Harvesting rice

Wednesday 22nd June Michael swept the area around the houses today, and I’d never seen it so immaculate! Bibi said she only had a little work to do so didn't need my help, so I sat outside with Bruce who was working on a message for bibi’s church in Nzega – we’d been asked to go there in the afternoon as we hadn’t gone on Sunday. We were surprised to see some mamas going along on the path near the house, carrying small dishes of white stuff - Michael told us later that it was flour. Someone had died in the village and it was time for people to pay their respects. One lady came to get flour from bibi, then another one came by to invite bibi to accompany her. Breakfast was buns and chai today, then Michael and I looked at photos indoors, from when his grandfather was a young man to Michael's time in Bukoba at Harvest. It was interesting seeing more pictures of Michael as a baby, his baptism age 15, working in a store after he left school. There were a few from his time at Biharamulo Teacher Training College. Only three of the students were men, the rest women, who wore a uniform of pale blue skirt and white blouse; the men wore a blue & white striped shirt over whatever trousers they had. It was interesting seeing the dolls & Ludo boards they had made. There were some nice photos of Michael relaxing on a rock near the school, also one of his first class of five little students at Harvest, Bukoba. I recognised two of them who I'd taught on occasion – a very difficult job! Bibi came in, urging him to hurry up as he was needed to supervise Ibrahim and little Michael, who’d gone to the rice shamba. She looked surprised when I went with the men, perhaps she'd hoped I'd stay and help her or chat. On the other side of the Tabora road, a footpath wends towards the paddy field past a short path to the village pump. Rice is grown in small rectangular plots surrounded by thorny, weed-topped mud walls. Ibrahim had already cut a few bundles using a small sickle, but Michael took over. Little Michael was just messing around!Bruce had a brief turn at cutting the rice, but found the bending too much for his back. Once there was a big enough area cleared, we laid a large tarpaulin down, lining up the cut bundles along one side. Threshing is done by picking up small bundles and hitting the heads against the tarp or a stone to dislodge the dry grains. Ibrahim used another method, laying several bundles head to head on the tarpaulin, then beating them with a large stick. Once we’d finished the first bundles, Ibrahim was kept busy collecting them from Michael, bringing them over to us to thresh. Little Michael ran back off to the home shamba, although he could have made himself usefull carrying bundles or chasing the neighbour's straying calves away. 1½ hours later, we'd cleared two plots and needed to return to bibi's as we had a lunch engagement. Shaking the grains into the middle of the tarp, we skimmed off the rubbish before pushing the rice into a sack for Michael to carry on his back, it was about 15 kgs.Bruce went over to the pump to see if he could help the youngsters drawing water, he thought they weren’t pumping it very well – but soon found the seals were too worn to pump any other way. The mamas at the intersection greeted us, commenting about how tired we must have got from all our work in the fields - but I said it was very enjoyable! Bibi also thought we’d be tired, but really we were fine! We had got pretty hot though, so were glad to bathe before going to Paulo’s. I had to laugh, Michael trotted out just in his shorts looking slightly embarrassed – briefly! Paulo’s is only a short walk away. The big wrought-iron gate opens into a small courtyard between the house & other buildings. We had a lovely time there, good food and good conversation! Mama had made a very tasty mchuzi and a delicious side-dish of ground peanuts/tomatoes/salt. She'd prepared both ugali & spaghetti, perhaps fearing we wouldn't like ugali, but we quite like it!
Afterward, we chatted with Paulo, Michael chatting with his aunt. Paulo says if you put the two of them together, it’s hard to stop them talking!!! He used to clean and maintain the swimming pool at the Swedish school until it closed, working every day from 7 a.m.. Alternate days finished at 2 p.m., the other by midday. The one hundred students were taught in Swedish, but they picked up Kisukuma playing with the local kids - it’s a Sukuma area. The adults also picked it up instead of Kiswahili, causing a few problems for those working at the hospital - some of the other staff plus patients were from other tribes!
