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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 2008 Happy 2008! Started off December visiting Freda, my ex-flatmate in
Kondoa, and found out she's getting married at the beginning of February, and
I'm going to be her 'matron' for her Kitchen Party (Tanzanian style Hen
Party)- but that means she gets to choose what clothes I wear- help!
But it has got me out of being her matron at the wedding, because that would
have been truly horrendous! But she's very excited- and when I asked
her why she's getting married so soon (it had been planned for the end
of the year) she explained that she didn't want to give her fiancée the
chance to go off her and get another woman! I love her honestly! |
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I attended the Anglican Youth Synod of the entire country
of Tanzania, which was good as I was able to see how other Dioceses run their
youth departments (about as successfully as we do is I think the conclusion I
have reached), and also brought a girl with me from a village in Kondoa who
had never been to Dodoma before- the poor girl was in for a shock! All
the other girls were wearing tight trousers and short skirts, as they live in
cities, and there was us from Kondoa wearing our traditional outfits- we kind
of stood out! I got elected onto the Tanzania Youth Committee, which
means I help the Committee to come up with plans for all the Dioceses to
follow, and get to go to meetings and go to other areas in Tanzania for any
concerts/ etc. that are happening. This is a post that last 3 years so
I thanked them and explained that I will only be here for 18 months so
someone else should get the chance- only for the chairman to say that every
woman in the room wants to call me sister, and every man wants to call me
wife, so even if I was only going to be here for two months they would still
want me on the committee, so I agreed. From the Synod I went to a village in Dodoma and spent a
few days there. There had been no rain, and so there was no water,
which made life rather difficult. It was baking, and so I spent the
days shelling pea nuts so they could them later on. When we were
cooking in the little kitchen, a snake came in through the window- oh how we
jumped! We screamed like little girls and ran out of the house
compound! We had to get a nice young lad to go in and kill the snake
before we would go anywhere near the kitchen. then that evening we were
cooking outside and looked down to find quite a few scorpions were running
round our feet! Needless to say we again jumped and screamed like
girls! I spent the evenings with the women's groups- them
teaching me their tribal language and also how to farm properly. On the
Sunday I preached at the church, which was rather good fun- though it must
have lasted about 30 minutes- poor things (though I did use lots of visual
stuff- as most don't know Swahili). When my friend Maggie came to pick
me up (it's 3 hours by foot to get to the village, and no public transport),
the first thing she suggested is that I have a shower! (5 days washing with
only 1 litre of water- lovely) I went back to Kondoa for a few days so I got my little
farm sorted out and shelled yet more peanuts ready for planting. It was
Eid-ul-Hajj so I spent that day in the town being plied with lots of food,
and went to my tailor for sewing machine lessons. I can now use a
foot-powered sewing machine, which is rather exciting. I'm going to
continue going there for lessons so that I will be able to design and sew my
own clothes, which could come in handy for the future. My neighbour
laughed at me because I'm farming enough food for me for the year, I
keep chickens which will keep me in eggs and meat , plus then I will be able
to sew- the perfect self-sustainable life according to most Tanzanians! I then returned to Dodoma for Christmas, and on my very
first day went down with Malaria, so spend Christmas in bed, with my
poor friend Maggie looking after me. But it was lovely because so
many Tanzanians who I'd only met a couple of times when I come to Dodoma
heard I was ill and so all came over to give advice on medication, and just
to see how I was doing, so I certainly felt loved! I spent
New Year's Eve at an Ex-Pats supper, but no one had an accurate watch,
and the people we stayed with didn't have a TV, so we guessed when Mid-Night
was and sang Auld Langs Syne, only 3 minutes later to hear the Train
horns go, so we then had to do it all over again! So I'm back to Kondoa
tomorrow to prepare for the new school year, but haven't got anything
specific planned until I come back to Dodoma for Freda's wedding at the end
of the month. Hope you all had a wonderful (and cold) Christmas and New
Year. Heri ya Mwaka Mpya (All the Best for the New Year) Bethx |
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February 2008 20 month update Am currently in Dodoma, for Freda’s wedding. We’ve had the kitchen party (a Tanzanian
hen party), it’s the send-off tonight and then Saturday is the wedding. I was her maid-of-honour at the Kitchen
Party and so we had strips of cloth wrapped round us and pinned to make them
into clothes, and then another sheet made into a hat- looked rather amazing
(photos will be sent with the next update- when I’ve downloaded and
compressed them). |
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We had to just sit there, not smiling or laughing, but
looking very submissive and appropriate for being a future wife! It was very hard not to laugh as all the
women gave advice on how to be a good wife- a door is not opened by a mouth
but by the hand apparently! (I.e. if
your husband gets home late with no explanation do not scream at him, but
just open the door and be very polite!)
