2011 Christmas Greeting

It's been quite a job, first connection and availability problems for the past few days (even following my last email--dropped and wouldn't recover), then going to town only to find the Internet cafe closed . . . but, "Merry Christmas!"

December 25, 2011

A blessed Christmas and New Year to the beloved partners in this ministry to Tanzania’s youth!

What occupies your time at this season of the year? The church Christmas program, baking, urgent deadlines at work, caroling, shopping and gift wrapping, decorating, annual reports, family visits, company parties, more shopping and gift wrapping, more baking, refinancing? It is a special time of year with an odd mixture of joyful warm fuzziness and stress.

Life in the villages of Tanzania at this time of year holds quite another experience than we are used to in America. The Christmas traditions here center around a day at church, which differ little from Sunday worship. There may be some extra sprigs of green and flowers hanging on the walls or from the rafters. Singing, praying and preaching alternate between different church branch groups that usually unite for the holiday. A lunch break will see some of the people return to their respective villages for afternoon and evening services, the rest remaining for perhaps some games before additional times of worship into the evening. No gift-giving. No shopping. No special baking, although some special pilaf rice dishes and a chicken may be prepared. Students who can afford to travel will certainly try to reach their families during the break. No caroling, although the people will often sing while working in the fields or walking along the road. Not much stress! It is a time of well-wishing to one another.

On the Idigima campus, building continues, even on Christmas Eve. We are excited to see eight new classrooms nearly closed in (four have roofs) and the laboratory walls are nearly finished now. (From what we’ve heard, Idigima may be the first VST school to have a laboratory.) About 150 of the Pre-Form One students registered too late in the year to take the annual examinations with the other students; they will take their exams on December 30. Until then, they (and we) continue with classes. As the only students not released for break after the annual examinations last Friday, they begin their “school day” with each student hauling five buckets of sand up from the river, carrying bricks to be near the builders, or filling the water drums. Once the builders are prepped for their day’s work, the students can go to class for Math and English. We spend two and a half hours in each subject and then release them for the day. Most of them left on Friday afternoon to be with their families for the weekend. We made a rush trip to town with one of the national teachers and saw students on the way back, they'd covered ten miles and were still walking (the Internet Cafe was closed, so we are blessed to be able to get this to you today; we were still unable to access from campus last night, but got on at 7:00 a.m. this morning).

Then there are today's plans for Christmas at Idigima Secondary School. Some of the teachers have requested travel to visit their families; the rest of us will attend area churches and gather for a common meal, games and loud music. Doubtless, we will have visitors throughout the day and evening as we host a gathering of students unable to go to their homes. We extended the invitation to all who are not going to be with their families (probably 50-75), so we'll see what happens. Joanne has been experimenting with banana brownies as a treat. The first batch had to be tested, of course, and was a huge success.

We had a friend from Vwawa invite us to be with his family for Christmas. When we told him our plans, he said, "You are doing what Jesus would do. You are like parents to your students. They will love you for life more than their real parents.” Convicting . . . and we are seeing it more and more as we provide the affection, counsel, and attention often lacking in the impoverished village life.

Your fellow servants in Christ, who happen to be in Tanzania,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

Gary & Joanne's Second Year Video Report

The Grenell’s Second Year Video Report is now available to watch.

To play the video recording, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, then either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Video Clip" or click on the "Video Clips" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that has both the first and second year videos.

Enjoy!

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)

Fikiri - Part 1

Here is the first audio presentation narrated by Joanne.

To play the audio recording, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, then either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Audio Clip" or click on the "Audio Clips" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that will eventually hold the archive of all the audio clips.

Enjoy!

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)

"Do You Hear What I Hear?"

For those of you missing the sound of Gary's and Joanne's voice, you can rest easy as the first audio presentation, a narrative in Gary's own voice recorded this past summer while they were stateside, has been posted.

They accomplished this with the assistance of their son-in-law, Naomi's husband, Trevor, but posting had been delayed as Trevor was forced to deal with the flooding and aftermath of their home in the Missouri River flooding of Council Bluffs (IA) this past summer. Thank you, Trevor, for your work in preparing the audio clips for posting.

This first audio clip is about Flesh Eating Ants.

More audio clips will follow in the coming weeks, in both Gary's and Joanne's voice, as well as a video clip update of the Grenell's 2010-2011 year at Idigima.

