Graduation (again again)

After the Christmas service in Iringa, we drove up to Kilolo the next morning as we don't like driving at night. It takes longer now because the road is full of corrugations and our shock absorbers are spent. Getting spare parts is a challenge - prayers please!

I sat with the students that morning (Wednesday) as they wrote their Old Testament exam, and then spent the rest of the day marking and having a rest. I fell asleep in a chair while Kevin did all the work in the house! On Thursday we made a Christmas cake in our wood-burner stove, which was hotter than expected. It's the first cake I've cooked in it, though we bake bread every week, so we should be more practiced than we are!

Yesterday was the graduation, and some happy students have now finished their three month course and gone home for Christmas. It is the last of its kind, because next year the Diocese of Ruaha hopes to move the six month course from the Amani Bible School in Iringa up to St Michael's in Kilolo.

Christmas service - Iringa Christian Fellowship

This evening we sang and laughed and shared a meal together in Iringa with some good friends, thinking of the birth of Jesus and the message of peace that he brings to us all. The children took part in this nativity scene as part of the service.

Recently at the Secondary School in Kilolo someone read the verses from Isaiah "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news; proclaiming peace, announcing news of happiness - our God reigns" (Is 52:7). That is the Christmas message, and there's another place where it says "it is close to you, not far away, in your heart and in your mouth".

How amazing that we have this message so close to us. There's no need to go overseas to find it out! Have a look at Deuteronomy 30:12-14, and Romans 10:6-8. Happy Christmas right where you are!

He lost the ring but he won the game

It happened last week! We were playing volleyball, and during the last game Kevin bruised his finger. We went back to Kilolo the next day, hoping it would get better, but after a few days he agreed that I should cut it off with a hacksaw! I cut a metal guard out of an empty tin, put it under the ring, and started hacking. We had to have a few minute breaks, but eventually it came off and I didn't even injure him! Where it had been on the finger was white, but it's now looking a lot better.

During the same week I was not well either, with a stomach bug, but I was all right to set a test for the Bible School students and mark it. They graduate next week, so please pray for them as they go back to their homes for Christmas. The Secondary School students have already gone, and teachers will have a break soon as well. We hope to celebrate with our friends in Iringa.

On Thursday we had electricians in to our house to get the wiring finished so power can be connected. The wooden post, which has been standing outside the house for two and a half years at last has wires attached, though it has yet to be connected! It will make a big difference having a fridge, electric kettle and lighting. Planning our food will be easier, and we might even get some variety! At the moment we have to eat beans and rice when all the fresh produce runs out at the end of the week, and it's hard to plan exactly how much of everything we need to cook on the wood burner.

Bees, buckets and marmalade

Look at the beauty of the bees! They moved in around a month ago, and already the honey is almost dripping from the combs. They've built a house for themselves which blows me away! It is in our store. This has implications, because we keep things there. I wake up at around 5am to put things away and take them out for the day, like our jembe for digging in the garden, dry wood and sticks for the fire, and the hose pipe for filling our tank with water. When they first moved in we wondered, but it didn't take long to decide to let them stay. We just have to move softly without banging around too much, and eventually, perhaps they'll give us some honey!


This past week we also managed to make some marmalade. Maybe it will lead to an identity crisis, or perhaps one of us will just have to be Pooh and the other Paddington. It was like a full production line using the wood burner stove to soften the peel, then chopping and boiling it all up. Mmmmm.

Cleaning the water tank involved one of us climbing in to it and the other lifting out buckets of leaf-mould-polluted water until it was all swept clean with a dustpan and brush.

The electricity lines have almost reached our house too, so we may well have our fridge working soon. And we had a visit from some old friends who have been involved in building the school since its first foundations in the year 2000. So much excitement, and lots to thank the Lord for. Pray for safety for the Secondary School students as they go away on holiday until January.

New Bibles in two languages

These Bibles are for use by the students of St Michael's Secondary School, and have been given by one of the supporting churches of the Diocese of Ruaha, St Michael's, Chester Square. They are in the 'Good News' translation, and its equivalent in Kiswahili. What a step forward; to be able to learn not just the Bible but the language as well!

