Old Friends

Tuesday 5th AprilAnother disturbed night – dogs, roosters and a thunderstorm from 5 am that lasted up to 9 o’clock. There was some very heavy rain, even some hail.
It was a busy day. Bruce wanted to leave as soon as the rain stopped but I managed to delay him for a bit whilst I wrote some post cards that I’d purchased from BUDAP. We had no success trying to contact mama Hermalinda re visiting her in her village, so decided to go into town. We were due to visit Aristides later in the morning, then mama Juliana for lunch. On the way, we planned to stop by at Harvest.
We bought some oil for mama Petromulaki, but unfortunately didn’t stop in the little soko at Nyakanyasi to buy some flour and a phone voucher, believing that we’d pass a kiosk on the way to Kibeta hill. Unfortunately we’d run out of money on the phone, but had some exciting texts around midday from NZ – our little granddaughter had just started to stand up holding on to furniture (aged 10 ½ months).
We visited the plant nursery by Nyakanyasi River, which was very swollen and flooding the lower ground. The owner has good English and we had a good conversation. He told us that he’s planted 30,000 trees on his shamba!
At the corner where a path leaves the road to lead to the hill, we met baba Jeni – he told us that his wife was very sick and couldn’t come to visit us. He’s expanded his small business of repairing shoes, sandals and umbrellas to serving coffee. His wife has a coffee stall at the market but found that she didn’t get enough custom.
A few houses from the corner is mama Amina’s. She’s an Indian lady whose family came over some time back and she married a Tanzanian and has several children. One of her eldest ones came to Pre-Form One tuition at Harvest, and had excellent English and seemed to be very bright. We’d become friends with mama and she’d invited us in on one or two occasions, and always wanted to stop and chat or give us some fruit from their tiny shamba. Yasintha was home, she was going to teacher training, and had only achieved Division 3 in her Form Four exams the year before. I was a bit surprised, thinking she’d have got Div 2 quite easily. We heard that they only accept boys having Div 1 and 2 results for Teacher Training these days, but they will take girls with Div 3.
Amina went to a neighbour’s across the path and called Deborah out. She’s another young girl who we’d met in Bukoba shortly before we returned to NZ. She told us she wanted us to be her friends, and we write to each other several times a year. She studied at an English medium primary school so has good English, and passed Form Four a year or two ago. Now she is studying nursing at one of the hospitals. She was very emotional when she saw us and it is rather surprising as we only met up with her two or three times, once visiting her home to be introduced to her father who works for the local council.
We arrived at Harvest at 10.30 and were amazed at the huge increase in the number of houses on the hill. People have been building all over it! We were struck again at how unfit we were, and found we got quite puffed and had to stop a few times on the way up! We’d have been even worse if we hadn’t spent 10 days on Bumbire!
We were pleased to see that Harvest Sec School had been able to expand since we were last there, and most of the buildings looked very nice with blue-painted roofs and some nice paintwork on the walls that hadn’t been there when we last saw it. We went to the administration block – that used to be the guest house and pastor Lucas’s quarters, and were amused to see that our former bedroom was now the Director’s room. The building has been split in half – half is for administration and the other half still has some of pastor’s children living in it: three of his boys and one of the daughters. Mama and three of the other children are in Dar es Salaam and pastor does a lot of travelling. The youngest daughter is at University in Dodoma now.
We enjoyed meeting Pastor Theophil for the first time. He is married to a lovely lady called Editha whom we had met on our first African adventure in 2004. At that stage, she was helping mama Lucas with household chores, and was only about 15. On our second visit, we were quite disappointed that she’d gone back to her home village, and was going to get married. Now they have three little children aged 1, 2 and 4.
We were really surprised to hear that four of the Lucas' children (Pastor Lucas is the head of the Agape Christian Fellowship church and lived at Harvest for many years) are still at Harvest, although the oldest three are in Dar es Salaam with their mama. We had a lovely chat with Victory, and she was really sad that we would only be in Bukoba for such a short time. She said we should have stayed for a week, then we could have had lots of discussions and shared views, opinions etc. In hindsight we certainly realised that we should have planned a much shorter time on Bumbire – but Bruce thought it would be good to spend 2 Sundays there to really encourage the pastor – and a longer time in Bukoba, but it had been really hard to organise with only having cellphone numbers for a few of our contacts and in many cases, not getting any news from them at all. Usually the reason is that they have run out of money on the phone or the battery needs charging up!
Pastor Theophil texted mama Juliana to let her know we were running a bit late, and Aristides – as we had no money on our phone – and we were met by Aristides’ eldest daughter, Flia, just outside Harvest. She took us at a great rate up the hill and along the muddy paths past many shambas and small villages till we reached her father’s house. They had been forced to sell their old one and shamba due to a family dispute over the land. Now they are renting two small rooms, part of a larger house. Only the oldest and youngest child are at home at the moment, the other two are in the village with their grandfather as they can’t afford to feed all four of them. Aristides has been out of work since his accident so they have been in serious hardship with only a small income from his wife’s small business. He showed us his artificial leg which he calls Bruce’s leg – perhaps because it’s white! His stump is still quite fragile and was quite swollen and sore – he’s only had the leg a short time so may be trying to get around too much on it.