The pool now only gets used by visiting Wazungu, Africans don’t normally like to swim – probably a modesty issue re togs, although the men seem quite happy to bathe in a river in a secluded spot! Woman aren’t allowed to show the thigh or midriff though. Paulo picked up Swedish so well that visitors often ask him when he’d visited Sweden! He now works as a Bible College watchman, having on a rotating shift: Day 1: 7 p.m.-7 a.m.; Day 2: 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Day 3: 3 p.m.-10 p.m. He also sells phone vouchers from home and at the bus stand, making about 20% profit. His children help, he says it’s good training for them to take part in a small business; too many young people are becoming lazy, sitting on benches drinking & smoking, saying there’s no work! In the old days, that’s what the old men did. He says the young ones are drinking their strength away, so if they do find work, they can’t do it anyway! He says there’s plenty of work if you go out & look for it.They only have two children, Happy (Form 2) & Matthew (S6). Happy didn’t want to go to Nzega Day School, so they found her a place at Umoja Sec, 100 kilometres away in the bush. She didn’t want to go there as she’d heard tales of lions, snakes & hyenas!
She phoned up after just a week there, wanting to come home: there were wild animals, and she had no friends. But she’d never actually seen any wild animals, just heard a hyena one night! She agreed to finish the term.
They discussed it again in the holidays – by which time she loved it – great teachers and great friends! However, her brother wants to go to Nzega Day, he thinks they study too hard at Umoja! Paulo wanted to know if we’d like to use the sauna - they all laughed when I said I thought it could be dangerous, one could get too dehydrated, and also I don't like the idea of dripping with sweat! It might be one way of keeping warm in a cold climate though, but Africa is too hot!
We had to be back to bibi’s by 3 so that we'd be in time for church at 4. We were met by another visitor, Michael's younger brother, Jeremia, who gave us both big hugs. He’d come on the bus from Igunga where he lives with Aunty Joyce. Aunty Lucia there too, telling us Uncle Enock would take us to Isanzu tomorrow.
After getting our Bibles for church, we waited outside for bibi, who came dressed in a fancy blouse. I must say I was a bit shocked to see Jeremia start to unbutton it, especially as she had nothing on underneath - but he was only trying to help, she hadn’t done them up properly!!
We got to church on time, but of course it left no opportunity to go to the net. Poor Bruce had got overheated AGAIN, so Michael went off to buy water while we waited in the church office for the service to begin. Some of the elders greeted us and we signed the visitors’ book; the pastor was away visiting a bereaved family in another village.
The service started 40 minutes late as no-one turned up apart from the elders till then, so we could have gone to the net after all! The elders quipped that they should only wait ½ hour then lock up & go home - that’d really confuse the latecomers!
The new church is really large but isn't finished yet. They say it is full on a Sunday. The old one is only used for Sunday School now. However, only about 20 turned up for the mid-week service. Naturally it’s hard for workers to get there, so most were elderly like bibi.
The teaching on prayer was excellent, given by one of the elders, a school teacher, as part of a series. He translated the odd phrase for us, I quietly did the rest for Bruce. At one point, he used Jeremia in an example of the believer’s close relationship with Christ, walking arm in arm around the front of the church - Jeremiah (Jesus) even stroked his face and shoulders! It was quite funny!
Bruce was given a short opportunity to share, I tried translating, but the teacher chipped in to hurry things along, going away like a rocket! I would have preferred him to have done it all really!
We greeted everyone afterwards, including a blind evangelist, whose prayer isn’t to receive his sight, but rather to be used more by God.
It took an hour to return via the dirt roads; the dust upset Michael’s sinuses so he had a rather disturbed night. Little Michael got into big trouble from bibi for something later on, I think he'd been playing with the candle indoors.
Once it got dark, we were asked to wait indoors while Michael went to Mama Lucia’s to see how much Baba Enocki would charge to go to Isanzu, but the shrieks and laughter from the girls outside made me wonder just what was going on, and I think he was a little late leaving - although of course it could have been Jeremiah that was causing all the commotion! I wasn’t sure if we should go out to join the fun or stay in, it was pretty boring inside!
Michael was just back in time for our late dinner, saying we’ll only have to pay for seven litres of petrol, half the cost of a taxi. He said we could all take turns driving as we all could drive!
Michael of course had done a one-month course last year, and Jeremia a six-month one some time ago. I must say I didn't really want to – but driving on rough roads veering round potholes, livestock, cyclists, pedestrians and the occasional car, bus or truck – no way!
We were a bit shocked to find out that you can get a licence just by paying a fee, without having ever driven, had lessons or studied the road code! No wonder there are so many accidents! Jeremia would like to get a commercial licence but it costs 100,000Tsh and Michael thinks it’s too dangerous being a taxi driver anyway, lots die every year especially in Dar from hijacking – I was thinking they just died in accidents!
