Tanzanian Travels

It seems like ages ago now, but just a couple of weeks ago we caught the train to Tanzania. Tanzania is beautiful. We were in a mountainous area, where coffee, tea and bananas are grown. Due to being at a high altitude it was lovely and cool and during the afternoon clouds scattered themselves across the sky. The area we travelled around is close to the borders with Zambia and Malawi and therefore busy with many people passing through. The roads are lined with small businesses and clusters of houses for most of the 100km we travelled from Tunduma at the border to Mbeya where we were staying. The closer to Tunduma or Mbeya we came, the denser the housing was with whole hillsides turning into roofscapes.

The purpose of our visit was to reconnect with some Life! Groups that had begun in the area a couple of years ago and to try to begin some new ones as well. We were not sure what, if anything, was still running and we wanted to encourage those who were involved as well as get to know a few more people there. We were in Tanzania for 10 days and visited 3 different places, all very different to each other.

Firstly, we travelled to Sumbawanga to meet with a friend of a friend who is working to help grow the Anglican Church leadership in the area. We had an encouraging time sharing with each other what we are doing and exploring areas of cross over. It would be great if you could pray for the right ways to support each other and work together as we move forward. It was a long way to go to meet up, even though we met in the middle. We had to drive about 300km to the place we were meeting. I will never forget the road from Tunduma to Sumbawabga…225km with 200 speed bumps along the way. I know how many speed bumps there were because I counted them on the way back to help pass the time!

Our next destination was Kiwara, just outside Tukuyu. It was a really tough few days in all honesty. The day before we set off I had one of the worst cases of food poisoning I’ve ever had and was stuck in bed all day. It took a good few days for my stomach and my energy levels to recover to their normal selves which meant that I was struggling. Add to that quite a tough training session with some quite difficult heart-sets to challenge and all in all, it was a hard few days.

Kiwara is a new place to us. A friend in Mbeya had arranged the training session on our behalf with some people he knew there. He had arranged it rather last minute and hadn’t fully explained to people what “Dignity” is about so we had to do a lot of ground work to even begin. Kiwara is a town of about 30,000 people rather than our normal village setting. As with Kalomo earlier in our trip, we often find towns harder places to work. It’s not unusual for a large number of NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) to be present or to have been working there at some point. As a very general rule (there are obviously always exceptions) this tends to strengthen and reinforce the mind-set of dependency, causing people to expect handouts and free stuff or money from an NGO. We work quite differently. Our team members all volunteer their time, whether they are village Life! Group leaders or Impact Team members. We support our Impact Teams to cover their expenses incurred as part of the work but critically, they give their time which shows a huge commitment to what they are a part of. This was quite a different way of working and challenged the attitudes of one or two of the more vocal people who had come to the training session. We found ourselves having to stress and repeat certain things making it hard to make headway. Despite this, there were a few people who seemed to get it and see the value in what we do. Pray that they will see a way to working together to begin a Life! Group and that great things will happen as a result.

Our final destination was Simambwe, half way between Kiwara and Mbeya. This is a place Dignity has been before and we had the joy of meeting up with people who were really open to what we were saying. A number of people who had run Life! Groups were present but their had fizzled out after a while due to lack of follow up by us. It was great to be able to be encouraged by and to encourage a lovely group of people. I believe that a number of groups will restart and some new groups will be begun. Our challenge last time was that all communication went through our friend in Mbeya. Now though we have contact numbers for lots of people in the area so we can follow up and encourage them much easier.

It’s not all quite that straightforward though! Swahili is the national language of Tanzania. Whilst it is possible to find English or Bemba (the main language in the adjoining part of Zambia) speakers, most people only speak Swahili. This was a big challenge for us and I was very glad of the little bit of Swahili I knew from my time in Kenya! Moving forward we need to think outside the box for ways to communicate successfully and make sure we don’t repeat the errors of last time.

Alongside the “work” we were doing, we were also getting to grips with getting around. We were using public transport so had all the joy of using the bus system. With the help of some very friendly staff at the place we stayed in Mbeya and some kind folk along the way we found our way where we needed to go and even paid the right fare (I think!) My favourite moment was when we were on a local Dala Dala bus across Mbeya town and 2 teenage girls were staring at me on the bus, obviously fascinated to see a white person on the bus. I asked them their names in Swahili and managed a brief conversation. Shortly after they gave me a carrot from the bag of carrots they were snacking on. It seems like a little gesture, but it totally broke the normal mould of asking the white person to give you something, instead blessing them with a super yummy carrot that I enjoyed lots!