Went to the Big Smoke to buy books for the village
pre-primary schools, which is always a revelation, and I always feel rather
out of place. But I was quite
disgusted because food inflation in Kondoa is horrendous- maize has tripled
in price, and is increasing every day, whereas in the big cities it’s really
cheap, and yet those in the city can afford to spend more- so why is there no
proper system of distributing food?
The government could even make a profit from it- anyone could make a
profit from it! But no, the food stays
in the big cities where no one buys it, and so reducing stocks in small towns
where the price is continually rising- so frustrating! Have had blackboards made for all the village schools,
so we’re slowly but surely getting things done- always the best way! I went to a village to take them their
blackboard, and also to preach- now done without writing it down!!! I’ve arranged to go and spend a week there
in March to sit with the teacher in the class and give advice (has anyone told
them I’m NOT a pre-primary school teacher?) and general encouragement, so
that should be fun. I’ve just read an e-mail from a lady who’s coming out
to work in a school in one of our villages so I’ll be meeting her here in
Dodoma and then taking her off to Kondoa, which will be at the end of February. Had a bit of excitement this month- was stung by a
scorpion! I hadn’t bothered to fix up
my bed after moving house so I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor and
didn’t bother checking the sheets before getting in. Anyway I was almost asleep, rolled over
then screamed in agony! The horrendous
pain lasted over 3 hours in which time I could do nothing, and I was still in
pain 24hours later! Apparently I
should have put mud, a stone, money or onion on it- or even burn the scorpion
to ashes and mix that into a paste and then rub that into it- but
unfortunately no one had told me all these scientifically-approved methods
before I got stung! I have since put
the bed together, and now check the sheets before getting in! I’m rather excited as the Youth coordinator and myself
have arranged for a huge diocese-wide youth conference to be held in August,
and we’re doing this as a zero-cost event, so it’s being held in one of the
villages, and it will be the first such event since the Diocese was created,
so it should be really good fun, and a huge encouragement for all the youth,
and a great opportunity for AIDS education to be given. Sorry, bit of a mixed-up e-mail this month- I’m sure my
dad will make it more understandable before he passes it onto anyone or puts
it in the Parish magazine! (Nope – I left it just as it arrived – G) Love to all, Bethx |
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March 2008 I am in Dodoma, picking up a
girl called Rose who is coming to teach in Kondoa- it will be good to have a bit of English company-
and nick a load of her music! As well
as being in Dodoma I am also in a plaster cast. I dreamt that a snake was coming through
the window and into my bed so I, quite naturally, jumped out of bed, and
landed rather awkwardly on the concrete floor. I did some rudimentary first aid, and the
next day hobbled to get a little bus into town (I was in Dodoma) and managed
to sit through an entire church service in rather a lot of pain (perhaps more
interesting than the sermon- which had something to do with everyone being a
different type of fruit tree- are you an orange or a fig tree?) and then got
to the hospital, where I spent the rest of the day, but still no cast. I went the following morning at 8am, and
finally got back at 1pm- so 27 hours after I first went, and the plaster cast
is not done in any way that would be deemed acceptable in England, but my
foot seems to be getting better so I won't complain! |
Click Here for 2008 Pictures from Kondoa
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Since my previous update Frida
has got married and is getting used to married life. The wedding cake had to be seen to be
believed (and a picture will be e-mailed some time in the future) and the
general tack was fantastic. The
wedding photos were taken on the central roundabout- not exactly the village
green! I had a rather sad time a
couple of weeks ago as my friend died a day after having a caesarean, and I
was with her, but in many ways I'm glad I was as I know that she was happy
dying and she gave me instructions for the upbringing of her son, and I was
with her son until he was taken to her parents the following day. They then decided it was best for him to
grow up in Kondoa (in accordance with his mother's wishes) and so the child's
aunt is looking after him. I was quite
surprised at how little equipment the hospital had- no oxygen, only a
blood-pressure gauge and a drip- for someone who had collapsed and had
trouble breathing- I will never complain about the NHS ever again! Even the mosquito nets in the mother and
baby ward were torn! The nurses were
obviously frustrated by the situation. Happier news, it's the
birthing season at the moment, and the General Secretary's wife has had a
baby boy, and loads of other women will probably give birth in the next
couple of months- so lots of baby holding for me! The number of pre-primary
schools has now reached 15- so that's about 750 kids being taught every year,
which is very exciting, and I will have more information about them within
the next month as I'm going round the villages in March, but don't know what
I'll do for Easter (though I have a meeting in Dodoma on the 28th to plan a
massive youth concert for central Tanzania in October, and I'm the treasurer
apparently). Don't think I have any more
news. The new Archbishop of Tanzania
will be announced tomorrow so that could be interesting (perhaps!). Will attempt to (again) send photos of
Frida's wedding next month (I am teaching you all that patience is a
virtue!). Hope all are well, Bethx |
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April 2008 I’m nearing the 2-year mark at a scary rate of
knots. There are now 850 children being educated in our schools.
