Remembering PHS

I know many of you are keeping up with PHF and Tanzania on your own, but check this out to see some really great things happening. Richard and Barb have been volunteering at PHS and took a group hiking up Mount Longido. I can personally attest to the difficulty of the climb...it is very steep, it is very hot, and it is more proof that Tanzanians have not encountered the concept of the switchback. Remember hiking and looking ahead and seeing switchbacks and groaning because you knew it was going to be steep? Well, those switchbacks are a blessing, let me tell you. I had to spend more time catching my breath than worrying about how fresh the large piles of cape buffalo poo on the trail might be! And yes, I do have proof that I (finally) made it to the top!

Anyhoo...in addition to seeing familiar faces and familiar places (and seeing the girls in tennis shoes and jeans) there are several images of students camping in tents and learning how to use a GPS system. Imagine how ordinary and normal putting up a tent is for us--imagine how easy it is to use a propane stove--imagine how amazing those things are for the first time! Imagine how funny they must find those of us who use those things--they only need a match a few bits of wood. We need a special stove and little bottles of fuel. I could definitely relate to them learning how a GPS works, since I find them very cool and a bit mysterious myself.

What I loved seeing was watching the students experience something new and wonderful in a place so utterly familiar to them. Isn't that true for all of us? If there's something I've learned it's that you don't need to move around the world to make changes in your life or grow. Our life choices have forced change upon us, yes, but there are so many ways in which we fall back upon our old habits and thoughts. Trust me--you don't need to live in China or Tanzania or Mexico to learn to be intentional and purposeful about your life, your work, and your family. Many of the people I admire most in that respect are living within a few hundred miles of where they grew up.

I miss Christian, and the teachers, and the students. I miss Tanzania in so many ways. I thought seeing the pictures would make me sad, but instead I was excited at the learning and discovery I saw. I could be happy about something I'm no longer a part of. Maybe we're settling in after all...