Thieves and Honest Folks Too

The chicken coop where Form 2 manage the flock.
Some Form 3 girls plant vegetable seeds in their garden beds.
This is the partially finished goat house.
Each student working in the garden was given a section of the land to make a bed, plant and manage as they wish. The beds in this picture are being managed by the Form 4 (upper part) and Form 3 (lower part). Form 1 and 2 beds are further to the right.

What Once was Lost is Now Found!

When working at any school around the world, one must be concerned with theft. I had things stolen from my room in North Bend. I've had things stolen here. Mostly small things... candy, pencils, etc...

And, in a developing country you have to assume there will be a bit of theft. Lisa and I both lost our rain boots off our front porch (which no doubt took some effort on the part of the thief due to the fact that our porch is barred in much like a prison cell)! It's a constant understanding that you need to watch your stuff.

On our way back from Moshi this weekend Lisa lost her bag. Did we leave it in Arusha? Did we forget it at the pool we stopped at on the way home? Did it fall out of the back of the pickup? Lots of speculation led to Lisa still not having her bag. Sad deal too. She had her running shoes, her I-pod, her school keys, her digital camera, her Bible and her favorite running shirt all inside. Oh, and of course the back-pack she uses every day. BUMMER! We called around, drove around and moped around looking for it. By Monday night, we assumed it was gone.

Then, the unthinkable happened. A man in Monduli came to one of our students and told him he had Lisa's bag! Our student found us, we drove to Monduli and found the man, we drove to his house and boom... there it was! But, would all of the stuff be inside. Lisa looked and sure enough, it was all there! Unthinkable! The only thing out of place was her I-pod was dead and all of the pictures had been deleted off of the camera. Replacing the pictures was a short video of the picture of Jesus the man had on his bedside stand.

I'm probably going to keep watching my belongings pretty closely here; most people should. But, my hope was certainly renewed by this young man.

Kilimanjaro 1/2 Marathon

We took 36 students and 6 teachers to Moshi on Saturday for the Kilimanjaro 1/2 Marathon and 5K fun run. We slept on the floor of a church! Jane cooked a HUGE pot of rice and vegetables. There was one toilet for all of us and it rained that night. Ugh... Then, Sunday morning we awoke, fed and shuttled the students to the race. They did really well! We had two boys who ran around a 1:20 1/2 marathon, one boy ran around a 16:30 5K and one girl around an 18 minute 5K. These guys are fast! Lisa ran the 5K with the students. I had to drink coffee.

Agriculture Work

I've been so proud of our students for the work they are doing on agriculture projects. We selected 16 agriculture leaders at the end of last year to help implement projects around the school. They are responsible for the current chicken house and garden. They are also helping to develop projects related to rabbits, goats and beekeeping. The garden is really taking shape as are some of the other animal related projects. Hopefully, with a little rain, we'll have a good crop.