Back to Uganda

Wednesday April 6th
We slept till about 4am, and that was it! Dogs were barking, Bruce got up, the mosques started to blare out their call to prayer, then the roosters started. A man knocked on our door at 5.40 – he may have been from hotel management, otherwise he was in the nextdoor room and had been woken by the noise of our shower. We left just after 6 am and were on the bus at 6.20. We bought a loaf of bread to eat on the way, and the bus left at 7 sharp!
There was no checking of passengers at Kyotera on the Tanzanian side of the border, and we reached Mutukula at 8.30, and only stayed there a short time. One young man in a yellow T-shirt had been tugged and pushed onto the bus by a woman, his mother? before the border. When the bus stopped at the side of the road in Uganda where a man was standing, he didn’t want to get off and the opposite to what had happened when he got on! One wonders what the story was there!
Masaka was reached at 10.30, then the outskirts of Kampala at a quarter to one. A man got up and started trying to sell medicine – in fact he made quite a few sales – of creams, pills and potions that were supposed to cure anything from baldness to impotency. He was quite amusing as he pantomimed a bit and told all these stories as testimonials – some really made me laugh and amused the other passengers too. I was kept busy outlining it all to Bruce.
Half an hour later, we neared the city centre, where the traffic had practically ground to a halt. It took another hour to reach the bus centre, which the bus couldn’t enter as there were vehicles parked in front of the gates. many of the other passengers had already got off, getting frustrated with the lack of progress – not an option for us, not knowing our whereabouts! We found the taxi stand quite easily, and soon set off for Entebbe. This time we had a much faster journey! It was a pleasant day, 26 degrees. The minibuses stop right outside the Entebbe Flight Motel so it’s a very convenient place to stay.
After dropping off our bags, we went for a walk past the nearby supermarket to the small village shopping centre. Around the taxi park are many small shops and cafés. We chose one that said it served snacks and cold drinks. Lutheran music was playing and we seemed to be the only customers. It was around 4 pm by now. The menu was a little unexpected: the ‘snacks’ were all some kind of meat or fish accompanied by chips, whereas ‘meals’ were the same thing but instead of chips, were served with ugali, matoke or various Ugandan alternatives! I asked the girl whether they had anything smaller like chapattis, and she was able to offer us samosas. We enjoyed drinking mango juice as well. Whilst we were relaxing in that cool place, we noticed a rather amusing poster on the wall. It said that if you smoked, the staff would think that you were on fire and treat you accordingly!!!!
After that break, we walked around a small food market and bought some bananas. Bruce was interested in finding out the price of some very nice looking steak at a butcher’s, and we were surprised to find out that it was quite expensive – 7,000 Ush a kilo (nearly 3USD). In Tanzania it is about Tzsh 3,000 a kilo (2 USD).
We stopped at a rather modern supermarket and bought some water as it was much cheaper than the hotel’s. We had a look around at all the different foods on display and bought some fruit juice. They have an interesting system when you leave the supermarket – you have to hand your docket over to a person near the exit doorway, who has a brief look at your purchases before waving you on. There is also a guard at the entry point. Rather different from here in NZ.
I found out that you have a choice of ordering from a menu or eating the buffet dinner at the motel, so I decided to choose from the menu rather than have to try to eat lots of food at the buffet to make the extra price worthwhile. Bruce wanted the buffet, so this put the staff in a brief quandary. Normally people eating from the menu dine in one room, and those partaking of the buffet in a 3-walled room opening onto the main courtyard. However, they decided that they could serve me my meal there as well as long as we agreed on a suitable time for dining.

A trip to Bukoba

Monday May 4thThis time our sleep was disturbed by a mosquito, then poor Meshaki woke up in the middle of the night coughing. There seemed to be a big discussion going on between pastor and mama, and they all seemed to go outside for some time. Meshaki was crying, and still couldn’t stop coughing. it gook ages to get back to sleep, especially as the rats were very active. One fell with a great thump in the main room, from the top of the rafters. After some wild dreams, I was woken again by the rats, then a bat – which landed on me twice! At one stage, it seemed to be being chased around the room by a rat, and that made me really nervous. I’m glad that vampire bats only live in South America, it was rather worrying to have it land on my shoulder on one occasion. Then the mosquito returned, and at 2 am when pastor’s alarm clock rang, a peal of thunder crashed out and lasted for some time. A second thunderstorm began just before 6 am.
We left the house at 7 just as the rain was stopping, aiming at reaching Rushonga in time to catch the 8 am boat. However, pastor kept stopping and looking back to the hills where black clouds were amassing. he said that yet another storm was brewing. He hoped we’d be able to reach the primary school on top of the hill.
We just got there when the rains burst – it poured for about 20 minutes then stopped as suddenly as it had begun. There were impressive displays of lightning and huge roars of thunder, some right overhead. It was too noisy to be able to hear pastor and the headmaster’s conversation across the other side of the room.
As we were now too late to reach Rushonga in time, we decided to head to another landing stage where the boat would leave from at around 8.30. Danieli ran ahead once we reached the flat near the lake to warn the boat that we were coming. They’d started to blow the horn, the signal that they were about to depart.
We were very surprised to find out after some time that pastor hadn’t joined us on the boat – on previous occasions he’s come ashore with us – but I guess it was a good cost-cutting measure, it costs 10,000 Tsh to make the round trip – a lot of money over there.
On the way to Kemondo, we stopped at two more places to pick up passengers, but unfortunately, at the second, on another island, another boat had already taken all waiting travellers and goods on board so we didn’t draw right up close to the shore. It was quite windy by this stage, and we had to stand out some way from the landing.
Once out away from the islands, the waves became quite large, and at one point, the engine stopped! This meant that we had no steering and we started to get tossed around by the waves, the boat rocking further and further over onto each side so that the water came close to coming inboard. I estimated that the swell was about 1.5 metres.
We were glad when the engine was able to be restarted, and we soon landed at Kemondo, at 10.40 am – a quick trip really.
We went to a small cafe where we’d picked up a snack on previous occasions – but as it was too early for lunch, they only had 2 left-over chapattis from breakfast – but these were really nice so we enjoyed them with some Fanta.
Whilst we were there, a man came in, claiming to have seen us in Bukoba a few times when we were living there. He said he used to work at the Fido Dido but now worked taking tourists around and organising trips for them. He said he could speak German well, as well as English.
He told us he could get us a ride in a taxi for only 1,000 Tsh each, which we thought was much cheaper than the fare we’d paid with Gayle which was Tsh 1,500 each. So we agreed – although I did say that we’d much prefer to go in a daladala.
However, once he hailed a taxi that had a couple of spare seats in it, it appeared that he himself along with his elderly father would ride with us to Bukoba, and that we’d pay for all 4! There were already several people in the car, but the driver pushed most of them out, much to their anger and our horror – and I was about to remonstrate with him and say that we’d go by daladala and to let the other passengers use the taxi when he slammed the boot lid down on our cases and shoved us into the car. It was a squash – seven or eight of us in total! We were glad when 2 got out part-way to Bukoba, and another one on the outskirts, so that we ended up the journey in a little more comfort. However, the driver only took us to the taxi stand, not to our hotel – but as it wasn’t much further, we decided to walk. It proved to be a little hard to shake off our ‘Fido Dido’ friend and his father, but eventually, once at the hotel, they left and we were able to proceed to our room in peace.
As it was only lunch time, we went to the Rose Cafe for a snack and were warmly greeted by the proprietor, who knows us quite well from our Bukoba days. Many of these cafes have some rather unusual-looking menus – you can get ‘paper’ steak and chips, bittings (snacks) including ‘burns’, and in Uganda one was selling ‘diary’ food.
We visited the main market – the Soko Kuu – where we had had a number of friends including an elderly lady who sells fruit, eggs and vegetables. We bought some fruit from her and had a good chat. She had had a very sore, swollen foot for some time. One of our ex-students just happened to pass by and looked very surprised to see us but didn’t stop to do more than say hello. Apparently he’s doing very well, has now completed Form 4.
Inside the main building, we went to look for our old friends, the Fataks – but they were not there. A neighbouring stallholder told us that they’d gone to Arusha. We were greeted by several people who wanted to know how we were.
We started off to go to the lake to find an organisation called BUDAP – the Bukoba Disabled Assistance Project – as we’d put a friend of ours in touch with them and wanted to find out more about them and see the project up close.
After a bit of wandering around and asking some passersby, we found it by the lakeshore – an office containing a few of the items the disabled members produce – belts, jandals, postcards, jewellery and traditional drums. The man I’d corresponded with via email was very welcoming and told us a bit more about the project, but said that it is really difficult to continue, as, once trained-up, the members tend to end up starting up their own small businesses and cease bringing in income to the project. They are looking for more sponsors, as they are lacking tools and equipment, and are thinking of working more with widows. The project was started with the intention of helping the many victims of polio to learn a handcraft and thus be able to sustain themselves and their families.
Our friend Aristides Petromulaki had been one of the fundis that worked on the building site at Harvest alongside Bruce. He’d become quite friendly, and had invited us to his home shortly before we returned to NZ. There, we were able to share the Gospel, and we heard a few months later that he’d become a Christian, also his wife and children. Unfortunately he then fell on hard times – he had an accident whilst working chipping stone, and had to have an operation on one foot. We’d sent over some money to pay for the operation because we knew the family couldn’t afford it. Unfortunately this operation had left the wound infected, and over the course of almost a year, his foot had swollen up, then his leg right up to his knee and it of course became extremely painful. He delayed getting medical help, believing his leg to be infested by a demon, but we assured him that if it were due to that reason, that he could command the evil spirit to leave in Jesus’ Name – and if he found no relief, he needed to get medical help urgently.
He had a second operation after Christmas – they amputated his leg up to close to his knee, and he started a long period of recovery. Thanks to our putting him in touch with BUDAP, he was able to get their advice and help, and ended up going to Uganda to get an artificial leg. Unfortunately this cost him a huge sum of money that he had to borrow.
Whilst on the way back to our hotel, we met a mama in the street, an old friend of ours and retired nurse, mama Hermalinda Gabriel. She was one of the people that we hadn’t been able to let know about our visit, so it was a special joy to meet with her like that, especially as she now lives in a different place from when we were last in Bukoba. She was really keen for us to go to her home the next day, and gave us her phone number.
We had a lovely dinner at the hotel of fish, chips and salad. I enjoyed drinking the spiced milk that you were supposed to put coffee in – but I liked it just as it was! Unfortunately we got well-bitten by mosquitoes every time we entered that restaurant!

