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Note: Please do NOT respond to any requests for money purporting to come
from the church in Tanzania. These
messages don’t come from the church; they come from crooks. For information on how to make donations to
Beth’s work please contact the Curate.
For information on how to support the church in Tanzania, please
contact the Diocesan Link Committee. |
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January 2007 So I arrived in Dar, very weary (the wonderful couple in front
of me on the plane had no problems with their darling brat screaming the
entire night- they actually seemed to be able to sleep through it!) at 7 in
the morning. Had no problems with immigration (I haven't been asked for
a bribe once- I thought this was supposed to be Africa!) Dar
airport is not a nice place when on your own, but as luck would have it the
taxi driver I got came from Kondoa, and in fact a village I've
visited, and so after greeting him in Kirangi he was incredibly helpful and
gave me advice about Dar. So spent the day getting lost in Dar and got
horrendously sunburnt. He was also very helpful at the bus station the
next day- making sure I got a good seat, my luggage was stowed properly,
etc. I offered him a tip for doing this, and he said he wouldn't take
it because I am a relative of his now- and this is what he would do for any
of his relatives! |
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Within 2 days of arriving in Kondoa I had Malaria, which I'm now
getting over. 2 days after taking the tablets for the prescribed number
of days it came back so I'm now on my second course- but apparently that's
normal for the type of malaria people get here! It does mean that I've
lost all the weight I put on over Christmas. People here were making
comments about how I'd put on weight- one woman even asked if my mother had
been breast feeding me! Tried not to think of Little Britain!
They also think I went back to England to get a fiancée, and call me a liar
if I say I don't have one- they've even started arranging my Kitchen Party
and Send Off as they think the next time I return to England it will be for
my wedding! Will have to get myself hooked-up pretty quick then- the
next thing they'll be doing is making baby clothes! I came home to find my garden had been farmed and chickens
running around- fortunately Freda hasn't bought a cockerel yet- they make so
much noise at ungodly hours of the morning. The chickens are too young
at the moment but we've arranged with our neighbour that we can take our hens
to be serviced by her cockerel when they are older- how romantic! The
rains had obviously not stopped whilst I was away, and still haven't
stopped. The maize is taller than it was at harvest time last year, and
people are farming land that has never been used for crops before- to take
advantage of the rain. The cows are actually beginning to put some
weight on- though they're still skinny things. The surge of insects has
meant a lot of the greens are being eaten- and they are in all the food- I
have to sift flour to get rid of the bugs. Having said that, on
Saturday we cooked pilau and we were cleaning the rice to get rid of the grit
and stuff, and I was the only one to remove the bugs- people laughed at me
and pointed out that bugs meant protein! So we ate insect pilau- not
too bad actually! Most of you know that I had an oven glove appeal that was
incredibly successful- an entire suitcase full of oven gloves. I've been
distributing them, and left a few with a friend who works with a project
run by the same charity but in Dodoma. On Saturday we used them.
At first the women thought they were just for use by me- to protect my poor
soft delicate hands, but I managed to convince them otherwise. They
went down very well - and they kept shouting out 'Joy' and 'Blessing' so I
think they were pleased! I gave a presentation to the Mothers'
Union about a proposed micro-finance scheme to set up a bakery, which
was unanimously agreed to, after they asked some very good questions which tells
me they actually thought it through rather than just agreeing because I
suggested it. They are also taking complete ownership- they've put
me in the advisory and teaching baking role- they want to do all the work
themselves (an offer that strangely enough I won't turn down!). I may
teach some basic accountancy, but given how these women manage their family
budgets they only need to be taught a transparent way
of laying it out, rather than how to manage the money itself. Had my first full department of Education board meeting last
week. It was half vicars and half teachers- an interesting combination
with the vicars procrastinating and the teachers (well the female ones)
giving good suggestions and making everyone come to agreement. It was
two and a half hours long but other than that it went well, and it was
entirely in Swahili. I even managed to convince people that the answer
is not to bring in a load of foreigners which was the first suggestion anyone
gave to any problem. I pointed out that many things in Kondoa had been
set up by foreigners and within 2 years of them leaving they'd fallen to
pieces. In 18 months time I'll take someone on to train them up as my
successor as it's already being mentioned they should get another foreigner
to replace me when I leave! But I have found out that the Diocese owns a load of land
that no one knew about. It turns out a foreigner who set up the bible
school arranged a huge piece of land to be set aside for use by the Diocese
but this information got misplaced and only found when I went to the land
office to ask for some more. It's a very beautiful place as well with a
rocky stream running through it and a hill at the back- but not exactly
flat! I'll spend a couple of evenings walking around it to see what I
think- we've been given the option of giving it back and exchanging it- but
that's a risk as you don't know where you'll be given in return- and I'm not
a gambling person! So that's me back here, getting on with things. Will be
spending a few days in a couple of villages to network with village chiefs-
always a fun experiment in which customs they want me to adopt- should I
behave as a Tanzanian 24 year old female behaves? Oh and a baby has
been named after me- my first one! So there's a little Bethan (what
people here call me) running around Itolwa- awww! Beth x |
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March
2007 So another month has passed- and for the
first year ever I've successfully given up chocolate for lent! The road from Dodoma to Arusha that passes
through Kondoa has been closed- it became a swamp due to the rains so there
is no way of getting out of Kondoa, thought we have just had 5 days
without rain and so the roads have been repaired in the worst sections and
the stuck lorries removed (some had been stuck for days), but this has
been followed by 2 days of heavy rains so I for one will not be braving
the road yet. I have been forbidden from going anywhere by bus due to
many getting stuck and people having to sleep on the road with only very dirty
rain water to drink. |
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I have also been forbidden from eating meat
(other than poultry) or drinking fresh milk- all the livestock including
sheep and goats have Rift Valley Fever which kills people, so I'm living off
rice and beans- hardly a sacrifice as the beef here is pretty inedible.
