Joshua's Birthday

Joshua celebrated his 8th birthday on the 12th November - who better to remember that than a Mum! Well, because of various reasons, we didn't celebrate it with his friends that daay, but instead, we had a party for him the following Friday.

The following are pictures taken on the day, of Joshua having his birthday tea, opening his presents and having a cake made for that day.






Over the Thursday and Friday, Seba and I made 5 cakes for that weekend, as there were the 2 birthday's (JA's as well) and also the celebration at the Nursery school. This was the Leaver's Assembly, for the children who will leave at the end of the year and go into standard 1 next year, in new schools.

There was much excitement at 3.00pm at our house on Friday 19th November.
Our gate, ready for the party, but we can't take credit for these glorious trees and bushes. Aren't the flowers just great!


Joshua's birthday cake was a Jungle Cake - seen below from 2 angles.


We made some indian hats, with real feathers stuck on the card feather. This was followed by some face painting - for better effect.

End results.
An indian girl at the birthday party - Elisabeth Ekholm - a little Swedish friend of Joshua's.


An indian boy - this one is expressing his emotion - well, how he thinks an indian would look and feel. According to him, he is leader of his tribe! Benjamin.


Alongside the crafting, half the children played football, which allowed us to change later on, so that those who had wanted some exercise were able to get that first, and then come in and be creative.



Joshua was glad to see the cake, as it was one of the cakes he had chosen and asked Mummy to back for him. He said it tasted good too. Three layers of chocolate brownie cake!

By the end of the party the children had played on the playground, made indian hats, played football (those who were interested), hunted for sweets, played 'pass the parcel' and eaten 'till full (or FTB - full to busting!)

Dedication of 7 New Testament Books

The 6th November was the day that we rose at 5.15am and left around 6.30am along with the sunrise. We left Dodoma went to the 'porini' into the bush. It was a 3 hour drive north to the village of Gioma and the Burunge people. We were joining with a number of others from Dodoma (there were about 30ish in our convoy as we left Dodoma) and with many from SIL (who are WYCLIFFE Bible Translators) to celebrate the dedication of 7 books from the New Testament. This is the only dedication that they will have until the whole of the New Testament is finished, in maybe a couple of years time - when that will be celebrated.

It was a great day, and a wonderful experience to join with the Burunge people in their celebration.



It was an outdoor event and had been put off until after the election as there were no public events to take place until after the election. Universities had to dealy their start dates too, so the dedication happened the first Saturday after the election. They could have moved it and celebrated in a church, but then it would have been mainly only that one church and all churches in the village are involved in this and there were many muslims gathered there to watch and to join with their friends in dancing and celebrating.


Some people found good viewing spots to watch from up in the tree. Others were just glad of some shade under the shelter of the make-shift tarpaulin. The sun was very hot.


This translator became a good friend of Esthers.


This was the tarpaulin that was erected to provide a little protection from the sun!


Other observers, behind those who were preparing to play some music.

There was food for all invited guests - this number seemed to be somewhere around 200 people. The lovely food was provided down at the school; rice, beans, some meat and salad too.


You know most of the time we struggle to get our children to keep their fingers out of their food, and then comes a day when they need to eat with their hands. So, in the natural way of children, what do they want? Spoons. Well, Benjamin managed to eat most of his food with his hands.
There were also sodas. When the people came down from the place of the dedication across to the school (for food), they came dancing and singing.

The children enjoyed the experience too: each in their own way. The other children that you see in the photos are children of the American translator who has come with his family specifically, to work with the Burunge people.

The young man in the photo with Esther is a translator with SIL. His name is and Esther was very fond of him. She ate with him and managed to spill her rice and beans over him too.


The car park at the Dedication. Toyota seems to be in big demand!

Fire, fire!

It's so dry here in Dodoma now, that it doesn't take much to start a fire. Last Wednesday, over at the hangar one started. It started at the far side of the runway, but the wind caught it and it went quite far down. People here regularly burn all their rubbish (we often get smoked out of our own home - well, almost - plastic is terrible when it burns) as there's no where to put it, and you would have to pay someone to take it away for you.

Well, if you look at the above picture, the guys in the foreground are MAF workers, and they're standing just beyond the MAF apron. A good fire brings everyone out!


That was a lot of drama for one day - and the worry was that the wind would really catch hold of it and then it would get out of control. One of the two fire engines stays at the airport, and the other one comes from the town. Good to have them!

Sports Day!!

Sports Day finally came. It was only 365 days that the boys had been waiting, so not that long??
Well, they were so excited! We had bought 2 Irish football sets (copies) while we were home and they had already tried these on to see if they were 'good' or suitable? They were up very willingly (even Benjamin!) and they ate breakfast quickly. Benjamin complained that there was 'too much sweet stuff' in his lunch/snack, and he needed more 'healthy food'. What a joke. He wouldn't normally say that, but he was looking for any magic tricks that he could find to win some races.

