Retirement – AfricaEddie

Episode Two in Mara is Ending

My time is coming to an end as I write. I am in my last week and it has been very busy since my visit to Gesarya in early June. I concluded six Saturdays since May in a leadership program attended by over 30 people. I started writing this blog five days ago and as I wrote I looked back on the last month and realised I would have to write a number of shorter blogs given how busy I have been. I am tired, essentially having worked six days weekly and Sunday here is hardly a day of rest with four hours at church generally.

The Last Month – Leadership and a Graduation Day

As I reflected in my last blog, I have learned a lot and gained insight into training cross culturally. I cannot help but feel people who come short term to do training and other public events don’t really manage to connect. The last session was on change management, something completely foreign to people in the room.

I was able to get the message across about how much change they have experienced with a few simple photos – of a bowl of water over a charcoal fire being boiled for tea, a thermos and a gas stove top and electric kettle. Cheap Chinese exports have made a huge difference to life here. Many people in town now have a two burner gas stovetop cooker that can be purchased for less than $200. Talk about time saving devices. But the electric kettle is even better as you don’t need to put the tea or hot water in the thermos – you just boil water as needed (provided there are no power outages).

This means no collecting firewood, no pollution from cooking on an open flame and reduced costs. The hostel here still boils water over an open fire so I was able to help the manager see that for 30,000 TZS ($18) she could boil as much water as she liked and save 5,0000 TZS ($4) on firewood or charcoal. Not to mention the reduction in trees being harvested for firewood as well as the environmental effects.

The assumption I started with was that Tanzanians were a nation of tea drinkers so when my cup of tea went up with the question “How has making a cup of tea changed since you were a child?” I was told by one person that they didn’t drink tea in his community. A lesson learned.

Bunda Bible College (BBC) held its thirteenth graduation on Saturday 10 June. Unlike last year I was able to take a backseat and assist with some logistics and ensure public relations were improved to highlight the supporters of the college. So in the end when it came time for presentations I was like the stage director up front telling people to stay still while a photo was taken as they received their diplomas and again when receiving their book packages (all graduates received a book pack for future use).

BBC three year Diploma and Certificate graduates 2023

Two days prior I spent the day meeting with the distance students who undertake a two year program in their churches coordinated by BBC. I also interviewed a number to get stories for the book sponsor SparkLit Australia.

Hearing about the lives of individuals and how Christianity has changed them and given them purpose and meaning is never boring. A young girl who fled from her family during the cutting season found refuge in a church where she lived with the pastor for a week after fleeing home having been tipped off by her aunt that this was the day. At 14 years of age she had seen and heard a lot, heard about options in school and fled for her life. She ended up undertaking the extension course and wanted to be a pastor in order to help her community.

TEE students after a day with me speaking to them

My job for the day in addressing the group of 25 who were at the college for a two week residential prior to graduation was to talk about planning, economics of going into ministry and practical things about governance. All in all well received and appreciated by the students. Imagine my surprise when at the end I was asked to set two questions for the exam they would do the next day! I obliged but declined the offer to mark as the exam is in Swahili.

Having arrived on Thursday travelling down with two other staff to Bunda, I planned to stay overnight with young Nguti, the IT guy who was doing some preparatory work at BBC and also the two schools. Basically I had arranged with the travel group to bring in 28 mini desktop computers which would replace the aged PCs at BBC. In order to make this all work, the old PCs were being transferred to Shalom and Bunda Girls Schools for a nominal cost which contributed to the screens required for the mini desktops. So while I was busy talking to students he was involved in his work, moving computers from BBC to Bunda Girls School next door.

_{BGSS will have over thirty computers once all are set up and running. Nguti with Education Secretary Misoji}

We stayed overnight in the house donated to the diocese and Friday morning I as usual made breakfast for us both – boiled eggs and toast. As we were eating as he bit into his toast he took the piece in his hand and said “What is wrong with this bread?” Looking at him and the “bread” and seeing nothing wrong it occurred to me he had never eaten toast in his 29 years. And I was right. So I showed him a toaster and how bread became toast. That incident has caused many laughs as I related it with someone wondering how a person who has been to university and lived in major cities had never experienced toast.

“What’s wrong with this bread?” Note Vegemite.

The Saturday afterwards was the third leadership workshop at Bunda. In the middle of school holidays the numbers were low but the participation was great and it was easier to work with a smaller group of people than the larger groups that had attended sessions one and two. Given the low numbers from Bunda I decided the last three would run at Musoma which saved me travel on Saturdays and meant only those who were really motivated would make the hour and a quarter journey each way from Bunda to Musoma.