A Tanzanian funeral

Saturday April 2nd 2011
Unfortunately it had been rather a bad night – the rats were very active, Meshaki had many coughing fits, Bruce was restless and my pillow seemed lumpier than ever – in the end I gave up on it and put it off the bed. Like the mattress, it was just filled with straw. As the head of the mattress was quite raised, I didn’t miss it very much at all and just put my head on my dressing gown.
It was a day that started with bright sunshine, but some clouds came over quite fast. We were glad that all our washing got dry apart from our underwear, which of course was languishing indoors!
We had a very interesting breakfast – passion fruit, the guavas, cold rice and eggs. Yum.
At about 10 am, we walked down to the stream then up the hill the other side to Fideli’s. There were so many people there and still more on the way, from every part of the island as well as perhaps some of the smaller ones off-shore. The men congregated outside near a large fire, and the women sat inside in the vestibule on the dried grass and mats.
Mama and I sat indoors with the women for quite some time before going outside. But first we had to go into a tiny room to greet Fideli and a strange mama (I think she was a pastor from a neighbouring church). The old lady’s body was lying wrapped up on a mat on one side. I tried to encourage Fideli, who had been weeping, by assuring him that his mother was now with the Lord and was rejoicing in heaven, free from her weak, sick body at last. She had been a keen Christian for several years.
The ladies were all quietly chatting, some looking after small children or breastfeeding babies. Small groups of people came in, greeted us all round, then filed into the little room to view the body and comfort Fideli. The mamas were very surprised that I would choose to sit with them, so mama mchungaji explained that I was her friend. They talked a little about mama Christine, the American doctor, and how much they liked her, she was always so hospitable and friendly.
The men outside took turns to dig the grave and to help make the coffin. Bruce spent some time with them with pastor and another man who knew a little English.
Eventually mama decided it was time to return home for lunch, which was ready at 1.30. We had been told that the funeral would start around 2, so we ate in haste – sweet potato, rice and fish. I was surprised just how much rice Danieli and pastor ate! They didn’t leave anything behind this time!
We were very happy to meet an old friend from previous visits, Amin. He lives in a small village at the end of the island past the AIM church and clinic. He and his wife now have 2 children, I think.
Mama had to walk up the hill carrying a bundle of dry grass – all the women had been asked to make a contribution. At first I’d assumed she meant that they each had to take some food or tealeaves – but it appears it was dried grass for the funeral. Other people did take food with them because many would be staying with the family for at least the next night or two.
When we arrived back at Fideli’s, we sat outside on a log under a silk bush which had just started flowering – very pretty. We chatted with some children who told us that the funeral wouldn’t start till about 4 pm. It looked like there were at least 60 people gathered on grass and wooden slabs on the ground outside. The sun had got really hot and I felt like I was getting quite burnt – ouch! It was quite hard to stay in the shade as the sun kept moving round.
At around 3.30 people started gathering outside the house, and many of the men went indoors. The mama’s body was brought out from the little room and placed in the coffin. The broody hen we had noted a few days earlier made a grand entrance during the singing of a hymn, and everyone had to leave her a path to walk through. As there was not enough room inside for everyone to gather, some of us stayed outside whilst several songs were sung and some prayers made. Then everyone trooped outside again and sat down near the grave. I’d been asked to take many photos as a reminder of the occasion, but unfortunately, the camera decided to go on strike, and I was not feeling very comfortable with photographing such an event. As Bruce had been asked to speak, he was standing at the head of the grave with pastor M and another pastor, and I was asked to join them – but had to stand behind them as there was no room – it was not a good position for taking photos!
The coffin was placed in the grave straight away, then we sang some songs and a prayer was made before Bruce gave an encouraging message, with Pastor M translating. He did get stuck a couple of times and occasionally rather garbled the message but I didn’t try correcting him, not wanting to do anything that might be misconstrued. Overall he was quite accurate!
Pastor was the first to throw some clods of earth on the grave, then all the men took turns tossing a few shovelfuls of earth on it. One young man got rather carried away, and tossed the earth so hard that people close by got spattered. Once the grave was filled in, the mamas brought bundles of cut grass and laid them around it, then some of them gave flowering plants to the little children who planted them on the grave.
We were a bit surprised when the island chairman stood up at the end of the service and gave a formal notice about a collection of money for the local schools. It caused quite a bit of dissension amongst those present. He told them it was a government edict, not his own idea – and that it would mean that the school would be theirs, not the government’s. It kind of seemed a bit odd to us to have such an announcement at the end of a funeral, but as pastor noted, it was a good occasion as the whole village was present.
We went back past the Mugaruras’, continuing up the hill to the very top to see a site that they’d like to purchase and use as a life-skills training centre for the locals. Bruce thinks they could run a school to train people in various skills such as starting and running a small business, using better agricultural practices, Bible teaching, etc etc. They would really love it if we would return and teach there. They say I could teach English to all ages and would get students from all over the island! The cost of a few hectares of land would be at most a few hundred dollars. They would be prepared to make the bricks and start building, and to plant a shelter belt around the outside. They reckoned it was an ideal spot, being fertile land – although it was pretty rocky so I was doubtful about the depth of topsoil present. There certainly were plenty of rocks to use for foundations! The biggest problem would be water. If you had to go all the way down the hill to the stream below the Mugaruras’, it would be a huge task, and it didn’t look like there was a closer stream on the other side of the hill. It would increase the cost of building hugely to put on an iron roof and put up some kind of water tank. Transporting one up there would be difficult so you might have to build one out of the stones and make sure it was water-tight with a good concrete lining. Lots of things to think about, but certainly not a project we could do in a hurry. We’d need to try to get backing from a missionary organisation, partly for our own protection and support, as well as do a heap of research re what might be feasible. One possibility could be to see whether AIM would help us as they already have missionaries on the island and perhaps such a project could complement their medical work. Life is hard for those who are not fishermen, and good sources of income hard to get. Even the fishermen might find life rather tough shortly, as the government wants to put a 3-month moratorium on fishing in Lake Victoria to try to build up fish stocks again. It is becoming harder and harder to find the large fish needed for export, and the fishermen are catching and selling far too many small fish on the local trade.
Before a fairly late tea at 8.30 of ugali and beans, i had an opportunity to speak with Julietta on the phone. At first, I spoke with her uncle, who speaks good English, but unfortunately the battery went flat after a while so I couldn’t say much to Julietta. She would have loved to have been able to travel to Kemondo to meet us off the boat, but unfortunately she couldn’t afford the bus fare. She has learnt how to use a sewing machine so is helping with the family finances. Her little baby, Christina (named after me!), is doing well.

