Unrest in the islands

Over the past few weeks there has been a growing number of people calling for separation from the mainland. Zanzibar was joined with the mainland back in 1964 from necessity and not from a desire by the people. Recently talks of breaking free from the mainland have increased and a group of leaders have been going from mosque to mosque gaining support in an attempt to separate. 

This past weekend things escalated to a new level. Thousands of people started marching and protesting calling for a more Islamic fundamentalist government. They want Zanzibar to do away with all things "non-islamic" and so they set fire and burned down 3 churches and 3 bars.  When the police showed up, it turned ugly. They used tear gas and water cannons and the people began throwing rocks and setting fire to tires in the streets. 

This all happened on Friday and Saturday. We have heard that thing continued to be burned and destroyed on Sunday and most of Zanzibar has closed down. Big rocks and logs have been placed in the roads preventing the police from traveling the roads and keeping rioters under control. 

The leaders say that this is a political riot where they are demanding separation from the mainland and is not religious. However, since they have targeted churches (like the picture below) it sure feels like a religious "battle" is about to begin. Here is a news article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/27/zanzibar-protest-idUSL5E8GR1HB20120527

Zanzibar has a very unique political structure because it is an Islamic island with an Islamic government but is connected to mainland Tanzania which is mainly Christian. The island has its own president, military, flag, and just about everything else. However, it does not have its own currency. There has always been dislike and distrust between the islanders and the mainlanders and now it appears that the people are calling for permanent separation.  

 

We feel pretty safe where we are. The riots have all been on Unguja. However we still ask for your prayers for peace and safety for the people of Zanzibar and that the rioting does not spread here.   We also look with concern at the ramifications if the islands do separate from the mainland.

11 and a half years...to the day!

Life here has been the daily grind (studying, visiting, cooking, studying more) for the past week. Things have been so boring here that there were no new pictures, no news to report.  Today when we got to the beach after eating lunch at a friends house, the camera battery was dead.  I thought it was going to be another day of nothing to tell you!  Boy was I wrong!!!!

Justin had the good foresight to have the underwater camera on-hand, so you get to join in the fun.  It started when Justin found this little guy out in the sea.  He brought him up for us to enjoy, and we did!

I was so surprised when Avery shouted out that she wanted to hold it first!  

Then Hunter followed, but Braelyn was a no-go.  

Even Mama was brave enough to let it creep across her hand!

Then things got more interesting.  Justin took him back out to deeper water to let him go, only he didn't want to!  He grabbed onto that left little hand and would not let go.  Justin grabbed a shell and tried to pry him off.  This did NOT please Mr. Octopus who then dug his sharp little beak and took a chunk out of Justin's palm.  Up on shore, I hear a muffled underwater shout emerge from a snorkel and see Justin thrash around a bit, trying to pull the thing off!

I am not sure if the octopus decided that after biting him 3 times he would just let go or if Justin's flailing caused him to come off, however what he did NOT let go of was Justin's wedding ring. The octopus darted away and disappeared taking the ring with him.  

Back to our title.  When we got married Justin bet he'd lose that ring within a year.  He was so sure that he wanted to get a back-up or two.  He guessed surely by year two.  Absolutely by year five.  Turns out, he made it exactly 11 years and 6 months.  I can't be too upset, right?

Then our evening picked up a bit when we got to RESCUE some people that plowed their little SUV into the deep, deep mud of the forest that lies between the beach and home.  It's a gorgeous 30 minute drive through the most breathtaking, raw land we have.  But the road is a nightmare.  If you don't know which way to swerve and dodge, you WILL get stuck.  We passed by, told them we'd go get a rope, went to get said rope, drove back and pulled them free!  So fun.  It turns out that they are medical students from Switzerland that are here for 3 weeks so they can learn about infectious diseases and tropical medicine first hand. They rented a car and decided to explore the island.  

Around 10:00 at night we got a knock on the gate. A little uncommon as our lights were off but Justin when to check out who was there.  It turns out that the volunteering medical students we pulled from the bog a couple hours earlier got really lost and couldn't find a hotel to stay out. Which wouldn't have matter much anyways since the two hotel here are both closed for the rainy season  So, having told them where we live (the house on the far side of the forest with the pink wall...yes, we have a pink wall) the found us!  They will be staying at Hotel Brown tonight and hopefully tomorrow we can show them around the island a little bit, get to know them better and share our lives with them. All in all, a fun day.

Blessings

Last weekend Justin hopped over to the big island to meet with the head of the vocational school there about things.  Land, buildings, timing, options, etc.  Of course, it wouldn't be a complete trip without a little fishing, right?  Only, this is what the skies held as they headed out.

But afterwards, God's Promises appeared, all over the sky!  Back home, I had taken the girls swimming the same day and on our way home, a gorgeous rainbow arced across the entire sky, coconut tree line to banana tree line.  I LOVED hearing the girls ooh and aah and join me in exclaiming in delight over God's amazing creativity!