The last two Saturday workshops went well. The session on communication was well received especially the activity called Chinese Whispers where a message is given and passed along a line of participants with the last participant telling the group what the message received is. We had two groups of nine and both groups had a different message at the end to the one communicated at the beginning. There were a lot of laughs as each message received was explained and compared to what I had provided. The laughter was particularly loud for the message received “Julius Nyrere was born in Butiama and went to school in Musoma. He walked 26 miles each week to attend school.” This became, Julius Nyrere was born in Butiama in 1922 and died in 1999.” The following week I repeated this twice. The second time because some suggested that doing it in English was the problem so I provided a message in Swahili and the same thing happened. The message in fact was more distorted and examining where it changed, it seems it was the first person to receive the message who changed one aspect of it.

In the end nineteen participants will receive a certificate to be presented at a farewell dinner two days prior to my departure.

May 2024
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Gesarya, Serengeti Tanzania (2)

Polygamy and female genital mutilation are cultural practices still occurring in the Serenget region of Tanzania.

Family Matters

Tanzania has over 120 tribes or language groups. The president at independence, Julius Nyrere emphasised that the country comprised Tanzanians who were all united and this took precedence over tribal loyalties. However everyone knows which tribe they come from and which tribe others belong to. This is a peaceful country, one of only a handful of the 54 African countries which had no post colonial political violence. Tribes and religions live in harmony. The president is a female and a Muslim.

The Serengeti is dominated by the various sub- tribes or clans which speak the Kuria language. Kuria is the main tribe but clans are distinguished from the clan groups in practice but language is similar. Kurias are pastoralists but unlike the Masaai they maintain permanent homes with animals being herded sometimes for days to be fed.

These tribes have unique customs including being one of the few regions in Tanzania where female genital mutilation is practiced on girls as young as twelve, not for religious reasons but as a cultural practice. It is believed that unless circumcised, girls will not be an attractive marriage proposition. It is also believed that circumcised women are less likely to wander when their husbands are away with the cattle. The Tanzanian government has outlawed this practice which in the past had public celebrations in the streets of Musoma as ‘The Cutting Season” commenced (November/December) with street parades and other celebrations which are no longer publicly on display.

Once cut, girls have transitioned to adulthood and are seen as marriageable. Marriage in early adolescence is not uncommon. Polygamy is still a widespread practice here and often young girls are married at their family’s behest because of the bride price which I will refer to later.

The whole culture enslaves girls and women who have no voice in these scattered villages across the Serengeti, extending into southern Kenya.

Nguti’s Family – Three Generations

Arriving at Gesarya near sunset I was taken around the large compound that is the family home. The original mud brick house built in 1985 after his parents married still stands and the compound I estimate is about 45-50 metres across and 30 metres deep. It is a large area of land. Added to that initial building has been the kitchen, a guesthouse (where I stayed) which is the newest completed building and then adjacent to that a mish mash of buildings that are storing no longer used assets, leading to the original washhouse now inhabited by cattle and sheep, the newer toilet and bathroom and then the fence which ends at the back fence which stretches the 45 metres south to the next fence. Along this fence are some partially constructed houses for siblings and Nguti explained he would be entitled to build a house here for himself. Then up along the south are at least four rooms or houses which belong to brothers not living there at present and two are rented out for AU$6 monthly. A family wth three children lives in the larger house and sometimes is unable to pay rent.

Children of the tenants in one of the spare houses

I was introduced to Nguti’s parents who welcomed me warmly. His father is Mwita Nguti Gisiri (first his birth name, middle his father’s name and and last his grandfather). Typical Tanzanian hospitality was dished out to me while here. His mother was slaving away in the kitchen, using charcoal to cook as she has done her whole married life. The kitchen was black from soot over the many years of cooking indoors and smoke was in the air. No air vents here.

Dinner Friday night by torchlight in the ante-room off my bedroom. Some tables put together and in came a chicken dinner which could have been prepared in any western kitchen. It constantly amazes me how women here can turn out meals of good quality hunched over charcoal and wood stoves. Rice was served with the chicken and I was asked why I had taken so little. Mr Nguti made the point that tonight was Mrs Nguti’s show of hospitality and tomorrow it was his turn to display hospitality by slaughtering a goat for lunch.

While the family ate without utensils a fork was provided for me. I later learned that Mrs Nguti on seeing the fork, brought from Musoma asked what it was used for. She thought it incredulous that it was an eating utensil we use.

A lot of skill required to cook in these conditions

Marriage

His mum Ghati is aged 58. Married in 1982 when she was 17, I was told by his father with some pride, that she commanded a bride price of 28 cows. I expressed astonishment at this figure only to be told that her mother’s family received forty cows when she married. However her own daughters received eight cows. The increase in population and consequent reduction in grazing land has changed the marriage economy (my words) as well as the economy generally.

Nine living children were born to her and they were raised as traditional village children but did go to school. In Nguti’s case Gesarya Primary School and he did well enough to proceed to secondary school at Mara River and walked 12 kilometres each way to school. He was the only one to proceed to high school (11/12) and then to university. Apart from a younger brother, himself and his 13yo sister all siblings are married and live away, many in Mwanza and a visit to the village by them is a rare occurrence.

