About us!

We are Amisadai and Louisa Monger (aged 15 and 13). In 2010, we moved to Tanzania in Africa - look at the map below to see if you can find it! We hope you will enjoy reading about our adventures and looking at our photos! Please don't forget to send us a message too!



Thursday 15 December 2011

Tired out and an Angel by Louisa

Tired out from biking!
We had a fun time at Kisolanza last week! Amisadai and I took our bikes and had a great time riding all around! We had fun with Andy and Angela. I got so tired! And dinner was so late it was past my bedtime! I even fell asleep before the pudding came!
Tired out from eating. I missed the chocolate pudding :(

This week we had our Christmas Service with the international church. I was the angel, Gabriel and Amisadai was a narrating sheep. Amisadai played the violin for the carols with a flute, clarinet, cello and piano.


We found a chameleon on a rock

What a smile!


Monday 12 December 2011

Hanukkah in Tanzania

Hanukkah
By Amisadai
Hanukkah is a Festival of Light. Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah. It is in early December and lasts 8 days.
The Jews are celebrating the miracle of the oil in the temple in 165 BC. After winning the battle against the Syrians and Greeks, the Jews took back the temple and wanted to rededicate it to God. But there was only enough oil to last one day. It was a miracle that God made it last for eight days.  So today, Jews, to remember those 8 days light a Menorah. They light 9 candles.
People today play a game called “Dreidl.” This is a game that is played with a spinning top which has nine sides and four sides have a Hebrew word on. SHIN means “put one in,” HEY means “take half,” GIMEL  means “take everything,” and NUN means “do nothing.”  Each player starts with ten “gelt” (money or sweets) and the winner is the one who wins all the gelt.
At Hanukkah people eat fried food like doughnuts, Hamantashen (which are small biscuits with jam in the middle) and fried potato cakes called latkes. They eat fried foods because they are remembering the miracle of the oil.
 We celebrated Hanukkah this year. It was fun!
Food (L to R) Latkes, jam donuts, hamentashen biscuits.
Louisa made the menorah. We are holding our dreidls.

Friday 2 December 2011

Making Mud Houses and A Shadow Play


When we were in Magozi last week, we were working on our neighbours house. Everyone is getting their houses ready for the rains, putting more straw and mud on the roof, or batty (which is a tin roof). We were helping on the walls. It is really fun and very dirty throwing the mud on the side of the house.

When we got back to Iringa, we had Thanksgiving! After dinner, we did our Shadow Puppet show "The Story of Kuang-li" for Andy and Angela and Marc. Watch it here!



And Advent has started! Every day we do our big advent calendar and read from our special advent book. We drew 25 lines on a candle which we light every night. We are making an advent candle wreath. We have made some light window decorations as well. And the best thing about Dec 1st was a big surprise of lots of Christmas parcels at the post office! We couldn't even carry them all!

All the bunnies are well.

Saturday 19 November 2011

The Spinning Earth

The Bunnies are big now. We have made up our minds that we keep Twich and Maisy. Mummy's favroute bunny is called "Fluffy." We still cannot tell if Lulu is pregnant yet. Livingstone is realy big now and getting heavier to carry. He loves us and cuddles us.

We have been learning about the spinning of the earth as it goes around the sun. We got a bit dizzy learning this. When it is 12 noon in Tanzania, it is 9am in England. And do you know in B.C. Canada, when we are awake in the daytime (because we are facing the sun), you are all sleeping in the nightime (because you are facing away from the sun). We are on the opposite sides of the earth so when it is 7am for us, it is 8pm the day before in B.C! What time is it in Australia?
What time is it where you are?
We have made a Chinese Shadow Puppet Play. It is a Quest Myth about Kuang-li. We are going to try and put a video of it online so you can watch it too!
The Tale of Kuang-li

Friday 11 November 2011

Poppies


In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

by John McCrae, May 1915

Thursday 10 November 2011

Shadow Hands and Wiggling Bottoms


  More fun with shadows! What do you think we are making? We tried birds, butterflies, ducks, frogs on logs, geese...





 

We weren't too keen to get too close just in case ...

Here we are at the stadium in Iringa celebrating 50 years of independence for Tanzania! There were lots of people and parades and dances where they wiggle their bottoms! There were lots of stalls, and at one we found a real monkey and a scary looking lion which was just skin. 


See if you can do the dance at home, just ask someone to bang a drum for you. Louisa is pretty good!

