Ma Esther

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.  When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness.  She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.
Proverbs 31: 25-27

After all of the transition and chaos that the month of February entailed, the past week brought some much needed simplicity and routine.  I received my schedule of classes and was excited to be given all of the periods of English for fifth and sixth grade as well as vocational skills for sixth grade and music (YES MUSIC!) classes for both grades as well.  Being in the classroom again after nearly eight months without teaching has brought me so much joy.  The students here at KEMPS are so kind and intelligent and well behaved.  They are loving music class and I am amazed all over again at how naturally they pick up new rhythmic and melodic concepts and how freely they sing.  Making music with the children during my first visit to Tanzania was what opened my mind and heart to the idea of teaching here and this week has stirred up that excitement in me once again. 

I am living in the designated missionary teacher house, which is located in the center of the school compound.  The house is large with tons of storage and I am working bit by bit to make sure there is a place for everything and everything is in its place.  But I don’t know what I’d do without the help I’m receiving from Ma Esther.  Ma Esther is a tiny woman in her seventies who has assisted all of the missionary teachers living at KEMPS since 2005.  She comes to my house three days a week to help me keep things in order.  Currently, the house doesn’t have running water so she fetches buckets of water from the tank outside in addition to washing clothes, sweeping, baking bread, and loving on my five (YES FIVE!) cats.  Ma Esther is joy and love and strength and peace all wrapped into one amazing woman.  While she works she talks in a singsong way that makes the house feel alive and that I miss on the days she is not here.  She is always thinking of ways to make things more efficient or to make the environment more comfortable for the kittens to roam.  Whenever I have a question she has an answer or she knows someone else who does, and on the rare occasion that she takes a break from her work, she loves to sit and tell Joseph and me stories about her time working at KEMPS. 

Last week I asked Ma Esther where she attended church and she told me that she worshipped at the Lutheran church right down the road.  I asked her if we could worship with her on Sunday and her smile grew even larger than normal.  When we arrived Sunday morning, she was already waiting for us outside.  She introduced us to some of her friends and found the perfect spot for us to sit, not too far back, but not too close to the front either.  She guided me through the service, beaming with joy and pride.  When she came to work the next day, the first thing she asked me was what I thought about the service.  She told me how excited the church members were and that they would be so happy if we became members there.

Ma Esther embodies all that I want to be as a woman and as a child of God, and while I have so much to be thankful for, this week I am especially thankful for all that her presence brings to my life.  Do you have a Ma Esther in your life? Someone who brings you joy and peace just by being in their midst?  Take some time this week to let them know how much you appreciate them.  If they’re anything like my Ma Esther, just those simple words will mean so much. 

Mungu akubariki,

Allee

Ma Esther