We found out that Michael hadn’t started primary school till he was nine, which is why he finished so late aged 16. In the year 2000, the government developed a new scheme of special schools for such late starters, so that they could complete an abridged syllabus in just two years, instead of the normal seven.
We were interested to hear that Jeremia can play the piano & loves classical music, he plays keyboard at church but of course has no instrument at home to practise on. He'd like to find his own place in Igunga. At present he's at Aunty Joyce's, where he’s started a chicken farm with 100 hens (local & European) that are laying well. He started it there rather than Tazengwa because there are more opportunities to sell eggs. We were all disappointed that we didn't have an opportunity to visit it.

Strange English, bibi's house, God's protection

Tuesday July 21st I felt really tired in the morning, it'd been hard to get to sleep, and I woke too early. I was also disturbed during the night by someone else having trouble sleeping, their bed creaked each time they turned over! However it was a nice morning, a bit warmer as there was no cold wind.
After a breakfast of peanuts + chai, I briefly looked at 2 English books Michael’d been given a few years ago. The first was written by a Kenyan Rastafarian and had Kiswahili-style pronunciation guides for each sentence. I tried reading one out loud and sounded rather African! The second was written by a Tanzanian in supposedly American English, but had some very strange phrases, such as: “Would you mind standing in camera?”!
Michael helped me understand some Kiswahili words I'd been having trouble with using his dictionary; he’s a good teacher. Bruce was busy reading the CHE book. Soon it was time to farewell Mama Joyce + Maria; Mama Lucia came to say goodbye too.
Michael showed us around the old house, he’d like to renovate it to use it as his own home. It'd be too expensive to knock down + rebuild. He actually helped the builder build it, acting as his navvy: fetching water, mixing clay plaster, carrying bricks.
Past the porch where bibi cooks, you enter the living room. A bedroom is on one side. A second door leads into what was a food preparation cum dining room and another bedroom. The door to the now-vanished outside kitchen has been bricked--in, as has a window. A long narrow store room stands between the old dining room and the main bedroom, which also has another store room on one end.
Some of the walls have huge cracks running through them, others have been filled with plaster. The aluminium roof has huge holes in it (it replaced the first roof when that started to leak). It'd be a big job to renovate it!
Before having a small lunch of ugali and mchuzi at noon, we looked at a model family tree to discuss names. Michael said we would eat two dinners later on!
Michael took me to the pool at the far end of the shamba near the damp depression where babu wanted to dig a well so I could do my washing. Bruce stayed behind, but little Michael tagged along, not wanting to play with the neighbours’ children. As he hadn't brought his dirty clothes with him, 'our' Michael had to go back to get them! After I finished our clothes, I washed their trousers whilst Michael did their shirts!
We met Bruce on the way back, he must have been wondering what had taken us so long! He’d been planning house renovations, so we went back to have another look before he put them on paper.
We were surprised to be offered cucumber + bananas at 4, thinking of our 2 dinners that were coming up, but ate them all the same to keep bibi happy!
Our first engagement was at the Kulwa's, but pastor was resting in a singlet! He'd had malaria for a week & his wife came home with it too. She’s on hospital medicine, but he’s taking papaya seed tea, a local remedy.
We looked at more photos, and talked a lot over dinner. He invited Bruce to teach a 5-day seminar on our next visit, and he'd also like a church team to come to do village evangelism, there are lots of unreached places near Nzega.
We were surprised to hear it’s unsafe for Wazungu in many parts of Tanzania these days, even in Ipilili after dark! We'd thought it was only in cities like Dar & Arusha, or near the borders with Rwanda, Burundi + the DRC.
He told us the following story. In June, he invited a man into his home as he said he needed to talk. He and 3 others had planned to raid the house in April, when the Kulwas had Wazungu guests. One was armed with a rifle, another with a pistol & they were prepared to kill someone if necessary.
As they approached the house, they heard the sound of people marching towards them, so they ducked round the corner. Everywhere they went, the sound followed them, so eventually they ran away. This man had been so upset that he eventually decided to confess to the pastor, & to ask about who was protecting the house.
Jonas told him there were no bodyguards, only God. The man wanted to know more, and ended up becoming a Christian. He's now an active baptized church member, and led one of the other thieves to the Lord who'd been imprisoned for another crime. Now the other prisoners are hearing the gospel!
Jonas was amazed hearing Michael speaking a little English, and gave him some simple greetings to translate for Bruce. He was so successful that we told him he’d soon be translating in church!
