Arusha Palm House and a Truck

Spent today making a video around the house. Click here to take a look.

Nic

Visitors, cheese and Safari.

Wow, what a week. Nanny and Auntie Vicki arrived safely, if not exhausted after almost 24 hours of travel and their first experience of an African massage ( as the bumpy roads are known). They came armed with chocolate, orange squash and mature cheese which was most welcome.

 We soon set off to the Ngorogoro crater on safari, which was amazing. In the two days we counted over 40 different animals and birds, including Elephants so close we could see their eyelashes and sadly an injured Lioness who lay down next to our truck, so close we could have stroked her. She was rescued by the rangers, so hopefully is recovering. We have some great pictures, but I cannot upload them at the moment.

We waved goodbye to Mum and Vicky and are now really preparing to come back to the UK. Its been an amazing adventure, tougher at times than we thought, mainly missing friends and family, but so worth doing.

We have not mentioned the extra challenge of managing a disability over here, and there have been tricky times, but we managed, so anyone reading this thinking they could not come somewhere like this... you can!

We are off to see the BFG film and hopefully do more camel riding on Saturday.

22 days left!

Its 22 days until we come home! We had a wonderful holiday in Zanzibar, did very little except swim in the beautiful warm sea, drinking mango juice (and the occasional Pina colada) and admiring the stunning sunsets.

We are eagerly awaiting our only guests, My Mum and Nics' sister who will be joining us for a week and going on a safari with them. We are also awaiting their shipment of cheese they are bringing with them. Tanzania has many amazing things, but cheese is not one of them.

We heard that the girls have got into a new school close to us, so mixed emotions here as we are very sad to be leaving St johns behind, but they are pretty excited to be starting somewhere new, especially because they can walk there.

So, we will let you know what we have seen on our return from safari.

tutoanana baadyee ( which means see you later)

Power cuts,Dens and Zanzibar

Sorry we have not written for along time,


we have had lots of power cuts so we have had to use solar lights.

Summer and me have made a den in the garden and we saw a little Chameleon in there.

We went to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant ( Ethiopia is a country in Africa). And we ate our food with our fingers and we saw a Gekko (a type of lizard).


In 2 days we are going to Zanzibar. And we might swim with dolphins .



from Katie.

lake swimming

On Thursday we went swimming a lake!

It was a hot spring lake that means there is warm water coming up from the earth. But there are little fishes that nibble your dead skin.

there was some crazy kids that were on this rope and then swung on it then jumped in the water!

first i did not want to go in the lake but i did.

we could see mount Kilimanjaro 

summer

Welcome Home Tim!!!

we woched tim peke land and it was rily exiting
from katie

41 bites, in one night!

Summer:- Jambo - that means hi.
last night i slept in a tent in the house.! BUT i got about 41 bites in 12 hours.
bites are caused by mosquito's and can cause malaria but we have pills to stop from having it


On Sunday  we saw  Mount Kilimanjaro, it was amazing. You could actually see the snow on top of it! It is Africa's highest mountain at 5,895m,that like 2,900 Mr Marshalls' ( my headteacher) standing on top of  each other!  Kwaheri  - Gooodbye. Please comment. Love Summer

Kilimanjaro

Yesterday we had a great view of Kilimanjaro on our way to a Fair in Moshi. It was a cloudy day but luckily the "Shy lady" revealed her self on the drive home in the later afternoon. This made Summer and Katies day!

Edible insects (almost)

 Just now mum ate a grasshopper!! she said it was disgusting. daddy just had two, he agrees with mummy.

Summer and Katie

chameleon

Today we saw a chameleon in the garden.  it was green and brown. but it will not stay that colour for long because it can change colour. They call this camoflage  

 It can move each eye seperately.... wierd

Summer

Butterflys and Flowers

[Text at the bottom reads]

Dear Everyone
There are loads of Butterfly's and Flowers,
Love Katie

Summers super update

Summer - We woke early.  ITS WAS MY 9TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

I celebrated in three different country's.The house is amazingly big. Mama Jane, the owners job is running a plant nursery. In the trees are Vervet monkeys. they have very long tails and the colour is brownish-green.