Differing viewpoints and work on the shamba

Thursday March 31st 2011
Another thunderstorm from 6.30, which lasted into the early afternoon again. The day stayed cool until the sun came out around 5 pm.
Breakfast was the standard cold rice and chai – and I still struggled to eat it. On the other side of the table was a bowl containing some left-over sweet potato, but I was too shy to ask pastor if I could have a piece, and he ended up eating them all up.
We had ugali and beans for lunch. I was really hungry and ate quite a lot – so much so that I felt a bit queasy for the rest of the afternoon! Oh dear! Bruce didn’t enjoy the beans as much. Ugali is a staple food of many parts of Tanzania and Kenya. It is made from white maize flour and water, and is cooked until it is very stiff and turned out in a mound for everyone to pull pieces off to eat with the mchuzi. On its own, it is quite tasteless, but with mchuzi becomes quite edible. The Maasai have a variant of this made with sugar and fat, and it is quite tasty on its own.
In the afternoon, we went outside once the rain cleared to watch pastor working on the shamba. He was trimming old leaves and other old plant material on the stems of his banana palms. You have to do this once or twice a year. He also planted a few new ones. He says that to grow good bananas, you need plenty of manure. He was using dung from the area where the goats are tethered.We watched him selecting banana stems for planting. You can either take a stem from a banana palm that has already fruited and cut it right back, or use a new one growing from the base of the plant. Each stem only lasts one year, then dies after it has fruited so you usually cut them down afterwards. New shoots grow out from the side of the old base and will be flowering and fruiting that same year. So you can get quite an ‘orchard’ growing if you take the time to propagate them and don’t let hens or pigs destroy the bulbous stem bases and new shoots.
Some of the palms were diseased – when you remove the surplus leafy material from the bulb at the base of the stem, you might see some brownish streaks. If you cut into the stem, you’ll find some beetles or other pests inside or an area of rot. Pastor had to throw out a few like this, but he found quite a few healthy plants too.
Before putting the stem into the hole, you have to trim it really well of all surplus material and cut off most of the old roots if it’s an old stem, or trim back the top hard if it’s a new one. Then you replace the soil around the hole, and mound it well up, leaving a depression for water to collect and soak in. Mulching the mounds is very important too. We had been very impressed with Fideli’s neatly-made mounds, covered with grass mulch.
We also watched pastor layering coffee plants. If you bend over the stems and tie them down, they will grow lots of new branches from the top surface of each stem, and so you can vastly increase the yield of each bush. He has been planting coffee as the prices have gone up quite a lot, and so he hopes to be able to improve the family’s income.
They also have a small plantation of sugar cane near the stream, and each year, cut it and send the stems to the mainland. He says they’d get far more for it if they had a crusher to extract the juice.
The long rains last until May, then it gets really hot, with some rain off and on. They can plant beans and other vegetables in August.
We enjoyed watching some hawks hunting around the shambas – one even sat over our heads in a tree. We saw one swooping down then returning with something in its claws. It flew far away, presumably to its nest.
I helped Meshaki with the goats this time as Rosemary wasn’t around. I asked him to show me how they are usually tied up, but he just stood there – so I was left to my own devices. I was glad that they didn’t escape!
We had another new addition to the menu – matoke (cooked green bananas) – as well as rice, fish and chai. It was nice but I couldn’t eat much, having eaten too much for lunch!
It had been a long, slow, rather boring day, being kept indoors in the morning during the rain, and then just watching pastor on the shamba. Mama had proudly shown us her two pigs, one of which loves rolling over onto its back for her to tickle its tummy! It was funny to watch. She doesn’t eat any meat or chicken, although she doesn't mind preparing and cooking them. She laughed when I said she must be very soft-hearted!
At one stage during the afternoon, we ended up talking about different viewpoints re population growth and contraception. She said that their viewpoint is that it is a sin to limit the size of a family as God told us to fill the earth with people. But I said that some countries were already having serious problems trying to feed all their people and is it fair to overpopulate a nation and thus put people into hardship? I also said that many people, and not just in the West, feel that it is irresponsible to keep on having babies without putting any limits on family size, because in many cases, people cannot afford to feed them all let alone send them to school etc. Others choose to limit their families owing to having had serious problems giving birth, or when there’s a family history of inherited deformities or serious disease. Still others can’t even have children due to infertility, and even pastor and mama only have two children.
With many disturbances during the night – rats, Bruce’s early morning wander, and a lumpy pillow – I ended up spending some more time thinking about these things.

