Tanzania Mission Build 2009
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Greetings to all
who have hit the web site for the first time or for the 30th time. We are getting
ready to embark on our fifth construction trip to the Mission District of the
Morogoro Diocese and we will be there from May 19-June 8, 2009.
The following
are members of the team and request your thoughts and prayers.
·
Porter Cunningham,
Engineering student at O.U.
·
Cathy Engelkes,
Peace Lutheran, Edgemont,
AR
·
Paul Kleine a.k.a.
Yours Truly, University Lutheran, Norman,
OK
·
Cheryl Worch,
Community of Joy Lutheran,
·
Pastor Ross Worch, Community of Joy Lutheran
We will be
building pole churches together with our fellow Lutherans of the Massai
tribe. The first picture shown is of the original church and the second
picture is of the church that we constructed last year to replace it. Our
current chapels are built with concrete blocks and represent very substantial
improvements over earlier models. The cost of each church is approximately
$6,000 and the local congregation provides about half of the final cost.
 
I want to thank any and all who contributed to
our fund raising efforts this year. For those of you not familiar with our
trips, each of the team members has paid $3,300 of his/her own money to make
the trip. In addition, we have worked to raise money for construction costs,
well drilling and famine relief. Every penny collected will go to the
particular purpose for which it was given. Individuals and congregations all
across the Ark-Ok Synod of the ELCA have contributed and, once again,
Thrivent for Lutherans has provided us with matching funds of $1,200 for
which we are grateful. We hope to have around $8,000 for building materials that
will allow for the construction of two chapels in the Chalinze District that
borders on the Mission District where we have worked for the last 5 years.
Two of Herb Hafermann’s former evangelists are now pastors in the Chalinze
District and we look forward to working again with Paulo Thomas in his new
role as pastor.
·
May 19: Air
Travel
May 20: Arrive
at Dar es Salaam
at 10:00 PM. We will stay overnight at the Catholic Hostel in Dar es Salaam.
May 21 – June 6:
We will work on chapel builds, attend worship sites and monitor water well
drilling.
May 21, 2009 – THE EAGLE HAS LANDED SAFELY!
We arrived in Dar es Salaam Wednesday
night at 9:38 PM, exactly 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Great flights,
everything on time, no lost luggage, nothing exciting to write home about.
Porter Cunningham was
originally scheduled on a later flight from OKC to Houston
but he wait listed and got on board with me and we met up with our Arkansas contingent also in Houston. So, the Fab Five is set to go:
Porter Cunningham, Ross and Cheryl Worch and our peerless leader, Cathy
Engelkes plus your faithful scribe, Paul Kleine.
We made through the
visa line at the airport last night surely but very slowly and our luggage
was waiting for us around the corner.
We made it through
customs, unscathed, ….almost. Two Tanzanian agents were fascinated with my
beautifully tied and labeled cardboard box that contained the new Milwaukee battery
operated saw that I brought for Luka and Robert. This is exactly like the one
that I brought three years ago and it has served us and them faithfully
through thousands of rafter and truss cuts. Last year I heard the bearings
slowly giving up the ghost so I brought a new one. Well, the two women
keeping Tanzania
safe from threats due to battery operated circular saws weren’t so sure I was
a safe risk. I had to explain to them what a saw does in English all the
while making quite realistic, “buzz, buzz, buzz” noises to make sure they
understood. They didn’t. So, I had to open the box and persuade them that I
was going to give it as a gift to the people with whom we are working.
Somehow, it made quite a difference to them that I would NOT be taking it
back with me when I left the country. I imagine they just didn’t want to see
me and my “buzz, buzz, buzz” again. Finally, after rendering my cardboard box
inoperable, they waived me through. They didn’t open a single suitcase and I
could have stuck the saw in with my underwear and no one would have noticed.
But………..Tanzania
will NOT be threatened by battery operated circular saws. Actually, I found
it rather amusing but not as much as the others were enjoying my antics with
the saw.
Then, we exchanged our
money at a great rate of 1,280 Schillings to the dollar and we were off to
the Catholic Hostel for the night. I, and most others, fought the sleep
cycles and I didn’t go to sleep until about 4 PM. Today we drove to the
Seminary with Herb, Luka and Robert and the weather, while a bit warm, is
fantastic. We loafed for awhile and will now go to tea at 4,00 PM. That is a
rare event for us because every other day we will be out in the bush but this
is our one day of rest before, The Boss, (a.k.a.) Herb Hafermann drives us
through our schedule.
So that’s it for now,
all are well and we thank you for your prayers and support,
The Fab Five,
Paul
May 22: JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE
Before I start my story
for today, I need to correct an error made in earlier blogs. I mistakenly
identified Pastor Ross Worch and his wife, Cheryl Worch as being from Trinity Lutheran Church.
I was informed by two members of their congregation at COMMUNITY OF JOY
LUTHERAN church that they are proud to call him their pastor. And, we are
proud to call them members of our team. Sorry about that, folks!!
Today we spent the day
in Chalinze, worshipping at the site where we will be building a chapel next
week. This is also the location where Paulo Thomas, our good friend from
previous years, serves as Pastor. Paulo worked with us many days as a
construction evangelist before he completed pastoral training and was
assigned to this new area just outside the Mission District. Paulo has been
there less than one year and he now has two congregations and 3 preaching
stations for a total of 5 worship sites. He told us that he hold services at
three locations on Saturday and the other two on Sunday with distances of
12-22 kilometers between the sites. And, he travels those distances on his
faithful bicycle.
Paulo is also the young
man who has been gathering enough cows to pay a dowry to acquire his beloved
Paulina as his bride. He has ten cows and that makes him two short of the
magic number of 12 required to satisfy Paulina’s father before he will give
his daughter in marriage. I told him that I was tempted to write Paulina’s
father a letter and tell him that since he was getting such a wonderful
son-in-law that he should consider taking 8 cows instead of 12. Paulo refused
my kind offer.
And, to end my Paulo
stories for now, he was just recovering from a bout of malaria. He said that
he gets malaria 3 or 4 times a year and that is just a routine event in their
lives.
Our worship today was
special in several ways. First, in attendance was an important man in the
Massai tribal hierarchy. The man is a laibon, who is selected for life by
elders of various Massai clans and is someone who influences much of what
goes on in that region. Therefore, Pastor Herb was pleased to see him in
attendance with several of his advisors. His attendance indicated (we think)
his willingness to support the development of further evangelism work in the
region. The laibon is not necessarily religious but is a part of an ancient
pattern of leadership that has a hallowed place in the hearts and minds of
the region.
Also, after church, we
walked about a half mile to visit the parcel of land that will be the site of
the THIRD chapel that will be built with the funds we raised this year. The
laibon’s son led the way and proudly pointed to the place where the chapel
will be constructed.
Finally, this site set
a new record in my five year history for flies in attendance at the service
and, in particular, at the dinner after the service. Our service was held
under the trees about 50 feet from a very large cattle yard and many flies
rightfully argued that this was their home turf. Here’s Herb’s story on flies
and I will end with this for this evening.. According to St. Herbert, “When
first time visitors to Tanzania
encounter their first fly in their tea they politely set the cup aside and do
not drink from it. Second time visitors empty the cup and ask for more tea.
