Bright Spots!

The light in my living room has been out for over a week. Because bulbs and fixtures can be hard to find here, I had to enlist some of my Kibondo buddies to get the problem fixed. Last night they came through! It's such a treat to have a well lit room again :-)

The crew who helped me out from left to right: "Setter" (still don't know his name, only that he plays on the volleyball team as a setter and everyone calls him this), Victor, Sos (yes, that's really his name, as in S-O-S), and Tabitha.

Let there be light!!!

Friends in TZ

Here are some pics of people who I spend time with:

Tabitha and Victor Seko. Victor is 16 years old and exceptionally bright. They lived in London for 8 years and speak English very well! It's always a blessing to spend time with them :-)

From left to right: Gloriosa (a Burundian secondary student studying at a Catholic TZ boarding school); Sarari (next door neighbor); Eva and Willy Nkya (next door neighbors). We were trying to take a picture of the rainbow you can faintly see in the background.

Kibondo Hospital

Over the past two weeks, I've had some stomach problems. So, on Thursday and Friday I went to Kibondo Hospital to have some tests run. Below are pictures of the hospital. Unfortunately they are out of order, so start at the bottom and move to the top. Also, thankfully I am feeling better! Apparently I have some sort of worms and we're now treating for that infection! God is good!

Willy Nkya (my friend and loyal translator) looking out the window of the lab. I'm still not sure what the little round buildings are.

The entrance to the lab, which was built by the IRC.

A shot of the walkway from the lab (behind--not visible) to the pharmacy (left), main office (right), and wards (further left--not visible). The hospital is a collection of various buildings connected by walkways like this.

The front of Kibondo Hopsital. This government hospital will see a patient for 300Tsh (roughly 25 cents). If the doctor perscribes medication, then you must pay for that. Otherwise, the 300Tsh will pay for consultation and labwork.

A birthday party for Willy and Anna!

The bowl has the first cake I made which fell apart. Don't worry, we still enjoyed the partially masticated treat ;-) The green circle is the second cake. Willy's favorite color is green, which is why we decided to go with green food coloring. Dispite appearances, it tasted good ;-)
Party goers from left to right: Richard and Pryia Crothers (my Christian buddies at IRC), Ketchu Nkya (oldest Nkya daughter at 25), Evabright Nkya (youngest Nkya daughter at 5), Anna Nkya (d-day girl who turned 19 last month), Willy Nkya (birthday boy who turned 13), Sadam (next door neighbor and classmate of Willy's, 15), Sarah (midwesterner who now works for IRC), Sarari (Sadam's brother, 14)

Burundi...

TZ countryside on the way to Burundi.

House in Burundi, close to the Tanzanian border.

Town called Gisuru in Burundi.

More Burundian countryside.

Church

The inside of the church.

The outside of the church. Though the services last 2-3 hours and are in Swahili, this community has been such a blessing!

TCRS Village Water Project

This tank is expected to hold water that will serve 10,000 people.

The homes and villagers who live close to the tank.

Facing the collection chamber. This chamber collects water from a spring which is then piped to the holding tank and routed to 10 different tap stands.

View of the collection chamber from the top.