Visitors to Idigima

Dear Supportive Friends,

Live expectantly in your relationship with Jesus. When you do, interruptions will shift from being inconveniences to exciting opportunities and blessings.

When we first joined Village Schools, Steve Vinton sent us Plans A and B, and then told us what would actually happen would likely be Plan C, D, or beyond. We sort of thought he was joking, but now we recognize it to be so true that we hardly acknowledge initial plans. Western mindset of orderliness, dependable timetables, and schedules are out the window.

We at Idigima Secondary School were blessed recently with a visit from Steve Vinton. It was to be an over-night stay, but due to a broken car, it ended up being nearly a week! We didn’t see too much of Steve (we had a couple of chat sessions to catch up on each other’s plans and activities); he met with the students briefly and spent day and night working with our Registrar on financial reports. The blessings came from those traveling with Steve.

Jean Marie is from Rwanda, a country that borders Tanzania in the northwest. He’d been visiting with Steve via email for some time while enrolled in Bible college in South Africa. The concept of Village Schools International struck a cord in this man’s heart, and he traveled from Rwanda to Mbeya to meet Steve and see the work first-hand at Idigima. Interestingly, there isn’t a reliable highway running along the west border of Tanzania; Jean traveled to the Mbeya Region in the southwest via Arusha in the northeast.

During the days he spent at Idigima, Jean Marie spoke in the weekly chapel service and spent some time in our home discussing everything from family to international church conditions.

His conclusions about the state of the church in Africa were very similar to the conditions we have experienced locally. Jean Marie has a heart burden for the poor in the remote villages of his country.

As we find here, many are uneducated and mis-educated about the Bible. We gave him the books Radical and Radical Together and one of Tozer’s books to chew on during his long journey home and future.

Rwanda is transitioning from the French language to English, as well as learning Swahili to trade more with Tanzania. Steve was concerned about Jean Marie’s limited Swahili, so arranged for an escort from Arusha to accompany him in the bus travel. Benson Mariki was unaware of VSI/VST, but had a break in his schedule, so responded to the request made by a mutual acquaintance in the area. Benson is the managing director of an NGO, The Green Living Planet, teaching organic farming techniques to villagers, including the Masaai tribe. He had some interesting stories about his work with this tribe that is retaining their historical/traditional dress and occupation as herdsmen. Benson shared in some of the classes about projects that could be incorporated to beautify and enhance the environment at Idigima. You can see more about his work at his website: greenlivingplanet.org

It has been exciting and refreshing to see the reaction of students to our visitors. In subsequent days, students coming to our home have mentioned different things shared by Steve, Jean Marie, and Benson. Imagine how they must feel to have people from such varied locations and experiences come to THEIR school to share with them in their educational development. Most of these students have never been out of their region, let alone another country. You can almost see their physical stature straighten as they grow in their awareness of life beyond the village . . . and life beyond this life.

God’s blessings and grace to all,

Gary and Joanne