The things you see when you haven’t got a car in the UK can be mind blowing enough but walking around in Tanzania is something else.

The house that we are staying at the moment is about a 20 minute, uphill walk to the main road. We have done it many times now and, quite honestly, we enjoy it! Except when I’m carrying 3 bags for a road trip! – More on that later!

Our walk takes us through villages where women have set up their stalls hoping to sell a few bananas to anyone passing – we’ve bought some – there are kids playing and shouting ‘wazungu’ (White man) to us as we pass by. What a funny thing to shout! ‘White man!’ I wonder what would happen if we did that walking around our home towns?!? Here, it is the norm. If we had a car, we wouldn’t hear them, we wouldn’t have bought bananas from that little, ramshackle stall.

Once we get to the main road, we can walk into town which takes about 45 minutes and is, potentially, safer or we can get on the local transport – matatu or daladala which could be seen, by some, as insane and unthinkable (15 years ago, I would have been part of that ‘some!’) but it gets you to town much quicker (hopefully) and it costs about 10 pence!! Perhaps that’s why people think it’s insane!!

Getting on bus in the UK is a very civilised affair. You wait in a queue, pay your fair and take a seat. Daladala – not so much! The ‘conductor’ – he doesn’t have a uniform or a ticket machine  – hangs out of the window and bangs on the side to tell the driver to stop! He stops whether the people want to get on or not. We have seen them persuading reluctant travellers to get on board! There are about 15 seats but that doesn’t stop them piling people on – 10 pence is 10 pence!

Even though there are many wazungu in this part of Africa, we have been the only ones of each of our journeys and we get comical looks, and smiles that seem to suggest ‘crazy wazungu!’ But we also get to smile back, ‘dance’ to the ‘inflight’ entertainment and meet new people. If we had a car, we wouldn’t have seen or heard the Tanzanians who travel on daladalas every day.

We’ve also travelled on the back of a motorbike – piki piki (off road I hasten to add! I’m not that insane!) It all adds to the adventure.

Once in town, we can get on with our ‘chores’ – paying for the TV so we can watch the premiership! (And other stuff!) Paying for our internet usage (only took us 5 times before we figured out how to pay it via mobile phone! How things have changed), then sorting out how to pay on a mobile phone in another office, being told to sit and wait and not having a clue what’s happening – if you know Africa, you know what I mean! Going to the ATM and hoping it’s got money in it, waiting for the whirring sound announcing the arrival of you cash is music to your ears.  Food shopping and lunch are always part of the deal on ‘chores Day!’ You just reconcile yourself to the fact that you’ll be out all day.

Beggars hoping you’ll drop a coin in, street hawkers hoping you’ll buy a bracelet or a map, vegetable stalls, cows, chickens and goats all attack our senses as we trundle through town. If we had a car, we would miss so much of this.

By the time we’ve done our chores, we’re ready for home. How shall we get home? Walk – definitely not, daladala? Nah, been there, done that today, piki piki – got too much to carry! (Phew!)   Taxi it is, door to door, service with a smile, costing much more than 10p but worth it every time!

Getting back to the ‘three bag’ comment. Recently we had to go to a conference in a place called Babati. We were going to be away for a few days. Carrying a suitcase from the house to the main road was a ‘no no’ – it’s not a nice smooth road that we could pull the case along on and trying to explain to the driver who would pick us up, where we lived, wasn’t going to happen so, on one of our other wanders through the villages, we passed a man who had a load of holdalls on a bicycle. We made his day – quite possibly, literally – and bought one for £8. ‘We’ll get all our stuff in there! John said confidently – I’m a girl and knew we never would. I was right, of course and this was the reason I was carrying 3 bags and John, drawing the short straw, carrying the over jammed £8 bag plus his man bag.

I have tried over the years to travel light but have accepted, by now, that neither can I nor do I want to. A girl needs her stuff! (Especially in Babati!) So, we left the house looking like two over-loaded donkeys.  We’d been going for about 10 minutes when this man stopped us, he was going in the opposite direction but he told us to wait and he would help us. He gave John his Bible and took the £8 bag off John. ‘Good swap’ I said! I quickly off loaded one of my 3 onto John and we were all better off! We shared the load. If we’d had a car, we wouldn’t have had that man’s help.

