You know you're in Tanzania when...

* Your kids don't have to go to a petting zoo to pet farm animals; they just go to the daily market.

* Your kids play a game they call "mosquito" while chasing each other with pointed fingers while buzzing about.


* You catch a chameleon in the back yard, and the locals are afraid of it.


* You never know when you electricity or water will not be working, and when the water comes back on, you never know what it will look like - or taste like! Don't worry - we wouldn't go near this stuff, except with a camera.

* You hear a voice calling "hodi" instead of a knock at the door.


* Bicycles pass your vehicle on the road because the road is so rough that your four wheels are in four separate pot holes.

* You have a shoe motto which is, "Crocs, Stocks, or Flops" (Crocs, Birkenstocks or flip flops), and your kids aren't really sure what socks are for.

* You see monkeys and mongooses while exercising.

* Your produce sometimes comes from your backyard: bananas, avocado, guava, passion fruit, lemons, oranges, papaya, pumpkin, lettuce, and peppers.

* You have a milkman bring milk every day from local cows, and your eggs are still warm and have chicken gunk on them.


* Locals transport items on their heads instead of in backpacks, purses, or computer cases. These items include water, wheeled luggage, soap, sugar cane, benches, milk, firewood, and well, you name it.

* Having a personal vehicle is rare.

* The word "football" means "soccer," and it's the only sport that matters.


* A good wedding present is a gift-wrapped goat.

* Your house's view of your garden and Lake Victoria is worth a vastly greater amount than your rent.

* The only seasons are wet and dry, Christmas is hot, there's no daylight savings, and the sunset time only varies by 20 minutes all year round.

* Your kid complains of a tummy ache, and you immediately suspect amoeba, worms, or giardia. Your child has a fever and you're pondering malaria.

* You're thankful for your safe arrival after any short or long car trip.

* You feel you're right where God wants you to be!

Accident Involvement

As I've written before, driving here is tricky - to say the least. When we get in the car, we pray beforehand, even for a short trip.

On Saturday while Dusty was in Dar Es Salaam, I was driving home from a birthday party in another town with the kids and two Australian friends (Nigel and Rose) and their two daughters. He is a paramedic, and she is an ER doctor.

As we were driving through Musoma we came upon a motorcycle accident that had happened a minute or two before. I asked our friends if they wanted me to pull over, and they did.

They immediately jumped out and ran over while I found the latex gloves in our car's medical kit and briefed the 4 kids on what was happening, instructing them to stay in the car and not to look. The crowd was forming, but I pushed through with the gloves and gave them to Rose and Nigel. The site that met my eyes was really horrifying - there were three men down with a lot of blood. I really thought two of them were dead because they were lifeless and so bloody. But Rose said, "this one has a pulse," and I could faintly see Nigel's guy breathing.

Anyway, I barely did a thing other than calming the kids, asking how I could help, and doing a bit of crowd control. Nigel and his guy got into a dala dala (14 passenger public van), Rose's guy went into a passing car, and she couldn't find the 3rd guy (who later ended up in an ambulance). They smelled alcohol on the breath of the victims.

Meanwhile the crowd was getting angry at her since she wouldn't let them put one of the men in our car. Although I had offered, there were other options, and it wouldn't have worked well with so many kids in the car. So Rose suggested we get out of there before the crowd got too worked up. Someone actually told her, "if you won't let them in your car, what use are you?" Appalling. She was helping to save their lives!

We went to the hospital where Rose and Nigel turned the victims over to the hospital docs, and then we went home. I talked to a Tanzanian friend about it today who had heard of the accident. She said she heard that wazungu (white people) had helped the victims, and that everyone was thankful. I was relieved as I had been worried about driving our recognizable car if people were mad about the transportation of the victims.

It has taken me some time to process what I saw there, and it's given me all the more inspiration to keep praying for our safety and to be thankful for how the Lord has provided for us. And I'm thankful to have had doctors in our car who were able to help those men.