All the veg has tripled or quadrupled in price due to the rains, and
every thing not made or produced in Kondoa has increased in price due to no
goods being able to get into the town. The good news is people will be
able to get 2 harvests worth of beans, as they have already been harvested
and will be able to get another in before the end of the farming season, and
even some maize is ready now! I am hoping to get out of Kondoa for Easter
as I need to speak English! We’ve had the Diocese 5-year conference
last week which meant a 14 hour day every day- arriving at 7 in the morning
to clean and get breakfast ready, until the end of the evening meal at 9 in
the evening. The only time I wasn't in the kitchen was when I was
teaching the children of the pre-primary school. But I have become very
good at mass-catering. But it also made me into a feminist- I was
sweeping the hall one morning so hulking benches onto tables to allow me to
sweep properly and a young man came in and offers sympathy for the work (a
custom n Tanzania if you see someone working) but then suggested that i
needed someone to help, and offered to get a woman to help me (the
one he suggested being old enough to be my grandmother)! I couldn't
believe it- he was young and so able to lift heavy things but so work-shy he
suggested an elderly woman do the work! And when wee needed water
I went to the spring and carried back 2 x 20litre buckets full of water-
when we asked the men to help each one carried one half-full bucket! I'm getting pretty good at kigogo- the
language of most of the people in my church- so I can now greet, and also I
can understand what people are saying during conversations but as I don't
know the words I have to respond in Swahili. The greeting for the
afternoon is 'nee ha nye-nye' to which the response is 'nee saa'- such a cool
language. I have heard it's been written down now- don't envy the
people who did that! And no one who has ever heard me attempt to
sing will believe this- but i am now in the Mother's Union Choir! When
they asked me which voice I sang I couldn't describe 'flat as a pancake' so
they put me in the middle! Fortunately they put my bad voice down to
the Swahili rather than my pitch-deafness. We have a Women's World Day
of Prayer on Friday so I have my little bits to say and we have an outfit to
wear (that I chose) and every church is doing the same so the church should
look pretty amazing on Friday (all the women are coming to our church).
We're doing a Maasai-style song so I'm practicing my Maasai dancing- am not
exactly a pro! My head teacher's been sacked because she's
been having an affair with a married man and made it quite clear she wouldn't
break it off- fortunately the decision was taken out of my hands. So I
am currently the head teacher of the pre-primary school and spend all my days
there teaching the kids- playing skittles, skipping, even teaching them how
to play rugby (they found it pretty amusing). I held an emergency
meeting of the school committee and they decided to get another teacher in so
we'll be advertising this week. Most of the vicars at the five-year
conference said they wanted to start a pre-primary school so I've been
thinking how the department can help so many new start-ups so I'm thinking of
starting scheme whereby all the teachers in the villages will get a
couple of goats, chickens and a cockerel so they can get a bit of money (the
parents of the children won't be able to pay the teachers). So
when the roads open again and I have a teacher in place I'll be able to
travel around (all the vicars came by bike to get here). So that's me for this month-and apologies
to those who wrote e-mails and expected a prompt reply- have had no e-mail
access for quite a while! Take care, Bethx |
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April 2007 Hello everyone, I'm writing this in Dodoma, on my way to Morogoro where I will
spend Easter climbing (or, more likely, breathlessly clambering) hills!
I'm going with a couple of friends from Dodoma, one of whom cooked me bangers
and mash last night. He came to Kondoa
and saw how 'Tanzanian' my life is and decided he had to cook me some proper
British food! I've managed to get
round some of the villages during the dry-spells. Andrew, the youth
programmes coordinator for the Tanzania Anglican Church, and I went round
some of the far-off villages for him to talk to the youth, whilst I got an
opportunity to chat with the vicars about my pre-primary school project. |
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The roads, though dry, were horrendous; the rain had washed away
any small stones or mud and left huge boulders. One of the churches I
visited in October had lost its entire front wall - as the people sit in
church they now have a lovely view past the vicar into the surrounding,
rolling hills! The singing of How Great Though Art (albeit in Swahili) was
certainly apt! Up until this point I
haven't had to eat intestine stew but this is what we were served. It is disgusting, especially in its raw
state. The following day I felt very unwell and spent the evening being sick.