Normal week progressed into Friday and just as Hunter and I were transitioning from math facts to phonics, we hear Braelyn let out a scream, followed by the dreaded silence and Justin shouting my name. She'd had her arm bent over the side of the couch when Avery yanked down on it in the direction it doesn't bend and felt a crack that Justin heard from across the room!  She gasps her way into the dining room where I am, lips blue, mouth open in still silent scream, holding her left hand limply at her side.  I gather her up and try to see what's going on...she won't move her arm and as I cradle her elbow in my hand, she won't let me move either.  Let me take this moment to say I have no idea how I worked in the children's hospital for six years!  With tears in MY eyes, we decide it might be serious and head to the car.  Then the blessings roll on.  

A: We have a car.  B: There is an x-ray machine on the island.  C: There is a delightful, beautiful young doctor from the Netherlands volunteering at that hospital.  D: Braelyn holes down into herself, grimacing at every bump, but enduring the ride with eyes closed, humming along to the music.  E:  When we enter the x-ray room, she starts screaming, so Justin takes the other 2 girls out.  They go outside and pray.  And Braelyn starts fighting for her life...with her left arm.  We pin it down for the x-ray but by this point, no-one is really worried anymore!  

We survived our first broken bone scare...on this little island no less.  God was good and seriously performed a miracle as Justin and Hunter and Avery prayed outside that room!  She hasn't complained since.  Plus, we got to invite Dr. Irma over for dinner and spend a wonderful evening getting to know a new friend.  

Just in case you aren't tired of reading yet, I have some more wedding info.  A couple months ago a man and his 2 sons moved into the "work in progress" house next door.  He's been working morning, noon and night...cause he was getting married last night!  His first wife "got the red card" according to our other neighbor.  That's soccer lingo for being ejected.  Divorced.  She got the 2 girls plus one of the twin 12 year old boys.  How terrible is that!  Anyways, not knowing the man or woman, we weren't invited to yesterday's wedding.  We were, however, asked for the electricity to power the "music" that lasted till 10pm!  I was arguing with myself about unplugging the extension cord when we were ready to go to sleep; I'm glad they wrapped it up and we didn't have to pull the plug!

So this morning, in-between rainstorms, we decided to take a little gift over and meet our new lady neighbor.  I had no idea what to expect, or who to!  There were lots of really happy grammas around, welcoming us in.  They led us through the house to a locked door.  One of the old ladies produced a key and unlocked it, ushering us in.  I'm getting more nervous, but thankfully see my neighbor man standing there fully dressed, even in a suit coat!  I speak to him for a minute, then ask where his wife is, since several other ladies entered with me and I don't know who's who.  He points to the bed.  I turn around and there she is, fully dressed but laying in bed with a veil over her head.  I smile and turn back, asking if I can talk to her.  So weird.  He says yes, so I go over and introduce myself and welcome her to this area of town.  Thankfully, she moved the veil and smiled at me and seemed nice and friendly.  Then we left.  The mysteries continue.  She is young, but thankfully not a teenager.  Anyways, that's life on your first day of marriage here I guess!  Oh, it's also gift day.  A whole bus load of ladies arrived right after us, each laden with house warming gifts and lots of laughing and noise!  

Pray with me that I can be a shining light to this new, young neighbor, and we can be a beautiful picture of marriage to them, making them ever so jealous and curious.

More nature than we can handle

The rains have come, it's cooling down and nature is coming alive again!

I love hearing the frogs singing again...though the screeching of these monsters is less pleasant.  Any idea what these things are?  They're about 3 inches HUGE, full of guts and seem to be like the idea of hiding inside my screen door every morning!

Justin has been tilling up the fields with our neighbor Ali, getting the ground ready for his wife Mariam to plant a new batch of rice.  The fields have lain sleeping and growing their weeds for 6 months or more and there is plenty to do!  

Our own little garden is sprouting nicely, though one watermelon sprout got plucked by my "weeding" 2 year old, bless her helpful little heart.  It looks like NONE of the green peppers took and only a couple sprouts are growing in the rows we planted broccoli and lettuce in, but we'll see.  

We hope that everything is going well on your side of the Earth!  We miss you all and thank you for your love and prayers.  Please keep praying for our health and safety and for our daily wisdom, time management and growing love for the people here!

Gone Fishin

While in Mombasa, the boys did a last minute fishing trip as the "season" was over and most of the boats had already pulled out of the water. Justin called a captain friend of his who had plans of having his boat out of the water but after talking with Justin decided to leave it in for a few more days.
It turns out that the fishing was still really good even though the winds had changed and the fish were supposed to have moved on. A very happy Josh and Justin had a blast catching yellowfin tuna, wahoo, mahi mahi, and black marlin. The boys caught all 4 of these yellowfin tuna at the same time. There was a fifth one on as well but lost it before they could land all 4 of these.

Josh "landed" his first black marlin on the trip. Josh caught another big marlin last year when they went out but the rod ended up breaking in half and then after fighting it with just the reel for a while the line popped. So they were really excited to catch and land this Black Marlin. They tagged and released it so they could catch it again another day.

