MTC and Village Experiences

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Greetings from Tanzania!

It has been a while since our last blog so we’ll try to bring you up to date by touching on some highlights of what’s been happening here in our lives at MTC and the surrounding villages. It is definitely a busy place, but the work and our experiences have been very gratifying.

A Man Called Peter

On Saturday, Oct 8^th, Rob visited a local Compassion program with Peter Fumbi, his friend and student, and also our gardener. Peter studies at Msalato (MTC) during the week and volunteers his time on Saturday mornings at a local Compassion program. Peter is a very dedicated young man with a passion for helping disadvantaged youth in Dodoma. Compassion is a worldwide program started in South Korea with its head office now in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Through sponsorships, its programs support students without any means of supporting themselves. The programs are for life skills on Saturdays along with medical support and support to attend school. These kids are all from disadvantaged homes, but what Rob observed on his visit this Saturday was a group of energized children eager to learn. Many of the volunteers are the parent (parents) of these children. One student, George, was just so engaging in his interactions with Rob, he was impressed at their positive spirits in light of their difficult situations. However, this is just typical of many of the people we meet here. It was such an eye opener and privilege to visit this program. When Jeannie came to pick up Peter and Rob from Compassion she was swarmed by the children like she was a queen. You’ll have to see the pictures to see for yourself. After his stint at Compassion in the morning, Peter does not go home, but goes into Dodoma for the afternoon and meets with about two dozen or more street children with whom he has gained trust. This is a ministry that Peter felt called to as there is no program for these children in Dodoma. He buys them a meal every Saturday courtesy of Reids African Mission as these kids have no means of getting a good dinner themselves. Currently Peter is putting together a farming proposal to generate revenue to support these children, not just with food, but with a chance at a life. He is a real inspiration to us as we see what he has (or more accurately, what he does not have) and what he gives of himself.

A Little About the School and the Students

We haven’t talked much about the students here at the college, but as we have gotten to know them better and understand their calling to ministry, we have learned how fortunate we are to be working with them. After receiving their diplomas here they are assigned to villages as deacons or pastors where they support the villagers spiritually and also with other skills; such as HIV/AIDS education, use of mosquito nets, water purification, health care and others. Most of them are here through sponsorships as they could not attend without support. They are highly energetic and full of life as you will see when we talk about our sports day. They come from poor villages where they struggle with daily life with no electricity and limited water supplies. We are often invited to the villages with our students where we are treated like royalty when we go. We are welcomed, honoured at their services, and fed well. It is humbling to see people with so little to be sharing so much. During the semester our administrator calls many students to his office to send them home for lack of fee contributions. They are required to pay 10%!o(MISSING)f their fees. Some students are negligent in their responsibilities and need to go home to find the money to pay while others might go home and remain there as their families have no way of raising the fees. One such student, Baraka, is in Rob’s pastoral group and class. His mother is widowed with no means of even supporting herself let alone her son. If Baraka went home he would not return to MTC and that would be a pity as he is such an excellent student and terrific person. But God does answer prayers and for him his prayers were answered by Reids African Mission. We’ll talk more about what our mission is doing here at the college and in Tanzania later in the blog. We report these stories to you not to raise sympathy, but to let you know that although our students have great spirits, they do face many hardships.

Staying Fit in Tanzania

We are trying to stay fit by walking through the countryside amongst the cows and goats. It is a good hilly walk on dirt paths and very scenic. Now that school is out we are trying to walk in the mornings and evenings. Jeannie has started aquafit classes along with another missionary, Margaret, on Saturday mornings at the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) airport compound where they have a lovely little pool. It is the coldest water in the world. Jeannie and Margaret had to take an ice cold shower first that helps prepare them for the icy pool water and quickly get moving to warm up. It is getting warmer as it heats up here. Jeannie needs the exercise, so she has continued now for 2 months. Walking isn’t quite the all-round exercise she needs – as lovely as the walks are here.

