Igawa Village

The village of Igawa looks like every other small village in Tanzania. The first photos are of houses and businesses. Everywhere there is dirt, and everywhere there is poverty.



















The sticks in the following photo are protecting some kind of tree or plant.





Next is the church building, which again, is much like every other small church building in the villages.





One difference in Igawa is that there is a river that flows through it. The river is directly behind the church building, and it is very picturesque.





The river is used for washing clothes and for bathing.







Notice that on the board inside the church building are the names Bill, Chris, and Ron. The church members are very happy to have visitors that will take part in the worship services. Bill had warned Ron and Eddie to be ready to preach at a moment's notice in the village churches, and he was right. Ron preached (with maybe 5 minutes notice) the day we were at Igawa.

First is the song leader.



The communion is ready.



Ron is preaching in English with Menard as the interpreter in Swahili.





Children crowd in at the back and sit on the floor.





After we took the photo above, more and more village children came to get into the photos!





The children enjoyed shaking hands with Ron.



Debbie D. gets lots of attention, too!











The first video is my favorite song in Swahili.

The next video is a short clip of Ron preaching. He did a really good job.

A Visit to Lulu's Home

Lulu Chengula was one of Ron's readers. She invited us to go to her home one Saturday. We talked with a few of the people we knew to make sure that they thought it would be a safe place to go. We were assured that it was safe. Lulu lives with her grandparents, and her grandfather is a doctor.
Lulu said that it would be a long walk to her house, but it was actually only about a ten-minute walk! She met us at the edge of the Mission property. Balaka Mehenge, the young man who read with both Debbies, was with her.
In the first photo Lulu, Balaka, and Ron are walking toward Lulu's house.



The next photos show some of what we saw along the way. The first is the furniture making business. I think that the photo of this was in a previous blog.

Next is the house being built by Balaka Mehenge's family. As you can tell, this is going to be a very nice house. Balaka's father, Dr. Mehenge, is one of the two doctors at the Mission Hospital. His two sisters read with Jan.

This is the pharmacy that the Mehenge family owns. It is across the street from their new house. They also own a small shop on the main road through Chimala.

Next is the front of Lulu's house. The front part is a small pharmacy which is owned by her grandfather.

This is the door to the pharmacy. I am not sure what the Swahili words mean.

In the front yard is a persimmon tree. Lulu said that just the week before she had killed a copperhead in the front yard. Evidently that is a very common occurrence!

To get to the front door of the house, you must go down this alleyway and around to the back. All of the dirt yard is swept very clean. Lulu said that is her daily job.

Next is the living room of the house. Lulu was happy to introduce us to her grandmother, on the left, and her mother, on the right. Lulu's mother is a primary teacher. See from the following photos if the house looks like the house of a U.S. physician......This is actually a very nice house for Tanzania.

The door on the right is the front door of the house. It opens into a courtyard. Across the courtyard is the cooking area. We did not get to see that. The door was left standing open. While we were there, a mouse came in the door and ran across the floor.

Lulu had the table all ready for our meal.

These next photos show the pictures on the living room walls. The largest one in this first one is a former and very respected president of Tanzania. The small one is the current president.

The next one is a picture of Lulu's grandfather when he was young.

The biggest picture of all was a very large poster of Obama! Africans love Obama because they think that he will give Africans everything that they want and need!

Ron and Balaka and Lulu are eating the food that Lulu prepared especially for us. We were very honored.

We had beans, rice, spinach, and bottled water. It was all very good. No one else in the house was eating.

Lulu and Balaka

Lulu's grandfather came home from work. He was very happy to meet us. He spoke fairly good English.

Next is Lulu's aunt, who is a nurse/midwife (but not at Chimala hospital).
She spoke excellent English and was anxious to ask our opinion on everything! The whole family thought that she had visited the U.S., and even she thought so, but it turned out that she had actually been to Germany!

When we left, the grandmother and aunt walked outside into the courtyard with us to say goodbye. They were very gracious to us.

Lulu seemed so happy to have us in her home, and it was a real treat for us! That was the only Tanzanian home that we got to visit, and we were treated like honored guests. We hope that we get to go back to Tanzania some day and see Lulu and her family again!