On the way to Mama Lucia's for our second dinner, we visited another pastor’s house. As he was out, we chatted to the two men sitting outside: another uncle + a friend of Michael’s, who said that Michael’s his pastor! Bibi had told me that lots of people call him that because he studied the Bible so hard by correspondence that he was able to advise & counsel many people in the village.
It was dark before we arrived at Mama Lucia’s so Michael helped me again, the pathe was really stony. We met her husband Enock Kakole for the first time. He works at the new orphanage opened in June by the Mission; before that he worked with the children at the Swedish school for 15 years, then at the Bible College for 5.
We watched news on the TV for a while, run by a small solar-powered generator, then we discussed the best way to get to Isanzu in two days time to visit Babu Matthias (a great-uncle). We wanted to walk to save money; Michael had said it was only 12 kms, and would cost 20,000 Tsh to go by ca, but bibi had been horrified and said it’d take 3-4 hours! We thought if we left first thing, we could arrive by lunchtime, & get a car back – BUT there are no vehicles in the village. Enock said he might be able to take us, and would let us know the next day.

Divine appointment in Nzega

Monday July 20th  Windy/cold at first, hot later.  Michael showed us an old letter he'd been sent by a USA Bible College re a pastor’s course.  Even back in 2003, the fees were a total of USD 14,000 for one year live-in, with only 10 hours' guaranteed teaching time per semester!  Overseas students in difficult circumstances could do it by correspondence as long as their home church would guarantee the tuition & book fees.  Then he showed us his chekechea teacher-training certificate from Biharamulo.  He studied there from 2005/6, a Swedish missionary paid his fees.  He also showed us last year’s one-month driving course certificate.  He'd been a bit disappointed by his results, but we told him it’s hard to learn to drive in such a short time.
Mid-morning, we walked to Nzega through lovely countryside, passing an English Medium Primary School in the town outskirts.   We met lots of Michael’s old school friends, and sat in the shade of a veranda outside a guest house owned by one of them.  It was being renovated so they had no soda to offer. 
We were surprised to be waved at by an Mzungu in a passing Land Rover which then stopped.  She came over, asking Michael in excellent Kiswahili who he was, before introducing herself as the Finnish missionary who employs Mama Lucia as cook and housekeeper!  As they hadn't been in Tazengwa for very long, and only stay there for breaks from their work 100 kms away, Michael had never met them.  We ended up being invited for coffee at 5!  It was truly a ‘divine appointment’, they’d only got back the night before & were to leaved again the next day!
As we were feeling thirsty, we went to have soda + buns at a cafe before going to the internet.  We met a young boy on the way, who looked about 8 but was 11.  He spoke really good English, and asked Bruce SO many interesting questions!  Great fun! 
Unfortunately I'd accidentally left my notebook in our room, so couldn't upgrade our seats as I didn't know our Skywards numbers.  We were able to read some emails at last as I eventually managed to find Xnet's new webmail address.
We then went to book seats for Friday, but only paid half the fare: if you pay it all, they might resell the seats!  After that we went to the Post Office to buy post cards – but they don't sell them!  Bruce was suffering from the heat again, so we didn’t want to walk back through town to find a bookshop and to go to the market (soko) to buy bibi some fruit and vegs. 
We heard whistles being blown & marching - along came a team of women dressed in bright uniforms, advertising a concert.  They were all smiles when I greeted them in Kiswahili!
On the way back, we eventually found a roadside stall where we bought some tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, onions + bananas.  Further along the way, we bought a huge pawpaw, then at a kiosk, we bought Michael a new toothbrush, some toothpaste and candles.  He'd accidentally left his toothbrush and toothpaste at Rosa's and had used up our spare airline set.
We reached home at 3 and had lunch an hour later, a good thing we'd had a snack in town!  After a brief break, it was time to go to the Swedish Mission.
The first Swedish missionaries arrived in Tazengwa in 1932 and started a school for Swedish missionary kids from all over Africa.  It closed 5 years ago, but reopened as a Bible College for training African pastors up to degree level.  It's now solely run by African staff.We passed Michael's primary school, which is two blocks of classrooms set in sandy land - one block is shown in the photo (top left).  The monument (above) across the road is in memory of the first Swedish missionary, and nearby is the FPCT church (left) where babu was the 2nd African pastor.