I went to 2 of them this past month, Chemba and Chambalo to see the classes
in session, and to take advantage of the free food. On the Sunday I
went to a village called Kidoka to preach and to encourage them in their
plans to set up a school which are in
the final stages, then hopped on a bus and went to Chemba where they were
having a mini youth concert, and that evening just as the sun was setting I
was accompanied by about 30 youth to go to Chambalo. I assumed it was
close by, but oh was I mistaken! 2 hours of falling down ditches in the
dark and singing/dancing through farms later we arrived in Chambalo! |
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The school itself is in the church whose walls were
finished 7 years ago, but they haven’t quite got round to putting a roof on
so there is a criss-cross of trees over the top to give some shade.
There are about 40 kids and 2 teachers allowing both of them to farm as
well. In the evenings, to earn-my-keep as it were, I went
visiting. There was one young lady who had been ill for 3 years; she
was just skin and bones. It was so obvious it was AIDS, but my friend
swore point-blank that she was ill due to a curse put on the family.
The attempts at education have a long way to go. I returned to Chemba with a live chicken in hand, and
spent 3 days with the teachers. I spent the first afternoon breaking
rocks, my bit towards the new church building, and took most of the skin off
my hands in the process. The vicar arranged that I would go to a
different house for each meal so I was able to spend time with a lot of
people in an informal setting. Even better was being presented with a
bowl of honey put in the middle of the floor, and everyone digging in with
their fingers; so much nicer than a formal meal! I left Chemba, having
arranged with that our students will get free porridge every day at the
government school, with another chicken, a pot of honey, and maize freshly
cut from the vicar’s farm. Oh, and a
young woman in labour. I returned on the bus, immediately taking the young
woman to the hospital leaving my chickens outside. The following day
they gave her a caesarean (Note from Graham: the hospital, not the chickens),
and she gave birth to a beautiful, very tall and fat, boy, who she asked me
to name. I gave her a choice of two and so he is Nehemiah. I’ve been
visiting twice a day to take her food, wash clothes, etc. She was let
out on Tuesday, fortunately for her as the ward was packed and they were
sleeping 2 women and children to a bed. Plus, the nurses took the
mosquito nets away to wash them and 5 days later still hadn’t given them
back. I had another friend there who had malaria and the nurses had
those patients sweeping and cleaning at 8 every morning!!! I have the
MAF emergency number (to get a plane to get me out in the case of a medical
emergency) now programmed into my mobile; there’s no way I’m being admitted
to the Kondoa hospital! I went to Bereko, a village to the North of here, to
take Rose (an English girl) and get her settled in with the Catholic
Sisters. My foot plaster cast broke, well, crumbled and then fell
off! Returned to Kondoa on the Thursday to get it fixed but they wouldn’t
put a new one until an x-ray had been taken (sensible, admittedly) but the
electrics in the x-ray dept. were broken. I wrapped a bandage tightly round
my foot and hoped for the best, which seems to have worked as it has
completely healed now! Am currently in Dodoma for a meeting. On the 4th - 6th of April I’ll be in
Itolwa, for the first meeting of our Youth Dept. Committee since I became
Assistant Coordinator, to arrange the first ever Kondoa Diocese Youth concert
in August, then about a week later I’ll be going to another 2 pre-primary
schools, Mwailanje and Mwaikisabe which are close to each other (a bike ride
as there’s no transport), then will try to fit in another 2 villages, Gwandi
and Rofaati at the end of the month. Take care, Beth x |
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May 2008 I had written a beautiful
e-mail but the PC in the internet café refused my disk. So this is written in the 15 minutes before
the bus leaves for Kondoa. I start in
Dodoma for a meeting to organise a 4-Diocese youth concert in October. It will involve us taking a lorry with 30
youth in it across a dodgy road off to the west of Kondoa to Manyoni Diocese.
On the 4th I went to Itolwa, a village just to the South of the Tarangire
National Park- absolutely beautiful. We could see Kilimanjaro mountain on the
horizon so clearly it was just incredible- the bus was stopped so everyone
could get out and have a look- even adults were excited like little children
at being able to see the most famous sight of Tanzania! |
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When I arrived in the village all
the women came out to greet me and processed me in with drumming and dancing-
much to the amusement of the entire bus!
The village itself was mainly Raangi, (100% Muslim), which was
fascinating. We went round a few
houses, and in one I met one woman and had tea, then another woman came in
and introduced herself as the 2nd wife!