Bruce's trip to Rushonga

Wednesday March 30th
I'd managed an excellent night's sleep so woke up feeling somewhat refreshed. The day looked like it was going to be fine at first, but then a thunderstorm arrived at about 9.30, much later than usual - they often seemed to start between 6 and 7. This time the rain persisted until the afternoon.
Filipo and Daniel came for breakfast, which we didn’t eat until 10 am - cold rice and chai as usual - and despite the tablets, I still felt very nauseous and only managed one cup of chai and a few spoonfuls of rice. Usually I'd drink anything up to four cups in the morning, knowing that there'd probably be no more fluids until dinner time unless I drank some water. Pastor had been out early and had bought some fish, but he didn't eat any breakfast; mama told me it was his day for fasting.
Bruce visited Fideli in the morning, and found out that his mother had been diagnosed as having severe malaria, jaundice, and dehydration. She had returned home the night before. We had news that Chris Hamilton might turn up so we were really looking forward to seeing her.
Lunch was quite late, 3 pm, and consisted of fish and rice - really yummy. I was starting to feel much better.
Bruce and pastor left after lunch to go to Rushonga, and got back around dusk. Bruce had bought a bit more time on the phone, so I was able to text a few people to let them know how we were. However, as he'd only bought two 500-shilling vouchers, I had to ration texts as I didn't know when we'd be able to buy any more. We heard from Michael Kikumbo, our Tanzanian son in Dar es Salaam, that he’d passed his English exams, so we were really pleased.
Whilst the men were away, a lady came to visit mama, and I went out to join them for a while. When she left, I chatted with mama for a while about all sorts of things. It was really good, and I was so pleased to be able to sit up for a while without feeling too tired.
Mama is really concerned about Rosemary's future. She says that the secondary school is a terrible place of immorality, and many young girls, even 12- and 13-year-olds, fall pregnant each year. She’d like their daughter to be able to attend a Christian secondary school like Harvest, but the huge drawback is the fees charged. Most families struggle to put their children through the government secondary schools – I think that nationally only 10% ever get to attend – and a private school becomes out of reach for all bar the rich or those able to get sponsors.
Dinner was really nice, we had sweet potato as well as fish and rice. Pastor joined in this time, which was good. Unfortunately I still couldn’t drink a full cup of tea.
The night ended up being a bit disturbed. Pastor had set his alarm for 2 am for prayers - we often heard him and mama waking up in the early morning to pray together. Just at the moment that the alarm sounded, a rat fell off one of the poles supporting the plastic over our bedroom right onto my chest! I let out a small shriek - but was rather relieved that the rat ended up abruptly on the floor and didn't do any running around on the bed! It made it rather hard to get back to sleep, because every time I heard another one on the wall or on the rafters, I got scared that it might fall off again and land on me!
We didn’t have the protection of a mosquito net on this visit. On our first visit in 2006, at 4 am on Christmas Day I was rudely awoken by a mouse just dropping in to say “Merry Christmas”! It landed right on my nose, but owing to the net, bounced off straight away.

Kemondo and a trip to Bumbire

Saturday March 26th 2011
The electricity went off at 7.30, then it started raining. We received a text from Pastor Mugarura to say that he was on his way from Bumbire Island to meet us at Kemondo. Our boat wouldn’t leave till the afternoon and his boat wouldn’t arrive till nearly lunchtime. There is only one round trip a day. So after breakfast, we went on a tour of the German mission's orphanage and school once the rain had stopped.
There are eight orphans' houses; each one has a coloured strip of paint on the outside wall that gives the house its name. Pictured is the "White House" and a staff house in the background. They are built of rather nice-looking brickwork and roofed with corrugated iron. Each house has 2 mamas and up to 15 children: 2 rooms for boys and 2 for girls. The children help in normal household chores such as fetching water and helping cultivate the gardens. Some of the children aren't true orphans but have parents who are too poor to be able to care for them – this isn’t surprising given that fact that quite a few families have 6-8 children.
We were able to go inside one of the new houses being built. The lefthand photo show the inside of the house, upper right shows the outside kitchen (jiko) and storeroom, and the lower right shows Gayle outside the house.
The primary school takes boarders, and there are 3 dorms for boys and 2 for girls, a total of about 160 children. The plan is to start a secondary school on the site so that the children can continue to receive Christian education, which is a feature of the primary school, as well as all studies being done in English. As is usual in Tanzanian schools, you start with just a Form One intake, then as each new school year starts, you add on a new Form One and the older students progress through the system until they complete the 7 Primary classes. The school itself is built as a quadrangle of classrooms with a central covered walkway. Gayle has her own office which is quite a good size (lower RH picture).
The entrance to the block of classrooms is quite impressive (LH). There are sheds housing dairy cows (photo lower right) and goats. As usual, lots of chickens are running around!
Gayle is trying to grow her own veges but is finding it hard in the sandy soil, and unfortunately, burying her food scraps to enrich the soil attracts dogs who dig everything up, and her small fence keeps getting wrecked!
Pastor arrived at Kemondo at 11.30 so we walked to meet him, which took about half an hour. Unfortunately there was still no electricity, so we couldn't buy any cooked food, and had to contcnt ourselves with some sodas that we were given by a brother of one of pastor's church members.
Our boat, called the Pajero (RH pic), started loading at 1.15pm but didn't depart until 2.30. I managed to climb the ladder OK, Bruce was steadying it for me. Some women get carried to the boat and boosted up over the side in a rather undignified fashion!
It was quite a fast trip, we arrived at Rushongo (RH pic) in just under 3 hours after stopping off briefly at two other landing places, one on another island. The lake was very calm and it was hot and sunny, so we were glad of the awning over the boat. Our previous trips to Bumbire were on open boats - perhaps they put the awnings up when it's the rainy season. They are not the most comfortable of craft to travel in, the seats, if you get one, are rather hard and uncomfortable - just a rough plank - and the crew have a stereo system - on this boat even a TV showing videos - that is turned up extremely loudly, and it really beats on one's eardrums. Perhaps it's supposed to distract people from feeling sea-sick!
Once we arrived onshore, pastor took us on a bit of a tiki tour through the village, trying to find the chairman, until we were left outside a rickety shack, which turned out to be the chairman's office! On our two previous visits, we'd met the chairman up the hill in a much better type of building.
Shortly after our arrival, we were invited inside, and a youngish man greeted us in English, and told us his name. Pastor reappeared shortly afterwards, and we found out that the young man was, in fact, the chairman that we'd been seeking! It's always important in Tanzania to introduce visitors to the local official, who usually notes down your details. On one occasion we were taken to a neighbour who we were told was the 'balozi kumi kumi' - a representative for ten households. During Nyerere's time, these men were very important in maintaining order and keeping records of who went where and when, and for what purpose. These days, they are almost non-existent.
After our brief sit down in the office, we continued on our way to Pastor's house. That entails a half-hour climb up a steepish hill, and we really were not quite fit enough, and it was hot and we were carrying our packs - Bruce had the large one and I had one of the two small ones plus a new cooking stove and some tomatoes for mama! We needed a few stops on the way up, much to pastor's surprise, and were quite relieved to reach the high ground. One of the church elders, Daniel, joined us on the way and then we were relieved of some of our burdens. However, I continued carrying the tomatoes and cooker - a small clay one that you can place charcoal in or even twigs. Pastor had bought them in Rushonga.
Much of the hillside is in quite short grass, but at the top there is a rocky, treed section, then scattered smallholdings growing maize, bananas etc, as well as open grassland. The Mugaruras live part-way down another steep hillside in a narrow valley above a stream. It's hard work fetching water each day as the hillside is steep and the path slippery, especially after the frequent rains. The children do much of this work, carrying 10 litres at a time - quite a burden for the youngest, who's only about 7. I felt rather sorry for him.
We found out that the eldest, Julietta, has left home, so Rosemary, her sister, seemed rather subdued, probably due to missing her sister so much. She's now about 12 and in Standard 4, so still has 3 more years to go before she can go to secondary school! She's got rather behind because the family has been struggling financially.
The youngest, Meshaki, is actually one of their nephews. One of mama's sisters died four years ago, leaving 3 small children, one was only a baby, and I'm not sure whether that one survived. It was put onto cow's milk and was only about three months old. Each child had to be placed with a different member of the family, as no-one could afford to look after all of them as well as their own It is a real struggle for the average Tanzanian to be able to feed and clothe his/her children, let alone find even a small amount of money to pay for schooling. Meshaki now goes to chekechea (pre-school) and is due to start school some time this year..
The house is built of mud bricks and thatched with hillside grasses. The thatch had started to break down, and Pastor had tried to fix it, but as there were still some leaks, he placed heavy black polythene over some poles that he'd positioned on the bedroom walls. As there are no ceilings in these houses, you can do things like this. Unfortunately the plastic didn't quite extend all the way to the outside wall, and when it rained heavily, we had to move our bags that were placed up on a board near this wall to escape the drips. Sometimes the end of the bed got a bit wet, and you could even feel the odd drop or two on one's face!
Mama first served us chai with some of the bread that pastor had bought. Later on, before bed, we had a cooked meal of chicken, a very salty mchuzi (the soup-like juices from the meat) and rice. It was nice to get to bed, but I didn't sleep at all well: we were visited by mice and I had a migraine.