The mission compound is surrounded by a tall netting fence, a thatched kibanda houses a security guard just inside the large gates.  The grounds are attractive, and you follow a broad, smooth, sandy drive towards the large thatched house. 
No-one answered our calls at the front door, so we went round to the back.  The noisy generator had drowned us out.  Hanna Väyrynen + Lucia were in the kitchen, but sent us back to the front veranda to eat & drink together: home-made Finnish yeast buns, spicy biscuits + real coffee (Kenyan) or tea if you preferred. 
We had a lovely time with Markku + Hanna, who practiced her English so Michael felt a bit left out.  Bruce said now he’d know how he feels!  We were surprised to hear that Finnish is quite similar to Kiswahili so they pick it up fast; they find English very hard to master.
We shared about our backgrounds, families and work in Africa.  Hearing about the Maasai’s problems, they lent us a book on a Christian community development programme (CHE) that they use.  It's used in many countries and seems to be really effective.
It was lovely to find people with hearts like ours, and who see the problems of the typical African mindset of depending on outside help, and wanting to have bigger, ‘better’ churches – i.e. more Western-style, instead of being content to use what they have/can afford. 
We went home via another babu’s place.  As a retired Primary School teacher, he has good English.  He thanked us several times for helping Michael study, saying the family wants to help but don’t have the resources. 
I was really touched when Michael took my hand on the way home, leading me round the stones and dips in the path - it was dark, we had no torch, and I don't see well in the dark.
It was a big gathering for tea, including Mama Lucia + her girls.  We had rice, curry, bananas + cucumber, then a time of worship together.  Pic: Mama Joyce, her daughters Maria & Editha, little Michael.

Off to Arusha

Thursday July 16th We were up at 7 and went outside to wait for Michael as usual, then Ntarula came out, hearing us talking, and told us Michael had already gone to Rosa's, so we went together to look for him. He was outside cleaning his teeth!
At breakfast, we were joined by another of the Mzee’s brothers, Saidi’s father, who’d come down the mountain for the day.
We went to the bus stand around 9, Michael had wanted to leave earlier, Rosa wanted us to delay! We were to take Michael mdogo with us too (pictured with mama + Bruce)!!
It seemed a long wait before we left in a battered old landrover. First Michael had to bargain over the price: the driver wanted to charge for little Michael, although small children normally travel free as they sit on a lap. It's always a bit nerve-wracking waiting, they keep on tooting the horn like they’re ready to go, then drive away to make a circuit of the village to try to find more passengers before returning to the bus stand. Our luggage stayed up on top without being tied on for ages, but once it was fastened, it was REALLY time to go.
We drove off the road into part of the village criss-crossing a drain + squeezing between trees to pick up a passenger from his house. Back on the ‘main road’ – a dirt track wide enough for 2 vehicles - we stopped to hoist a motorcycle onto the roof, it almost didn’t make it! We ended up with several people on the roof + hanging off the back door!
We'd been told Same was only 1/2 hour away, but we Took 1 ½ hours! It was a very rough road, the countryside a mixture of lush, wetter areas & dry thornbush-covered land. Little Michael was very proud to be coming with us, not at all concerned to be away from home, but he soon thought we’d already arrived!
Once in Same, we travelled down the dusty streets to gingerly cross a drain on wooden boards to arrive outside a mechanic’s workshop to drop off the motorbike. It took a bit of manoeuvring to reverse the Land Rover back onto the street, there was no room to turn round!
It took a while to find a bus with enough spare seats going to Arusha at the bus stand. We'd decided to stop there for the night instead of Moshi, to be able to visit Michael’s sister Evelina. We bought some bananas, biscuits, juice & water while we waited. Bruce + both Michaels sat in the back seat, but I had to sit by a rather sulky lady + young baby. It was nice to have tar-seal roads, although shortly after reaching a large town at noon, the bus broke down, just 28 kms from Moshi - a broken tie-rod.
Many got off the bus or stood up during the 25 minutes it took to fix it. Unfortunately my neighbour spilt juice on my seat, and I started to wonder if it was ‘accidentally on purpose!’ as she didn’t even want me to sit on the edge of the seat.
I was very pleased to be able to change seats after Moshi, where a lot of people disembarked, and Michael even came over to sit next to me and chatted the rest of the way to Arusha!
I was very impressed by Moshi, it's very clean & beautiful – the only part of Tanzania to have anti-litter laws! This region is lush & green, there are lots of good crops & trees, very unlike many other parts we passed through.
