Praises to God for Babies

To get up to Mama Macha’s house on the side of Mt. Kilimanjaro a neighbor, Justin picked us up in his land rover. It was quite a site to be seen, ten “muzungu” standing in the back of a pick up truck. Justin is a engineer living on the mountain, but works down the village of Mori. Everyday he picks people up in his truck on the way down the mountain. Justin is a long time family friend with Mama Macha and may even be related in some Tanzanian way. Three weeks ago his wife gave birth to their fifth child, a little girl. Justin forgot to tell Mama Macha about the extension to the family because the day after her birth, Justin’s brother was murdered by the wife.(This was the second generation in which the wife killed the husband.) Mama Macha said that it had something to with thoughts of witchcraft.
Today we went to visit Justin’s wife, new baby, and bring a small gift. We were given a warm welcome and all allowed to hold the baby girl, who was adorable!! The mom was so excited we were there, it even brought tears to her eyes she even had to call Justin at work to let him know that we came to visit. Later when Justin came to drop some other girls off at Mama Macha’s house he was praising God and jumping up and down because we went to visit his family. This was very confusing for me because I did not understand why he was so excited. When I asked Mama Macha why he was so happy she asked me, “How many houses have you walked by with out stopping in?” It all made sense, to me visiting was something that you just do, but for Justin and his family to have all of us visit was something very very special. It has really made me understand Tanzanian hospitality a little bit more. I thought it was just a tradition, but Justin has shown me that they are really truly happy to have us.

To be continued . . . Stayed tune to next entries that will have more exciting entries about our week in Mori on the side of Mt. Kilimajaro, a comparison of different tribes; differences in rural villages and Dar es Salaam, hopefully classes starting, and my personal journey.