Gordon's Ant Story

This entry is from Gordon's personal journal, December 3, 2008.

I have to mention the ants. Maybe 10,000 of them. Or a billion? Who knows. They are making good use of the house, and I am guessing they live in the attic. Little brown ants. Marching in neat lines. Up and down the walls. Across the floors. Always searching for the smallest crumb of food and throwing a big ant party when they find one. But what are they looking for on my computer screen? Give them a shot of Doom, and they just find another route to follow in their quest. Aside from the nuisance of just being there, they seem harmless enough. Not like those large black ants I wandered into yesterday. I was just exploring the back yard when I found myself about a step from an interesting ant hill. The same time I discovered the ants, they discovered me. Wow, did I jump. They have a serious bite. First my foot. Then again. Then my leg. Then both legs. Ants in my pants! And still climbing up. I ran to the house, slapping my legs as I went. In a few strides I reached the door, ripping off my sandals. But ants continued biting my feet and legs. Off came my pants, and frenzy happened until all the ants on my feet and legs were dead. Much to my relief, they never reached the critical height of my underwear. My sandals on the step were still under attack by a dozen more ants. Somehow without getting bit herself, Peggy killed them and the ants still looking for me in my pants. I respectfully left those pants hanging for hours before I dared put them back on. I am so glad these were biting ants and not the stinging ants. At least the pain ended when the ants died. Siafu they call them. So watch where you walk, because not all ants are the same.

Ant Update. December 29. Although there are still minor skirmishes with the little brown ants in the house, I have declared victory. When they do send a patrol to investigate, which is not often now, they number only scores, or maybe hundreds at the most. A little well placed ant dust (well, lots of it actually) has brought them to their knees. As for the biting siafu ants, I still dare not venture into their well-defended domain. Take a look at the picture of the siafu and you will see why.

Christmas in Bulima Village

We just returned from five days in the village of Bulima with a number of new friends. The drive took about one and a half hours on a good road. Christmas morning six of us walked down to an outdoor church service attended by hundreds of Tanzanians and six westerners. A choir competition had just ended the day before, so we were treated to singing and dancing by four different choirs. The pastor spoke about the example the three wise men show us: to seek out Jesus, to worship him, and to give him our best gifts – from our hearts. It was all in Swahili, but a Wycliffe worker in our group was able to translate the essence for us. We enjoyed the three hour service very much.

Christmas evening a group of 14 gathered for dinner and fellowship in the home of an instructor at the local Nasa Theological College. We were 1 Briton, 3 Germans, 4 Americans, 4 Canadians, and 4 Tanzanians. For most of the non-Tanzanians, this was our first Christmas in Africa. We shared many foods, including delicious roast goat and a dish common to most of our dinners in Tanzania – the best fruit compote available anywhere. We sang Christmas carols and three men shared reflections on different aspects of the Christmas story. Gordon chose to reflect on John 1. Our thoughtful two host families had gifts for each of us. Two things were especially touching about the gifts – the reaction of the two young Tanzanian boys (residents of the Children’s Rescue Center in Mwanza) to the gift of shiny new black shoes and the gratefulness of the young women whose Christmas packages had been permanently lost in the mail.

We are still adjusting to the many differences in the local culture, so we really appreciated the mix of the familiar and the new. It was a memorable Christmas, illustrating to us how much the Christmas story means to people of all cultures all around the world. Merry Christmas to all our friends, old and new.

Our Neighborhood

We live in a home on the Mwanza compound of the Africa Inland Church of Tanzania (AICT). On the many acres of the compound are located a large church building, the offices of the Mwanza Diocese of AICT, and the national headquarters of AICT (where Gordon volunteers). Only a few steps away from the national headquarters is the AICT Makongoro Health Center. There Peggy volunteers alongside the Tanzanian staff and another CRWRC volunteer, Erin Carter from Canada. Occupying several buildings, the health center includes an outpatient clinic, a 30 bed short-term inpatient unit, an HIV/AIDS counseling and volunteer testing clinic, and a mother and baby clinic. There is also a guest house where short term visitors can get lodging and a restaurant for simple Tanzanian fare. Other buildings on the compound house a computer support and training center, the technical support department for maintaining clinic and hospital equipment, the Christian education department, missionary support, development, and other AICT church offices. And finally there are several residences. Most of the homes are used by AIC pastors and staff members, but two houses off in one corner are homes to us and our friend Erin. From there our commute to work is about 2 minutes on foot.

Our Home In Mwanza

It's hard to believe we have been in Tanzania for three weeks already. We have been so busy just getting basic supplies for our home, visiting the store and market nearly daily for food, and taking our Swahili lessons. We can greet Tanzanians in Swahili in many different ways, but after the greeting our skills fade like a falling star. The picture is our Mwanza home - our nyumbani. The weather is superb, the birds are spectacular, and our new Tanzanian neighbors are very warm and friendly. Both of us are going to start our volunteer assignments on Monday, so say a special prayer for us.

a bit of an update - from the Home Office

I got an email from the Tans on Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 13:20. Here's a summary of what they had to say:

Hello, we just today got internet access at our home. Now we can get to our emails regularly.

We are both doing well. Some initial hardships have been overcome. We are working on our Swahili. We even conducted a simple transaction in Kiswahili the other day - bought a bottle of water, cold.

From the Home Office

On November 20, Gordon and Peggy boarded a plane out of Grand Rapids' Gerald R Ford International Airport. It was the first airborne leg of their journey to Tanzania but it was far from the first leg, which began well over a year ago... stay tuned for more of their story. They'll touch down in Dar es Salaam tomorrow, and maybe they'll give us an update.