Impressions of Ivuna

The sunshine beating on my back, the sandy soil beneath my feet, the gentle breezes blowing, what a beautiful morning to be in the fields. The sound of hoes breaking soil is music to my ears. As the skies clear off, blue mountains can be seen along the horizon. I am now very sure that packing my bags and leaving this village in Southwest Tanzania is not going to be easy. Ivuna and all it's simplicity has stolen a portion of my heart. How can it be that two weeks have passed so quickly? Was it not just a few days ago that we left Mbeya, and bounced our way back to Ivuna?

Besides leaving our seats countless times on our way to Ivuna, we also had the exciting experience of getting royally stuck. For the most part, I loved every minute of that adventure. 

There is so much I would could say about these two spectacular weeks. In fact, it has taken several attempts over the past week to finally reach this point.

But let me start with telling y'all a little about this village. Ivuna is located in the Rukwa valley of Southwest Tanzania. It's a 5 hour drive from Mbeya, their nearest city. My missionary heroes who live back here buy most of their supplies, produce, etc. out in Mbeya. A lot of our diet back here has consisted of porridge, rice, beans, corn, potatoes and chinizi salad, with the exception of some pretty spectacular American dishes made with food supplies that Paul Lapp's brought over with them. Meat, dairy products, and fruit are scarce. Sure it would be nice to have more access to such luxurious foods to break up the high carb diet, but we are fairing just fine without it. I have started craving porridge with peanut butter and rice and beans. Imagine that!

Some super amazing pizza, baked on the brazer.

Gasp! Real chocolate cake!!! Baked to perfection by the one and only Chef Kimberly Nolt.

Kim's cute little hut. In the background you can see the choo and shower shanty. Beyond that is the main house where the other girls sleep. 

The main house. 

Village life has really been growing on me. The simplicity is quite attractive. There is no running water, so nearly every day someone makes a trip to the bomba (water tower) to fill our water buckets. I don't think I gave it much thought before coming here what all running water does for us. Without it there are no faucets, washing machines, toilets, nor showers.
The village also doesn't have electricity. But my friends have a small solar powered battery in the main house which lights up the place very nicely after dark. It also provides a nice little charging booth for our electronics.

Cooking is a field I have not been brave enough to venture out into very far on my own. I'm slowly learning by working along side the pros.

Sorting beans: a new hobby of mine.

   

Heading to the bumba for water

The bumba

Canning beans over the brazer.

So yeah, it's almost like camping...only different! ;)
Besides scrubbing laundry, keeping up with the cleaning, carrying water, and preparing the next meal, we have been doing a lot of gardening. They are growing peanuts, corn, tomatoes, okra, and loads of other yummy veggies. Having the opportunity to stick my fingers in the dirt again has been great!

The language barrier has been the hardest to adjust to. Communication is such a huge part of our daily lives. My friends have been patiently teaching me little things here and there. I finally know enough of the greetings to be friendly, and I really enjoy using them. Here and there I'm picking up a few Swahili words and phrases. It's really a shame I don't have more time. I would really enjoy learning this language.

I've been spending most of my mornings at the clinic with Kim. There haven't been a lot of patients. During the quiet times, we have been solving the world's problems and filling our journals. 

          

The Clinic

and it's fabulous nurse!

        

Gardening at the clinic.

Coloring with kids during slow mornings at the clinic

I have been thoroughly enjoying each opportunity to experience the every day life these Africans. This past Saturday, Kim and I joined her friend, Mama Glanti, as well as Mama Glanti's mother and cousin, Monika, in their sesame field in the farming land outside of the village. It was a delightful experience, entering into their work lives and getting dirty next to them. Once we reached the goal for the day, we gathered under a tree on the edge of the field to eat the maandazi that Kim and Monika had hiked back to the village to buy for our hungry tummies. By now the sun was high in the sky and beating the energy right out of us, so we all chose to call it a day. We arrived back at the house just in time to enjoy the delicious lunch that Rachel had prepared. I was quite tired by this time and thought to myself, “A nap would suit me well.” But that nap never did happen. For as I settled down on the couch, Kim came busting in with news that the two of us were to go to Mama Glanti's house right away. She had a lunch of Ugali and fish waiting for us. Another lunch? Good thing I didn't fill myself up at the first one. So off we went, down the dirt path to Mama Glanti's little, mud hut. In the center of the room a tray laden with ugali and fish, perched on top of a bucket. We took our seats on the smaller buckets setting near the "table". Eating ugali in a for real mud hut with them and like them was an experience I wouldn't want to trade for a nap.

