Berega, part 2

A little more about my week in Berega!

We slept in dormitory-style rooms with 4 bunk beds and mosquito nets to a room.  Although we only had one working outlet among our 5 rooms, it was a little bit cooler than Dar and so we didn't miss fans too much.

Meals were served in a communal dining hall and were very tasty!  Although I was expecting beans and rice every day, there was a really nice variety.

The majority of our time was spent with the young kids, aged 4 months through 2 years old.  Most of the kids are orphans whose mothers died in childbirth, and quite a few have older sisters aged 10-14 years old.  These girls are called the "bintis" (daughters in Swahili) and, if they stayed in their village, they would be forced to embrace a hard life as single parent/primary care taker for their small sibling.  Here in the orphanage, they still care for their sibling and participate in chores, but living in community with 3 meals a day is quite a bit easier for them (although they still have to quit school).  Once the children reach 2 years of age, they return to their extended families or are adopted.

We divided into 3 groups for the week.  One group taught English to the 7 year old quadruplets of the orphanage director.  These kids are already fluent in English, German and Swahili and have a bundle of energy.  Another group cared for the babies under age 1, and the third group interacted with the toddlers.  The baby group taught the younger bintis to read and write in Swahili and the toddler group helped the older bintis with crafts each day.

A lot of time was spent playing in the covered "banda" with the kids.

Time for lunch!!

Time for milk!!  I was amazed at how well these small kids did with "regular cups." My own kids were given sippy cups for quite a long time past this age.  The kids also put the cups back on the tray after they were finished..a skill my 12 year old still has to master...

Kids aged 1-2 can have some "stranger anxiety," and I'm sure it didn't help too much that I was a strange-looking white woman.  It took them quite a lot of time to warm up to me, but by the last day almost all of them were running up to me, playing games with me and calling me "mama."  It was hard not to stuff one in my suitcase (especially since Josh has been lobbying for a Tanzanian brother).

Among the many lessons learned this week is that I have a lot to learn about contentment.  By any standard, this is a hard life for the bintis.  They work long hours, with few comforts that we take for granted in the West, they have had to quit school, and there are hundreds of flies everywhere (including buzzing in the babies' eyes and noses).  I think of how I reacted to these deprivations myself and how happy I was to return to running water and my spacious home.  Yet, what do the bintis spend most of their time doing?  Singing praise songs.

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:11b-13).

Berega part 1

Once a year, all the grade 6-12 secondary students at Haven of Peace Academy (HOPAC) spend an entire week volunteering for others.  It's called Service Emphasis Week (SEW).  The younger kids stay at home and go to their projects around Dar each day, but the older ones live and work outside the city. I was privileged to be a chaperone for 6 days with 13 HOPAC kids, spend 15 hours in a bus, and help to care for 18 orphans aged 0-2 years old.

This trip took me into the Africa that many people imagine, but one which I had not yet experienced.  I am grateful to have gone, but almost every aspect of this trip took me incredibly far outside my comfort zone...

1.  The only bridge across the river leading to the orphanage was washed away in January, so we knew going in that we all needed to cross it on foot with all our luggage.  I personally thought that this "river" would be more of a "creek," but it turned out to be fairly substantial.  It had rained heavily in the mountains the morning of our arrival and so the river kept rising throughout the day.  We ended up hiring men from the village to ferry our belongings across (just try telling teenage girls to "pack light!") and crossed the swift-flowing river in groups, planting our feet against the current.  When the girls crossed, the water was up to their knees. When we leaders crossed, it was up to our thighs.  And by the time our bus driver parked the bus and tried to cross, it was impassable (neck high), so he had to sleep on the other side of the river.  Being responsible for the lives of 13 teens in this situation (one of whom was deathly afraid of water due to a childhood friend who had drowned), was among the scariest times of my life.

 
(not the best photo, which I took from inside the bus, but you can see the first group of girls crossing..and how wide that river was!)

2.  There was no running water and so we used pit toilets and bucket showers for the week.  Thankfully, my co-leader grew up in the village so she knew a nifty trick to burn grass in the hole to create a sweeter-smelling experience.

 (this made me chuckle every time I went to the "barth room" - which was actually used only for showers.  The door marked "toilet" was where the hole was).

3.  We were in the middle of nowhere.  The bus was parked on the other side of the river and although there was a hospital of sorts nearby for emergencies, we were really isolated.  We lost power the last night and it was just absolute blackness (on the positive side, the stars were amazing!)  I just realized how much of a city girl I really am.

4.  Leading a missions trip in the U.S. with U.S. kids is a lot different than leading a trip in Tanzania with international kids.  Of the 13 girls, we had 9 countries represented (Uganda, Tanzania, Finland, Germany, U.K., U.S., Spain, India, Greece).  We also had girls of Christian, Muslim and Hindu faiths.  I got to see how the Indian kids brought their own personal spices from home to jazz up the food (and even braved some of their condiments!)  I tried to teach a card game to kids whose first language is not English and so the terms we throw around with mutual understanding such as "a hand of cards," "trump," "tricks" were just not translating.  Even leading with a Tanzanian co-leader was a very different experience.  Although we worked very well together, there were definitely cultural differences in how we viewed and responded to situations.

I'll talk about the work we did and those amazing, beautiful orphans in my next post!

The Shikamoo

One of the most important greetings in Tanzanian culture is the one given to your elders. To my American ears, it's pronounced Sheek-a-MOE (though any Tanzanian friends, feel free to correct me!)

