It has taken me a few days to be able to write about this. After the Masaai symposium described in the last blog post, when we returned on Christmas Eve, Jobama greeted us warmly as he always did. We had left him with plenty of food and water in... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The Masaai are a well-known pastoral tribe of Tanzania due to their striking clothing, personal ornamentation, and thin, tall statures. They value cows highly, following where they can graze their cows, and tend to be seen as resistant to change... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Not 2 items you would think would go together, huh? It is interesting that the funeral is not the completion of formalized culturally-promoted grieving here. The family can choose to grieve again after a few months or more. Usually this involve... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Due to the split of religious affiliations in Tanzania, both Christian and Islamic holidays are celebrated as national holidays. The past two days have been an Islamic holiday, Id al Adha according to the calendar, although the locals call it by... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

About a week ago, Mike said he and Jobama had a special relationship. They speak dog together. I thought he’d lost his marbles and might need to ask for more Brown marbles from his brother, Patrick. He explained that in one of the Mel Gibson L... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Jobama is a good dog who learns quickly, although Mike calls him “girly”, like the old Arnold Schwarzeneger expression. Jobama doesn’t like to go outside in the rain. But, on the positive side, he immediately determined exactly where he wants hi... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I just got a email from someone who read my blog suggesting that our new dog, "Joe" aka "Obama" be named "Jobama". I really like it! It even fits with Tanzanian cultural-social etiquette that dictates it is not acceptable to name an animal after a... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

A few months ago, I took a local man who is the teacher of the Community Theatre Group here to a seminar in Morogoro, funded by PEPFAR and sponsored for Peace Corps Volunteers and their communities. Community Theatre is used in Tanzania to educat... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

“Joe” aka “Obama” Those of you who have read this blog since the beginning may remember Mike and I had a typical African-issue dog in Mtwara before we moved to Rujewa. He was a smart dog and I have missed him despite the short period of time w... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I found an Obama kanga in Dar last week, so I was ready for the election. Talk about appropriate dress! The Tanzanians loved the kanga and several people said they wanted to know where to find one; they absolutely had to have one. I feel certain... Read and post comments | Send to a friend