I don’t think I will ever be comfortable with the “call boys” who work at the bus stations. Their job is to gather customers to get on their buses. As soon as you arrive, on foot or on another bus, you are surrounded by a crowd of call boys asking where you are going and trying to take your bag off you so they can put it on their bus knowing that once your bag is there, you will follow suit. Add to that the numerous piki-piki (motorbike taxi) drivers also eager for your custom and you’ve got a pretty hectic melee! Frank and I got a tag-team system working quite well by the end of our stay with Frank sorting the bags and me attempting to work out where we were going and how much it cost. There is a little part of me that relishes the challenge!

When it was time to head home, the train back wasn’t due for another 24 hours and it is famously at least another 24 hours late…so we decided to get the bus instead. This meant we needed to get a local bus to the border, walk across the border from Tanzania into Zambia and then pick up a Zambian intercity bus.

I have never walked across a border before and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. It was a bit of an anti-climax to be honest and we could very easily have simply walked through unnoticed…in fact we nearly did by mistake! The Tanzanian border post was a small building that was so poorly signed we walked right by it. The Zambian border post was rather more imposing and made us realise we’d missed the Tanzanian one…oops! We had to go back to officially “leave” Tanzania! Whilst re-entering Zambia we had a bit of a hoo-haa with the immigration officer.  When we’d left Zambia on the train the immigration officers never came through to stamp our passports with an exit stamp. This meant we’d never officially left Zambia so letting us back in was problematic. After about 10 minutes a more senior official came over and told them to wind the exit stamp date back to the date we entered Tanzania and give us the missing stamp! I liked that man a lot!! Shortly after, we were on our way again.

We booked the last 2 seats on a coach and hit the road. It was a bus on a mission. We stopped just once officially before we got to our destination 11 hours later. We had one extra stop at the roadside when an older lady asked the bus driver to stop for a toilet break. Most the bus (including me to everyone’s amusement!) followed her to find some privacy at the roadside as we’d been on the bus for about 6 hours at that point. Our bus had 2 drivers so it could travel through the night without stopping. I was particularly amused that the second driver was having a snooze under his Thomas the Tank Engine duvet on the flat platform area next to the first driver!

We made it safely back to Mkushi bang on midnight and very happily collapsed into bed at Jack & Judi’s house shortly after. Jack & Judi are Frank’s friends from America who he first came to Zambia with. We were privileged to spend a lovely few days with them full of friendship, good food and for Frank, lots of adventures with Jack. Judi and I took a more leisurely pace! It was just what Frank and I needed after the adventures of Tanzania.

We’re now back at Jon & Jude’s house and catching up with them before it’s time to return home. I can’t quite believe it’s that time already……It’s been another great time here full of adventure, discovery, challenges and laughter (not least Frank trying to mime "toilet-paper" when we didn't know the Swahili word!!!) I’m hopefully returning home a little wiser and a little closer to God.

Frank and I have committed to covering our costs while volunteering with Dignity here in Zambia. The total cost for us and the two other team members who travelled with is to Tanzania was in the region of £500 (I haven't done the final reckoning yet). If you would like to help us cover this cost that would be amazing. You can make a donation here: www.give.net/Zambia2015 Thank you! A massive thank you to all of you who have been praying for us. Your words of encouragement and faithful prayer have meant a lot to us and I believe your prayers have been instrumental in things going as smoothly as they have done.

Tazara

I'm currently sitting in our little compartment on the Tazara train. We're travelling from Mkushi, Zambia to Mbeya, Tanzania.

We set off yesterday at 5.30pm and have travelled through the night. The train is loud and bounces back and forth as it plods its way across the Zambian bushland, stopping at the occasional cities and towns along the way. It's an old train that has clearly seen better days but still carries many people on a regular basis.

I managed some sleep. Frank managed more of course! He's currently having a little nap on the bench/bed opposite me. I'm so jealous of his amazing sleeping abilities! My night was punctuated with the loud and jolly laugh of the guy in the next compartment, phones ringing and people alighting and boarding at different stops.

We've stopped a few times since the sun rose and each time crowds of women and children appear selling all sorts through the train windows; bananas, cassava, groundnuts, plantain, chickens or even little chairs! Some of the children spot our white faces and stand watching us for a while. One girl spent 5 minutes jumping as high as she could to see us better through the window. I fear we must be very disappointing as we sit here looking rather tired and reading books or snoozing!