Thanksgiving Away from Home

We didn’t have to celebrate CanadianThanksgiving alone this year, because we were invited to dinner at Magi’s house (or section of a house) in Dodoma. She lives in a DCT District of Central Tanganyika Anglican Compound and works in the Bishop’s office on many projects. Among the guests were Will, a young fella returning to the States the next day, and Brian and Aleen, who all work for Carpenter’s Kids (an Anglican project in town) and Martin McCann, a doctor in town who works in cancer treatment and research, and HIV/Aids research in the DCT building called McKay House and who is married to Sandra McCann, the Communications Director of Msalato Theo. College. Sandy is currently back in the States doing fundraising. It was a lovely evening and we are finding out just how many people and organizations are in our area helping out and still it is not enough.

A Trip to the Dentist

Moti, our house worker, was complaining about her teeth after we fed her a chapatti with banana and honey. She said she had been in pain for a long time, and couldn’t tolerate anything hot, cold or sweet. When we looked, three of her molars were black and one was missing. She has never been to a dentist and we don’t know who pulled the missing tooth. So we took her to the local dentist at McKay House, the Anglican Diocese House that supports a health centre. The dentist there is very good. Jeannie even visited him to get a filling replaced. On the first visit he helped Moti with her sore tooth and examined all three and decided only root canal work would save them. We’ve been taking her every Saturday, because after working in the morning at our house, she has school every afternoon now. Each root canal requires at least three visits, however, we’re almost done. We were happy to be able to save Moti’s teeth, as she would have had to have them pulled due to lack of funds. It’s to our benefit to keep our house worker healthy. With four molars gone, how would she chew? She really wanted to go back to school, but could not afford it so we are supporting her and she is doing well. She is studying pre-form one to get ready for form one classes (grade 8) in January. Rob has been helping her with her English and she is getting better every day and working very hard. She is special and appreciates our personal support.

Sports at Msalato

We have opened up our new sports field featuring a new basketball net, a volleyball court and a netball court, all supported by Reids African Mission. The mission has also purchased 10 new pairs of soccer shoes for our team so that they can go and compete with other schools. Rob deemed that they are too good not to. We have also just commissioned our carpenter to build a ping-pong table for student recreation after dinner. Rob organized a special opening event to celebrate the new sports area. Almost the entire college student body attended. There was basketball, volleyball, netball, singing, dancing, music and even cheerleaders (wait till you see those pictures). The students work very hard in their studies, so this was a much needed break. What is so special about the new sports area is that all the sport activities along with the music are now in the same location so the entire student body could be together. Rob, the star basketball player, decided not to show his talents on this day so that the students would have a chance; however, Jeannie was not going to let an opportunity to resurrect her cheerleading career go by (again, see the pictures). It was also a great day for staff to have fun with their students.

As planned, on the next Friday the soccer and netball teams loaded up on the college bus and Iri’s (another expat) Land Cruiser and our little Rav4. It’s good we had the extra vehicles. Jeannie arranged for water and oranges and drove the Rav4, packed with students and supplies, behind Iri and Kate, to lead the way. The bus arrived minutes afterwards and all the students headed for the change rooms and then for the netball field. Only the girls play netball, which is akin to basketball. It was a fabulous game, with crowds of students including our boys’ soccer team cheering loudly. But, alas, our girls lost 12-10 to the well-trained girls at Jubilee (private Anglican school). They played 4 valiant 15 minute periods. The boys game of soccer followed immediately afterward with the girls cheering loudly as well. For their 1 ½ hour game, they managed to hold the other team to a 1/1 tie. With the sun setting low in the sky we had to get into our vehicles quickly to get home before dark. Rob reported that the bus was hopping with singing and cheering all the way home. They were hyped. They were talking quite excitedly in the cars, but no singing. I’m sure they continued partying till late. We needed to get home also because the expats had made reservations at the Twiga Hotel for dinner at 7 pm. This place is just south of Msalato and was built because the new airport was planned for just east of here. However the airport has not come to fruition and the hotel is barely surviving. So they only serve dinner with reservations and pre-ordered food. As we were driving home in the only vehicles available to get back to the Twiga, we spotted half of our group walking with flashlights along the road to the Twiga. There are no street lights on this rural dirt road, as you might have imagined. It just so happened that the power was off too. We’re not sure how they made dinner, but we ate delicious food in candlelight and the twelve of us had a very enjoyable time and all were transported by vehicle back to Msalato.