They lived in the same house, fortunately in separate rooms! The awful thing was that this girl was so
intelligent and was able to think in a very analytical way, very unusual
here, but she gave up education before she got any secondary qualifications
because of getting married. There are
a few Christians from another tribe. I
stayed with the vicar and his wife, who were moved from the town church in
2006. Seeing how they had coped (or
not) with the transition to village life was really interesting. The wife was used to tap water, charcoal,
electricity (sometimes), TV, fairly decent schools and a salary, and now she
has to walk 30 mins to get water, which is only available for 2 hours at the
middle of the day as the Maasai have monopolised the well at all other hours
(trust me you wouldn't want to argue with the Maasai!). Firewood is collected from over an hour
away, so takes about a 4 hour round trip to get it. On the Saturday we had
our meeting to organise the Youth concert in our diocese, so we have planned
various games and competitions (including running with a bottle on your head,
and catching a cockerel), a Choir competition and AIDS education It will be held in August (finishing on my
Birthday- so I'll make a few cakes.) Getting back from the village
was not fun- it involved setting off at 4 in the morning- no electricity, I'd
forgotten my torch, and the candles had burnt out- so had to get ready in pitch
black, and then walk to the bus stand across loads of farms- may have ruined
a few vegetable patches! The following week I went to a
further 3 villages, a mixture of Maasai and Burunge tribes. The most unusual experience was going to
collect water out of a ditch and then being surrounded by a load of Maasai
warriors whilst drinking said water- no stomach problems resulted, but won't
be drinking it again- absolutely disgusting!
All 3 villages have
pre-primary schools that were set up last year, and so I stayed with our
teachers; the late night chats are always more informative than any official
conversations about work! One teacher
was sold off by her father as a young teenager to a man who has at least one other
wife. The vicar says it's great as she
now has some self-confidence and respect because she is working for the
community. I learnt how to play a huge
drum- and looked rather silly! I then
went onto the last village on the Saturday in order to visit the girl who
gave birth before Easter by c-section, and she's doing well and her baby's
becoming very fat! I returned to
Kondoa with 3 chickens, a sack of pea nuts, 5 litres of honey, cassava, a
massive water melon, a bead necklace and a wooden spoon- which if I sold
would more than cover my bus fare (“go to the villages- make a profit”; a new
slogan for our diocese office me thinks). So I think that's about it- when I look at
the e-mail back home I'll probably find I missed out quite a bit but oh well! Take care to you all! Beth x |
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June 2008 Well, can't quite believe I have managed 2 years, but
hey, I often surprise myself! Funniest sight this month: A Maasai warrior in a woolly
bobble hat! (spotted at a village trading market) Am in Dodoma having gone to the inauguration of the new
Archbishop of Tanzania (obviously I only went for the free food!). The service went on for over 6 hours (the
Vice-President was meant to speak for 10 mins- but went on for an hour!). The missionaries had their own spaces
reserved, but I decided to sit outside- and I'm so glad I did- when I got
bored I was able to just walk around, chat to people, and go to the loo
without anyone 'important' noticing me, whereas the other missionaries had to
sit on hard pews without being able to sneak in and out- poor things! |
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There are now 23 pre-primary schools in villages, with
another 3 going through the process of being set up, so I'm rather pleased
with that (out of about 45 church buildings in the whole diocese). I've done costings and worked out it costs
Tsh300,000/= (less than 140 quid) to properly set up a village pre-primary
school- provide books, blackboard, exercise books, stationary, as well as a
small money-making project to provide a thank-you to the volunteer teachers,
so will be in begging-mode- be warned!!!
