Barbeque - with old friends

As there is so little to do here in Dodoma, often people like to go out into the bush, build a fire and cook some meat. That's the unglorified version of it - but it can be quite a bit of fun, if you find somewhere quiet to cook your food, where there are no cows, no bicycles, and no noise. We went to one of these places.


It really is a 'guys thing', but you know, sometimes it can be fun for us girls too. This was one of those times. We had good company, good meat (no burnt sausages) fun places for the children (and men) to climb, and lots of lovely salads.


We took the opportunity to go out with some old friends who used to live here in Dodoma with us, when they returned to visit.


The little ones went up the rocks with their daddies and waved down at the the mummies. Fun for them.

Esther and Noel enjoying sausage and pitta pockets.

Our home made barbeque- with stand, made by Glenn!

The boys are sitting on the buffet table - a very useful asset to any barbeque. This one remains here after we leave.

This was a fire that was made for the children so that they could burn their little sticks and we were very fortunate this time - there were marshmallows to roast over it!
The boys (and girl) all loved this. They really had a great time - all the kids travelled in one car (what a racket they made! - all 6 of them) Joshua, Benjamin with their 2 friends Luka (Swiss German) and Timo (German); Esther played with Noel (Luka's little brother).

Welcome to Safina!

Welcome to Safina!

I went to visit SAFINA (a centre for street children, or those children in desperate need of help with problem homes, or living on the city dump) with my MAF neighbour Liz, and we left our younger children at home - (the ones that are not yet at school).

Open the door, come on in! Let's go see!


Safina is a voluntary project, supported by various individuals and run by a German nurse, Andrea, who also lives on our MAF compound and works for AIM. Donations are what runs this fantastic place, that makes a difference to so many children. The children are mostly boys, but a few girls benefit too.

Being on the streets is a tough life anywhere, for anyone, but here in Tanzania there is no government aid, no official projects, social welfare or any kind of centrally organised system to give a helping hand to disadvantaged children and their parents. Andrea was telling us yesterday that a child caught on the streets by the police can result in them being put into prison- Safina have children on their books as young as 4 years old who already have a prison record, since they were found living on the streets! Some of the children Safina deal with may live alone, in a household where there are no adults. Some of them have been taken in by Safina staff who head up a couple of homes for the boys in their care.

Safina provides a place where the children are tracked and registered carefully and their situations reviewed by the staff team. The staff then endeavour to get the children into education and provide the books, shoes, school registration etc, to help get the children off the streets and into school, since education is a vital key to giving them a more promising future. Meticulous hand-written files are kept to record information on the individuals in Safina's care.


Adrea and Patrick, Directors of Safina, with Liz. (Liz has just returned home to prepare to have her third baby, leaving Andrew here continuing to work for MAF, for another 5 weeks or so).
Behind them you can see the empty pigeon holes that the boys use to keep their books, bags, shoes and uniform overnight, to ensure that they aren't stolen on the streets at night. The fact that they are fairly empty is quite a good sign - the boys are using their stuff and most of them are at school.

Above is Patrick who was teaching the Bible lesson the day we visited. A good stimulating lesson.
The centre run an educational class, followed by some Bible teaching, followed by a meal for all children who turn up. This begins just after the schools close for the day, and could be the only meal that they can count on getting. At least once a week they eat meat (their favourite), often with rice, vegetables and fruit.


Afterwards they line up outside to register for the day. The Scandanavian guys are volunteers who are here in Dodoma for about 6 months, helping daily at the centre. Andrea told us that it costs them 1 million Tshillings to feed the children every month, and on top of that there are other costs eg, rent of the building, school fees for the children, uniforms, shoes, etc. All this has to be met by donations.


Here they're enjoying their food. Some like to have the fruit first.

They find somewhere to sit and then eat.


Cooking is all done in a little shelter outside and eating likewise.


I wasn't sure why this big pot seemed to be full of hot coals, but we were told that there was food inside and the coals had just been tipped on top to finish off the cooking. It's a hot place to stand, and not an easy job cooking for so many! I had a go, but when temperatures are ranging between 23 C and 35 C it's not an optimim place to work.

A nursery is run in the mornings, for the younger children, mainly those who live at the dump. These are aged as little as 2 1/2 years old (is your heart breaking yet?) and can be aged up to 6 or 7 years old, as Standard 1 (the first year of Primary school here) only starts at age 7. This was not an easy place to visit, but it was great to see the work that Andrea is doing. It was encouraging to see that the boys have some positive input into their lives now, and for them, that some people do care about them now. Praise God for all the work that is being achieved at this place, and when I compare my own life and the lives of my children with the children who I met here, there is just so much that I need to be thankful for.

Some of the things that kept us busy before Christmas.

A Christmas Farewell for us before we left for South Africa. This was also at SEMA Nursery school.
It's very Tanzanian to give gifts to the guests of honour.










Esther helped to give out the Christmas presents to all the children at the party. We also showed the Christmas Nativity film at the school (by generator as they have no electricity). This caused lots of excitement amongst the children, alsong with the presents, the meal that we were all sharing and the film too.


Other entertainment whilst daylight lasted.

We organised a MAF children's party, and a rather Dutch Father Christmas arrived.

There was a craft activity to do...




...nail biting games...


...and other games...



...even dancing competitions.



Christmas gifts that he brought for the children. Cars for the boys.



Barbie's for the girls. Esther got her first Barbie - she was delighted, even though she doesn't really look it. You know the saying, 'The camera never lies' - well, now you see it does!

There was a MAF meal for all staff - International and National. A good evening for some interaction.

There was a little talk of the meaning of Christmas in this day and age.


Then the meal, with children eating first. They are lining up to wash hands.




The children's school also put on a Nativity. This included students from the Primary and the Secondary school. I think the secondary ones got the biggest laughs. They made 3 very wise (or were they?)men.

Lots of parents go every year to watch. Each class prepares a song to sing so that cuts down the load for the actors and also for the teacher running the nativity.

We were also mentioned in the Impartial Reporter in January - so that photo was taken just before Christmas too.

Seba had a Women's Week of Outreach in her church, so I took the children there one afternoon. She was leading the singing. She's a very good worship leader. And loves to lead worship also.


I baked a Christmas cake, and actually managed to decorate it in good time too. Just early enough so that we could eat some before we left.