After a little taro and spiced chai, we went with Flia to mama Juliana’s, not too far away really but Flia got a little lost. She was still busy cooking as we managed to arrive about 10 minutes before she was expecting us! She is still teaching but has to cope with 120 Standard One pupils! These are in their first year of school – just imagine the chaos and impossibility of trying to get any real learning done. She said some of the better-behaved children help the struggling ones, and get somewhere, but quite a few just mess around and don’t learn anything at all. Her daughter Hilda, who studied at Harvest with us, and was my top English student, achieved Div 2 in Form Four, obtaining a B in both Maths & English. She is now studying Maths, Physics and Chemistry at High School.
Mama had let us know last year that her husband was in trouble at work. He’d been accused of being dishonest in his work (he was quite high up in the local council) – but it was a false accusation. He was taken to court and acquitted as false evidence was given against him. However, his boss decided to get rid of him and wrote him a letter of dismissal, claiming that he had indeed been dishonest and had bribed the judges. As he had had no income to be able to do such a thing – he was stood down from work after the accusations were made, the only income in the family was mama’s wages as a teacher, and she was using all of these to try to keep her children in school and to feed the family. So he was now unemployed and struggling to find another job as he wasn’t given a good reference by his employer.
We caught up with some news about others from Harvest Christian Fellowship and found out that two brothers had moved to Mwanza to set up a business. One’s wife had stayed in Bukoba as she was doing really well selling food to the students at Harvest and cooking them food.
Again we heard how sick mama Jeni was, and decided to visit her on our way back into town.
This entailed quite a long, winding route back down the hill. Unfortunately I’d not taken any photos of Harvest on the way up as I’d imagined we’d return past it again and would be able to take photos at our leisure. Teh way to mama Jeni’s took us quite far away into a very rocky area.
She lives in a very small, dilapidated hut, and was really sick. She had been well until after the mkesha on the Friday night, then became really feverish and couldn’t keep any food down. She was also full of aches and pains and could hardly sleep at night, and was too weak to get up and walk anywhere, hardly strong enough to sit up. They thought it was probably malaria. Fortunately she was able to keep fluids down and was drinking plenty of water. They are very poor and she couldn’t afford a trip to the clinic or hospital to get tested and treated. So we gave a donation to help her both get a ride on a pikipiki (motorbike) and be able to pay for treatment the next day. Unfortunately the clinic is only open in the mornings and it was late afternoon. We found out that two of her sons are now away from home selling sodas from handcarts, one is in Dar es Salaam, the other in Mwanza.
We did end up returning past Mama Amina’s again, and went inside for a brief visit as her husband was home and some more of the children. We also saw Deborah again, but she was very gloomy.
On our way back to our hotel, we met Hassan again, he was due to leave Bukoba to travel all the way to Dar and then down into South Tanzania – a very long journey. He was going to go to High School (in Tanzania a High School is where you can study forms 5 and 6 and take A-levels, Secondary Schools are just for Forms One to Four in general). He was very excited to be going with Godfrey, a top student at Harvest. For a while, they both vied with each other for marks, but in the end, Hassan only got a rather disappointing Div 3 result, and Godfrey Div 2.
We arrived back at the New Banana Hotel at 5 and sat outside with sodas. We were surprised to be greeted with the news that two ladies, mama Hermalinda and mama Spia, had come to visit us just after we’d left in the morning. I was really sad to find out that one was Mama Hermalinda who’d come on the bus to see us and invite us to her home. If only we’d stayed in our room a little longer! She’d run out of money on her phone which is why she hadn’t responded to my texts! I’d assumed that she couldn’t come into town for some reason or other.
We booked tea for seven and put our phone on to charge as the battery was getting flat. we were really happy to meet up with mama Spia again after tea. She came back specially to greet us. She has AIDS and seems to keep alive quite miraculously. From time to time she becomes so sick she is close to death’s door, but then recovers again. At least one of her children has the disease also. She was infected by her husband and has been a widow for some years now. Another widow in a similar situation had lost her eldest son to AIDS in January, we were very sad to hear that. Mama Spia and mama Hermalinda live quite close together, so they can encourage each other in the Lord. Mama Hermalinda is also a widow.
Later on we received a phone call from mama Hermalinda and I apologized profusely for not being still there in the morning and for missing her visit. I really did feel bad. We also had some nice texts from Michael wishing us a safe journey. We were to leave Bukoba early the next morning on our way to Europe.