Into an environment of no electricity, water which was fetched a few kilometres by the women and girls and seasonal income Nguti was born. He suffered a skin disease so was unable to participate like his peers in games and activities in his childhood.

Married as Christians, with Nguti Sen having been a full time evangelist in a petecostal church, young Nguti’s life was turned upside down when at eight years of age his father married as a polygamist. He told me he had been selected by the elders to be a cutter (circumciser for young men) and with this responsibility that he was required to take a second wife as part of the custom. The wife was pregnant at the time and the dowry was only three cows. As Nguti descibed it, she “had no value” given her preganancy and so marriage as a 19 year old to a forty plus year old man was seen by her family as a good outcome. He remembers a party to celebrate this marriage with his mother absent from the celebration. The child born from the other man was promptly sent to the bride’s family to be raised.

This (first) second marriage did not last long as she left mainly, says Nguti due to his father’s drinking. His father then decided his next second wife should be a larger woman. She came with baggage having given birth out of wedlock and again the dowry was reduced to six cows. She left in 2013 and like the first polygamous wife, cows were returned to him. It almost seems like these marriages never happened, a bit like Catholics annulling a marriage.

We visited the current second wife, Sophia who lives in a separate compound with the three children born to Nguti Sen. Sophia had a child at 16 years of age and a year later became Nguti Sen’s current second (really fourth) wife. Her children are aged 5, 4 and 1. She is not Kuria but was raised in the Serengeti. I asked her if she would allow her daughters to be circumcised and she responded with an emphatic no. However her husband will have the final say. Apart from her child caring she works the land growing crops. Her husband spends most nights at this residence. She expressed satisfaction with her life, telling me she was happy.

The compound where the second family lives

Nguti calls his father’s second wife “mother” even though she is younger

From here we walked to Agnes Nguti’s home. She is Nguti’s grandmother.

To be continued …….

^{Information in this blog has been approved for publication by Nguti who is sharing his story.}

An overnight stay in Gesarya, Serengeti Tanzania (Part 1 of many)

Officially according to Google maps the village I am writing about is Gesarya, Serengeti DC Rung’abure Gesarya, which indicates that Rung’abure is the closest village and it sits in the District Council area of Serengeti.

I expect to write a few blogs about this weekend away. I certainly learned a lot and in future writing about this weekend hope to share some of the culture and practices still prevalent in the Serengeti region.

This first one provides the background to how I came to stay somewhere which is only 110 km from Musoma but might as well have been a million miles from anywhere (using a well known idiom for my non western readers). Google maps shows the village, driving from Musoma and also Mugumu which is 18kms away and the nearest service centre. Despite modernity and services being less than 20kms away villages in the Serengeti live pretty much traditionally with newer houses and mobile phones (from $10 a phone) perhaps being the obvious signs of slow progress in this sprawling region.

^{The road is sealed from Musoma to about Kamgendi Center then is a mixtire of roadworks, gravel and dirt}

Background

Nguti Mwita Nguti invited me to visit his village when I was here last year after he started working for the church as the IT and graphic design manager three days a week. Prior to that he had “volunteered” at the post office as an intern for eighteen months, unpaid attending to their computer needs. He also volunteered at the diocese managing the website. When I reviewed the website it was not functional as the fee for hosting had not been paid. After discussions with the bishop about the communication needs of the diocese, new laptops arriving and the need to have someone managing IT, Nguti was employed three days weekly from about June 2022. Naturally the Post Office was sorry to lose him but I did suggest he advise them that he was available to undertake their computer repairs on a fee for service basis, which occurred.

Nguti quickly demonstrated his value to the diocese as we reconnected the website and I assisted him with suggestions to redesign it. It isn’t great but it’s much better than what he started with. Here is the current version with a rolling banner which was his initiative https://www.actmaradiocese.or.tz/

We then looked at diocesan staff who communicated internationally, and established email addresses for key staff from the bishop and most diocesan staff including me to be used as official communications and advised international partners.

However his real strengths were in the graphic design of the diocesan newsletter which was a communication channel to the world sharing about the work of the church here in Mara. His other strength was in fixing computers which includes upgrading operating systems so that some of the slow functioning and “broken” computers were again functional with Windows 10 or for very old PCs Windows 7 as the upgrade. Some computers here are 12- 15 years old and at Bunda Bible College some go back as far as 2006. I have a new appreciation for the quality of Dell computers because most of these ancient workhorses are Dell.

We formed quite a bond. He calls me “father” which is a respect for my age (Baba is what many younger Swahili speakers call me). I assisted him with a basic budget. Not much really, but he mentioned it to me this year and how helpful it was for him to realise even with the part time income he didn’t have enough to live.