Third time visitors, reach in, throw out the fly and drink the tea. Fourth
time visitors reach in, pick up the fly, lick the sugar from the fly and tell
it to go get its own tea! No comment!
All in all, beautiful
music, lovely worship, animated responses from congregation to Herb’s sermon
and general excitement that they would be getting their own house of worship
soon.
All are well and eager
for the morrow.
Blessings, The Fab Five
May 23: TANZANIA:
DAY THREE
Today’s report has
three very different components and I will allow you to tie them all
together:
I.
Carpenter Tool
Shower
II.
The Cattle Auction
III.
The Well Drillers
I.`Carpenter Tool Shower:
Last night we returned
late from our worship site at Kigoda, had dinner and then shared with Luka
the many, many carpenter tools we brought with us. It was like Christmas in
May as we had 3 very high quality hammers, tape measures, carpenter aprons,
pencils, two foot levels, hand saws, masonry trowels and more. It’s a wonder
the plane ever got off the ground with all that stuff. Plus, the good folks
from Arkansas
brought about 15 or 20 T shirts and caps for various construction workers we
will encounter. The bad news is that all the stuff Cathy Engelkes brought had
Arkansas Razorbacks all over them! We are trying to teach Luka the difference
between a Hog and a Sooner but it may take some time. Plus, we gave Luka the
battery operated saw that I finagled through the airport at Dar on Wednesday
night. He was overjoyed at all the goodies and the tools are excellent
additions to what they have. In addition to the fact that tools tend to
“migrate”, they are also splitting into a couple of crews and there just
weren’t enough to go around.
II. The Cattle Auction
Most of the day was
spent at a huge cattle auction in which perhaps 2 or 3 thousand Massai gather
every other Saturday in a giant field and buy, sell and trade cows. Small and
large buyers and sellers mingle and the grounds are filled with everything
from junk to really junk plus some nice cloth, knives and other handicrafts.
As strange as it may seem Pastor Herb uses this time to meet literally
hundreds of congregation members of his preaching stations plus perhaps a
dozen evangelists and he consults with them 10 feet at a time as he creeps
across the auction being hailed and stopped at every turn. Men, women and
children greet him, extend their hands in friendship and they are overjoyed
to see him. Also, he makes contacts for new preaching stations, reassures old
ones that he will be coming soon and moves like a snail through a sea of
humanity. It is a wonder to behold to see how effective this can be to
resolve issues. For example, there were a couple of unresolved issues left
over from yesterdays meeting with the Laibon and a couple of his advisors
were sent to the cattle auction to look up Herb and get an issue or two
settled. Finally, we bought a giant goat leg that had been butchered 50 feet
away and then roasted on an open fire to our particular tastes. We enjoyed a
meal that was devoid of rice for the first time and perhaps the last time
while we are here. Great stuff!
III.
Water Well Drillers,
Perhaps, most exciting
only to me, the Watterhub, Inc. well drilling rig arrived at the Seminary
when we returned and we met the team of nine who are right now on their way
to drill at Kiegea. They hope to be done drilling in one day, do a drawdown
test and install a pump and seemed pretty confidant that the good people of
Kiegea would have water in 2 or 3 days. Pray for this one because we have so
much riding on a successful outcome. If this driller works out we will move
quickly to rehab several spots and drill several new bore holes until out
money runs out. This is like a dream come true for me and I can only imagine
what it will mean to Kiegea and elsewhere who have been waiting for perhaps 3
or 4 years for this day to actually arrive. The crew had just returned from
Moshe which is close to Arusha in the Northern part of Tanzania. Their wells are 100 to
200 meters (300-400 feet) deep so they thought our well of 50-70 meters
wasn’t a big challenge for them. The equipment looked quite new, the men
looked like they had been drilling for a few years and we have a signed
contract. They are actually drilling this first well without ANY advance
money so we felt good about that. Of course, they are pretty sure they know
where Herb Hafermann lives so they seemed confidant they would get their
money.
So………….quite a varied
day. Plus we stopped at two churches, one of which we previous had worked at
with other teams and it was good to see the people living nearby who came to
open the church for us. They remembered our previous team’s efforts. Bill
Scott will remember this as Sokoine Ranch where we also got a wonderful leg
of goat roasted for us and delivered on the back of a motorcycle wrapped in
leaves.
That’s it for now.
Tomorrow worship site and pray for our water well drilling team.
Blessings,
Fab Five
May 24: TANZANIA
DAY FOUR
Today the team was
treated to the most pristine, typical Massai worship service in the most
typical, traditional Massai village that one could imagine. While ALL the
services have great similarities to each other they differ in small, but
significant, way. Today, it felt as if the world had stood still for the last
100 years and we could have dropped into this village during any decade in
the last century and it would have been the same.
It is a poor village,
poorer than most, made up of isolated bomas that are comprised of 4 or 5
straw thatched homes made of sticks covered with mud or, or in some cases,
fresh cow manure. Each small structure may be approximately 12 ft. by 16 ft
and is the home for perhaps the parents and from 3 to 12 children. Each of
these thatched homes will house one wife and the children so depending upon
the number of wives the man has there may be 3-6 wives and their children
making up this boma.
A cattle yard will be
located among the houses and it is “fenced” in using bramble bushes stacked
about 6 ft high to keep the cows close at night for milking. Each morning,
the boys and young men take 6-12 cows each and head out looking for fresh
pasture and water. The Massai are often assigned grazing lands by the
government and usually there are no conflicts between and among neighbors.
Each night the boys
bring back the cows and calves and put them in the fenced in lot. Then the
women do the milking and feed the family. The sun sets at about 6 pm each
evening so darkness ends the day rather abruptly. Of course, there are no
lights or other modern conveniences so the arrival and departure of the sun
basically drives the schedule. In fact, many local Massai do not count time
the way we do. They reason, rather intelligently, that the day doesn’t begin
in the middle of the night but it begins at sunup. So, our six o’clock begins
their day and each hour counts from that point. If you want to pick up
someone on the road using Tanzanian time and want him there at 9 am you’d
better tell him to be there at 3 am. But, most of the people we work with are
accustomed to western time modes but this is the traditional time keeping for
some Massai.
The worship service can
be described but not adequately. We arrived at the church for tea and were
met by several women who, of course, knew Herb Hafermann well. They greeted
us with hand shakes and many Bwana Asifiwe’s (meaning, Prasie God!). And, the
appropriate answer is, “AMEN!” Then, they led us down a winding path of about
¼ mile to their boma for tea and a homemade doughnut without the hole. We sat
on lovely 4 legged Tanzania
stools that are carved out of log chunks and are beautiful to look at and
tough to get back up out of. After, a half hour of chatting, we walked back
to the stick and mud church and watched as Herb signed up the baptisms,
renewals, etc. This takes him over and hour as he extracts and records all
kinds of information about education needs, health needs, etc during that
time that is invaluable for future reference.
During all this time a
group of 15-20 young female singers and 4 males about age 25-35 practiced
inside the church. I sat and video taped many numbers and their singing is as
clear as a bell and simply beautiful. I really wish we could bring this group
to our Synod because they represent precisely what the Mission District is
all about.
Pastor Herb gave his
usual highly dramatic and involving sermon that had men, women and children
interacting, laughing, looking interested and totally involved. For the
statistically oriented among you the sermon lasted 16 minutes, one and 98/100
of a second on my stop watch. I thought you might want to know
that!.........Or, not.