The children are carefully walking along stepping only on the sleepers between the adjacent train line. The gaps between the sleepers are full of rough stones and many of the children are barefoot or wearing simple flip flops. The smooth concrete of the sleeper is much more inviting to step on!

We've been sitting at this stop for the last 3 hours or so. We had been running on time through the night but regular checks are scheduled for the locomotive, although not included in the timetable! One of them is here at Chozi. So here we are...sitting waiting for our locomotive to come back with the all-clear! Here's hoping it's not too much longer. Once we get going again we have to go through the border crossing into Tanzania and then we have another 5 hours or so to go. I'm very grateful for my Kindle, the games I packed to play and the hoard of snacks and goodies our friends sent us off with!

Time for a snooze now I think....

Getting Equipped

Are you a banana or a banyan tree? You may think that’s a strange question but it is a question we often use when we do any Dignity training. Perhaps you don’t know how either works. The banyan tree is actually a fig tree that takes root and germinates on other trees. It sends multiple shoots down to the ground, giving the appearance of many tree trunks. It has the nickname “strangler fig” because it grows so thick and dense it kills all around it. It grows large and strong at the cost of other life around it. The banana tree is different though. Actually a plant, it grows and bears fruit, but then it dies. Once this tree has died, its roots will allow a number of other banana trees to grow in its place.

So what? Well, for Dignity, we could either try to be all about “Dignity”. We could try to grow our own name, our own reputation and seek to become well known. This could be with the best intentions. We could reach more areas, raise more money and have more influence. But ultimately it would be about Dignity…it would be rather like a banyan tree. We might grow, but would we allow those around us to grow or would be accidentally squeeze the life out of them?

The alternative is that we actively seek to make sure the work we do is not about us, Dignity. To be banana tree like would mean giving up our own desire to “take the credit” or be the name, and actively allowing those we work amongst to outgrow us.

As you’ve probably figured by now, we try to be more like a banana tree than a banyan tree. This means we actively seek to grow others around us. We are always looking for those who can step up and lead the work of Dignity in their area. We work hard to equip these men and women to do more than they thought could in their villages. In turn, we encourage them to do the same. We challenge them not to take all the glory for themselves; not to seek to be the one who benefits from what they are doing. We ask them to keep looking for others around them who can also carry the work forward. We encourage them to look for the gifts and skills that others have and seek to bring these to the fore.

To this end, three times a year we run EQUIP training camps, gathering our Impact Team members (local leadership teams) and spending a week learning together. There are now 23 Impact Team members working from the far northwest of Zambia to the very northeast of Zambia and all the way down to Namibia. They are working hard to help others love God and love their neighbour.  This means a holistic approach addressing spiritual, emotional and practical needs.

Last Tuesday, our team members gathered, pitched tents and settled in for a three and a half day theology camp. (Other camps include teaching skills, leadership skills and conservation farming skills.) To give us some structure we were exploring the Apostles Creed. We dug deep into the character of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Lots of questions, lots of discussion and lots of learning for us all!

It was great to catch up with old friends I haven’t seen for ages and also to meet all the new team members who have joined since I was last here. I heard stories of how Life! discipleship groups are growing and going from strength to strength. As people see the difference they are making in communities they are drawn towards them and discovering Jesus at the heart of them. I heard how those who have learnt conservation farming skills have had successful crops and, despite people laughing at them at first, are now being asked to share what they know. It was fascinating to hear them saying how the discipleship and farming work hand in hand. The discipleship softening peoples’ hearts so they are willing to try something different and the farming showing people that God cares about their practical needs as well as their spiritual needs.

As I got to know some of the new team members it was amazing to discover that they had first got involved with Dignity through local training events that I had been privileged to be a part of. It’s great to see how the seeds of ideas we planted three or four years ago have now grown. It was also great to chat to team members and find out that they had got involved through their friends who had invited them to come and see what they were a part of. Both ways are rich and lead to others growing in God’s kingdom.

Alongside the serious stuff, the week was full of both fun and frustrations! Not being on time… enough said. Culturally, the host will do all the work for their visitors. As hosts of the training it was assumed that we would do all the work, but when you’re camping and making breakfast for 25 people it really is helpful if people play their part, even by washing their pots. We got there by the end of the week, but I had to remember to work patiently and seek to understand the culture and approach the challenge respectfully and in a loving way rather than an impatient and frustrated way! Despite the hard bits though, we had much laughter about our differences. We discussed Zambian hair braiding, weaves and wigs compared to my English hair dye. I caused constant amusement with my poor attempts at the three different languages spoken by team members. We sang and we sang… whenever we started a session, when we had 15 minutes to spare…whenever there was an opportunity. I was woken at 5am to the sound of singing and I took showers to the sound of singing. It adds a level of joy to the day, even if it is early in the morning!