It was probably psychological. I’m booked to preach at the end of this month. A vicar remarked that my Swahili had
improved so much I could now preach. I
said I would love to try so he suggested the next time I'm in the village,
which is in a few weeks. I've had a
bit of practice as at the women-led service in church I did the reading and
managed it without stumbling; apparently people actually understood! My plans with the village primary schools are going very
well. Most villages have said they want to set one up at the end of
farming season in June/July time. Last week I met the head of
agricultural programmes for Kondoa district who runs a goat scheme. I
told him my plans for giving goats and chickens to the teachers instead of
salaries and he said not only would he help with advice, but also he could
give it full government approval, veterinary support, and run training
programmes for all the teachers, as well as arranging the buying and delivery
of all the animals! I am rather excited about all this now. We will have Interviews for the teachers
post just after Easter thus giving me time for travelling to get the
pre-primary schools set up. I'm also getting a lot more support for the idea of adult
education in the villages. One of Andrew's ideas was to help the
Diocese obtain bibles for all the youth groups. In the first village we
went to I asked how many people could actually read. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said less
than 40% of the young people, and less for the older! I think I may be
training some of the pre-primary teachers in teaching literacy to adults! I have been given a Rangi (local tribe) name, Mpululu (u is
pronounced like oo in scoop). The mothers of some of the Compassion
children gave me this name. It’s given
to girls at a time of good harvest. They explained that as my arriving
in Kondoa was succeeded by their best harvest in years they thought it was
very appropriate. The maize in my garden is mostly ready so I've now
leant how to work out which cobs are ready and how to harvest it (and even do
the traditional thing of giving cobs as harvest-presents to any
visitors). My orange trees have produced a vast number of oranges and
my chillies are now ready. For someone
who's never been in the slightest bit interested in gardening I'm getting
excited about this as well. The children at school claim that I'm the strictest teacher
they've ever had, despite the fact I'm the only one who never uses a cane
(the teachers of the diocese school have also been banned now).
Admittedly I do make them sit out of play-time for five minutes or, when the
Compassion kids are lining up for food if one hits another (incredibly common)
they're made to go to the back of the queue! Kondoa may actually be getting an Internet Café! The
teacher training college has been given a connection by an NGO and have been
given permission to open it up to everyone. It closed within one hour
of opening due to bugs in the system. Once these have been cleared up I
will actually be able to access the Internet. Finally, a list of things I have bought with the money from the
Parish of South Gillingham so far: 1 full school uniform and set of stationary for a girl called
Rehema, 40kg of flour and sugar, tennis balls, charcoal, exercise books,
pencils, colouring pencils, reading books in Swahili, other general
stationary, Hope you are all well! Love, Beth x |
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May 2007 (brief note) Preached again yesterday at the Mothers' Union. This time on
marriage, adultery and divorce. I managed to really offend (only) one
person (I was expecting it would be quite a dodgy topic as I also brought up
the issue of domestic abuse- all in only 7 minutes, though that says more
about how many words I know in Swahili than my sermon-writing skills), but
everyone else was very supportive, and I had it checked by the Diocese
General Secretary for Swahili and theological errors and he was happy for me
to deliver it. Well the outcome is
I've been asked to preach again next week! (I'm trying to work out whether it's
just because no one else wants to do it). |
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On Sunday I'm preaching at Chemba. Perhaps I should do the 3-month
course at our bible school to actually get some theological training. My
vicar says that when I'm ready he'll ask me to preach at our church (which is,
may I remind you, a cathedral!) Him and I spent a couple of hours on Tuesday
discussing different ways of improving the church- e.g. encouraging bible
studies within the various groups and building up group leaders, etc. (I
think the reason he discussed it with me is that I'm a safe bet- not someone
who will complain he's changing things too soon or criticising the
traditions, and then once he sorts out what he wants to do then he'll discuss
the plans with those who have the decision-making powers in the church)
Having seen his previous parish this man can certainly build a church- it's
the most living church I've been to here so everything's very encouraging,
plus another pre-primary school has started this week and there's a good
chance Compassion will be starting a new centre at Chemba (the church I'm
going to this week) so work is very exciting as well! Plus I managed to walk
all the way to school with a large plastic basket full of books on my head
without using my hands to steady it- an achievement I think! |
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May 2007 I've been here more than 11 months- wow! On the 26th
I will reach 1 year here, so we're having a thanksgiving service in the
church on the 27th- how sweet of them! I'll probably do a little
something at Compassion- like provide a few chickens so we can eat something
other than rice and beans! (The kids have even started calling Saturday the
'day of ubwabwa'- rice) I went to the spring to get water with another woman
who I'd never met before (her husband keeps her chained to the kitchen sink
so she's never allowed out) and when we were walking back with buckets on our
heads and I was greeting people in five different languages- English,
Swahili, Arabic, Gogo and Rangi- depending on which language they used to
greet me, she asked me if I'd been born here! I would've hugged here if
I wasn't carrying 20kg of water that I didn't want spilling all over me! |
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I think I forgot to mention this in the last e-mail: I am now
officially a 'Mama wa Upendo' (lit: Love Mother) of our Compassion project so
I have had the chance to visit other Compassion projects in Kondoa town to
see how we can improve ours- also a good way to get known by people in the
town outside the Anglican church. I've also taken to visiting some of
the younger children (when wandering around town I usually have at least a
couple of the younger Compassion kids hanging off my arms) at their homes (at
times of day when its not expected to give guests food- I'm especially careful
of this after finding out one of the children eats boiled birds that they've
found in their roof) which has got me known in the Islamic community as well-
hence being frequently greeted in Arabic. I have now started preaching- in
Swahili- and I even wrote my first sermon straight into Swahili! That
was at the Mothers Union on Wednesday, and I preached on Proverbs 31- the
wife of noble character. After all my feminist rhetoric over the past
few months I think they were pretty surprised at my choice but of course I
put a little twist, based on why we should aim to be a good wife. At
the end of the service they asked if I would preach again the following week,
so this Wednesday I'm preaching again, and on Sunday I'll be preaching at a
normal church service at a village church- that will teach me for promising
that I'll preach next time I visit My flatmate's learning how to make clothes (she's learnt not to
depend on her salary from the Diocese so we've been discussing various
business ideas) and I've joined her a couple of times (a friend of ours is
teaching her) so I've learnt how to cut children's clothes designs-but after
the disaster I was at sewing at school I'm nervous of using a machine, though
as it's manual-foot-powered I should be better than I was on electric. We have a new teacher at the pre-primary school who's been with
us for 2 weeks now and doing really well so I'm starting to travel around
villages again, especially as the harvest-proper has begun- completely
changing the landscape yet again (where there were huge maize stalks is now
wasteland again) and the rains have completely stopped and won't come again
till late October at the earliest! We've harvested a lot of our maize
in the garden and have started planting vegetables. The orange trees
are now in season so we've been eating fresh oranges every day, along with
peanuts and chillies (v. hot), and spend the evenings outside with our
charcoal cooker grilling maize. Because of lack of rain and cold the
mosquitoes are dying off so I shouldn't get malaria again for the next few
months (the second bout I got which was at the end of March wasn't as bad as
the first). Rift Valley fever has decreased as well, and the government
says that they'll finish inoculating all the livestock by the middle of this
month so will open the butcheries.
