Happy Holidays!

I can't believe I am saying this already, but Happy Thanksgiving next week to you all! and Happy beginning to the holiday season! It is going to be strange not being home, for sure, but I am in a wonderful place! Still not sure what my plans are as of now, but I'm sure I will be with great people and I will enjoy the days none the less! Miss you all bunches!
Randi

More pictures from my new site in Mpwapwa region!

This is Ally, for those of you who know the story. Sorry for those of you who do not. Not the greatest picture, so you can't see that in fact he is adorable! He has been a blessing.

Picture of the sky shortly after sunset. The picture was not totally in focus but I thought it turned out pretty beautiful!

Just took over as coordinator of an after school club with the secondary school students-a mix of form 1 through form 4. Our first project is a tree nursery and we are also going to try planting some greens to sell. They don't get their picture taken very often, and I told them I was going to show friends and family so they were all about the posing!!!

This is in my classroom at school. I had one of my students take the picture so you can see my barely in the very back. It was difficult to get all of them in the picture, but if all were there I would have about 60. They are about 15 and 16 years old and they are really growing on me, though we are still having difficulty communicating. It's really hard for them to understand me because my pronunciation is soooooooo different!

This is a picture from my secondary school. The left side is the offices and the right side are classrooms. This is where I teach! It's actually pretty nice for school grounds because it is new. It opened in 2005.

Yes, I have found these in my house! And you can't even tell how big it is from the picture! big! And not easy to kill!

The left door is my kitchen. the middle my bathing room (for me and my bucket of cold water!). the right side, my toilet room. To the far left I have a rack set up to dry my dishes after drying them, sometimes with dirt to scrape of the grime! Try it! It works like you wouldn't believe!

This is my courtyard outside my house. You can see my house on the left, the 3 rooms on the side. The square cement thing in the center is a water catchment tank so that when the rains come I will be able to catch some of the water. And that is a papaya tree, with papaya growing! I have yet to have a ripe one though. Soon!

This is my house!!! I was walking home on the trail from the "bomba" -the water tap. These are the trees that are all over our village-Baobab trees.
The fruit pulp/or acid pith is used to make a juice. The leaves can be eaten like spinach or dried up and used in sauces or as a medicinal compound. the bark can be used for fiber for nets, rope, clothing. the fruit in high in vitamin c, iron, calcium, and has dietary fiber. Pretty neat! And they're huge! People have dug inside and used them as a place to sleep.

They make bricks out of the soil and create these kilns, burn lots of wood inside to burn the bricks and then use the bricks to build houses, bathrooms, kitchens, etc.

Cows and goats trying to get some relief from the heat in the shade!

Just a big tree and a house in the village. All of the hay in front of the house was eventually put on top as roofing. Not sure how well that's going to work when the rains come.

Our water tank. The water is pumped, with a generator, to four different water taps throughout the village.

A view of the village and all the baobab trees-in Kiswahili they are called mibuyu

This is the center room inside my house. To the left is a bedroom and to the right is my bedroom. It looks a little different now because I've done a bit of rearranging.

This is my room! I have a mosquito net that I sleep under every night. There are no mosquitos right now, but I feel better being under there because there are lots of critters in my house! The baskets on the left are hanging from the rafters and they are holding my clothes, in place of a dresser! Works great!

Things are still going well. I can't believe it's already November! Won't be on before the beginning of the holiday season, so Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Miss you all and hope you are well!

I'm sending my love!