I have not seen a snake

I'm so happy that I have not had a snake encounter in the year that we have been in Tanzania. No snake has slithered across my path. I've heard snake stories and we saw a dead one that a Maasai had killed when we were camping in the Maasai plain, but no up-close-and-personal snake meetings for me.










My recent visit to the local Snake Park was very educational. There are many venomous snakes indigenous to the area. Black Mamba, Green Mamba, Spitting Cobra and various vipers. Pythons and boas too.





Our guide assured me that this
Rufous Beaked Snake was harmless.





The baby crocodiles were so cute! This guy was 3 years old. He was very active and had a mouthful of small very pointy teeth.













They grow up to be one of these guys, which aren't so cute. His teeth were BIG and pointy. I'm definitely not planning to go swimming in any rivers around here!!

Pamoja Ministries Office

Welcome to the Offices of Pamoja Ministries. Please join me on a short tour.


The office building sits on the lower portion of the property, in the southwest corner. Most of the buildings on the property were part of a larger Polish refugee camp dating back to WWII. The refugee camp was dismantled in the 1950's and the largest portion is now an Agricultural College. Pamoja Ministries moved onto this site 10 years ago and have updated and renovated all the buildings over time. An addition was added to the front of the original structure several years ago and served mainly as a storage facility with a couple of living quarters. The most recent renovation turned the building into a very functional office block and now all the missionaries work from there instead of home-offices.

The renovations are not completely finished but we all moved in November in any case. The exterior of the building will eventually be stuccoed.

I am the Office Administrator and my desk is in the front reception area. The offices of the Director of Operations and the Executive Director open from the reception area.


A narrow hallway connects the reception area to the offices in the back. The hallway houses our water filter and coffee maker. There are two washrooms and two storage rooms. This area will eventually have a counter top and tiles applied.



In the back, there is a finance office, meeting room, an
IT room and 6 cubicles. As you can see, we are a very
happy, friendly group of people. Kim (in pink) is our Bookkeeper and Lis (in white) is the Marketing Manager. Jacob (at his desk) is the Director of Leadership Training and Corporate Relations Manager. Three others also work in this section.



Jeff has his workspace among computers and printers in the IT room. In this picture you can see a portion of the drawers and cupboards he designed for the room. These were built on-site by the Tanzanian carpenter on staff.



I hope you enjoyed the tour. Please drop by anytime. We are in Tengeru, just past Mountain Village Lodge and on the right before you get to the Agricultural College.

This Morning

When I woke up at 5 o'clock this morning the rain was ending. I could hear it pattering lightly on our metal roof and dripping from the trees. A couple of roosters were tuning up and a bush baby shrieked. Day and night colliding.

After a short debate with myself, which I won, I climbed out from under the mosquito net to face the day. Our polished cement floor made it easy for me to creep around quietly and not waken Jeff.

We live in two rooms. 12' by 15' and 10' by 12'.
Somewhat surprisingly, we like it. Living small and simple has a certain appeal. The main room is a living space and kitchen combo. We have a couch, two end-tables, a coffee table and three chairs. The kitchen area has a fridge, microwave, toaster oven, 2-burner gas cook-top, sink and 8 cupboards. Three up, five down. We have converted the small kitchen table into our mini home-office. What more can we need? We have a fondness for peace and our little apartment is a haven.

I could see the muddy footprints of the guard dogs on the porch as I unlocked the grill that covers our door at night. Evidence that they had been on duty with the night watchman. Three big dogs that you wouldn't want to meet if you weren't supposed to be on the property but who love us all dearly and enjoy nothing more than having their ears and tummies rubbed.

The sun rises at 6:30 and was well on its way to heating up the day when I walked down to the office at 8:00. The bush babies and dogs had gone to bed and the sounds of the day drifted on the breeze. Someone was chopping wood, trucks were rumbling by and the voices of people rang out cheerfully. As I sat at my desk, I was struck by the beauty around me.