This greeting is to be given to anyone older than you, even by just a year or two, anytime you see them. It literally means, “I hold your feet” although it's not necessary to do anything than utter the greeting. It's so important that even babies who cannot yet talk are taught to touch the head of the older person as a greeting of respect.

The appropriate response from the elder is “marahabaa” (mar-a-hah-ba) which means, “I thankfully accept your respect.”

There really is no similar practice in America. Not only is there no official respect given to elders, but in our youth-obsessed, age-denying Western culture, most people don't even want to be considered older or reminded of their age. It still startles me to hear Africans in their 20's or 30's give me the elder greeting, mainly because I'm still that age in my own mind and in America, we would be considered peers. There's definitely something in me that strongly resists being labeled "older."

However, one of the realities that I'm coming to grips with is that here in Dar, “the elder” is usually ME! Life expectancy is a lot shorter for Africans (hunger, disease, hard work) and so there really aren't a lot of older people around. The number of people I've had to “shikamoo” is much fewer than the “marahabaas” that I've given out.

In America we tend to view age as a weakness, not a value. It's culturally acceptable to hide away the older people in nursing homes; generally speaking, our movies, TV, and advertisements feature only young, healthy, beautiful people. If we can't see older people, we can remain in our pursuit of the fountain of youth, and be blissfully ignorant of our own mortality, wrinkling faces and crumbling bodies. Unlike in Africa, reaching old age isn't a rare, honoring accomplishment, but more of an expected yet very unwelcome process for Americans.

Despite the fact that it makes me feel uncomfortable when I'm the older one, I do think that it is a beautiful practice to honor your elders. Leviticus 19:32 says, “Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.” I think there is so much wisdom to be gained from the elderly and I value hearing their stories.

Although I'm not planning on moving into the Holland Home anytime soon, I'll try to keep aging gracefully and “marahabaa” with real appreciation!   

(Tim's) Spare Time

Well, now that I've gone into too much detail about my teaching week, what do I do when I am not teaching? I will admit that I do have a decent amount of free time in my schedule. On Thursday and Fridays I get off at 2:30 and have no after school activities! Even coaching football, and my other after school committments, gets me done at 4. (I worked until 5 almost every day at EC!) And here in Dar, I have no night meetings, no church committees, no track season of long meets. If the kids have school activities themselves, we live just a short walk away! I know there are definitely people in America with schedules 3x as crazy as mine!

Even here in Dar, some fellow teachers have extraordinary committments and responsibilities. Some are starting churches, or helping in ministries at church, and have all those typical night meetings we are used to at home. Some are involved in youth groups and "YoungLife," which keep weekends filled. And there are others with connections of orphanages or duties from their calling organizations.

So I feel pretty guilty often about my schedule. But something I've learned about myself over the years is that teaching takes a lot out of me. Part of it, I believe, is realizing how much of an introvert I am. Pouring energy into my students is what I love to do, but it does leave me pretty drained. Introverts basically use "alone time" to recharge those batteries back up. I make no claims to being a great "high energy" teacher who daily inspires his students to reach for the stars, but whatever it is I do with my students does tire me out.

So, I do enjoy downtime being at home with the family. Of course, this isn't always down time. There is plenty to do. I don't always succeed in keeping up with the dishes, but I try. Helping the kids with doing homework and just being a decent dad and husband. I don't think I am always particularly good at that either all the time!

For fun, the kids and I play some video games. They have their Kindle Fires or Nintendo DS consoles. I have my computer. Even though we don't have TV, we do download and watch some American shows together as a family, especially Survivor and Amazing Race. It's annoying that we have to download these "illegally," as all we want to do is watch them during the same week they air. There's no other way to do it...even if we had the bandwidth to stream the files from CBS's web site, CBS itself blocks streaming to other countries! Steph and I have also watched Downton Abbey, Sherlock, and Game of Thrones.

There is also plenty of reading, and as of this Christmas, I think the whole family owns and uses Kindles. I have made some headway on the list of "best science fiction and fantasy" that NPR published last year.

Before bed at night, I've been playing some video games while listening to sermons I can find online. The best news: I can download sermons from the awesome preacher at Prairie Lane CRC, Omaha (look him up!) It's either him or Tim Keller! I used to listen to various podcasts, but I am pleased with this new idea. For me, it's the perfect way to wind down yet be engaged and thinking at the same time.

Strangely, board games have been getting the short straw. There are good opportunities for gaming here in Dar with both family and friends, but recently we've been too tired. I think it is that the hot, humid evenings just don't scream out "sit around a table with sticky cards!"

Now, if I do have a second ministry, it is probably in my time spent participating in team sports. Yes, Tim Steen Athletic Missionary is probably not the description of me that comes to mind, but so far living in Africa has been pretty good for my body. I don't have a scale, but I am pretty sure that I am lighter than I've been in about 15 or even 20 years! and I'm starting slowly to get into some shape. My athletic skills, on the other hand, might be beyond repair. On Wednesday nights, the community plays football. On Saturday mornings, I can walk down to HOPAC and get into a basketball game. And on Sunday nights, I am actually pretty decent at Ultimate Frisbee. Unfortunately, I think I've over done it lately, and developed some tendonitis in my knee. The best news, however, is that playing sports (and coaching football) has let me develop relationships with both community members and students this year. It's been great getting to know these people outside of class. So it's been good for me, but it's been good for relationship building as well.