Asante Sana!

Asante sana to Janet who has been a wonderful hostess for us the last two days. She even took time from a prior engagement to spend time with us today around Marangu and to introduce us to some of the women that have been supported and blessed by the Asante Network's micro-loans.

Janet took us places and had us seeing things we would have never seen otherwise. We thank you also for your beautiful spirit and desire to help so many to better their lives - you have touched our lives and we treasure your friendship. See you again soon!

Muller Has a New Owner and Home in Tanzania

This is Edgar, he is the youngest son of Glory, a seamstress from the Marangu area in North East Tanzania.

After spending the morning with Glory and her family at her home and sewing studio, Jan felt that this would be a wonderful home for Muller, her giraffe. She gave the little twiga to little Edgar along with a big hug and a lot of God's love.

(Muller is sponsored by the Muller family).

A Visit to a Seamstress' Home

This morning after we picked up Janet, she took us to the home and workshop of a woman named Glory. Glory is a seamstress that works for Janet to sew her batik fabrics into beautiful skirts, bags and other items to be sold in Janet's store in Moshi.

Glory at one time had her sewing room set up in main room of her home, but after receiving a "micro-loan" from the Asante Network she was able to use the loan money to build a separate sewing studio next to her home. She has room in the studio for several sewing machines and she teaches four students to sew and eventually be able to support themselves with this skill.

Glory's family grows several banana trees and coffee plants, plus they own a small group of farm animals to help them produce food for the family and have items to sell at the market. Her superior sewing skills along with the micro-loan from Asante have helped this family, especially Glory to be productive in many ways while earning a fare wage for her work.

While we were at Glory's studio this morning she took measurements to make Jan an outfit from the traditional Tanzania Katenge cloth (similar to the outfit Janet is wearing). Later we had to go to the market (that we had passed earlier) so Jan could pick out fabric and give to Glory to cut and sew - she is supposed to have the outfit done for Jan tomorrow afternoon.

On the Road to Marangu

This morning Janet's brother, Immanuel picked us up at the hotel and he drove Jan and I to the Marangu area. Along the road there were all kinds of people walking along the road - most balancing something on their heads. These four are balancing water buckets

We started out on a good paved highway but then got on dirt side roads which were very bumpy and dusty.

This part of the road is under construction to even it out and to make it smoother - and eventually to be paved.

As we got closer to the market area there were more and more people bringing things to be sold - mostly bananas and big bundles of straw.

Chagga Live Museum

One of the stops on our adventure today with Janet and Immanuel was to the Chagga Live Museum in Marangu. Here we are with our Chagga guide next to an authentic Chagga hut.

The guide was very interesting and pretty funny, too.

Our guide told us all about the Chagga Banana Beer and the correct way to drink it is from a cup made from a gourd - he did everything but give us a sample.

Mount Kilimanjaro

A view of Mount Kilimanjaro from our hotel. Wish you were here.

A Day for Tanzanian Batik

Janet, a friend of Jan's from the Asante Network invited us to her home and batik studio today.

This is one of the batik artists working on a Twiga design.

This is Pozo another batik artist with a table cloth during the batik process.

Here we are with the finished table cloth.

This is Skippy, the little baby goat, one of the goats at Janet's property.