After some fact painting - shamrocks and green stripes - they were ready for off. That left us to get ready to go in and see the races.


Benjamin, all ready for the day.


Joshua and Benjamin with another Northern Irish boy- Sam Heaney. They had the same idea, that it would be fun for him (as he was in the green team) to wear an Irish strip. Sam is 4 years old and from County Down. His parents are working at St. John's University (Anglican).

Well, they spent 1 hour doing various jumping and throwing events, and then they swapped with the older kids at the school, who had been doing to running ones first. This was the big excitement for them.

Races for Benajamin were against the 5 and 6 year olds. Joshua was racing the 7 and 8 year olds. Last year they raced each other as one was 5 and the other 6 years. Benjamin made it into a final, and Joshua had a few disappointments. However, he did survive the 400 metres (Joshua), which was 2 laps of the race track (sandy course - lets not exaggerate). They had a great time, and enjoyed the obstacle race immensely, and the skipping was quite funny to watch. Benjamin, being very co-ordinated, was very good, until he saw all the other children racing ahead, who were only running. Then he raced after them.
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and 3
of Benjamin doing his skipping. Do you like his shoes? Doesn't he look good!
The truth is , last year he was upset that he had to wear shoes, as his mummy and daddy told him that anyone who could afford good trainers would be wearing them at Sports Day. After the races were all over he was convinced that he could have run better without them - so this year he got his chance to try! The video below is of his skipping race.








The following are a sequence of photos of Joshua in the relay race. The power of a zoom lens - its just great!
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and 4

A very energetic supporter - Edith Brooks, mum and teacher of Nursery children. There was flag waving, and cheering and even a couple of those very noisy hooters that became popular at the time of the World Cup.

The nursery and reception children came out for their race, after almost all the standards had completed their races. Esther had been asking from the previous day would she be able to run. I told her to ask her daddy, and he would show her where she could run - thinking that she could run down the side while the others were running. However, when these other little kids were lining up, over she went, and into the line she got.


When the whistle went for the others to start running, off she went like a hare. She ran all the way down to the finishing line, and raced past a MAF child that she knows to the finish line. For two years old, she did so well! And boy did she enjoy her race! We were so glad that she had got the opportunity to run. It was her part in the family day!





The Mummies and teachers race was just before the daddies race, and we both did take part. However, I have to say (Julie Anne writing) that I definately didn't hurt as much this year (in the following days) as I did last year! Now, that's a good thing. Last year I didn't know what was wrong with my legs, for the next three days - I eventually realised! I mean, it was only a 100 metre sprint, but then, that was going from standing with no stretching or warming up. Much better to have a few warm ups first! Although Glenn came second last year, he managed to achieve more this year. He was first in the daddies race (didn't he do well!) and didn't pull any hamstrings. He didn't tell me when we got married that he had been a sprinter in his youth - the things you have to have children to find out!!

I still don't look very co-ordinated either. Anyway, enjoy looking at Glenn's pics. I think they look good. Did you see the teacher who fell? Spot him in one of the photos. Poor guy. I didn't know about that until Glenn told me. Aren't we good photographers??










Well, here we are at the end of a busy and tiring morning. It was a lot of fun for us all.

Esther Turned Three

Tuesday, 5th October was a very exciting day for Esther,#
It was her third birthday, and she just couldn't wait for her party to begin. She loved everything about it, and was delighted with all her friends and presents.


Her party started at 3.30pm (after her afternoon nap) and she had 6 friends between the ages of 2 and 5 that came to join in with the fun and games.


Her cake was of the Barbie variety. It was rather tricky as the icing didn't really do what I wanted it to. Probably because I tried to mix some old icing from the fridge with some new stuff from a packet. Major problem of it not wanting to hold it's shape or stick -aaah, how frustrating. Also the heat here didn't help, and the icing was drying out even quicker than it should have. Never mind. It also cracked quite a bit as it dried out, but hopefully you'll see very little of that as I've tried to put in pictures that show Barbie off the best in her dress. Just a bit sneaky!



Daddy made some beautiful wings and a little wand for her too. We had some fun!


By the end of the party we were all pretty tired out. Coping with the heat and all the fun and games (and little children) was really quite exhausting. But everyone had had a lovely time, and had some fun shortbread shapes to take home too!


Eshter with Mummy.

At a birthday party.

We were at a birthday party on Compound B (the other MAF compound) and Esther was dressed up in new clothes. She was lovely and clean at the beginning, but not as sparkly at the end. Perhaps you can see why?






But what a lot of fun! And she just loves to hang with the boys!