Life as I know it…. Mumba, Tanzania

Here is just a glimpse into life as we know it here in Mumba, Tanzania. Where should I begin?  I live on the campus of Tanzania Grace Bible Institute, just outside of the village of Mumba, 40 km (26 m) southeast of Sumbawanga.  

Mumba is approximately at the red cross in the southwest corner.

My house.

      

The view behind my house.

A glimpse of my yard, behind the hedge is the garden.

          

  Eating fresh lettuce and strawberries from my garden.

     Every evening from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm the campus generator turns on.  We enjoy normal power at that time.  The other 22 hours of the day have limited power from solar panels at each home. 
 

   Laundry is hand-washed and line-dried.  We cook on old fashion cook stoves and us small propane stoves to heat things up when the wood stoves are cold. 

  The entire campus has running water which is pumped up from the river. It's not clean to drink but we have flushing toilets, water for our gardens, and sinks and showers.  Drinking water come from local springs or rain water and we bring that in by buckets and then filter it.  If we want hot water it means starting a fire to heat up water which we store in modified 55 gallon drum hot water heaters.   There are certain hours when we can take hot showers based on when the fire was started. 
    

The dam which holds water even in the dry season. This pump is gravity powered and sends water up the hill to the campus.

Life is a lot more complicated than we are used to but now it seems normal for me!