To play the audio recording, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, then either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Audio Clip" or click on the "Audio Clips" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that will eventually hold the archive of all the audio clips.

You will also notice some changes in the blog layout. Some of the changes were necessitated as posts, files, photos, videos, and other material is added. Some changes were in an attempt to make the blog more user-friendly.

Enjoy!

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)

Hail storm disturbs the progress

Pictures speak for themselves.

Early rains brought wonderment to Idigima students. Most have never seen ice before, and none have seen snow. When pea-sized hail, high winds and rain hit Idigima, piling up and covering the ground, the students obtained a reference point for our English lessons involving winter weather, snow, ice, and freezing cold. The next day there were still piles of ice in shaded areas, and students were gathering it up to hold and examine.


As interesting as it was, it was very disappointing to see the freshly laid wall of our new classroom cave in as a result of the driving force.


The unique direction of the storm's wind and rain also saturated the gable end of Form II's classroom, causing an evacuation. The gable and wall was replaced with a higher ratio of cement mix, and construction has continued.

In His service,

Gary & Joanne

“Don’t let the sun go down on me . . .”

We still use the solar panels when possible, but the new home-based regulator is working well for getting the computer batteries charged fully in just a few minutes. Now we just need our own modem for Internet connection . . .

We are showing the Jesus film two or three times a week to 40-45 students at a time. Joanne made movie tickets, so it's a big deal among the students. Any larger group and they wouldn't be able to see and hear well. One of the older Christian students gives an invitation or encouragement in Christ at the end. Response has been great!

This, added to visits to the village two to four times per week and handling First Aid at the games keeps our evenings pretty packed out. I have exams piling up that need to be scored and returned in both English and Bible. Of course, the students want to know the next day how they did . . . So, better close and get it done.

Love,

Gary (& Joanne)

“A BIG Thanksgiving to ALL!”

Dear supporters,

The Lord be with you in all your efforts to serve Him in faith and truth. May God's grace abound to you all!

Just a note before dashing off to class... This is the final week for teaching before the students are given an uninterrupted week of "study hall" to prepare themselves for the Annual Exams, which begin on December 12th. Those Pre-Form students who do not do well will be denied the Christmas vacation and attend class...which means we will be with them. We'd toyed with the idea of visiting some students who live in the Rukwa Region, a five hour bus ride from here, but the teaching schedule will likely prevent that adventure.


I wanted to share our Thanksgiving with you. As you know, Thanksgiving is an American holiday, so the stories of travel and family meals, football, harvest and hunting are quite entertaining to our students.





Many of them have hardly left their villages, so the idea of flying across the nation for a weekend visit of family is almost unbelievable to most of them. (I don't think most of them really believe me when I tell them the "little white planes" they see in the sky are carrying a couple hundred people.)

We spent our Thanksgiving evening with a group of students in their ghetto near Idiwili. There was the "always a must" hour or two of UNO cards. Our dinner consisted of a big bowl of rice, a big bowl of ugali, beans and sliced avocado.

ugali

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugali

Abedi (13 yrs old) was our cook and did an excellent job! Peter and Giliam (Abedi's big brother) were the hosts, who have really dolled up their single room, thatched-roofed "apartment," complete with posters and newsprint to cover the bricks and a false ceiling of plastic sheeting. Unlike most, they've also made the effort to decorate the outside with stone-lined flower beds and an enclosed shelter with bench. (I have pictures, but was unable to load them.)

As we walked home that evening, with rain clouds threatening, we marveled at the grace of God to have us here. We thanked Him for the opportunity to be His heart and helping hands to so many young people, and we thanked Him for your partnership with us in this most-needed work.

We really didn't miss the pumpkin pie and turkey and cranberry sauce, but we do miss you.

Love,

Gary and Joanne

Market Day

Every Thursday is a big market day in the village of Idiwili. Merchants from town bring used and new merchandise to spread on plastic mats on the ground or hang on fences.

Heaps of shoes, clothing, tools and hardware items fill the market area. Fabric pieces are draped on home-made hangers on fences and sewn into wraps or clothing by "tailors" who have brought their treadle machines. Local farmers bring home-made brooms and produce, as well as dried fish.


Livestock is sold on the village football (soccer) field. Today was raining (it seems to often rain on Thursday), so we didn't take too many good pictures; we'll do another update on this later.



What we'd like to share today is what always happens when we go to market: we are joined by one or more students. On this day, Giliam and Peter met us on the road and accompanied us the entire trip, carrying our purchases and conversing, both in English and Swahili. We asked them where we'd find the best restaurant in the village.




