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Letter from Kondoa 2009

 

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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.

 

January 2009

Hope everybody had a great Christmas.

I spent Christmas in the village of Chemba; no electricity, water or fruit/vegetables (thanks go to the wonderful bus drivers who brought me much-needed oranges and greens!), and the phone only gets reception if I climb a termite mound outside the vicar's house.  It was pretty wonderful to be in a village for Christmas- the singing and dancing in church, everyone wearing their best clothes (I cheated- I got a wrap with bells on it and just wrapped that round my tea-stained clothes), and being invited to everyone's house for dinner (though as I had guests myself, my job was cooking - breakfast, lunch and dinner for 10 people over a wood fire - felt more like Ash Wednesday!). 

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Beth will kill me for this –
Matron of honour

 

I kind of managed a malaria-free Christmas though came down with a fever that evening and found it was malaria the next day.  But at least I managed to eat the Christmas dinner.

I spent two weeks in Chemba farming and generally learning village life.  My hands are now so tough I can pick up burning charcoals without feeling any pain (bit like the evil bloke out of the James Bond film I can't remember).  I farmed just over half an acre in 4 days which surprised most people (though they manage a whole acre in three days but I’m new to this) and even caused more people to assume I'm actually albino because obviously Europeans can't work with their hands! 

The Sunday before Christmas I was walking to church with the vicar who suddenly turned to me and asked if I’d prepared a sermon.  Turns out neither of us had so he offered the 'compromise' that he would lead the service if I would do the sermon!  So, what is one to do?  I acted out the pre-Christmas story of Mary being told by a huge angel that she was pregnant and her trying to work out just how she got into that state.  Still don't know what the point of it was but fortunately the vicar stepped into the breech and gave a mini-talk about how we should all be good servants of God like Mary was. 

I'll be returning to Chemba for the New Year; Christians here spend New Year's Eve keeping a vigil of singing and dancing until the early hours, so that will remind me of Cheese Night at Scally's! 

Sorry the update's so short this month- my memory's gone to pot because of the malaria but I'm sure I'll be back in fine form (!) for next month.

Wishing all Best Wishes for the New Year!  Beth x

 

 

                  February 2009

Chemba church foundations

 
bereko2 Hope this is better than last month's!
Well, to the many who have written telling me I'll never leave Tanzania, I have increased my contract but only to this Christmas!  If, by the time I come back to England for an Easter break (I think my parents decided the only way from protecting me from burnt feet, blistered hands and unwanted marriage proposals is to bring me back to Blighty; so I'll be back on 20th March- just in time to see England humiliated... sorry. crowned in glory in the 6 nations) you can get 5 grand together I'll happily stay in Tanzania for another couple of years- keeps me out of the way of the Credit Crunch anyway!

 

I had a lovely dinner party on Sunday- a group of heavily pregnant village women all in town waiting to give birth, came to my house for a slap-up meal, and then they all fell asleep for 2 hours.  But it was good fun, and means I have guaranteed village invitations for the next year!  The hospital has finally improved its post-natal ward at long last although, as there are still not enough mid-wives, people still give birth attended by other women in labour, and caesarean-recoverees- so good try, but could do better!  My friend Violet (who was the lady who came to Dar to meet me when I first came to Kondoa) gave birth to twins this month, although one died (she was one of the many women who gave birth with no midwife around), but both her and the remaining baby are doing well.  At the hospital at the same time was a girl who had had a miscarriage, caused by her husband.  She was 6 months pregnant so went to the clinic for a check-up; due to lack of staff it took a long time and she was late cooking the evening meal, so her husband beat her so badly that she miscarried.  She refuses to press charges against her husband, so there's nothing the police can do.
  I went to the ceremony at the Catholic Church for women becoming nuns a week later- I can now understand why so many women want to be nuns here!  The convent seems to be more 'Nuns on the Run' than 'Sound of Music'- at the party afterwards they all got up and boogied around to the latest Swahili (though Christian) sounds!

I've joined a tailoring class. I can now sew an A-line skirt!  I'm so proud of myself; textiles was a subject at school that I could never get the hang of.  I'm waiting for the rains before I return to my farm- it rained for 3 days in December, but we have had no rains all this month.  All that I planted before Christmas has shrivelled and turned yellow, so I need to re-plant.  If the rain doesn't come, there will be famine at the end of this year; food prices are already increasing significantly and will continue doing so until people harvest.  As we can't even plant yet, the harvest will be very late, and not much grain will be produced.  There was a bit of rain in the town last night, so we're hoping this is a good sign. 