There were 120 in
attendance in this tiny church, over 65 attended communion and about15-18
children and baptisms were counted. Two boys about 14 and 16 years of age
were baptized and Herb said that both were preliterate and had never attended
a day of school. One 3 day old baby was baptized and was named Samuel after
his Grandfather, Samuel, who had died one month ago. And, so life goes on in
the Mission District.
I am so very pleased
that the team got to see a genuine and authentic Massai worship service and,
based on their comments, my guess is that they will not forget it.
And…………..I am sweating
out the drilling of our well at Kiegea. The report is that they had a good
day but I don’t know any details. I plan to go with the well drillers
tomorrow while the rest of the team starts the first of three days of chapel
building at Kiegea. Keep all in your prayers and all is going well with ,
The Fab Five,
Blessings,
Paul F. Kleine
May 25: TANZANIA DAY
FIVE
Today was the long
awaited chapel building day for some and the even longer awaited water well
drilling day for me. The Friendly Four (Ross, Cheryl, Cathy and Porter)
finally go to drive some nails and make some sawdust. After a couple of hours
loading up the pickup with lumber in Morogoro they headed to Chalinze. I have
to give you a second hand report due to my absence but a good time was had by
all according to reports. The saws worked brilliantly but they did exhaust
the four batteries near the end of the day. They completed 3 ½ of the 8
required trusses and that’s a pretty good day’s work. Tomorrow, we all go for
about 4 hours of labor completing (perhaps) the other 4 ½ trusses. Then Herb
and the congregation arrive for a one o’clock worship service at the building
site. The congregation is excited about actually being inside the structure
of their building to worship even though it will only be concrete block shell
with a tarp reached across the top to protect against the sun. I kidded Herb
that, other than taking a break in building for the sermon, I thought we
should continue building trusses during the rest of the service but he didn’t
seem persuaded.
An interesting story
within the story of chapel building at Chalinze was shared with me by our
esteemed leader, Cathy Engelkes. The land for the church was donated by a
widow with four children. In fact, she was the first wife of a powerful
laibon who died leaving her and six other wives and children. She chose to
donate the land for the church IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT AN ARAB GROUP HAD
OFFERED HER $50,000 FOR THE PROPERTY!!!! When she refused them they asked
her, “Don’t you want to take care of your children? “ Her answer was
priceless, “Yes, I do want to take care of my children. That’s why I am
giving the land to build a church”. Don’t you just love her answer? Bwana
Asifiwe!!
Meanwhile, Robert
Spitaleri and I headed out to the water well drilling site at Kiegea. They
had drilled an 8 inch borehole to a depth of 60 meters and hit water at 3 or
four places along the way. The best fracture seemed to be from the 52-57
meter range and the current guess is that the well should be adequate for
hand pumping. When we arrived they had attached a 4 inch air hose to the
bottom of the well, and used air pressure to blow out the water in the
standpipe to get rid of the cloudy water. It was exciting to see water
spurting out the top but we remain cautiously optimistic that we have a good
well. The 8 inch borehole is lined with a 5 inch PVC pipe that has 8 screens
inserted down the length of the borehole that correspond with the fractures
where water was found. This high number of screens should minimize the chance
of clogging and damaging the pump due to sand. Then, around the 5 inch PVC
pipe, 70 bags of gravel pack are dropped to provide additional filtering.
What happens next will
give us the definitive test of what we have. On Wednesday, they will take a
generator driven pump to conduct a draw down test. This means they will pump
continuously for 3-8 hours to determine the capacity of the well. After that
amount of time they should know what to expect from continuous use. If we get
a value of 500 liters per hour or more we should be home free.
Then, it will take two
days for the water samples to be tested in Dar and then the base of the well
will be sealed and the pump stand installed. Finally, after concrete is set
(perhaps next Thursday) we could be pumping water. Between now and then we
will be working to set up a water committee that will hire someone to monitor
the sale of water at 25 Schillings per bucket. They are currently walking
four times this far and paying 50 Schillings per bucket so they should be
pleased. The money collected is critical for two reasons: 1. the people must
realize it is THEIR well, and, 2. The money will help pay for pump repairs.
NOW, isn’t that WAY
more than you wanted to know about water wells in Tanzania? Sorry about that, but
this represents the closing chapter in a 2 year search for a competent
driller, good supervision and the funds to do the job right and I just
couldn’t help myself. Many people reading this have contributed their hard
earned dollars for water wells and I want you to share in the story. I’ll let
you know how the draw down test goes in a couple of days.
And…………………that’s about
all I know.
Blessings from Tanzania,
Paul and the Crew
May 26: TANZANIA
DAY SIX
Sorry about the delay
in writing but things got very busy yesterday. Typical of life in a third
world country, schedules emerge, change, re-emerge and sometimes disappear.
Herb had a sudden meeting called by the Bishop that required his attendance
in Morogoro, meanwhile, our team headed to Chalinze with Robert and Luka to
finish building the 8 large trusses for the church we are funding. The lumber
delivery was not enough to complete the task but more was ordered, and, lo
and behold, it arrived after about a 10 minute break. We had perhaps a dozen
or more helpers from the congregation including our friend, Pastor Paulo
Thomas, and by 1:30 we finished the last truss.
Meanwhile, Herb’s
“short meeting of perhaps an hour” stretched to about 3 hours and he came
rolling at about that same time. Lunch was provided; rice and chicken with
bananas for dessert. We were facing a tight deadline for the evening because
we had a firm time of 6:00 PM for dinner to meet a man connected with a water
well drilling firm that we have been trying to reach for several months. Herb
had a “quick” worship service scheduled in our unfinished chapel and SURELY
four hours would be ample time to have a church service and get back to the
Seminary. If you agreed with that logic you obviously have NOT been to Africa and you have NOT known Herb Hafermann.
People began arriving for
service from 1 until 3 and then the registration for baptisms was held under
a tree from 2 until 3 and the service began around three. The church service
was held inside the shell of the concrete block church and we sat on concrete
blocks as our church seats. Of course, the dirt floor was still covered with
mortar and block fragments so one had to walk carefully………..those who could
walk. One man, perhaps 55 years old, was paralyzed from the waist down had
been brought to church in a car and then carried to the church entrance. From
there he proceeded to scoot himself across the dirt floor with his hands and
joined the worship. During communion he scooted his way to the altar and
communed with the rest of us. Herb mentioned that he might be a candidate for
a hand powered trike because he appeared to have good upper body strength. So
many needs; so few ways to meet those needs! Suffice it to say that those of
us who could walk to communion felt a bit more blessed as we watched this man
struggling along the dirt floor, around the concrete block seats to worship
his Lord and Savior.
After a two hour
service that included 21 baptisms there was conversation, conversation and
more conversation as Herb negotiated his way toward the car. Eight people
crowded into Herb’s vehicle for a ride back as far as possible before they
would have to walk the rest of the way home. This included 3 pastors who
assisted in the service. The reason for the large pastoral presence is that
they were celebrating the building of a church in the Chalinze District and
they wanted to show their appreciation for this effort. There is no question
that reaching out to a new area has been a very wise decision because the
construction of a new church becomes a catalyst for increased Evangelism in
the area. That means more preaching stations and more need for evangelists
and more need for chapels and………………………. But, it is truly exciting to see
God’s church grow in this area.
