Greetings from Bukoba, land of the beautiful banana trees!

Every evening at the Lubago home, we eat dinner at around 830pm. Usually it is rice, some version of banana, avacado, and stew. We have been very lucky to have Mutta's wonderful sister-in-law (Light) and his nieces (Flora and Newstar) making us delicious meals. After dinner, we all gather around Bibi and Babu in the living room for evening prayers. This is a tradition that they have done every evening for as long as Mutta can remember. During prayers, we sing a church hymn in Swahili, Bibi gives a reflection, someone says a prayer of thanksgiving, then everyone says the Our Father and another prayer that I am not familiar with. After prayers, everyone goes to bed.

On Friday, we drove down the road to visit the little piece of land that Mutta and Susan own. The land has a beautiful view of Lake Victoria. We hope someday to have a little house here for our visits. When that happens, everyone will be welcome to come anytime for a visit. After visiting the land, we visited with Edwin's parents. Edwin is Mutta's childhood friend whom he moved to the U.S. with many years ago. His parents welcomed us in with Sprite and shared Edwin and Lakisha's wedding pictures with us. Next, we headed to Mutta's primary school. All the children welcomed us. We gave them soccer balls and school supplies. On the way home from the school, Mary Anne rode a motorcycle with Mutta's friend, Rweke. We made him promise to drive slow and careful. She enjoyed her motorcycle adventure in Tanzania!

When we arrived back at the house, Light, Flora and Newstar taught us how to peel matoke (a type of green banana). Later, Susan and Mary Anne made Tanzanian guacamole! We just couldn't go 3 weeks without a little Mexican food!!! We didn't have any flour or chips, so we fried thinly sliced bananas to make banana chips for dipping in the guac. It may have been the best guac I have ever made. Everyone said they liked it, although maybe they were just being polite. While we cooked, the neighborhood children gathered in the "back yard" (an area padded with straw so that it is almost like a carpet). They sang and danced for us while eating fresh sugar cane. Mutta's parents house seems to be a place where all the children like to come and hang out. They are all so adorable and love to have their picture taken.

Today (Saturday) is Amy and Mary Anne's last day in Bukoba. Early tomorrow morning they will fly from here to Mwanza, then back to Dar es Salaam. Monday night they fly back to the U.S. We will be sad to see them go!

We are at Annalisa's house today and will stay here tonight. She teaches at the school for the blind and for children with albinism. We visited the school today and brought candy and school supplies. One child who was blind spoke on behalf of all the children and thanked us for coming. He said it meant so much because it shows that there are people who are thinking of them. Most of these children live at the school and so they don't see their families very often. The children with albinism have to keep their skin covered because they are very sensitive to the sunlight. They said it is hard to get sunscreen to protect them. We promised we would send sunscreen when we get back to the U.S.

We will try to upload some photos today. Love to you all!