Wageni tena!

Stephen’s cousin brought her kids to the ranch last weekend. It was a very short visit, but so nice to see familiar faces. The plan was that they were going to arrive on Friday afternoon, but a friend of theirs died unexpectedly Friday morning. Therefore, the plan changed and they stayed with a friend in Arusha on Friday night. Rose had the house looking so spic-and-span, as she had been cleaning all week in preparation for my guests. It looked like a boarding house with five more beds in every room of the house but the kitchen and bathroom. She also had prepared a feast for them, so we were left with a lot of beans and rice on Friday night. Rose had a solution though. She invited some friends over and three men were able to eat what Rose had prepared for six people. It was rather impressive. We had a good time at our spontaneous gathering and it was a success as there were no leftovers!

Polly and her two daughters and baby son arrived on Saturday afternoon after an adventure in finding the way. When they had driven all over my study village, they returned to the last landmark they recognized from the directions and I was able to walk to them and escort them to my house. It was an adventure for sure since they arrived in a minivan on roads meant for 4WD and high clearance. Polly was quite a trooper and the kids definitely took in all in stride. The baby slept every moment they were in the car. The girls had some different music and it was nice to have different people in the house. It reminds me of what normal life is like! However, the con of having more people in the house is that the plumbing was a bit overwhelmed. It began with the shower drain not working properly for our showers on Saturday night. In the morning, it was worse. When we flushed the toilet, the nastiness came up the shower drain. Perhaps a one night stay was ideal, as they got to leave when things got stinky!