We like to bless our students in Jesus' name, so we treated them to everyone's favorite: chipsi mayai, French fries cooked in egg.



A couple of tables set end to end with a common bench on either side the length of the room will accommodate all the customers in a boarding house style.





Bon appétit!

Your Hands & Feet,

Gary & Joanne

Eat Mor Chikin !

How would you feel if you were treated to a chicken dinner...on the "hoof?" Joanne had made Sefania the shirt he is wearing in this photo, and his mother sent this chicken to school with him as a gift. It was a "Welcome back to Tanzania" gift we appreciated very much.

In His service,

Gary and Joanne

(special nod to Chik-fil-A for “borrowing” their marketing slogan for the title)

Comforting a suffering child . . .

To our family, friends, supporters, brothers & sisters in Christ . . .

Walking home from class today, I found a girl huddled against the side of a building sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she'd just learned that her mother had died. She'd been suffering for months.

I walked the girl to the office to meet with our vice headmaster about getting transport home. Along the way, we talked about her mother's faith and involvement in church. It makes it so much easier to comfort a suffering child when you know the parent is in the arms of Jesus.

We've lost a couple of students and a number of family members of students this year. Do be in prayer for them, as this can often times cause real disturbances to their opportunity for an education. Many times an older girl is expected to return home and pick up the mother's duties to younger siblings. A boy is expected to return home to do the husband's work. In all cases, change in the financial picture adds a lot of stress to the student.

We are grateful for your support that allows us to use a portion of our stipend to help in these emergency situations: transport to funerals, funds during transition, etc.

May God bless you as you tender your heart to the will of God.

Love,

Gary (and Joanne)

Tanzy

Many of you are familiar with Tanzy, the cat that came to us as a kitten in 2009 and immediately stole our affections when she caught a rat her second night. Sad to say, she died recently, leaving five orphans just 5 weeks old.


Thanks to our finding a local dairy farmer, the kittens are doing well. We plan to keep one (the calico) and give the rest away to good homes.

Your Hands & Feet (and paws),

Gary & Joanne

Update on Joanne

(Blogmaster’s note: The Grenell’s have been unable to forward photos due to lack of sufficient computer time, as they explain in the “P.S.”, that I’ve added to this update on Joanne. Thus, the first image was NOT taken by the Grenells, and is only a representation of what Joanne might have tried to cross resulting in her injury. The other photos ARE photos the Grenells have taken that I pulled from the archives. These photos most likely have appeared in previous updates and/or can be found in the photo slideshow posted on the blog.)

(on-line image of an actual irrigation ditch in Tanzania)

Thanks to all for your prayers! We had comments from coast to coast about Joanne's misstep and the consequences. She's still a bit gimpy, but is back to a full schedule of teaching. We even went to church by the same route last Sunday. It was a BYOB service . . . - Bring Your Own Bridge! I carried a board to stretch across the irrigation ditch so that Joanne could step over. (I didn't have a cape, but I'm still her prince!)



We took in a "football" game the other night. Idigima won against a village team 3-0. American football sure is a lot easier (for me) to understand, but we're learning.



We have four of our top Form IV grads helping with the Pre-Form classes. Three are teaching math and the fourth is taking over the third English class so that all classes have individual teachers responsible. Gary still has a few periods where he is suppose to be in English class and Bible Knowledge class at the same time, but we're dealing with it by making assignments to keep students busy and combining some classes to catch them up on their notes. Gary's Pre-Form English class is the newest students, growing daily. Two weeks ago there were 84 in the classroom; now there are 114. We've talked to the Headmaster about it and he plans to divide the class next week. We gave the students a test today to see who needs to back up a bit and make a fresh start with the newest students.



Building is in full swing. Thanks to a couple of very generous offerings from Idigima supporters, truck loads of timber, nails, roofing and cement has been arriving lately. The students and villagers are contributing bricks and sand. The plan is to get all materials on campus and then bring in a number of laborers to get the buildings up quickly. It will be so totally awesome to see the two buildings started last summer and FOUR other buildings built this year! Thank you all for giving from your hearts and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

With all of our love and appreciation,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

P.S. We’re taking all kinds of pics and video, but have no way to load due to short time available with the computer, network, battery charge, etc. When possible, we'll forward you some pics. Sorry!