On Saturday lunchtime we waved goodbye to all the team members as they set off home. Some will get home the same day, others won’t get home until Tuesday! Frank and I are committed to covering the cost of the trainings we are a part of along with other team members. If you would like to help us do this, you could donate £39.40, the average cost of a team members bus fare, here: www.give.net/Zambia2015

Since Saturday we’ve had time to catch up with friends here and catch up on sleep and “me-time”. Much needed after time living in close proximity with lots of people. Tomorrow we will be catching the train to Tanzania. We had thought we’d have to get the bus as there was a strike on the trains. For a number of reasons I really didn’t want to catch a bus so I’m very grateful that the trains are running again now and we are able to travel there slower, but hopefully more safely. We have plans to meet with a few people in Tanzania. We’d really appreciate your prayers that we will meet with the right people and know he right words to say to them. Pray for discernment and wisdom beyond our experience as we seek to plant and grow the beginnings of Life! Groups in Tanzania.

Kalomo and out

My lasting memories of Kalomo will be noisy nights and not much sleep! All three nights we spent there had a soundtrack of pubs with crazy loud music and drunk people, cars, trucks, trains, a chorus of dogs and, on one night, an all night worship session at top volume at a local church. It was a real insight to what it is like to live in a Zambian town!! We normally end up in pretty rural areas with no electricity, or "no Zesco" as they say here (Zesco being the electricity provider). But apparently, where there is Zesco, there is music!

Despite the lack of sleep though, Kalomo was also a great week. We were a little nervous to start off with. What we do often works best in rural areas and sometimes it doesn't take root as well in towns and cities.

Pastor Julius had agreed to host and organise the training. He had managed to gather 36 people from different churches in both the town and surrounding villages.  We spent time sharing the vision of Dignity and inviting people to begin on a small scale. We asked people to gather a group of people in their village to start praying together. Once they are up and running the local Dignity team will return and run further training.

In all honesty, we don't know what will happen. We sew the seeds and we wait. We were working with Bernard, an Impact Team member who has run loads of these events. His feeling was that the vision was well received and that people will go away and start getting people in their places together. He felt that people were really interested and seemed to be responding well. I was really encouraged by his feedback as he has lots more experience than me!
One of the most the eye-opening moments was the question time towards the end of the training. We were expecting questions around what we had been talking about. These are the questions we got:

• Why are there so many different types of churches?

• What should we say to a man with many wives who becomes a Christian?

• There is a verse in the Bible that says..."that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." So, are there people living under the earth?!

• My Grandma is a witch doctor. Is it okay for me to pray for her to be punished?

Well, these questions kept us on our toes for sure!! Frank did a grand job of taking in the answers with a bit of help from Bernard, Alan and I. As we sat there discussing these questions I realised again just how important it is to make ways for people to learn and study together and grow in the ability to apply to Bible to their everyday situations. It reminded me that although the work of Dignity isn't typical "aid" work it's more important. By helping people grow in their relationship with God we can equip and empower people to be the ones who change their own communities in a way I will never be able to do.

Brrrr....

I'm lying in my tent looking at the clock and it's 6.30am. I'm determined not to get out of bed until 7...that's when and I set my alarm for and I don't need to move until then. It's also really rather chilly until the sun pops up. I've had one I those nights where you don't really know if you ever went to sleep but I must have done because now it's the morning!

After 6 hours on the road yesterday (and 2 almost emergency stops to avoid cows!) we set up camp at Kalomo. People are due to arrive for our training session by 9. We're in a much less rural place than normal which has some very distinct benefits like flushing toilets, electricity, a shower and hardly any distance to drive from the tar road. However, it also means it's much noisier here than most places we camp as cars and trucks carry on through the night and people can party the night away where there's electricity! Very grateful for earplugs this morning!!

We've been made very welcome here by Julius who has organised the training. He seems like he has a heart for people in this area and is working hard to pastor them. He's also a natural entrepreneur who, having arrived here 5 years ago, has been running a church in a marquee whilst but by bit building the support facilities needed and work has now begun on a building for the church.

