Last Days in Tanzania

We are now at Grandma and Grandad's in England. But here are some photos from before we left Tanzania!

Here we are playing bladder ball with Ben and Katy! They run Nemea Crafts and they came to our house for afternoon tea and to play games. Ben played vollyball with us and then all of us played catch with Lulu's bladder! Katy really didn't like it and we kept aiming at her! Ben got her in the end but not before she had got him in the nose!

We went to the Natural Bridge with the Sharpes and Wingfields for a good-bye picnic! There is a natural hotsprings pool! We got very wet! We had fun playing on the rocks.

We had fun with the Nkone family in Dar-es-Salaam! We went to Kipipeyo (means butterfly) Beach on Monday and Tuesday. We buried Uncle Huruma in the sand!

We flew to England, and saw Mt. Kilimanjaro from the window.

Now that we have good internet here, we can show you a video we did a while ago. It's a cooking show called Karibu Kupika (which means Welcome to Cook!)

Pigs and Kudus

Yesterday we killed Lulu our pig. Do you like Lulu’s name? First you bonk her on the head so that she’s unconscious and cut the neck about half way. I don’t know how the guy did it… it’s such a horrid job!  And the neck makes a noise of air trying to get out.

It was such a big job cutting it all up... sometimes we had to use dad's metal saw! But we found the bladder (which we use as a football) and had the tail cut off (because in our book they roast it but I don't know what it tastes like at all!) and looked at all the insides like the entestines and the heart, livers and lungs, and lots of other bits.  I realy liked the heart which was intresting with all the viens. We have four big legs and lots of pork chops and bits of meat. Louisa and I were carrying all the sufaria's (pots) up to the house which were overflowing with meat. When it was all done and all the meat was in the kitchen Mum started sorting it all and cutting the meat and she was all bloody and slimy so I had to cook lunch. I heated up coliflower soup which was what we had for dinner the night before and heated up the biscuits to go with it!

Lulu's heart

In our last week in Magozi, we went to for lunch with our friends. The evangelist's wife had cooked us Tandala which in English is Kudu, like a sort of gazzele which is grey-brown and with white sripes. It tasted a bit like moose. People in magozi eat all kinds of animals like elephant, kudu, dikdik but said that baboons didn't have much meat on! When we go to Magozi we always look out for animals. We often see baboons and sometimes dikdiks and once we saw a kudu. I love dikdiks (but not to eat!)

A Tandala (kudu) we saw in Ruaha

Last weekend we had the Dixon family to stay. We had fun playing with Elia and Finley. Elia slept in the bunk beds with me. We had wraps for tea with them one day and cinnamon buns for brunch after church on Sunday. We went out for coffee at Neema with them and had carrot cake!

Magozi with Dad and Last Day of School!

Last week I went to Magozi with Daddy and Louisa. Mummy stayed at home to pack up our room before we go to England. In Magozi, we've been climbing trees, holding piglets, holding babies, collecting firewood and eating a little box of raisins- lots of fun! We are going back to Magozi tomorrow and we have to say goodbye to all our friends there.




A cute little 1week old piglet! I'm sure he loves me! He went to sleep in my lap!





Eating our raisins in our climbing tree!

My very small firewood bundle!

On Friday, it was our last day of school and we went for a end-of-school treat to Info Iringa for an English sausage roll and a chocolate milkshake! We had a look at the books and I got Daddy and Grandad's Christmas presents! The next time I have school, I will be in Aldermaston!

Louisa Grinny-Gap

Exciting news! I lost my first tooth! And the funny thing is I lost it on the toilet! I could  not pull it out so Amisadai had to pull it. I'd been waiting a long time for it to come out and I look very funny with a gap! I keep on putting my fingers to wobble my tooth but it's not there! Guess what? I have 1000 shillings from the tooth fairy, but actually it was a tooth-boy!

Grinny-Gap Me

Before my tooth came out, Aunty Ann and Rachel were here and I sewed a quilt by hand all by myself! Here is a picture of it for you to see. Rachel did the outline round the outside. I have also been learning how to weave grass mats and have a long strip done!


My Quilt



Weaving with my friend in Magozi

A few weeks ago, we wrote an article for the EI Down to Earth magazine. Here it is, if you would like to read about our school days. Click Here!

We have a new EI landcruiser! It has seats that face forward!



Weaving with my friend in Magozi





Twiga, Tembo and Tumbili!

We have been very busy since our last blog. With Ruaha National Park, quilting, Canada day, SabaSaba (the agricultural fair near Magozi), teeth falling out, pigs separated and going purple, well you see, lots of things!

TWIGA, TEMBO AND TUMBILI!

We went to RUAHA NATIONAL PARK with Rachel and Aunty Ann and saw lots of animals! Sadly, we didn't see any lions but lots of others that we haven't seen before like mongooses and pretty birds and lots of monkeys. I love the elephants and cute tumbili (monkeys). We saw five jackels (many more than normal) and lots of buffalo and impala and zebra. But we saw more kudu than any thing else! June is kudu breeding season and we saw a huge Greater Kudu, a big daddy with his many wives!
                                               

Piggy-back!

