Emily Lindsey

First Ever Women's Seminar

The Sukuma women had their first ever women's seminar while we were there. It was such a special thing to be a part of. We spent a lot of time singing, praying, and reading from the Bible together. Emily and Marissa were asked to give some lessons and some of the leaders within the churches also taught lessons from the Bible. It was a very special time and I felt honored to be a part of it. P.S. Enjoy the singing :) The song is about how God is helping us.

In the Village: SOLO! (aka no missionary)

Matayo and his family took us to visit the local school there in Nduha.

the kids kind of went crazy...you can see Karissa in the middle of them all (before the headmaster came with his switch!) We had to go into every classroom and introduce ourselves to the children. "Hi, my name is Emily. I come from America." haha But hey, it was good practice for our Swahili introductions.

Visiting church members with Matayo and family.

mchele! (rice)

ready to harvest rice!

showing us the rice fields.

Lucia, Matayo's wife.

David is their youngest (and last! haha) child.

church worship led by the choir.

Matayo and baby Micah.

learning to peel sweet potatoes.

Sukuma Dancing

The Sukuma people are well-known by other tribes for 2 things: their dancing and their witchcraft. These two often go hand in hand, but to the average western onlooker, it just looks like a cultural representation through the form of dance.

I had the chance to see Sukuma dancing twice, once at the Sukuma Museum (a cleaned-up version, obviously targeted towards tourists) and as you can see here, in the village of Misasi. It was neat to see the real thing, in its real context. Seeing the untouched version of this common post-harvest event was really something.

Safari: Serengeti-style

the sunset on the drive home.

Hippo pool.

Morning nap!

apparently, you can take a hot-air balloon safari and follow it up with a champagne breakfast in the serengeti; I'm sure it's lovely....we wouldn't know, though ;)