(But fantastic value- each pre-primary school educates 50
darling-looking children [with scabies, ring worm, and nits added in] every
year!!!) Went and stayed with the Catholic sisters in Bereko for
a night, which was freezing cold (up in the hills), but it meant I was able
to see a lot of people who I count as friends but I haven't seen for a
while. I also went to Chemba again,
for a youth committee meeting to finalize details for our big youth
festival. So, we're putting on this
festival for 400 people with a total budget of 70 quid- not bad! I was able to meet the girl who gave birth by c-section
again, and I found out the reason she doesn't have a husband is that he
dumped her after she gave birth to her first child by operation which means
she'll only be able to have 3 kids- not enough according to the man she
married and so he walked out on her and left her and the baby! So, she currently makes money to support
her child and mother by selling beer, and by other dubious means- hence her
ending up with the second baby! In Chemba I'm no longer treated as a visitor, as this
year I've been most months, and so they now allow me to do all the work. So, I attempted cutting up firewood- and
failed miserably (I hit to the left, and the right, without actually hitting
the wood- I blame my eyes), with my humiliation completed by an eight
year-old girl taking over and being rather more successful! I've been given a second Maasai name- an elderly woman
who died last month gave me a name which means 'the girl of Kondoa'- which I
think is rather cool, especially as I only found out because she told the
women at her church at the last mothers' Union meeting she went to before she
died, and so they were able to pass it on to me! The women at my church have decided to start training
me for being a mother- on the basis that most white children they meet are
very badly behaved and they conclude that this is due to lack of
mother-training. So now I spend most
my time at the meetings, or on the way to visit the sick/bereaved with a baby
strapped on my back, and most evenings I'm called to my neighbours to learn
how to look after the one-year-olds! I've just about finished harvesting my little farm-
maize, beans, peanuts, pumpkin-type things, and various greens. But the rains were all wrong this year so
the harvest is appalling, and everyone in the villages is very worried. Basically, the maize hasn't developed, the
only grain having thrived is the sorghum, but even that hasn't filled out
like normal. The peanuts are mainly empty shells and so unsellable, and even
the beans are very small. Basically,
there won't be a famine but there will be a lot of hungry people towards the
end of this year through to about March next year, and the government has
been warning everyone in the Dodoma region to not sell their harvest but to
keep all of it in order to not get into problems later on. So I'll be preparing to do all my village
visits this year by November at the latest, and not planning any for
beginning of next year. I was in the MTANZANIA newspaper at the beginning of
this month- a whole page article about me!
With a picture! The journalist
came to Kondoa for a report on education challenges in the District of Kondoa
(educational achievement is worse in Kondoa than almost every district in
Tanzania) and met me on a bus that I boarded in a village- and strangely
enough was surprised to see a white woman wearing traditional outfit,
flip-flops and carrying stuff on her head and chickens in her hand, so on the
Monday she sought me out. She wrote
that my dad's a bishop (I'm sure he'll be surprised to hear that) and that I
know the Sandawe and Maasai languages (well, hmmm), but other than that and
the appalling journalistic style it was a very positive article- put in the
Women's Page, and I have since had letters from random men proposing! I will bring a couple of copies home, but
it's all in Swahili. So, I'm now famous
and expect to be treated as such!!! So, Sunday I'll be in England in order to have a good
rest before returning to Kondoa to do the youth celebration and organise all
the pre-primary schools, and hopefully train the teachers in adult-education
techniques. Hope all are well, and everyone in the UK I hope I will
see you all at some point in the next month. Bethx |
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July 2008 A text message from Beth as she was going to bed after
arriving back in Kondoa with her niece, Callie, in tow: “Realised I
haven’t done a letter for Spiral. We
could cheat and explain that Kondoa is an oral culture based on proverbs and
parables, going so far that women wear clothes with proverbs written on
them. Then you could go on the
internet and copy and paste some Swahili proverbs. What do you think? Beth
x” |
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I will do as
Beth asks but meanwhile a few thanks and some notes compiled form the talks
she gave. First if all,
thank you to everyone who contributed towards the setting up of pre-primary
schools and towards Beth’s living expenses.
You know who you are. It is
quite remarkable that Beth has never been short of funds but has never had an
excess either so I can only conclude that her supporters are well attuned to
the mind of God. Please let me know
the secret! And then, thank
you to everyone who gave her so much encouragement in so many ways. Beth did many
talks during her stay. She started at
the Diocesan conference and then moved on to various clubs and churches. I recorded some of the questions she was
asked and her answers: What do you do to set up a school? “Well, nothing really, the villagers do it
themselves. All I do is wander around
talking to people.” How do you manage to stay so un-tanned? “My feet are tanned where I’ve worn sandals
but Kondoa is a Moslem area so the rest of me is well covered up. And I blame the Welsh genes!” Why Pre-Primary Schools?
And what are the children taught in the pre-primaries? “I originally started with the task of
building up adult education but after spending months listening to people
came to realise that the root cause of the poor education was that the
children were not going to school or were not learning once there. One of the biggest barriers to children
going to Primary School is that the lessons are in Swahili but the children usually
only speak their local dialect, so Swahili is very important. And, whilst the Primary Schools do teach
reading and writing, the class sizes are so large that children are easily
left behind so we teach them the basics.
Having the Pre-Primaries enables parents to see the value of education
over having their children working in the fields. And the children also teach the parents so
my original aim is also met.” What do you eat? “Beans. Beans.
Beans. Maize stodge. Nuts.
Beans. And, beans.! What could our church learn from Christians in
Tanzania? “I need to be
careful because I always manage to offend people when I’m asked that
one! I suppose the greatest thing they
have is a real sense of community, of mutual help and encouragement, of caring
for each other.” And those proverbs?