He is 29 years of age and we have regularly discussed marriage as he is now at an age where he is looking for a wife. However this is hard for him as you will learn from future posts as his life is complex.

He was born in Gesarya, the fourth (living of nine children) aged from 38 to 13. A brother who was born before him died at a month as he was premature.

So as our relationship developed he asked me when I visited in 2023 to come to his village and learn where he came from, his upbringing and meet his parents.

However the more I heard about its remoteness, the less likely an overnight visit to this I thought would occur but providence provided the opportunity on the only spare weekend (2-4 June) I have between now and my departure from Musoma on 15 July.

The bishop is away this weekend and so I have the spare vehicle but no driver to drive to and from the office. The bishop on learning I was planning to visit Gesarya was happy for me to drive myself (he has been surprised at my skills ever since I reverse parked into his carport, something he does now). My only other “safari” as it is called here was to Bunda a month ago on all sealed roads. I had been to Mugumu in 2017 and rememebred what a terrible road it was but lots of roadworks are being done all over Tanzania and I was surprised at the quality improvements in six years.

The other thing Bishop told me is that he has stayed at Nguti’s house when he did confirmations there years ago So I thought accommodation must be OK if he has spent a night there. He had a village upbringing so I still wondered.

The drive out was fascinating as I stopped and spoke to people, took photos and saw the progress in various communities. Having Nguti with me provided a lot of information. There was no rush and given my first time on unsealed roads, the only requirement was to arrive by sunset, so three and a bit hours gave me plenty of time for a two hour journey.

Roadworks were taking place on the “highway” as well as town roads as you see below. Note the way vehicles were stopped from driving on new works. The drainage system below was hand dug and rocks moved manually.

The dam below was proximate to roadworks and I was told built by the government. I am guessing for road works. The middle photo had a truck loaded with 40 people and had stopped in the middle of the road. Initially I thought approaching it from the other side it was a catlle truck but as I passed, I noted it crammed full of bodies. Nguti explained it was a cheap form of transport for locals.

As we drove east a steady stream of women carrying sacks on their heads and bags in their handswere obvious for kilometres. I was told it was market day every 2nd of the month and after about 10kms the markets appeared in the distant rise.

Women do a lot of the heavy lifting, although young boys seem to start their role as cattle herders at very young ages. I have seen them as young as 7-8 years tending cattle.

The monthly markets have traders coming from Musoma and elsewhere selling basic goods such as soap and other personal items, shoes, clothing and other items not available elsewhere. These people do not travel. I was told many here have never been to Musoma and Mugumu, which is

Monthly markets. People come from everywhere

Heading east after the markets we saw many peopleherding cattle. Nguti told me these were cattle bought at the markets. People do not have bank accounts so on market days, people will come to sell produce or animals for cash to purchase other market goods or for other reasons – school fees, medical costs or any other purpose. So markets act here as markets have historically as a form of exchange (bartering) but cash is now the medium of exchange and traders from town are cash merchants.

I stopped a few kms down the road when I saw a man herding as we learned twenty six cattle. I suggested he was just a local herding existing cattle, but no I was told he had bought at the market. We stopped and engaged in a fascinating discussion, which led to the following headline.

Disparities of income

Passing through many villages which were poor we suddenly came across a village and twon centre where the wealth was obvious. This was a local gold mining area where locals were digging shafts and prospecting for gold by bringing up dirt by pulleys and sifting for gold. There is a major gold mine north of here so it is no surprise that there should be depsoits here.

Houses here are much more affluent. Tin roofs are the giveaway

The Serengeti Cow Bank

Commerce here is done using animals as a form of savings. Nguti reckons less than 10% of people would have a bank account. So a total population of 340,000 in 62,000 households is likely to have less than 6,000 bank accounts and that still sounds a lot.

And those who have heard of bank accounts ask why would you put money in a bank when you can buy cows and make more cows? Well that’s not as ridiculous as it sounds.

So our cattle buyer told us he had just purchased these 26 cattle at market for six million shillings (6,000,000TZS) which is about AU$4,000. Even I knew this was an extraordinary purchase. He told us he was a tobacco farmer who had just sold his crop of two acres with a harvest of four tonnes (4,000kgs) at 6,500TZS/kg. My mental calculations confirmed by Nguti’s calculator revealed a total sale of 26M TZS or about $18,000. He would have maybe had costs to come out but that is some harvest.

Nguti did indicate tobacco is very difficult to grow and like Australian wheat farmers perhaps a good crop every 3-4 years make up for the bad years. So he bought cows which will give him more cows eventually. Some cows will be used for marriage (see future post on marriage and the bride price) and other funds may build a house but none of that cash will see a bank account. It will be stored in value in some form of local economy.

