9 years old!

Happy Birthday, Juma! You have brought so much fun into our lives, and you are such a great kid to hang out with. You love to do so many things:

You are a board game champion,




you have a great imagination and love pretending to be different characters (here, a 19th century Hehe chief),




you are the best at being a silly head,




a great rock hunter,




a cave explorer,



iPad gamer,




an excellent rock climber,




and a budding biologist.



Happy Birthday, buddy!

another cutie picture of little Sarah

She is now in Pemba with her mom, meeting her grandparents for the first time. They are, of course, thrilled.

adventures in Iringa

Ok, not really adventures. More like life.


We found nice craft shop/cafe in Iringa where all the artisans and cafe employees are either deaf or disabled. A lot people like them don't get a chance to prove their abilities in Tanzania, so this place is really great and reducing the stigma. They make really great stuff, too. Here, Justin and Juma play chess while we wait for our food. Juma won!




Juma got a toy bow and arrow and Justin fashioned a quiver for him. After a couple days of practice, Juma is a great shot.






Just 20 kilometers south of Iringa, there is a Stone Age (lower paleolithic) site full of stone tools 100,000 years old. We got to actually pick up and handle the roughly-made spearheads, knives, and wedges. Amazing.



The site is also full of beautiful sandstone pillars.