A few: Little by
little, a little becomes a lot. The roaring lion
kills no game. Do not mend your
neighbour's fence before seeing to your own. I pointed out
the stars to you but all you saw was the tip of my finger. One who bathes
willingly with cold water doesn't feel the cold. Hopefully,
normal service will be resumed next month Graham |
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August 2008 So, life back in Kondoa? Well, spent Saturday on a day safari to the
tarangire which was wonderful, then spent Sunday afternoon beside Babati Lake
which is beautiful and green and huge, listening to Bob Marley- so not much
work being done then! Well, some work. I arrived in Dar on the Friday morning;
spent Saturday in Dodoma catching up on news, then went to Kondoa on the
Sunday. Monday was Peasants' Day so I
spent the day going round peoples' houses to greet them and catch up on the
gossip. Tuesday was the beginning of
the school term so I spent the week at the school teaching. A welders' workshop where no one wears
protective ear or eye wear with an advertisement for headache tablets above
it |
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Callie, my niece, also came to Tanzania with me so she
could see what life was like in Kondoa- think the dust, lack of running water
and questionable hygiene were a few of the more negative aspects. The main
bane of her life though was the lack of personal space and privacy- everyone
greeting and wanting to know everything about her and not leaving her alone
when in a village was very difficult. On the Saturday we went to a youth concert in
Mwailanje, a village about 2 hours to the East; the choirs were fantastic- a
mix of tribes each with different music types, traditional instruments and
dancing. From those we chose 3 (though
later increased to 4 due to some persuasive begging by the choir that came
fourth) to come to the Diocese youth concert in August. We also have a pre-primary school there so
I went for a meeting with the local primary school teachers and village chairman
who were very supportive, and I've arranged to return for a week in
September. We went to the Kondoa goat and cattle market on the
Wednesday which was rather large- though not a good place to take a
vegetarian (the meat market was also there!)- Sorry Cal!!! We borrowed a goat from a neighbour after
that so she lived with us for a couple of weeks- eating up a lot of my
pitiful maize harvest and pumpkins!
But he also cleaned up my garden- so he's forgiven! At the weekend we went to Chemba and stayed over
night. The Diocese youth committee met
for the last time before the youth concert, and so we have technically
arranged everything! Well, almost! On the Sunday our pre-primary school
teacher in Chemba christened her child, so I was really pleased to be able to
attend. I bemused everyone in the
church, though. On my way to church I
called in on the girl who gave birth at Easter and carried her baby on my
back to go to the church. As it was
cold I completely wrapped up the baby, so all anyone could see was that I had
a baby on my back. So when I walked
into church and sat down, all the women were asking eachother whether I had
returned to England to have a baby without telling them! When I uncovered the baby a little so they
could see his (black) arms and legs they then asked eachother who the father
is- he must be Tanzanian! I decided to
put them out of their misery and reveal the baby completely, to which they
all said to eachother- 'I told you it couldn't be hers- she's not even
married'. Ah, gossiping women- aren't
they (we) great! After a couple of days back in town recovering from the
lack of electricity and the only vegetarian option being rice and beans we
went to Bereko where a group of sixth formers from England were. They have a secondary school link with
Bereko. It was absolutely
freezing!!! We stayed at the convent
where I feel so at home- when I arrived there were great shouts of joy and
hugging from the sisters- to the bemusement of the English visitors! After a couple of nights there, getting
used to seeing white faces, we went on to Babati, and were immediately taken
to a really nice hotel- all provided for free from the hotel owner who heard
about the work I do in Kondoa and felt I deserved a nice break. This was very welcome after the journey we
had- we missed the Babat bus by 5 minutes and so had to wait at the police
stop for 4 hours before finally getting a lift... on a lorry! Cramped is not a strong enough word to describe
it! So, for the rest of the story see
the first paragraph! Oh, and my ex-housemate Frida has given birth to a baby
boy. Both are healthy and I'm going to
see them on Wednesday- lots of coooing! Love, Beth x PS. My birthday
is on the 10th! If you haven't yet
sent a card it will turn up late! But,
late cards are better than none at all!!! PPS Funny
viewings: A poster that has a man leering over a girl in a school
uniform with the line: 'leave her alone, she should study’ (a propaganda
poster against teenage pregnancies- perhaps England should try that!) A welders' workshop where no one wears protective ear
or eye wear with an advertisement for headache tablets above it |
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September 2008 Can’t believe I’ve managed 6
weeks without the Internet! I've been in villages since my
last update. We had our youth celebration
which was fantastic- so great I even forgot it was my birthday- until
6pm! Over 300 youth turned up and we
sang and danced ‘til the early hours of the morning every night. It was of course over a day late to start-
this being Tanzania but, once we started, things went pretty swimmingly,
though I underestimated how competitive people are, and so a verbal fight
broke out when a choir didn't win the singing competition! Boys! |
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After that I rested for a
whole day before coming down with malaria, and I hadn't even got over that
when I got up early on a Sunday morning to get the bus to a village from
where I got on a motorbike (very practical clothes I wore: a blouse,
trousers, a wrap tied round the neck, another round the waist, flipflops(!)
and a headscarf - perfect clothes for the back of a motorbike!!!). I preached in that village, called Ombiri,
and returned with a sack of beans and potatoes and jugs of honey, all tied on
the back of the motorbike. Needless to
say we managed to navigate the steep rocky hills, the hyenas and even the
wild boars, but we fell over in the river!
