Blogs from Tanzania, Africa - page 326

Feeling refreshed after ten hours of Z’s, we headed out to explore. Inside The Salvation Army’s compound is a school for physically handicapped children. We toured the school in the morning, speaking with a number of staff members about its operation and students. If you are physically handicapped in Tanzania it’s more than likely you will be shunned. Many miss out on schooling and those who are educated are still not likely to be employed. The Salvation Army is trying to change this mind-set. At the School for the Physically Handicapped the children are treated with love and respect. There are about 180 students, half of whom live at the facility because their family lives outside of Dar es Salaam. The children don’t just get an education, but three meals a day, individual physiotherapy sessions ... read more

hey everyone. here i am in Tanzania! things are going well. the flights were long but good. i slept through most of the both MIN- AMST- and AMST- KILI. we arrived at 10 pm saturday night, it was rainy and humid. it is actually very tropical here, very green and lush with lots of banana plants around. it has rained at night but clears up during the days, although everything is very muddy. i have already scrubbed my new shoes in a bucket!! speaking of buckets, they seem to be very useful here! the shower is a normal shower but the water pressure is lacking so we use a buket to collect the water and then dump it over our head, or scoop out of the big bucket with a little one!! the water is somewhat ... read more

On the 15-hour train ride (with our own beds!) back to Nairobi (we weren't too keen to get back on that bus) we decided to go and climb Mt Meru, the fourth highest mountain in Africa! Spending as less time as we could in Nairobi, we caught a bus the next day and headed down to Tanzania. Tanzania is really nice (nicer than Kenya), the people are so friendly, their Swahili is alot better and everything is so cheap! Even the daladalas (minibuses) were alot nicer than our matatus. We spent 3 days in a really cute town called Moshi, and by the end of our first day everyone knew who we were, and we were constantly asked "have you climbed mt meru yet?" by total strangers. We spent the first day hiking through some ... read more

Monduli is a small town about a 30 minute drive from Arusha. Anothy and Shasta have been working with the congregation there, strengthening the brethren and conducting Bible studies. Last week, they broke ground on a church building. Up to this point, the Christians in Monduli have been worshipping in a member's house. John, the kids, and I went today to see how the building is coming along. When we got there, the men were working on finishing up the foundation. We all pitched in to help level out the piles of dirt. Daniel loved helping to move the dirt around. He kept saying, "This sure is hard work!!" :) ... read more

It's hard to believe that we have been in Tanzania three weeks. By Tanzanian standards, we have gotten a lot accomplished. Here is a recap of the past week: On the 29th of April, our Lord's day began in a marvelous way. After Bible class, there were three women who desired to be baptized, and so they were baptized into Christ between Bible class and worship time. During the worship hour, George preached at Moshi for the first time - a lesson on the unfolding of the Kingdom. There is an interesting tradition in Tanzania. After each service time, the congregation lines up outside, and as each person passes, they shake hands till they get to the end of the line, and then join the line. By the time everyone has gone through the line, ... read more