Five Months In

"On our bedroom wall - a good 3" across"

In our last entry we told you about the new additions to our family, our chickens. Well, things didn’t go so well for them. They got a sickness and all died but one. That one will not be giving us any eggs as about 2 weeks ago he started to crow. Now we’re waiting to get some more hens.

For most of October, we had a tutor come to our house to give us some Swahili training. She is a student teacher who was in Dodoma doing a work term in a school here. Unfortunately, she has gone back to Dar es Salaam to continue her studies. We have contacted another teacher who is teaching at a school for ex-pat children and she will be starting to tutor us very soon. We may still be able to learn to speak Swahili before we come home.

Last month we were shocked to learn that our night guard’s 1 year old daughter died by choking on a peanut. His family lives in Singida which is about three hours from here. We didn’t know that his family wasn’t here in Dodoma with him and here he was working 7 days a week for us. We have now hired another guard to work 5 days a month so that Daniel can go home to his family for a few days each month. It is not uncommon in Tanzania for family members to live apart in order to find employment but at least now Daniel will have some time at home. We in Canada have so much to be thankful for.

"Lily easily handles Ron's pass"

In October, we hired a local school teacher to come to our house 4 days a week to teach our housekeeper English. We worry about what will happen to her and little Lily when we return to Canada. If Tukista is able to progress well enough, then our plan is to get her into an adult High School class in January.

We’re still waiting for CDA to grant us a parcel of land for the first eight homes of the Land for Life project. There is a back up plan but CCT is really counting on CDA to come through. We now have funding in place to build three of the eight homes and have our fingers crossed that CIDA will look favourably on our grant application for the other 5 homes.

"Maternal Health Care Worker Curriculum Development"

Last week we travelled to the Morogoro Women’s Training Center (MWTC) along with two other CCT staff, to work on the development of the Traditional Birth Assistant Upgrade Course. It was decided to rename the course the “Maternal Health Care Worker Course”. Tanzanian Ministry of Health staff will conduct six days of the training and MWTC will provide instruction for the remaining five days of the eleven day course. Attendees will receive a certificate upon completion of the course signed by both the Ministry of Health and the Director of the MWTC.

"CCT Website Banner - will have slideshow in grey area."

Ron has been making very good progress on the CCT website and next week he will present to the CCT management the website framework. From the framework, the staff will be able to get a sense of the look and feel of the site. Once the content and pictures are provided, the site should be able to go live before the end of the month.  A special thanks to Klassen Graphics of Moose Jaw who redid the CCT logo for us without charge!

We have started making plans for Ron’s sister’s visit. She and her husband Alar will be with us for Christmas. We’re getting excited about it. After Christmas we plan to do a safari to the Ruaha National Park and stay at the Tandala Tented Lodge http://www.tandalatentedcamp.com/ .

The weather is warming up here. Most days are 31 or 32 degrees and sunny. That’s pretty warm for us but the nights cool off nicely, so that is good. There has not been any rain in Dodoma yet but it will be coming soon.

This month we will be going to Zanzibar for a Round Table meeting with the partners of CCT. Wendy from UCC will be attending and visiting with us. We are looking forward to having a little time, following the two days of meetings, to tour the island.