We have had a few challenges recently: Last week the fire, and this week a hail storm. I've never seen one like it in my life! The rain started with big drops and suddenly the roof was echoing with multi-gun-shots, or that's what it sounded like.

It went on for around an hour; long enough for me to get myself soaked as I carried the lunch from our outside kitchen to the house. Juggling an umbrella, a kettle of boiling water and trying to avoid the torrents off the roof while I opened the back door was an Experience never to be forgotten!

There was not much warning - just a black cloud coming towards us, and then suddenly the rain. Afterwards it stopped and tried to pretend it had never happened, except that the ground was covered with white-pebble hail stones. As we don't have a fridge, I gathered some of the icy stones to cool the milk :^)

Bush fire, empty tap!

That's our house in the background; one a group of five staff houses in a small area behind the school. The bamboo and eucalyptus trees around us are very dry.

Kevin arrived back from Wales last Sunday morning in Dar es Salaam, and traveled to Iringa by bus - a long journey. We had a night in Iringa before going on to Kilolo, and the following night we woke at 1am to the smell of smoke coming in through the bedroom window. It was all a panic, as we thought it was right on us, but in fact there were 50yards to go before it got to the house. The staff and students came out to fight the fire with branches, and water from the tap. Thankfully the wind changed direction, but then the water ran out. We did have a little water in a tank which I had filled the week before with a hosepipe, so that was used to completely damp down the remaining cinders which were being reignited by the wind for around 2 more hours.

We are tired but very thankful, so please continue your prayers!

Isimila Stone Age site

Yesterday I went with some friends to this amazing place near Iringa. It is like going to a fossil area and walking through the mists of time. The erosion has left these pillars of sandstone all down a gully - perfect for dramatic photographs.

Since my last post all the CMS Africa people have been to Nairobi for a conference. I found it very inspiring to see a new mission experience being generated in Africa. If was hard going, both the travel and some of the encounters, but it did leave me with a knowledge that God is at work here, and will continue to be, praise him.

Kevin flew from Kenya to the UK for just a week for Rachel's graduation, and he is arriving back today. Meanwhile I drove back from Kenya together with Ben and Katie who have taken over Neema Crafts, and the long journey grew even longer when we ran out of both money and fuel. No cashpoints were open as it was Sunday, and the pumps were empty, so was our tank. When we pulled out of an unsuccessful petrol station we were waved down by a man who told us we could buy petrol in liter bottles. Wow. I eventually bargained with him to sell us thirteen of these for a twenty dollar note. That took us far enough to get both money and petrol in Morogoro.

We were so tired by then that we decided to stretch the journey to three days instead of two. God gave us a beautiful place to rest on the way - with enough money to pay for it. We're not short of money - just a cash-flow problem!

Graduation (again)

Pictured above is Gerard, the student who walked away with the most prizes. Maybe "Prize Giving" would be a better name for the celebration, because at the time the Form IV students had not even started their 'O' level exams. Now, three weeks later, they have finished and left the school, and another year group will take their place in January.

Among this year group are some students studying Bible Knowledge. Please pray that their enthusiasm for reading the Bible will continue to grow as they start on Luke's Gospel and the book of Acts, and pray too for the next year group starting in Form III.

Kevin and I are having a weekend break in Iringa again, and are feeling a bit more rested now. We think the altitude in Kilolo is one of the reasons for our tiredness (It's nearly 7,000 feet above sea level), but there must be other factors, such as traveling to Dar and back the week before. I am feeling a lot better now, though not yet 100 per cent healthy. Thanks again for your prayers.

A special visitor

Last month we came to Dar es Salaam to meet Rachel at the airport, and drove straight back to Iringa the same day. That weekend Rachel had kindly agreed to help out doing the children's programme at a camp-out for the Iringa Christian Fellowship (ICF) where we worship. I joined her doing this (to give the parents a break!) We went back to Kilolo on Sunday, where the timetable was equally demanding - Rachel joined in with the kindergarten, as well as sitting in on some lessons in the secondary school.

We have enjoyed ourselves visiting the game park, a stone age site, Bagamoyo and a coral island - some places we rarely visit, and today is the day we part again. Pray for safe travelling for all of us; Rachel back to the UK and Kevin and myself back to Iringa and Kilolo.

