Chimala is about 50 miles from where the U.S. reporter Henry Stanley found the famous British explorer, Dr. David Livingstone in 1871. On finding Livingstone, Stanley said the well-known words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
The first photo shows the major east/west highway that runs in front of the Mission property. It is always busy with vehicles and with people on bicycles and on foot. The sign on the left side of the photo is one of the signs on the Mission.
Even on the major road, there are animals crossing!
Buses travel up and down the road.
The following photos show businesses in Chimala. Most businesses are along the road shown in the previous photos.
There is a truck weigh station near the hospital, so there are always trucks stopped and waiting to be weighed.
The next photo shows the hardware store.
The blue building in the next picture is a grocery store. Small grocery stores like this one usually specialize in a very limited number of items. One store owned by the mother of three of our readers sold only eggs, sodas, and plastic buckets! Evidently that store had good business. Each week the owner made the 50 mile trip to Mbeya to purchase eggs for the store.
Next is a furniture building business.
The furniture is actually very pretty.
The next two photos show hair salons.
Debbie is bargaining for a set of really neat insulated serving bowls (like ones we saw at Cyndi's house) that she wants. Bargaining is customary. The first asking prices are very high, especially for foreigners! The only problem is that there is a language barrier! Debbie is using a calculator to explain what she wants to pay.
The shop owner called over a man from the next shop to do some interpreting. Debbie did end up with her dishes, though she did not get the price down quite as low as she had wanted.
This man is a tailor. He does his work on a treadle sewing machine. He made some skirts and purses for us. He is also the one that Winfrida hired to make the clothes that she gave Ron and I. He speaks no English, so we had to get Ezekiel or Menard to translate for us.
"Football" (our soccer) is a very popular sport in Tanzania. One Saturday there was a huge tournament between Chimala and a rival village. Chimala won! Several of our readers went to that game.
Carrying water
Washing clothes
The next photo shows corn (they call it maize) laid out to dry.
Rice is also put out to dry. There is no protection for the food from stray animals, bugs, birds, or dust!
The sacks in the next photos are filled with rice. Rice and corn are the staple foods in Tanzania.
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