As far as Zaramo life the women work in their yards each day preparing meals, cleaning and doing chores. They often sit with each other and share work/ The men occasionally have jobs, but mostly lounge around during the day. The Zaramo are very communal so they share everything from food to sleeping space to parenting, etc…They spend almost the whole day outdoors visiting in some fashion. And, there is often a visitor at our doors wanting to “talk” or borrow an item. They love ngomas – drum dances. We are occasionally awakened even in the middle of the night by an ngoma that just started. We even had an ngoma take place in our neighborhood recently that was an attempt to drive spirits out of a woman.

There are three churches within the larger area and the Zaramo attend none of them. They are Muslim if asked but few (mostly children) are ever seen at the two mosques. It is common and accepted for a woman to have extra men on the side besides her husband as they are taught from a young age how to manipulate men for their needs and take great pride in it. Men are considered mature only once they have several wives. Marriages are broken often. Most elderly are divorcees here.

As I said there’s far too much to share in one letter. I do hope to send these at least monthly. If you e-mail me try to be brief as I have limited time on e-mails. As it turns out also, all mail should be mailed to my Tanzanian PO Box please. Please continue to be in prayer for our team, the Zaramo, and God’s work here. Our team is where the Lord wants us but it is difficult and trying here for all of us.