We drove toward the
Seminary and received a text message from our water drilling contact who said
he had waited for us at the Seminary for over a half hour but then went back
to the Morogoro Hotel. Another missed opportunity because of bad cell phone
connections! He had tried to call Herb earlier to set the time but couldn’t
get through. So…………….Herb, Robert and I left the team at the Seminary for
dinner and we drove on to Morogoro to locate our illusive driller. After two
hours of pleasant conversation I’m still not sure where we are. We MAY be
able to get a dollar for dollar match on about 6 wells from this Assembly of
God drilling company. That would bring our $13,000 dollar wells down to
$6,500. Or………….we may have simply missed out on a seminary dinner.
It is 8:30 Wednesday
morning and we are going to respond to another “opportunity” for service that
we hadn’t anticipated. A young man and his wife have both tested positive for
Aids and their two children currently have tested negative. Someone has
provided a house for them if a privy could be built at the location. We shall
see if chapel building skills transfer to building outhouses.
Stay tuned.
I think you can see
that everything has gone exactly as planned. The only problem is that no one
told us what the plan was going to be. You make your plans and then life
happens.
Blessings, all are
well,
The Fab Five
Paul
May 27: TANZANIA
DAY SEVEN
Today was a good day in
every respect. The weather was flawless, we had a short trip to where we were
building and the job may sound distasteful but it was truly a labor of love.
We worked on building a bath and toilet combination that will be a brick
structure about 6 ft by 10 ft. This building will be connected to a septic
tank that is about 5 ft by 7 ft and 9 ft deep. The septic tank is built of
concrete blocks for several courses and than large locally fired bricks the
rest of the way to the top. Then a concrete lid will be poured in the same
way we would construct a septic tank.
The two heroes today
are Ross and Porter because they jumped into the hole and spent the day
laying up both blocks and brick. That was hard, mean work and we gave them
the maximum points for their efforts. The rest of us carried bricks and
blocks and mortared in the cracks and crevices around the walls of the bath
and toilet house.
The reason this is such
a labor of love is that it will allow a young couple suffering from Aids to
have a home and to live close to medical treatment. The home was provided by
a Lutheran doctor who donated the house free of rent if we would pay for the
supplies and labor to construct it. The couple has two young children and
perhaps the opportunity to live in comparative comfort for a few years will
bring peace and tranquility to this sad situation. Everyone felt very good
about the day.
Tonight, in about one
hour there will be the Wednesday night service for the Seminary students.
Ross will be preaching a brief sermon, with Swahili translators, (if he
doesn’t fall asleep after such a vigorous day). The service each year is
remarkable because of the Seminary students’ choral excellence. The team is
in for a treat to hear these magnificent voices for the first time.
No word today on the
water draw down test. Apparently, Wednesday means Wednesday or sometime after
Wednesday so I don’t know how our well fared.
Tomorrow we are off to
a worship service that is a TWO HOUR TRIP JUST TO GET THERE!!! And, trust me,
only about 10 miles are on roads of any kind. The rest of the trip will no
doubt be knock your head against the side of the Landrover type of road.
But……………….isn’t that
why we come on these trips?
The team is in great
shape physically, mentally and emotionally. Each seems super charged with the
activities so far and I heard Porter ask “Is it a week from now that we leave
for Arusha? Where did the time go?”
I like to hear those
comments.
Cheers,
Be well,
The Fab Five,
Paul
May 28: TANZANIA DAY
EIGHT
Sometimes when the
trips are long and brutal the reports are short and sweet. Today is just such
a day. We went to Kisange Stand that is only 38 kilometers away from the
Seminary. Do not be fooled by linear distances. This 24 mile trip took 2
hours and 57 minutes to get there for a blistering 8 miles per hour. And,
guess what, the return trip took 3 hours. Needless to say, the roads on the
moon should be chosen over the road to Kisange Stand.
When we arrived at
about 12:30 we found a couple of women cooking rice over the fire and very
little else. The nurses were working in the hospital and the medical
inspector was there so they couldn’t get away to the service. The school
nearby had an educational inspector that made it difficult for the teachers
to release the kids. Herb sent the evangelist to tell them that the “church
inspector” was there also so about a dozen kids came in singing at the top of
their lungs.
I tell you this story
to give you both the highs and the lows. As I said in our prayer upon
returning, “Sometimes God gives us 153 fish in the net and other times there
are only a few guppies”. We must thank God for the one baptism we had today.
Herb mentioned that from time to time he must make the long voyage to bring
the churches back to life. He encouraged one and all to reach out and keep
the congregation going and he was confidant it would happen. The man keeps
his incredible buoyancy regardless of the day. And, we thank God for him.
But…………..it WAS a long
trip.
And, we are tired. And,
they still didn’t do the water draw down test today. And, tomorrow is another
day.
Blessings,
Paul
May 29: TANZANIA DAY
NINE:
I would like to say
that today we had another rugged, difficult and very trying day but my
impeccable honesty (?) and the existence of several digital cameras in the
group persuade me other wise. It was really a day of R & R for us but we
accomplished several very important tasks at the same time. This morning we
visited Bishop Jacob Mameo’s office in Morogoro and he had kindly invited his
staff members to come by the office to greet us and share with us briefly
what they are doing in the Diocese. We also shared what we have been doing in
Chalinze and since this decision to extend out beyond the Mission District he
was pleased to hear of our build in Chawamkeze.
Then, the Bishop and a
couple of his staff drove us to the site of their new Lutheran High School
that is being built out of town on 57 acres of land. The beginning structure
has 4 classrooms under construction and they will continue to build as money
becomes available. Next they need to build a boy’s and girl’s dormitory and
may begin holding classes in 2010 or 2011. This high school should be a
valuable addition to the Morogoro Diocese when it is completed and they are
working very hard to make it a reality, block by block.
I have finally achieved
a goal that I set every trip for the past five years. Each time we bring back
beautiful ebony carvings done by Hilary the young and highly talented carver.
Each year he brings his samples to the Seminary, takes orders and then
returns with our selections. Each year I have wanted to see Hilary at work in
his shop and each year we get distracted. This year, with Herb safely in Dar
for two days, I was able to go with the team to watch Hilary and his
colleagues at work. And, what an amazing treat that was! As many of you know
I pretend to be a wood worker but after what I saw I think I should give up
the craft. First of all, I had ordered a monkey and a giraffe for my grandson
and granddaughter. When we arrived, Hilary was hard at work chopping a monkey
out of a rough block of ebony. It will be fun to compare the pictures I took
today with the finished product.
But, the real treat was
to watch the man carving candlestick holders. He had a small home made lathe
with a cord wrapped around the spindle attached to a bow that he pulled back
and forth to spin the block of ebony. Then, he hooked a quarter inch wood
chisel between his bare toes to guide the chisel and shape the candle holder.
To see this piece of fire wood gradually become a polished ebony candle stick
holder and each member of the pair exactly like it’s mate is scary. I would imagine
that it would take him 8 hours to make each one and the pair cost about 10
dollars. That’s five dollars a day of continuous carving for a highly skilled
artisan. I think I will put up my Shopsmith power lathe up for sale after
watching that.