Fortunately the landing was very soft so no injuries! After that I'd caught the
motorbike bug (the Kondoa landscape is incredible, but can’t be fully
appreciated from a bus or car, but on a bike, with the wind in my hair and
riding into the sunrise it’s just incredible) and so went to a further 3
villages by that mode of transport the following week- the scenery of Kondoa
really is the most beautiful I've ever known.
I went to villages called Songa Mbele, Mwaikisabe and Mwailanje, and
returned with yet more presents. In
Songa Mbele I went to an Islamic wedding so got painted in henna. The bride was all of 14 years old and had
finished primary school last December- all her fellow classmates, except one
who is a Christian, are now married!
I've decided that I cannot do rangi dancing to save my life- pushing
your backside out whilst jumping round in a circle! I somehow managed to do a 30km
bike ride back from one village, called Mondo, which was incredibly tiring
and will never be attempted again!!!
But at least I've proved to myself that I can do it- I feel like a
proper missionary now. Got back to town where we had
our Diocesan Synod. When I read out my
reports for the education and youth I actually got cheered! Very encouraging. And when I said I am finishing my contract
next year there was a sufficient amount of sobbing that I feel wanted! I am now very tired, but am
returning to Kondoa again today, and have a full diary for the next month-
will be staying at 10 villages that have pre-primary schools, and 1 that’s
having a youth celebration with a neighbouring village. At the end of next month I’ll be taking 3
choirs from our diocese to a neighbouring diocese to have a bit of a boogie! Take care, Bethx |
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October 2008 Hello everyone, I’m now in Makarongo (it means “lots of ditches” – the
roads are impassable!) and then I’m off to five more villages in the next few
weeks. Dad tells me that the economic
problems are getting worse at home.
Here it is going crazy. Both
food and transport prices have doubled in the past few months. When food is 70% of a typical family’s
expenditure that is a bit of a problem!
But it looks like the rains are going to be early, which is cheering
people up. The local vicars are attempting an arranged marriage
between me and the one unmarried vicar!
One suggested that he would invite us both to his church and start the
marriage service to see whether either of us would actually refuse! |
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I’ve been in Bagamoyo, on the coast, for the Tanzania
Youth Committee meeting. Bagamoyo is
the home of the Tanzanian art college so it’s very modern and full of
cannabis, but mixed with a traditional fishing port and women wearing full
Islamic dress- very strange place. The
drive there was typically horrific. I
got the 6am bus which was supposed to take me all the way to Dar, but it
broke down at 8am. By 3pm I’d pretty
much given up when another bus turned up but refused to take anyone, saying
it was too full. After begging by the
other passengers the driver let me on- and only me - and didn’t even charge
the fare! When I got to Dodoma it was
6pm, but amazingly there was a bus that had been delayed from another town
and it was going to Dar, so they took me on, the fare being paid for by a man
from Kondoa who felt sorry for me (there’s a lot of feeling sorry for me in
Kondoa) and so I arrived at 1am at Dar.
I slept on the pavement, with the other people from the bus, then got
on another bus to Bagamoyo. I met the
new Archbishop of Tanzania there. He
said he’d heard that people in Kondoa don’t wash because there’s no water! I told him he’d be welcome any time to find
out the reality. So he said he’d definitely
come to Kondoa next year. When I got back from Bagamoyo I heard that my Granny
had died. Everyone insisted that I
stay at my home and rest, no work.