Students in the lab

When I was at school, we didn't even have slide rules or calculators - we just used logarithmic, sine and cosine tables!

Now look what's happened in a part of Tanzania where access is difficult, electricity and running water haven't even reached our house, we use buckets for flushing the loo, for lighting we use candles, solar or kerosene, and a wood burner for cooking.

The school laboratory has twenty computers for students and teachers to learn skills, and teaching (by Martha) officially started two weeks ago. Kevin, as lab manager, keeps the whole thing operational.

What more can I say? I'll have to take a leap out of the dark ages...

Palm Tree Garden

We're having a week's break again after mid term exams which I am meant to be marking now! I wanted to call this place palm tree paradise, but there are some parts of it that remind us that we are not in paradise, such as the mosquitoes. I had around 60 bites on my ankles on the first night, so in ten days’ time I’ll have to watch out for malaria… Now in the evenings I’m wearing shoes and socks – if Kevin minds, he hasn’t told me :^)

The drive from Iringa took nine hours on Saturday; we took turns, only stopping for short breaks. This is after eight weeks of the Secondary School term, and three months of Bible School as well (for me), so it all left us quite tired. We pitched our tent and then went for a swim - perfect. There has also been an opportunity to go to the dentist (what's new?) and doctor (that's new) as I have had pain still and want to find the cause. Please pray again about this, giving thanks that it is not as bad as it was. Also Praise God for an opportunity to rest now.

Bible School Graduation!

Three months later... This is the first group I have taught since getting back to Tanzania, and it's not even meant to be an official course! There's no Principal of St Michael's Bible School in Kilolo, so we are just stumbling along until someone can be appointed. The students made an amazing effort in their studies, and wrote high quality answers. I know this especially for the Old Testament, which I have been teaching one day a week. Even the graduation felt like a full-blown college ceremony. In January next year Bishop Joseph is planning to appoint a Principal and move the six month course from Amani Christian Training Centre (in Iringa) to Kilolo. Amani CTC will continue with the one year and three year training in Bible, as well as life skills.

There is a development in the Secondary School computer laboratory: a new teacher has been appointed just a few weeks before the students were scheduled to begin lessons. This will make a big difference to Kevin as the Computer lab manager because it would have been difficult for him to teach as well, so Praise God.

stone-age

Near Iringa, on a rock face are these amazing paintings which appear to be from the stone age. Kevin and I went to have a look at them together with a new friend, Roland, who has just arrived from the UK to study language and then go to work in St John's university in Dodoma. The paintings were discovered recently and are difficult to find; this was our second attempt!

Last weekend was a sad one because the new-born son of Philip and Happiness Magawa, (our second master) died suddenly only three days after his birth. We went to the funeral on Friday, and visited again over the weekend to share in their sorrow. The teachers and students were very involved in carrying the family through this time, so as well as praying for them, give thanks for the supportive community we belong to.

After two weeks in Kilolo we are having a break in Iringa, getting over a throat bug which made it difficult to teach; Thankfully it's on the way out, but it left us both feeling quite tired. Last Saturday Kevin baked his first bread in the wood burner stove, and now he's got himself a job! I made some breakfast cereal out of maize flour - 'stone-age cornrocks' would be a good name for it. If you leave it to soak overnight, it's (just) edible by morning.

fan club

Here's our latest fan. He spends a lot of time trying to spot us through the windows - whether of our house or car. We drove up close to our house yesterday, turned off the engine and watched him pacing the joint. Up and down our garden, and then he shewed us why he likes us - we have some wood off-cuts lying there, left over from the tree-cutting, and he started pecking at them. Not sure if there was anything worth chewing, or maybe the smell of cut eucalyptus was good! mmmmmmmm

a scary moment

We had some trees chopped down beside our house because they were threatening to fall on it, and then one of them did! But it was only on the corner of the outside loo, and though the metal roof was torn, there was less damage than if it had happened at night and onto our bedroom!