We arrived in Arusha about 3.30, and Michael left us with the bags + little M to buy tickets to Nzega + find a taxi to take us to a guest house. We then went to a nearby ATM, as we didn't have enough cash for both the tickets + a guest house. The glass cubicle was guarded by an armed man sitting inside a small room with a roll-up door. As the taxi was waiting, I only briefly checked the money, and later on found the last 3 notes were only 5,000 Tsh each instead of 10,000!
The guest house was nice, quite close to the bus stand in a very quiet street. We were glad to put on our sweaters before going by daladala to Eve's. The busy streets were lined with people selling wares, and we even saw 6 Europeans!
Once off the daladala, we walked along a narrow, raised dirt pavement alongside a deep drain, and stopped at a small shop to ask where Evelina was; Michael had expected to see her selling corn but she’d gone home early.
We went through a dirty alleyways, stepping over a smelly drain to enter a gate in a tall mud brick wall. Eve’s was the last on the left in a small alleyway between 2 buildings. 2 small boys, Joshua & David, came out from the opposite curtained doorway to greet us, then Mary (Evelina’s step-mother - Boniface has remarried) invited us into her small living room: a bed on the right, 2 sets of chairs with a low table in the middle (not much leg-room!) + a large wall unit on the left. A second curtained doorway leads into another room. It's typical rental accommodation: you rent 1-2 rooms in a house and share an outdoor kitchen, choo & bafu.
We sat on the chairs, Michael on the bed, listening to Mary. She’d just got over being sick for a month, firstly a lung infection then a painful stomach. Eve entered without greeting us properly, rather reluctantly sitting next to Michael, who eventually got her to greet us in English, even to answer a couple of questions + count to 100! She likes school & is in Standard 4.
She was sent back out with the 2 boys to buy soft drinks; Bruce had fun trying to take the tops off with no opener! Betty (Mary’s teenage daughter from another marriage) came in with the pastor’s eldest daughter who's 19 and has excellent English. Her mother came round with her youngest son Tito (6), inviting us over for a chai afterwards, although her husband was still at church.
Boniface turned up later on his bicycle, he’d had trouble getting back from work as the roads were so busy. He’s a salesman. He’s very nice but isn’t a Christian, unlike his wife.
We all went to the pastor’s for chai, and were told it was the first time they’d had such visitors, other Wazungu have refused to come! How rude!
I tried to take a photo of Eve, her father + the rest, but the battery went flat & the spare one was in the guest house! That was sad, our only opportunity.
Both families accompanied us out to the street, we caught a daladala with Boniface back to the guesthouse, then he left us at a nearby café where we ate chicken/chips for tea – yummy! Little Michael ate an omelette with his & whilst we were waiting, we played with a marble on the tabletop! But it escaped & got lost!!!
We went to bed about 9.40, arranging to meet at 5 the next day for another early bus.

Enkiloriti School, drought problems, an infected leg

Friday 10th July Nice weather today.  We went to Enkiloriti school, first stopping at Saruni’s house as he wanted to meet me.  We had chai + rice and an interesting conversation. 
He's keen to sell his remaining cows to buy a 50 x 100m plot in town, to build a complex of 4 shops in front, + a house behind.  Here it costs 2 million Ksh, & would be rented out for 20,000 KSh/month; in Nairobi the cost would be 5 million to gain 40,000 Ksh/month.  He hasn't decided which town to build in: Ewaso has electricity + water but no good road access; Suswa is on the Narok road, has water but no electricity; Duka Moja is also on the main road – but has no electricity or water!He’d also buy a plot to live on & farm, he still has 20 children to educate!  There are 15 families around him each with 30 acres.  He told us an Mzungu wants to buy a plot on the mountain to build a tourist hotel – getting them to stay out in the wilds could be a problem!
We were told how some of the old men just can’t cope with losing so many cattle.  One had sent his 134 head up into the highlands with a younger relative as he couldn’t take them himself.  When only 25 returned, he asked: “Where are my cows?” When he was told the rest had all died, he fell face down on the ground in a faint, & every time he hears or thinks about his loss, he suffers some kind of fit.  Another old man ran off, others have even considered hanging themselves – unheard of in the Maasai.








When we arrived at the school, we waited in the small makeshift office, partitioned off from one of the three main classrooms, and signed the Visitors’ Book while the students assembled.  We spent a short time with them: they sang us a song of greeting; I sang them one in Kiswahili which they knew so they all joined in, then I shared briefly about NZ then Bruce encouraged them to study hard. 