This is what I see from my desk at the office out the front door and side window.

French Fries

I have decided that the best ever french fries in the world are cooked in Tanzania. They are amazing! Called "chips" because of past British influence, they are made at typical outdoor restaurants in towns and villages all over the country. My favourite treat is Chips Mayai, a wonderful concoction of chips and egg cooked over a charcoal brazier. It looks like a chip omelet and is served piping hot with a little pile of salt on the side of the dish. Just add a liberal sprinking of hot sauce and you are ready to dig in with the toothpick provided. Outdoor restaurants are great to eat at because there are so many sights to see. I enjoyed my latest meal with a bottle of Coke while watching a lady plucking a chicken. She was very skilled.




You'll never be disappointed by Chips Mayai.

I met a lady today who knows a Maasai woman
who can easily touch her nose with her tongue.
Her tongue is long due to many years of using it for pointing at things.
It is considered impolite to point at things with your finger.
Words fail me.

Friendly Zanzibar

Jeff and I recently traveled to the island of Zanzibar for a long weekend with some friends from Canada.


Zanzibar sits in the Indian Ocean 50 km off the coast of mainland Tanzania. The Zanzibar Archipelago consists of two large islands (Zanzibar and Pemba) and several smaller ones. These islands produce cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper and are commonly known as the Spice Islands. Zanzibar and Tanganyika united in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania.


As none of our little group had been to Zanzibar before, we were happy to have been given a contact with a young guide, Oti, through a friend. Our new friend/guide met us at the airport with a van, driven by his friend, to take us to our hotel, which was run by another friend of his. The first afternoon our friend, Oti, arranged for a different friend to take us on a walking tour around Stone Town. Stone Town is a maze of narrow alleyways lined with old buildings used as homes, shops and mosques. Many of the buildings in these alleys, often too narrow for cars, have the famous and beautiful Zanzibar doors. It would be very easy to get lost in Stone Town without a friend.

The next day we set out on a boat, captained by a friend of our friend, Oti, to do some snorkeling and see the tortoises on Prison island. These Aldabra Giant Tortoises weigh up to 250 kg and can live over 100 years. We enjoyed feeding them big bunches of leafy green stuff and rubbing their leathery necks. They are very friendly!



Day 3 we were driven by Chichi, our friend from the hotel, in his friend's car, up to the north shore to catch another boat captained by . . . . . his cousin. What a day that was! Snorkeling in the warm turquoise Indian Ocean, having a lunch of fresh tuna on the white sand beach and sailing in the dhow.




We would have loved another day or two on the beach but it was time to leave. After saying goodbye to our friend at the hotel, our other friend called his friend with the van and they took us back to the airport.





It is so nice to have friends on Zanzibar.

The Faces of Change

The Nissan Safari I was driving kicked up a lot of dust as we headed for the main road to town. Jeff was following in the Nissan Patrol and both our vehicles were packed with people, luggage, laughter and singing. We were taking our friends to catch the bus in Arusha, the first leg of their long journey to San Antonio, Texas and beyond.


The morning was a rush of packing, weighing luggage and shaving heads. Women included. My little electric hair clipper I had brought from Canada was put to good use.






These Maasai are Missionaries and Evangelists and as the title of their 2-month USA tour suggests, they are the Faces of Change. These 9 are part of a much larger group who want to bring change to their culture and to help preserve a people group that is constantly threatened by AIDS . They do this through singing in and around Tanzania about Women's Rights, AIDS issues, education and their faith in Jesus. A beautiful photobook has been produced by Pamoja Ministries which chronicles the lives and beliefs of these Christian Maasai. Touring the southern United States is a first step in reaching out and sharing their lives with other cultures. They will be promoting the book, En-Kata, and 60% of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be used to build a school for the children of Orbili and Olerumo. Visit the website for more information about the people, the book and the tour at www.en-kata.com