Monday (day 3) to Rorya and Mara

The group visits two dioceses

Mogabiri overlooks the Serengeti plains

Accommodation

Dining room at Mogabiri

18 travellers some with specific interests, so on Monday, day 3 of the tour the group split into two. 13 plus myself travelled the 75 minutes to Mara Diocese in Musoma. Five visited Rorya.

In Rorya Lucy Lim Executive Director of Anglican Relief and Development Australia with the Kellys visited Nyamusi, a village where they had supported the church in a feeding program at a school and where a mission had recently taken place and a church established.

Michael who works for Anglican Aid visited Kowak Bible College to meet staff and see the college facilities.

Robin Vonk’s family has provided sponsorship to a now 17 year old youth for over ten years. Through some perseverance he was able to negotiate a visit to the young man and his family and spent the best part of the day with him as well as visiting the main centre where child sponsorships are co-ordinated by the Mennonite Church.

Robin greeted by students at the local village near Shirati

Robin meets the young man his family has supported for over ten years

Robin with the family of his sponsored child

Meanwhile the group to Musoma had a varied day. Greeted in the bishop’s office where the customary signing of the visitor’s book occurred we then visited the Mother’s Union Sewing Centre, the cathedral and to the old cathedral for a meeting with heads of departments. The speakers each spoke for 5-7 minutes outlining the roles of Youth, Evangelism, Mothers’ Union, Education, Link and Development and Secretary’s departments to give an overview of governance and structure.

_{The English congregation meets here}

_{Abel Obura Youth Director}

Max the Diocesan Secretary outlines his role

Rev Jotham Odongo in his seventies and retired spoke of the early days and the role Australians had in developing the church and building the actual building we were meeting in.

^{Bishop George and members who visited Mara Diocese}

We then went across the road to Rehema Cafe and Tailoring Centre Lunch was a western style meal (the only western cafe for hundreds of kilometres) and some people had measurements for shirts and skirts taken to be hand tailored and delivered by Wednesday.

The sewing centre

John measured up for a shirt

After lunch visits were arranged to two villages. Mothers’ Union or Umaki took a group to Kiabakari about 40 minutes south on sealed roads. Four of us visited Mugango with a short stop at Nyakatende on the way back. This provided an experience few tourists would ever have of seeing village life. At Mugango we had a welcome afternoon tea in Pastor Francis’ earthen floored house and then went to the church where choir members sang for us. Pastor Francis has a Jonah like story which can be viewed here translated to English.

We visited a youth program where brick making was developed as an income generating activity. From digging the clay, forming it and letting it dry before baking in a locally made kiln this prepared us for Nyakatende.

_{Pastor Francis’ house}

_{Mugango Church}

_Choir

_Brickmaking

_{Craig Roberts tries his hand at making bricks}

_{The kiln for baking bricks}

From Mugango to Nyakatende which was unscheduled but requested by the Bishop. This was interesting for a number of reasons. The church building is basic but the pastor walks 20kms to the church as the house they commenced building some years ago used unbaked bricks. Well the rain came and depsite having the walls up to window height, all the efforts were washed away with the rain.

_{Nyakatende Church}

_{What’s left after the rain caused the walls to dissolve}

Meanwhile the group visiting Kiabakari met Mothers’ Union choirs and visited a church being constructed.

Then back to Mogabiri for our last night. There are many things I have seen transported on motor bikes but the following photo is the first tme I’ve seen a bike transporting a cow.

Bishop Mwita Akiri arranged a farewell dinner for us together with many staff and clergy. Dominic and Catherine Steele celebrated 30 years of marriage and this was recognised by the bishop who congratulated them. Dinner ws an extravagant display of hospitality.

_{Bishop Mwita his wife Mukami with Catherine and Dominic Steele}

The following day was to be a Serengeti Drive to Bunda while I made my way there separately for the opening of Shalom School. The plan to load the bus this evening was thwarted by looming clouds so an alternative transport for the bags was hastily arranged.

To view journalist John Sandeman’s take on today visit The Other Cheek

Sunday is Church. And What an Experience!

