Thursday, July 25, 2013

All Our Stuff!

Well, almost 3 weeks ago we were all lazing around in our pyjamas ... it was 8am on a Sunday morning and all of a sudden there was lots of noise outside. 

For those of you following the saga of our container on Facebook and our news updates, you will already know the reason! After months of battling with shipping companies, immigration and customs officials, all our belongings arrived with absolutely no warning! The best surprise ever!


We quickly moved our car (Jenny did, still in her PJ's!), phoned around our friends for extra help ... and got on with the work in hand! It all got unloaded onto the grass outside our house, checked and then moved into the right rooms!


The girls were super excited to get all their toys ... in fact they disappeared into their room for a lot of the time and slowly opened everything! There was a big clean up job that evening in order for them to go to sleep!


The house looked like a total bomb-site as we managed to get everything inside by lunchtime. We've been saying ever since ... the house might look like a mess but it's a happy mess!! 


We packed up all our things almost 8 months ago and ... while there are only a few things that we would really have missed if the container hadn't survived the journey, plus the fact that we've been bumbling along fine without it all since we arrived in February ... it has been SO nice to finally get to make our house, our home! 

Admittedly, our home doesn't look very African but we're here for the long haul and at the end of the day it is our haven of peace from the hustle and bustle of life. We have already had the opportunity to give lots of things away that were in the container and to use stuff for other people's benefit. We look at it all as a real gift that we want to share with our friends here.

Below are a couple of before and after shots of some of the rooms. There is still a lot more to do but we're getting there!!





Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us through this very long 'waiting period'. There were days when it was really tough and we were questioning 'why?' for everything. Now we're still smiling that it's here ... the novelty has yet to wear off!!

Thursday, July 04, 2013

Winter School Break

It is officially the first full week of the 'winter' holidays here in Dodoma for Abigail. Winter because we're in the southern hemisphere but honestly, it's better weather than a British summer!

Abigail joined the Reception class just over halfway through the school year but fitted in right from the start and she has LOVED everything about it! All the academic stuff, taking part in school assemblies, making new friends (of which we have had at least 3 different best friends ) and playing in the playground to name just a few things. 

Here is her class and two of the teachers on the last day of term last week when they had a teddy bears picnic!


At CAMS (Canon Andrea Mwaka School), there is an Early Years Centre for the nursery and reception classes. They are kept apart from the bigger kids who could easily bowl them over and have a lovely play area for just them to use.



Inside the classroom is full of fun stuff for the children to get up to ... Abigail didn't want to miss out on anything once she started there just two days after we arrived here in Dodoma back in February! Given half the chance she would have stayed and started when we visited for the week back in November last year!


We were all able to go along to a couple of events at the school last week. A farewell to the outgoing head teacher and her family who have been here for the last 6 years and also to the Early Years Sports Day. 

The children had lots of fun at the sports day. They had separated them up into animal groups (Abigail was an elephant!) and had loads of different activities for each group to complete around their playground Here are a few photos of Abigail taking part.




Abigail's main teacher this year has been Ms Kamwela ... much loved by everyone (with the help of Mr Emmanuel and Ms Rhoda). All the children are really going to miss her. She is full of fun and smiles at all times. It seems that anyone who has had her as a teacher thinks of her with fondness. We couldn't have asked for a better teacher for Abigail to start out at CAMS with.


As is the nature with any mission school, the staff have quite a turnover from year to year, as people travel back to their home countries and this year is no exception. Here is the 2012-2013 school year staff. 


Some that we have had the chance to get to know over the last few months, we have had to say goodbye to. For others it has been more of a 'have a good break, see in you a few weeks' goodbye. For Jenny, having taught at CAMS herself, we are able to see it from both sides and we want to say a big THANK YOU to all of them for all the hard work they have put in for this last academic year.

Abigail is now excited to have a break from school ... but is also very much looking forward to going up to Standard One and the 'big' school when they start up again in August!