Mwandeo, Kenya

Yippie, we were back in Kenya again to visit the Mutunga's and the Mwandeo ecclesia.

We travelled from Dar through to the Kenyan border by Scandinava bus and where met by bro William. From there a matatu journey to Sammy and Christine's house accompanied by William, Zachayo and Theresa Mutunga.

A very happy couple of days were spent here in Kenya. Instead of the planned Youth Camp, there was a bible weekend instead. Carl spoke about Christian living to a full hall for two days. It was nice to meet again everyone we had met in June last year. The hospitality and love shown to us was awesome, A+++!!!

Zanzibar Life

Zanzibar Scene

Beach View

An example of a Zanzibar Door

Zanzibar (doors, chests, AC & spice)

Well we were all looking forward to our short holiday in Zanzibar. Well its a lovely place but they all want dollars US and lots of them. From the time we booked the ferry to the accomodation and shops, $$$$$ (che ching). Well its a good thing Floss (aka Fiona) had brought bucket loads of US dollars with her.

We found a nice Guest House (Florida!) with a room with three beds, bathroom, TV (news and football) and AC/fan (the only thing that made us relent in regards to the staggering price). Boy we all really enjoyed the chill provided by the poor AC which ran non stop during our stay.

We explored a little of Zanzibar, soon (15mins in fact) getting tired of looking in wood carving shops (all clones). It did seem at the time that all in fact we ended up doing was eating lunch and dinner again and again (yummy). Not quite true however. We also popped into one or two Zanzibar chest shops, walked past the Old Fort, admired lots of Zanzibar doors, wandered aimlessly through the maze that is Stone Town and bought a bag (plaited from Palm fronds) and a back scratcher ;o). Us girls had a pampering (facial, pedicure and henna) and spent quality time in a shop selling lovely silver jewlery (these two stops curtesy of Dad's little pressie). The boys were slightly bored at this point, with Jonathon falling asleep whilst waiting the soon to be beautiful maidens (not).

We managed to get out of Stone Town on our last day and had a Spice Tour. Firstly at a Spice Shamba, via Sultan's baths, to lunch at a very expensive resort (eeeek) followed by a dip in their pool (v nice) and a snooze on a bed on the beach under one of those straw thatched umbrella things (those you see in expensive brochures - v nice too). If only they werent so much money...

Fiona Arrives and We Explore Dar

Well it was a wonderful encouragement to us when my sister Fiona flew in from Perth, Western Australia. She arrived via Johannesburg where she had a night stop-over. Surprisingly (to me any way) she was also met by bre William Swai and Alley Mwasimba (Mbagala ecclesia). William talks via Skype to a brother Axel in Perth.

We had a few days together in Dar before having our 3 day holiday (first in 9 months) in Zanzibar. We explored Dar whilst sweating profusely. Firstly the city centre, with Fiona (with Carl) having her hair braided whilst Jonathon and I went looking for the Cancer Hospital. Then we had a nice day out at the "Mud Hut Museum" in Mwenge suburb. We saw inside and out many of the traditional housing of the different tribes in Tanzania, including that of the Muha (Jonathon's tribe). The Muha hut looks like alot like a Indian teepee although it is made of grasses. They are all surprisingly roomy but very, very gloomy! It was a very intersting time that we rapped up with an untraditional lunch of burger and chips (mmmmm).