Spice Tour

Here's some more from our time on Zanzibar. We went on a spice tour where we enjoyed hiking around the interior of the island. We got to see how some of our favorite(and some lesser-known) spices & fruits are grown. Many of the plants on the island are not native, but were imported and grown on large plantations. Pemba, the lesser-known island and other half of the Zanzibar Archipelago, is home to many clove plantations, many of which were started in the mid-1800's by Sultan Seyed Said.
This was our guide-- showing us nutmeg & mace. Nutmeg is a small, round, brown kernel which is wrapped in a plasticky-looking web (which is mace) and then a yellow outer fruit-like covering.

Ryan sniffing nutmeg wrapped in mace.

Peppercorns--we learned that peppercorns--whether black, green or pink, are all the same plant, just at different stages of development. The berries are green at first, then ripen to red/pink, then dry to look black.

Green peppercorns--still very peppery and spicy.

Annatto, used for coloring and flavoring foods.

Annatto can also be used for makeup & lipstick!

Did you know pineapples grow from the ground?

Vanilla beans--these take a LOT of care and work to grow.
And their vines have to have other trees to grow on.

Very tiny, and very hot peppers.

Cloves!

A feast of fruit!

Top from left: Jackfruit, lychee, pineapple. Middle from left: tropical apples, starfruit, more tropical apples. Bottom from left: oranges (the green ones--I like to call these "greens"), bitter oranges (the orange-y-brown ones).

Lychee have the coolest shell ever.

Lychee on the tree, before their cool spikey shells turn red.

Our guides decorated the tourists in various crafts made of weaving palm fronds--neckties & watches for Carl and Ryan, a ring, bracelet and frog necklace for me!

Dar es Salaam--National Museum & Hominid Fossils

The National Museum, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

One of the main attractions to the National Museum is the "Zinj" skull and the Laetoli footprints, fossil evidence of early hominids discovered in Tanzania. The Museum has a well-curated exhibit for these two stars and does a good job of explaining how they fit into current evolutionary theory.
"Zinj" or Australopithecus Boisei (Zinjantropus) lived 1.75 million years ago. Discovered by Dr. Mary Leakey on 17th July 1959 at Olduvai Gorge, Arusha Region, Tanzania (from the Museum's exhibit tag).
On this large canvas, "Various Sites that Provided Fossils of Hominid Evidence for Human Evolution and Development," you can see a picture of "Zinj" in the middle-bottom (right under where it reads "Atlantic Ocean") with a line pointing to the Olduvai Gorge in the North of Tanzania. It was one of the first hominids discovered there.

The display of the Laetoli Footprints with a painting showing an artist's portrayal of the original scene.
The Laetoli Footprints. These few prints were lifted from the site in Laetoli, where a large (~10ft x 7ft) area of prints remain. A new museum (built in the shape of a footprint!) is planned for construction around the site & prints in Laetoli.

One of the posters in the exhibits reads:

How were the footprints made?
1. 3.6 million years ago, a series of seven eruptions from a nearby volcano at Lemagarut covered the ground with a layer of fine ash.
2. Then a light rain fell on the ash, turning it into something like wet cement. Birds and other animals walking through the area left their tracks in the muddy ash.
3. Three hominids walking upright, trekked across the ash, leaving their footprints behind.
4. Ash from a subsequent volcanic eruption fell covered the area, sealing and burying the animal tracks and hominid prints.
5. After millions of years of erosion, the prints were exposed again.

Who made the footprints?
The Laetoli footprints were made by three early hominids classified as Australopithecus Afarensis. One of the individuals walked in the tracks of another, creating overlapping footprints. The three individuals are often portrayed as two adults and a juvenile, but there is no way to determine their sex or age.

A "family tree" of sorts, in the National Musuem, with replicas of the various hominid skulls, showing their relationship to each other, modern humans, and other primates. The left branch would include all types of monkeys, including chimps and gorillas, ending with a modern gorilla skull at the top. The branch on the right is the main point of the display, showing branches of early hominids, ending with "modern man" at the top.

On the fifth colored stripe from the bottom (~3.5 mya, brown) on a stumpy branch extending to the right, you find Australopithecus Afarensis, of the Laetoli footprints. Click here to read more about Australopithecus afarensis.