Sorry to drag you
though the wood carving bit but the next time you see a pair of candlestick
holders, just think of this guy sitting on the ground spinning the lathe with
his bow and guiding the chisel between his toes.
Next, we shopped
Morogoro for fabrics, and other things to take back with us. The “crowning”
achievement of the day was when Porter got a haircut while we all watched and
took pictures. He got a great buzz haircut for about $2.20 including the tip.
Then we had Indian food
for lunch in a nice hotel with cold Cokes and Pepsis. Now, folks, if you
haven’t seen a cold drink for 10 days and can wrap your hands around a 12
ounce bottle of coke it’s hard to let go.
We continued touring
Morogoro and it is important to have people see this thriving city of approximately
200,000 people that is 15 miles away from our Junior Seminary where we stay.
IF people come to Tanzania
and only see the Serengeti animal province or, IF they only see the remote
villages of the Massai you will have a limited view of Tanzania. In between the tourist
attraction and the worship sites is a country starting to emerge with a
fledgling economy, a beginning and budding educational system and a system of
government that is functioning quite well in spite of huge economic problems.
Granted we still have a limited number of data points about Tanzania from
which to generalize but at least three points are better than one.
That’s my justification
for enjoying great Indian food and an ice cold Pepsi and I’m sticking to
it!!!!
A great and relaxing
day that broadened our perspective on Tanzania and that’s a good thing.
Tomorrow we chase down three well sites to determine if they can be rehabbed
of if they need to be redrilled. Absolom Ng’ana, the national water
hydrologist, well accompany us on our rounds and we hope to learn something
about our next water well drilling steps. Meanwhile, Watterhub, Lmt., our
current driller, has informed us they will do the draw down test on our newly
completed well next Tuesday.
PATIENCE, PATIENCE,
PATIENCE.
All are well, blessings
from,
The Fab Five,
Paul
May 30: TANZANIA DAY
TEN
“May there be spaces in
your togetherness and may the winds of heaven dance between you” is a quote
from Kahil Gibran and fits our day today rather nicely. Our team went several
different ways and did several different things. And……….a good time was had
by all.
Porter went with Luka
in the big three ton truck to deliver cement and lumber to one of the
building sites that we are funding. They left at 11 this morning and just
rolled in, dead tired, at 8:00 PM. They unloaded 110 bags of cement, each
weighing 50 kilos or 110 lbs. Simple math suggests they unloaded 12, 100
lbs.!! Please don’t do the math and ask how you bring 6 tons on a 3 ton truck
but it works!
Cathy, Ross and Cheryl
stayed on campus and did laundry, walked, explored the seminary and
apparently had a good day based on their comments.
I went with Robert to
visit four well sites that are in need of rehabbing and, while the results
are complicated, basically we got good news. We now know exactly what needs
to be done in each case to solve the problem and that puts us light years
ahead of where we were. I will spare you the intimate details of each well
but a couple of mini stories might interest you……………..or not!
At one location Robert
and Ng’Ana the government hydrologist starting pacing feverishly toward the
trees. Usually that means someone has need of an emergency bath room stop but
in this case both men are long time Tanzania residents so I ruled out
the bath room hypothesis. What had happened is that they had asked a local
resident if he knew how deep the well had been drilled and he couldn’t come
up with a number. But, he did remember that the rope they used to measure the
depth had been stretched from the bore hole to a particular spot under a
tree. Robert and Ng’Ana were both striding out one meter steps to determine
the depth of the well and each came up with 42 meters. How’s that for third
world savvy?
A second story reminded
me of the book, “Three Cups of Tea” in that we were trying to figure out what
had gone wrong with a water system that was failing to bring water to
Makuture Center. We sat under a tree on two benches and drank our Pepsis
while a series of men joined us to share their knowledge. Two evangelists were
with us to help decode what was going on. In addition to several
knowledgeable folks the village elder came and just sat with us looking very
village elderly but said nothing. Also, a very sweet young man whom I have
met before at church services came and joined our bench. He is cognitively
impaired and has a speech defect but sat with us enjoying the conversation.
We must have been an interesting group to behold.
Each person who joined
our group added a layer of knowledge that both changed and improved our
understanding of the problem. As soon as we thought we had a grasp of the
problem someone came along to crash that plan and helped us build a new one.
A rather humorous event kept occurring that I rather enjoyed. Each person
would describe the problem and Ng’Ana would sketch out the layout of the
water system in the dust on the ground that included the location of the
borehole, the pumping station, the storage tank and the lateral lines
carrying the water to several villages. Then, another consultant would join
our group, and oblivious of Ng’Ana’s technical drawings in the dirt, would go
down the line of both benches, shake hands with each of us, exchange
greetings for several minutes and then take his seat on the bench. Of course,
he had obliterated the technical drawings in the dirt. When the new man was
explaining the system, Ng’Ana would patiently redraw the schematic diagram. I
thought of it as a giant Etch-A-Sketch but since the diagram was always
changing the action actually made sense.
And, out of all that
Robert, Ng’Ana and I came away feeling we had a good grasp of the problem.
One final bit of
numbers for the quantitatively oriented. The folks at Makuture Center
must now walk 6 kilometers (3.1 miles) to get contaminated water from the
River. If they wish to have a bucket of water (5 gallons) delivered to their
village from the river it costs about 40 cents per bucket. The hundred cows
and several hundred goats of the village must be driven to the river every
other day to be watered. That’s a 6 mile round trip three times a week with
the entire herd. And, it’s the same story at Ol’ Janguiri except they are 6
miles from the river for a 12 mile round trip three times a week. And……….the
water is still dirty, stinking, contaminated river water.
So, enjoy your glass of
cold, clean, pure tap water and think of our brothers and sisters that
haven’t seen water that clear in a long time.
But, they praise God
every day for their blessings and at the end of our four site examination, a
family had prepared a full meal of tea, milk, rice and chicken in a
delightful tomato and milk sauce. They were so thankful that we were trying
to help them cope with their water needs that they wanted to celebrate our
visit.
Bwana Asifiwe,
And, that’s about all I
know for tonight.
Blessings,
The Fab Five, Separated
for today but together in spirit. Tomorrow we worship in another site in
Chelinze.
Paul
May 31: TANZANIA DAY ELEVEN
Today could be
described as the ultimate “Herb Hafermann” type of day. We loaded up in two
cars with our team plus a young man from Stuttgart,
Germany who will be
spending time at the Seminary plus an evangelist or two and perhaps others
I’ve missed and headed for Tonga,
Chalinze District. Our Ark-Ok Synod is funding parts of three churches in
this District and Tonga
is the fourth preaching station under the trees waiting patiently for a
church of their own.
Today was a glorious
worship service, choir festival, fund raising and celebration of Pentecost
all rolled into one. The fascinating thing for our team was the opportunity
to hear a very young children’s choir from this congregation AND a truly
Massai adult choir from this congregation AND a very competent choir in robes
from the City of Chalinze.
The Chalinze choir was made up of teachers, government workers and
professionals of various types and represented a more urban, professional
class of Massai who had become educated, found employment moved into the town
and are still strongly committed to evangelism. Also, Pastor Ross and Cheryl
performed a lovely duet that received very high marks from those in
attendance. It was beautiful and very appropriate words…………..and, it was in
English so I’m sure the words were appropriate!
