Profile of Tanzanian team members, and news...

The Canadian team members arrived a week ago and have been strategically paired with a Tanzanian counterpart. Here is a short profile of the Tanzanian counterparts:
Helen Kavisha, age 24. Completed teachers college. She will be teaching with Sara at an English Medium School. She has a desire to teach English. Sara will be teaching Chemistry. She loves the Lord.
Asnat Lyimo, age 25. Completed high school. Has been working in hotel management. She loves working with children. She is working with Stelna at an orphanage. She loves the Lord.
Anthony Hango, age 27. Completed high school. He is passionate about working with youth. The past 4 years he has volunteered to counsel youth in issues of HIV and drug abuse. He will assist Arend in the hospital. He loves the Lord, and likes to sing gospel songs.
Regis Milambo, age 25. Completed 1st year university. He has been volunteering as a Youth Coordinator at the Diocese Youth Center. He also has some connection with 4 H in Tanzania. He will be working with Ollie at the Diocese Youth Center, and possibly other youth centers. He loves the Lord, and enjoys praying.

For orientation we bussed to a quiet fishing village to relax, build team dynamics and hold some project and culture orientation sessions over the course of a few days. We attended a local church on Sunday and the pastor invited Shayo, Jamie and I up to speak in front of the Church and tell them all about our program. They welcomed us warmly.
Now we are back in Tanga. The Counterparts have moved in with their host families and have had an orientation to their workplacements. They begin full-time work on Monday. We have already had a meeting with the mayor of Tanga at which point he was able to give us many answers to important questions we had concerning social development and city infrastructure. We also had a meeting with the bishop of Tanga.
The population of Tanga is approx. 300,000. Throughout the day and especially the night our activities are accompanied by the mysterious chants of Islamic prayer over a loudspeaker. It is beautiful and haunting all at once. There are also many Indians (Hindus and Sihks). The staple diet here is starchy foods such as white rice, polenta, and white bread. Oranges are in season. Mosquito bites/nets/spray are a natural part of life. The streets are crowded with colourful and cultural clothing. The team is fitting in quite well, wearing local dress, taking public transportation, eating from street vendors and speaking Swahili.
Pray that the Canadian team members adjust to the culture and living situation well. Pray that out team and our aspirations will be accepted and embraced by the local community. Pray for mutual learning to take place, often learning happens after persevering through frustrations.
In the long term pray that our team will be filled with a spirit of discernment and wisdom as we seek to build partnerships and assess the future involvement of TWU in Tanga.