ELEPHANTS DOWN AND CROSSING THE RIVER

When we arrived at Ruaha, we went straight to River Lodge which was where we were staying. I have been there once before and loved it. There is a lovely balcony where animals come straight up to you to say hello. The room has a lovely huge shower and comfy couches and beds with massive windows all around you. Anyway, after we had dropped our bags in our bandas we went straight to the living room and dining room where we all had cups of tea and snacks. And then one elephant came down on the side of the river to have a munch. Then his friend came to join him and then another! All three tembo (elephants)! The first elephant came to say hello to a twiga (giraffe) who was gently eating leaves of a tree. The twiga must have been frightened and ran a little distance, but by this time the elephant was already walking across the river, torwards us. He came almost so we could touch it. It was so close, almost 8 steps away. And then his friend came to join him in that delicious patch of grass. The other elephant on the other side  looked lonely and then along he came to join them. Lovely TEMBOS!

An elephant comes for tea!

Twiga Bones

CANADA DAY


Canada Pals


On Canada Day, Laura and her friend Sarah came for dinner which was a lovely lasagna (Louisa couldn't remember lasagne noodles and thought it was cardboard!). After dinner other friends came and we had a huge pudding, Pumpkin pie, maple syrup iced biscuits, nanimo bars, watermelon, popcorn and fairy cakes! Laura bought some sparklers and we lit those but Louisa, Ben and Sam and I were a bit nervous at first! I can't remember the last time we had sparklers! Then we played some games and children went to sleep. All the aldults played games and scoffed all the pudding!!!!!! I think it was one of the BEST CANADA DAYS I'VE EVER HAD!!

 

Canadian Desserts

 

Bethany fit right in as a Canadian for the day!



Attack of the African Bees!

Last week we were invaded and attacked by bees!  I heard the piglets yelping and screaming and I ran out to see if any thing was wrong. Something was!!  The bees in our garden had been stinging our piglets and obveselisly the pigs had annoyed them. I am very used to the flies that are always around the pigs and flies all over me but this was a very loud buzzing. A moment later, I was running and screaming back to mummy with bee stings and bees all over me. In my top, in my skirt , my bandana, and my hair. All over!! Mum striped all my clothes off and put cream every where. My worst sting was on my finger, a bee had got stuck between my fingers and it’s all swollen but it’s getting better slowly.

(To finish the story ... Mummy and Rachel ran outside and realised that all the pigs were loose. With Spedito, they tried to catch the pigs. The dogs were chasing the pigs and the bees were chasing everybody. Everybody was getting bees on them and there was a lot of flapping, shouting, yelping, snorting and rolling about in the dirt. Mummy called Daddy at the office to come and help and they bundled up against the bees and worked on getting all the pigs into the garage. Daddy and Rachel were stung and Mummy escaped. There was a lot of squealing. There were so many bees everywhere. Auntie Ann found Amisadai and Louisa huddled under a blanket on the top bunk and read them a story. Five of the seven piglets were found and rescued but the last piglet was not found until that evening. She was huddled in the ground, stung and rather poorly. But all the pigs survived and two days later were safely in their own banda again. We had an interesting time getting them all back again).

Bee Protection later in the day

From Louisa
On Wednesday we went to Kilolo. It is  very cold  in  Kilolo, we had our sweaters on. It is not  like Magozi, Magozi  is  very hot! We went to a conference and we did cooking on the jiko.

Getting ready for the cooking demonstration in Kilolo

Sharing the bread rolls with everyone at the conference

Sewing, Planting and a Theatre Performance

We are having fun with Auntie Ann and Rachel staying! We love doing sewing with Rachel! We are, at the moment, sewing quilts, dolls and having lots of fun!! Rachel has sewn a whole blanket by hand wich turns into a pillow and has lots of pretty patterns! I love the flowers and colors.

Sewing our quilts

We went to Magozi and planted lots of trees. We have given out 2 trees out to Mendrad, 2 for Kalista, Yuda (Judah) and Lucy, 2 for Ezekiel who helped with Mama Mirrisianna and 2 for Mama Juliana. I loved planting them with our new pack up spades!!

Fun with bubbles! The kids were scared of the first ones because
they hadn't seen them before and didn't know what they were!

Today we performed our play, "The Drinking Gourd" with our friends, Tianna, Abeni and Kaiya. We had a good audience who came to watch! I was the Father and the US Marshall. Louisa was the Preacher and Little Jeff. It was really fun and we all had to talk like we were from down South! We had popcorn for the intermission and foot and star biscuits for afterwards (to follow the drinking gourd).

Rev.  Louisa

Taking the slaves to freedom in the wagon

The Marshall is looking for runaways

Father says goodnight to Tommy

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in Tanzania!