The mixed bag of whaoo, mahi mahi, tuna and marlin is one of the things Justin says he loves about fishing here. You never know what is on the line until it jumps. After having 5 tuna on at the same time, they got a double of a wahoo and the marlin.

These fish did not get tagged and released. Josh and Justin both LOVE sushi and had been talking about eating it all week long. I think the fishing trip might have been a side adventure to their homemade sushi. Josh was able to find all the stuff to make real sushi with in Mombasa and they (with the help of an sushi app) made some of best tasting sushi we have ever had. Needless to say that the boys got their fill of raw fish and ate almost an entire tuna the first night. Below is a picture of one of their plates.

Back home

Well we made it back to our little island a little over a week and a half ago and I am just now sitting down to blog about it.  Thankfully the trip back was a good one.  We took this little old bus back down to Tanzania, spent the night, then hopped over the next morning on the 12 passenger plane...which felt more like a roller coaster with the thunder storm we went through. 

The girls all did spectacular.  Braelyn slept half the trip which was awesome.  Things were a little different though.  On the big bus, there was plenty of room, few passengers.  Well, on this one they packed it full with standers in the aisle and stopped every 10 minutes to pick someone up or drop someone off.  B had fallen asleep right away on her seat, head in my lap. Culturally here children don't count when it comes to things like seats....especially really little ones.  There were certain murmurings about the selfish white lady who wouldn't hold her baby so someone could sit.  After a while I spoke up (in Swahili) to say we had paid for her seat and that was why I wasn't holding her.  It got real quiet for  while after that.  It is always fun to wait and let people talk in Swahili when they don't think we understand and then when the time is right explain to them in Swahili what is going on.  Personal space is a foreign thing here and locals do not buy children seats when traveling.  5 hours holding a toddler became a clear differing point in our cultures that day!

But we and all our Kenyan goodies made it home, along with a wicked cold bearing ear aches and deep coughs and green yuck.  It's abating thankfully, but you can pray for the lingering coughs to heal soon.  Like today.

What else is new?  We have started a garden.  If it didn't take me over a week to get just these 2 pictures loaded and blogged, I'd promise pictures soon.  I'll do my best.  We've got sweet corn, green beans, bell peppers, carrots, lettuce, broccoli and 2 kinds of watermelon in the ground.  Carrots and melons are the only ones of those grown locally, so we are really hoping some of these work and we can get some more veggie variety!

Oh, I chased down a potential thief.  Yep, me, 30 year old Shannon.  Of course, the thief was a girl of less than 14 years.  And, I'm not really sure she stole anything.   Here's the story:  for background, we've had several things stollen.  Expensive and not, kids take whatever they can get their hands on here whether it be a ball, chair or even a piece of chalk.  Well, Saturday our neighbor kids were over and left the gate open, allowing several non-invited kids to come on in and start playing.  I told them they had not asked to come in and I had not invited them and they needed to leave.  As the oldest passed by me, I glimpsed some of our chalk in her hand, with something sizable wrapped up in her "khanga" (rectangle of fabric used for any- and every-thing here).  I snagged her sleeve to ask what she had in her khanga and she BOLTED.

Something primitive in me snapped and I tore off after her...flops flying off, barefoot and nearly bare headed down the street, skirts flying up above my knees.  I would have caught her, too.  If I hadn't been 30, out of shape and easily winded. To make myself feel better I keep saying that she was a teenage African girl who could most likely out run most.  100 yards down the street I gave up and turned to greet my audience.  HUNDREDS of men ride their bikes home on that street every day all stopped and staring.  I gave a good number of them a nice show.  Not to mention all my neighbors standing out by the road waiting for me to explain what had just happened.  And my 2 year old now running down the street after me.

I gathered up the bundle she had dropped, found a mango, and tried to face the questions with some amount of grace.  Well, you see, I thought she might have stolen some chalk. Yes, chalk.  Perfectly rational, right?  My comfort came the next day when Sandy asked me, "Do you know how many children I've chased down????"  Oh good.  I'm not the ONLY crazy white lady.

Well, more stories to come later I'm sure.  No new answers on the Adult Ed Center.  I've started a new language program.  We miss you all.  

A week in reverse, and review

Not everything is big-city around here I guess...

This girl is so stinkin' photogenic I have to be careful about photo fairness!

Speaking of photogenic...um...she fell and hurt her bum, you see.

This is Braelyn's classic pout.  Head down, lip out, arms almost crossed.  Where did she learn this?

These are from the Easter Party last weekend.  We got to go up to an old friend's new house at THE new golf course development north of town.  Golf carts, golf grass for the yard, wall of movable glass panes overlooking the Indian Ocean...this place had it all.  Except for our heart's calling that is.  Had to remind ourselves of that a few times =). 

Our best attempts at a family photo were somewhat thwarted by a surprisingly bright though overcast sky.

It did not thwart the egg-hunting though! 

Our return bus trip has been planned, I'll try to take some pics of it this time!  More later...