A New Day

So I'm not really sure where to begin. I really should update more often so I don't write a novel every time. We went on two "excursions" for class this week. On Tuesday morning we went to Mali Hai Clubs of Tanzania which is an environmental management and conservation organization that works to educate Tanzanian students about the environment. We visited the poaching office and learned about how poachers are caught and what happens once they are. There were about 25 safari vehicles parked outside the office that we found out had been confiscated from poachers.

After Mali Hai, we went to MWEDO which stands for Maasai Women's Development and Empowerment Organization. The Maasai are a tribe that lives in Kenya and Tanzania and are one of the most well known tribes in Africa. The Maasai are known historically as warriors (think Africa's Spartans) and for their resistance to change and modernization. More recently they've been known for their use of FGM (if you don't know what that is, look it up because I'd rather not explain it here) and many NGOs are working (mostly unsuccessfully) to stop the practice and encourage education for Maasai children. The Maasai are a pastoralist tribe and the children are often forced to work/mind the cattle instead of attending school so many groups, like MWEDO, are working to sponsor Maasai children and work with Maasai leaders to help them understand the benefits of education. Anyway, at MWEDO we learned about their meetings with Maasai elders, their sponsorship program and their craft and jewelry store. MWEDO runs a fair-trade shop with beaded jewelry, crafts and shoes that are made by Maasai women and the women get 80% of the price. The stuff there is much cheaper than the crafts sold on the street so I'm sure I'll be going back to buy some gifts for you lovely people back home. Oh, they have monkeys that live on the grounds too so that makes it an even cooler place.

The rest of the week was spent doing homework, filling out applications for Trinity's MAT program and researching apartments back home which by the way is ZERO fun here. For some idiotic reason, a lot of apartment websites use fancy flash players that take forever to load and make me very frustrated. Thank goodness I have friends in San Antonio to help me out. Oh, I also did laundry this week. Yes, I washed all my clothes by hand in a bucket and they are clean, but a little crispy because we have to lay them flat on the shelves in our pantry. Oh well, TIA...

The end of this week was a little rough. I was not in the best mood on Friday because it had been a very long week and was really hot outside. Needless to say I was very homesick. Things got better on Friday night though and I went out with friends from the program. On Saturday, things went downhill again. Some people in our program don't get along very well so we had to have a group sit down and try to figure out what each of us could do to make the situation better. I'm sure the problems aren't over, but hopefully we'll be able to ease tensions or it's going to be a very long semester. Things turned back around last night though when I got to talk to my parents on the actual phone (not on skype) for 30 minutes and then with Alex for another 30 minutes. It was really great to catch up with them without interference from the internet. I also got to talk with my roommate, Leslie, for a while too and really felt better. The goodness continued through the night and followed us to church this morning.

Some of the girls went to a dance class on Tuesday and met a woman from California who works for an NGO here and she invited them (and the rest of us) to come to church with her family this morning. A group of 6 of us went and it was so great. The woman, Tammy, introduced us to her family (husband and 4 kids) that have lived here for 3 years and in Kenya for a few years before that. We also met a few other people that were so loving and inviting and I had such a great time. This church is called the Visitor's Church because so many people are here for only a few months at a time. It was mostly white people that are volunteers and missionaries, but they were from all over the world and there were also a fair share of Asian and African people. Worship was led by an American woman and her South African husband. A couple of us really loved it and I'm sure we'll be coming back every weekend we can.

It's really incredible how God has worked in the past 24 hours to restore me and my thoughts. I was able to re-focus this morning and really listen for the first time since I've been here. It became very apparent to me that God has big ideas for me and wants to change me this semester. I don't like that I had to be removed from my comforts (friends, family, foods and general amenities from home) and come half way across the world for this to become apparent to me, but I'm just glad I'm beginning to figure these things out. I'm not sure where I'm going, but that only makes this whole thing more exciting.

A friend of mine sent me a list of questions that will probably be turned into future blog entries. She definitely has the gift of asking the right questions, but not for her own curiosity, but my self discovery. I am confident that they will help me process this crazy place better than I ever could on my own. If anyone else has any specific questions, I'm sure you aren't the only one who's curious so feel free to email me or comment below. I'm missing home, but now feel a lot more secure here and confident in the road that has been set out for me.