TZ 2016 – DWT offices/LTTC (5/4)
It is still rainy season here in Kasulu and as we gathered this morning in the chapel for devotions the heavens opened with a deluge so loud on the tin roof that we could not hear one another as we read and commented on today’s passage from John. The blessing was that after drenching the land, the rain completely halted just before the end of the half-hour gathering. It did leave a certain level of humidity in the air though. Unless we can “bake” them in the sun tomorrow, it is gong to be several days before Bill’s freshly washed heavy cotton pants dry.
We returned to the hostel to make our first breakfast here: Instant Irish oatmeal with a spoonful of Neato (Full-fat dried milk from Nestle; I don’t know WHY they don’t sell it in the U.S.) banana and a couple of spoonfuls of local honey along with mango juice and coffee.
Next up was delivering the tablets we had brought with us to the DWT diocesan secretary, Emmanual Bwatta. Our hostel and the office are within very easy walking distance from each other in the compound, but twenty tablets with protective covers, their chargers, plug converters and cables are HEAVY. One of our rolling L.L.Bean rolling duffles to the rescue!
Bill stayed at the offices to take a look at some networking issues that had occurred since we where last here in September 2015. We had brought an amplifier for the outside access point and when we had left a large portion of the compound had internet access. That was just at the start of rainy season and since then a lightening storm fried it and a couple of other network components. This happens all too often. There is now a new cellular provider in the area with a very strong signal and very good rates. You only have to go as far as Kigoma to get one of their cellular modems – two years ago you couldn’t even buy a cellular modem in Dar Es Salamm. We think that perhaps to route to go is provide one of these modems, with perhaps a repeater to boost the signal for each building that is used by diocesan personal instead of trying to provide a central antenna that is all too prone to lightening strikes and power surges.
After chai in the diocesan lunch/break room, (Elevensies…japati and fried eggs and sweet chai, which served as an excellent lunch for us) we hung two more sets of curtains and a few pictures in our hostel rooms, and then headed down to the Lake Tanganyika Theological College (the college formally known as “KBC” or Kasulu Bible College.) Bill brought the mini-Mac server he had brought to more than supplement the mini-Mac server he had sent to Kasulu with the Bishop back in January when the previous server died a hard death. This new server is faster, has more storage and memory than the server he sent in January. Having both of them will provide a backup should something happen to one of them. Tomorrow he will discuss with the LTTC computer staff how they want it configured. In the meantime he got the College-wide wi-if network working again. It needed to be re-configured after the various IP address changes that occurred with the previous server was replaced.
There is building everywhere here. The construction on the left is from last fall. Not only is it finished, but it grew some friends. These will be offices for the instructors. Right now they have no private work space, just a common teachers lounge.
Dinner tonight was at Cannon Daniel Nyugwa’s house, out next to the Marusi Church. Dinner at Daniel’s house is always a feast, and also full of interesting conversation. Daniel will be reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60 this summer and will be retiring. He is planning to move to Kigoma. We will miss him on our future visits to the Kasulu area, but hope that we might see him when we go though Kigoma.
All in all, things have been going very smoothly, and we know that is a result of your prayers for us and for the work. Keep praying, please!
TZ 2016 – Shopping Day (5/3)
Adventures in “test driving” a house:
We started today with the normal weekday routine of joining the staff of the Diocese at morning chapel. We were going to have a later breakfast at the Bishop’s house, and decided to use the electric kettle to make some tea while we were waiting. We also had the hot water heater on. We blew the circuit. Not just in our rooms, but also at the Bishop’s house, which is where the power is coming from until the electric authority gets around to running a line directly to the hostel. (Things are different in Tanzania.) At first we thought that maybe the power was out all over the compound, but after a walk up to the offices, where there was still power, we determined that the issue was more local. The problem was quickly solved after identifying where it originated. We also got some bananas and home-made bread from Andrea out of the walk.
After breakfast we went shopping with Ephraim for a guide. We stopped at a street-side shop on the “main drag” and saw a love seat and matching chair that we thought would be nice. Even though I almost always end up going with the first thing I see that I like, it would not be good stewardship not to shop around. We stopped at several other shops. One did not have anything ready made. He had pictures of various models and they would custom make in about a week. The furniture was lovely, ornate and way to large for the sitting room space. (Folks here like to have seat 8 to 10 people, no matter how small their sitting room is. You can imagine how crowded some of the rooms can get. We want a more “American” sense of space.). Another only had two models that I did not really like. We eventually ended up back were we started. While we waited for the proprietor to put our choice of ends on the arms of the chair and love seat, Ephraim and I went down the street to find and buy a coffee table. There is already one in the bedroom, but I like it there, so we needed one for the sitting room. Ephraim had called for a truck from the diocese to come down to bring back the furniture, so we headed back to the hostel.
While the furniture was being set up, Cannon Wilson Mafumbi arrived with a two-burner gas-cooker and a large can of butane, as
propane is referred to here. Now we don’t need to use the electric kettle, but we had not pots or pans, so we headed back out with a different guide to shop for smaller domestic items. I could find a frying pan, but I could not find a kettle or even what we consider to be a normal pot with a handle, unless I wanted to buy the entire set (I didn’t). I ended up buying one of the smaller aluminum pans with a large flat rim, that is the standard pot for cooking over charcoal fires. We also got a thermos to keep the hot water in, a set of mugs (which is a full dozen mugs – way more than we need but that’s the way they come), a small plastic basin for washing dishes and two trash buckets. Then we got some basic food supplies: Neato, Africaf, bread, honey, peanut butter and cookies. We will want to supplement with some eggs, tomatoes, avocados and other fresh fruits, but with the food supplies we bought with us and these basics, we hope to be able to take care of most of our breakfast and lunch needs.
At this point, I was exhausted and took a nap!
We had a lovely dinner with Emmanuel Bwatta and his family, then back to the compound to blog, and in my case, to do a little bookkeeping. I promised myself that this year I would keep on top of it rather than trying to remember everything two months later! Bwana asafiwe! (Auto-correct just changed “Bwana” to banana. I like bananas, but I’d rather Praise the Lord.)
TZ 2016 – and HERE (5/2)
Where did Sunday and Monday go? Well, most of Sunday was spent on a plane (after ALL of Saturday was spent on a plane). We arrived in Dar Es Salaam on schedule and were met by our taxi driver, Moshambo, who we had met last year, after some fun and games with getting the tablets through customs. (Prayer and Bill’s stubbornness got us through without paying tax, and we have since learned how to get the proper paper work in advance for future years.). Showers and dinner at our hotel. Lights out by 8:00 pm. We were exhausted!