Sunday 6 November 2011

News from Iringa

The rains have started in Iringa! We love dancing in the rain. We jump in the puddles! The rain tanks can all fill up now!




Today Mr Pig left because he had been sold. We don't know if Lulu is pregnant yet though. Mr Pigh squealed a lot. We don't think he wanted to go!

Goodbye, Mr. Pig

Today at the ICF (English-speaking) church meeting, the Sunday School did a presentation about the whole story of the Bible. We sang two songs and all had readings.
The Sunday School banner

Did you know than Prince Charles is here in Tanzania now?

We love our bunnies!
Louisa fell and hurt her chin and cheek!

Monday 31 October 2011

Getting Mr Pig

In school , I am learning about Light and Shadows, and we had Art Day! We made silhouettes by tracing around our shadows on white paper on the wall. We traced them on black paper and cut them out.
Can you guess who is who?

The puppies are all finding new homes. We will keep one called “Livingstone.” The bunnies are getting big and are looking so cute!

Yesterday, we went to get a male pig. It was very big and it was difficult to get him in the pick-up truck. In the truck, the pig did a lot of poos and it smudged all over the back windscreen! He has now made friends with Lulu.




He's in! 


Monday 24 October 2011

Bladder balls

Last   week  we   made a ball that was a pig's bladder! It is round  and it is where wee comes out! We blew it up with a straw and  played catch. It felt yucky, slippy and slimy.

Today we did light  and  shadow.  When  something  blocks  the  light,  it  makes a  shadow.
BY   Louisa

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Singing in the Rain and Broccoli for Tea

We have been having lots of fun with Hugh and Lyn and Greg. We have played Old Maid (thank you, Adelaide!) and taken Greg up Gangilonga Rock. We have had lunch at Neema Crafts and been to Magozi. They brought lots of things with them - we have kids toothpaste again now and kids shampoo and lots of other things too. I am sooo happy to have more books to read!

In Dar-es-Salaam we had the first rain we have had since April. It was sooooo nice and very exciting! Louisa went crazy dancing and swimming in puddles. We were both soaked! It hasn't rained in Iringa yet.

The dogs are getting big. And the bunnies have opened their eyes and have lots of fur now. They are cute.

We saw a purpley snake in the clay pit in Magozi. It wasn't very big, but someone bashed him on the head pretty quick.

We just got our first broccoli from our garden! It is hard to buy it here, so we wanted to grow our own. It is very tasty! We love having it!



Two of our eight puppies!
We are going to keep Livingstone (on the left)

Saturday 1 October 2011

Exciting News! Bunnies!

Great news! On Thursday, Mouse gave birth to six little bunnies! And they are all alive! So now we need six bunny names. One is called Twitch. We are really happy!
Six Tiny Bunnies!

We just got back from having a sleepover at the Galvins. We had lots of fun playing with our friends, Tianna, Abeni and Kaiya. We did lots of dressing up.

Before that we were in Magozi. For school in Magozi we have made a Roman oil lamp out of clay. It has a hole to pour oil in and a hole for a wick, but we haven't tried lighting it yet. We have also been learning about the senses and we were learning about ears and sound and made a telephone out of yogurt  pots. Our friends in Magozi liked trying it out with us. Last week we did taste and did blindfold taste tests, to see where different taste buds were on our tongue. Mum even put vinegar on our tongues. Yuck.

Roman Oil Lamp
 
Experimenting with sound. Louisa is talking into the yogurt pot
and our friend is listening on the other end of the string


Thursday 15 September 2011

Magozi Setting Slideshow by Amisadai

Good news! The puppies have opened their eyes and are walking a little bit now! At school I have been learning about the Romans. Today we did Roman numerals in maths. Did you know Romans ate snails in blood soup and ostrich and parrot heads? I have liked learning about the Roman army. Also we made a video of a play we made up about a wealthy Roman lady and her slave. In literacy I have been writing setting descriptions. And I have been playing with photos on the computer. Here is a slideshow that describes with words and pictures the hot setting of Magozi.

Monday 12 September 2011

Shelters in Tanzania by Louisa

I have been working with Mum on a powerpoint all about "Shelters in Tanzania." I hope all of you in Year 1 at Aldermaston like seeing the photos. What shelters have you learned about? This weekend I went camping in a banda and had lots of fun! We were with lots of people from the Iringa Christian Fellowship. On Saturday we did Scottish Dancing!