I've been putting on weight because of the rice. If it’s because
of binging on chocolate then fine-at least I've enjoyed eating it but rice
and beans? It's not fair! Love to you all! Beth x (PO Box 7,
Kondoa, Tanzania if you’d like to write - and only about 50p) |
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June 2007 Yes, she has managed it! 1 year without a steady supply of
chocolate! At the end of last week I found I had another bout of malaria- really should
remember to get some more insect repellent (malaria 3 times in 5 months must
be near-record-breaking). My preaching at Chemba went down well- though had to be translated
into the local tribal language- Burungi (I only know how to say 'fine' - sai
gud, 'house' - mara, and 'head' - saga!). I made a complete fool of myself
attempting Burungi dancing - involves throwing your head and arms around’ I
failed to do it even vaguely in time so I looked like I was having some kind
of fit. |
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4 pre-primary schools have now been opened in May, two in villages I
haven't visited- they're so off the beaten track that a sturdy pair of shoes
suitable for a few hours walking through thorn bushes will be needed when I
visit. But I'm really pleased because they say it's something they've wanted
to start for ages but were afraid to start without official permission from
on-high! I am now preparing my adult numeracy and literacy training which is
planned for October - 2 weeks' intensive training for all pre-primary school
teachers so they can start adult evening classes. Though half way through my work permit, I have been assured by the
District Immigration Dept (very scary blokes) that I won't have any problems
extending it. So, as this is my 1 year
report here is a 'what I have learnt' list, in no particular order: 1.
Do not walk through
burning charcoal ash with just flip-flops on 2.
Do not pick up a scorpion
thinking it's a harmless spider 3.
When a man walks into a
kitchen he is expecting to be provided with a chair, drink and food (even
though he's been doing nothing other than playing chess whilst we've been
slaving over hot charcoals, and even if there won't be any food left for the
cooks!) 4.
How to suck poison from a
snake bite- though I won't be offering to do that for ANYONE! 5.
The 1 month school
holiday in June/July is not actually for farming (as I was told last year)
it's actually for the rights-of-passage rituals for the teenagers which are
usually done in June- they need time to recover physically from the ordeals
(ouch!) 6.
There is no Swahili word
for being late- you simply say time overtook you! 7.
The word used for all
white people- mzungu- means a person who goes round and round- used because
the first white people used to travel around a lot. 8.
Make extra food just in
case you get guests, always have a flask of tea made, and when guests leave
you have to accompany them for at least five minutes down the road. 9.
A white person walking is
an absolutely hilarious sight 10. Kondoa has lots of precious minerals, but no one knows where the money
is going 11. How to grind maize flour with 2 stones do mass-catering and make
butter 12. How to farm using a hoe, use a mini-scythe to cut grass and how to
harvest beans, sunflowers, peanuts and maize, including preserving seeds for
the following year's planting 13. That I will never be able to balance a glass bottle of drink on my
head! One thing I haven't worked out: how do I put these things into a
CV? Answers on a postcard; best idea
gets a chapatti board from Kondoa market! Keep well, Beth x |
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July 2007 Beth has no internet access at the
moment so dictated this over the phone: Violet is six and has never been to school. She lives next door to the site of the new
Wekense church. She has moved to Kondoa
with her big sister, Esther, who is a teacher in the pre-primary school in
Kondoa. Once the church in Wekense is
finished, Violet will be able to attend school in the new building next door
to her home. Esther’s father is a
church elder, member of the PCC to us.