Mama Glanti

 


I am now convinced that these African women are made out of iron. I feel like a plastic-made, wimpy American next to them. Dear Mama Glanti was out in her field all morning. Then came home and had to haul water from the river before she could cook our lunch. THEN she scrubbed our dirty dresses yet! I know from experience how exhausting it is to spend a morning in the field and how much energy it takes to carry water and scrub dress. Such is the life of many of the women in this village.

Highlights

Singing together.

Spending time with the children.

One night everyone came over to the girls' house for a ugali dinner. Here we are stacked in the cute little
dining room. (l-r: Zack Lapp, Rebekah Oberholtzer, Kim Nolt, Rachel Oberholtzer, Hannah, Becky,
Paul, Nelaine, Gina, Ben, and Rachel Lapp.

One morning Hannah and I washed corn and laid it out to dry. Later that afternoon, Rachel went with us to get it ground at the mill.

Once a month market comes to Ivuna. Lorries loaded down with supplies and goods to sell come roaring in from town.

Rice and beans. Yummers!

 

Ivuna has left it's imprint on my heart.

Mbeya Peak- We did IT!!!

 

We flew into Mbeya on the morning of January 9 and were warmly greeted by Melvin and Anna Kauffman and lovely fresh mountain air. They took us to a retreat center where the team from the Ivuna mission was spending some time together. As we pulled into the driveway, Anna mentioned that there is a group planning to hike a sizeable peak here in the area today, namely,  Mbeya Peak. We later discovered that this is the highest in the area. She thought perhaps we'd be up to joining them? Well, now who would pass up that kind of adventure-promising expedition? Melvin was quick to point out the actual mount that we would be climbing to give us a shocking jolt into reality I suppose. :)

   We were introduced to the wonderful clan at the retreat and joined them for breakfast before heading out. A very suitable fare for what lay ahead of us - oatmeal- was served. We would need every single morsel of energy it provided!
   And so we were off... knowing so extremely little of what lay ahead of us. It's been said "Ignorance is Bliss" for a reason!
   Folks that had mostly been strangers just a short while earlier, soon became dear comrades as we all bonded around the common goal of journeying to the TOP!




We rather quickly discovered how terribly out of shape we were since we hadn't done anything very taxing at all in the a little more than a week since we had been in Africa. Most of our feet were clad in only flip-flops which definitely isn't the perfect choice but you can make anything work in Africa, right?! I personally decided that going just barefoot would be just as good or better than the flip-flops. Let's just say that my feet will probably always have a special connection with Tanzanian soil.:)

They are currently in the prime of rainy season here which provides pros and cons. One of the pros being the deep lush green of all manner of plant life surrounding us as we began ascending on what was mostly a narrow donkey trail most of the way. Every so often we would catch a small glimpse of the peak that we hoped to arrive on. There was also a generous amount of clouds that kept this peak of an elevation of 8,391 feet hidden from view most of our trek upward.

It was delightful to refill our water bottles at fresh mountain springs along the path. And of course, the opportunity to rest was always welcomed with gladness.

   Back to the pros and cons about rainy season I mentioned earlier. Yes, you guess it. Along came the rain that we really were not well prepared for. A few shawl-type coverings called konga's and a  jacket or two provided some protection for a few of us but mostly we just got wet; no, drenched.

   Many desperate prayers were sent heavenward to stop the rain and bring some sunshine out again. Before long a spacious patch of blue sky was spotted and we cheered.

 

The hike is estimated to take approximately three and one-half hours to the peak and we added about another hour and a-half to that estimation. Not the best record ever by a long shot; but nonetheless, this would definitely go down as an accomplishment when all was said and done!