Thursday 25 August 2011

Puppies!

We have very exciting news! Lily had her puppies this morning! They are all sorts of colours, I (Amisadai) like the one with the white spotty head and Louisa likes the grey one. There are lots. Eight we think. Taylor, what name did you choose? Does anyone have any ideas of what to call them? We can't wait to surprise Daddy when he gets back!

First thing this morning

Later on this morning

Watching the puppies in the hole under the bridge

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Watch the Jiko Jingle!

Ok! We have the Jiko Jingle here for you to listen to! This is to tell people all about the fuel-efficient stoves for the Ebenezer Magozi Project!


Kuni chache (less firewood)
Moshi mchache (less smoke)
Afya nzuri (good health)
Mungu ametupa uzima (God gives us life)

Monday 15 August 2011

School News by Amisadai

This is a message for Mrs Burridge and Mrs Jones and my friends in Aldermaston Primary School! Thank you very much for my DVD of all of you, I love it! Emma is walking so well! Mrs Hawhorne's baby is so cute! Thank you for all your messages. I miss you.

I went to school in Magozi! It is very diffrent. There are loads of kids in one class and I was the only white person of course, but they all practised saying "good morning" in English for me! They have a mud floor and brick walls, a tin roof. They have a blackboard painted on a whole wall and some wooden bench desks joined. There are no cupboards or bookshelves. Everybody had exercise books. They have school bags made out of flour sacks. Their uniform is a blue skirt and a white top. My firend, Nuru was in my class.  The teacher is called Mr George (he lives right by the classrooms) and I went for a maths class. I understood it all because numbers are the same in Swahili and English (but the words are different; ten is "kumi" and tweny is "ishirini" and thirty is "thelathini"). I hope I can go back for another class.

Teaching our song at the secondary school
This is a picture of the secondary school in Pawaga. We are teaching them our song that we made up to teach them about fuel-efficient stoves. Our song is in kiswahili and goes like this... "kuni chache; moshe mchache; afya nzuri; Mungu ametupa uzima!" (Little firewood; little smoke; good health; God gives us life!)

Guess what? We have exsiting news, our dog, Lily, is pregnant! We are going to have puppies!! They will be born at the end of this month or early next month!


One of the potters made us some clay dolls!
They have big bottoms!

Look on our swahili page to learn how to count to three in Swahili!

Friday 22 July 2011

Being a Kid in Magozi by Amisadai

 I've been living in a village called Magozi. Children there don't have very much. Most of the time when we play with our skipping ropes and football and frisbee. They were excited to see these. They have made a ball out of a sack scrunched up and tied with string. They also make skipping ropes out of hay and some kids have made a little toy to push on the ground. Most of the time they play with rubbish like empty bottles. We also run around playing in empty houses that are old or just being built. The other fun thing to do is play on the rice sacks (people grow rice here - I used the machete to cut some in harvesting at our friends shamba). They are really big and stacked up high. It is like a playground!

Playing on the rice sacks!
We lost the frisbee in the tree!

All the kids come to our house to skip!
The houses people live in are very, very small. They have no stairs, bathroom or kitchen. They have a very small area to sit in, and a little room for all the family to sleep in, maybe with just one mattress. They are made of mud or brick and dark inside. The toilet is outside. Mamas cook on fires outside or in another little mud hut. There is nothing much at all in the houses. They don't have cupboards or anything and most of the children wear the same clothes every day which are very old.

Living in Magozi, we have lots of jobs to do. I wash up dishes in a big bowl outside and the clothes as well. We fetch water in a big bucket every day. There are lots of people filling buckets, lots of kids too. We sweep the dust out of our house.

Getting water. I can only carry half a bucket but kids there carry a whole one on their head.

Louisa likes washing up. We dry the dishes on the rack behind.
And you can see our stove cooking more food to eat


Making dinner
 Everyone eats ugali (which is white and squidgey) or rice. There isn't much else, maybe green leaves or tomatoes. Sometimes a pig is killed and we can eat pork, or a boy goes round on a bike selling bits of goat. There is a tiny shelter where you can buy tomatoes and onions and there are some clothes on the side too. We had a treat one day because we bought a soda there!

Being a kid in Magozi is lots of fun because we run around and play. I am learning more Swahili and we can talk lots more now. But it gets very hot which is not so good. But I am glad we are living there with lots of playful kids. My new friends are called Emma, Angela, Mary, Nuru and Rose.