From there we continued towards Gesarya turning left at Tarime Rd. Right takes you to the Ikoma Gate entry to the national park. Girls carrying water was a common sight.

Near Gesarya we saw the Anglican Church where this weekend a confirmation service is being held, proceeded into town where we passed the secondary school, constructed since Nguti finished school. He had to walk 12kms each way daily to and from school. We saw the mission preceding the confirmation and which nightly was showing a film based on This is Life which I gather is a series of films with moral teaching. Tonight’s was on marriage, very relevant in this polygamous area. Saturday’s was The Jesus Film.

We then after watching the mission for a short period left the town centre and arrived at Nguti’s fatehr’s compound. This is a square area about 45-50m square with 8 feet high brick walls on all sides or the front has the house walls as the boundary. Inside there were numerous houses and partiially completed houses belonging to siblings who no longer live in the area.

The compound gave an insight as to how humans and animals coexist. Dung from cows, shee and goats was over the compound and cleaned up daily. Nguti’s dad has 28 cows over 20 sheep of a variety I mistook for goats and goats.

Dinner by torchlight that night was in the guesthouse, the newest looking building with a large area with a bedroom coming off it. It was fully enclosed and lacked air. However I noted that on the plains the temperature dropped quickly and noted the lack of mosquitos which meant I didn’t sleep with a net that night.

The night finsished with us walking to see the film and discovering a flat tyre. Oh well that’s a problem for Saturday.

Monday (day 3) to Rorya and Mara

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.

The group visits two dioceses

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Sundays is church in Tanzania and it is a big and sometimes long event. We had church, gifts and a lavish dinner from our host. Mostly in pictures.

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.

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.

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

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.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is whatsapp-image-2023-05-07-at-11.49.24-1-1.jpeg

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.

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

GAFCON Conference Kigali

While in Tanzania last year I worked with bishops of three local dioceses within two hours of each other which are all GAFCON aligned. The schism in the global Anglican church was finalised early in 2023 when the Church of England made decisions which the Global South and GAFCON provinces comprising over 80% of the Anglicans globally refused to accept. The Church of England is mother to most of these churches in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They are firmly saying no to revision to fit modern culture. A daily summary of the conference can be viewed which gives a flavour of the four days.

My early arrival was unnecessary as the job I had expected to do was made redundant before I arrived. The Rwandan organisers had everything arranged and were fantatstic.

This allowed Saturday as leisure and so we visited the Genocide Memorial, a week after the weeklong “celebration” memorialising the genocide of 1994 when 1 million (one million people were slaughtered in a genocide only paralled by the Holocaust and Srebrenica in Yugoslavia. I had rushed through here on Good Friday 2014 so it was good to take some hours reflecting and understanding how this genocide occurred. No photos once inside. So little to show apart from the following of the outside and a lunch we had with three international students from Malawi, Ethiopia and Canada after the memorial visit.

My week of the conference is summarised in photos. Many feature Alpha Lugoley my travelling buddy. He is principal of Bunda Bible College and apart from a week in Kenya last year had never been out of Tanzania. I pushed him to meet people as he is naturally reticient and shy so it was good to see him interacting with many. Enjoy the photos. BTW + denotes Bishops and ++ denotes Archbishops.

That is the wrap from GAFCON in Kigali. Next post will be about 18 crazy Aussies trusting me to show them Tanzania.

The Long Trek to History in Kigali

The long road trip from Musoma to Kigali with Alpha Lugoley.
Most Africans live in rural towns and villages. In Tanzania 37% of the population live in urban areas according to the 2021 statistics. This is up from 5% in 1960, and 30% in 2013, so you can see that urbanisation has a long way to go, compared to Australia which had an urban population of 81% in 1960 and 85% ten years ago.

This will be the first of a number of consecutive posts following my two weeks away from Musoma from 13 April when I left for Kigali. I finished my last post referencing a tour I had arranged for eighteen Australians attending the GAFCON Conference in Kigali who had added on a trip to experience and view the church in Africa. If you went to Kigali and thought you had been to Africa you would be seriously mistaken.

Most Africans live in rural towns and villages. In Tanzania 37% of the population live in urban areas according to the 2021 statistics. This is up from 5% in 1960, and 30% in 2013, so you can see that urbanisation has a long way to go, compared to Australia which had an urban population of 81% in 1960 and 85% ten years ago. Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2021 was US$822 for Rwanda and $1100 for Tanzania.

6 minutes

Kigali however exuded sophistication and prosperity unknown to me except in South African cities like Capetown and Johannesburg. As one US delegate at the conference commented he could have been in a resort in Florida, given the luxury at the Radisson where I stayed. Other delagates at the six other hotels would have experienced similar grandeur. However Rwanda has just 18% of its population in urban areas so compared to Tanzania it remains almost rural in all areas. Kigali does not represent how most Rwandans live. It is however more developed, its service industries have staff whose English is excellent and who appear to have had excellent training. The streets are wide and grand, there is no rubbish and more than one attendee compared it to Singapore. But if you go to Kigali, venture outside 10kms and see the real Rwanda.

