(Disclaimer: The first half of this update is a repeat of the previous post. There is new information if you read beyond it.)
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Dear Friends and Family,
Ah, the blessing of having a laptop during travel. We’re able to give you a review of each leg of our journey back to Idigima Secondary School.
The past couple of weeks have been a blur of activities with the sale of our house, the removal of 19 years of accumulated home and business “stuff,” and assisting our boys with the same burden. Pray for the family, as the departure of our son and beautiful daughter-in-law to college in Florida and our departure to Africa two days later may be causing some emotional disturbances. Pray especially for Jerry and Natalie, who were left holding the bag and many, many, many storage tubs.
Dear friends and family saw us off on Monday around 12:45 with Frank Stephen, who drove us to Chicago, engaged us in a tremendous Italian beef and sausage combo at Jay’s (think Man vs Food), found our terminal at O’Hare Airport, and got us unloaded. We checked luggage (Yeah; the weight of the 6 containers was fine!) and cleared security smoothly.
We are settled in at our departure gate, writing “thank yous” and repacking our carry-on after having it “explored” by security. (Why do we spend so much time getting them packed just right when we know they will be torn apart? I need a schematic to get them back the way they were.)
We heard this morning that Emanueli will be waiting for us in Dar-es-Salaam with the second bus from Village Schools Tanzania. We hope you are on Steve Vinton’s email list to hear about what God did with the bus that was wrecked. The Lord was working ahead of us again in providing a new body from a bus whose engine died…at the very town and body shop that was chosen to do the body work on the crumpled VST bus, whose engine avoided damage in the wreck. Sign up for Steve’s letters at: www.villageschools.org
Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.
Well, after a jolly good flight from Chicago to London, sitting next to a Portuguese pilot who flies luxury private jets for top executives and celebrities (we discussed the social gulf between our lifestyles), we were so tired that we passed on the thought of touring London during our ten hour layover. Leaving at 8:10 pm and gaining six hours makes London’s late morning feel very much like very early morning. Joanne set a course for the nearest lounge where she commandeered three armless chairs to line up as a bed and was asleep within a couple of moments. I stand guard the first watch.
Later, after the flight gate was posted, we met for the first time some of the other teachers going in. They were easy to spot, as the women were dressed in longer skirts. They are coming in from TX, GA, ID, MD, and CA. As was true last year, the airline has us seated close together for our flight to Dar-es-Salaam. Leaving late due to the French traffic controller strike and related air space arrangements, the flight was accompanied by an awesome light show as we flew between some thunder storms and experienced some turbulence. By morning we were over Mt. Kilimanjaro, but it was on the other side of the plane, so we didn’t get to view it this time.
Wednesday
We landed on schedule, retrieved our luggage and went through customs and immigration without a hitch. VST’s personnel director, Emanueli, finance person, Janerose, and her husband, Mtuli, were waiting for us with a bus, which in time was filled from floor to ceiling, under the seats, and down the center isle. Getting in and out of our seats should have won us a medal in gymnastics, and you can only imagine how cramped we were, not being able to move our feet once we were seated. On top of that, Joanne and I were in the seat behind the wheel well, which served as a shelf for the tool box. (This too shall pass.)
We left Dar-es-Salaam at 9:05 a.m., which should have put us in at Mafinga in mid-afternoon. Before entering the national preserve, we stopped to get out and stretch. A group of five baboons became interested in us, came within 20 yards and then climbed nearby trees to watch us. Going through the preserve was good for the new people, as there were a lot of animals present today, with elephants, zebra, antelope, monkeys and giraffe very close to the road and a large group of cape buffalo about 100 yards out.
Leaving the park and entering the Royal Gorge slowed the trip substantially. When we came out in June, there was only one small part of the road being repaired, but today we found much of the road reduced to one lane, dips and bumps, and graveled sections. We slowed to a crawl, adding hours to the trip. At one point, the bus actually bottomed out in a rough spot and damaged the exhaust pipe, requiring two different stops for repair. At the second stop, children gathered at Joanne’s window for a lively chat. A couple of the kids were secondary students at a government school. Some of the new teachers sitting around us were straining to hear the interchange, which resulted in lively discussion for quite a few miles down the road. For most, it was their first exposure to the art of communicating with students of limited English vocabulary and the national’s eagerness to “have an experience” with white people. We eventually reached Mafinga at 2:00 a.m. Steve Vinton met us at the door of the hotel, gave us our room assignments, and told us to go straight to bed. No complaints there.
Thursday
We awoke and were at breakfast by 9:30, had a short meeting with Steve and Godfrey, the Director, and ate chapatti with hot milk or tea. Oh, we had our first cold bath from a bucket this morning. Welcome back to Africa!
Steve shared that some of the new teachers will be placed at new schools that have never had a missionary. News from Idigima is that our former headmaster, Justin, who returned to the university last year to complete his degree, and our current headmistress, Upendo, were wed during our absence and are living in the fourth house that was nearing completion when we left in June. Tanzy, our cat, is still present, and we now have over 30 guinea pigs…they stayed busy while we were gone. Most of all, the staff and students are excited about our return. Ditto on our part.
This is how God works with VSI/VST. During breakfast, a man entered the café and there was immediate and excited greetings shared between him and our leaders. Steve and Godfrey stepped outside to talk with him more after breakfast. Before the rest of us left, Steve came back in to explain that the man is a high government official of the area and a Christian. He had been instrumental in helping VST with Madisi in the beginning. In the course of their short conversation today, it came out that VST will have difficulty continuing the work on the college after the rains begin due to the condition of the road. The man assured Steve and Godfrey that he has authority over road work in the area and will have a new road built to the college.