Not only did the
Chalinze choir support the fledgling Tonga congregation with their
music but during the fund raising they also made major financial
contributions to help their brothers and sisters get started. Of course, Herb
gently suggested that this might be the FOURTH chapel that our Ark-Ok Synod
might be interested in helping get started next year. Thanks, Herb!
And, the choirs were
superb. I video taped 57 minutes of music from the three choirs who seemed to
have an unending stream of songs ready whenever they were asked for another
one To give you a clue, the service lasted 3 ½ hours and then the meal and
auction followed! Yes, I said 3 ½ hours and those are not seasonally adjusted
for inflation. Also, 121 people attended the service with 13 baptisms. And,
it was great to see Paulo Thomas again because he is the pastor of five of
these preaching stations and was administering communion at our service.
Following the service
an auction was held and I am proud to say that Porter Cunningham and I each
bought a goat. I believe Porter paid about 35 dollars for his and mine cost about
50 dollars. I really wish I could have brought my goat home with me to start
my son, Mark’s herd of goats that he is beginning but Herb talked me out of
it. Porter and I each gave an evangelist a goat and each was most
appreciative. The evangelists were appreciative, I’m not sure about the
goats. Many other items were auctioned off including cloth for Kangas, sugar
cane, Kasava, and a huge bunch of bananas.
One last story and I
will let you go. I have mentioned the powerful but enigmatic mystical leader
of the Massai is called a Loibon. We are building chapels in the home of a
very popular Loibon who died recently and it is his widow who donated the
land for the church we are building at Chamaweza. Remember? She turned down
$50,000 for the land because she wanted a church for her children. Well, one
of the son’s of the Loibon is now an evangelist and we all went to visit the
grave of the Loibon who is buried on the property where we held today’s
service. This in itself is very rare because it is the ONLY grave I have ever
seen among the Massai. Each Massai who dies is buried in the center of the
cowlot in the boma where the Massai lived. But, because of his stature, the
Loibon had a grave with a large tomb and a cross on the tomb. While Herb and
the Loibon’s son and I walked back from the grave the son told us the story
of how his father had been chosen Loibon. After he was selected by his peers
from other regions he was required to demonstrate his bravery and strength.
And, this was done by asking the new Loibon to select a tree and then climb
to the very top. Then, the tree is lit and the Loibon must stay in the tree
and survive. If he jumps, he is a coward; if he dies in the fire he obviously
wasn’t made of the right stuff. The son could still remember how scared he
was when his father climbed the tree and the tree was set on fire.
Maybe that’s how we
should choose our leaders. What do you think?
Blessings for tonight,
The Fab Five
Paul
June 1: TANZANIA
DAY TWELVE
Today, we split into
two groups and Ross, Cheryl and Cathy performed yeoperson service at the
Seminary. Robert Spitaleri will be moving into a house on the campus that has
been vacant for some time and required a thorough cleaning. Robert’s wife
will be joining him in a couple months and he was most appreciative of the
job they did. They cleaned, scrubbed and put the house in tip-top shape and
I’m sure Linda will join Robert in a huge Asante
sana on this
one.
Also, they went on an
extensive hike to visit the Catholic orphanage that always has a dozen or two
stories to tell about these lovely children and their Catholic caregivers.
Death during childbirth frequently leaves children with no mother and AIDS
also takes its toll to add to the number of children requiring loving care
and they certainly receive it in this setting.
Meanwhile, Porter and I
went on a venture with Pastor Herb that was almost made to order for Porter’s
Independent Study that he is completing with me at O.U. based on his
experiences in Tanzania.
He wishes to focus on culture and mores of the young Massai particularly as
these values impact education and value development of the young warrior
class.
Today was special
because the 15-25 year old Massai males of a large region of central Tanzania, had
called a special meeting to pursue their future goals as a class. Each group
of males who have been circumcised during a certain time period, (determined
by the Loibon), remain in a “class” for life, take on a particular name and
tend to function as a quasi group. Some times the age groupings have
conflicts with those above or below them and these quarrels have led to
problems in the past.
This group had a name
that meant “ruffian” in English and they decided the times are, indeed
changing, and they needed to convene the group, call on all the religious
leaders, Lutheran, Catholic, Pentecostal, and Assembly of God, to grant them
a blessing and to chart their futures. Approximately, 180 young Massai males
attended and they were supported by family and friends to make up a total of
perhaps 600 people who camped out last night and held a meeting late into the
night and all day today until 3:30 PM. Our Bishop Jacob Mameo played a key
role as did Pastor Herb and it was a sight to behold.
After many, many choir
numbers, sermons, prayers and choir numbers, sermons and prayers they lined
up all 180 of the young warrior class into a double lined cross in front of
the stage. All of the pastors, elders and “dignitaries” sat on the side under
a canopy and they were kind enough to include Porter and me in that category.
After carefully lining up the young men in the cross formation they asked
every pastor present to walk through the double lines and bless each and
every young Massai.
Following this, the
young men who were not already baptized were invited into the Lutheran church
on the grounds and 42 had their instruction, baptism and first communion. It
was quite a sight to see all 42 with their machetes, rungus and feemas
(cattle grazing staffs) attached as they crowded the altar for baptism and
communion.
And, following this,
all the men were placed in groups, clergy and guests, older Massai age groups
and the young age group honored today were fed separately. It was called a
meat festival and only meat was served. Four steers had been butchered on the
grounds and roasted by an open fire. Huge slabs of beef were placed on tables
and we sat around the tables and were fed chunks of beef by the man who had
donated the steer. He started by splitting the meat off a huge rib bone and
handing one to Bishop Mameo, Herb and me to enjoy. Of course, you chew off
every bit of meat from the bone and then the man starts cutting chunks of
meat with his razor sharp machete and hands them around to each of the 12-15
of us sitting around the table and continued going around and around and
around until the carnivores were sated. Everything was distributed. Sometimes
it was beautiful chunks of tender beef and sometimes it was a slab of solid
fat about one inch by one inch by two inches and that was eaten and
enjoyed(?) by all. I have never had this experience before and it was quite
something. It was obvious that all the Massai men knew the routine and
enjoyed it very much. After eating about a half pound or more of meat, we
were given a Pepsi to wash it down and we were through eating.
Herb came away
delighted that this young group had the initiative to want to be awakened
spiritually and felt the next round of evangelists and pastors would come
from this group. Bishop Mameo told me that the several Lutheran pastors and
evangelists in this region would follow up those who were baptized and try to
bring them into active church participation.
In addition to chewing
on a lot of beef and fat today, Porter also had a great opportunity to digest
some wonderful data that simply can’t be obtained elsewhere. You can Google
all you want but you won’t learn what Porter learned today.
That’s it from here,
all is well, it’s warm and a bit muggy and I think the shower is calling me.
Sometimes the shower thows out huge chunks of mud and other times it looks
like water. I might get lucky tonight. Actually, the water has been fine for
all except two nights but you wanted to hear me complain a little bit didn’t
you?
Everyone is well,
healthy, and excited about tomorrow. Who knows what adventures we will find
at the end of the Landrover.