Some of School Board were there: Ezekiel (treasurer), John Nkalo (chairman), Pastor John ole Punyuk (Harvest Church), Pastor Moses ole Kishau (Festival Harvest Church, he'd been one of the speakers at the seminar). 
Ezekiel shared how the school began in 2001 as a joint project of Festival Harvest Church & CCF Australia, who built the main building + provided some water tanks.  He was the first teacher (untrained), and taught them all he knew of English and maths.  He was very  relieved when a government teacher turned up! 
John Nkalo shared re the school’s problems – out of 220 students, only 120 are still attending - but there were only 70 today.  Some had stayed home knowing the two government teachers weren’t going to turn up!  As there aren't enough S7 pupils to start the higher classes, they go to Ole Sharo or repeat S6!
Rosa, the cook, told us how she started working there to try to earn some money to help her family – but she hasn’t been paid all term.  She wants to help the children but without being paid, her own children suffer.
Some of the students shared how they are being affected: one boy, in his mid to late teens, shared how desperate he is to proceed in his education, & how frustrated he is, repeating S6 for the 3rd time!
Pastor Moses prayed for everyone, then the students went for lunch: a cupful of ugali + beans, provided by the government.  I think they also get some chai.
We walked round the school, talking with Ezekiel and the three Johns.  A couple of Ezekiel’s children came up to greet us and to walk with their father.  Nine of them attend this school, but the eldest goes to Ole Sharo and there are still two at home.  The main building consists of three well-built stone classrooms with concrete floors.  There is a separate iron building with dirt floors and no glass in the windows: it was supposed to be the staff room & student common room, but has to be used as classrooms.  The teachers’ accommodation is a two-room metal shack – about garden shed size – with no kitchen or toilet!  One window has a hole in the mesh large enough for an elephant’s trunk to reach in!  There is no fencing anywhere on the grounds so it is open to wild animals.  We then went to look at the clinic (right), started three years ago, but unfinished due to lack of funds.
Ezekiel listed the school’s problems as follows:
1  Water  The plastic tanks are now split, the stone tank contains just a little green water.  The large reservoir dug by bulldozer in 2005 by the government is used by elephants - the children are too scared to use it.  The broken-down bulldozer is still there, it hasn’t been repaired.
2  Fencing  The school grounds need fencing, any wild animal can enter – the chief danger is from hyenas.
3  Teachers  There aren't enough for all eight Standards, so students who want to go to High School are repeating S6 or have gone to Ole Sharo.  They need at least two more teachers, Maasai dedicated to the community, as well as better housing (outside teachers are unwilling to live there).
4  Classrooms    They don't have enough, & the two dirt-floored ones without glass windows or shutters are bad in windy, wet weather.
5  The clinic  It needs funds to complete the roof and plaster inside so it can be used.
6  The Cook  She's been unpaid for a whole term - fewer fee-paying students means trouble for her as well as the teachers.
Shumbai came up as we were leaving, limping badly, telling me how sore her leg was – so I promised to see her back at the manyatta.  I was really worried thinking about blood poisoning/osteomyelitis etc. + how she’d get home.
We had chai at John Nkalo’s and talked about the food aid: even if someone had only received a cup of flour, they were very thankful.  One old man wanted to give us a goat to bring back home to slaughter but we had to explain it wasn't possible.We had lunch at 4 with Ezekiel & the 3 Johns.  Pastor Punyuk had some interesting questions re the Bible - the significance of Mt Sinai, Christ’s infant dedication & why God was called “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”.  Bruce explained their significance, assuring him that Christians don’t have to follow Jewish practices. It’s easy for people to get ‘hung up’ over the Old Testament and to want to follow Jewish ceremonies which are no longer necessary.The pastor told us he’d never before seen any Wazungu ready to go into Maasai houses and eat with them, they just come to look around, then go away again.
We were given a large watermelon by John Nkalo on behalf of the School Board, Ezekiel gave me an ndege (beaded ornament representing the Holy Spirit) and Bruce a belt.  Pic: one of his wives + child, Pr Ponyuk, us, Ezekiel, John Nkalo.
Back at Luka’s, we were invited to Susannah’s hut: she was cooking ugali and gave us a taste - it's very different from other types we’ve had, being quite dry & crumbly, + they add beef fat & sugar!  It's actually very nice and tastes rather like bread!
