Friday, April 23, 2010

A gathering for friends, food, fun, and farewells

This Saturday, Cecilia and Nate will host a little get-together to describe some of the work we will be doing in West Africa with Mercy Ships. If you have not heard about what we will be doing, please come.  It is open to all, and we will have pizza to munch on.  Even if you have heard our story already, and are in the area, you are most welcome to come anyway.

Please RSVP by commenting on this blog post below, sending an email to nathan.tarter@mercyships.org or get on our facebook group and post a message.


When:  6:00PM, Saturday, April 24, 2010
Where: Crossroads Life Center, 604 E. Buffalo St., Ithaca. (map below)
Why: To say a farewell to our friends in Ithaca and discuss our future plans to work in West Africa with all who are interested.  We want to keep in touch, and maintain strong connections with you in the US.

Thank you!

See you at the Crossroads...


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Crossroads on the corner of Buffalo St. and Stuart Ave.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

What's in a name: African Roots to American Fruits

My Grandmother is a wonderful storyteller.  She weaves stories that put you on the edge of your seat, and that make you stop to think.  She holds a huge library of fiction and non-fiction in her head, and you never know what story she'll choose from the annals to entertain you with.  Here's a recent one that tells the story of my family's Surname, "Tarter".

Gustav Tata grew up in South Africa to Indian ex-patriots.  It was in Africa that he was educated and became an educator himself.  He became well known on the island of Zanzibar, where he lived, off the coast of Tanzania.

Zanzibar

He became a leader in education, eventually throughout an entire district of Tanzania.  Through his close ties to England, and by virtue of being educator to some of the British who were in Tanzania, he fell in love with a British lady, I think her name was Penny.  They had 3 children in Zanzibar, but she was not interested in staying.  She took the children to live in England despite the fact that Gustav would not come to England.  It was a multi-cultural marriage, but it seems neither of them were ready to start a family outside their own culture.  It came to pass that Penny legally changed her family name to the more British-sounding "Tate" instead of enduring the questioning glances and ill repute of having a very Indian surname.  

Gustav visited his wife and children in England very seldom, and much legend and story grew up around him in his absence.  They told stories of Gustav's exploits as a big game hunter on the plains of the Tanzanian savannah and the jungles of the African continent.  They called him "Bowana the Hunter", and passed the tales of daring and danger on to their friends and later, their children.  The middle child, Peter, who is my Grandfather, was rather individualistic, funny, and inventive.  Over the course of time he decided to change his name once again.  For some reason, he legally changed his surname to "Tarter". He met his wife, Patsy, in London, had 3 boys, and moved to the US in 1956.  The three boys grew up to marry, and have children of their own.  Peter Thurston, the middle child, had two boys.  One of those boys is me.  

I had no clue of my Tata heritage, spanning from India to South Africa to Tanzania to England, only to be changed twice in one generation.  The strangest thing is that when I went to college and started using on-line identities for chat groups and AIM, the screen name I chose was "Nate Tata".  It seems that unwittingly I went back to my roots and dug up the old family name without knowing a thing about it.  My actual idea was that "tata" is close to how you'd say the word "Tarter" in Massachusetts, with the typical New England accent.  Further, I had no idea I would marry my wife, starting my own multi-cultural family.  I am confident we will not have the same difficulty my great grandfather experienced as his family was split across continents and oceans.  My wife and I are solidly "in it together", wherever the Lord may lead us. 

Now Cecilia and I travel to Africa on an adventure of our own.  We will be in a completely different part of the continent, but who knows? I will certainly be on the look-out for some long lost Tata relative as we traverse the landscape and seek our place in the world.  If I find them, they will probably look much more Indian, or African than me.  I imagine what a family picture might look like, going back just 3 generations.  We'd look African, Indian, Scandinavian, and South American.  Blood from all over the world runs through our veins.  I have no "homeland", and I am thrilled by the opportunity to work internationally with countless others from all over the globe.  

Learn more about our work with Mercy Ships: Click Here
If you'd like to donate financially toward our work with Mercy Ships: Click Here




Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Announced: Mercy Ships Sierra Leone Field Service in 2011

Mercy Ships has  signed a protocol with Sierra Leone for their next full-term field service starting in February 2011.
This is exciting for us because it will be our first full-term field service with Mercy Ships.  We will be in Togo in July, then travel to Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone has a long and tragic history, and an incredibly complex and interesting culture. You can read a little bit about it here: http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Sierra-Leone.html.  We look forward to serving the people of Sierra Leone, and will be very thankful for your thoughts and prayers for the health and well-being of the people.


An excerpt from the link above:

EDICINE AND EALTH ARE

The United Nations estimates that Sierra Leone has the highest death rate in the world, and the second highest infant morality rate (195 out of every 1,000 infants die within a year of birth). Life expectancy at birth in 1995 was only 34.1 years, down significantly from previously improving figures.
Even factoring in war-related violence, malaria is still the number one health threat. Schistosomiasis, bloody diarrhea, tetanus, measles, and polio are also endemic in some areas. Access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation, especially in the rural countryside, is limited.
Medical facilities are extremely strained and are continuing to decline, especially since the 1991 conflict began. Yet even before this, the centrally organized national health service reached only an estimated 35 percent of the population, with less than 1 percent of annual government expenditures being allocated to health care. There are also an array of widely used indigenous practitioners, including midwives, broken-bone specialists, herbalists, society leaders, and Muslim-based ritual specialists.
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Mercy Ships goes to Freetown, Sierra Leone to help break the cycle of poverty in this country and provide some hope for those who are forgotten and outcast.

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Click to enlarge