Mondays with Allee

Happy Easter!  It feels good to be back in the swing of things (including blog writing) after a few weeks away.   We closed the school for a two-week midterm break a week before Easter, so Joseph and I took the opportunity to visit his family in Mwanza and spend a few days in Dar es Salaam stocking up on things that we can’t get here in Bukoba.  While seeing family and being in the “big city” was wonderful and much needed, by the end of our ten days away we were both really ready to come home to Bukoba, in a way that we don’t usually feel.  Usually as we pack up our things, we are discussing how we wish we could stay at the hotel forever, or how much we’re going to miss the delicious food or the readily available iced coffee, or really just ice in general.  But instead we were talking about how excited we were to see our animals (one of our chickens had ten baby chicks while we were away) and our students, and to eat our weekly meals that have become staple...

"No matter what happens remember this: I have always loved you." Papa, The Shack “Hello?” …  “Eh?” … I couldn’t tell how long I had been asleep, but I assumed it was morning.  Almost time to wake up.  I rolled over to see who Joseph was talking to.   “My God.”  My heart started to race.   “What?” I asked, patting his arm.  My mind went to the worst.  A staff member had died.  Or family member.  Something had happened to a student.  “What?”  I asked again.  “What happened?” … “Ok.  Asante.”   He hung up and turned to me, “Magufuli is dead.”  John Magufuli, Tanzania’s fifth president, was rumored to have been in a Kenyan hospital last week, suffering from COVID, but the rumors were never confirmed by the government.  Now, at eleven thirty at night, the Vice President Samia Suluhu solemnly announced that he had indeed died in a Kenyan hospital, from heart failure at the age of 61.  “Oh ...

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth,  and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart. Psalm 104: 14-15         Last Monday our school was scheduled to be inspected by various clergy and other Diocese staff members.  The Friday before, all students were given special cleaning tasks around the compound and staff members were assigned to oversee different groups.  The groundskeepers worked extra over the weekend to make sure pathways were cleared and trees were trimmed.  When Monday morning came the students picked flowers and placed them in bottles to decorate the teacher’s table in every classroom, and all staff members were reminded of the expectations they were to follow during the inspection.  But teatime came and went, then lunch, and our visitors had yet to arrive.  We received news as we were eating that...

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.  For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:11-14 I hope that you are thawing out after what has been a week of ice, snow, and uncomfortable living conditions for many of you.  I pray that your homes were spared from expensive damage and that you were able to access necessary supplies to keep yourselves and your families warm, hydrated, and fed.  As I scrolled through FaceBook and Instagram over the past week my heart ached to read the posts about frozen pipes, intermittent or total loss of power, and people making the best of a difficult situation.  Living in a developing country these past few years, I know all too well the feeling of dread when the power cuts just as you were starting...

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 Things at school have settled back into the usual routine.  The new students finally have their green and navy KEMPS uniforms, and the daily schedule has been set after several rounds of changes.  This year I have been made the “class teacher” of fifth grade.  While this title comes with additional responsibilities – taking attendance, being in charge of discipline, making sure the class is clean and orderly – it has given me a sense of ownership and permanence that I didn’t feel before.  Fifth grade is a new class for me.  Coming from fourth grade where their entire curriculum was focused on the national examination (the entire class scored A’s!), these students are focused and hardworking, but also excited, and a bit unsure of what to do with the new independence that they are receiving in fifth grade....

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13           Long time, no blog!           As I thought about writing my blog this week after a nearly two month break, I felt overwhelmed trying to decide where to begin and what to include, as so much has happened.  First, I hope that you had a safe, healthy, and happy holiday season and that the start to your 2021 has been full of those things as well.  Second, Joseph and I are married!            After spending Christmas in Zanzibar, we met my mom, dad, sister Lauren, and cousin Christine in Dar es Salaam and then travelled to Bukoba.  It was the first time for my parents and Joseph to meet in person and it’s hard to describe the incredible joy it brought us to finally all be together.  We had a few days to just relax together before the chaos of wedding preparati...

And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.  Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth Philippians 2:8-10      Although not the same Christmas buzz as I’m used to back home, there is definitely excitement in the air here in Bukoba.  We will close the school on Thursday and boarders will depart on Friday morning.  With exams finished and revisions made, the students are spending their days catching up on late work, reading their final library books of the year, and playing with friends before they leave each other for the month-long break.  The staff are writing their final reports and the wedding committees are tying up last minute details so that everything is in order before they, too, depart for home to prepare for Christmas with their famili...