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.

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.

Harvesting rice

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

Divine appointment in Nzega

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

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!

Enkiloriti School, drought problems, an infected leg

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








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

Return to Luka's via a fancy house and Maasai medicine

Monday July 6th We were up just after six, and after a big farewell, we had breakfast with Moses before walking for over an hour to his deceased eldest brother's manyatta. We went with John and a young teacher (another Moses).
We were most surprised to see a large city-style stone house with solar panels on the roof (to run a light), a generator (for a small TV), and an outdoor kitchen sporting a chimney! It was strange to see iron-grilled windows, plastered internal walls, and even ceilings out in the bush! Most African homes don’t have ceilings so you have to be very quiet at night! We were impressed to see a larger rainwater tank by the kitchen.
It was nice to bathe in a concrete-floored bathroom, easier to keep the feet clean than on a dirt floor, although you still wear. We were asked at Paulo’s why we don’t splash water everywhere like they do – an advantage of using flannels!
We spoke afterwards with four women: Rebekah, the widowed 2nd wife - Moses' brother died 14 years ago (9 children), Esther (5 children), Helen (3 children) and Grace (2 children). Helen & Grace are Rebekah’s eldest daughters. She has had to do the work of a man on the shamba, even going to the markets to buy and sell stock. The first wife has now died & the third wife lives with her eldest son.
They are struggling to get enough food, they only have 30 cows left and a few sheep/goats. The relief food helped for a while. They can’t send the children to school, so they just stay around at home or go out with the stock. They'd like to start a small business selling sugar & oil to locals. Another idea is to rent a field in an area with better rainfall to grow maize; they’d just take the flour home. Their nine acres of beans all died.
One of the little boys had to have a heart operation in Nairobi, a serious problem was discovered after he collapsed during a soccer match. The hospital has their title deeds because they haven't been able to pay the bill! One little girl has a deformed, contracted hand from severe burns, she’s learning to write left-handed.
After having some refreshments, we were given some gifts, then walked around the compound talking to teacher Moses, waiting for John to finish talking to the womem. Some signs of property damage: one small building had lost its iron roof in a gale; the old outside toilet is now unusable, it started collapsing into the pit in an earthquake! They just use the bush again! We were surprised to see that even 6-month hoggets had been left behind in the pens instead of being taken out to graze. There were even a couple of cats there – an unusual sight.
Moses has been teaching at Enkiloriti school for 6 years, one of 5 teaching 6 classes of what should be an 8-standard school. Only two are paid by the government, two by CCS Australia, & Moses by the parents. Kenyan schools only go up to Form Four (O-levels), for F5-6 you have to go to Uganda, or else go to College in Kenya. Government teachers earn 32,000 Ksh/month (~$800), NGO’s pay about 6,000 Ksh, Moses has no guaranteed salary.
Poor Bruce found it a bit hot walking back to Luka’s. On the way, we met an old man in the bush who tried greeting us in English, laughing to hear himself speak! He laughed even more when we replied, congratulating him on his excellent English!
Another old man arrived just after we got back, thanking us for the relief food. It was hard to persuade him not to slaughter a goat for us!
We wanted to wash our clothes, but were told to wait for clean water from the church water tank! I had a bit of an audience at first, the mamas kept advising me to add more water – but I was soaping up the collars/cuffs well before washing properly. I was glad when they left!
My turn to milk tonight, Bruce had already milked various animals, including a reluctant goat and a sheep. The grey cow in the picture is very quiet, I filled my cup from just one quarter – most are only giving half that! The young suckle one side while you milk the other, the yield is so low that you milk 1 cow, 2 goats or 3 sheep for a cupful. We never knew what kind of milk was in the chai!
Afterwards, I spent some time chatting with the mamas, who thought we must have been very tired after walking. I was then called to our hut, Bruce had been taken ill, I'd wondered why Bruce suddenly disappeared after milking a goat. He vomited for over 2 hours until he took some Maasai medicine (powdered bark mixed with water). It tasted vile apparently but worked really well until the early hours. We had to postpone our dinner engagement with Susannah.
In the morning, I gave him Gastrolyte + charcoal tablets, but I actually had an excellent sleep, wasn't disturbed by his early promenade at all!

