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.

Feed & water shortages, a miracle and seminar part 2.

Sunday July 5th Clear skies, cloudy/breezy later. We were taken outside after breakfast to where the cattle were eating mineralised salt out of hollowed-out tree trunks. 2 lively young calves ran out to join their mothers, but John said they won’t be like that in another month’s time.
After eating salt, the stock go to the water hole, then up the mountain to graze. Bruce advised the men to sell steers, surplus heifers and aged cows when the prices are high, and to buy more heifers when prices are low. We also shared a bit about NZ dryland farming. John’s dad in red in the goat/sheep corral (above); 2 little girls in their best clothes (right).
On the way to the baptist church, we passed one of Moses' 2 dams for stock/house water, where we saw a neighbour watering his small herd of cattle and his wife getting house water. Moses is sharing his scanty supply with neighbours who have none.







Left: June 2005 - full of water. Right: July 2009 - the small pond left at the back of the reservoir.
Moses actually got to church today, we walked together until our paths diverged: it was rather miraculous as he’d been practically housebound for weeks with painfully-swollen legs.
We arrived at 10.30 for another 6-hour service cum seminar - great fun! Several pastors preached, there was singing & items from different church choirs inbetween. I love the way they dance and sing so exuberantly, although afterwards I was a bit saddened to hear each choir is trying to outdo the others! Ezekiel’s little boy was part of one, his dancing outshone them all & received lots of applause! Dust was a problem today, both what was kicked up from the undampened dirt floor, and what was blown in from outside during strong winds. The floor was dampened the floor towards the end of the service, a bit too late really!
Bruce shared again, encouraging them to help each other in love. As most of the speakers weren't translated today, we couldn’t understand a lot of the preaching, it was mostly in Maa. I could translate the Kiswahili parts for Bruce though.
When a few went up for prayer at the end, John wanted to know if I wanted to take any pictures - but I refused, saying I prefer people to have their privacy. Afterwards I was amused when he asked how many cameras we normally have in church - he was so surprised when I said none! They are so used to seeing Wazungu taking photos during services that they think it’s normal! I had to explain we only take them at special events like weddings, dedications and baptisms.
It’s so easy to give the wrong impression! We’re sometimes asked how many servants we have in NZ, and in Bukoba, people used to ask us for work. Many missionaries do employ folk, so people end up believing that’s what we’re used to, & that we don’t know how to look after ourselves!
We had yesterday’s meal served again - cold: “God bless our stomachs!” We talked with a pastor from near Mai Mahiu, who has four children. He'd heard about the Inkoirienito tank, and was hoping we could help build another near him!
Back at the manyatta, we chatted with John’s father before having ‘supper’ at about 9 (the 5 p.m. meal at church was our lunch!). He was really sad we were returning to Luka's the next day, having waited 4 years for us to return, he’d wanted to have more time with us! He brought out the book on NZ we’d given, so of course the others wanted to see it which kept Bruce busy explaining the photos! This time we gave him a German chopping board; I'd been unsure about buying it, but he was delighted, & John said it would be very useful as normally they just cut up their meat in their hands!
We were woken up by what sounded like a stampede in the early hours - I thought it was the goats as they were making so much noise, one young one kept bleating for some time. In the morning, we were told it was the donkeys, they aren’t shut away at night here! We woke up feeling VERY tired!

Brussels with Eleanor

Monday 22nd June Nice breakfast of yoghurt, croissants, bread rolls, juice and strong coffee. The waitresses were kept busy pouring coffee, clearing and resetting tables. All the guests except us were French-speaking Africans so we felt quite at home!
As Eleanor had still not turned up 20 minutes after the arranged time to meet, I went downstairs to try to phone her and was successful on the second attempt. She was having problems owing to a faulty Google map, and no-one seemed to know where the hotel was. However, our helpful hotel receptionist soon gave her the right directions, and she arrived very quickly, she’d only been a short distance away! I was touched that they didn’t charge me for the phone calls
After spending some time discussing where to go, we set off for the Cathedral on the metro. It's a great public transport system, a day ticket takes you everywhere within the city. Unfortunately our camera’s batteries went flat, and Eleanor’s were too!

We enjoyed looking at the Bourse and Grand-Place – fantastic buildings, some decorated with gilt. There were some lovely paintings on sale in the square, as well as plants in pots. After buying museum and transport passes, we walked to the palace through some interesting gardens.
We were quite amused by the guards’ slow march, each arm being raised up to horizontal at each step. What a boring job!
The yummy chocolates + beautiful lace in the shop windows were very tempting, but we resisted very well. We only came across the Manneken Pis by accident, nearly missed it as it’s so SMALL, but I really don't understand why everyone raves over it so much, I think it’s rather rude!
We ate some spicey Turkish kebabs for lunch, before returning to the hotel for a rest, our feet were sore after all the cobbles, which are laid in scalloped patterns.
There didn't seem to be a good restaurant near our hotel, it's in rather a grotty neighbourhood, so we returned to town, ending up in a Thai restaurant near St Catherine’s and the Bourse. The food was beautifully served; Bruce had an orchid on his plate + my beef curry was served in a clay pot kept warm over a candle in a bowl.
An amusing incident – a police car stopped in a side-street, a second joined it, blocking the entrance – 2 other motorists tried to enter the street, blocking the main road as they couldn’t get past the police cars! Traffic started building up in the main road, people started honking their horns! Eventually one of the police cars was moved, restoring everything to order!