Riding the roads

The roads in Tanzania aren't exactly.....paved.  Most of them, except for a few major highways, are just dirt roads that ramble across cornfields, pastures, hills, and valleys.  We heard that the big reason the highway to the Ngorongoro crater was paved was because the Japanese came and paved it for the Emperor's visit to the crater! 

The main road though town was paved, but the roads going to the small villages were red dirt.....

Even when paved, they drive on the WRONG side of the road (for the Americans, anyway!)....

 These roads are for the land rovers, the jeeps, and four-wheel drives.  And when it rains, they become very muddy.  It takes a very experienced driver to swerve around pot-holes, forge through overflowing creeks, and blast through mud.  

Each day was a riding experience, to say the least.  We were usually 7 or 8 packed into a jeep, headed out to our various projects.  Usually the weather cooperated and the roads were bumpy, but dry.  There was one day, however, when we had a heavy downpour.  We were on our way back to town when the jeep took a sharp curve in thick, muddy clay and started sliding sideways.  Our wonderful driver got it stopped before totally tipping over and we all got out and waded through the deep mud.  We had visions of having to walk the three miles back to town, but with confidence and expertise, Boniface gunned the gas pedal and managed to get us out!

But our adventure wasn't quite over.   The drive back to town was interesting to say the least!

So many medical needs....

There are a lot of medical needs in Tanzania....battling tropical diseases,  addressing the climbing birth rate, treating  patients with meningitis, TB, and of course, AIDS.  There are some very well-equipped privately funded clinics, but most of the public hospitals and clinics are struggling with minimum supplies.  We had a few suitcases full of gauze bandages, hypodermic needles, sterile gloves and other supplies we had collected.  We took the jeeps to a number of small clinics during the week and delivered what we could...

One of the pastors, Pastor Timba, has a heart for handicapped and injured children.  He brought Sandy and Megan to visit some families with kids with special needs. 

 It touched their hearts to see a little boy with a severe snake bite and another with cerebral palsy who sat in a chair or bed all day.  Not only were we able to bless these families with a Swahili Bible, some clothes, blankets, rice, sugar, corn, beans, and mosquito nets, but also gave money towards some mattresses, medical care for the snake bite, and a wheelchair for the boy with cerebral palsy.  

We still had a few more suitcases of medical supplies to deliver, so we made a visit to the Karatu Hospital.  We had an eye-opening tour of this small hospital on the edge of town.  The drive was up another dirt road.....how patients get there was beyond my understanding.  There certainly are no ambulances.

They do the best they can with what they have.  The dispensary lacks the basics....a shortage of gauze bandages.  They had two x-ray machines, but one was broken.  The only washing machine was fueled by a wood fire.  Sheets were dried in the sun.  

We visited the maternity ward where new mothers were nursing their new babies or waiting to deliver.  We prayed for many of them, and then went to the nursery where even women from the Maasai tribe were patients.  It was sad, though, that new mothers who had lost their babies were in the same ward as those with new babies.  The sadness in their faces broke our hearts.

 

There are only a few doctors and overworked nurses, but they are dedicated and caring.  There are no meals prepared for the patients; families must bring them.  It is a bare-bones operation.  We brought in gauze bandages, hypodermic needles and other donated medical supplies, which were received with grateful smiles.

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Feeding the 5,000.....well, not quite!

One of the highlights of all of the previous mission teams has been "The Feast".  This is a huge meal that has traditionally been bought and prepared by the team members for the poor and hungry of Karatu.   But teams in the past have had more people on them and the work and preparation usually took all day. This year, because we were a smaller team of 10, and the fact that the people of the large Karatu church offered to do all the preparation, we were only responsible for the bill.  It was still quite a job!

We met with the mayor and a number of pastors who told us they would be responsible for the inviting...and set the date for Thursday.  From past feasts, we knew there could be up to 1,000 people!

We also did some inviting ourselves.  One afternoon,  while some were working on the church and cistern, six of us visited a number of families living nearby.  Our purpose was to bring them a Swahili Bible,  ask if they would like us to pray for them, and to invite them to the feast.