The man with the chainsaw was a bit 'trigger happy' so I'm glad the whole experience is over and we have some firewood for our cooker. Some of the gum trees were long and straight, so they were cut up into 2 x 6" beams for buildings or furniture. Now the front 'lawn' is covered in sawdust. Someone else was interested: Since the trees have been down, we've had regular visits from a Ground Hornbill. He's about 3 feet tall, black with white wing-tips (wingspan around 4ft) and has a red throat! His call is like a drum-beat!

Showing off

Thanks for your prayers - we had a fun weekend (or two) with some friends who came from the UK to do a survey on a water project. It's in the Pawaga area where the Diocese is installing Kilometers of water pipes, and also poignant because it's where I used to work. Hugh and Tricia have told us stories of people who now have water piped to a stand near their homes; before this they had to go down to the river, with the risk not only of disease, but of being bitten by crocodiles as well.

Hugh took this photo as I was crossing the (same) Ruaha River on a pulley. There are no crocodiles that far up, but I have seen hippo footprints in the mud. Whatever disease I have, it'll be exotic!

They're in!

The computers have arrived at last! Last Tuesday was the biggest day since we arrived in Tanzania - at least from the technical point of view! The supporting organisation, Global Outreach have an office in Iringa, and they brought the twenty computers to St Michael Secondary School, Kilolo to be set up.

As for the rest of our life, suddenly everything increased in pace and intensity, so we'd value your prayers for our health and sanity.

Together at Bagamoyo : )

At last we're here, married! This is where I was when Kevin wrote that historic email, I replied in the positive, and we became virtually engaged!

When he came to Tanzania to visit in April last year, we stayed here for a few days, swimming morning and evening, enjoying the tropical fruit and beautiful surrounds. It will always hold a very special place in our hearts, and we are overwhelmed again by God's goodness, bringing us here again. Again I am having a tooth fixed in Dar, so we have to drive there tomorrow (5hr round trip), and back to Iringa on Friday (9hr drive). It is worth it, to experience the peace.

Mmmandazi

After teaching from 8-10.40am, teachers are hungry! During the break until 11.40 tea and mandazi (like a doughnut) are available, and this provides a forum to share a few jokes and news/updates from the headmaster as we sit round talking together. Lessons continue until 2pm when the students have other activities such as cleaning, debates or games like volleyball and football.

This month (June) most of the school are on holiday, with just the form four students present doing their mock 'O' level exams. Kevin decided to take the opportunity to study Kiswahili for three weeks, and I have been staying with him most of the time, traveling to Kilolo once a week to teach Old Testament at the Bible School. Next week we will both take a break at the coast at Bagamoyo - the place where I was when we started talking together on the internet!

weekly bread

This doesn't happen very often - once a week is enough! Here's the amazing wood burner cooker which keeps us sane at the same time as working us hard! When it's alight and burning, everything happens, including bread baking, cooking meals and hot water for tea, bucket showers, filling thermoses and tomorrow's shave! This last is a new development for me, and it's definitely better to get the hot water ready and into a thermos the night before, as life is quite a rush in the mornings.

We start work at 7.30am most days, though on Mondays and Fridays it is 7.15. That seems a lot earlier to me. Getting to school only takes a few minutes, and the students all line up outside before classes start at 8am. I rarely teach at that time, and have been going back to the house for a rest most days, while Kevin works in the computer laboratory on a proposal for the development of the lab. Thanks for your prayers. We are both enjoying the break during school holidays, staying at the campsite while Kevin studies language and I mark exam papers - lots of essays in Kiswahili. It's good to read how much the students understand the Bible - pretty impressive.

Volleyball

I haven't made it to the games in school, but Kevin went and got this photo. It happens around twice a week and there is volleyball, football and netball available. You can see the ground is drying up now after the rains finished in May. We can expect dust and wind now, together with cold temperatures as it is winter here! No snow, and it's a pleasant climate, though the sun's rays are very strong because the atmosphere is so thin at nearly 7,000ft above sea level.

The school holidays started yesterday, so please pray for the students as they go home for a month. Kevin begins his second three week period of language study on Monday; I'll stay there with him and do some lesson preparation among other things. I am feeling better after taking some treatment for stomach upset (amoeba) but there's still some grumbling, so I will take a longer course now, while there are fewer responsibilities to respond to!

