New Beginnings

Over a week has passed since the burglary and I finally feel like our life is back to being about more than just going to the police station. We're still checking in with the investigator from time to time and on Monday we went in to claim some of our belongings that they found. I KNOW! Right? How crazy is that!? I've had plenty of things stolen from me over the years, but I don't recall ever getting much back. And we were able to take the stuff home with us that day. They just took a picture of the things, had Chris sign a statement saying he received them and that was that.

While we were at the station they brought in the burglar who, unbeknownst to us, they had in custody. The investigator simply left the room for a minute, came back with this kid and said "this is your thief." It was very strange to sit in the same room with the kid (well, he was probably around 21-ish), look him in the eyes and hear him tell how he came into our house and bedroom while we slept. He didn't even seem one bit remorseful about it. He had this cocky half smile on his face the whole time. Really creepy.

So, from here, they'll bring the guy to court. Who knows how long that'll take or how long of a sentence he'll get. I wonder if we'll still be living here by then. In the States it often takes years even for things to go to trial; not sure if it's like that here. The police think that by the end of this week or early next week they will have recovered the last of the big items that were taken. So I guess all there is to do is get back into the rhythm of life here.

Which brings me to the real point of this blog post--the fact that we still really don't have much of a rhythm to life here in Tanzania. It seems like we've constantly had stumbling blocks ranging from slow/non-existent ministries, illness, and burglary. It seems like every time we're all set to start actually "doing something," we get set back. Chris and I have talked multiple times recently about longing for the time when we had jam-packed schedules and too many activities to fit into one day. We feel like we're having good experiences, but that we're not really "doing" anything.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks that I've faced over the past few months is on the work-front. Several friends in the States have asked me over email recently what I was doing again work-wise and apologized for not remembering. My response has been that they probably don't remember because I've not really said what I'm doing. In fact, I don't think I've even written anything on my blog about my work all summer long. That's because slowly but surely the placement I was originally given (at Caritas) has fallen apart. I won't go into the details here (boring!) but the long-and-the-short of it is that there was no funding, no staff, no projects, and unfair and unachievable expectations of me, to name just a few things. So officially as of this week I am no longer working there. It all ended amicable (at least I think it did) and I am sure that no one there was surprised to see me go. I'd transitioned to part time status a few months ago and haven't even gone in over the last few weeks because there's been no work.

So, now I feel like I'm a little bit at a crossroads. I am hoping that tomorrow I can meet with the executive director of the organization I want to work full time with. I'm assuming that they'll happily take free labor, but I really, really hope that they can find a way to put my talents and skills to work appropriately. Sometimes I feel like it's always extremes here-either I'm expected to rescue an entire organization (which is just a little over my head), or I'm only seen as a good English speaker to write and edit documents. I feel like there's got to be something in between, something I can do here that makes me feel competent, yet also challenges me and keeps me interested and wanting to do more.

So, here's to yet another new beginning. I'm pretty ready to transition out of continual "new beginnings" and into "smooth sailing," so hopefully this is the start of that.