I've currently got that sort of apprehensive feeling in my tummy... How many people will turn up? Will they get the vision we are sharing? Will they see past our white skin and see something different to what lots of NGOs offers or will they simply expect handouts? Will they meet Jesus?

I also get really nervous when I have to do any sort of public speaking. It really isn't my comfort zone at all! Once I get going I'll be fine, but I hate the build up...eek! I've woken with a nervous energy running through me.

Julius said yesterday that everyone was very expectant. As our team member Alan reminded us, it's up to God to meet that expectation, not us. So, in 15 minutes I'm going to jump out of bed, through a cold shower, get the charcoal going so we can make a cup of tea and some brekkie then spend some time praying with the team asking God to turn up big style and be working on every heart in the marquee today.....

...and so it begins!

We've made it! A long flight but it was safe and sound with easy connections so no complaints!

I can't decide if it gets easier or harder to adjust every time I come back here. On one hand it's easier because I know what to expect and it's a whole lot less daunting. On the other hand, I always had a time of culture shock while I get used to how things happen...and the easier I think it's going to be, the bigger a surprise the culture shock is!

Here's a few things that have caught me so far...

• A 1.5 hour queue to get through immigration (after the health check which involved a quick flick through my passport and that was it!)
• The immigration guy saying he couldn't give us a dual entry visa and then, when we explained what we wanted to do, saying "Oh, you need a dual entry visa. I will give you one!"
• Being sent from one person to the next every time you want to find something out.
• The power randomly going off (I'm so not back in the habit of carrying a torch all the time!)
• Cold showers, or just off cold showers, but a 32" flat screen TV in our room!
• Being the odd one out.

But that's all part of the fun! I'm fast remembering my golden rule that if I mange to achieve one thing in a day that's good...if it's the thing I originally set out to do then that's amazing!!!

I'm loving the way you can strike up conversation with people you meet so easily. I'm loving the sunshine although I need to be careful as I'm already a little pink!

We've had a lovely start to our time with a few days to find our feet. We've been staying in a lovely place with super friendly people. We've stocked up on supplies and tomorrow we're off...destination Kalomo!

We're meeting up with a guy called Julius. I've never met him but Bernard, one of our Zambian team who is going to travel with us, has met him, told him about what we do and has invited him to gather some people who might want to get involved. And that's what Julius has done...so we're off to run some initial training. We'll be helping people see how they can make a difference in their villages and communities by starting some Christian discipleship groups. We've seen these groups do amazing things, very practically loving their neighbours, and bringing people to know Jesus. It's exciting to think that a few more groups may start up following on from what we're about to go and do.

So, tomorrow morning we'll be saying goodbye to our comfy bed here and this time tomorrow I'll be jumping into my tent and sleeping bag...hopefully with no spiders or other bugs creeping in alongside me!!

Frank and I have committed to covering the cost of the trainings we take part in. As a rough estimate, this one is going to cost about £130 to run, roughly £195 to drive there and back plus an extra £100 on equipment we've had to pick up at the last minute (because poor Jon and Jude who have all the camping equipment that we were going to borrow are stuck in Namibia waiting for car parts for their broken car - pray they're back on their way soon.) If you would like to join in the training in Kalomo by helping cover the cost, you can make a donation here: www.give.net/Zambia2015 We would also love you to be praying for Julius, for us and for all the people who will gather there. Thank you!

Will you pray with us?

Once again I find myself scratching my memory to remember the password for my blog...it took a few goes this time, but I managed it! And here I am.

A week tomorrow Frank and I are heading back to Zambia. We'll also be taking a super long bus ride to Tanzania this year. We would love you to join us by praying for what we're doing. Here's our plan of action. The widely used saying "This is Zambia" means that things will definitely shift around a bit, but all being well, we should be doing something roughly along these lines.

You can download a printable version from here.

Other things you can do to support us are:

1. Say hello on facebook or by email! It really does mean a lot to hear from home when you're far from there.
2. Help us cover the cost of the work we are going to be doing (something we always commit to doing) by making a donation here.
3. Arrange a coffee and cake morning or evening with a few friends and, once we're home, invite Frank and I over to share a little about what we've been doing and why.
4. Say hi to each other! One thing that I really miss when I'm not at home is being able to pop round and support my friends. So, in my absence, please take a moment to give an extra hug from me to your friends that I know!!

(If you would like to start making a regular gift to support Jo's role with Dignity you can do so here or by completing Dignity's support form.)