An American Peace Corps worker has moved to Kondoa, so I can now talk English without travelling to Dodoma and he has Internet, (hence the letter- whilst I'm still in Kondoa!!!), jelly, the ability to make pineapple wine and The Office on DVD so I'm happy.  He says another 10 are coming out to Kondoa from this August- we'll positively be swamped!

Hope all are well.
Beth x

PS As many have asked for the latest news of the man in Dar who proposed to me. Here it is:  he transferred the equivalent of 5 pounds to my mobile phone (here credit transfers can be done), and so I spread the wealth and sent it to village friends.  Then he sent, via the bus to Kondoa from Dar, a piece of cloth and the money needed to sew it into clothes - I think he's keen!  But I still blanked him, and finally he has given up and stopped phoning- though he now phones my vicar to tell him to persuade me.  Some men just don't know when to give up!

 

 

March 2009

 

Very latest: I've broken my little toe (same foot as got burned, and the very same one on which I fractured my 5th metatarsal; it's cursed!)

Work here is very seasonal.  Going to villages is off the agenda because everyone is farming, often far from their homes and so are living in little shacks on the farms, taking turns to chase off the boars, leopards and baboons which ruin the crops. 

So, I’m flitting between town and my farm, putting together an Adult Education programme in Basic and Life Skills: numeracy, literacy, budgeting and small business management. 

 

cooks in Salare cropped

 

My farm has now dried out twice, so I have re-planted again.  The main problem is that rain falls for 3 days, and then four weeks of baking sun.  This means the seeds sprout and little plants come up, but then shrivel in the sun.  More disheartening is seeing the weather map of Tanzania- rain to the East, West, and South of us but nothing in Kondoa- apparently the Government has started putting measures in place to buy from the areas that have good rain and transporting it over to us, then selling for a subsidized rate (though given the harvest will be very small no one will have anything to sell so will have no money to buy.)  Have resorted to planting millet as it needs less rain than maize (though if you eat millet stodge you end up constipated for a good couple of days, and that’s if you’re used to it!)  I spent much of last week on my farm weeding.  The weeds are larger than the crops, and the weeding was actually harder than the ploughing.  When I ploughed I had heaped the earth into humps so the roots can get well established, but weeding involved the ruining of the humps; so depressing to see my hard work undone!

On Monday and Tuesday I had a group of youth from 3 other dioceses come to stay at my house for a meeting to arrange the Youth Conference in September this year which will see 1,000 youth from all over central Tanzania coming to Kondoa, which I’m to be the chief organizer of- fortunately we have no Health and Safety Regulations here to abide by, so it’s just a case of making sure there’s floor space in various houses, toilets are dug, and shacks are put up for bathrooms, and enough trees are cut down for fire wood.

I’ve been continuing with sewing classes, and am now sewing clothes that I’m able and willing to wear, and that only fall apart at the seams occasionally.  Some women here have even asked me to sew them clothes which they’re willing to pay me for!  (Unfortunately my Work Visa doesn’t allow for money-making).

Later this month I’ll be back in Britain and I have requests to make! 

Does anyone have a small pressure cooker they no longer use? 
If so, please think of me spending 4 hours cooking beans where it could just take 20mins! 

For the youth conference I would be grateful for deflated footballs and netballs. 

For the village pre-primary schools, small resources such as
tennis balls, colouring pencils, skipping ropes, small picture books, etc. 

And my ongoing request for funds to make the pre-primary schools sustainable.

Hope to see as many of you as possible when I’m back for Easter.  Beth x

 

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April 2009

Beth is in the UK from 21st March to 22nd April  so in place of the letter:

A Guide to the Tribes of Kondoa

The tribes of Kondoa can be roughly divided into the following groups: Bantu, Nilotic, Cushitic, and Bushmen.
 
The Bantu tribes make up the majority of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa, and also of Kondoa.  They originate from West Africa and moved into Tanzania about 300 years ago.  They are skilled farmers, tool makers and keep animals but only for meat rather than wealth. 