Three cathedrals in Rorya, Tarime and Musoma and three village churches in Tarime. Services ran for an hour to three hours in the cathedrals. Visitors visited the following churches (Taken froma whatsapp message)

Jodie McNeill – Musoma with Kim Kelly, Mandy and Eddie

David Morgan Rorya Cathedral preaching with Jim K, Lucy Lim amd Michael Charles

Rev Robin Vonk Tarime Cathedral preaching
Dr Dorothy Prentice Tarime Cathedral 8.30am translator
John Sandeman Tarime GAMASARA Parish
Barbara Stephens Tarime GAMASARA Parish 9.30am
Craig Roberts Tarime KITAGASEMBE Parish 9am
Elizabeth Roberts Tarime KITAGASEMBE Parish
Ruby Roberts Tarime KITAGASEMBE Parish
Fiona McLean Tarime NYANSURURA Parish 9.00am
Kevin Barraclough Tarime NYANSURURA Parish 9am
Steele’s 9.30am Tarime

The photos tell the stories although Rorya and Tarime photos are scarce.

Rorya is a Diocese which was established in 2010 out of mara Diocese. It covers one government district and on my first visit in 2017 had no electricty and water was fetched from a nearby creek. Anglican Aid has undertaken some water projects supplying wells including one in a village near the cathedral. The first bishop died in 2020 and Bishop Musa Yamo Masala (Musa) was installed as bishop in 2021,, having come from Mara Diocese where he was principal of Bunda Bible College

Unfortunately the group going to Rorya had a flat tyre five minutes from the church but still got a full service with unbelieveably 15 choirs.

David Morgan at Rorya Cathedral

To view a video of David Morgan preaching (well the start) just click

To exerience some of the music at Rorya just click and watch two conservative middle aged Sydney Anglican men transformatively worship like the locals click above. This may change worship music and style in Sydney for the better. Apparently Lucy Lim was airlifted by the locals but I am told no visual evidence of this is available.

Robyn Vonk preached at St Luke’s Cathedral in Tarime with Dorothy Prentice translating for him.

_{Robin Vonk and Dorothy Prentice on the steps of St Luke’s Cathedral Tarime with the translator}

Meanwhile in Musoma Jodie McNeill preached and gave an invitation to anyone who would like Jesus to be their good shepherd. A young man responded and Jodie later had the privilege of baptising him after lunch after the Dean asked if he would be willing to do that. I took photos and videos so the following will give a flavour of what all others experienced in cathedral worship.

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_{Interviews of visitors during announcements – Kim Kelly, Helen Hoskins (translating), Mandy McNeill and Jodie McNeill. Rev Canon Gaspar Kasanda translated the sermon.}

^Communion

_{The Fire choir}

Videos can be viewed by clicking on the links below

All photos in the album are here for those wanting more

After the service the church elders provided lunch and a time of greeting each other. A meeting about partnerships occurred (at their instigation). The hospitality extended to gifts being given to each of us.

Then the young man who had made a public commitment in response to the message was baptised by Jodie the video of which can be seen at the link.

Prior to leaving Musoma, the group visited the Bishop’s house (where I am staying) before heading off to Tarime in threatening weather. Apparently it bucketed down hail as well as rain during the choir festival, put on especially for the Archbishop of Sydney. We arrived in miserable conditions in waterlogged grounds. 500 young people were in the church on the property singing away. Those there described it and the rain in superlatives.

Bishop Mwita Akiri, his wife Mukami and daughters Mugure and Mbayo hosted all 19 of us in their home for a late dinner. Akiri’s home he built many years ago but was based in Dodoma for over ten years. His wife and daughters still live there but came up (1,000kms by bus) to greet us. Again prodigious hospitality under a covered African alfresco sky.

^{Mukami, Mugure and Mbayo Akiri}

_{A purple shirt? Not on our tour}

_{Bishop Mwita Akiri welcoming us to his home}

For journalist John Sandeman’s take on the day read The Other Cheek He was at the choir festival and has photos.