Prayer request from Joanne

Please, I could use some special prayers right now.


Last Sunday I went to a church that students are starting across the mountain. As I was coming home I jumped over an irrigation ditch. My skirt was not full enough to allow the full stretch. I ended up in the ditch and stretched some muscles in my right upper calf.


I Aced it with ointment and have been in bed for three days. I will try to stand on it tomorrow and get back in the classroom. Gary has been a saint, trying to cover all of my bases and needs along with his own schedule.

Many great things are happening here; we wouldn't want to be any other place.

Praise God; He is great!

Love,

Joanne (and Gary)

Geriamu's stories

These stories come from a Form One student, which means he has had less than two years of English. Where it seemed needed for clear understanding, I’ve added text in parenthesis; otherwise, the text is in the student’s own words.

Geriamu comes by train from Morogoro, a hot low-land region. Geriamu is one of Joanne’s favorite assistants at the sewing machine. He is able to spin the crank so fast that Joanne sometimes thinks she is using electricity.

"You've got mail! --- NOT!"

We are having problems accessing and loading incoming emails, so we get to read the teasers, but no details beyond the subject/first lines. Charging continues to be a problem, and the generator continues to destroy adapters (Gary's and VST's). We are using solar to charge Joanne's and with the rainy season coming on early, the sun has not been cooperative

In addition to all this, we have record numbers of new students and are lacking classrooms. We've gone to having school in shifts, with Pre-Form, Form II and Form III in the morning until 1:00 PM and then Form One until 6:00 PM. Form IV are having their National Exams this week and next, so armed guards patrol those testing areas. Once that is behind us, there will be more classrooms available and a regular schedule. In the meantime, Joanne teaches 130 students in two classrooms, and Gary has the newest Pre-Form class of about 85 in a third classroom all morning. Then Gary spends all afternoon with the other classes with Bible Knowledge. He gets home as it begins to get dark.


We appreciate your prayers: Today we had an hour long deliverance session with a girl who has been oppressed for the past four years. Gary was asked to participate and was the first to pray over her. Before it was over, there were four students and five teachers involved. Pray for the Lord's Spirit to reign over this school, country, continent and world.

We've made multiple trips to the village and ghettos to be with students. Many students continue to come to our home daily. One shared today that when he was sick and missing school, his sister also became ill and died. We've asked him and others to write their stories, so you may share in connecting with their lives of suffering and better pray for them.

Here are some names you can pray for: George, who has taken hold of Jesus and rejected by his father as a result; Noeli, who is mentioned above as losing his sister; Nestory, who is currently in the hospital for more TB and heart testing; Boni, our headmaster, who has so many responsibilities with this growing school; Sifaeli, who always seems tired from being in charge of registration and the building projects; and us, as we get back into the routine of teaching, serving, and sleeping in a small bed (lol).

We love you all very much and miss you already!

G & J

Home again, home again, jiggedy JOLT!!!

As you can see below, we are ready to pack our six shipping containers with school and home supplies for the next 10-month tour with Village Schools Tanzania. Each bin weighs 23 kg, or 51 pounds.


Loaded in our daughter's van, Natalie and our son, Gideon, drove us to the O'Hare Airport in Chicago on Wednesday, Sept. 7th, for our 8:05 PM flight to London.

Gideon at the wheel . . .




After an eight hour layover in London, we met the other six teachers going in at the departure gate and enjoyed brief conversations before boarding. We were sitting behind another married teaching couple, Carl and Pam, and across the aisle from a couple of the girls, so got to continue our chat during the flight.


Janerose met us at the Dar-es-Salaam airport after our all-night flight. Notice that Janerose is holding her little girl, Tumaini. Our luggage was loaded into a hired truck and a taxi van took us to the hotel where we very promptly showered and took naps.



We had a 1:00 lunch, a 7:00 supper, surrounded by naps, and then were up at 4:30 A.M. to prepare for a wild ride through the city for the 6:30 bus departure. So began a very wild adventure for us . . .

There was no room on the Sumry bus for our luggage, so we were separated from the rest of the group and given to ride on this wonderful 40 passenger bus, sitting in the second to the last row, behind the wheels. There are not a lot of posted speed limit signs in Tanzania, but the highways have speed bumps to keep people under control. Still, hitting these bumps at 55 or 60 while sitting in the back of the bus is a jolting experience, even with the seatbelt fastened!