 

The main Bantu tribes in Kondoa are the 'Rangi' and the 'Gogo'.  The Rangi make up about 75% of the Kondoa population, and are Muslim.  The Gogo are mainly Christian and are immigrants in Kondoa due to either fleeing famine in drier Dodoma or being given Government jobs such as teaching and nursing in villages in Kondoa.  The Bantu tribes believe they are the most advanced and ‘civilised’ tribes in Tanzania, and so believe that they should be given the Government and administrative jobs. 

The Nilotic tribes come from Sudan and are pretty recent additions to Kondoa, as they generally live to the north and east; in Arusha and further north in Kenya.  They are herders who believe they have a divine right to own all the cattle; causing a few tribal agitations when they take the cattle belonging to other tribes!  They have been traditionally nomadic; moving with their cattle to find good pasture, hence travelling further south as good grass becomes over-grazed.  The main Nilotic tribes in Kondoa are the famous 'Masai' and the 'Barabaig'.  The Masai are quite settled, but the smaller Barabaig tribe are semi-nomadic and still wear clothes made entirely from goat skin and beads.  The Nilotic tribes are very thin and tall, and incredibly proud.  The women refuse to carry things on their head (they instead carry it on their backs).
 
The Cushitic tribes come from Ethiopia, and have languages that have a lot of Arabic-sounding words, though they have been strangely uninfluenced by Islam.  The main tribe in Kondoa is the 'Burungi', with their cousins 'Mburu' living to the North of the district. There is also a smaller tribe, the 'Wasay' (my attempt at spelling the name, but the language has never been written down and so no one knows how to spell it!  In fact, many of the languages of Kondoa have no recognised written form of their language) who have a strong belief in the power of magic and curses, and the most famous witch doctors.  The Cushitic tribes are generally the most scared, and run away to the wastelands if other tribes encroach on their land rather than fighting for it, though they are very bitter about this.
 
There is only one Bushmen tribe which is the 'Sandawe' who are cousins of the San tribe in South Africa.  They are the first known inhabitants of Kondoa, and the famous Kolo rock paintings are believed to have been painted by their ancestors (the paintings are very similar to rock art found in South Africa, and are believed to be between 3,000 and 18,000 years old!).  They have now been pushed further West to the unfertile lands, where they still live as hunter-gatherers and live in forest dwellings, killing wild animals and picking berries for food.  Like the Masai and Barabaig they do not farm the land (thought they will buy grain from other tribes). 

 

Hope this brief guide helps you to understand my future letters when I make references to the different tribes. 

 

Beth x

 

 

May 2009

So, within a couple of weeks I'll have done 3 years!  Time has really flown!  At the moment I have a missionary from Dodoma staying with me; Maggie, who has been a good friend of mine.  It's great to have the company, and we've been trying out my new pressure cooker (thank you so much to the lovely person who gave it to me- it's fantastic!)  and loads of new recipes- though I still miss cheese!  Have been trying to make my own but failing miserably (don't have a yoghurt starter). 

 

 

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Life's pretty much continuing as normal.  I went to the village of Wekense last week, and so saw two of the teachers who used to work at the pre-primary school in town, and it was great to see them with their babies (one of the girls had had a miscarriage last year which was a very difficult time for her, so she has named her baby 'Furaha' which means happiness!).  I went with them to the well to collect water and carried it back up to the house on my head (though that was difficult as it's a bog near the well, and so walking through it, holding onto banana trees while balancing a bucket on your head is hard work!)  I can now carry ten litres without having to hold onto the bucket with my hands- so impressed!  The harvest in that area is not too bad as the earth there only requires the tiniest amount of rain compared to other areas.  Apparently my maize has ripened and is nearly ready for harvesting, as are the sunflowers, but the beans and peanuts I planted in town have come to nothing- all dried up.  The journey back from Wekense was not without its mishaps.  There was no bus back to the main road but we had checked with a lorry and they said they were going into town so we met the lorry at 5:30am, only to find the driver in a drunken coma!  Apparently he had decided not to go that day.  A couple of hours later a man on a motorbike turned up and gave me a lift to the Dodoma-Arusha road but by that time I was too late to get the Kondoa bus so I waited for the next one.  Half an hour, and many marriage proposals from the traffic police later, a gorgeous silver land cruiser with leather seats turned up and the driver offered me a lift!  I was scared to get in- I stank of smoke from cooking over a wood fire, and my clothes were covered in dust!  But I got in, only to find it was a Government Cabinet minister's car!  So I had the most comfortable drive the rest of the way.

