Content and Grateful

The cow in the toliet hole!

Jacob and I washing clothes!

Anna's new Obama bag!

Fellow teachers playing Uno at break



Werema bathing...all the kids bathe in the yard!

Students catching a ride home from school

Sunrise and cattle on the way to school

 Sometimes, well most of the time, I find it hard to express everything that I am feeling, thinking, and experiencing. This is especially the case now as I am sitting in front of my computer staring at the screen. I guess the best words to describe my heart these past weeks are content and grateful. I cannot explain it, but there are moments in life when I am genuinely content and grateful for God’s good, guiding hand, instead of mine, placing me exactly where I need to be. As Frederick Buechner states, “The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I don’t know exactly how God does it, how he knows precisely what you need and when, but He does. It’s like I look back at my life and wonder how I got here, teaching in Tanzania, and I genuinely don’t know, but I am glad I am. The immense joy I receive from teaching and just spending time with neighbors and the   hundreds of people, mostly kids, that we live with, is such a blessing that I do not in any way deserve. Don’t get me wrong though, living in Africa is definitely not the easiest task I have ever taken on, but I love it…most of the time. I will say though that I am missing terribly Chick-Fil-A and barbeque in general!!!

For instance, some events that have made me laugh so very hard these past weeks are: 1) Jacob and I were riding the same bicycle from school down the rocky, dirt road and totally busted it in front of all our students. I had bruises for like a week, while only Jacob’s ego was bruised I think. 2) Yesterday, one of the cows fell in the hole where the toilet is being constructed and we had to lift him out. I could not stop laughing at the situation, but I felt horrible for the cow as it was so scared and kept hurting its face on the rocks. 3) Today, on the way to town, Jacob and I were riding the daladala with over 25 people in like a 16 passenger van, and there were three chickens riding with us. One of the chickens decided to poop on the way and the liquid travelled along the bottom of the daladala and got all over Jacob’s bag, shoes, hands, etc. Let’s just say he was not exactly enthused, while I of course could not stop laughing. Those are only a few stories, but ones I feel describe fully our day to day life experiences.

On a more serious note, Jacob and I would like to help our school in a few ways. First, we really want to paint the school as some of the classrooms are painted while others are not…maybe even some murals of the world, Africa, etc. Additionally, most of the chairs are broken and therefore have no backs for the students to lean against. We would just need to buy some wood and some screws we think. We also want to start a small library with English/Swahili dictionaries, African literature books, and other teaching resources as there are literally none. We do not expect these tasks to cost very much money, but we also don’t have very much either as you know. I would genuinely appreciate if any of you would like to help, but know also that it is hard in America at the moment as well. However, I know that the Lord is always good no matter the circumstances and will supply everything we need to accomplish our goals even if it takes the whole year I am here. Know that I love you all very much, and would not be able to make it here without your prayers and support. Please email me at hyman.katie@gmail.com if you have any questions or just want to say hi!!! MISS YOU ALL!

Love you more…Katie

A Set of Keys

Half of my Form 1 English Class

Students constructing a teacher toliet instead of in class

Mama Werema and her youngest Eliza

Mama Anna sewing

Mama Anna's chickens

Two of Mama Anna's girls on the right, Rhobi in the center (Mama Werema's), and a few neighbors

Werema and Eliza in the back (Mama Werema's) and I think one of Mama Anna's boys in front