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Wekense is on the edge of Kondoa Diocese, a bit like South
Gillingham! It borders Dodoma Diocese
and lies 90 miles from Kondoa. The bus
ride takes about 8 hours – if the bus actually turns up and doesn’t break
down. I arrived from another village,
carrying a huge bag of peanuts, a gift from the villagers. The people have very little money (the
average weekly offering at church is 20 shillings; somewhat less than a
penny) but are extraordinarily generous with their time and goods. I cannot carry all the gifts I receive
during one of my trips around the villages so I pass on the gift from the
previous village to the next village, which is how Wekense suffered a peanut
glut. They also now have a football thanks to your collection last
Christmas. When I left Wekense they
loaded me with a huge jar of honey in my left hand, a bag of sweet potatoes
on my head and two chickens (live) in my right hand. Add my rucksack on my back and the usual
assistance at the middle-of-nowhere bus stop junction (normally a 3 hour wait
but the previous bus was running late so it was only an hour of hanging on to
my unhappy birds) was not forthcoming as the whole bus dissolved into
hysterics at the sight. The chickens
are laying well – must be the potatoes. The houses in Wekense are situated on smallholdings. They are built from mud with straw roofs;
some were washed away in the recent rains.
Most are in a U shape – kitchens and stores along one leg, bedrooms at
the back and a living room and further bedroom on the other leg. In the corners are a washing area and a pit
toilet. The U faces the fenced
courtyard where the animals are kept at night. World Vision, supported by a number of you in the Parish,
provide food for the children and also built a school that our pre-primary
will feed into. They mainly work in
Dodoma area and we are fortunate to have this help in Wekense. The population of Wekense is a bit larger than Bredhurst but
they are more spread out. They are
working together as a community to build and equip the church. Half the money sent from the Parish has
gone into buying cement (an expensive commodity due to transport costs). They gather stones from the hills, breaking
them by hand to provide the filler to make concrete for the foundations and
blocks. The men spent 3 days digging
the substantial foundations. The women
bring water from the nearest well for the men to mix the concrete. The blocks are cast from a simple
mould. Thanks to the money they have
received they are able to build a bigger church than originally planned and
they have recently carefully dismantled a previously built wall to create
space for extra rooms. The young
people have spent 5 years labouring during the farming seasons, donating
their meagre wages to a fund to buy the church a keyboard (and a generator to
power it!). Rochester Diocese are sending some of the funds donated for the
Link project to provide the chickens and goats that will set up the teachers
for the new schools. Some of you have
kindly sent funds direct through me and these will also go towards this if
you have niot given any other instruction. Whilst in Dodoma recently I bumped into a girl called Lesley –
niece of Ruby Williams from Bredhurst.
It’s a small world! I will be back in the UK from August 3rd for a month
and hope to see many of you. But
before then Wekense church has a wonderful celebration: a confirmation
service, (about 10 candidates so far) and a visit from the Archbishop
himself. They send you all their
greetings. Love Beth xx |
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August 2007 Yes, I'm late sending this- sorry! Not my fault- no internet
access in Kondoa (Diocese hasn't quite understood the whole thing that if you
don't pay the bill you get cut off!)
Hope all is well I've spent most of June on a break from school- the school closed for
1 month on the 8th June, and have been travelling round villages. Admittedly
spent the first few days of the break in Iringa and did a camping safari with
a couple of friends and a friend's parents in Ruaha National Park. It was
amazing- were within 5 metres of a male lion, and watched female lions hunt a
pack of water buck, as well as spending one afternoon on a veranda just
watching a herd of elephants, though being charged at by a full-grown female
elephant protecting her young the next day was a bit scary- fortunately our
driver was very quick on the accelerator! |
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I had my hair braided in a style called 'Kilimanjaro'- i.e. braided to
the top of my head and then wrapped round on top so it looks like a little
mountain on the top of my head- hence the name 'kilimanjaro'! Well, it suited
me better than normal corn rows. Which reminds me we have now harvested all
the corn/maize in our garden, so am now eating- instead of rice and beans-
maize and beans in a coconut sauce with spinach- my taste buds have become so
used to bland foods it's actually pretty nice! On the way back stopped off in a village in Dodoma for a friend's
brother's wedding- bride very visibly pregnant- the dresses that are
available here don't help in hiding a bump! Got back to Kondoa to find that
Frida had been taken to hospital, but they have no idea what was wrong with
her, so her sisters came to look after her. She's doing much better now but
has been given a month's leave so she can go to Dodoma and get checked out in
a good hospital- rather lonely without her! 4 days later I was on the road again- this time to Nghong'onha (who
can pronounce that?) a village in Dodoma where Ester's (one of our teachers)
husband comes from- 3 hours walk up a steep hill from any public transport-
