The world lost a special person today

I received awful, shocking news this week. I've lost a dear friend in Kenya, a person who was important to me, and important to everyone she knew. Tuma was my host "mom" while I lived in Kenya this summer.

I received this news from the village yesterday:

"Fatuma (Tuma) Rashid died December 12th, due to complications of Typhoid, diabetes and high blood pressure. I know that this will come as a shock to all of you. We all still can't believe that she is gone. Tuma was a very young and strong woman, wife to Khamis, and mother of three young and beautiful girls. We will all miss her dearly. Words cannot explain the grief that Tuma's family and the community of Takaungu is going through now. Her burial will happen today."

I still can't believe this ... what a shock.

Tuma was a friend, mother, and inspiration to me. This is so unexpected, all I keep thinking about are Ryann, Sue, and Baby Ummu and how this will effect their lives. She was such a strong person in Takaungu Village; this is a huge loss to the whole community.

Tuma fed me, taught me, housed me, trusted me, and even clothed me. That's what I remember most about her- she gave so much to everyone else. She would make sure everyone in her family ate before she did - I'd always ask her if she had eaten yet and she would just nod and say, "don't worry about me."

She loved to teach people, she'd always say, "Dana, I'll teach you how to cook anything you want. I'll teach you." She was also open to learning new things, asking me questions and wanting to expand her abilities.

Tuma would surprise me, too. She brought me to a Swahili wedding in Mombasa dressed like a beautiful queen, wearing make-up, and ready to party! At the wedding, she laughed, danced, and let loose. It was like a different Tuma!

The day I left Takaungu Village, Tuma gave me one piece of her kanga, and I gave her half of mine, so we could remember one another whenever we wore our half. We cried- it was a great moment.

We had plans... plans for continuing our friendship, plans for helping out the girls when they were older, plans to see each other again. I'll miss her, and hope I can teach her daughters one day some portion of what she taught me.

Life Update - New Job, Surf, and Grad School

I thought I'd write an update on my new job and share some events from today… Two weeks ago I was hired as the Sea Center Programs Coordinator for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History! I'm very excited about my job and am enjoying working for both a museum and an aquarium (the Ty Warner Sea Center is an extension of the Natural History Museum). My duties are pretty varied - planning winter marine camps, special events, and festivals; helping design and interpret exhibits; working with the aquarist to feed animals, go diving collecting new ones, and diving cleaning the saltwater lines under the pier; guiding visitors in the aquarium (including shark handling); and helping to train new volunteers. So far I'm really enjoying the job, and my co-workers are great to work with. The Sea Center is located on the wharf (pier) in Santa Barbara, so it's very cool to come to work every day at the beach and have a view from above the ocean out my office window!

Right now big swell is hitting our coast. (surfline.com is calling it 'epic') The waves were pretty big this afternoon and are expected to peak around midnight (some places, 20+ feet!). At work I was able to experience some pretty intense waves pounding the pier. With the extremely big waves, the whole sea center would rumble and roll like a mini-earthquake! Just now one of my co-workers called me to say the waves are now coming OVER the pier! Crazy!! We're a little worried about the lines we have running under the pier pumping seawater into the aquarium, but are hoping everything stays intact overnight.

Bryan's doing well with his first quarter in the Geology PhD program at UCSB- it looks like he'll be doing his first season of fieldwork in late spring/early summer in the Copper Canyon in Mexico. We've made new friends, but really do miss our friends and community in the L.A. area. We've been trying to get in as much diving and surfing as we can here in the Santa Barbara area, and are enjoying exploring our new home. Before the big swell came rolling in, Bryan and I spent a few hours surfing at Rincon yesterday ... dolphins and a harbor seal swam right beneath our boards- it was AWESOME and a bit surreal!