The Lord Pimpeth My Ride...

Hi all, Dan here. It's been a week & a half already since we arrived, & it seems like time flies over here when there's a lot to do.

We went up to Lengijave again today, to make a brief inventory of what we'll need to get before moving up, as it's a fair way from there to the nearest duka (shop). The house is already fully furnished, & the kitchen fully stocked with cookware, cutlery & crockery, so we're sweet on that score. The main priority seems to be getting a large water container to fit in the back of the Landy, so we can get water daily from the local waterhole, or perhaps from town depending on availability.

Speaking of the Landrover, here are a few snaps of the vehicle itself:



It's even more rugged than my old BattleTruck©, so I'm looking forward to seeing how well she handles off-road. I've no idea how old it is, but it seems to be in pretty good condition, & we've just spent some money to get it road-worthy again after a few years of storage: replacing oil, filters, boot seals & so on. It belongs to the family who own the house, & they've very kindly let us have the use of it for as long as we need it, on the condition that they can use it when they come over to visit. So that's another major hurdle miraculously taken care of, as vehicles are quite expensive over here. Any new vehicle imported into the country is required to have almost half it's value again paid to the government as import duty, meaning a $20,000 vehicle suddenly costs $30,000 by the time you get it on the road. So, full props to God for taking care of that one.

We'll probably be moving out of En Gedi (Aimee's parent's place) & up to Lengijave later this week, which will come as a bit of a relief to me, seeing as how Lynda is a dyed-in-the-wool vegetarian. There's only so much salad a man can eat before he wants to start gnawing on someone. :)

All joking aside, it's been great to be able to stay with them for a couple of weeks, just to get our feet on the ground & organise ourselves for the intimidating task of living in an isolated community, the language of which I speak very little. Most of the area we'll be living in is populated by Maasai, who speak kiMaa as a first language, & kiSwahili as a second. Aimee is fluent in Swahili, & knows a word or two in Maa, so she'll be able to cope, but I only speak English & Bad English, so I'm in the deep end. The workers at Lengijave have only a few words of kiIngereza (English), so I'll be relying on Aimee's interpretation until I can learn enough of the language to make myself understood. Thankfully the Tanzanians are a delightful people, who are always eager to help one learn Swahili, & correct any mistakes with a smile.

Anyway, time to stop rambling & get back to it, so I'll post again after we get settled in at the new place. Kwaherini!

Getting right into it!

The second installment is here!

So, on Wednesday, we went to visit Trish at her lovely little salon and spa, Aqua Hair Health and Beauty... Now, you will all be relieved to hear that you can get a decent manicure and pedicure, or a massage if you prefer, in the deepest darkest corners of Africa! Or a haircut provided by yours truly... That's right, I got the job!

Woohoo!

So I expect you all to call for appointments, no silly excuses please, like,"I couldn't find a baby-sitter for three weeks..." or "9,000 miles is a bit far for a haircut!" That just won't do! ;-)

Aqua is a small but well out-fitted salon (complete with L'Oreal colour, I am happy to say!) situated in a lovely little recreational compound with a gym, sports facilities, restaurant/bar and, I'm sure, many other delights! I start work next week, on Tuesday, and as the salon is only really big enough to accommodate one stylist at a time, Trish and I will be doing shifts. It'll be like having my own little place - how fun! I will try and post some photos for you all, if I can ever get the camera to work (I believe I am photographically challenged)!

Speaking of photographs, I have some more for you! These are shots that my non-photographically-challenged brother, Jeremy, took of Lengijave last time we were up there, about a year ago...

When we went up for visit on Thursday, unfortunately it didn't look quite like this... There has been hardly any rain in the region this season, so the whole area is a dust bowl. Still beautiful, but very,very dry. In fact, as the house is run on rain water, we have only enough to last the two of us about six weeks, and the rains aren't likely to come for another three months - eek! Then we will have to fit the back of the Land Rover with a tank to truck more water up the mountainside... Ah, the joys of living in Africa!

But on a serious note, please do pray that the rainy season starts early as the local Maasai people are having to move away from their homes as their cattle - their livelihood - are starving. It's such a reality check to realise that, for so many people, a glitch in the seasons, a few months without rain, can make all the difference when scraping together an existence. And in the midst of such relative poverty (could I survive it? I think not!) to be continually reminded of the important things in life... Relationship, hope, faith, love, giving out of nothing... I have never seen so many smiling faces as I see here, in the third poorest country in the world. I tell you, I wouldn't be anywhere else :-)


So tomorrow we do another trip up to Lengijave, with the whole clan this time, Mum and Dad, Ben, Claire and Nia and the two of us to do another reconnoiter and meet "the staff"! Crazy days... We will start moving all our stuff up this week, as soon as the Land Rover is ready and registered (Dan's gonna publish a post on that later, for any automobile enthusiasts).

So, until there is any more interesting news... Take care and God bless!

So, it begins...

Hi Everyone! Let me introduce our cast of characters before we begin!

From the left we have: Claire & Ben Stephenson (my brother & his wife), John (Granddad) Stephenson, Jeremy & Kendra Stephenson (my oldest brother & his wife), Alan & Lynda Stephenson (Dad & Mum) & your intrepid authors Aimee & Dan Packer.

Well, here we are... IN AFRICA! Vanilla Beans in a Cocoa Bean World!

We arrived safe and sound on the afternoon of Sunday the 19th of July, to a balmy 26 degrees Celsius and 43% humidity - man, the cool season sucks! ;-)

Looking back on the 40 hours of travel with Ben, Claire and their baby, beginning at 4:30 am on Saturday morning from Auckland, it was, all in all, an uneventful journey, although traveling with my 3 1/2 month old niece, Nia, was a learning experience... And despite being significantly overweight (the baggage, I mean) we were charged no extra - yet another little miracle to remind us we are definitely on the right track!

We have since spent a lovely couple of days hanging out with family, just relaxing and recovering from the trip. I am still a tad jet-lagged, but Dan is doing awesome! I must admit we were both feeling a little trepidation on the way over - "What to expect?", "Are we doing the right thing?", "Will it work out?", "We're not going back this time! Eek!" - but we both felt such a significant feeling of arriving home when we walked into my parents house... It's good to be back.


This is the inside of Mum and Dad's lounge - note the banana-bark ceiling and curved walls... Mum designed the houses after true African style, round and thatched! This keeps the houses cool in the hot season and temperate in the cold...

Tomorrow we are going into town to visit Trish - my prospective employer - to see how she likes me! So please be praying - I really want this job! Trish is currently running a little salon with a reputation for doing the best cuts in town, which is right where I want to be! It would also be a great opportunity to establish connections for when we start up our Bed & Breakfast...

Speaking of which, we will pop up to Lengijave on Thursday to have a look around and see what we need before we move on up. Lengijave is the area where Dan and I are going to be living, in a beautiful, rustic house, owned by family friends, who are happy for us to convert it into our dream boutique B & B - such an awesome set-up, totally a God-thing!

These are just a couple of images from the outside of Lengijave house, we will upload more after our visit for your viewing pleasure :-)

So, until then, kwaherini wote!