Seven students

Next week we have end of term exams, which are important here in Tanzania. They count towards the overall outcome of the course. Over the last weeks we have been struggling to keep up with the Bible Knowledge 'O' level timetable. The school had visitors, so one period was cancelled, the students often have a detention or sickness which prevents them from coming to a lesson, then last week I forgot what time I was meant to teach, so they all waited for me and I didn't turn up!

Later in the morning I started trying to call them together, and they told me what had happened! I felt like crying... However, three of them came together during a period later in the day, and I hope they have passed on the subject matter to the others. Because we started late in the school year we need to catch up on the syllabus. Please pray that we can do this next term. Holidays are during June, and Kevin will be studying Kiswahili again for three weeks while I try to get rid of whatever it is that's causing the problem. :o/

Where are they?

This is what it looks like when you walk in to the new computer laboratory. It's a vast improvement on when we arrived, because the desks are now arranged as the manager wants them - that's Kevin, by the way. He's not teaching (yet) but has been assigned the set-up and running of the lab. Whenever we come to Iringa we visit the offices of Global Outreach with a hopeful feeling. They are providing the computers, maybe one day soon...

Realistically, there are lots of issues to be addressed, like bees and lizards who come in to visit. The security doors need mending, and a battery pack needs to be installed before they come.

I am teaching seven form three students Bible Knowledge, plus all of form one (around 80 students) Religious Education. I'll be starting back at the Bible school as well soon, teaching Old Testament. Your prayers are appreciated!

Send-off for Tula

Last Friday we had an amazing celebration for Bishop Donald and Gladys's daughter, Tula. It was particularly poignant because he spoke at our own wedding last September in Wales. In the church service it was as if the speaker was talking to Kevin and myself personally! Among other things, he mentioned that Rebecca in Genesis was ready to go even though she had no idea what the future held with Isaac.

Kevin is pictured above together with the Diocesan Secretary, Pastor Jackson Mwidowe who is responsible for getting things done when no-one else wants to! He and our new Bishop, Joseph came to visit the teachers at the school in Kilolo just before Easter, and gave us encouragement when quite a number were feeling a bit low after the headmaster left mid-April. Please pray for the staff as we all make this big adjustment.

Sunflower season

Everywhere we go we see beautiful sunflowers! They are grown for the oil, but don't always grow this tall :o) One year, a long time ago I planted a couple of acres of them. It was a fun experience, but I didn't make any money as I'm not very business minded!

It's also the season for weddings - today (the day of The One in UK) we are having a 'send-off' for Tula, the daughter of Bishop Donald and Gladys who spoke at our own in September. Then the family will go to Morogoro for the actual wedding. I went to the hen party last Tuesday as well.

This whole week Kevin has been trying to get his Tanzanian driving licence. the process takes ages, so please pray for patience and perseverance.

morning all :o/

We're in Iringa now for the Easter break, but have spent some time in Kilolo where Kevin has been invigilating for the students as they do their mid-term exams, and I have been resting! In fact I'm still not 100% healthy with a bit of pain in my middle, but thankfully it seems to be getting better, not worse.

The Bible Knowledge students did average to poorly, but that's not surprising, as they hadn't had very long to get into gear. Pray for them as they have a break, and us. We are still amazed at how everything has worked out like this. Not many would have such an honour. Praise God.

Rat traps

Yes, it was in our house! My books have been chewed up, and we were being kept awake at night. Our fruit had holes in it in the morning, so the rat had to go! but there were two, so it took a whole week of setting two traps each night. The first one was caught on Monday, but the second, not until Thursday. We feel much freer now. One night I woke up and felt the rat on my arm. Eeeek

After my petrol incident I managed to get back all right, and we had a camp fire the next weekend together with Kevin's fellow language students. Last night as well we camped there just to have a weekend off, and I decided to sleep out under the stars. It was a tremendous experience watching the moon go overhead in the sky and the tree shapes above my head, listening to the river sounds as well.

Lost in the mists of time

This is an old picture of the car just after I collected it from the docks in Dar es Salaam in March 2009.