“Focus on the journey, not on arriving at a certain destination,” is a quote by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield as he was presumably as he was hurtling through space enroute to the International Space Station. The journey to Kigali started on Thursday when I left Musoma by Bajaji for the 8km ride to the bus station where I boarded the bus to Mwanza for an overnight stay. At Bunda I was joined by Alpha Lugoley, principal of the Bible College. Our stay in Mwanza was at the Anglican Guesthouse, basic but cheap at $AU12 a night with no hot water but a bed and a TV with one station and a fan.

The bus ride to Mwanza was uneventful. At $6 it is expensive for locals but there is no tax for visitors. The guesthouse provided the perfect stopping point and a meal was had at a local restaurant which is rented out by the Anglican Church whch has a number of commercial premises attached to its compound.

After dinner a stroll around Mwanza. Our accommodation is two minutes from Lake Victoria. We managed a sunset and a visit to St Nicholas Church which is the cathedral. The Diocese of Victoria Nyanza (DVN) was established in 1960 as the second Anglican Diocese in Tanzania when it was still part of the church of East Africa comprising Kenya and Tanganyika as it was then called.

Bishop Zephaniah Ntuza kindly loaned us a car and driver for the next leg of our journey to the Rwandan border with only petrol to reimburse him. Very generous.. A 5am start was necessary for what was to be a long day driving of fifteen hours with a border crossing included.

First stop was a ferry crossing at Busisi where we passed a new bridge being constructed. When completed in 2024 this bridge of over 3kms in length will allow all transport year round access to international destinations in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Pictures tell a lot of the story of our journey to Rusumo Falls Border.

Enroute we passed the newest diocese formed in 2017 of Biharamulo so we stopped in for a toilet stop and to gree the bishop if he was in. It turned out there was a meeting in progress and a number of visitors from other parts of Tanzania were in attendance but the bishop did greet us.

After seven hours of driving including breakfast at a dodgy cafe (I had mild food poisoning in Kigali) we arrived at Rusumo Falls border in the rain.

The border crossing was fairly straightforward. One building that did everything. First to the Tanzanian desk to exit and have my passport stamped and then to Rwanda which now being a Commonwealth country allows free entry visas to citizens of the Commonwealth.

However I was not ready for what was to come.

rom Mwanza to Rusumo was 375kms and the seven hour drive was not surprising. However the passenger bus was we were told a few hours. Even Google maps hasn’t figured out African roads don’t have consistent driving conditions. The 154kms to the convention centre took eight hours by bus! And no toilt stops!

_{The land of 1,000 hills and a million smiles}

So focussed was I on the journey that I barely took any photos. My water ran out early on the trip (Oh how fortunate was that). We seemed to stop at every village enroute to Kigali and let me say the villages are not that far apart, to allow passengers on and off the bus. The slow trip could be sped up if tickets were issued on the bus. Each passenger receives a printed electronic ticket issued from an EFTPOS size machine which indicates th start and finish of the journey and the cost. This is no doubt an anti corruption measure which I remember being promoted when I visited Rwanda in 2014.

Arriving in Kigali, we had to find a taxi to transport us to our hotels ready for the conference two days hence. All in all a long but good day. Arrrived in The Land of 1,000 hills and a millions smiles. Dinner with Alpha and bed.

bula matari, breaking rocks, exploding myths, retyrement, retirement

Palm Sunday 2023 and the Lost Sheep

The flight to Tanzania was flawless and Qatar Air and Doha Airport are great. Doha Airport was named best airport globally in 2022. No emptying cabin baggage (ie computers) in the transfer area. The arrival in Dar Es Salaam was not without incident as the five laptops in my luggage had me taken aside to empty out my bags and convince customs I was not selling them. Then checkin was complicated as I was told I could not have them in my checked baggage so had to carry them in cabin baggage! Getting to the hotel wasa nightmare. I walked there once that is how close it is but roadworks made it a 30 minute taxi and 47 minutes next morning.

Having arrived in Musoma Wednesday April 28 with Easter approaching it was clear that Lent is still a big deal and the Easter bunny is not. My trip from Mwanza was punctuated by a brief visit to Bishop Zephaniah Ntuza of the Diocese of Victoria Nyanza.

Dinner with these two.Couriering from Australia to Godwin in Dar and from Deborah to Musoma.

I am leading a group of 18 Australians who will be at an Anglican conference in Kigali who will come to Tanzania on a lightning tour to visit churches and understand how the church is functioning in a developing country. My visit to the Bishop was to meet him as our final morning will be spent visiting his diocese.