I eventually found Shumbai just before dark – so had to use a torch to look at the wound.  Unfortunately the skin was getting quite discoloured around the wound, + the lower leg was very painful to move.  Bruce cleaned it out again, rebandaged it, then we prayed for her healing, telling John if it got any worse she needed to see a doctor immediately or go to hospital - not easy in these parts.
We had a lovely time of fellowship after tea, people squeezed into the living room: children on the floor/chair arms, adults standing or on chairs.  There were some touching farewells, I got hugged by most of the mamas too.

A day in Nairobi

Wed July 1st It was a cold morning, grey and cloudy, but it got hot later when the sun came out. We were up at 7, I was feeling VERY tired and scratchy, which made reorganizing & repacking my bags very slow. Chatted afterwards with Agnes and her oldest child, Maurice (4), also with Emily, Agnes’ younger sister, who has very good English – although she doesn’t think so! She’s in Standard 7, so should finish Primary School next year.
After breakfast of bread & chai, we started towards the city centre by ute. Bruce drove at first, but they thought he was going too slowly on the dirt roads! The next problem was not giving him directions in time! Maa instructions were shouted by those on the deck to John who was sitting inside, so by the time he'd translated them into English it was too late to take the turning! We were very glad when one of them took over! We were dropped off at a petrol station to take a bus to Barclay Plaza to the Precision Air office.
The most wonderful lady, Sarah Wachira, helped us, she deserves a gold medal! What we’d thought would be a quick job turned out to take many hours! Each time she tried the on-line payment system: “Transaction declined”! The proble: a missing office code on our voucher which hadn't been issued by Precision Air after all but by the travel agent. She said it might be possible for us to give her the voucher + the balance of the fare to send Arusha: a ticket would be issued manually from there! Oh dear, we know the African postal system is rather dodgy! However, we agreed to go away for a few hours so she could get it all sorted.
After lunching in a cafe, we spent over an hour in a taxi trying to find the Amex office to report the loss of the travellers’ cheques. We'd been told to go to Upper Hill, and that it'd be easy to find the office there, but no-one knew where the office was when we got there!
Some fun encounters in the city: 3 guys in a truck gave Bruce a thumbs-up, totally delighted when he returned it. A motorcyclist gave him a big smile and was overjoyed to have it returned. A lady in a phone card shop was really excited when I greeted her in Kiswahili!
We were very surprised to only see a total of 6 Wazungu during our few days in Nairobi. On previous visits there have been lots! Perhaps they were all on safari or keeping away after last year’s fighting.
Public toilets are a bit different: you pay the outside attendant 10 or 20 Ksh (20 or 40 NZ cents) & get some toilet paper. After using the squat toilet, you flush it with a couple of dippers of water from a barrel outside the door. I was pleased there was also water for washing your hands too, sometimes outside.
As we arrived back at the Plaza we were thrilled to see Sarah just outside the main entrance – no need to leave Bruce’s passport at the desk this time in exchange for an ID tag! Back in the office, she gave us a huge smile, handed over our tickets and we paid the balance, which was much cheaper than the amount I’d been told on-line. So it was smiles and thank you’s all round! It was so good to get all that sorted out, we couldn’t leave it till our return to the city as it would be at a weekend, and no offices open. We cashed up the extra 100 USD, so we could buy supplies and pay for transport over the next week.
We were surprised to be taken to an up-market supermarket, but it was good to use some clean Western-style toilets. When Nicholas turned up, he treated us to huge lattés in the nearby cafe – I’ve never seen such stiff foam before! The severe headache I’d developed eased off a little.
Back in the Maasai shopping 'centre', we stopped to greet a pastor who has a church there called Harvest, he wanted us to visit him after tea.
Our tea was different: ‘Nescafe chai’! It was strange that it was still called 'chai' even though it was made from coffee, not tea!
I tried to phone Amex using John's cellphone, but got no reply. John was too tired to visit the pastor, so we stayed at home talking to a young teacher who had come to greet us. He teaches a class of 70 Standard 3-4 pupils!
We had more chai at 9, dinner at 10: cabbage, potatoes and chapattis, but couldn’t eat very much! I was a bit disturbed when John told me we would be discussing transport arrangements the next day, we'd thought it had already been sorted!
Had a few hours’ good sleep once the talking stopped, we'd been given 2 blankets this time!