Last day in Tanzania

Saturday 25th July Another nearly sleepless night – the nearby pub again! We got up shortly after six. Unfortunately I knocked my glasses onto the floor when getting my towel off the towel rail where I'd hung them up, it being the only dry spot in the bathroom. It chipped a piece off the top of each lens, but they were still usable.
We were disappointed by the complimentary breakfast: a toasted sandwich and a cup of coffee or tea – she brought us hot water for a second cup, then took the sachets away! I think you weren't really supposed to have two cups!
We repacked our bags leaving out the guys’ gear as well as the peanuts, rice & dried native veges that had been given, then the Michaels turned up at 8.30.
Little Michael had woken big Michael up at 6, wanting to visit mama (me), but was told I might be still asleep!
As they hadn't had breakfast and we were still hungry and thirsty, we decided to breakfast somewhere else, it was far too expensive at the guest house. One of the neighbouring houses was serving breakfast in a little opened-up room and also outside, so we sat on stools and had refreshments: 4 teas, 4 chapattis, 3 maandazi for 1,250 Tsh! Compare this to the price of having one cup of tea at the guest house = 1,000 Tsh!
After going back to our room, we took our bags to the office and started to walk to Michael’s with his bags. He was very sad we weren’t going to take the peanuts, and I felt bad knowing how much hard work had been done, but we had tried to explain a couple of days earlier that such gifts are not advisable due to NZ regulations. Bruce said Michael could start up a small business selling them to other students, he thought it’d be fun but better if he could cook them first, but so far he hasn't bought any cooking or eating things. He’s still eating with his former landlord.
It was an interesting walk through streets lined with small dukas outside and between the houses. We passed through a narrow alleyway (not for fat people!), walked down a grassy hill, and crossed the deep, narrow, smelly drain at the bottom. It's nearly choked with rubbish. Michael's little room is on a lower level past some other houses, you have to climb over a wall that has stones set in it, and then go down past a row of little rooms to reach his at the end, near the thatched bafu & choo. It's very clean & tidy but not very big. He hopes to squeeze in a couple of chairs, and buy a cooker & cooking/eating utensils soon. He paid 140,000 for the year's rent, and an extra 10,000 Tsh get it re-plastered/whitewashed inside. He missed out on a much cheaper (only 40,000 a year ($50)) and nicer room in an apartment block nearer his school, originally built for government workers. His bed cost 60,000 Tsh then he had to buy a mattress, a mosquito net & water containers as well.
We went for a good walk back to the main road to go to the university internet building – what a fast connection - well, once I got a different computer, the first had a problem!
Then we went to a large complex that housed banks, fancy shops and a Forex, however, no-one was willing to change our traveller’s cheques. AT least there was an ATM so we used the Visa card instead, and also changed our large USD notes at the Forex into smaller ones to use at the airport - we'd been told there would be departure tax, but there wasn’t!
On the way back to the guest house, we stopped to buy ice blocks from a roadside vendor – most refreshing, as Dar was very hot & windy. We went to a cheap restaurant for lunch - HUGE platefuls of food, including very nice chips + a yummy salad of tomatoes, onion & cucumber.
As it was now after 1 p.m., we went to pick up our bags and head for the airport. We had a ½ hour walk to the main daladala stand, otherwise we'd have had to have taken two, and it gave another opportunity to chat. You had to watch out for cars using the pavement as a road to get past all the traffic jams, plenty of those! In the daladala, at one point it took twenty minutes to advance just two hundred metres!
We got to the airport bang on time, but were disappointed to find that, like Nairobi, passengers are screened on entry so other people are excluded. My hopes of a proper farewell were dashed, we had to say goodbye very quickly before disappearing out of sight. If we’d got there a little earlier or known the layout, we could have stopped in the gardens in front of the airport, taken a group photo, prayed for each other, & had a proper hug. I had also wanted an opportunity to say some encouraging words before leaving Michael again.
We gave him most of the money we’d got out of the ATM (apart from the cost of our accommodation & lunch), hoping no-one bad saw & would mug him on his way home, before saying a quick goodbye. I managed to slip in a quick hug, but Bruce had already gone on ahead!
It's a strange airport, there are only a few shops, a cafe and a restaurant in the lounge. There also were only two or three boarding lounges.
The boarding procedure took us by surprised, we heard our flight being called so went into the lounge and wondered why there was a group of people crowding round a desk near the entrance but no desks near the exit as there usually are. We almost went to sit down, but I looked at the time and thought it was too close to departure time. We decided to investigate the desk, which was now not chokka with people, and saw there were two girls, one checking passports and boarding passes, the other ticking names off the list. You then just walk outside onto the tarmac, get directed to the appropriate aircraft & climb on board using the aircraft's stairs!

A disastrous trip

Friday July 24th Well, what a day! It started slowly, no-one apart from Bruce seemed to be in any hurry to get up, and eventually I had to ask him to settle down, he was getting me uptight! Breakfast was sooty peanuts and slimy pawpaw at 7. Michael hadn't as yet appeared, and the taxi was due in twenty minutes! We waited for him to join us, and he looked very surprised to see us still sitting there at 10 past, he’d forgotten all about food! Pic: Bibi & Mama Lucia outside the 'new' house.
Just as well the taxi was a little late, Jeremia had had to walk to Nzega to get it as the driver didn’t know the way to bibi’s. We were a bit surprised to see no bus waiting at the bus stand as it was supposed to leave at 8 sharp! Eventually we were told it had broken down on the way from Mwanza, but would arrive at 8.30. Michael jokingly said it wouldn’t come till 10!
Well, it hadn't come by 10 so we started discussing the possibility of getting a refund and finding another bus. Michael wanted to arrive before dark and Jeremia said we’d need to leave by 11! No-one was talking much, Michael kept wandering around the bus station. At one point he hugged Jeremia, asking, “Why are you so cold & your heart beating so fast?” “Mama’s running away, and I want her to stay & stay & stay....!” It was quite sad. He was going to return to Igunga later that day.
Well, we had to wait & wait & wait – until 11.45, when the bus pulled in and there was a mad dash to load up the luggage and push passengers on board. I delayed getting on to give Michael time to stow our bags away underneath the bus, aided by Jeremia who came up to say a last goodbye. Michael was only just in time, we were almost pushed up the stairs by the conductor!
It was sad, we couldn’t sit together again - it was a smaller bus, the seats were in pairs not threes. However, Michael sat behind us, and little Michael sat on my lap.
We stopped just after Igunga, they opened up the panel behind the driver’s seat to access the motor. Bruce was really worried by the hissing sound as they added water to the radiator, he thought we had or would get a cracked cylinder head!
The stop at Singida was only for 10 minutes, hardly time for anyone to get to the loo, so we just stayed on board.
I'd been told it’d be tarmac roads all the way to Dar, but after Singida, it was back to rough sand and dirt. The roads will be nice one day, there’s a major roading project as far as Dodoma. The new road’s being built to one side of the old one, some parts had already been tarmacked by prison gangs. We were only allowed on one brief stretch near Manyoyi.
The scenery near Singida and Dodoma is fantastic, there are amazing rock formations: huge crags and gigantic rounded rocks looking like they’d just been dropped from heaven!
Just after one of several weigh-stations near Dodoma, a helmeted policeman, waiting on a motorcycle at a police checkpoint, came on board to accompany us! At first I thought it was just a routine things, but it soon became apparent we were in trouble!
After stopping in the large car park outside the Dodoma police station, the driver and crew went off, with no announcements made re how long we’d be there. There were a few kiosks selling food, but no sign of public conveniences, and I was feeling uncomfortable.
After asking Michael if there were toilets, I thought he said no, and then he got off the bus. I was a little worried we’d have to stay in Dodoma as it was now 6 p.m., and public transport doesn’t normally run after dark in Tanzania
Bruce and I stood up to rest our weary behinds, but I got too desperate so went outside to see Michael, and was very relieved when Michael pointed around the corner – wondering why on earth he hadn’t come back to the bus to let me know!
Once I returned, I asked if he knew how long we’d be there and why we'd stopped – well, apparently the bus driver, well-known to the police, had been arrested for some minor misdemeanour on the way, and no-one knew how long it would take to get him released!
While Michael took little Michael to the toilet, one of the bus crew came out of the police station to tell the group of passengers standing around to go into the office, but he specified men only much to my relief, I was the only woman outside and there was no way of letting Michael know. I was more relieved that the man hadn't told everyone on the bus to get off.
When Michael returned, I told him what had happened, standing in full view of the three officers at the desk indoors. I don’t know whether the sight of a stranded Mzungu standing outside quietly made them relent or whether the men had had to pay a bribe – but they all trooped back out again, telling us to re-board the bus, we were off! It was great news, although by now it was nearly dark.
We reached Morogoro about 10 p.m., then the outskirts of Dar around 1 a.m., everyone dozing between stops. Just before each stop, the lights would be switched on & the destination announced to the sleepy passengers.
We were very glad to disembark at 1.20, waiting for the bags to be offloaded – somehow they’d switched sides on the way - then went by car to the guest house, which unfortunately had only a double room available, no singles. The two Michaels walked off into the dark back to his little room. Our bed might have fitted three but not all four!
We were glad the staff agreed to look after our bags the next day till the afternoon and to let us pay the next day. We needed a bank or ATM, we didn't have enough cash left and had an afternoon flight!