On Sunday evening one of our school students died after being knocked over by a car outside his house so Monday and Tuesday were spent at the funeral and the wake.  It was huge- even the Council Director came to the funeral, but obviously very sad as he was only 3 years old, and such a cute kid.  We'd been saying for ages that the amount of traffic on that road had got to dangerous levels and many children have been knocked over there.  My job was helping to prepare the food and then make the wreaths to be put on the grave out of branches from trees in the church grounds- always good to keep oneself busy.

This weekend I'll be going to Chemba to check out my farm properly, and to preach on Sunday, and then the following weekend my parents are coming out- my next update will be on how they coped!

 

Love to all.  Beth x

 

mpendo1

June 2009

We thought we’d give Beth a month off after imposing ourselves on her for two weeks but having tried to write it we wished we’d left her to it!  Normal service will be resumed next month.  

Reading Beth’s letters you may get the impression that she doesn’t actually do very much, an impression she is keen to foster.  Though when you see the small farm she has planted three times for one crop and experienced the transport system and the difficulties of moving from one place to the next you begin to think that maybe she does do things. 

 

Then you visit the villages and see the pre-primary schools and you realise what she’s been doing all this time.  The schools have been started and are owned by the local communities and Beth has been acting as a catalyst rather than doing it all herself, so there’s a fair chance that they will continue without her.  We experienced for ourselves tramping across fields to chat with people, days spent visiting churches and village councils to speak to them and going to Dodoma to buy a sewing machine to provide one of the teachers with an income.

We discovered a few other things she hadn’t told us – such as when we found ourselves with a Kalashnikov toting guard riding shotgun with us through “bandit territory”.  And the toilets really are as bad as you imagine.  No, they’re worse.  And as for the mosquitoes…..

Everywhere we went we were met with singing and dancing.  Is it true that joy is in inverse proportion to wealth?  Time keeping is not a Tanzanian strong point; one service we attended was due to start at 10am and actually got going at 11.30.   Another took place on the road as we didn’t have time to get to the church.   We can now understand why Beth loves this place so much.  The people have time, time for each other, time for God, time for just, well, sitting and staring.  That old poem came alive for us.  What is this life…….?

 

Graham & Marilyn

July 2009

Well, 3 years came and went, and I didn't return to the UK (as if anyone's shocked!)  The harvest is all in, whacked, and put into sacks- 120 litres of maize, and 200 litres of sunflower seeds.  People are most impressed, but I found it quite disappointing - that is all I got from 2 weeks of ploughing, a week of weeding and 4 days of harvesting.  I shall have to look into mechanisation! 

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There is now a real problem with water in the village where I farm; Chemba, and so I had to go to a well that had been dug by the village youth and collect muddy water by throwing a bucket in and then carrying it back on my head, probably the furthest I've had to go to get water.  I'm now trying to get rid of my pumpkins (well, it's nowhere near Halloween yet) by giving them away to anyone who visits me- there must be about 30 on my farm.  I've just got back from Kikore, a village with lots of hills and waterfalls on the Northern border that touches on Tarangire National park.  I went there last year but this time I went on my own, by foot, and for a week.  It took 2 hours from the bus stop to get to the village through a forest on a really steep hill (fortunately the church had arranged some youth to accompany me. I wouldn't have gone into the forest by myself; it has proper huge wild animals!), by which time my legs had turned to jelly, only to then be taken on another two hour walk so I could meet some of the Christians.  We followed a similar pattern every day: walking up and down hills for hours until 10 at night so that we can meet all the Christians!  And yet I didn't lose an ounce of weight; every house we stopped at I was given a pint of milk, maize stodge, chicken, goat and bananas until I was bursting (7 houses every day- count the calories!) 