Another Special Student

Ayubu (i-yoo-boo) Chibago is a student in Jeannie’s pastoral care group, who is called Chibago. He confided in Jeannie that his wife was sick and she needed money to go to the clinic for testing and medicine for healing. We often get requests for money, but are careful in how we respond as we tell them our mission here is to support the college through our work. However, we can’t turn our back all the time and sometimes respond when we feel the call, especially when it has to do with hunger or health. The cost of our support for Chibago was about Tsh 20,000 (about $14). As we talked with Chibago we got to know him better and learned about his ministry and his needs. He and his wife and three children moved here from Dar es Salaam to attend MTC. Chibago lives here at the college through a sponsorship and his wife and children live with his mother in an adobe brick home with a dirt floor just outside Dodoma. They have very little to support themselves. However, Victoria, Chibago’s wife, has taken a 3-month seamstress course, but had no sewing machine. So we decided to personally provide the funds for a sewing machine as a micro loan and set up a business contract with them. Chibago is a knowledgeable fellow and was interested to do a proper business contract with reasonable terms of payment. They were very thankful and excited to get the machine which means an income for them while Chibago is at school. Jeannie decided to be Victoria’s first customer and was pleasantly surprised to receive a dressy outfit in a lovely colourful material, which Jeannie wore to a farewell to Kate and Iri and received many compliments. The cost was Tsh30,000 ($21) which was more than Victoria would normally receive for such a dress. She hopes to earn about Tsh100,000 per month and agreed to pay us at least Tsh10,000 from that. Fortunately she has a friend in the business to help her get started and also has another customer too. So now the family has a means of supporting themselves and this is especially good because Chibago is in his 3^rd year diploma course and has had to go on placement for 6 weeks and be away from his family and unable to work on their shamba with his wife and mother.

Trips to the Students’ Villages

It is an honour for missionaries to be invited to a student’s village, but difficult to do if you don’t have a vehicle. There are college vehicles available for rent, but you need an international driver’s license or a Tanzanian one. We are so fortunate to have a car here to take advantage of the opportunity to visit these villages and really get to know the real character of the majority of the African people. We have now visited seven different villages – three of which we will highlight.

The first village is called Nzuguni where we were invited to Daudi’s place just east of Dodoma for a Thanksgiving service at his church with a reception afterwards at his home. Daudi is a Swahili pastor who received 2^nd place award for graduating from the English diploma course at Msalato last June and is currently working as the gardener at Msalato to earn his keep here while he attends secondary school to get his Form 3 and Form 4 in order to receive his diploma. So, as he is in Jeannie’s pastoral care group, he invited us, along with Hani from CAMS, whose home church in New Zealand supported his education, Jo from Msalato, and her visiting friend Sarah, to his Thanksgiving Celebration. As is customary when you visit an outlying village, we arrived early to share tea and chapattis (sometimes mandazis, too) with the family in their home. The service included 4 resident choirs and 1 choir visiting from Daudi’s former church. Afterwards at least 100 people from his family and both churches came to his house. They have a customary order of seating and we (the Wazungu) had a place of honour with comfortable seats that were well-shaded. While waiting, we were given drinks and entertained by the choirs with rich drumming and wonderful harmonies. By 3pm the food was served and we were summoned to go first and serve ourselves. This is probably protocol, but the Wazungu don’t tend to eat as much as the locals. There was a savory beef stew, cooked beans, hot cabbage dish and lots of rice – delicious. When the serving dishes were emptied, the rest of the folks were given pre-made-up bowls – piled high. Most Tanzanians eat with their hands, but some use a spoon, which is probably why they have a lovely practice of carrying a pitcher with clean warm water to pour over everyone’s hands catching the dirty water in a tub underneath, just before eating. This is usually done by the youngest of the family – the lowest on the totem pole who also often says the grace, afterwards, just before the meal. After the main meal, there was a traditional pound cake served. Jo provided the cake as a gift for the celebration which was perfect for this ceremony. Daudi and Joyce cut the cake into bite-sized pieces and fed each piece on a toothpick to each of the guests, one at a time, in order of status in the family. Of course, we, as the guests of honour, went first. There was much pomp and ceremony during this procession as our old friend Ayubu Chibago, who is a relative and a student at Msalato as we mentioned above, provided the comic relief while escorting or dancing each person to receive their ceremonial piece. We were well entertained and didn’t notice the time go by. The party started to break up about 5pm, when we took our leave, as well. It was a long day, but a fascinating experience. Family and tradition are very important to these people.

