building it all day.  It is about 6 PM and the sun is getting low on the horizon even though it will be another hour before it sets.  This has been ...