The youth there are planning on recording a video and CD of their choir so they're currently in practice; their dancing is fantastic!  I stayed at the vicar's house, though one night I ended up at one of the girl's houses at the top of a hill with views for miles around, and no other house for miles (good job, as there was no toilet!), and the little child who told me I had eyes like a cat, and that my mother had scrubbed me until my skin had changed from black to white!  Kids!  I got sent back to the town with a branch of bananas (the whole branch of about 70 bananas!),  lots of papaya  fruit,  a chicken and a stool (which had my tribal name- Awaki- engraved on it), and my bus fare back.  Probably told you this before, but I'll tell you again, Awaki means 'white' but is a name given by a mother in law to a woman who is good at housework and cooking, and is generally an excellent wife!  Indeed I am!

This week I'm going to a village called Pahi which I've never been to before, but it has a clinic run by AIM (Africa Inland Mission.)  25 Aussie doctors are going there for a week and they've asked me to go and help translate and oversee the cooking (my skills are known of far and wide!)  I'll also go to a couple of youth celebrations which are a group of churches getting together and having a knees-up; they're in preparation for the big do we'll have at the beginning of September.

Hope everyone's well and enjoying the Summer!

Beth x

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Chemba Pre-school

August 2009

 

I had just come back from Kikore (the beautiful village in the mountains) and was preparing to go to Pahi to help translate for 25 Australian doctors when I last wrote.  Something I forgot to mention was going to dinner at my friend's aunt's house.  The aunt was in her early 30s and had 9 kids!  She had married at the age of 17 and just never stopped producing; even at the time I write there's a definite bump developing!  10 kids by the age of 34; now that's something to be proud of though getting them fed, clothed and educated is another story altogether.

The clinic at Pahi was good fun.  A 75 year old man came complaining of arthritic symptoms but when told this is normal for old age he loudly protested that he's still a young man and no way can he be suffering from old age (later satisfied with a quick change in diagnosis, that the pains he is suffering from are completely normal for an active young man who works hard.)  The best was seeing a young boy brought in unconscious because of malaria going home alive and recovered. 

 

Having got back to town I needed to sleep (I had also been in charge of the cooking so had to be the first to get up to get the fire going and collect water; I was exhausted) but found my neighbour's child had a fever so I put her on my back (her mum was at a funeral) and took her to the hospital.  As soon as the doctor held her he admitted her, so now I had to phone her mum - not the easiest thing, telling a mother her child's in a hospital bed (well, not bed as the ward was completely full to overflowing, so sleeping on my back on a bench) - but she got there and later on we were allowed home.  We came out of the hospital to find loads of people from the funeral had come there; a snake had appeared amongst the mourners causing everyone to run and people had been stabbed by huge thorns and a group of rather large women had fallen on top of each other causing minor injuries.

 

The following week I went to Kiteto, a neighbouring district, for the opening ceremony of their diocese.  I went early and got involved with the preparations: decorating, cooking (of course) and carrying the babies of choir members on my back during the rehearsals.  I was rather amused that when I got off the bus and started walking through town a couple of people called out to me using my Kondoa name!  I've never even set foot in Kiteto before!  When I woke up in the morning and walked outside the hotel I was greeted in the Rangi language by some passers by; my reputation precedes me!  The service itself was pretty tiring at 7 hours long!!!  I fortunately used my brains and had given myself the job of handing out service sheets, a job you have to stand at the door for allowing an easy getaway when things get boring!

 

After that I nabbed a lift to Dodoma and had a final preparation meeting about the youth conference we're holding in September.  Apparently up to 25 choirs are coming, and we haven't even started digging the toilets yet- doh!  I was planning to stop in at Chemba before retuning to Kondoa town but their borehole had broken down and the nearest other water supply is an hour's walk away; the shallow wells people had dug after the rainy season have already dried out due to lack of rain this year.  The borehole is now fixed and so I'll be going this week, en-route to Ombiri (I'll pick up my motorbike in Chemba and take that as there are no buses) for a deanery youth conference (a collection of about 11 churches in the east of the diocese).  Other than that there are a couple more villages I should go to this month to check up on the pre-primary schools (one of the villages has just finished building their own church-cum-classroom and they've asked me to officially open it, and I only donated 1 piece of roof panelling!) and then final preparations for the big youth conference. 

 

Enjoy the Summer!

 

Beth x

September 2009

Need sleeeeeeep!

