Mud Bogging in Tanzania

Life in Tanzania gives plenty of opportunities to satisfy one’s quest for adventure. Recently, Julia, Lindsey and I went on a visitation outing with the ladies of the congregation, here in Moshi. The girls and I walked several blocks to meet the ladies, and then we took a dala dala, the most common form of transportation here, out to the vicinity of the lady’s home. This was the first time the girls and I ventured to use this form of transportation, and I have to say, we were not looking forward to it! Typically it is a beat-up mini-van, packed beyond imagination with people saturated with less than desirable aromas. Each dala dala has a name painted on the back, many of which are very humorous. The name of the dala dala we rode on was Blingbling. After our ride, we walked for a while, winding our way between corn fields, down one path and then another.

One cannot see living conditions such as we saw, and not have a deeper appreciation for the “little” things in life - such as glass on our windows, a door to close, and something besides dirt for a floor. Running water, a nutritious diet, a clean place to lie at night - these are things for which we need to be thankful. Any barn in the United States would provide better living conditions than some families have here.

The flies and mosquitoes made themselves quite at home. The girls and I were thinking, “Malaria, here we come!” After our devotional, the lady served us slices of parachichi - otherwise known as avocado. It was a bit disconcerting to see the avocados being rinsed in grayish water, and cut by a rusty knife. The slices were placed on a plate, dripping wet, and passed around to the ladies. The girls and I tried to erase thoughts from our mind about what could be lurking in the water that saturated our avocado slices, and politely ate our portion.

During our visit, the lady showed us her granddaughter, who had sores all over her scalp. A little boy there also had the same condition, though not as severe. Various medicines have been used on the little girl, but nothing has cured it. I made mental notes about what was being said, and purposed to do what I could to bring help to these children.

The following Sunday afternoon, George drove the girls and I, along with a couple of the ladies of the congregation, to the home we had visited on Wednesday, in order to gather some more information about the sick children. We knew that the roads were wet, due to recent rain, but we had no idea just how wet they were.

We parked a little ways before reaching her house, and George stayed with the vehicle, while the rest of us walked to the house. We went through the customary greetings, and then we asked some questions about the children and their general health. With a bathroom scale I brought along, I weighed each of the children. I also received permission to take pictures of their heads, so that a doctor could look at them. (Due to privacy of the family, I will not post those pictures).

After our visit, we hurriedly walked back to the car and headed back down the road. We hadn’t made our way but a few hundred feet, when we bogged down in the mud. The road was such mess! After some time had passed, we thought for sure we would either be walking the long trek home, or sleeping in the vehicle. We have a winch on our vehicle, but there was nothing around that we could latch on to. After some discussion, one the young guys trying to help us ran off, and in a short while brought back a small tree trunk. They dug a hole and pounded the tree trunk in with a sledge hammer. The ground was so soft, we knew it wasn't going to hold that well, but it was all we had. A few people would hold the rope taut one way, while some of us got behind the vehicle and pushed, while George operated the winch. The tree trunk would start coming up, George would go hammer it down, get back in and winch a little more. Getting in and out meant climbing in and out of the driver's window. We were so far down in the mud that George could not open his door.

About two and a half hours later, it started to rain. The sun had gone down, we were getting chilled, standing with bare feet in mud mid-calf deep. The lady whom we had come to help sent one of kids back to their house, and the child came back shortly with some wraps and sweaters for some to cover up with. The lady came up to Lindsey, and placed a child's sweater on Lindsey's head. It was such a kind, thoughtful gesture. However, the sweater was saturated with odors of urine and smoke. We silently wondered if the sweater belonged to one of the children with a diseased head. There was also the thought of lice. Disconcerting, to say the least!

Someone had the idea of getting some straw and lining the ruts on the side of the vehicle where we were stuck the most. A couple of young boys were sent home to gather some straw. They had one gunny sack, and so that meant a couple of trips back home, in the dark. Finally, enough straw was put down and we made one last effort. To our great relief, we finally got unstuck. Cheers went up we quickly gathered up our tools. We gave some money to the lady that we had originally come to visit, to pay for the straw that had been used, and to divide the rest among those who had helped us, and then were were on our way. We still had some ground to cover, and it was a pretty wild ride, slipping and sliding all over the road. At one point, we hit a bump that caused Lindsey to knock heads with Anna. Some people go mud bogging for fun, but on this occasion, this was not our intention! We were never so happy to get home, and I think we gave those Tanzanian ladies a ride they will never forget.

On to other things that have been going on:

 • We went to our first Tanzanian wedding May 17, of a couple who are members of the church in Arusha.
 • George taught a short course at ACSOP last week. He's planning on telling you about that himself, so I won't give you details, other than the fact that he stayed at the school all week, since he taught every day.
 • Lindsey stayed with the Staffords last week, planning on helping with a medical clinic. However, the night before the scheduled clinic, Lindsey came down with a terrible sore throat, which we suspect was strep. Thankfully, she was able to start antibiotics right away. She had a few miserable days, but thankfully she is now back to good health.
 • Luke and I are battled colds at the moment, but Luke's is particularly troublesome, since his asthma has flared up. I am doing all I can to get him breathing comfortably again.
 • We have a group of campaigners coming in Wednesday night, including Lydia, who will be staying with us for about six weeks. It's going to be such a treat to have her with us. She is a close friend of Julia's, and the rest of us think she's pretty great, too. :)


Please keep all the travelers in your prayers. Not only are a group of campaigners coming, but the Bakers are also returning Wednesday night, after being on furlough to the States the past three months. Please pray for the return of good health to all of our family. Please pray that we will find good and honest hearts, particularly during our campaign efforts.

You'll be hearing from us again soon!
Love, the Jensens

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