The second village was Zanka, the home of our own Moti and her sisters, Pendo and Seche. We were invited to meet their parents, Ernest & Leah Senyegalo and another sister Esther (there are seven daughters and one son). Ernest was an Anglican pastor for 35 years and was stationed in many rural villages, but is now retired. Pastors receive no pension so they live on the fruits of their labour on the shamba and through income from selling hand-made dusters and pot hangers made from the bark of the Baobab tree. They also have pigs and chickens. They live in an adobe style home with walls and a corrugated tin roof that all leak when it rains. They do not speak English, but through interpretations from the sisters and all their questions about us and Canada, we soon realized that they were special people, always smiling and very hospitable. These are ‘dirt poor’ people, who served us a meal of rice, beans, cabbage and chicken. Serving us chicken is special as they rarely have any kind of meat for themselves. Their neighbour came by to say hello and although he spoke no English, he had many questions for us and found such humour in our answers and had such a sparkle as he laughed and joked. He made fun of Rob’s bald head, comparing it to his. He asked us what we grow on our shambas in Canada and how many chickens we had. When we told him we did not have any animals and no shamba, he was amazed and wondered how we could possibly survive. When we tried to explain, he just laughed as he could not understand anyone not having a shamba or chickens. He was at most 4 feet tall and looked at least100 years old. After lunch, Ernest took us all on a tour of his shamba and explained what he was growing. Like most villagers, they grow maize, a staple of the African people and sweet potatoes and ground nuts (small peanuts). Before we departed, Ernest expressed his sincere gratitude to us for helping out his daughter, Moti with her dental work and schooling and giving her a job. We in turn thanked him for his Karibu (warm hospitality) and the meal. And as is customary, they presented us with a gift of Leah’s well-made hand-crafted baobab duster and we prayed for one another. We presented them with maize flour, rice and sugar as our thanks. Upon leaving we took a family photo which we will later give to Moti to give to the parents.

The third village was Mgunga. This is the village where Peter, our gardener, student and friend, was being placed for six weeks as part of his applied theology training. We drove him and his wife Nelly, and their one year old son, Amani along the paved road just outside Dodoma and then over bumpy roads and trails, and some low cement bridges for an hour and a half. We told Peter, that if it rained a lot, he might be there till April as those bridges would most likely be flooded out. Nelly is a graduate of the Secretarial course at Msalato, through support from Kate and Iri and as she was top in the class was hired in the office and is doing well. It was good that she was able to see where Peter was being placed as it gave her a sense of peace that her husband was in a good environment as this village was one of the nicest we have visited. It was very clean, well spread out and had plenty of water. When the pastor, Reverend Bara Bara, heard that we were bringing Peter out, he invited us to come on Sunday instead of Friday to attend the service and meet the villagers, and asked Rob to preach. When a Mzunga (a white person) comes to a village, the church is often filled as the congregation like to hear a new perspective. Rob didn’t preach so much, as he talked about Peter’s ministry, and the ministry we all have, to share God’s word with one another. Peter had to interpret for Rob and so as he had to speak about himself, Rob did not introduce Peter as the minister-in-training, but as ‘Pete’ the interpreter (yuk,yuk). As in other villages, the church was packed, with many watching through the windows from outside. It is a real humbling experience to visit these villages and be treated so special. Again, we were fed well and greeted with much Karibu. Peter was amazing as he just seemed to fit into his new environment with such ease. He has such a gift for ministry and was so pleased to be placed in this village. We all felt good when we left as we knew Peter would be safe and well cared for during the next six weeks. It will be hard for Nelly as Peter will not even be home for Christmas, but she is a strong supporter of Peter and his mission in life and a strong woman.