Blessings,
The Fab Five
Paul
June 2: TANZANIA DAY
THIRTEEN
Today is the last day
that the Fab Five will be together until we rejoin forces in the Dar airport
Sunday night. Ross, Cheryl and Porter board the la Hood bus for that infamous
9 + hour ride from Morogoro to Arusha at 9 tomorrow and will get into Arusha
to spend the night at the Naaz Hotel. Then, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
they should have an outstanding safari in the Serengeti, one of the world’s
truly great animal provinces. We kidded Porter that it is always good to have
someone young and tender with the group as bait for the lions but Porter said
that he not only was young he was also the fastest in the group so that means
whoever loses the footrace………….well, you know. They really are in for a
treat; great animal viewing, scenery, great lodging with superb food. And,
let’s face it 15 straight days of rice and rice and rice something else does
get to wear on you but the group has been very hardy and has survived the
food extremely well. I will bet you though that they pass up rice at the
buffet line in the Serengeti.
Luka spent yesterday
and today putting up roof tins at the church where we built the trusses. We
were disappointed to learn that he still has about 20 pieces of tin to put on
late today and early tomorrow so he will not be able to say “goodbye” to the
three leaving us.
Tomorrow morning, Herb,
Cathy, Luka and I have a busy day as we will have a meeting with a builder in
Morogoro who wants to discuss a new building design of some sort and then the
four of us head to Mikumi park for a mini safari of our own. Herb has been
insisting for years that there are great animals at Mikumi and I hope he is
right. I told him they probably put a stuffed giraffe at the entrance to the
park and make animal sounds on the loud speakers to fool the tourists.
But…………..I will with hold judgment for now.
Some good water well
drilling news is that the company is working very hard to have a pump set for
us to see before we leave on Saturday. They do a draw down test tomorrow
morning, pour concrete tomorrow afternoon, set the pump and supposedly we
will have the finished product by late Thursday. We shall see. Notice how
cynical I am getting in my old age.
Today was a blessed day
of worship in Ol’ Janguiri where we hope to rehab a water well. We learned
that the people are pretty desperate. They take their cattle 6 miles to the
river but their drinking and cooking water is really scarce. With things
drying up at the end of the inadequate rainy season the evangelist said the
entire village would have to pack up and move away in about a month or six
weeks if we can’t get the well repaired. So, wish us all luck and keep us in
your water well prayers.
That’s it for here. The
three people leaving us seemed genuinely sad to leave Herb, Robert, Luka and
all the fine Massai we’ve met. As Ross said, no one can understand fully what
it is about until you see it first hand. But, rest assured that your prayers
and financial support are greatly appreciated. I have never gone to a village
where someone didn’t tell Herb to thank me for the generous support of the
people in the Ark-Ok Synod and other individuals who have addressed their
needs. Their faces tell you everything you need to know about both their
needs and their appreciation.
So………………this may be it
until we return from Mikumi Thusday night. There isn’t reliable internet at
that lodge so I will miss tomorrow night. I will return on Friday to tell you
how the well turned out and how many thousand wildebeests I saw at Mikumi.
Blessings.
Paul For the Fab Five
June 4: TANZANIA DAY
FIFTEEN
I have gone away for a
day but to quote the Terminator, “I’MMMMMMMMMMMM BACK!
Yesterday afternoon
following the usual chaotic series of last minute meetings, planning sessions
and cell phone calls, Herb, Luka, Cathy and I left for Mikumi. We started the
day by taking Ross, Cheryl and Porter to Morogoro to take the famous 9 hour
bus ride to Arusha for their safari in the Serengeti. I’m sure, as I write,
that they are comparing notes on the great array of animals they have
observed in the Serengeti.
Our visit to Mikumi National Park was a very pleasant
interlude and it may have been the only time any of us has slowed down since
we got here. We had a lovely dinner at the lodge in the park, celebrated
Luka’s 28th birthday with a cake (By the way, he told us this is
the ONLY cake he has ever had for any occasion in his life!) and spent today
viewing animals also. The highlight of the day was a half dozen elephants
close enough to breathe on us and a couple of very large size crocodiles that
Cathy managed to get great pictures of.
As great as the animal
viewing was, I must reserve the highlight of the day for our successful water
well completion. Robert, Ng’Gana and I went to Kiegea to check out the pump
installation and hear the results of the draw down test. In a word, the well
looks very, very good. The water level was at 27 meters, they pumped for
three hours with a two inch hose driven by a powerful submersible pump and
the recovery after 14 hours was back to the 27 meter level. They felt that
the well would clearly hold out for 500 liters per hour and that should
withstand any hand pumping demands of the villages.
Second, the quality of
the pump, pipes and installation were first rate. All the rods are stainless
steel, the risers are quality steel and the pump is an original Mark II pump
made in India
capable of lifting water 50 meters. We watched as about 2/3 of the 20 sections
of pipe were installed and dropped down the 6 inch casing that is in an 8
inch borehole with a quality gravel pack and screens at appropriate places in
the well. Next, they will mount the pump handle mechanism, including a
locking mechanism and a heavy chain to discourage theft and finally pour the
concrete slab.
Third, and maybe the
most important, are the political, social ramifications of our well. As we
watched the drillers install pipe segments a small army of 30 people
descended on our well site from the local village. My first thoughts were
that we were in trouble for some violation of an unknown ordinance but Robert
seemed to be smiling as each came and shook hands and greeted us. Then, 45
minutes of conversation ensued with each of about 5 key figures holding forth
for 5-10 minutes each. As the translations started emerging I was relieved.
What had, in fact, happened was little short of a miracle. These 30 people
were made up of parents, school officials, county and village officials and a
person from the state parliament. They had been meeting at a public primary
school about a half mile from our well and when they heard we were putting
the finishing touches on the well they marched down to support us. They were
Catholics, Lutherans and Muslims. They took turns basically stressing that
this well is a gift of God and that they should not fail to support it. Each
person said that the local villages should and will do their very best to
protect and support the well. They would make sure that payments for water
would be made at 25 Schillings per bucket and that when (not if) the pump
wears out, they WOULD recognize it is THEIR well and they must maintain it.
The Muslim man made a short speech and said something to the effect that this
is truly a gift of God to the entire community and they must share in the
responsibility to take care of it.
Members of the group
and villagers and local teachers were very gracious in thanking all of you
through me for making this possible. They recognized that this was the gift
of the Lutheran
Church and should be
valued as such. The local teachers also told me that this well would be a
wonderful assist to the local primary school. While that seemed a stretch, he
insisted that with water readily available, parents would send their children
to the school, would support the school and more people would move back to
this area to attend the school. This in turn, would motivate the government
to put more support into the staff and facilities of the primary school.
So…………for what has
seemed an eternity, I think we can say this well drilling event has been
successful. Now, we have a series of well rehabs and new boreholes that will
follow in fairly rapid succession as long as our money holds out. If any of
you has won the lottery since I left the States or if you would like to keep
our success story moving forward for the deserving people of Tanzania,
please feel free to make a contribution to:
Ark-Ok Synod
6931 S. 66th E. Ave.
Tulsa, OK
74133
and, designate water
wells on the memo line.
And, the need is,
indeed, high. At the last church we visited at Ol’ Janguiri, the members of
the congregation asked Pastor Herb if something could possibly be done within
the next month about a water well. They feared that the water shortage was so
severe that they would have to move their families in search of water if no
relief could be found. We have a well there that we hope and pray can be
rehabbed with a new pump in time to keep them here.
