Off to Places New

 

Whilst in Dar es Salaam waiting for our flights John and Malcolm visited Slipway, a shopping centre on the coast with views across the bay of Dar es Salaam. 

Here they enjoyed a tasty lunch, and Malcolm had the opportunity to visit the Safi shop. (Safi is short for ‘See Ability First International’. This indicates that its purpose is to provide work opportunities to people based on their abilities, and also means ‘clean’ in Kiswahili).

The shop was opened to market the items made not only by Safi, Arusha, but also Neema Crafts, (the well established workshop in Iringa that Ben and Katy Ray had managed for several years, and Malcolm and Irene had worked at on several occasions) and other craft makers. 

Here he met Ryo   and Gabriel who manage the shop, and was able to see the range of items made by the workshops. These range from small pieces of jewellery to large pieces of furniture, from bags to toys.

John flew on to spend a few days of relaxation on Zanzibar before returning to the UK, whilst Malcolm flew further north to Arusha, near the border with Kenya. On the way the clouds parted – is that the Island of Zanzibar, or is it Pemba?

For the first few weeks Malcolm will be staying with the family of Ben and Katy Ray, the CMS Mission Partners who have set up the Safi workshop in Usa River on the outskirts of Arusha. Other than passing through Arusha 17 years ago on the way to Safari this is the first time that Malcolm has stayed in the area.

As its the rainy season Malcolm has to get used to sudden downpours of warm rain, and power cuts!

Ben and Katy and family live in a single storey house in the centre of a large, largely undeveloped estate with lots of interesting animals. We will see more of these in later blogs. This week here are 3 that live in the house.

 

The youngest is Smash, a puppy  who one day turned up unannounced at the Safi workshop. He is a bit of a terror, and after terrorising the staff with his mischief, Ben and Katy decided it would be better to take him home.

The senior member of the house dogs is Rocky. He is clearly top-dog who doesn’t put up with any nonsense from the other dogs and will happily eat his own food, and then decide to finish of Smash’s.

The third dog is Forest who is a young, strapping hound who still enjoys puppy-play with Smash.

 

Next week we will look at what goes on at the Safi workshop. This is situated on a pretty site with views of the second tallest Mountain in Tanzania, Mount Meru