Our big youth conference (over 20 choirs came which caused headaches and stress for the past 2 months) is over and done with; amazing how things planned for ages seem to pass so quick!  It was pretty wonderful.  All the choirs from other dioceses turned up in lorries with tonnes of equipment.  Then the Kondoa choirs turned up - 10 people each and no equipment except a drum and zeze (violin type thing), but boy did they rock the place (when they got the hang of a mic!). 

 

 

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On the Thursday the District Commissioner opened the conference by telling all the village girls not to be seduced by the town men who have the money to buy them chips!  On Friday we had a cultural day, with each choir singing, dancing a dressing in their tribal traditional way, (about the only time you'll find women just wearing one strip of black cloth and beads to church!)  One choir sang about girls wearing trousers and boys who wear make-up and braid their hair, whilst another choir sang a traditional mating dance; diversity is the spice of life! Saturday kind of passed in a blur of song and dance, and Sunday I collapsed.  Monday and Tuesday I spent cleaning bedrooms and toilets, always the low point of any event!

This week we have the national youth conference in Dodoma, which I am on the organising committee of, but I decided sleep was much better than organising another conference for 20 choirs so I've let everybody else do all the work whilst I've been sleeping.  Once that is over with I can return to doing some proper work- like travelling around villages being fed copious amounts of ugali. 

Apparently the rains should be early and heavy this year as it's so cold (only 28 degrees) and windy, so I've got approximately 10 weeks in which to visit every single church before I have to get back on my farm.  I'll start off in Farkwa (the home of the hunter-gatherers) where we have a pre-primary school that is jointly run with Tanzania Assemblies of God church, and another one in the middle of the forest.  After that I should travel up North to see how some poor American Peace Corps workers are getting on (they turned up then got dumped in villages.  I feel rather maternal towards them; they're so young!)  My 27th birthday passed without incident, and happily without a Tanzanian style party with lots of tack!

 

Hope all are well,

Beth x

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October 2009

 

Beth has a new postal address – please use it!

 

Hello!

Please note: If you wish to send me letters, cards, chocolate... please send them to PO Box 68, Kondoa and NOT box 7!!!

 

I don't think I've ever been pleased for having malaria before, but last week, I was.  And so would you if you were being tested for Hepatitis A, typhoid, cholera, and lots of other nasty illnesses, and then told at the end of it that you only have malaria!  3 days of medication that causes me to feel worse than the actual malaria and I'm right as rain again.

 

We had our Tanzania youth conference this month which was really good- 14 choirs from all parts of Tanzania, and all the different tribes- that was quite a spectacle.  And I wasn't in charge of the cooking!!! 

 

I was in the bus going back to Kondoa when I received a phone call- I'm wanted back in Dodoma for another meeting!  I just love meetings, especially when I have to travel 2 days running on the marvellously bumpy road for 5 hours on each day.  But it was worth it- for the delicious food that was served!  After getting back from that I wasn't surprised I went down with malaria- my energy levels were at an all-time low. 

 

In fact, September really was a boring month- wasn't able to go to any of the villages I'd planned due to meetings and malaria.  I am currently in Dodoma picking up visitors from Wilmington and Paddock Wood who I'll be taking to a few villages to show them life in Kondoa. I suppose I had better boil the water for them (don't suppose they'll appreciated unpurified pond water.)  Then I really should get out to the villages.  There are less then 2 months before the rains come (and if it’s an el nino year as predicted, it will pour!)

I hope all are well!
Beth x

November 2009

 

Currently in the middle of the very hot, very dry season- except it’s raining!  I should be out on my farm, but I'm currently being lazy.  I shouldn't be ploughing in November; I should be eating, and lots!  But at least everyone else is better than me and have started planting already.  I can live off all their harvest next year- now there's an idea!

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Apologies for last month's update- malaria really is an occupational hazard here- and apparently it takes 10 years to get an immunity to it- so, only another seven more years to go then! 

 

This month's been pretty good.  We had a group of visitors from Rochester Diocese meaning that I could show them around the Diocese and show off my knowledge about all things Tanzanian.  It also meant I got prezzies; it's amazing how many free meals you can get off me for a packet of wine gums!  I've now also acquired chickens for Christmas and Easter dinners, now being beautifully fattened up on millet.  The one which produces eggs will be saved during the Christmas cull.  It's a tough world.