Do I want to live without a car in Africa or anywhere for that matter? No I don’t but, for a season, it’s an adventure. You see things you wouldn’t normally see, have conversations you wouldn’t normally have and everything takes a little longer. Plus, if we weren’t car-less at the moment, I wouldn’t have had this blog to write!

Try it sometime, change your perspective. Oh and next time you get on a UK bus, say a prayer for us!!

 

 

If God was on Facebook, what would He be like? Here are some of the things that I think would be His practice.

He would add every friend request

God wouldn’t have to wonder whether or not to add a friend request because He knows everyone! He wouldn’t be wondering whether or not they were just asking so they could hack into his account or whether they just want to be nosy – He would know the person’s motive right from the start….

He would like every legitimate status

Have you ever seen someone’s status and decided not to ‘like’ it because you don’t like the person who wrote it at that particular moment in time or anymore?? Don’t deny it! How do I know? Because I’ve done it! Aren’t we pathetic! The beautiful/awful Facebook does such strange things to our emotions and if we’re not careful, it has the capability of sending us into a depression for a whole day! God help us!

He wouldn’t delete anyone? Or would he?

Here is yet another dilemma with the beautiful/awful Facebook…. In a previous life before FB existed, if relationships, let’s say, ‘changed’ and, let’s face it, they do, that’s life, you just lost touch with that person for a while or maybe forever in some instances and, if it was a painful ‘separation,’ in time, maybe you healed from that and quite possibly picked up the relationship again even though it might be different from before. When a relationship changes with friends on FB, especially if it’s painful, every time you log on, you see their face or their status and it can be a reminder of the hurt that has either been caused you or that you have caused. (Let me say that I am not talking about serious break down here, sometimes you absolutely have to delete someone who is causing or has caused serious damage) So, what do you do? I think I have only ever deleted one person off FB and that was a reaction and probably unnecessary! Deleting seems so final. You may be trying to reach out to an estranged friend by ‘liking’ their status yet you are getting nothing back… it’s hard to bear especially if its Christians you are trying to bridge the gap with. So, what’s the measure we should use? Scripture says, that the measure we use will be the measure that will be used against us… ouch! What’s God’s measure? The Royal Law! That means that we should love everyone with the love that He shows to us! Ouch again! Would He delete anyone? I doubt it. His love for everyone is so far above what we understand and He always and forever keeps the Royal Law. I wish I did but I am certainly seeking to go that way because I know it is the only way to succeed as a Christian.

He wouldn’t write a status out of His emotions

Emotional status’ can be a dangerous thing – once you have let your fingers do the talking and you’ve pressed that ‘post’ button, it’s gone and your words are out there for the FB world to see. It has been said, ‘don’t write out of your emotions, they won’t represent you well.’ It’s perfectly true so before you press the ‘post’ button, ask yourself if you’re going to make people smile, think or just remember you, then hit that button baby! But, if you’re trying to score points, make people react to you, or tell an un-necessary piece of gossip, delete it! It’s never worth it…. And you may live to regret it. While ever words stay this side of your computer, they die, once you’ve typed it, they’re gone! You can’t bring them back!

He wouldn’t check the likes and comments every 30 seconds!

Man’s 3 basic needs are security, acceptance and significance. Adam and Eve had them way back in the beginning, but, when they ate that fruit – bye bye SAS!! Ever since that time, man has been trying to find those three things. Sadly, FB has given us a place to find those things temporarily! Like I said earlier, if you get no ‘likes’ it can ruin your day! How funny we are….. especially if we’ve written something that we felt was particularly world-changing! Haha! I read something the other day that made me smile – someone had tweeted about someone who had posted a photo, had no ‘likes’ and posted it again! Human beings are an odd breed. If you are one of those people who are totally secure and you hardly ever check your ‘likes’ then I take my hat off to you! Can you share your secret?

Will this blog stop me ‘misbehaving’ in all of the above – probably not all together because I’m human but I hope it might urge all of us on to be a little bit more gracious, wise and sensitive on the awful/beautiful Facebook that is with us for ever. I hope you ‘like’ my blog!!! HAHAHA!!