We were always welcomed into their homes and, with Esther and Peter interpreting, were anxious to hear our prayers and receive a Bible.  The homes were simple,  either clay and dung huts or sometimes brick, with thatched or metal roofs.  Inside were a few dark rooms, even shared with a goat or two.  There was no electricity or running water.  Yet, the people were gracious and friendly, probably curious at these "Americans" coming to their homes.

I wondered, though, how these families could walk the probably 2-plus hour walk into town for the feast.  But I guess they do it to get food and supplies, sometimes carrying very heavy loads, even on their heads!

The next day was the feast!  After spending the morning at a clinic and delivering sweaters to the school, the team came back to the Karatu church to check on how the meal preparation was coming along.  Fires had been started outdoors, a goat was roasting, and a number of women were preparing the vegetable and rice for the stew.

But there was still a lot to get done in a few hours so they, of course, put us to work!  Tools to work with were not in plentiful supply!  Potatoes were peeled and meat was cut with not-very-sharp knives....

....and after peeling a pound or two of garlic with my fingers, I dug out a nail file to help!  I was glad when that job was taken over by Kim, Megan, and Sandy!

But I had to ask Karashi what he was cutting.  Maybe I shouldn't have.....it turned out to be the stomach(s) of the cow!  It all went into the stew....

Somehow, it all got done by around 4:00 pm, when streams of children started coming to the front of the church.  The different uniforms indicated a lot of different schools.

We scrambled to get all the food on the serving tables....rice, meat, vegetables, stew, fruit, and a bottle of pop!

Where did they all come from and where were the parents?  We discovered later that the word had gone out to the schools....and the kids came right after school for a free meal.  How many?  Well, we ran out of plates and pop.....it could have been anywhere between 600 and a thousand.  It didn't matter....we had just enough food and we were glad to fill some hungry tummies!

The pots were empty, the kids were fed.  It was time for our dinner.  Guess what......it was the GOAT!

This is their tradition, as a thank-offering to us for what we had done for their community.  The first bites were given to our eldest, Shirley and Dennis....

We were all given slices of the delicacy....and it was actually quite tasty! The pastor's son liked it too!

On to another village.....

We headed into another village, Ayalerbe,  for some much needed work on a church and another school visit.  There was a broken water line and a cistern to repair, plus a huge paint job inside and outside of the church.  It would be a busy day!

Well, so we thought!  It turned out that the the materials weren't exactly ready or available.....pipe for the waterline not there, ladders not high enough to reach the top of the ceilings,  the wrong paint.  Hmmm.....we had to improvise.  The cistern was a good target. It had leaked and was filled with dirt and debris and the water was not fresh at all. It needed to be drained, cleaned and built up with a cover to work properly.  Greg jumped right in (literally) and waded in frog-infested (and who knows what else!) water, with others joining in.

 

While some worked on the cistern, others  did whatever we could do to make the day fruitful, and the church beautiful.  We didn't finish and knew we would have to return the next day.......which we did!  We were able to help a Tanzanian crew put two coats of paint inside, build up the cistern so water would stay fresh, and replace the water line with a stronger pipe.  And the little children who lived nearby watched and wanted to play with us, too!

.....and how they loved it when we would give out some "pee-pee" (candy)!

After working on it for two days, the church was looking good!

 There was another school to visit across the little valley. With work underway at the church, some of us  headed over there in the morning to see how we could help.  We were met by some younger kids on their way to school....

and more at the school, very interested in getting their pictures taken!

Shoes were left outdoors to try and keep mud and dirt from the rooms, and again we entered full, but a little less- crowded classrooms.  Kim and I were asked to teach again to eager and smiling kids.

 

This school seemed a little better funded than the previous one and they had a few more materials. But still, where was a gym, except the playground outside?  Where was an assembly room, except for under the trees outside the classroom?  Art?  Music?  Running water and electricity?  Flush toilets? A lunch room?  Hardly. I commend the government for their push to educate every child to at least the 7th grade level.  But the schools are terribly overcrowded, poorly furnished, understaffed, and books are tattered.....It is a huge problem and one we can't solve.  But it made my heart heavy. The next day we did return with some school supplies, some balls, and another parachute.  A drop in the bucket, I suppose, but brought some joy to the children.

                               This is the church seen from the school.  What a beautiful setting!