I moved back in with my friend Bishop George who was glad to see me and again have comapny in his lonely role as his wife continues in Dodoma, 1,000kms away. However she arrived for Easter holidays on Saturday night so is here for two weeks on school break. BTW she teaches a class of 235 grade 6/7 primary students with one other teacher! The bishop did ask if they learn anything or is it just chilminding?

I am back walking the dogs with Bishop in the morning. However, having housesat (read dogsitting) for two daughters in Adelaide and Sydney, I have learned a thing or two about how to slow these German Shepherds down. So my gift to Bishop was two dog leads which puts us in control of these sprinters. After two morning walks, we were less run off our feet and both dogs appear to have learned that they can no longer drag us as we control their power through our writs.

It rained non-stop my first three nights here and a funeral for a clergy person an hour and a half away that the bishop was to be at on Saturday proceeded without him as a bridge was under water from the rain. However in this agricultural society, no one complains about it being too wet.

So Palm Sunday was both of us going to the English service. However enroute we were picking up a man he had known for over thirty years who was a leader in the church that he forst was appointed to as a minister and who helped him greatly. He hasn’t graced the inside of a church for decades, having slidden into alcol abuse.

So we were 20 minutes late having waited for this man to get ready. However it was interesting when time came for Bishop to say a few words and he asked this gentleman up and told the congregation his story about how helpful he had been and how he had backslidden and was now returning to church! A big clap from the congregation. It was a lesson to behold as someone was welcomed back as the lost sheep.

The sermon earlier talked about struggle and so it was a theme that fitted in nicely as this man in his late 60s or maybe even 70 was welcomed back. The fact that Bishop made his way to bring him highlighted the humility of this man who has a pastoral heart for people.

The other pleasing thing was that the overheads using a projector and computer has been enhanced since I left and they have figured out the way to overcome problems. I left having agreed to preach Easter Sunday.

I am here until mid July. My goals on this visit are:

Facilitating a Leadership Development Program for senior staff here over three months
22 April leading 18 people on a tour of 4 dioceses for six days
Completion of the Strategic plan
Completion of Bunda Girls School buildings (it started in 2013 so it will be nice to see it finalised)
Completion of the Strategic plan for which most work was done last year.

So my focus at this stage is getting all details of the tour organised before focussing too hard elsewhere.

Malaria Strikes Big Time

Malaria Again. My latest blog

I am writing in my bed, four days after contracting malaria a second time in less than two weeks! Who would have thought that possible? Tuesday after lunch, as I rose from my chair, I suddenly felt giddy, tired and had the aches and pains similar to my symptoms a few weeks back but more acute.

At the Coptic Hospital, saw the same doctor, had the blood smear and was on a vitamin B drip within an hour in a room lying down which is all I wanted to do. The doctor came to confirm the diagnosis but this time the blood smear indicated a more severe case of falciparum malaria. Symptoms include fever, chills, sweats. headaches, nausea and vomiting, body aches, general malaise. I had everything apart from the nuasea and vomiting. I was started on a 24 hour course of three injections for malaria and then moved to an annex where the doctor resides.

The next twenty four hours was essentially spent asleep apart from when the nurse came to medicate me and inject me at 6am. I was discharged next evening with a cocktail of medications including a follow up dose of anti-malarials for three day (4 tablets twice a day). Since then my hosts have been forcing me to eat (as much as I don’t feel like it) and the aches and pains have essentially gone but lethargy and breathlessness is still a problem. I was given antibiotics for a possible URTI given my oxygen was at 90% on discharge.

Up till then I had been flat out. The previous week I spent three days at Bunda about an hour south. The trip down on Tuesday saw us having to replace a puncture. which was an experience in itself. Half a dozen guys helped the drived get the jack underneath a thirty years Landcruiser and replace the tyre.

On Tuesday I met with school leaders conducting a workshop on Inclusive Education as there amy be an opportunity to establish a unit to support schools in the region cater for kids with disabilities. It went surprisingly well and I learned a lot about the Tanzanian education system in my preparations.

Malina reporting on her group at the inclusive education workshop

Wednesday and Thursday was spent at Bunda Bible College helping them prepare their budget for 2023. A bigger task than anticipated as changes to how students are supported and different types of scholarships needed sorting. In addition, the new secretary there was tasked with trying to help the principal move from student lists as word documents and using spreadsheets to make it simpler to update records. She also saw the magic of Google Drive as I showed her how she and the principal can share files easily. Thursday was interrupted for two hours with the handowever at Shalom School of the new classroom block and the electricity substation generously provided by a donor. Very formal and time taken due to local protocols involved, followed by lunch.

Shalom’s new classroom block opened by the bishop

Friday was the final workshop for senior staff on strategic planning. Essentially the ideas raised at the three previous workshops were distilled into a number of themes. A final workshop with the executive and then a draft plan that can be approved at year’s end Diocesan Council.