Even though the bus may be called an Express, there are, in actuality, milk stops along the way. There are three other scheduled stops where passengers are allowed to stretch: two for potty breaks in the bush and one in the middle for a 15 minute lunch and potty. Vendors have packaged meals for bus passengers.


During the stops for passengers departing and boarding, vendors come to the bus windows. Joanne was more active than usual in the bartering, buying cashews, oranges, bananas, water and short bread biscuits.


Heading out across the nation involved various landscapes:

Fiber plant plantations.


Passing through the national wildlife preserve was uneventful this trip, seeing only a couple of groups of antelope, a few baboons, and this group of cape buffalo. Can't see them? Sorry, it was the best shot after getting the camera in position.


Through the gorge, where they have begun to install guard rails. Praise God!


Through the land of the ancient baobab trees . . .


and through winding mountain roads littered with capsized semi trucks and trailers.


Did I mention that the speed bumps come in series of three, with each speed bump consisting of three to five mounds? We are still bouncing along on what will end up being a 15 1/2 hour trip.


Our favorite scenery, apart from the baobab trees, are these mountains strewn with giant bounders. As it was growing into evening, these are the last photos taken, but not the last of our adventures.



VST policy is to collect the passports of its teachers in order to keep them safe and acquire the proper resident visa insertion. Because we had that done during our first tour, we were allowed to keep our passports last year, and assumed the same would be the case this year. However, because our visas were due to expire this October, they needed to be handed over to VST. No problem; we were traveling with Janerose, who was carrying our passports. Also, VSI has advised its teachers to carry colored photocopies.


Do you see a train wreck coming?


When we were put on a separate bus, I (Gary) got a bit of a sinking feeling in my gut; I sure wish I had those photocopied passports with us. We’d left them in the States. I’d also failed to pull our cell phone from one of the six luggage containers.

Hours later, with only three more hours between us and our destination, I was beginning to relax, which was about when the bus stopped and two immigration officials marched the length of the bus to ask to see our passports. Time stopped; the next half hour was at least six hours long. We were asked to get off of the bus, in the middle of nowhere and the sun setting. Other passengers got off of the bus to stretch and no doubt get an ear full of what was going on. All six of our storage bins, two suitcases and back packs were piled on the side of the road, and the bus wanted to leave. Even though we were able to show them our passports via photos on our laptop, the officials said that was not sufficient without current visas and we would not be allowed to continue.

We prayed! We begged! We looked as helpless, humble and innocent as possible. And the Lord sent his ministering angels, one from Zambia and another from out of mid air. The man from Zambia had been sitting across from us on the bus and offered us his phone to use. He had a second and assured me that he would call me with news of help when they reached Mbeya. The other man, large and smartly dressed, took the immigration officials aside and convinced them that what they should do is allow us and our luggage to continue. "There are agents in Mbeya that you can call to intercept these people without causing them so much trouble. They are here to help our people," he told them. Although these officials had told us there is no way they could allow us to continue, they agreed with this man . . . who did not get on the bus . . . Who says God is distant from our daily needs?

When we arrived in Mbeya, we gathered our belongings and headed for the front of the bus, only to be met by Boni, our headmaster, who told us to sit back down. We continued on the bus on its way to Tunduma, stopping at the junction where we were loaded in a small transport truck and taken home to Idigima. It was 10:00 at night and cold. Joanne and another woman rode with the driver in the cab. Seven others, Boni and I (Gary), with all of the luggage and bins, rode in the back.

Sifaeli and Agripa met us with humungous hugs, laughter and dancing. A girl teacher brought us a big plate of scrambled eggs and a thermos of very sweet tea. Tanzy never left our sides, very happy to see us and still pregnant! What is the gestation period of a cat? She was big when we left in June. Although I (Gary) had hopes of surprising some students by showing up for church in the village Sunday morning, I must confess that I was unconscious until nearly noon. We spent the day hauling water, cleaning the house and sorting through things new and old, and greeting other teachers.

What became of the Mbeya immigration officials? As near as we can figure, they had gotten in touch with Boni and VST at Madisi, who assured them that copies of our documents would be faxed to them on Monday.

Thanks of praise go out from us to all of our faithful prayer supporters. See how much we need you?!!! Tomorrow we greet the students!

Love,

Gary and Joanne

*Editor’s note: Believe it or not, the train wreck photo was NOT taken by the Grenells. It, and the passport image, were located from an on-line search and inserted by the blogmaster :)