Joshua and his music

Joshua is continuing with his music lessons. A very kind German lady (a music teacher) takes him for a lesson every week. She teaches him guitar and recorder too. Although this makes his Wednesday afternoons very busy, it is really great for him, and he's busy trying to fit in lots of very short practices in each day - trying to harden up his finger tips.

Why guitar, you may ask?
Well, last year we had a couple of Canadian volunteers come to work in Tz for 6 months. Alice the young woman, brought a small travel guitar with her, and was very willing to take Joshua for one lesson each week. He loved these, but wasn't able to do any practicing for himself inbetween lessons, as we didn't a have a guitar. However, when he got to school holidays, she said that he could go to her house at 8.30am in the morning, and have a half hour music practise. What a brave lady. Then there was a N. Irish couple who very kindly gave us their little guitars, when we told them our story. Thanks - Diane and Lesley! We went into a music shop to find a suitable book, and then get some other stuff that we thought might be rather necessary for learning guitar - tuner, plektern, strings. What do we know? Glenn and I never took guitar lessons. We're delighted for Josuha. It's such a great opportunity! So now he has a teacher and a guitar.
How His plans work out so well!


Joshua and Angela concentrating on their music.

Benjamin's Birthday

The 20th May was Benjamin's birth date, but as I mentioned in the previous posting, there was already a party planned for that date. So, Benjamin went to that party (the opening of the Play Park) and his birthday party on the following day. He was very excited about both.


Saying that, he doesn't really look terribly happy or excited in this photo!

There were 19 children altogether - that included our 3 - and Joshua and Esther each had a special friend who came. With the addition of the new Play Park (which is located right next door to our garden) it was quite a simple party, with the usual games, hide and seek, musical bumps and pass the parcel. There were also the normal tears (of tiredness and disappointment when not winning) but all in all, I think most children injoyed the afternoon. There was also a little play time in the Play Park which was great for all. The MAF children (who the park was built for) had already been in it at the opening the previous day, but were excited to have another session, and those that weren't MAF, nor at the opening, were just excited to be at a play park as there are so few of those located in Tanzania.

We finished the party with a party tea (pizza, hot dogs, crisps, carrot and cucumber sticks and birthday cake) and then a game of hunting for the hidden sweets which the children either ate or took home.


Benjamin finally turned 6 years old - and got a new Brasil football t-shirt too (see below).


However, this was just a temporary gain - as it was edible.

Some of Benajmin's experiences

Benjamin had an eventful week, in early May. On Sunday he bravely pulled his own second baby tooth out of his mouth, by himself, on the advice of someone at church. This was very exciting for him, as the first one became loose and then as it wasn't pulled out, came out by itself and got lost (probably in his food and swallowed we think).


He also got a black toe nail, and was brave enough to have a hole drilled in it to relieve the pressure and the pain. Unbelievably this really helped - we just wish we'd done it the first night when he couldn't sleep and was in a lot of pain.

Last week was his 6th birthday, and this along with some other things, brought a lot of excitement for him and for his siblings too. Thursday 20th May was his big day, but we decided not to have the party for him then, as there was already a party planned for all the MAF children. This was because the little Play Park (that was being built by 2 volunteers from Switzerland) was to be opened that day.

Ronnie and Ben, the 2 Swiss volunteers who built the Play Park!

There was much excitement, but as usual, it was never as simple as planned. As the day unfolded (along with my headache, nausea and dizziness), we learned that there was a Finnish pilot (Juuso) who has been here for about 6 months, helping out with our shortage of pilots by flying in Arusha, who was going to fly in for the last time to Dodoma. So, many of the MAF folk went up to the airport to see him fly in and off again, so that they could say goodbye, give him a hastely signed card and a gift that had been preplanned! Phew - at least something had been preplanned! We managed to squeeze this in, and then had the Play Park Opening afterwards. The children were delighted with some jelly and ice cream, with meringues and shaped cookies. What fun!


Next, a child's name was chosen from the cowboy hat, so that they could be the one to cut the tape and open the park. Aleah was chosen - she's only 1 and a half, so Benjamin was asked to help her, as it was his birthday. Then it was onto the Play Park for everyone!




And what fun was had by all! Can you see all the girls? There was a while after we came to Tanzania (in 2005) when there were about 3 girls amongst all the MAF families.

MAF Conference

Although it is now into April, I need to digress and go back to March to write about our MAF conference. We had a great conference which we shared with national and international staff. There were over 100 people came and many children too. Our speaker was Steve Kingori from MAF Kenya, and he was really good, speaking on our Relationships within our work, with our family and with God. Steve and his wife who also came down for the conference.


The children had their own programme to follow and they were blessed to have a couple of young Australians to run the older group for them. The younger ones had lots of stories and painting and craft sessions, run by different mummies for each session, and assisted by a number of very willing Tanzanian ladies, who gave up their Saturday and Sunday to do this. Lots was learned by many, as the children also covered relationships, and learned about their bodies, and the adults looked at how we are all part of the one body.


With the marriage relationship section, it was very interesting with the cultural differences. Considering it's not cultural to show affection to your partner, holding hands, kissing, hugging are not things that are commonly done. Also, communication is not great.

April in a coconut shell!

The month of April went very fast. It started immediately after the conference, with 2 weeks holidays from school for the boys. We had a quiet Easter in Dodoma, followed by 3 days at the coast and 3 days in Dar-es-salaam. It was really good to have a little bit of slow down and family time.


One of the highlights of our time in Dar was going to 'Wet and Wild'. For us this was a taste of being back in the west. The children loved the slides, the water and the tubes. Esther had as much fun as the boys, though some of the slides she decided to go on only once.


Esther has learned to swim by herself. Now she doesn't like to wear floats or armbands any more. She swims by 'mineself' now.


At the end of the Easter holidays, Glenn had to travel to South Africa, where he took a Dangerous Goods course. After lots of study (and homework) he completed the 4 hour exam with excellent results. We were really glad to get him back home. It was a long 10 days for everyone, as skype didn't work well while he was away, and he couldn't see or hear us much.

Glenn had an unusual job in the workshop. He was glad to be able to help a fellow motor cyclist, who was 7 weeks into the beginning of a spectacular 2 - 3 year bike journey around the world. He had a broken suspension and some wiring problems with his BMW - don't we all, though most of don't have BMW's!


Ronnie the Gypsy biker from South Africa.