After breakfast, we began the chore of unloading the bus to find our luggage. Originally, the plan was to drive straight through to Madisi and then see us off to Idigima from there, so our crates were loaded first, most of the other containers being soft shell. Be flexible. Joanne and I will stay here in Mafinga today to rest and make commercial bus arrangements for an early departure on Friday, to be dropped off at our middle-of-nowhere junction on its way to Tunduma. A truck will meet us there from Idigima, if all goes according to plan. We were so busy visiting with some local kids that we failed to wave good-bye to the bus headed for Madisi.
We are now on our own. We immediately had questions as to WHO it was that was to help us with our bus arrangements.
Joanne went to the room for a nap, and I went outside to explore the possibilities of a bank, internet café, and some shopping. A young man rolled up on a motorcycle and handed me a package, in which was a cell phone. He explained that he was to take me to a shop to buy a SIM card and voucher for minutes. (Is this sounding like the beginning of a Mission Impossible movie, or an involuntary organ donation?) When he mentioned the name of the VST Director, I was ready for a cycle ride. We bounced over the eroded dirt streets, down alleys, across a paved highway, and down more dirt streets, finally reaching the cellular center, got the phone operational, and after a 15 second, broken connection, the battery went dead. It would be the only time we use the phone.
Once back at the hotel, I snagged a couple of locals hanging around the hotel lobby and asked them to escort me to the bank and Internet café. They were willing, but we found the bank had closed a half hour earlier. We/I did find success at the Internet café and left the poor fellows standing in the sun outside for an hour. We then did some shopping and headed back to the hotel.
Daudi to the rescue! A Form IV student that did student-teaching at Idigima last year, Daudi showed up at our hotel from Madisi that evening, saying we should be at the bus station at 9:00 a.m. We assumed that would be the time the bus leaves, so planned to be ready at 8:00.
Friday morning at 8:00
We were up at 6:30, thinking we may get on the road at 8:00. We had the crates outside waiting for a taxi… Instead, at 9:00, a wood cart mounted on a pair of car tires rolled up with three young men, and we were off on foot following. Arrangements had not been made ahead of time, but through radio contact the booking agent could find out if incoming buses had space for luggage and passengers. As it finally turned out, we stood in the dusty and hot bus square until 12:30 before getting a “seat” on a milk-run bus to Mbeya. We were wedged in so tightly that I finally chose to stand. Our luggage left a half hour earlier on an express bus we’d hoped would be our ride.
Justin was standing by our crates and luggage, stacked on the curb, when we finally rolled into the Mbeya bus station. We had to pay for eight seats on a small bus to transport us and our cargo to the junction, where a land cruiser was waiting for us.
We are home! We arrived at about 7:30 p.m. after a very long day.
The evening was spent eating and greeting with Justin, and his new wife, Upendo, the headmistress of Idigima Secondary School. Almost as if by orchestration, waves of teachers arrived to greet us. Much hugging and laughing! Our house was locked up and nobody seemed to know where the key had been hidden, so it was after dinner before we finally entered our house, and who should greet us but our cat, Tanzy, and five kittens!
Saturday and Sunday flew by with trying to get unpacked, sorted and organized…with the help of inquisitive kittens and a constant flow of visitors.
Monday was a lot of fun, greeting the student body at the morning assembly. A common comment was that it had been reported that we were coming back, but they would not believe it until they saw us with their own eyes. That was also their excuse for most of them not having their exercise books with them when I showed up for Bible Knowledge class. Good thing they are accustomed to borrowing notes from one another.
We jumped right into our lessons and then found out that the exam week had been moved up and we only had a couple of days of class before we were to allow the students study time. As it would turn out, exam week would be pushed back two weeks due to the brick-making efforts and the utter exhaustion of the students. A vacation was declared September 20, with the exam week to start September 29. In the meantime, we are busy with the typing, proof copy printing, editing, and printing of 32 exams, with each exam needing 120-175 copies, depending on the Form level. With the usual challenges of computer incompatibility with the printer, lack of ink cartridges, and trips to the academic office for reams of paper, we are working through the process.
While I am free to work on the exams, Joanne is busy during the day with her NEW Pre-Form English class, which will not be involved in the up-coming exams. In addition to the 169 students returning from the June break, she now has at least 65 new students and more arriving daily. So now Joanne has three classes. Erasto, the building director from a new VST school east of here, visited to say he would bring her four more students from his village on Monday.
Now here it is, the 24th of September, and Sifaeli is planning a trip to town on school business. I’ve asked to escort him in order to send some e-mails and see if we can find some household items that were used up in our absence. Yesterday, I walked to both Idiwili (40 minutes one way) and Iyula-B (20 minutes) in the opposite direction, both up-hill from Idigima, looking for Joanne’s favorite laundry soap. I didn’t find the soap, but I got some great buys on avocado and bananas.
We were asked while in America to put more of our “feelings” into our e-mails this year, rather than just facts. Hmmm, I hope your emotions/feelings are stirred by the “facts” as are ours. When I visit the students working in mud up to their knees, working the clay to the proper consistency to make bricks, filling molds and literally running back and forth to the field designated for them to be lined up for drying, threshing grasses to cover the field of bricks during the first stage of drying, carrying and stacking those bricks for burning…and babysitting the fire half the night as the bricks are burned…all of this after a day in class and followed by a night of study. How can we feel any other way than to want to be there for them and give them all the encouragement possible?
Personally, Joanne and I have committed to going through the gospel of John together, discussing each passage in turn. It is surprisingly challenging to find consecutive moments for a half hour of uninterrupted time, but even that is a blessing, in that visitors always want to know what we are doing.
How do we feel? We feel at home.
Gary and Joanne Grenell, your hands and feet in Tanzania.