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.

Pounding rice and the Ipilili Centre

Sunday 19th July We helped bibi prepare rice for breakfast, the products of Martha's hard work had all been eaten. We took turns using the large pestle and mortar. Once it was cooked, we ate it with bananas.
We had a nice walk through the countryside to Ipilili Centre where Pr Jonas’ church is. Part of the area looked like sand dunes near a beach, so I said the sea was “just over there!”
I enjoyed dancing African-style during the songs, remembering the words after nearly 2 years! Bruce preached, I translated, which was hard work as I was a bit out of practice, but it eemed to go very well. Michael told me people kept asking him how many YEARS I’d lived in Africa!
Bruce and I sat under some trees afterwards, waiting for a church board meeting to finish, chatting with a few people including Pr Peter from near Singida, who'd taught Pr Jonas at Bible School. He was very happy to visit him and his church for the first time, and wasn’t worried to see how few people were in church, saying what's important isn’t the size of the building, its appearance or how many people turn up, but rather it's the evidence of spiritual life and outreach. This church has started two others in neighbouring villages.
He spoke in English, slowly but well, which was nice for Bruce. We walked in the now-hot sunshine (we had to wear sweaters in the morning!), looking at the new chekechea building started 2 weeks earlier. One block had its walls up, but already was showing some serious structural cracks! The other two blocks were only at foundation stage.
I enjoyed watching Michael chatting with his friends; I love the way they all laugh together, slapping hands when someone says something funny! They were discussing why Tanzanians are so slow to learn English, & overseas people so quick to learn Kiswahili!
Eventually we were welcomed back into church, and introduced to some of the board, but some were away. Apart from the pastor, there was the treasurer, secretary, and an elder, Silas (another relative of Michael’s!). They told us about the projects they’re doing, such as the chekechea and village outreaches.
After a rather filling lunch of rice, mchuzi, Fanta and pieces of banana, we all went outside to look at the church property, peeping through the windows of the old building, now a Sunday School, before passing through the chekechea site and inspecting the fields.
They increased the land by 2 more plots this year, adjoining the present land behind the kindergarten. One was given by the government, and as it's next to a mosque , the locals want a police station in between! The Christians say it wouldn't be them that would casue any trouble! Maize is being grown at the moment, but the land will be used for the chekechea and also to build a primary school.
We walked back to bibi’s, and I got sunburnt – ouch! - I'd forgotten to put on sunscreen! We were so tired, we went to bed to rest. Bruce & I got up at 5, Michael was still asleep, but got woken up by bibi for peanuts + Rosella tea.
This is made from the petals of Rosella flowers, and looks & tastes like rosehip syrup! We had a nice chat, and found out that Michael can study in a library for a small annual fee – a real benefit when text books are so scarce. They don’t loan books over there, there is too much dishonesty.
We noticed there were more siafu outside, some trying to come in, so Michael tried burning them up with bundles of grass. Bibi got a bit cross at the waste, and her precious pot plants were catching fire! She nearly set fire to Michael's trousers before sweeping up the remains, a bit scary!
I suggested moving the pots away from the house for a few days, they were attracting the ants because the plants were being watered. It kept us all busy for a while, also sweeping up debris from underneath and burning up any ants that didn't escape underground.
We then walked to Pastor Jonas’, and were taken on a tour of his house, which was started in 2001, but is still unfinished. He and his wife Rachel (who's the eldest daughter of one of Michael's great uncles) had 5 sons, but the eldest died as baby. Nathan (15) is in Form 1, Joel (12)in S6, Ezekia (9) in S2, Erick (8) in S1. Erick loves electricity, and makes things that use batteries. Mama had arrived back in Nzega from a 6-month chekechea teacher training course in Korogwe the same day as we did, but she'd left Arusha on a different bus which arrived a bit later! If we'd known we might have been able to have travelled together!
Jonas gave Michael a letter – oh, what familiar handwriting – it was from me! I'd sent him one in early January, not realising he’d returned to Kisiwani to stay at Mama Rosa’s, I thought he would be in Tazengwa until February. It was good he could at last read it and look at the photos I'd sent!
Jonas showed us lots of family photos including some of Michael helping him build his house. There were even some of Jonas at a Bible College in Sweden, where he'd studied missions.
Michael was anxious to leave although we'd been invited to tea, but the meal hadn't even been started & bibi was expecting us back.
We were almost full after eating ugali and cabbage when the girls brought in rice & beans which we couldn't eat! After a nice chat, we went to bed, but the cousins were eating & chatting heaps, so it was hard to get to sleep. We were glad the strong winds had died down, but a mosquito woke us in the night, so I had to get out of bed to put on repellent as the net hadn't been put up.

