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
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