The Looong Road – Nairobi to Tarime

Saturday was always going to be a challenging day given the drive from Nairobi to Tarime was estimated to be ten hours. Having met with the bus owner a month prior and mapped out the route the eight hour rute with some stops would get to Tarime in 10 hours allowing for some breaks along the way.

While no photos were taken of the guesthouse the following photo tells all you need to know about health education in Africa. Eat more sugar everyone!

Having driven this route in 2014 from Tanzania after visiting Masaii Mara I knew the road was all sealed. The shorter route provided the advantage of seeing the Great Rift Valley which was about an hour out of Nairobi. Our departure was an hour late as we loaded the top of the bus. No tarps for the rainy season!

19 intrepid travellers set forth from Kenya to Tanzania

The drive through Nairobi was an eye opener for many as we saw slums and shanty towns and multi story buildings built where shanties once existed. Being early Saturday morning we avoided the terrible traffic I remember of my previous visits to Nairobi.

The viewpoint of the Great Rift Valley was spectacular and littered with tourist “shops.”

The drive gave views of agricultural life as we saw farms that had tractors growing large areas of maize, millet and other crops. Kenya is relatively well developed compared to rural Tanzania and even the towns we passed looked more propserous.

First stop after the viewpoint was Narok for petrol which is obviously a tourist stop that allowed some shopping. The owner and driver located a large tarp for the bus just in case.

Lunch was to be at Kisii but as the clouds increased the bus stopped at a largish town which could have been Bomet or Keroka. The driver and owner set to cover the luggage with a large tarp. We took lunch here and had a break. Given what lay ahead this was a lucky decision. Kisii as it turns out was still an hour away and we would have been eating at 3pm. People were not afraid to order and some even ate traditional African food! The chicken and chips photo is the KFC alternative outside Nairobi.

And then it rained soon after leaving for the drive to Kisii. The rain was incredible in its intensity and the volume of water on the roads. Photos were impossible. We saw motorcycle taxis with umbrellas attached to the front, providing scant protection from the downpour. Driving through Kisii was an adventure as the main road was blocked and we drove along dirt roads on the side through a very long sliver of a city that seemed to go forever.

Back on to rural areas but at a reduced speed to allow for the conditions.The driver was excellent. It was intended to be at the Isibania border by 4pm. The best laid plans …. saw us driving to the border after dark and entering a one stop shop. In the entry door, Kenyan desk to exit the country then onto the Tanzanian desk to present visas and enter our destination country. Some hiccups as the Kenyans asked for the tour leader and I was summonsed to be told tour operators need to provide a manifest before arrival so they can plan.

“We are just nineteen individuals on a private tour. I did have a list which I provided to be aked why is this not on the company letterhead? Our administrative probles and those who had no printed visas were hotspotted to getthe visas off phones and we were away in 75 minutes. Pretty good by African standards. A quick stop at an ATM so people could buy Tanzanian shillings and then thirty minutes in driving rain which became 45 minutes to Tarime. Liaison with the bishop and the decision was get off the bus and straight to dinner. He did make mention of getting us gumboots!

We would have appreciated gumboots on arrival as we left the bus. A huge number of church members who worked at Mogabiri greeted us. We were ushered to the dining room as others unloaded our luggage. After dinner our luggae was carried across the wet grass to our various accommodation units.

Mogabiri is a farm training centre. A good write up about it was done by Goshen College students who spent time here as students. The official website names it as Mogabiri Farm Extension Centre operated as a ministry of the Anglican Church and supported by Bread for the World (Brot fur de Welt) Germany.

Sunday was discussed over dinner. We had three cathedrals that pastors on our trip were preaching at. Jodie McNeill for Mara Diocese Musoma meant an early start at 6.50am, David Morgan at Rorya didn’t need to leave till 8.15am and Robin Vonk struck the jackpot staying at Tarime with a 9am start. Three local parishes were to be visited by three groups as well so all in all our 19 people were visiting six churches.

We were able to sleep soundly with top notch security looking after us. Oh and the rain just kept coming.

Former SMH journalist and Eternity News Editor John Samdeman was a surprise addition to the tour. Read his take on the day “Checking my White Privilege on the Gafcon-Tiki Tour.”