Nathan Arrives

Erica came out here in June to begin a teaching assignment at Mzumbe Secondary School near Morogoro. Nathan stayed in DC for some weeks where he was working with Thrive DC and training someone to take over his job. After spending time with his family in PA and his sister and brother-in-law in Amsterdam, he flew into Dar es Salaam last week. Dave and I had to be in Dar to get our resident visas then so we picked him up at the airport that morning and drove straight to Mzumbe where Erica was one happy person!

Mzumbe town is about a twenty minute drive from Morogoro on a road that runs beside the spectacular Uluguru Mountains. The Secondary School there is a boarding school for high achieving boys from all over Tanzania and Erica and Nathan live in a house near the school. Their front porch looks out over the mountains and there are scenic trails between them and the mountains that are good for walking or running. Here they are on their porch:

Here are the mountains on the road to Mzumbe:

For weeks we’ve been saying, “when Nathan gets here….” or, “wouldn’t Nathan like that,” so it’s great to finally have him around. He was on EMU’s soccer team and so has something in common with people here who all love the sport. Another thing he’ll soon have in common is Swahili because he’s embarking on a crash course in the language and is picking it up with amazing facility.

Nathan is from Johnstown, PA, a town that I don’t know much about except that it had a Great Flood once upon a time that is still harrowing to read about. But, after learning to know him and his family over the past few years, I do know that Johnstown turns out wonderful and fine people and I would love to see more of his family here in Tanzania.

It is really nice and almost unbelievable to have Erica and Nathan nearby and be able to see them often. Now we have to figure out how to get other family members and friends to come and live here. How about it, a certain someone in Blacksburg, VA? What do we have to do to persuade you that this is also a good place to do ground-breaking research in developmental psychology?!

Remember the record-breaking twenty-seven people in one dalla-dalla that I rode in several weeks ago? That record was shattered when Nathan and Erica took a dalla-dalla this weekend. Their first ride together boasted thirty passengers with the conductor hanging from the open side door as they went flying along the Morogoro to Mzumbe road. My twenty-seven passenger load looks paltry by comparison. Perhaps I’ll never see a new record but, when I’m in the next dalla-dalla that is already jammed full and then stops to take on yet more passengers, I won’t complain. I’ll keep my eyes on the prize: thirty-one or bust.