On the sixth colored stripe from the top (~1.5 mya, blue) on the left-most branch of the larger hominid right branch, you find "Zinj" Australopithecus Boisei (Zinjantropus). Click here to read more about Australopithecus boisei.

Other species on the chart at Dar's National Museum include:
Schelanthropus tchadensis (~7.o mya)
Australopithecus anamensis (4.1-3.5mya)
Australopithecus afarensis Laetoli footprints (3.5-2.9mya)
Australopithecus africanus (3.0-2.5 mya)
Australopithecus aethiopicus (2.5 mya)
Australopithecus boisei "Zinj" (2.3-1.2mya)
Australopithecus robustus (2.0-1.0 mya)
Homo habilis (2.3-1.4mya) & rudolfensis (1.9 mya)
Homo erectus & ergaster (1.9mya-400,000ya)
Homo heidelbergensis (500,000ya)
Homo neanderthalensis (250,000-45,000 ya)
Homo sapiens (200,000ya-present)

In my effort to link to more info, I came upon an interesting website, Archaeology.com, which seems to provide a thorough history of archaeology, anthropalentology, and how fossil evidence fits into current theories of human evolution. It also has some helpful visual representations and charts.

Some of you may be wondering how these fossil discoveries from Africa & their national display relate to current theological teachings on creation and evolution in Africa. Though I haven't run into this much yet, I did see an interesting clue in one of the lessons in the Preaching curriculum (which we are conducting at Kamfinsa Prison).

In the very first lesson on Genesis chapter 1, which is entitled "God created the whole world and it was good," it says in discussion of the second and third days of creation:

...Think about the first days that Genesis talks about. Maybe, they were like our days and nights or perhaps they were thousands of years long. We do not know; only God knows. We know that when God had finished making the world, a day was just like a day we know.

...The people who study plants tell us that those first trees and plants were very different from the trees and plants which we know. They say it was much hotter then. So different sorts of plants grew. But the Bible tells us that God gave the tree and plants fruits and seeds of their own...

--E30 Studies in the Bible: Preaching, TEEZ Basic Course, pg 4.

What the TEEZ Preaching course does here is leave room for Christians to both take the Bible seriously, and believe in the truth of Biblical Creation story, while at the same time taking seriously scientific research and theories of evolution. I like how it emphasizes that we don't know. As a publication for a widely ecumenical group of churches in Zambia, it doesn't presume to teach one rigid interpretation, but rather leaves room, not only for varying denominational teachings, but also for people to critically think through the issue and arrive at their own conclusions, with the guidance of the Spirit.

Some more pics from around the Museum grounds:

Sacred Fig tree

Molly at the base of the Sacred Fig

Giant Clam shell--larger than a car tire.
We would later see some of these when snorkeling off of Zanzibar, but not nearly this big!

A sunny & warm Christmas

This was our first Christmas away from family and without blustery weather typical of the East Coast & Midwest of the United States. We spent it at Mikadi Beach Camp, in Kigamboni, which is just South of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They had a lovely Christmas tree made of a metal frame with little lights, springs of tropical evergreens alongside bird of paradise flowers, and ornaments crafted with coral and seashells. There was even a star on top, but unfortunately it got cut off of the photo below.

The proprietress' mother decorating the tropical Christmas tree.

Banda huts on the beach, where we slept.

Breakfast after a morning swim in the ocean.

Christmas morning we attended worship at the local Catholic Church in Kigamboni. We discovered that all the nearby churches hold worship in Swahili. So seeing as we wouldn't be able to understand much in the service, we opted for the one which could be counted on to be under 2 hours! Seeing as the Catholic liturgy is essentially the same in any language, we were also able to more or less follow along, reciting the Lord's prayer and Apostle's creed as we came to them. They had a really wonderful choir which we quite enjoyed, and one of our favorite parts was the last hymn, "Gloria in Exclesis Deo," which was also sung in Swahili, but the chorus was Latin! and we sang along in English.