Last week I went to Kilolo to teach, and guess what? I ran out of petrol! I never run out of petrol, but I did then. The engine just stopped! I was near the top of a hill, so I asked some kids to push me to the brink, and coasted down (dropping some money out for them as I went) and along the flat as far as I could go, then pulled over and parked on the side of the road.

I took my mobile phone and an umbrella, and the small amount of cash I had, and started walking! First I called in at the nearest house to ask them to look after the car, then I walked on through a nearby village to a farm where they found me a bit of petrol they usually keep for the lawn mower! My friend drove me back to the car, made a funnel out of a plastic bottle, and put around 3 liters of petrol in. He also lent me some money. The booster took me on to Kilolo where, amazingly there is a petrol station. Where is my brain? Somehow lost in the mists of marriage, perhaps?

Hope and her family

When we arrived we found Hope and her sister Anna and all their children still living in the little rented house where they've been since 2001. Hope works at St Michaels Secondary school as the secretary to the headmaster, so she's been keeping my house in Kilolo occupied, while the rest of the family live in Iringa.

Unfortunately their rented accommodation in Iringa has just been sold, so they have to move out in the next three months. I'll try to fill you in on their story in the next few blogs, and keep uou updated on what happens next in their lives.

Kevin has just finished language school so we plan move to Kilolo on Sunday. The next unbelievable thing is happening! Keep praying that we make the adjustment all right, and more than all right! Thanks. It's a big step.

language homework

"Kevin, what's that thing above your shoulder?"

"Oh we get those all the time."

I can't keep away from Kevin these days. We've managed to move from a tented banda into a cosy wooden banda overlooking the river. I just took these two pictures on the webcam as we sit drinking tea in the Neema Crafts Cafe.

Teaching at school comes a poor second in my mind, and I had to gather up all my determination to drive to Kilolo on Monday in order to start the 3rd year Bible Knowledge students off on their 'O' level course. Unfortunately we arrived in Tanzania too late for the form IV to continue with theirs this year.

Please pray for us both as we teach and learn.

flashback

Kevin had a great time with Ella over the Christmas period. She is my sister's granddaughter, and very cheeky!

We didn't spend much time packing as there wasn't too much time to think about it. However, at least we brought the wedding shots.

Thanks to some very good friends we have a couple of beautiful albums and lots of digitals. We're catching up with all our friends here, and enjoying sharing the photos. Praise the Lord for all his goodness!

Kevin is studying hard at Kiswahili. Anne is still recovering from the journey and a 24hr stomach bug. Nice to have an excuse to stay at the Riverside Campsite Language School with Kevin!

Back to Kilolo

Today we had another day in the landrover! After a week's rest in Iringa in which we set up our internet connection (only managed one of them; it is good to have several back-up systems, which we are still working on) and catered for a few other basic needs, we traveled to Kilolo.

I forgot the camera, so this photo is an old one from 2009, but it gives an impression of what happens at the end of every school day; the students all line up for a few minutes before going off to a late lunch.

Recently the school has been going through hard times, so we'd value your prayers for the teachers and students, and of course ourselves as we adjust to a new life style! Kevin starts a three week language study, and Anne will start teaching next week.

A day's travel in a landrover

We flew British Airways overnight to Dar es Salaam on Monday 28th February (this time last week), and spent the next day in a very hot environment!
It was a relief to get to Iringa on Wednesday evening after another day's travel in a landrover together with Bishop Joseph and Lilian. Wonderful to be here at last!

It was good to spend time with our fellow workers, but we were all so shattered from our recent experiences that it was a matter of just getting to our destination, rather than discussing anything en route.

Today Kevin and I both feel a little more human, even after a very busy day yesterday going to a worship service in Swahili first, then one in English, and afterwards visiting some friends for lunch and others for tea.

We really do appreciate your thoughts and prayers. God is Good all the time!

Expectant!

We hope to fly on Monday! After a very long wait, we went to a selection weekend and on Sunday were given the go-ahead to travel to Tanzania. There are still a few hoops to jump through, but we anticipate and expect to be going.

Keep up those prayers, as until we get there nothing is certain. Also the preparation for going is quite demanding, as you can imagine.