 

By the end of this month two churches should have been completed.  It will be amazing to be in Chemba church for Christmas (last year we were in the old church getting nice and soaked), and also good not to have to check on it every time it rains to check it’s still standing!  It will be the biggest church in the entire diocese (the cathedral is tiny in comparison), not that the vicars are having a biggest church contest or anything!

 

Am quite annoyed as the days are getting longer and the sun is rising much earlier, meaning the buses are setting off half an hour earlier in the morning (everything follows the sun rather than a timetable) meaning that whilst I was still five minutes walk from the bus stand I saw it had begun pulling away!  I don't think I've run so fast, or shouted so loud in my life!  Fortunately the driver saw/heard me and waited whilst ribbing me for being white and liking my sleep too much (a common complaint about 'wazungu' is that they sleep in, something I think my mum has complained about on many an occasion!)

 

Last weekend I went on an evangelism tour with the choir around the most remote villages you could imagine.  I think we were singing to baboons and antelope most of the time!  But it was a good weekend, though sleeping on a concrete floor does not equal me being a happy person in the morning.  The lorry driver certainly added to the excitement; an overflowing lorry being driven through ditches and on ledges and broken bridges and he decided to take it at break-neck speed.  Best way to rid yourself of the constipation caused by millet ugali anyway!

 

On that lovely thought I will leave you...   Until next time.

 

Beth x

December 2009

 

Sorry it's a bit late this month.. you'll find out why below!

Thought I was going to Tanga (a coastal town on the Indian Ocean) at the beginning of December, except as I was almost there I was phoned to tell me the venue had been changed to a slightly less scenic town inland!  But having eaten antelope meat (provided after a very fortunate run-in between said animal and bus which then resulted in it being put in the boot) the night before and having had an excellent night's sleep in a 'guesti' that would have been better placed in the streets of Amsterdam (the room was graciously provided to me by the bus driver who was worried about me sleeping on the bus and I was not to be perturbed!)  The fact that the next day when we went to see the site where the Youth Conference should be taking place and finding 600 teachers sleeping there and apparently not moving out for another week and so the Youth Conference couldn't take place also did not perturb me in the slightest!  I instead drank a lot of soda and went around with 2 American Bishops doing a bit of translating for them, going to parties and generally eating an awful lot!  My bashed toe (dropped a bench on my big toe) was however very perturbed at having to carry the extra weight of my bulging stomach and so the blood blister that had been happily and painfully resting under my nail decided to burst just as we were on the way to a party at the bishop's house!  Well, at least the trip to the local hospital got me out of the boring speeches!  Unfortunately, the anaesthetist was not available and so my toe nail was cut away by a bloke with a (clean) razor blade and I got praised for my ability to not scream!  So my 2 day journey back to Kondoa was punctuated by people stepping on my now heavily bandaged toe and the conductors telling them off, lots of free soda and meat out of sympathy, and a stay in a slightly more upmarket- $2/night- guesti (I have my standards!)

And then the rains started- and haven't stopped!  Christmas was very soggy (but I did get beefburgers in proper buns from the American Missionaries on Christmas Eve) and I managed to cook a fruit cake and Bakewell tart.  I decorated the cake with chocolate coins still in their wrappers which caused hours of fun at my neighbour's house as she gave every person who turned up a coin and tested to see how long it would take them to work out what it was (she herself gave up).  The rain didn't dampen our spirits and we still got overly dressed up despite looking like drowned rats by the time we actually got to church, and then we stayed there a few hours and just continued singing until the rain stopped!

It was then off to a village; Ombiri, for New Year's where I was the guest preacher (oh how disappointed they were to find out that it was just boring old me again!) and I preached against alcohol (the whole congregation brew alcohol for selling) and against wife beating (a favourite pastime of many of the men) and in return I was given 2 chickens, lots of honey and meat every night!  Aren't people strange?  I was only supposed to stay there a week, but the rains had other ideas and I was flooded in (the house next to the pastor's completely collapsed) and the road was waist deep in rain water, so I stayed until it was only knee deep!  Hence why this letter is late!

I'll be in England from the 16th February so please book me in to your diaries so I can see as many of you as possible!

Hope you all had a wonderful (if snowy) Christmas and New Year.

Bethx

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Parish of South Gillingham

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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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