Also, we accidentally were given holy communion! We agonized over whether we should go up in the line. Not wanting to disrespect the Catholic practice of communion, but not wanting to feel utterly left out on Christmas. We decided to go up with our hands crossed over our chests, the universal signal asking for a blessing, rather than the host. This is something we've done previously in other Catholic Masses. Well, apparently this sign was not as universal as we'd thought, or perhaps the priest was just on auto-pilot, for when we approached, hands crossed, he quickly shoved the little wafers into our mouths, without giving us a second glance (if he indeed gave a first glance). I could barely keep from laughing as I returned to my seat. Ryan put it well, "Jesus came to us." Almost an embodied metaphor of this irresistible grace which comes to you whether you intended it or not. I wonder what Calvin would say about that.


The front of the sanctuary was painted with an incredible scene of communion. It looked much like a scene of the Last Supper, except it was hosted by the risen Christ. The mural had 11 disciples, and the 12th at the table (far right) was a black bishop holding a copper box, which actually was a cupboard embedded in the wall--the tabernacle which is where the Eucharist is stored between masses.

Posing by a nativity scene on Christmas morning.

After church, we returned to Mikadi for a wonderful Christmas dinner provided by their restaurant. The owners of the camp are Zimbabwe and Chile, and the Zimbabwean side of the family were present for the holiday. These white Zimbabweans have their roots in the UK, and so we enjoyed many traditional English treats this Christmas--including roasted chestnuts and Christmas pudding, imported from England.

Our Christmas Pudding!

So in this way, it felt like most other Christmases we've experienced: with fully bellies, we lounged around and enjoyed some fine company. We spent the afternoon and evening chatting with new friends we'd met at the camp, Frank and Loveness (from the UK & Tanzania, but residing in Iringa, TZ), and Pierre and Rachelle (Afrikaners from Namibia). One difference was the warm ocean breeze.

We were introduced to popular Zimbabwean Christmas music by musical group, Boney M, by the Allanby family--the relatives of the owners. We had a some very engaging theological conversation with the Allanbys, and also enjoyed their two energetic sons, Terl (10) and Christian (8) immensely. Christian left us with some notable quotes:
"The two happy couples--we meet again," which he said to Ryan & I whenever he saw us!
"The girl who owns this place is my auntie, so I can get you drinks."
"Zanzibar--sounds like a candy bar with chocolate and peanut butter."
"Wanna know something cool? I am a Christian and my name is Christian!" Yes, we definitely think that is cool.

Frank & Loveness.
Frank LOVES Christmas pudding. He's seen here with his 4th helping!

Hanging out on Christmas Day

The five days we spent at Mikadi Beach Camp were a welcome chance to read and relax and enjoy the sea and lots of fresh fruit. The beach itself was a treasure to explore--the tide went way out every day and then you could walk out on the shallow sea floor and find all sorts of crabs, small fishes, and sea cucumbers among other things.

A view of Mikadi Beach

Our breakfast every morning: fresh watermelon, banana, mango, passionfruit, and orange.

Ryan reading his Kindle. What is he reading: James McClendon's Systematic Theology or Bram Stoker's Dracula?

Molly exploring at low tide.

Molly reading the morning paper.

All aboard!... the train to Tanzania

The TEEZ office closes for a couple weeks for the Christmas and New Years holidays, so we decided to follow in the footsteps of previous GMFs and visit Tanzania.

We boarded the TAZARA (Tanzania Zambia Railway) and traveled for 2.5 days all the way from Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia, to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Following are some views from the train...

There was a Zambian family in a nearby compartment. At one point, the father was with his young (6 yrs?) son, Wope, looking out the window, showing him the villages.
Wope asked, "What's a village?"
Dad replied, pointing, "That's a village. It has goats, and mangoes, and bananas, and little boys like you."
To this, Wope looked up nervously at his father and said, "But I don't want a village!"

At every stop, there were women and children selling all sorts of things to passengers through the train windows--water, fruits & vegetables, rice, potatoes, nshima, snacks, even perfume and clothing and toys. We bought rolls, boiled eggs, mangoes and bananas for our breakfasts. Some people even bought the whole huge bunches of bananas--like those seen above.

Finally figured out email subscriptions!

Hey there, folks! Updates from our recent travels in Tanzania are coming soon. Meanwhile, we wanted to let you know that we've finally figured out how to set up email subscriptions to our blog! On the right-hand side, just below our picture, is a form where you can subscribe. This will allow you to get an email whenever we write a new post. We hope this makes it more convenient for you to stay up-to-date on our activities and reflections on life here in Mother Africa. Lots of love and many blessings to you for the new year! -Mo & Ry