Neighborhood

There is a secondary school not far from our house. We have been watching the soccer field activities from afar. Yesterday Dan and I walked over to see the school. Two teachers warmly welcomed us to their teachers’ lounge area. We met the history/ Swahili teacher and the chemistry/biology teacher. The science teacher told us how perplexing it is that all students hate mathematics and consequently do very poorly in it and they are simply not interested in the sciences. We talked about using flash cards for learning multiplication and division in primary school and learning to read music because it uses the same part of the brain. He (Clarence, the science teacher) took Dan’s cell phone number in hopes that the two of them can work on some very simple science experiments using vinegar and sodium bicarb. to hopefully spark some excitement among the students. Dan is also working with somebody in the diocese schools (this particular school was a government school) evaluating textbooks and acquiring some very basic materials for laboratory experiments. At Tumaini University, Richard Lubawa wants him to help look at the possibility of setting up a basic science education department in which students who major in such can become high school biology, chemistry and physics teachers.
My big event this week was getting our second box of fresh vegetables.
Repeaters included fresh potatoes, green beans, baby corn on the cob, tomatoes, baby leaf lettuce, green onions, baby cauliflower. Newbies were fresh strawberries, baby leeks, fresh tabasco chilies, baby eggplant, these baby spinach/spoon shaped leaves for salads, and an assortment of fresh spices. We do a lot of cooking together, chopping and recipe hunting on the internet.
Last evening we, again, had no water so today Lotti (the house owner) has arranged for a plumber to visit. Dan went out to visit with the gardener and our night guard. He found out that Jumani, the night guard, has two children, age 13. No, they are not twins. He has two wives. He is either Muslim and has two wives or is simply a polygamist, which is quite common here! Dan told him that having one wife is enough! (Bless his heart?!) to which the two guys said, “when life is good, you have more than one wife.” I think that means if you can afford it, you have more than one wife. They don’t know how expensive American wives can be! 
When our synod of the Lutheran church (the ELC) voted to allow clergy to be Gay/Lesbian earlier this year, many worldwide Lutheran churches wanted to break off relations with the ELCA, because they view homosexuality as sodomy and therefore a sin. The bishop of this diocese (DIRA – diocese of the Iringa region of Tanzania) said to our clergy, “You have the gay issue to deal with, and we have polygamy and polyandry (women with more than one husband) to deal with,“ therefore we should not judge one another. Unfortunately, the multiple partners’ problem is at the heart of the issue of the HIV problem here in Africa, because they may have multiple concurrent partners and because these are more than one night stands or fly by night affairs, they don’t use protection with these partners. But add one individual who is HIV+ to the mix and you can see how it mushrooms into a huge epidemic!