Chang 'Ombe Village, Part 2----Children and Toys

Following are some photos of Chang'Ombe Village.

The next photo shows a beehive that was about 20 feet up in a tree.

More and more village children came to the church building after the worship service. They wanted to see the white strangers!

Many brought their "toys" along with them. I am not sure if the toys were made by Fisher Price or Playschool!

Don't you love the "cars" in the next photos!

Notice that some of the wheels the next car are made of corn cobs.

The boy on the left may not have much, but he has a water bottle!

These last two boys probably attended church because they are clean and dressed better than most of the children.

Chang 'Ombe Village, Part 1

Bill S. normally goes out to different village churches on Sundays to preach or to teach Bible classes and to encourage the people. One Sunday we visited Chang'Ombe.



Next is the village church building.



Ezekiel translated into English for us.

Children were clean and all dressed up for church.

Children from the village wandered into the service, maybe because visitors were there! They are not so clean and not so well dressed----but they are precious children with lots of smiles.

The girls in the next photo are the Irish medical students who were doing volunteer work at the Chimala hospital. They are Sarah, Rachel, and Naomi.

Menard

Boaz

Jan wore her skirt made of African fabric (with the matching purse).

The children loved getting their pictures made with Debbie E. and Muriel. Debbie and Muriel also have on their new African skirts.

Ron, Jan, Debbie, and Muriel

The following video is of the singing in the worship service.

Kimani Falls, Part 3----the Summit

These are the views as we walked up to the top of Kimani Falls.

You can barely see our truck way at the bottom of the hill.

The following photos were taken when we got to the top of the falls.

The two brothers---Eddie and Bill

Menard

Debbie

Jan and Ron

We rested and ate lunch.

Was Ron snoring?

When Ron accidently dropped his sunglasses down in a gulley, he noticed something sticking out from under a rock. He called Menard to look, and Menard said that it was a Monitor lizard! Menard poked at it with a stick to get it to come out.

When the lizard came out, he ran so fast that it was hard to get a photo! He was about 6 feet long!



We had a wonderful trip to Kimani Falls! Thanks to Bill and Cyndi for taking us!

Kimani Falls, Part 2

We were ready for our adventure! From left to right are Cyndi, Eddie, Jan, Ron, Debbie, guide, and guide Menard. Bill S. was taking the photo.

Cyndi and Bill





Ron, Bill, Debbie D., and Eddie

The next photos were taken on our way up to the top of the falls.

Next is a centipede.

We had to go up a ladder made of sticks. It looks fairly easy in the photo, but some of the rungs were missing and the remaining ones were wet and muddy. It was very slippery!

Photos from the top of the falls will follow.......

Kimani Falls, Part 1

Saturdays were our days off. One Saturday we went to Kimani Falls, which is only about 30 miles from Chimala Mission. However, it took over an hour to get there. The first photo shows the Land Rover Defender in which 8 of us rode.

Two men went with us to serve as our guides. Kimani Falls has no signs leading the way (in fact, no signs once you are there), so we needed someone to show us how to get to the falls. The two men and Ron got the honors of riding in the back of the truck. The ride was so bumpy part of the way that they had to hold on, and their heads occasionally hit the top of the truck!

Debbie and Menard

This part of the road doesn't look too bad. It is well traveled by villagers as they transport their rice and produce by bicycles and carts.

Following is a termite mound.

The next photos show the parts of the road that are less traveled. The elephant grass was sometimes as tall as the vehicle.
This does not look like the way to a tourist spot, does it?

The next photos do not do justice to how rough the road actually was! Bill had to drive carefully around (and sometimes through!) large rocks, huge holes, and steep parts (30 degree angles) of the road. At times it felt as if we were going to tip over sideways.

Once we arrived, we all piled out of the truck. The first thing we did was spray with bug repellent!

Now for the beautiful part! Kimani Falls is gorgeous! If it had been in the U.S., there would have been all kinds of tourist businesses and people, but here there was no one! That is part of what makes the falls so spectacular! Ron and I have recently been to Niagara Falls, and we both think Kimani Falls far outshines Niagara for beauty! More photos of the falls will follow on the next post...