Repairing the bathroom; a village expedition; the wars of the ants

Saturday 18th July Sunny with a very cold wind: we wore sweaters in the morning! Breakfast was bread, bananas + cold chicken, Michael said it was like a feast day! We talked re family trees + our different naming systems which are a bit tricky to get used to!
Afterwards it was time to repair the old bafu: Umoja (unity) & Fun! We first made strips of bark from two types of branches, Michael was splitting them in half, I was peeling off the bark. Ibrahim was helping too - he's one of Regina's sons and lives with bibi, he's probably about 10 years old. Bruce was indoors, not sure what he was doing.
Once we had quite a pile of kamba, we helped Michael repair the frame. Ibrahim and I held new branches in place whilst Michael tied them to the vertical frame with kamba. Piece by piece, old bundles of grass were replaced by new, Ibrahim binding this time. As he decided we needed stronger ties for the frame, Michael went to cut branches off an oil palm, using the midribs. They look nice, having pale green stripes on darker green. I was sent to talk with bibi, until some of the girls turned up to help prepare mchicha (spinach) - then I went back with the camera to check building progress and found that Bruce was now helping.
More kamba was needed, so I had to learn to split the branches exactly down the middle, a lot harder than it sounds, and one variety was quite tricky! The men extended the frame on one side of door to better conceal the occupant on windy days – there’s a kanga curtain in the doorway only.
Once they'd finished, I helped Michael remove the stones from the inside (because of scorpions), which we replaced after sweeping out the bafu.
After a good lunch just after 2 of beef/mchicha/ugali & bananas, Michael and I spent the next two hours chatting whilst Bruce rested: African affairs, NZ visas, leadership & aid corruption, his need of a wife. He estimates that only 10% aid gets to the people who need it, so countries are unwilling to help.
Once Bruce came back outside, we went for a walk around the 6-acre shamba, to see the boundaries. It must take hours to prepare for planting in December when the rainy season starts. The place where babu, Michael’s mother & aunt are buried was pointed out. The family also has another shamba for maize & a third for rice, just across the road.
Martha (M. Lucia's oldest daughter)was busy pounding rice in a large painted wooden mortar to remove the husks, so that bibi could cook it for tea once the chaff/dirt was removed. Maria (her sister), Ibrahim and Editha (Mama Joyce’s eldest daughter who also lives with bibi) just stood around while bibi went off to get water - I was a bit annoyed, because Editha & Ibrahim are supposed to help her with chores when they’re not at school.
After bathing, we went for a walk into the village to visit Michael’s pastor Jonas Kulwa, greeting a group of people sitting on a mat outside a house on the way, some of whom were more relatives! We followed one of them, a very friendly lady, to a nearby house which had a small shop in the front room. We were very surprised as Michael had said nothing about going shopping! The reason was to buy us all jandals for bathing as we’d been borrowing other people’s, but we also added a few other essentials for our stay: soap, laundry powder, a biro, matches, some sweets for little Michael, + toilet paper. After briefly visiting the pastor’s, we returned to bibi’s for tea.
It was exciting when Mama Joyce and her other daughter (another Maria!) arrived from Igunga after tea. She’s a seamstress, probably unmarried as she uses her maiden name Kikumbo, but said the girls’ father is in Moshi. As Mama Lucia came round with her four girls, the living room was very crowded! She told us to give her our washing in the morning, she knew we hadn't had time to do any just yet. I was a bit reluctant as it would be a Sunday!
We were sent off to get ready for bed, but it was hard to get to sleep as everyone was talking just through the wall and there are no ceilings. Every time someone went outside or came back indoors, the door would squeak and bang. Eventually it got quiet and I started going to sleep at last.
However, I didn't manage it - bibi & Mama Joyce started talking again, a lamp was lit, I could hear the twig broom sweeping, and even heard a fire being lit outside! Quite mystifying + terribly annoying; my eyes & head were so sore from being awake for so long. I knew bibi wasn't senile, she'd seemed perfectly sane the day before, so I started to think perhaps she was an insomniac, & was worried about the house being clean for Sunday! I was shocked when she woke up Michael, it seemed most unfair! Once everything quietened down again, I DID get to sleep.
Suddenly I woke up again, Bruce was fidgeting around in bed, exclaiming “Yuk”! I thought his rash had come back as we’d had beans for tea! However, he switched on the torch and said there were ants swarming everywhere, even in the bed biting his legs – they soon found me too. Not having my glasses handy, I was pretty helpless and could only see dark swathes roiling on the floor and had no idea where the ants were in the bed. Fortunately Bruce managed to stretch across the room to get them so we stood on the bed stomping up & down, brushing our legs.
Michael called out, “Kuna wadudu?” (Are there insects?) “Ndiyo, siafu, mahali pote hata kitandani!”(Yes, safari ants everywhere, even in the bed!) He came in to see, saying we’d better go outside for a bit. We eagerly agreed, gingerly reaching out for our jandals, stepping onto them brushing off the ants & squashing as many as possible, stamping all the time! Bruce managed to grab a shirt, I had only a nightie on and didn't have time to rummage in my bag! I was glad it was dark, and dear Bruce lent me his shirt when I started feeling cold.
Bibi started sweeping ants outside with a twig broom dipped in kerosene/ashes, into a fire that was lit for the purpose. Michael lit bundles of grass, sizzling up the rest on the floor. Soon we were allowed back to bed - but we saw more hiding under/in it. So the process was repeated, we even had to do it a third time as no-one had checked under our bags!
By now it was 6 a.m., only a brief last attempt to get some sleep. Bruce seemed OK, but after I got bitten another 3 times by an ant that had escaped, I got dressed & dozed in the sitting room until everyone got up to make breakfast half an hour later! Talk of being worn out! We found out that the first attack had been at 2 a.m.!

Kisiwani

Monday 13th July What a sleepless night! The neighbouring bar played LOUD music all night. After checking the time at quarter to four, we decided not to try to get back to sleep, so had a shower and got up. It'd been hot, but we'd only had the fan on low so it wouldn’t make too much noise!!! Needn't have worried about that!
We went downstairs just after five, Michael turned up at half past, looking a little embarrassed to see us waiting! We took a taxi to the bus station due to safety reasons. There was tight security at the gate, only one person is allowed in at a time, & if you don’t have a ticket, you pay 200 Tsh. I guess it's to discourage touts, salesmen and pick-pockets.
After putting our packs under the bus, we climbed on – it was a long way up! It had three seats each side and seven across the back where we sat, Bruce in the middle stretching out his long legs! We started having a lovely chat about Michael’s favourite subjects: history & politics, his new room, etc. It was rather a shock when the ticket inspector came round and found some other people had the same seat numbers as us! He decided Bruce and I should move forward, but I was so disappointed, I felt like telling him we'd been apart for almost two years and were just starting to catch up! However, I decided not to cause a fuss! It seems seats are quite often double-booked; different agents selling them - although they each get a seating plan with their seat allocations on it. Some companies are sell tickets twice over just to get more money.
The bus set off very late, 7.45 a.m., but we didn’t know why! There seemed to be interminable discussions between the inspector and some of the passengers.
There were good roads as far as Korogwe, which we reached at noon, stopping for 1/2 hour. Not much further on, we turned off onto the A4, a dirt road. The landscape became very dry: baobabs/thorn trees, not much other vegetation. After a while, interesting mountains started to appear, rising sharply out of the flat plain. Some of the many rivers had water, but others were dry.
Closer to the mountains, there were lots of big trees, flowing rivers, but no grass. Late in the afternoon, we started to stop at every little village to drop people off, before coming to a final halt in Kiswani (‘on the island’) in the Same district at 4 p.m. There's no sea or lake there – but it’s like an island of flattish land surrounded by tall mountains! If you click on the map to enlarge it, you'll just make it out near the Kenyan border, half way between Moshi and Tanga.
The last section of road was SO bumpy that the person in front of me nearly hit his head on the padded piece housing the seat lights/ventilator! I think there were sore bottoms all round!
We were met by a few folk who helped us with our bags. After crossing back over the bridge the bus had driven over, we went up a small dirt road to a house surrounded by a big hedge which we entered through a large gap: Mama Rosa’s.
Mama Rosa is the sixth of Michael’s grandmother’s seven daughters, and she is only five years older than him (33) – but her husband, a doctor, is called ‘the mzee’ (old man) as he’s 62! Unfortunately he was away in Mbeya, attending to a family matter. They have two boys, Frank (Standard 4), and Michael mdogo (little Michael to distinguish him from ‘our’ Michael!) who’s repeating S1 – he started school the year before, but has only just turned six: usually they start at 7 in Tanzania. There are 7 standards (Kenya has 8) in primary school. Only about 10% of Tanzanian children ever get to secondary school, although the government is trying very hard to make more schools available. There are two primary schools, a kindergarten (chekechea) and a secondary school in Kiswani.
The house has an open-plan lounge/dining room, two bedrooms (the main one has a bucket-flushed European toilet!) and a traditional choo off the lounge that leads into a large storeroom. We were amused to see an electric stove being used to store pots and pans in the dining room! The cooking is done over an open fire outside in a small lean-to jiko (kitchen).
Pic: lounge/dining room showing the low table where we ate. As it only sat four, the others ate at a big table near the back door behind the sofa.
After our things were put in the boys’ room, we bathed in mama’s ensuite using a jug of water. We had black spicy tea at 5.30 - yummy, and the bread & oranges that Michael had bought on the way. It was our first food: we'd left too early to eat breakfast, and we only had enough change to buy water on the way.
Some visitors came to greet us: a young man, Ntarula, who’s from Kigoma but is studying Form Three here, and a young lady called Francisca, recently married, also from Kigoma. Her husband turned up later.
When Michael tried to switch on the TV, he got a small shock & the power went off - the fuses didn't blow so that was a bit scary!
We went for a nice walk with Michael 'round the block' after inspecting the section around the house, which is surrounded by hedges on three sides, and tall trees near a stream on the fourth. It was sad to see so much bare soil where there are normally plants – the drought has been bad here too. Michael was surprised to see that the banana palms had died since February.
Then Rosa took us to see the family's guest house, it was their former home. It isn't far away, and has a small mill on one side and Rosa’s pharmacy on the right. The front door is up several tall concrete steps leading into a lounge containing a sofa, with 1-2 bedrooms on each side. Half the wall between it & the next room, which also has 1-2 bedrooms on each side has been removed. There is also a small kitchen annex at the back leading to outside. Each bedroom has a bed, mosquito net + ‘self-container’: a small room with squat toilet on a small platform, a tap that doesn’t work (you use a bucket!), an open space for washing with a hole in the wall to drain out the water.
The small two-room pharmacy only had a few stock medicines & bandages. Michael told Rosa about Bruce’s rash, which had reappeared on Sunday, so she had a little look, and was sure it'd just go away again. We hadn’t been sure whether it was a staph rash or caused by poorly-prepared beans - but it wasn’t terribly itchy & TCP seemed to calm it down. Some of the wheals were a whole inch across!
They also own a restaurant + bar behind the guest house: the outdoor tables stand under a thatched roof under huge trees; the bar/servery are in a little kiosk on a raised concrete area with more tables. She sells fried pork + soft drinks as there are no girls to serve in the bar.
We returned to Rosa’s for a nice dinner at 8.30: meat mchuzi (stew) and rice, followed by pieces of banana and oranges, before returning to the guest house to be given a couple of rooms there.
It was a bit noisy for a while, there were lots of people outside talking & laughing (in the bar?) till late. I woke up far too early, so spent some time thinking and praying about Michael & our children, thanking God for the opportunity to see them all this year. I was sad that we'd missed 8 hours of conversation on the bus by having to sit apart!!!
It was impossible to get back to sleep once it was five: the mosques started up, the bus honked its horn, the first trucks roared away, roosters began to crow & people talked outside as they started off their day!