Thanks for listening to
my long tale of water well development but this ministry has become the
passion of my life at this time so I hope you will excuse me.
Blessings and
goodnight!
Paul
June 5: TANZANIA DAY
SIXTEEN
We are starting to wind
down and thinking about our return trip. Each year you reach a certain point
and decide that you have done as much damage to the continent of Africa as
you possibly can and start thinking back to the States. I think Cathy and I have reached that point
and we are starting to pack ebony items to resist breakage and figuring out
how to get all those dirty clothes back in the suitcases.. You’d like to
throw the old clothes away but you need them to wrap the ebony so…………you keep
it.
I will limit myself to
three brief stories that relate to absolutely nothing except that they are
uniquely Tanzanian and I find them interesting.
Story number one
features our esteemed team leader, Cathy Engelkes, and occurred during our
worship service today at the chapel we helped built last year at
Ngoisani. BTW, the chapel is really
strongly constructed of solid concrete blocks and looks great! As soon as we arrived a Massai woman
corralled Cathy and tugged her a couple of hundred yards into her mud boma.
We waited for the story and it was a typical one of Massai hospitality. The woman who knew not a word of English
took Cathy who handles Bwana Asifiwe pretty well and not much more inside the
mud hut and proceeded to explain to her that she was cooking something in a
big pot. It was ungali, basically a
corn meal mush that is their diet 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. She proceed to push Cathy’s hand into the
still hot ungali to make sure she got enough to eat and then poured milk from
a gourd through a strainer to get out the big clots into a cup for Cathy to
drink. Cathy tried to explain that she
was lactose intolerant but those Swahili words had not been provided for her
by our friendly guide, Herb Hafermann.
Finally, Cathy was returned to us not much the worse for wear and this
was an attempt to honor the only woman in our group with a special treat,
ungali and warm cow’s milk fresh from the cow. Cathy suggested that there are some things
that one should only experience one time and that this may have been one of
those times.
Story number two is
also pretty strange, but true. Luka,
our trusted and competent builder told me today that when he is on the job
site and there is only dirty, cloudy water to drink, he and his friends have
discovered a neat way to clarify water. They noticed one morning after
leaving their concrete trowels in a bucket of water that the cement sediment
had settled to the bottom and the water at the top of the bucket was
clear. Andrew had tried a handful of
the clear water and decided it was excellent drinking water. So………..now, they
take a bucket of slimy pond water, pour a handful of cement into the bucket
and let it set for 3 or 4 hours. Then
they pour off the clear liquid in the bucket into another bucket and they
have their drinking water for the day.
THIS, I have to check out with the lads in the Engineering Department
at OU. Something about this just doesn’t sound right!
Story number three.
Robert pointed out two 17 or 18 year old Massai lads yesterday at the water
well and reminded me of a story about them from five years ago when we were
building at Kiegea. Five years ago
these same two Massai warriors were 12 or 13 and came to our work site asking
for food. What had happened is that
they had been tending their father’s cattle and allowed them to stray into a
neighbor’s cornfield. The neighbor was
furious and made their father pay 60,000 Schillings (about 50 dollars) as a
fine for the damages. The father in
turn BANISHED THE TWO BOYS FROM HIS FAMILY TABLE FOR TWO WEEKS. They were able to sleep at home at night,
get a cup of milk in the morning but were not allowed any food for that
entire two week time period. So, they scrounged what they could from us, from
the neighbors, from the fields………and they apparently survived. Imagine sending out your 12 year old to
fend for himself for two weeks without food.
Of course, I imagine the father knew that the area was safe, some
neighbors would take pity on the boys and they would learn a valuable lesson.
What do all these
stories have in common? I have
absolutely no idea but they are all true, they are all from Africa
and they point out to us how we are all alike and yet live in very different
cultures. The primary lesson I keep
learning over and over again is to not judge other people’s customs and
mores. The Massai would find what we
do to be pretty strange as well.
And, so I must get back
to sorting out my dirty clothes and packing ebony. Tomorrow we get up early
to lay out the foundation lines for thee chapels at three different
sites. The beat goes on……..
Blessings,
Paul
June 6: TANZANIA
DAY SEVENTEEN
This will be our last story for the Construction
Trip of 2009. We leave early tomorrow
morning for a worship service in the Chelinze District that is somewhat on
the way to Dar. After the service we will go directly to Dar es Salaam and rejoin our safari
friends, Ross, Cheryl and Porter who will be on the plane waiting for
us. The flight makes the triangle of Mt. Kilimanjaro,
Dar es Salaam and Amsterdam.
Today, Luka, Thomas, Herb and I had a very tiring
trip to three remote locations where we laid out three churches. So, it is fitting that, while we funded and
helped build about 2 ½ churches, we leave with three new locations about to
have chapels of their own. The cycle
continues. At each place, appreciative
Massai greeted us with hot milk on the first location, hot tea and a pancake
at the second and topped it off with rice and chicken at the third.
There were a couple of incidents that remind us
of the difficult and trying times faced by Herb and the evangelists in addition
to the sheer joy and excitement of watching the new Christians realize they
will have an actual church home very soon. At the building site, we saw
evidence of alcoholism that plagues so many poor and remote regions. There were two men about age 30 who Herb
described as “running on a full tank”.
They weren’t a serious problem but it was clear they were an
embarrassment to those around them.
They brew a cheap home made beer that is a temptation some can’t
overcome. Luka reminded one of the men
that his own brother had died of alcoholism and that he should get his life
in order. Let’s hope that he can do
so.
The second sad incident was described to us by
the evangelist on the way back in the car.
A couple of weeks ago, a young girl in his young congregation had been
bitten by a black mamba snake and died almost instantly. There is no antidote that can be
administered quickly enough to save anyone bitten by the black mamba and it
is one of the many problems faced by those in the bush country.
The church elder and the evangelist sent us on
our way with many thanks praising us and God for laying out the church. Monday morning two of Luka’s helpers with
take a motorcycle taxi back into this remote region with all their masonry
tools and start building the foundation for the last church we laid out.
Finally, we were dined elegantly at Luka and
Ami’s new home. It was the first time
I have met Ami and she is a lovely gracious young mother and it is obvious
that she and Luka are being wonderful parents to their own Kristina and the
three children of Luka’s brother, who died last year. The house is nicely done and the love of
the family was clear to all. Luka had
been waiting for a long time to be able to entertain us and they spared no expense
to give us a wonderful meal and evening.
And, so, I say “goodbye” for now. I hope you have enjoyed and learned from
the stories shared with you. And, if
you wish to help the cause of either water or chapel construction please feel
free to do so by sending your checks to
Ark-Ok Synod
6931 S. 66th E. Ave.
Tulsa, OK
74133
Your prayers and support will be greatly
appreciated by the 80 evangelists and pastors serving 128 preaching stations
in the Mission District. As we watch
Pastor Herb minister to all the needs of the people in this area we are moved
immensely by what we see and hear.
Bwana Asifiwe!
Blessings,
Paul F. Kleine
June 7: Leave Dar es Salaam 10:00 PM for Amsterdam
June 8: Leave Amsterdam for US. Arrive
home approximately 4:20PM.
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