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.