   As the ascent continued, we met many flocks of sheep, and herds of goats and cattle grazing on the grassy slopes. It was decided that a break and devouring some of the awesome American snacks we had packed was in order before scrambling up the remaining distance to the top. What little energy that was left was mostly expended in those last number of yards. And, ALAS we were THERE! At the top! We had unbelievably fulfilled our goal!

Mbeya Peak

   God so graciously answered prayer and allowed the clouds to vanish for a few minutes to provide some of the most breathtaking views my eyes ever lay sight on. My heart just soared in worship to the Creator of such awe-striking beauty. Such a great reward for the long and weary journey to reach this point. If we experience that kind of satisfaction and fulfillment in completing a simple mountain hike, can we even begin to get a foretaste of how our hearts will dance when we enter heaven at the end of our life's journey and hear our Father say, "Well done, good and faithful servant"?!

 

The clan! L to R- Warren Eshelman, Zack Lapp, Carolyn Lapp, Hannah Lapp, Ben Lapp, Teresa Coblentz, Lora, myself, and Deb. (Missing, Rachel and Rebekah Oberholtzer who didn't go quite the whole way to the top)

After spending some time just soaking up the beauty and reveling in the wonder of this accomplishment, we began the downward trek. Climbing a constant uphill isn't at all easy, but neither is treading downhill. Surely I'm not old enough to experience such joint pain :(.

   One of the other really neat things included in the views were all the many little villages nestled high up in the mountains.

   The trail was quite slick in some places resulting in some unfortunate falls:(. And to add the perfect ending to our venture, it began to rain again and lasted through the duration of the hike. My personal supply of optimism kept decreasing until it was basically non-existent. Pole, pole! (Swahili for sorry)

Banana leaves work decently well as an umbrella :)

The good news is that we DID survive and eventually reached the vehicle, quite soaked and aching. We headed back to the retreat center and were even afforded an African luxury of hot water to cleanse and warm us up and a yummy supper.

   This cost of this adventure had turned out to be considerably more than we counted for but we definitely did not regret it. We concluded it was indeed a very memorable celebration for our first day in Tanzania. :)

   We are so grateful for y'all's interest, support, and especially prayers as we continue to travel.

God is so good and we feel very rich with many wonderful experiences already! Lora and I plan to leave Mbeya and travel back to the village of Ivuna where Deb is on Thursday. We will be there till next Wednesday and then return to Mbeya to catch our flight to Dar and the ferry to Zanzibar. Adios!

The three African musketeers, happy to have experienced yet another adventure- together!
 

 







Maasi Mara

A huge highlight from our week in Kenya was our trip to the Maasi Mara. We left early Monday morning from Kisumu and returned late Wednesday evening. We had around 6 hours to the Mara, but those hours we not boring at all. On the way to the Mara, we tossed story books out the window to eager recipients. On the way home we enjoyed sitting on the roof till the rain chased us inside. We tossed candy to children that we passed along the way. It was great fun watching them race to pick up the treats.

So many memories were made and many wonderful sights were seen. If time would allow, we would tell you about every detail and post boat loads of pictures, but for now this will have to do. Hopefully one day, we can show you more pictures and tell you more stories. Maybe even in person...

We will let this interview by Markus Beachy tell you a bit about our time in the Maasi Mara.

What comes to your mind when you think of the Mara?
Deb: I think of animals, thousands of beautiful animals. It's like a zoo on steroids. Only way cooler, because all the animals are free to roam in their natural habitat.
Beth: The Mara is a seemingly endless wild open plains full of gloriously beautiful creatures and a sense of freedom and serenity

Lora: Somehow it feels like I see more of who God is through this experience; He's wildly creative and must have a wonderful sense of humor. When I think of the wild beauty out on the open plains of the Mara; the tall, lumbering giraffes; elephants and hippos; the pattern of the coats of Zebras, cheetahs and leopards. The funny way warthogs run with their tails straight up in the air!
Were you ever scared, while out on a game drive? (if so, describe why)
Deb: Yeah, there were several times when my heart rate increased slightly. A few times some of the fiercer animals of the Mara got slightly unhappy with us, like the time a hippo jumped up and showed us his fierce teeth. Occasionally while riding on top of the rover, I got tossed about a bit more than I cared too. :/

Beth: On the first game drive we were on, a cape buffalo charged us. That got my blood pumping a bit, but as a whole, it was amazing how safe it felt to be so close to some of the world's most dangerous animals.