My weekend was in Rorya Diocese where I was the guest speaker at an ordination service for 16 men and women being consecrated as deacons, priests and lay readers. I was being installed with an 80 year old woman as a lay canon of their cathedral (St Peter’s Rorya). I bought another goat and donated it t the old lady.

Many houses have storerooms like the one behind because some food you buy in 100kg bags like this maize.

I arrived Saturday and was taken to the site of a new school being built about ninety minutes across dirt roads to Nyang’ombe. The location is beautiful sited on the banks of Lake Victoria and could easily be a development for a resort if not so isolated and if you could swim in Lake Victoria. I was impressed that with US$50,000 the church had completed four classrooms, a teacher’s house, toilet block and water pump. They hope to open in January 2023 but have a long way to go.

After church Sunday I visited a school where the church does a feeding program. I have posted a photo of the ebst classroom. 125 kids per class and one teacher. Sadly not uncommon across Africa in government schools. That explains the proliferation of private education as a business here.

I spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning with the director of the local compassion program who was seeking my advice on graduates from vocational college and his submission to the national office to start a hairdressing salonand mechanic workshop with nine graduates working collaboratively to establish businesses that could eventually train others. An then malaria hit.

So that’s been my fortnight with enforced bed rest since Tuesday and hopefully back to work Monday after seeing the doctor for a review.

Retirement? or Retyrement!

I am being retyred. My post paid work plans are to head to

What is retirement? We have transitions in life that are formally recognised, even celebrated. I remember my four year old graduating from pre-school and thinking really? We have transitions from primary to high school, graduations from year twelve and university all marked by symbolic events. Completing paid work after forty years for many is marked by a farewell gift, acknowledgement of services rendered and goodbye.

Retirement has its own jargon. We speak about ending paid work as “calling it quits”, “a golden handshake” which often is associated with redundancy, “going out to pasture,” “packing it in,” “being pensioned off” and “throwing in the towel.”

For the last nine years I have worked for Anglican Aid, an agency that connects donors from churches in Australia where we enjoy an abundance and the developing world in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and Pacific, where money can make a huge difference in poverty alleviation. During nine years I formed hundreds of relationships both in Australia and overseas, many whom I have met personally. I have visited 21 countries and developed relationships with many amazing people, especially where oppressive cultures made life difficult for so many. So in the lead up to finishing at Anglican Aid I sent emails to many people overseas to let them know of my departure and wish them well. I received many acknowledgements and well wishes. The standout came from an 80 year old Zambian, Rosemary who in her email wished me well but added:

“People like you do not retire but Retyre – just put on new tyres.”

Rosemary, who sent me this pearl is 80 years old. She runs a school in northern Zambia. Now an 80 year old woman running a school for 600 kids is unusual enough, but this school was started by her after she retired as a Regional Director of Education!

The background to this is retirement, a husband dying within a year of retirement and all her assets as a middle class woman being confiscated by her husband’s family (its a cultural thing). Finding herself in a slum in Lusaka she saw kids not going to school and commenced teaching two kids with limited resources. The rest is history, the school being tweny years old has been supported by many in her wide network from the United Kingdom and more recently Australia. We met Rosemary through her son in Australia, concerned that his mother had this huge responsibility and he was concerned that she was ageing and needed help. When I met her in 2016, I was surprised at the network around her which included a board comprising the elite of Zambian civil society including judges and others. She didn’t appear to be slowing down or ready to slow down.

And so to the two photos above. Pino coladas and living the good life after a life of work.

The two tyres one which I had replaced last week. One still looks good and still has a lot of tread in the middle but was wearing on the edges so was replaced because technically it was not roadworthy. The one on the right totally worn out out. Driven by a 19 year old who did “burn outs.” They are a bit like us. Perhaps the totally burned out tyre is at the end of its useful life and so eating, drinking and waiting for death may not be unreasonable. However completing paid work does not mean we are at the end of a productive life.

Most people completing work today are generally in good health, can expect to live maybe twenty years and have lots of time. No longer working full time provides lots of options. Maybe a bit worn out but still plenty of life left. I will discuss some of these next time. Others, maybe due to the type of work, health issues or other circumstances sigh with relief when they can complete work and look forward to a retirement that may allow restoration of physical health and strength and allow time for activities that have been subjugated due to work commitments.

So in Rosemary’s words,I am being retyred. My post paid work plans are to head to Tanzania where I will be assisting Bishop George from the Anglican Church of Tanzania in Mara Diocese, near Lake Victoria. My initial visit will see me overseas for six months from early April till October. A holiday in Europe will break that time for about six weeks and then back to Africa.

Next time I will discuss more about the concept of why retirement should see relatively young and fit retirees being retyred.

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Family Matters

Nguti’s Family – Three Generations

Marriage

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Background

Disparities of income

The Serengeti Cow Bank

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