It feels like I’ve experienced a lifetime in just three weeks. Time at the Arusha Base seems only to inch by with not a single moment wasted.
What is lost in time is clearly made up for in other ways. Every minute here is spent in relationship with someone else, if not with another person than with God. Obviously this concept is not American so for the first two weeks I really struggled with it. First off only some people here speak English and most of them not very well. Secondly I wasn’t at all strong in my relationship with God and so talking to Him didn’t really appear as an option right away.
Everything is different here, from little things like food and bathrooms to big things like world views and thought processing. Everything is different. The first day we arrived I got sick in class and ran to the bathroom to throw up. I don’t know if you’ve ever used a squattie before but let me just tell you, it made the whole process a lot quicker. A squattie is just a hole in the ground that you do business in. Hard to get used to, but once you do it’s just like anything else. Second nature, really.
As part of the DTS (Discipleship Training School) we have breakfast every day at seven. If we’re not woken up by the roosters crowing or girl’s chatter then we’re generally woken by the sound of an old bell signaling that it’s time to gather. Breakfast is the same every day: three pieces of bread and some chai. Not bad, really.
After breakfast we have quiet time to read the Bible and pray for a half an hour to an hour. Then we get together in our class and worship and pray for an hour (on Mondays and Wednesdays the whole base gathers for prayer and worship and a small message). Then we have class from nine-thirty to eleven am. The bell rings then and we have Tea Time for half an hour before getting back into class for another hour and a half before lunch.
After lunch it’s free time (which is usually never free due to homework and Swahili studies/chilling with the Africans on the base). Then we have work duty from three to five pm.
I can’t tell you how amazing work duties are!! Their chores are SO different from the states! We are broken into teams everyday (sometimes you’re on your own, depending on the duty) and sometimes we’re set to sweep the outside ground with wooden brooms. I can honestly say I’ve never swept so much dirt before…it’s always seemed like an oxymoron to me. It’s VERY dusty here. Everything is covered in dust. So most of our chores have to do with cleaning grounds or floors. The way they mop is astounding to me too. They literally bend in half to wipe a wet rag over the floor. Their legs won’t be bent at all and they’ll be scrubbing the floor with their hands flat on the floor! I keep thinking of grade school when we all used to brag about just our fingers touching the floor while we were standing…well this blows that out of the water! I have to do it too. It is HARD work! But it gets easier the more I do it.
Everything is getting easier though. For most of the day we don’t have running water or electricity so everything is done by scratch/by hand. If you miss the running water in the morning then you have to tote buckets of water to and from the bathroom for showers, laundry, everything. We actually wash our laundry by hand. It’s pretty hard on the hands. In order to get our clothes clean we have to scrub and rinse them three times then hang them out to dry. If a wind picks up in this season then chances are they won’t stay clean (because of the dust) and we’ll have to do them all over again. Fun stuff.
Our showers are NEVER warm. I think people have gotten used to my screaming. “IT’S COLD!!! OH GOD IT’S COLD!!!” I certainly haven’t gotten used to showering in freezing water enough to shut up.
The people here are quite friendly, though at first I didn’t get that impression. See, Africans laugh about everything. So you can imagine that when we first got there we were pretty hilarious to them. And it’s not an easy thing to try to connect with people who don’t understand you and keep laughing at you. It was almost overwhelming trying to connect with anybody. Not only do we come from entirely different backgrounds but we couldn’t speak to each other.
Each week a new teacher comes to speak on a different topic. The first week was Sin and Repentance…I really didn’t like that teacher at all. He was from Uganda and had a strange way of communicating things. I realized later that it was just a different thought process than what I’m used to. Here, they’re taught to memorize things not think about them. That is literally what they’re taught.
The next week we had a teacher from South Africa who was very westernized in her way of teaching. She really challenged us to think about what she had to say and to come to conclusions on partly on our own. Her topic to teach on was the Father Heart of God, as well as the Nature and Character of God.
This week we have a teacher from Kenya who is somewhere in between these two extremes. He gives facts but also does so in a manner that challenges us to think for ourselves. It’s interesting. This week is on Hearing the Voice of God and Prayer, as well as Intercession and Spiritual Warfare.
Next week we are leaving on an outreach to Masai land and will be away from the base for two weeks. It will be a time of great spiritual growth and challenges.
I have been learning so much in the time that I’ve been here…I would go into detail but I fear that I won’t have time before the power goes out. In short I’ve learned a lot about God’s character and about the need to listen to His voice. I’ve learned a lot about depending on Him here and how He is a better barrier-breaker than anyone I could ask for…
There is so much I wish I had the time to say. There have been so many funny, enlightening, and challenging moments in just these three weeks I’ve been here. Like today I got up at five thirty (am) for prayer and got to hear “How Great Thou Art” sung in Swahili. Later on in class we sang “What a Friend We have in Jesus.” The harmonies were so lovely…Robert Eddy would’ve been proud. And I got to hold children last week in church and watch them laugh, sing and smile.
For every challenging moment there have been at least two good ones…It makes it all worth it.
Sadly that’s it for now. I will journal the rest when I can and hope to share it with you at least before I leave! Please know you’re in my prayers, and thank you for keeping me in yours! God bless!!
-Kylie
