Thank goodness for Land Rovers, and people who can drive them

It's been a whirlwind of a few days, and unfortunately we have been disconnected from the internet so I haven't been able to share much, but I'll try to catch up. 

When I chose the title for this blog, I didn't realize how fitting it would be. The adventures have been in high abundance, so I'll try to summarize them as well as I can. 

Saturday was an interesting day. We visited the youth prison, which is a minimum security facility. There are no walls surrounding it to keep people from escaping, but we were told that no one has ever tried to do so. The prison's philosophy is to rehabilitate rather than punish those who end up there. The prisoners are supposed to be between the ages of 16 and 21, but Pastor Hafermann was telling us how there had been some boys there as young as 12. Most of them are there for stealing, and it is more than likely that they had been stealing things they could sell in order to earn enough money to eat for a day or two. This is probably part of the reason no one tries to escape - because at least while they are there they are guaranteed meals and a place to sleep, and they also are able to go to school and attend church. The guard who gave us our tour told us how there is a lot of respect among the prisoners, and the guys we encountered were all very friendly and respectful towards us as well. Overall I was really impressed by the system they had in place.

After the prison we visited the Massai cattle market, which was another interesting experience. The first thing we walked past was the butchering area. There were lots of animals in various forms in terms of how much of them was intact. The pile of goat heads was probably the most gruesome sight. Don't worry, we had goat for lunch later in the day :) The cattle market resembled a state fair in some ways - all the livestock around, and lots of other vendors selling all kinds of Massai tools, clothing, shoes, and other stuff. Pastor Hafermann bought us a lovely bunch of coconuts that a guy was selling. As we were passing them around and sharing the milk, we soon found ourselves surrounded by Massai men. Apparently us Wazungu (white people) were quite the spectacle here, and they eyed us like they had some marriage proposals in mind. It was actually pretty amusing, but luckily Bwana Fred and Luka came to our rescue and led us around the rest of the market. As I mentioned, we had goat for lunch, along with chips mayai, which is a dish consisting of fried potatoes and eggs. It was a nice break from rice and beans. As we were leaving, it started pouring, and Lindsey and I ended up stranded under a tent with some vendors. Luckily Kadeghe was there to help us out. 

When we got back to the Seminary, Robert had the brilliant idea of trying to get some avocados down from a tree nearby. Laura, Kim, Lindsey and I went to check it out, and it turns out that this wasn't exactly a climbing tree. The lowest branch was a good 15 feet off the ground, But luckily Robert had some rope, which he proceeded to tie a rock around and loop up over the branch. This allowed Lindsey to tie her foot to one end so the rest of us could pull her up to the branch. She proceeded to use a long stick to knock down 6 avocados, pinata style. It was actually kind of scary but pretty sweet when she didn't fall. The whole event made for a good story anyway. 

Sunday we went to another village church service. (Happy Belated Mother's Day Mom and to all the mothers of the girls by the way - we wanted to write but that was the day the internet decided not to work at all) Anyway, 2/3 of the day was spent traveling, which was the most exciting part of this experience. At breakfast Pastor Hafermann told us that we had two back-up churches in case we couldn't get to the one he wanted to take us to, so we knew it might be an interesting trip. We left around 8:45, at which point Robert said it should be about a 2-hour ride. We were on a nice paved road for the first 45 minutes, at which point we turned off onto a dirt road that was pretty bumpy. About an hour later we stopped at a village to pick up another pastor. We thought our car was full when we left with 9 people, but there's always room for more. From there, we proceeded on to the next leg of the trip, during which the term "off-roading" took on an entirely new meaning. We drove through mud, water, weaved in and out of trees, and stopped for cattle crossings on several occasions. It was a miracle that we never got stuck in the mud or water we were driving through, but Robert and Luka were incredible drivers. We made it to the next village, at which point we dropped off some school supplies and books Chelsea and Anna had brought and picked up yet another passenger. Our journey continued, and at times we were apparently creating our own path because there certainly didn't appear to be one there for us to follow. Amazingly enough we found the village. I think they were shocked that we made it there, as were some of us. We had a nice service under a tree. It reminded me that a church is not a building, but a group of people coming together to praise their Lord. And we certainly had much to be grateful for on this day. 17 villagers were baptized, and after the service we presented a teacher there with some school supplies for the children. They then gave us all the cross necklaces they wore. We headed on our way after a meal of rice and potatoes, and God was again watching over us as we made it through our journey with no problems. 

Yesterday and today we visited Faraja, which means "to console." This is an organization in Morogoro that provides a number of services, mostly involving prevention and care for HIV/AIDS. It began as a  service that distributed condoms to sex workers. We learned how when a woman's husband dies, his family usually takes everything they had shared, leaving her and her children with nothing. Often times her only option is to become a sex worker in order to earn enough money to feed her children. It's sad, but this is the reality for so many women here. Today Faraja offers many other services, including education about HIV/AIDS, screenings, traditional herbal and modern treatments, and support for widows and vulnerable children. The work they do is incredible, but their resources are strained and they can only do so much. Most of their staff are volunteers, some of which have been doing this for 10-15 years. Without them, many people would have nowhere to turn for the care they need, and countless others would probably be infected had they not received the education Faraja provides. 

Today we visited their home-based care center. It is located in one of the poorer areas of town, so it is close for the people who need the care to walk to. We saw where they do the HIV testing, and also were shown several of the herbal medicines they provide to patients. We were then split into smaller groups and went with the women to do home visits. I went with a group to visit a 20-year-old woman named Tatu. Her story is pretty heartbreaking. She was married to a 50-year-old man, which must have been 6 or 7 years ago because she has a six-year-old daughter. When she first got sick, he didn't want her to go to the hospital, and instead he took her to the witch doctor, who basically tries to cast out the evil spirits the cause people to be sick. Awhile later when she was still sick, he still wouldn't let her go to the hospital, so she went home to her parents and her mother took her to the hospital, where she learned she was HIV-positive. When her husband found out she had gone to get tested, he took everything they had and left her. She was also pregnant with her second child at the time, so she went back home to live with her family. Now she is still living with her father and her two children, the youngest of which is 8-months old. Her father isn't working, so they have no income. She is able to get the ARVs she needs from Faraja, but she is sick now with what Mama Mosha believes is malaria and can't get the medicine she needs, which really isn't all that expensive unless you have no money at all. When we heard all this I just wanted to be able to take her pain away and tell her it would be alright, but I know it probably won't be. 

This whole experience reminded me again of how unfair life can sometimes be. Tatu and I are about the same age, yet our lives couldn't be more different. I am blessed to have good health, a beautiful home, plenty to eat, and so many opportunities in my future, while she has none of these things. It's impossible to understand why God has given either of us the lives we have, but I'm guessing there is some reasoning behind His plans and I hope that someday I can make sense of it all. 

This evening we had the big basketball game with the high schoolers here at the Seminary. It was quite the spectacle, and there was a good crowd there to see us represent American basketball. I'm not sure we quite achieved that, but we did win the game to our surprise. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and Bwana Fred and Robert even pulled out some moves that helped us to the big W. Stay tuned, Thursday is the big volleyball match, so we'll see how we stack up in that. 

It's hard to believe we'll be leaving here in a week. Our time has gone so fast, but I have learned and experienced so many wonderful things. Tomorrow we'll be going on another village adventure, and Thursday and Friday we'll be working on some building projects. So far we're malaria-free! (knock on wood) I'll continue to write as the internet access permits! 

Peace, 

Emily