but I was a cheat and a missionary friend of mine gave us a lift in her
car! Ester's husband is one of 10
children- 8 sons- and each of the sons has their house all in the same area
as the parent's house. Ester explained that she felt claustrophobic staying
there- you can go the entire day without speaking to anyone outside his
family! The sisters-in-law also spent most of their time talking about Ester
not being pregnant- and even asking each other 'what profit is a child-less
wife'! Ester looked devastated, even more so given that her husband, before
marrying, had said he wanted Ester to continue teaching and studying, but as
soon as they were married started talking about her moving to his village to
set up their home and have children- whilst he continues his studies! Poor
Ester was devastated! When I asked Frida what advice I could give to Ester,
Frida said she couldn't do anything now because the ring's on her
finger-tough being a woman in a society where a woman's opinions don't count
for anything! I did learn how to grind grain between 2 stones though- hard work! I
then made porridge out of the resulting flour- very satisfying! I was also
there whilst the teenage boys were going through their rites-of-passage so
there was singing and dancing every night. When we were allowed into the
boys' straw roof-less hut to bring them food we had to take our shoes off and
then kiss all the boys' hands before introducing ourselves to the male elders
and then singing and dancing as we exited. My stomach wasn't entirely happy- everyday it was ugali (a stiff glob
of flour mixed with water) and mlenda (a green sticky substance resembling
gloop, very strong, not very nice, taste- but for some reason the Gogo tribe
love it!) and we would eat it at 9pm, so going to bed with a very full belly-
not good! I visited the youth groups at the church- which is bigger than
Kondoa cathedral(!)- and was asked to preach so attempted to remember a
sermon I'd previously done. Obviously didn't learn my lesson as the following
day I went to Mothers' Union and got asked to preach to them, so remembered
the last MU sermon I'd done in Kondoa. I'd decided in my head which verses I
would preach on- Titus chapter2, only for them to start drumming and singing
a song based on those exact verses! My Gogo is now pretty good as in that village people only spoke Gogo
(though some mixed it with Swahili for my benefit)! When we got back to
Dodoma we got a village bus into Wekense (which has a link with St Peter's)
though arrived after dark. I stayed with Ester's family which was great and
they had goat meat- I have missed my goat meat after 6 months without it! Wekense is also a Gogo village so I was
able to show-off my new found linguistic skills! Wekense has a tiny natural
spring- but despite being small it does mean that even during a severe
drought people can still get enough water- though apparently it didn't exist
a few decades ago- according to an old man who remembered having to go all
the way to the river for water. Wekense are currently building their church-
all the cement is ready along with rocks (that have been carried by hand from
a nearby hill) and as I left the women were collecting water and the men were
using this to make the bricks- again by hand! I'll be returning on the 25th
with the Archbishop of Tanzania (oh I have friends in high places) to see how
they're getting on. I left on the Monday with more luggage than I started with (which is
something given that I arrived with all the gifts I got from Nghong'onha-
loads of peanuts, tomatoes and more flour that I'd ground- I gave the
tomatoes to the family I stayed with, the peanuts to the church and kept the
flour for myself) so I got the village bus to the main Dodoma-Kondoa road
where I had to get the Kondoa bus- so I was on my own with this luggage and
had to cross the road to get the bus, so I put my small rucksack on my back,
my handbag round my neck, sack of sweet potatoes on my head, plastic basket
in my left hand and 2 chickens (yes- live chickens) by the feet in my right
hand and then proceeded to walk the 30metres to the bus stop- the cheers I
got from all the on-lookers was quite something! Fortunately a woman from
Kondoa recognised me and helped me put everything on the ground! Obviously by
the time the bus reached where we were it was packed so I stood all the way
to Kondoa- 4 hours on bumpy roads- but fortunately it wasn't too bad as the
men soon started the whole asking me to marry them so we did a bit of
haggling on the dowry which all the women soon got involved in- makes the
hours fly by! In the past week I've visited 4 villages- Chemba (again), Bereko,
Rofati and Gwandi (the latter 2 have already started pre-primary schools- and
also have adult Ed programmes in the offing! A list of gifts from just these
4 villages: 2 sacks of sweet potatoes, 4 humungous marrows, a whole branch of
bananas (about 100 bananas), carrots, green peppers, bus ticket- complete
with money for refreshments for the journey, a pair of flip-flops and 3 jugs
of raw honey (complete with dead bees, wax and combs which I have now
processed and made some rather lovely honey from- just need to make some
toast!) So in the next 2 weeks I'm going to Wekense )now already done- great
fun, though we had to wait for the archbishop in the burning sun for 3 hours-
as he feels it's his prerogative to be late!) then off to Zanzibar (for work
purposes- I'm running a small 'orientation' course for a group of visitors
coming to Kondoa) and then leave gorgeous weather here to return to soggy
England! So quick reminder: Birthday party on 11th August at my house (53
Oastview, Rainham, Kent) - BBQ and beer- bring anything you want to put on a
bbq and some beer, anyone who needs a place to kip spaces are available.