Cows eating corn on my way to school

     First, I am so sorry it has taken me this much time to write a new post. Everything is going well though! We finally got bicycles!!! With the bicycles, it is now just 20 minutes to school which is much better than the 45 we were walking twice a day. However, since the road is extremely rough with rocks and holes, we have had to spend a lot of money patching the tires every other day. Consequently, we will most definitely still be walking some days. But…the bicycles were given to us, so they are still such a blessing and I am so thankful for them! Teaching is becoming easier as well, although I think the students think that I am crazy because I have to act so many words out as their vocabulary is quite low to non-existent. I have given three tests so far though, and they were not too bad. I like my students so much…but we all knew that I would! Many of the teachers don’t show up every day and some have been gone for weeks, so I have had to teach extra classes as well. While I understand that they have family issues and other important business to take care of, I get so frustrated because the students just sit there not learning. I don’t want them to fail like almost every student last year. It bothers me so much to know all their potential, and have it not come to fruition simply because of an education system that is inadequate. Ahhhh! I have also started helping the kids in our house who are in school with English and math. I help Anna with English, who is the daughter of one of Magira’s wives Mama Anna, and Mwita with English and math that is Magira’s brother and also in Jacob’s form 3 class at Buko. I have additionally become friends with Mama Anna and Mama Werema, the two wives of Magira. Mama Anna is pregnant again I am pretty sure, although I am not culturally aloud to ask her, which will make her 5^th child. She keeps eating coal/charcoal that she cooks with, which cannot be a part of her normal diet. This means that Magira will now have 9 children all together. It is definitely a situation that I am not used to or condone, but I love them both. They are always making sure we have eaten, giving us milk (that I keep having to buy chocolate syrup to put in as it is definitely straight out of hte cow) and eggs, and calling me all the time just to say hi. Our conversations are never very long and always funny as the language barrier is rough but getting better.

Additionally, these past couple of weeks have allowed me the chance to read a challenging book entitled “same kind of different as me” and download an equally challenging sermon. I love when God speaks and fear it as well, as I know that I am never what I ought or who I want to be. Truth is always “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart,” as is written in Hebrews 4. The book is the story of a modern-day slave, Denver, who escapes to find only homelessness for years, but eventually finds life-changing love with the help of a lady named Deborah/Miss Debbie and her husband Ron. Two quotes in particular were absolute truth that pierced my soul and spirit.

Denver shares that “God gives each person on the earth a set of keys, keys to live this life down here on the earth. Now in this set, there is one key you can use to unlock prison doors and set captives free. Mr. Ron, I was captive in the devils prison. But I got to tell you: Many folks had seen me behind the bars in that prison for more than thirty years, and they just walked on by. Kept their keys in their pocket and left me locked up. But, Miss Debbie was different—she seen me behind them bars and reached way down in her pocket and pulled out the keys God gave her and used one to unlock the prison door and set me free. She’s the onlyest person that ever loved me enough not to give up on me, and I praise God that today I can sit here in your home a changed man—a free man.”

Denver also shares, “There’s something I learned when I was homeless: Our limitation is God’s opportunity. When you get all the way to the end of your rope and there ain’t nothin you can do, that’s when God takes over. I remember one time I was hunkered down in the hobo jungle with some folks. We was talkin about life, and this fella was talkin said, ‘People think they’re in control, but they ain’t. The truth is, that which must befall thee must befall thee. And that which must pass thee must pass thee by.’ You’d be surprised what you can learn talkin to homeless people. I learned to accept life for what it is. Sometimes to touch us, God touches someone that’s close to us. That is what opens our eyes to the fact that there is a higher power than ourselves.”

As I was walking the forty-five minutes to school alone one day after finishing this book, I just kept thinking how the world steals our set of keys God gives us to share His light and life every single day. I genuinely don’t hate many things, but I hate that! I hate the thought of satan and the world stealing the honor of representing my almighty, glorious God. I want desperately to use the keys God has given me, as He has my heart. The sermon I downloaded of Buster at East Cooper included verses 5-6 of 1 Timothy 5. Timothy writes, “She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Although speaking about widows in particular, I think these verses can be applied to anyone who is self-indulgent. Buster quotes Calvin referring to these verses who says “I think it is more natural to say that a woman is dead when she is useless and does no good…for to what purpose do we live if it be not that our actions yield some advantage to other people. For my actions to be solely derived and used by God for the advancement of his kingdom/people is the desire of my heart. Laziness, selfishness, fear, etc… are all distractions and schemes that keep me from doing the will of God…using all my keys. My prayer is just that He would open my eyes and heart to every opportunity that I have to make full use of the precious gifts and blessings he has given and entrusted to me.

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

Love you more, Katie :)