BUGS AND BEETLES - Today we found lots of bugs and plants. Some plants were spiky, dangreos, slimy and big. They are spiky to protect themselves from being eaten.. To stop from being bitten by bugs you wear long sleeves in the evening..

At the weekend  me and Katie went to Fifi coffee shop. we had a chocolate milkshake, it is really just ice cream in a cup! Mum accidently ordered too many chips, so we took some home for dad.
 Until Next time!!!!

Update from Katie

Day 1.

We woke at 3am and went on 2 airplanes. It was not that hot but still hot.then I got in a taxi to the house. It was really dark.

Day 2.

We had pineapple and watermelon for breakfast. The rest of the day we mainly unpacked but for lunch went out for Pizza. In the evening we had a power cut.

Day 3.

Breakfast the same as yesterday but doughnuts too.

We went into the garden and I saw lots of monkeys. Then we went swimming (in a hotel in the town). It was freezing. After this we did some writing. I loved it while we were writing. After this we saw a watch (woch) dog. After than mummy and daddy were looking at a crocodile. It wasnt real but made of terracotta. After that I went to bed.

Day 4.

we went outside and used my bug box and we saw a blue beetle and then we saw (sor) a snail. it was enormous!!!!. Summer touched it.

After That we went inside to watch High School musical.

First day at The Arusha Palm House

Had a wonderful welcome at the Arusha Palm House. This place is as charming and Luxurious as the advert says!!

One sleep to go!

1 day to go!!!

I cannot believe we are almost going, after months of planning and talking about it. The girls school, St Johns gave them an amazing send off. We have promised to update the blog regularly and we have set a challenge to ourselves to see if we can use  the Tanzanian postal system and see if we can get a letter to the school and how long it will take. Watch this space for updates. Today we will mainly be packing, as we have all week.  We have packed the basics ( hopefully), like pants and socks, but among the more unusual items, we have a Frisbie, Marmite, T bags and of course a Leicester city football flag. 

Allens in Africa - Back Story

First post of a new Blog, Yeah!!

Next week we fly as a family off to Arusha in Tanzania for a 3 month trip. We are going because of my work and the benefits that me being based out there for a short time with the local team may bring.

Very briefly (for good record keeping's sake only as this blog is not about my work) the company I work for are trying to address Africa's energy problem through the development of micro-grids in communities which currently do not have access to conventional electricity supply. Its is hoped that the stimulus these projects bring is sufficient to bring about sustainable growth in the communities to be able to afford the energy and thus allow us to turn a profit. A very big goal being started in a very small way, but that's enough of work for now.

For 3 months Kathy and the girls will be getting to know this little bit of East Africa, meeting new people, going on Safari, climbing (or more likely, looking at) Mount Kilimanjaro as well as lots of other adventures. We will be joining a church out there and experiencing what God is doing in such an incredibly different culture to our own. We cant wait!!

We used to keep a blog for a year or so which became less and less frequently updated as life rolled on. The main purpose of that blog was to record and communicate with friends and family what was happening to us when our first daughter was first diagnosed with having Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus at our 20 week scan.

It was the start of a very difficult/wonderful/heartbreaking/joyful time which you can still read all about here if you haven't read it before. I shall summarize the story now: Disaster struck, God was was faithful, God is faithful and God will continue to be Faithful forever more!!.

Its what this faithfulness will look like over the next few months that this blog will try to capture. Lots of photos of the girls to follow as well as lots of strange African animals and some beautiful scenery. This will be interspersed with some descriptive writing exercises from the girls, they will not be on holiday all the time!!

Hope you enjoy. Please comment lots and encourage the younger ones too as well. This will hopefully be a great positive experience of what the internet can do for us so we would love to encourage that where we can. If anyone wants to make a post just let us know and we can add you to the authors list too.

Please pray for us too. Its been a difficult year so far and we are praying that this will be a really good time of seeing what God want for our lives which may lead to some significant changes when we get back.

God Bless,

Nic