Photos will be on display. Birthday presents: Chocolate very gratefully received (and deodorant-
run out 2 weeks ago and it isn't available in Kondoa, but am now in Dodoma so
I really should buy some- especially as I'll be around English people- they
may not appreciate eau d'naturale!) but in terms of presents: not needed but
I know all you wonderful people would want to get me something so: 1
cockerel: 5 pounds 1 hen: 3 pounds 1 female milk goat: 30 pounds 1 male goat:
25 pounds These will go to the teachers in village pre-primary schools: each
teacher will be given 1 cockerel, 5 hens, and 1 male and female goat so that
the village doesn't have to pay them a salary. Most villages will have 2 teachers,
and when the teacher moves on they have to leave behind the equivalent of
what they were given. In October all the teachers will be attending a seminar
led by me on adult education (my plan is that all the villages should also
run an evening adult basic skills class) followed by a seminar led by the
district livestock officer where they'll learn good rearing practices and
medication/ disease advice. Any support gratefully received! Hope you are all well, and see you next month! Beth x |
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September 2007 I’m writing this sitting in my parents’ study at the end of yet
another drizzly day (and this is the ‘hot season’?)so I’m afraid there won’t
be anything about the goings-on in Kondoa, but I thought I’d write a little
about the cultural differences I’ve experienced coming back to England for a
short break. I have braved Tesco’s and
Bluewater; why does anyone need 50 different types of toothpaste to choose
from? And is it really natural for all
tomatoes to be of the same shape, size and colour? And what has happened to fashion? It is the Year of the Chav,
apparently! Having said all that, it
was great being able to buy food which is common in Tanzania, such as maize,
pinto beans and coconuts- with Britain being a Global society I can relieve
the home-sickness by cooking for myself the local foods I have come to love. |
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For one morning, when I went to the shops with my niece, I
attempted to re-create a Kondoan walk-to-town by saying ‘Good Morning’ to
everyone I walked past- soon gave up after getting very strange looks, and
embarrassed ,mumbled replies of “Yeah, er, good, er, morning, er, yeah”, but
I think my attire also put most people off-balance (bright clothes with
matching headscarf)! One aspect of life I have happily and easily slipped back into
is the use of machinery for housework- it’s great! When I explained to the Mothers’ Union in
Kondoa that in England people had washing machines and dishwashers, one
person sarcastically suggested that perhaps we had a sweeping-machine as
well; only for hysterical fits of laughter when I described a vacuum
cleaner! Having a mother to do all the
work for you also helps… On the 6th of September I’ll be flying back to
Tanzania to continue with my work in Kondoa; the first job being to organise
the teacher-training workshop on adult education, and get the goats and
chickens distributed. The next 9
months will probably be the most busy job-wise out of the entire 3 year
contract as I’ve finished the ‘getting used to life’ and the ‘research’
phases, and am now getting fully into the ‘doing’ bit, with my final 9 months
being used for training up a Tanzanian to take over (I’ve always found
delegation particularly easy!).
Bethx |
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October 2007 Well, I am now truly settled back into
Kondoan life- even when I got on the Kondoa bus in Dodoma to travel back I
heard calls of “welcome back” as I walked down the aisle, and as the bus was
going through Kondoa town to get to the bus stand children were running
alongside saying “our teacher has returned”!
Got back to the house to find there was no
water- and won’t be for a month (except one tap outside the front does have
water between midnight and 6 in the morning- though no one in the Water
Department understands how this can be the case as the system is shut down!),
and also the electricity cuts are back to form- most days at the moment! I returned to find I am now also the Head
of Department of Youth - the previous head has gone to uni to do a degree,
and so I agreed to be the coordinator- but to find people in various parishes
to whom I can delegate the work of running work shops. Also the head of Evangelism and the
Villages has gone to study so currently left in the Head Office are the
Bishop and General Secretary. |
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A friend from Dodoma- Anna- has stayed the
past couple of weeks. She is engaged
to a man from a village in Kondoa so I’ve been teaching her how to cook
traditional meals over a charcoal fire, carry things on her head and babies
on her back and generally how to be a subservient Tanzanian wife- the poor
love did seem suitably shocked and unimpressed when I explained what the
women tell me about their marriages- but she’s still intent on going through
with the wedding (they’ve even chosen baby names!) so I’m taking her wedding
dress shopping at Christmas! A group of Americans turned up at the
office on a ‘Mission Vision Visit’- they live in another area of Tanzania and
think they should come and work in Kondoa.
The man is a water and agricultural specialist so I showed him the
local spring (giving a bottle of soda to the guard to let us in- as we didn’t
have an official letter) and he seemed very impressed- and so I suggested
they come and stay with me for a month to see what they think of the life-
and he promised that in return he would sort out a never-ending supply of
water and even a solar-heated water system for me- bliss! The President of Tanzania came to
Kondoa! So, the road to Dodoma is now
fairly level- by bus it takes less than 4 hours now! Also the roads leading to and from the
Member of Parliament’s house were fixed- and there was also running water in
every area for the time he was here- guaranteeing people’s happiness for those
2 days! But he did do something very
commendable- last weekend was publicised as an AIDS testing weekend for
Kondoa with every clinic and even the youth centre providing quick AIDS tests
causing people to actually talk about it.
