Schultz Family in Tanzania

Last night I was having a hard time sleeping so I decided to take the dog out for a walk. It was about 10:30pm and the place was very quiet. In these parts security is a big issue. Our compound is surrounded by an electric fence and has 4 security guards who work the night shift. Their job is to open the gate for the residence who are returning and protect the 8-10 families who live here. As I approached the guard shack at the gate I saw three of the guards sitting around a small fire. They were bundled up for winter with jackets and hoods. They think 60 F is very cold. As I approached, I noticed they were all motionless, I had a suspicion that they were all sleeping. Sure enough, they were sound asleep. Even my approaching footsteps didn’t wake them. I stood next to them and then shouted “HEY!” They didn’t hardly moved a muscle. Man these guys were good. Well, I mean they were good at sleeping while sitting up in a chair (you ever try that in school?), they were bad at protecting me and my family against any intruders. A few people have asked me in the past “With all the crime and disease, how will you protect yourselves sufficiently?” The answer to that question is that we rely 100% on the protective hand of God. Please pray for our safety while we are here.

This entry is tagged: Living in Africa, Pray for us
Posted by BJ at 9:48 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

Today I did the dishes. I know, you’re thinking, “Wow, what a man!” but let me give more details. Doing the dishes is not as easy as it sounds. First, you have to have mostly clean water in order to clean anything that is dirty. Here, in our rental the water comes from a nearby river. It is usually very dirty. I fill a 25 gal barrel and add aluminum sulfate and wait about 24 hours. Most of the dirt falls to the bottom so I am able to siphon out clean water and store it in gallon jugs. If I want drinking water I have to filter it further to get the germs out, but that’s another entry. So now I have decent clean but cold water. To get it hot I add this water to an electric kettle and wait a few minutes. After getting a sufficient amount of hot water I add soap. The soap here is terrible. You have to use at least 3 times the amount you would normally use of a good soap like Palmolive (not that I have first hand experience but that’s what Cathy says). So now I have clean, hot, and soapy water. After scrubbing the dish clean I need to rinse it. Of course I need more clean hot water and a place to rinse. Our sink only has one basin, so I have to rinse in a big tub. After a few scaldings from the rinse water (212 F is hotter than McDonald’s coffee) I have the dish completely clean and rinsed and in the drainer waiting to dry. In all it took about an hour to finish the dishes from dinner. Now I write about this not to say how great I am for doing the dishes once this year but to say thanks to my wife who does this several times every day. If only someone would invent a machine to do this work for you.

This entry is tagged: Living in Africa
Posted by BJ at 9:43 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)