Lora: Now there were just a few times when I may have been a wee bit frightened, but for the most part those animals seemed fairly docile. The time the cape buffalo charged, and the time Reuben (our guide) goes cruising right up to the elephants only moments after someone had explained that if elephants are disturbed or angry they could very easily turn over the rover! Ok then!

What was your all-time favorite sighting (or one of the many)?
Deb: This is a hard one. It was all so wonderful! Some of the highlights for me though were the elephants and the male lions. Both of these I had been praying to see and when we found them, it felt like a special gift from God.

Beth: This one is super hard to narrow down! One of my dreams was to see lions, and wow! We were gifted to see around 40, including male, female, and cubs. Warning: don't be surprised if I come back with a pet baby lion. :)

Lora: It's hard to say what my favorite sighting was because they were all so wonderful to see in the wild like this. The lions and elephants were some of the favorites. All the little cubs we saw were just the best: The cheetah had four, the leopard had one, and the lions had to many to remember the count. The night we were looking for elephants and couldn't find any. Then as were were leaving, on the far horizon we saw the silhouettes of a whole family of elephants. We went back and watched them for awhile. It was such a gift!

Back at camp, did you hear anything really cool in the early morning?

Deb: The first morning I got up early and went out on the porch to read my Bible. It was early enough that it was still dark. I saw a spot light across the river shining about. As it came closer, I could hear the clanging of cow bells. I sat in wonder as I watched the herdsmen lead their cattle through the forest. The herdsman in the back was whistling a neat little tune as he kept the cattle in line and onward to yonder pasture land.

Give your impression of Kichakani, the camp where we stayed.

Deb: Kichakani perfectly met our needs. It was somewhat primitive with key luxuries, such as hot showers, real toilets, electricity in the evenings, and a swimming pool. Having the place to ourselves was awesome!

Beth: It was camping at it's finest! A beautiful spot of paradise a midst the wilderness.

Lora: Camp Kitchakani was a pleasant place to stay; camping style and this I loved. Just a little primitive, but plenty of provision. Army style tents under thatched roofs with a nice porch to have “rare” quiet moments

Our cabin

Care to describe any humorous experiences back at camp?

Beth: Late one evening, we were having a grand time doing some singing. It eventually led to some very lively Southern Gospel-style selections. One of the security officers at the camp stood nearby taking it all in.

Lora: Humorous experiences?!! Ahhh! There was always people's hilarious narratives and commentaries of everything happening! Very entertaining! There were very few times when someone wasn't being a bit humorous. And yes, we laughed too much! Not!

Which animal is called the Kenyan Express? Why?

Beth: Hmmm, that would be the warthog. As soon as they're startled just a little, they take off and run for all they're worth, which isn't very much, all the while sticking their tails straight up in the air, don't know if it gives them more wind speed or not?!

Were you afraid of the rangers, the police of the Mara?

Deb: Not afraid, but I sure hated the thought of getting fined. You could probably say it was something similar to the relationship between cats and mice.

Beth: I wasn't afraid; but I really had no desire to provoke them to anger either.

Lora: The rangers were a bit of a constant alert in our minds as we sat on the roof and went off-roading quite a bit. But with Micah's keen eye for little white rovers, we made out fine.

How would you describe our guide, Reuben?

Deb: Reuben was a splendid guide who knew his stuff. It was nice having him with us to talk us out of trouble and get us good deals, etc. It pays to have friends! He also has a great sense of humor and did well to join in with our group as one of us. Apparently, he regularly texts the animals to discover their current location. The Rhino must have lied, because we never did find him. *harhar

Beth: Reuben was the absolute BEST tour guide a safari trip could ask for! He was very knowledgeable, adaptable, and hilarious. The perfect addition to our group!

Lora: Reuben did a splendid job of making us feel very at home on the Mara! He spoke such excellent English. We didn't miss much! He was always off-roading so as to give us a true experience.

And how was the group, with whom you were at the Mara? Was more time spent in awkward moments, or just plain dying with laughter?