I was shocked by the ignorance that people still have about how it’s
contracted and how to protect yourself so a lot of education is still needed-
something I can address as Youth Coordinator! For the next month I am trying to do as
much travelling around villages before the rains start (clouds are already
starting to build up- and winds are gathering strength), and get my farm
ready for the rains, and get a cockerel- Frida ate her chickens and cockerel-
leaving me with the two Wekense chickens (though they still lay eggs- I
thought that was impossible, so shows how much I know about nature!). Bx |
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November 2007 Half way through next month! Time goes so
fast! |
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Next month I’m moving to a house nearer to town- it’s a bit
lonely at the top of the hill without Frida so I’m moving closer to other
people so I can pop round their houses in the evening. This means
however that I haven’t started preparing the farm despite spatterings of rain
being felt- but the new house has a good plot so as soon as I move in I’ll be
getting the maize, beans and peanuts planted. But I do have a cockerel
now (a gift from my ‘Somo’- an older woman who instructs a younger woman on how
to behave in public, keep a home, cook, etc)- but both the chickens are very
scared of him so I don’t think I’ll be getting any chicks soon! Keep Well! Bx |
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December 2007 Well, am now half way through my contract-
can’t quite believe it myself! Have just finished the visit-every-parish
in 2 weeks trip with the bishop for confirmation services. We’ve did 3
parishes a day because we were scared the rains would close the roads so
shortened the number of days planned (that’s 3 confirmation services every
day, and 1.5hrs travelling along bumpy tracks between each one- tiring
doesn’t describe it!) |
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The trip has been amazing though- the
diversity of churches has been incredible. I’ve been to a
prison-village (the only reason the village exists is for the prisoners and
prison workers so the prisoners are given lots of freedom- they go off with
the cows, and work in the school for the guards’ children and in the clinic,
even going to the next village on errand; apparently they’ve had a 0% escape
rate!) where the prisoners who are educated have set up their own literacy
group for the large majority who aren’t. One of the churches we travelled to down an
elephant-track route for an hour with no sign of life (other than antelope)
and were then met by 2 girls on the side of the road who were sent to show us
down another even more off-the-beaten-track road only to come across a
clearing with 2 houses and a church; and the church was packed! Where
they came from I couldn’t work out; it seems that most of the Christians live
right out in the forest, each home being a few kilometres from the next
(their diet consists of antelope meat and fruit from un-farmed trees), and
some of the women were topless except for necklaces and a baby strapped on
the back, something I’ve never seen before in a church. They have one
church worker who hasn’t studied (the vicar that had been chosen to work
their quickly ran away when seeing the kind of life he would have!) but comes
from that area so he’s doing incredibly well. They gave me a name-
Ho’a- the name of a tree in the forest (when a baby’s umbilical cord falls
off it is buried under a tree, and the baby is named after that tree!)
The collection consisted of bowls of grain and a goat! I’ve also been given a Maasai name-
Nashibaye, which means happiness, as apparently I’m a very happy
person! I also found out the Mpululu- my Raangi name- is a tree and
it’s the one that all the churches are built out of, walls, roof, everything-
very useful tree! We slept in the last village we visited
every day- so got woken up by mice and rats running around the mud roof
sending mud falling on top of my face. Very strangely there were no
mosquitoes, (one of the advantages of living a few miles from water I
suppose), something I was glad for as there were no mozzie nets, though fleas
were quite a problem. The whole village stayed outside the house we slept
in, singing and dancing and drumming until the early hours of the
morning. I have also managed to do a survey of the state of the toilet
facilities of every vicar in Kondoa: very important knowledge to have.
As most have 3 walls and no door privacy is not a quality they have!
And of the bathrooms I had the pleasure of showering in, again they are away
from the house, in full view of people walking by, and have no door. Good job
I’ve given up on being self-conscious! Over 10 parishes (of 28) now have
pre-primary schools, with 2 having adult-ed classes, so things are moving
along, slowly but surely. I think it rather surprised the bishop, as
they’ve basically set them up by themselves with me just prodding and
hinting, all done at incredibly small financial cost. One has even been
set up by a church in the middle of nowhere that moves every year (we spent 2
hours trying to find it; it’s made out of grass and blends in with the
surroundings) mainly serving the Barabaig (a nomadic tribe), and the person
chosen to teach was the most educated- and he can barely spell! But,
hey, it will get the kids used to going to school and perhaps they will be
enrolled into a primary school when they’re older; that tribe is not known
for its encouragement of education! In one village the Muslim Village
Chief is ordering the children to go to the church to get educated and this
has encouraged all the other parishes in the area to start setting one
up! So all in all a very encouraging couple of weeks! What is very worrying is that the
government has been building loads of primary schools, even in the most
out-of-the-way villages, and there are loads of students, but you find only 1
or 2 teachers, and no resources! Teachers just don’t want to work in
those areas as there’s no transport, water or electricity. The
government moves teachers into a school, but they just run away (a bit like
the vicar), arguing that an educated person shouldn’t have to live that kind
of life; how do you deal with that problem? Many argue that you can get
people from that community then train them, up, but the problem is those
people will see that training as their meal-ticket out of the place!
It’s a problem throughout Kondoa, not just in schools, but clinics, churches
(vicars with diplomas refuse to work in a village, they want a town
position), even charities and NGOs. We had a couple of American women in town
for a couple of days doing a seminar for the Lutheran church on Sexual
morality and Discipleship. I translated for the entire seminar. I learnt lots of new words in Swahili, and
also completely lost my voice the following day! I did laugh though;
they didn’t even know what chapattis and samosas were! What do
Americans eat? I’ve moved house. All the women helped me
pack/un-pack and clean the houses whilst the men lugged the furniture; I love
the community spirit! I’ll be having a house-warming/pre-Christmas
party in a couple of weeks so I can thank them all. Over the next month I’m in Dodoma for a
Youth Conference, followed by a few days in Nghonghona (a village in Dodoma I
stayed in last June. I’ve been given the entire 2 Sunday services to
lead/preach/etc.), a birthday party for my friend which we’ll hold at the
Catholic Orphanage (so instead of being given presents she’ll be giving the
children presents, and I’ll be baking the cakes), then back to Dodoma for
Christmas with some Brits and Americans- then you’ll get the 19month update! Hope you are all well Love, Bx |
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THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL
PARISH OF SOUTH GILLINGHAM Registered Charity Number: 1130544 The Parish Office, St Matthew’s Church, Drewery Drive,
Wigmore, Gillingham, Kent ME8 0NX |
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