LONGING .......

The tip of Kilimanjaro's snow capped peak - viewed from the back of our garden, late one afternoon ....

I'm missing my garden, too !

And the views from my garden, out towards Kenya and beyond ................ I long for those, too .....

Longing

For Tanzania, as if she were a person ……. like an absent lover ….. or a long lost friend ….

Longing …………… an ache

For those intangible parts of her which make her what she is

Wide, clear blue skies which stretch on forever

The thick African dust

The smell of rain in the air …..

Cool green grass beneath my feet.

The warming, golden heat of the sun

And it’s blood redness as it sinks into the horizon - leaving behind a sky streaked in pink & lilac hues at the end of yet another African Day

The coolness of a full moon - an icy disc rising, rising in the sky

Kilimanjaro’s snow capped peak. Just like a Christmas pudding.

Cowbells tinkling in the breeze, the songs of the Maasai as they herd their livestock along

Toothy grins - men & women wisened & wrinkled like prunes under the hot African sun

The night sounds of the creaking gum trees and bush babies, and hyena’s and nightjars and owls. And mosquitos, too, of course.

The smell of the smoke from the old wood fire

The smell of the bush … wild flowers and grass and acacia trees and elusive animals and … and … and ….

And the chaos. Did I mention that ? The complete unpredictability of living in a place where no two days are the same. Glorious, delicious - unpredictability. And where you can bend life's rules. (If you care to follow them in the first place !)

I miss the heart of this country. Which has stolen my heart.

Soul. My soul. That’s it - my soul always feels empty when I’m away from her. The feeling of never quite being completely alive - like half a person - until I’m back on her soil again.

I can’t wait to return.

(Justin got a friend to send me an SMS on his behalf a few days ago. A mixture of Kiswahili and English translated loosely as follows …. ’Welcome back home soon, Mama’ he says ’we miss you on the farm. We miss you & the children. We welcome the new baby back to Tanzania with you, we celebrate the new baby’s safe arrival. We all send you greetings from the whole of Tanzania. We wait for you to come back and the dogs and cats too they are also fine. Safe journey back to us, Mama. Many greetings & good day to you from me, Justin’)

Bless him !

Not long to wait now.