Back to Nairobi

Saturday July 11th It was a somewhat cool night disturbed by hyenas, and was cloudy when we got up at 6.15, but cleared up later, and was very hot in Nairobi! After an early chai, there were lots more farewells. We left at quarter to 8 to walk to Ezekiel’s where we had some more chai before walking to the school. The taxi driver had refused to return to Luka’s, saying it was too far and too expensive – TOO TRUE! - but he wouldn’t drop his fee for the shorter trip – GRR! There were lots of passengers this time: us, John, Ezekiel + Joseph (one of the Enkiloriti teachers). Daniel accompanied us to the car to see us off.
It only took 40 minutes to get to Duka Moja this time. On this better road/track, it was possible to drive at 20 kph! Ezekiel farewelled us there, having business to attend to, but Joseph came all the way to Nairobi with us to get some exam papers for the school.
I had a private giggle in the taxi: the radio announcer was talking about various celebrities who were sharing a 'bath day'!!!!!
We reached Nairobi soon after 11, it was a good trip, but we were shocked at the condition of the cattle we passed, and of course the maize was in an even worse state.
At the internet, I still couldn’t access Xnet mail, but was pleased to have an email from my parents on Yahoo saying they’d successfully contacted Amex on our behalf. We changed some USD into Ksh to cover our last expenses in Kenya, also giving John his wedding present.
After a cheap lunch, and even cheaper public toilets (10 Ksh for two), we took a bus back to near Nicholas’ – but during the slow journey bin heavy traffic, it caught the edge of a matatu whilst on lane-changing manoeuvres. They just swerve from lane to lane without indicating or checking that the way is clear, it's amazing there aren't more collisions. Quite a kerfuffle ensued, each driver accusing the other of causing the damage, some of the passengers got involved too! I was praying it wouldn't become physical!
As our bus had ended up diagonally across 1 ½ lanes in a 3-lane carriageway, vehicles on our left had to veer onto the footpath to get past! Some of the passengers started to complain vociferously about the long delay, some even got off the bus and started walking to find another.
Eventually a police van passed us, without slowing down or showing any sign they’d observed the problem, but it must have stopped at the next roundabout & told one of those on point-duty to attend to it, as soon afterwards, a policeman was seen striding purposefully towards us. After a quick word to both drivers, both vehicles started up & drew into the nearby petrol station. Another brief discussion, then we were on our way again – don’t know if any money changed hands or not, couldn’t see.
When we reached our stop, Joseph accompanied our bags on a motorbike taxi back to the ‘shopping centre’ whilst we walked! Poor Bruce wrenched his back again stumbling on a stone. We were saddened to see a dead cow in a patch of grass on the way.
After backpacking our bags from the centre to Nicholas', arriving at about 2.30 to a quiet house, we were greeted by Elizabeth, Emily + the little ones. We wennt to bed to rest whilst John & Joseph returned to town to find the exam papers. We got up a couple of hours later when some children started playing noisily outside. After repacking our bags, we sat in the living room waiting for someone to turn up.
I walked round looking at all the pictures and calendars festooning the wall. One calendar (from a Pentecostal church) had ‘miraculous’ stories – one situation was frankly impossible: a woman gave birth after being pregnant for three years! Another one really made me laugh: “a woman conceived and gave birth to a boy after being in bareness for 4 years!”
After John & Joseph returned at 6.30, we were offered ‘cocoa chai’!!! John was very surprised to hear we hadn’t been offered anything earlier on - so were we! He told us Yasintha is also drinking cocoa instead of tea, they believe it’s bad for mother & baby. She’ll also have LOTS of uji, like the Wahaya in the Bukoba region – they get really fed up with it in the end!
John got Michael on the phone unexpectedly. He was so excited to hear me speak, his voice sprang up an octave, but we didn’t have much time for more than greetings, as John's phone ran out of credit. Michael didn’t ring back but we'd be meeting the next day anyway!
We talked about visiting the local pastor again, but again John was too tired. We watched the TV news & weather, surprised to see the maximum temperature was only 22 deg, it seemed much hotter! We spent the rest of the evening chatting with Nicholas, who'd come to Nairobi 17 years ago to be closer to good grazing. They are used to having the kiangazi (drought/dry season), but it’s the worst he’s known.
Our supper was very late, at ten, but was very delicious: cabbage (a vege at last!) + chapattis, followed by pieces of orange & banana – YUM! Poor Maurice had gone to sleep on a chair, but could only eat just a mouthful or two before slipping back into sleep again, nearly in his plate! It seems cruel to expect little kids (he's only 4!) to stay up so late, I don’t think they realise how much sleep they need.
We didn't get much of that, it was a VERY noisy night: barking dogs outside till early in the morning, then a rooster clapped its wings together & started to crow well before dawn!

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!