A seminar and Moses Teeka

Saturday July 4th We had an early breakfast of chai/chapattis, then had time to bathe + wash my hair, waiting for Ezekiel to come. It was a bit embarrassing having a big audience of mamas and children when I went outside to comb hair in the breeze - one mama had a go too!
We left at 9.30, carrying our day packs, to attend a seminar at Nalepo Baptist Church. On the way, we visited a family badly affected by the drought, and had chai in the mama’s hut, listening to their story. One son owes 10,000 Ksh school fees, so he can’t get his Leaving Certificate - which means no work or college prospects. Bruce shared a word about having hope: the mama started crying, so I stayed in the hut to pray with her; we had a tearful hug.
They had 400 sheep/goats & 300 cattle, but now only have 200 sheep/goats and 30 cattle. 2 sons took us round the manyatta, some corrals are not even used now, although all used to be full.
We were all told to go to the toilet in the bush before reaching the church – no facilities there + the seminar would have NO breaks!! When we arrived at 11, it had already started. As it didn’t finish till 5, we were glad of the frequent opportunities to stand and sing between speakers. John & another man took turns translating into English. We enjoyed the messages apart from one. The preacher was repeating a message he’d heard in town: the drought was God’s punishment on the Maasai as they hadn't been giving to Him; they needed to give Him everything, especially their best. He also said their church was too small so they should build a big stone one! It's true there were over 400 packed into the iron building, but a lot were from other churches!
The 2nd speaker was good, sharing from 1st/2nd Timothy, firstly about the need for wives to be obedient, and not want to emulate women in other places who strive to be church leaders. Instead, they should set a good example for the other women. Men and women are equal but have different roles. He encouraged the men to ‘fight the good fight’, i.e. to be diligent in the faith and not give up.
When the meeting ended, we were told to stay inside to eat with the pastors: potato stew, chapattis & beef -it was so tough I finished ½ hour after the rest!
After 1 ½ hours' walk, we reached Moses' manyatta just before dark, to be greeted by many people. One baby had a pale swollen face – malnutrition? - but I didn't get another look at it.
We sat chatting with Moses in the hut we were to stay in. There are 20 primary school children + 15 pre-schoolers on the manyatta. Soinkan, John’s full sister, is the only one at High School, she's in Form One at Najile, and has been chased away for owing fees. John’s youngest sister, Pirisat, changed primary schools this year as the teachers were absent so often her studies were affected.
Only 3 of Moses’ 5 wives are still living here, John’s mother is at Luka’s to get feed for John’s stock and another is with her eldest son.
Moses had 300 sheep/goats and many cattle, but now has only 60 sheep/goats, and a few cattle. As a fat sheep is now only worth 1,000 Ksh instead of 5,000 (over $100!) he’d have to sell 20 to be able to send all his children to school!
It was hard to get to sleep as dogs were fighting outside our hut until very late; one of the young ones kept getting picked on, making me jump with its sharp yelping.

Visits to Ezekiel and John Nkalo, Inkoirienito church.