Yesterday we celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee here in Iringa! We painted our faces with the Union Jack and we made Union Jack cakes and a lemon cheesecake with union jack strawberries! We took all that and our flags to our friends house and with some other British friends watched the Queen and all the boats. We liked Kate's dress! We had a roast dinner and lots of fun! We hope you all in England are having lots of fun at the parties!

God Save the Queen!

Poems and Playscripts

In school, we are doing poems and playscripts.We are working on 2 playscripts which would like to do for Ben and Sam. One of them is ''We're going on  a Bear Hunt'' and the other is "Follow the Drinking Gourd." It is a bit hard with only two actors though!

Here is a funny rhyming poem for my friend Alice in England!

Alice Apple Cake

This is my friend Alice apple cake

I love it when she starts to bake

Chocolate chip cookies she does make

I like to eat them in my break

Alice apple cake takes me to Jake

Alice takes us to the lake

Alice took us for our own sake

In the boat we saw a  drake

But all the rowing made our arms ache

Time to go home for apple cake.

By Amisadai Monger

Here is my shape poem for our unit on the Underground Railroad.

On Sunday we went to A Community Day. David had a snake for us to hold (it wasn't poisonous) and we found a sandsnake with Shera. Today we had Ezekiel and Bora and baby Lightness to visit.



Emma Eggy Bread, Moses and Magnets

We have been writing poems. Here is a rhyming poem ...

EMMA EGGY BREAD

By  Louisa  Kirsten  Monger

This is Emma Eggy Bread.

Emma was sewing with thread,

Before she went to  bed

She was sewing a dress  that  was  red

“I am   bit  tired” Emma said

“And  I  have a  got  a  ache  in  my  head

I’ll  get  better  if  I  go  to  bed.”

We have also been learning all about the Underground Railroad. We have been reading "Listen to the Whippoorwill" and "The Drinking Gourd" and have written our own spirituals and slave songs.

Moses

            

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

We’re goin’ up  to  Canaan.

We’re goin’ to  the  Promised Land.

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

We’re  lookin’ up  to  Heaven

Lookin’ up at  the  stars.

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

Egyptians are a comin’

Run  for  your life.

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

Get  to  the river 

It’s  safe on the other  side.

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

By Louisa  Kirsten Monger


CODE: Moses = Harriet Tubman    Canaan = Canada    Promised Land = freedom  
Stars = Big Dipper and North Star    Egyptians = slave catchers   River = safe from dogs in the water


To play on the ukelele, Line 1: C C F C     Line 2: G7    Line 3: G7 C

We have been learning about magnets. Here is a something we made to show how the same poles on magnets push apart. We also made a compass with a needle. 

Volcanoes and Crystals



Wow! The volcano erupts!

 In science last week, we made a Volcano. In a bottle we put baking soda, dish soap, red food colouring and water . We shook the bottle then put it on a tray and filled the tray with a mountain of sand. Then I poured viniger in the bottle. It exploded! All the baking soda, dish soap, red food colouring and water exploded!! But it was not red like magma. Even with all that food colourling!! The viniger is an acid and when it touches bicarbonate like baking soda it reacts by bubbling and fizzing.(You can tell a limestone rock by pouring viniger on it beacuse the rock will bubble and fizz). You should try this!

The heat inside a real volcano in the magma chamber below the earths crust pushes magma up the vent of a volcano. It shoots out the top of the volcano in the form of lava.

We are also making Crystals. Crystals are solid shapes wtih flat surfaces lined up in repeating patterns. They are formed by minerals. We dissolved a mineral called alum  and when it became solid it was a crystal.

Our growing crystal

Our crystal tree. Before



After!



New Video! Lulu Has Piglets

Here is a video we made of Lulu having her piglets on Friday!

Piglets!

Yesterday was a very exciting day! Lulu gave birth to her piglets. We watched all of them except for the first two being born! We have a video clip of one being born which we will put up on the blog later. There are eight little piggies, they are very cute! I love them so much! But Lulu keeps on stepping on the little piggy. He is tiny and he is the runt. But very, very cute. My two favourite piglets are the runt and a spotty one.

We don’t yet know if they are boys or girls but can you help us think of some good names? Make sure they are piggy-good!

Louisa turns six

I     had a   Lovely   Birthday  in   Dodoma. I went swimming! I  can  swim with  a  noodle  and  without  my  mum.

 I also went in a plane. We could sit in the cockpit of one of the MAF planes!

 I went to a nice café for lunch with Jasmine and Gideon (from Sunseed who we were visiting).

 I found some new friends in Dodoma called Anna and Esther. Anna came to open presents and have cake.

Anna and me playing with my new playmobile



I got some great presents ... some tools, playmobile, clothes and games ...



LATEST NEWS!!!!!                                   

 Lulu   just had   piglets!  Amisadai   will   tell you   about   it tomorrow and show you some pictures!   they  are  so  cute!