DAY 9 - Home Visits in Bweranyange - July, 2010

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How did we eat eight times in one day? Highlights today are: 1) Rode with our quiet and trusty driver, Dustin, to Kamihanda's house en route to Bweranyange. Rural with kind people and harvested coffee beans lying on the ground in the sun; 2) Ate eight times. 3) Visited Bweranyange Girls School again and visited classrooms; 4) Toured local homes with Pastor Jackson, my dear friend from 2008; 5) Jackson gave us a lovely handmade gift and said "good-bye".

NARRATIVE: 'Slightly full' from the two breakfasts, lunch, four snacks and dinner. Thankfully, some of the snacks were just ground nuts and sodas but we wanted to eat at each person's home to affirm the honor it was to be invited into their homes to experience real local graciousness and hospitality. Pastor Jackson was intent on introducing us to individual families and to help us see needs and opportunity from the eyes of the locals. It was an honor to be invited into the homes and to have Pastor Jackson with us to help interpret. People poor and rich rolled out the red carpet and served us coffee, tea, soda and nuts. First stop was General Secretary Erasto Kamihanda's home. Erasto's wife greeted us since he was away. His daughter came and sat with us. I struggle learning Swahili and wish that weren't so. i want to be able to communicate--in words. Erasto's wife does not speak English so we sat and did the hand gestures, pointing, and smiling thing to communicate. Two village women with their children, stopped by to say 'hi'. We nibbled on some more Breakfast foods, drank coffee and took pictures with Dustin and the family. It was fun.

I knew it would be my last time to drive up to the Bweranyange Girls School in quite some time. we greeted Mr. Gens who immediately handed me my unfinished bottle of soda from the day before. We then were quickly brought to observe Forms I, II and IV classes. Students were initially reserved and shy as they copied english words into their notebooks. During independent work time I asked a girl what the word she had copied meant. She either did not know or could not find words to tell me. I was going to follow up but it was time to move on. We visited Form IV and I immediately saw "my girls" who posed in the window for a photo in 2008. I sat with them in their discussion group of four. I showed them the photo from 2008 and the squealed with laughter and buried their heads. They then remembered. I later took their photo as an update to the 2008 one. Their faces had matured but they were clearly the same young women.

Steve and I listened in on their application discussion group. One student asked me to please define "many", "much", "a little", "few", "enough". The teacher had written these terms on the board, the girls had copied them in their notebooks, and now they wanted to know the meanings. I actually enjoyed a little spontaneous teaching and when I asked the girls to give me examples of each, they did pretty well. I asked them what their hopes were after graduation from secondary school (in five months time). They shared that they wanted to be a pastor, a doctor, and an engineer. i asked about college and they each told me that they hoped to go on to school. None claimed to know for sure that they could. I asked if they had heard of plans for a college in Karagwe and their eyes lit up. "Yes, but it won't be in time for us". Time flew too quickly, we took a group photo of Form IV with Mr. Gens, and had to be on our way. We said our thank you's and good byes and were on our way to Pastor Jackson's.

Dustin brought us to the Parish House not too far away. It housed two women- Sister and Matron- and three men- Jackson, Pastor Johanson and Pastor James. Jackson greeted us at the door and was exuberant. He looked nearly the same as before, And greeted me with a hearty handshake. He greeted Steve with the same and gave us his big smile. Steve had heard so many good things about Jackson and told him so. The two hit it off. We entered the parish house where Sister and Matron made us a big cake and some coffee. Jackson invited me to cut and serve the cake. Over a leisurely meal, we caught up about our mutual friends --Professor Kaye and the engineering students. Jackson thanked us for the books for Bweranyange and then asked how we raised the money to purchase them. I told the story of putting together a presentation with pictures and words, and taking it to classes, churches, and others. I told yet hat the publisher asked us to pay by July 1 (2009) and that we had not raised enough money. So Syeve and I went to the bank and took out a loan to pay the bill. Jackson thanked us again.

HOME 1: We were asked if we could walk and we said 'yes', and went to the first home in the village. A thin, kind woman greeted us, invited us in asked gestured for us to sit on the mats. We sat on the most colorful mat and asked about it. She had made it And used it on the floor of the 8 foot by 6 foot room. Two children sat with us also. we chatted about family while Jackson leaned against two large bags of coffee beans. We asked about the family and found that her husband had fallen and had hurt his ribs so was in pain. He sat crouched in the doorway.

HOME 2: The "politician" had a brick home that was dark inside. There were chairs around the living area and calendar pictures on the walls. We were served peanuts and soda by the politician's wife who appeared to be quite young.

HOME 3: We walked from home to home through the banana shambas, along a ridge, from property to property and along a beautiful road. Jackson was so taken with a gorgeous blooming tree that he suggested we stop and take a photo. We did. We eventually came to a rich woman's home. She had an open home with tile floors, plush seats and framed photos on the walls. Jackson said her husband had died in 1979 and that she made money at the hotel. She was very tall and statela and asked us to keep giving to BGSS. We were served ground nuts and bottled water.

We had lunch at the parish house. Sister had made the traditional bananas, potatoes, rice and beef, and red sauce. Soda or water to drink. Becoming very full, we sat on the couches and chatted. We walked to Jackson's private residence and signed his guest book. He read what we wrote and he was moved.

HOME 4: Jackson, Sister, Dustin, Steve and me drove to a farmer's home. I was told it was a "mixed marriage". Curious, I learned that the husband was a Catholic and the wife was a Lutheran. We sat in the family room when the mama brought out their son and introduced us to "Barracka". I got to hold the baby who was content as could be. We had ground nuts and tea and left about 5:00PM. It was not easy to say 'good-bye' to Pastor Jackson. He and Steve had hit if off and become good friends in a very short while.

Back in Kayanga we went over our big day just lying on the bed. After supper of bananas, potatoes, rice and beef, red sauce and soda, we returned to our room to rest. In a bit, Genegeva knocked and brought us a a gift. We opened it and found a bright orange material that she made clear we would make a skirt for me and a shirt for Steve. We were very touched when she read us her note "This is your reward for being here".

George Chobya stopped later and asked if we could come for lunch tomorrow at 1:00. Sure. We went to sleep in spite of the blaring music from a wedding celebration in town. It is loud here but almost all of the sounds are happy.

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Take me to the Educate Tanzania website.

http://educatetanzania.org

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Photos

Coffee Harvest
I'm a tea drinker but make exceptions for this stuff. Mmmm..Tanzanian coffee.

Bweranyange Girls Secondary School
BGSS girls want to do more than marry at age 18

Graduates With Nowhere to Go
Form IV Needs a University in Karagwe

Visiting Local Homes
Jackson, Sister, Jan & Johanson visit local friends in Bweranyange, Karagwe

Homes of Bweranyange
Visiting the Locals

"My Girls"
Girls from my 'Window Shot' 2008

Working Hard
Girls work hard to learn.

Discipline & Hope
Working hard to transform the future.