Then all the women from the church came round for the ceremony of
“giving sympathy”, which involves much singing and praying and me telling the
story of Granny’s life, followed by more praying, eating and drinking, and
more singing and dancing, and I’m supposed to be resting! Only after this was I “allowed out”. I’ve been back to Mwailanje and stayed there for four
days. I was asked by the head teacher
of the government primary school to talk to the parents because very few
pupils were turning up to school – they were off collecting water and doing
other farm work. I asked the mosque
(it’s almost 100% a Muslim area) to announce that I would be giving a talk
and hundreds of parents turned up. As
well as talking about the attendance I also tackled the problem of teenage
pregnancy – many of the girls are pregnant by 13. It felt like I was back in Folkestone. From Mwailanje I walked for two hours into the middle
of nowhere, the outer edge of the Maasai Steppe, to experience the delights
of houses with dung carpets and cow-skin beds. The stench was unbelievable. The Steppe is a huge area, where baobab and
acacia trees dot the savannah and elephants and predators roam. Go further in and you find Lake Manyara and
Tarangire National Parks. And then two
hours back and attendant sunburn. On
the basis that I’m still alive, their gift of some indescribable mixture of
milk and various other things was not actually poisonous. Then to Wekense where I had a very relaxing time for a
few days. I preached at the Sunday
service and we had a youth service in the afternoon, (a rare thing here), and
yet more preaching for me. All the villages that could have schools in this area
now have them, though not all are properly funded. So the job now is putting everything in
place to sustain them. Thanks for all
your support, letters and prayers. Love to all Beth x (PO Box
7, Kondoa, Tanzania) |
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November 2008 The highlight of the past
month was taking 25 village youth (many who had never even been to Kondoa
town) to a town 200 miles away. We
travelled in two Land Rovers that took prayer just to get them started. After a few punctures and falling into a
ditch, we arrived eleven hours later to the spectacle of a thousand youth
from three other dioceses shouting and singing because Kondoa had actually
turned up – albeit a hundred youth short!
Twenty five other choirs were there all with modern instruments,
professionally choreographed and even wearing suits and we went to the stage
with old school shirts and trousers and matching white T shirts and a plastic
bucket to use as a drum! But nothing
could dampen our spirits, even the realisation that for all the 1000 people
there were only two toilets. We
arrived back at the village at midnight to find a fine spread of chicken and
rice to celebrate our unexpected (=safe) return from 3 days journeying. A grand total of £250 for a 3 day break for
25 people 200 miles away was not bad. |
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Other than that my diocesan
tour by every means of transport other than car has been continuing in
earnest. After my last letter I went to
a village called Sarkwa which is populated by the Wasandawe – one of the last
hunter gatherer tribes left in the world.
I stayed at the health clinic , which is in the middle of a forest
well known for elephants and hyenas – just the place to walk to when 9 months
pregnant and your waters have broken (no, not me – I stayed there as there
are no other beds in the place). The
first husband of the doctor’s wife had left her to marry a white woman so I
quickly became referred to as “the second wife”. The bus I needed to return to town had of
course broken down and so I was kindly given a lift – in the back of a
pick-up full of sacks of charcoal (helps me to blend in I guess). One hour later I was holding onto the sides
for dear life when a kindly vicar saw me and stopped the truck and gave me a
lovely meal before putting me in a nice car to take me back to town. After one night in my own bed
I got on the early morning bus to go to another village but by 7am the bus
had already broken down. We weren’t on the road again until 3pm. I managed to reach another village before
getting a motor bike to my destination.
I went to visit a young widow with 2 children who had been rejected by
her father for being a Christian. Her
house is at the top of a hill and to get there involves a one hour trek
though the most amazing scenery, thick foliage, stream sand waterfalls. At the bottom of the hill lives a man who
was born with severely stunted legs so he walks on his hands. Despite the discrimination against the disabled
in Tanzania, mostly at the hands of the parents, this man is the most
educated electrician in the area, fixing and selling generators and running a
mechanical irrigation system. He is
also the youth leader in the local church.
Molleli is a truly wonderful man, (and his wife makes an excellent
cuppa). The next day it was onto the
motorbike again to go to Kikilo a village with very different scenery – dry,
bare and just a few small trees. I
spent the morning with the pre primary school and then waited under a tree
for the village chairman to arrive. As
I was waiting, a group of pregnant women – all with other babies strapped on
their backs – came and sat with me.
Apparently the ante-natal clinic had been cancelled without any notice
so I spent an hour chatting about life for women in Kondoa and the importance
of education for girls. Only three
hours late the village chairman, who is also the village drunk, turned
up. The ensuing “official reception”
was so farcical we cut it short and did a runner. Next month I’ll tell you all
about one sided marriage customs – basically stealing a girl and leaving a
couple of cows in her place! I’ll sign this off: Yours in the defence of gender equality Beth x |
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December 2008 Sent 18th November by Beth’s dad: Some of you will know that Beth has been in hospital
following an accident with a bucket of tea. After an anxious few days when her phone was not
working we've now heard that she's at her house and making a good
recovery. She has one bad blister but the rest of her legs are
repairing OK. Beth sends her thanks for your prayers and best wishes. Sent 13th December by Beth’s dad: Beth is OK. She is spending a month in a village
looking after a 6 year old. No water, no electricity and no tomatoes
(no, I have no idea why she mentions that). There is a phone connection
if she stands on top of a termite mound and holds the phone up in the air so
the odd text gets through - as long as her battery lasts anyway. Hopefully normal service will be resumed in the new
year. |
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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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