Our Trip to Mlowo and Vwawa

Vwawa Internet Cafe

It was quite a process, getting about 150 students to Mlowo for debate and sports competitions.

Buses were chartered at the students’ expense, but for whatever reason, only one bus showed up.

It made three trips of about two hours each to get all of the participants and spectators delivered.

We were given seats on the first trip, so we spent the day walking through the little market areas of town with students, doing some shopping,

rocket stove for making fries and eggs

and treating some students to one of our favorite snacks - french fries (chips) cooked in eggs.

When we arrived at the school grounds, elementary students were marching around the perimeter of the grounds and singing. 

Thinking it would be a good video, I pulled out the camera, but the marching disbanded and the children came in a flood to be photographed.

We had the hard side of the debate motion, “A single party government system is better than multi-party,”

but the students were creative and confident in their delivery and we lost the debate by only three points.

Our girls dominated the netball match with a win of seven to two.

The boys had a harder time in the football (soccer) match, scoring early their only goal, while Mlowo scored twice.

Leaving the school grounds, we walked to the bus station and continued west to Vwawa, where we planned to meet with a friend on Saturday.

Upendo is the wife of Hagara, an assistant manager of a national bank whom we met during our first year here. While we were in the States last year, they had their first child, and before we got back Hagara was transferred to another region of the country, so we never got to see their baby boy, Ryan.

Upendo is a school teacher and needed to return to Vwawa to complete applications for transfer of teaching credentials from Mbeya Region to the new region of Shinyanga. We had a good visit, did some shopping and Internet cafe emails, and headed home on the bus.

When we arrived at the junction, where we leave the blacktop highway and start the 45 minute journey on dirt roads, rain was threatening and it was getting late. We opted to hire two motorbikes to carry us home instead of waiting for a transport truck.

Although Joanne’s driver experienced a flat tire, he was able to borrow a motorbike from someone and bring her the rest of the way home. Never a dull moment . . . and always the unexpected.

Love and hugs to all our dear supporters,

Gary and Joanne Grenell