Friday 3rd July A sunny day, but a cool breeze.   Visited in the morning by Frank, in Standard Five aged 13, one of Raheli's sons.  He tried to speak a little English with us: “Will you come to the house of my mother?” 
More men came to visit and tell us their problems, including Ezekiel Nkalo who we’d met in Duka Moja.
Ezekiel had 300 sheep/goats and 200 cattle, he now has 50 sheep/goats + 30 cattle; 2 wives and 12 children (aged up to 12).
John Nkalo, his brother, had similar numbers of livestock, but has fewer cattle left now.  He has 4 wives and 20 children! He's the chairman of Enkiloriti School Board.
Pastor Daudi from Inkoirienito AIC only has 5 cattle left now.
Ezekiel has been saved five years, but already had 2 wives; the first is a Maasai chosen by his family; the second is a Kikuyu married for love!  He'd like to be a pastor but would have to forsake a wife.  Bruce says he can still be an evangelist. 
We walked to Luka's dam for human/stock water - nearly empty, it should be nearly full!  Then we walked to the maize/bean plantation (left). Eland & giraffe








had got over the boma in the night and eaten some of the plants that have survived.  Only a few look any good, they are in a damp spot where water/urine drains from the yard: some half dozen had tassels or silks, the rest were small & stunted.  We were told that maize crops grown near towns/villages are at risk of theft, people bring donkey carts to take the cobs to sell in Nairobi! Then we visited some of the sites where dead livestock (above right) that died near home were taken, but hyenas had pulled some down the hillside.  Most died on the mountains, too weak to cope with the 2+ hours' walk.  We saw no feed suitable for cattle, only a picking for a few sheep/goats.








Pics: feed situation (left); the best feed (right): just a few square metres of 1 cm long grass!
Back at Luka's, they were helping an old man, walking with two sticks, onto a motorbike to take him home.  He’d come the night before, thinking we’d brought relief food with us, very disappointed that there was none. We had chapattis, chai and a wash before walking to Inkoirienito church. 








The large government-built reservoir has been fenced to keep out livestock, they are only allowed in in supervised groups.  The intake area needs altering to prevent erosion and silting, water has been entering below the concreted stone area. It has never had much water in it since it was built in 2007. Pics: left = 2007, Bruce is way down the far end! Right = water remaining 2009.
The church water tank built with funds from NZ shows a little seepage, it's nearly full, being conserved for John’s wedding!  Pic: 2007 after thanksgiving service.
A large area has been cleared near the church to use for a school or kindergarten.


We walked to Ezekiel’s house past more heaps of bones and the remains of his failed watermelon crop. On the way we'd passed close to the River Elina (right).  Steep gorges fill with rushing water from the mountains when it rains.  Many cattle are lost each dry season, falling down the banks trying to get to the grass in the river bed.  There were LOTS of flies there. 
His 4 year old son came to meet us, dancing for us with incredible skill!  He's said to be an excellent mimic & singer, and wants to be a pastor! 
We talked about the problems in the area and the need for sponsors/aid whilst we drank chai and ate rice and potatoes together. 
Enkiloriti Clinic started 3 years near the primary school but is unusable, as it has no roof. Going to Duka Moja for treatment is very expensive.
The Primary School doesn’t have enough teachers; no suitable teachers' houses; the parents can’t pay teachers’ salaries – non-government teachers rely on these, they have only passed Form 4.  To work for the government, you need a College diploma.
After walking round Ezekiel's shamba, we went to his brother's, but only his wives and some children were there.  They have also lost many stock on the mountain, but some died near the huts. 
The men were amused, as we sat on stools outside, by a boy uttering strange cries - I was embarrassed to be told that the first were those of girls before circumcision, the second those of boys! 
Pic: nice view of distant mountains, huts + donkey corral: the poor things only got let out at midday! 
Amusing sight: 2 little girls carrying shoes in lesos on their backs, each holding a jar of VERY dirty water – their ‘babies’ and ‘milk’!
Returning to Luka’s through the bush, one section was so slippery I was given Luka’s stick to help!  There was some kind of monkey in the trees, but I only caught a brief glimpse. 
We were visited by 2 girls in the evening: Shumbai and Dagili, + some women: Mary (just had her first baby), Maria & Susannah.  I was given 2 bracelets, both made by Shumbai: 1) Kenyan flag design from Shumbai; 2) “I love you” given to Bruce by Susannah, but too small - given to me instead!