As we close off this blog entry we’ll relate what is currently happening outside our house. As Peter is away, one of the two girls that lives with he and Nelly, Eva, is taking over his gardening duties. Mary works in town, but she and Eva care for Amani when Nelly and Peter are at work and school. She is here with their son, one-year old Amani. While she was hoeing some of our weeds, she had Amani strapped on her back. But eventually, Amani wanted on his own and she put him on our porch. This was our opportunity to play grandparents and play with him to keep him occupied while Eva completed her work. He is really shy at first, but after having visited us a few times and being with us on our trip to Mgunga he is getting used to us. It’s a real treat for us, being so far away from our own grandchildren.

If anyone wants to view all our Reids African Mission pictures, you are most welcome (karibu) at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/116573555722516782467

God bless to all our family and friends back home and Merry Christmas

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Photos

Peter, Amani, Nelly
Our Gardener and his family

Amani
Peter's boy - one year old

MTC Cheerleaders
Pretty hot stuff eh!

Sports Day Basketball
Rob taught them this move

Rockin on Sports Day
Dancing in the mess hall

Boys Soccer Team
The boys just scored and the girls are cheering

Keeping Score
Keeping score at the netball game.

Keepin Fit
Jeannie and Margaret at Aqua Fit

Chibago's Family
Chibago's family outside their home

Daudi's Graduation
Daudi's Graduation Thanksgiving

Moti's Parents and Neighbour
Moti's parents Ernest and Leah with neighbour

Moti's Family
Family outside their home

The Kids
Rob and Jeannie with the kids at Mgunga

Church at Mgunga
Packed church to see the wazungu

Working the Shamba
Never too young

Secretary Class
Jeannie invited her secretarial class home for tea

Black Momba
Killed by our neighbours in our back yard

Comments

[Fern Fraser]

Hi Rob & Jeannie,
Wow! You guys are sure busy. Merry Christmas to you both and all the best in 2012. God Bless and love you guys. Fern

[Lorraine Runza]

Thank you for the contact information
Hi Jeannie and Rob, Thank you for keeping us so well informed! We feel that we are truly being included in your experiences. How wonderful and moving it must be for you!! Though we miss you we wish you all God's Blessings as we move towards Christmas. May you continue to be blessed in all your endeavours. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. In Christ's love, Gabe and Lorraine

[Corie Curtin]

Merry Christmas
Loved the heartwarming stories of survival. Wondering what preaching we will receive from Rob around golfing at CAGT :) :). Sounds like aquafit classes Jeannie are in order as much of your visits centre around food sharing :) :). Our thoughts are with you always in your great new life! Take care and enjoy your experience together.

[John Chandler]

Fantastic Read
Great to here from you guys , seems as though your African mission is an incredible journey . Love hearing about your travels and experience . Going to different villages and meeting families is so exciting . People seem to have great spirit , although not having much themselves . Well you and Jeannie have a Merry Christmas and a great new year, and we'll look forward to more great stories.

[Stan Chin]

Merry Christmas
Dear Jeanie & Rob Thank you for sharing all your blessings and experiences.It is inspiring and wonderfull to hear about God working through you. Julie ,the Alpha team and I completed another course on Nov 29th. Wasn't the same without both of you there. God bless.

[Heather Hawke]

Happy New Year Rob and Jeannie!
It's wonderful reading all about your programs, adventures and the wonderful people you are meeting along the way. I think of you both often and enjoy reading your blogs. May you continue to be blessed with good health and continuance of your excellent teachings. They are blessed to have you. God Bless Heather Hawke