Deb: Awkward? Never! In all honesty, I couldn't ask for a better group. Being able to spend so much time directly interacting with my “long, lost brother” and “African” relatives, plus two dear friends was truly the greatest! When I think of the trip in a nutshell, I definitely have mostly memories of laughter. So much laughter!

Beth: So what kind of a question is this?! A big shout out to the wildest,  craziest, and most adventurous safari group ever! Y'all know who you are. We just mostly laughed so much that there wasn't time left for many awkward moments to creep in!

Lora: Oh! The group was splendid as well! Plenty of laughter all around! Thanks ya'll! I'd say more moments dying with laughter than awkward, thankfully!

This amazing group:  (top from l-r) Markus Beachy, Lora Stoltzfus, Austin Lapp
(bottom from l-r) Reuben (our guide), Mark and Mary Ellen Beachy, Deb Lapp, Micah Beachy, Beth Smucker, and Marcellus Beachy

Deb and her brother, Austin.

Marcellus did an amazing job at organizing this trip for us. He's also a great chef! ;)

Thanks to the Mark Beachy family for making our first week in Africa one that we won't easily forget. We loved being with you all and are looking forward to seeing you again in about 6 weeks!

Kisumu Children's Home

So I've been hearing that there are many of you out there that are just waiting for another post on our blog. Please forgive us for the delay! Our first week was stuffed full of so much awesomeness and very little time for technology.

Backing up to our first weekend. On Saturday, Marcellus took us to a government run Children's home in Kisumu. We enjoyed playing with the children for several hours. 

One Small Child's Story

It was 2 am on Saturday, January 3rd, when the police brought this precious baby boy to the Children's home. He had been abandoned and left to die outside a nearby church. When I first met him, the staff ladies were trying to agree on a name for this 3-day old child. 

  As I watched him sleep in my arms, I found myself wondering what chances he has at life. Who will take him in under their wings and protect him and love him? Who will teach him about God and about the importance of a relationship with His Creator?

This Children's home is not set up to car for babies and were looking into transferring him to a more equipped home.

This is only one child, but his story is like so many others.

Our first day in Kenya

Greetings from the land of Kenya!
All went well traveling over here. We arrived safely and on schedule in Nairobi early Friday morning along with all of our luggage. The lady that checked us in in D.C, was easy on us and our over-weight bags. Immigrations went better than expected, and customs were nonexistent. Blessings heaped upon blessings!

(In Washington D.C. full of excitement and ready to check in!)

My cousins, Marcellus and Markus Beachy, along with my Brother, Austin, were waiting for us just outside the airport. We wasted no time loading all of our luggage and heading for the beds at a nearby guesthouse to finish out the night. I personally didn't get much sleep at all, which really wasn't new for me. So as you can imagine, by this point I was feeling nearly drunk from the lack of sleep. 

Groggy, but so happy to be in Kenya. Ready to see Kibera!

The guesthouse served us breakfast before we headed for the Kibera slum in Nairobi for a bit of a tour. An employee offered to be our guide. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa and is known to be the friendliest slum in the world. It is hard to estimate just how many people actually live there. Some say 500,000 others say it could be as many 1,000,000.

It is hard for me to imagine how anyone can find there way home in this maze of mud shacks. There was no apparent rhyme or reason to the set up of this community. 

Here clean water is not easily accessible and proper hygiene is nonexistent causing many diseases. HIV and AIDS are common. In the above picture you will notice the polluted stream running between homes. This is common. They have open sewage systems causing the place to possess a horrible odor. They don't have restrooms, instead they have "flying toilets". The name pretty much says it all.

A girl having a small bag filled with clean water. This was one of the only places I

 recall seeing where clean water could be purchased.

We spend a couple hours in Kibera, passing out candy and balloons to the children, as well as blowing bubbles with them. The delight on their faces was rewarding. 

 Our group (l-r): Austin Lapp, another native guide, Sos, Marcellus Beachy,

                                     Lora Stoltzfus, Beth Smuker, myself, and Markus Beachy

We arrived in Kisumu around 7pm Friday night. 

Stay tuned to here more about our weekend!

(written by Deb Lapp)