Birdie

Greetings from Ken’s first guest blogger! Just wanted to be able to say to someone besides the group here what a marvelous time we are having. The pace started rather fast but we are now are relaxed and taking things in. The Bibis have been great sports and hold their own. Judy is loving the kids and Bob and Sandy are enjoying everything. The trip is completely different from last time but so very wonderful. Can’t wait to tell you all the stories and show you the millions of pictures! Love to you all,
Birdie

Isimila Stone Age Park

Isimila

Wow! This is a great resource. There are stone age tools here from 400,000 years ago, first discovered here by University of Chicago archeologists in the 1950s. Next year a team from the University in Dar es Salaam will do their first dig here.

Besides interesting tools, the terrain is fabulous. There are tall columns where water and wind have eroded the sandstone leaving them behind. Like sunset, and despite the reasonable quality of the photos, it is impossible to translate the grandeur to film. But I keep trying to do the sunsets anyway.

Ilula

Yesterday we visited the district hospital at Ilula. This has quite a story. It started as a small Dispensary. Through the work of the Ilula Health Task Force of SPAS, especially two dedicated doctors stateside, it has become the district hospital. (I think they understand they would be nowhere without the support of the other members of the task force, however.) They have 60 beds, usually full, and an outpatient clinic as well. They do about one C-section a day for 60,000TSH (about $54USD). They had to transfer patients to Iringa, about 45 minutes away by vehicle, so many women died of ruptured uterus. Since they have had capacity to do the C-sections at Ilula, no women have died of ruptured uterus.

They have a TB ward - all of the TB patients have HIV. They have an HIV Clinic originally established through the Clinton Foundation. The King Foundation is building the nursing school which should be ready by 2010. There is excellent progress on the buildings. (The KF supplies buildings, but not staffing or ongoing expenses, so that will be from an alternative source, such as the government.)

As far as we have come, there is a way to go. We saw the laundry. They hand wash the sheets in two big concrete tubs. They need a washer. However, getting electricity is not as simple as tapping the line at the nearest building and will require a more expensive project (don’t know how much).

Ilula competes with government hospitals too. We lose good personnel to higher salaries and housing on campus. There is room for staff housing, but it needs to be built. Highly educated people can command amenities elsewhere. The dedicated stay out of love for their community, so a potent strategy is to higher from within. In other words, scholarships tied to contracts, essentially what we do in many instances in the states.

Safari at Mwagusi Camp, Ruaha National Park

We have such beautiful animals on this earth! We also have beautiful and exotic lands to see. We got a chance to see a few of the animals: monkeys, baboons, and elephants, not to mention those we saw on safari! The list is long, but I know you are wondering, so: giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, lions (mating - yes, unabashedly mating, and us twenty feet away), impala, greater kudu, a hyena, a lizard, a hyrax, many guinea fowl, cape buffalo, no snakes, no leopards, no cheetah. Rhino are in the north, so none of those. Many beautiful birds, and I gave them names, but they didn’t stick. (Carly, on the way back to Iringa, we did briefly see Jerry.)

We nearly didn’t make it into the park before the gate closed. Our driver Peter had already done yeoman’s service by driving the grueling roads back to Iringa, but we had to do a quick turn-around to get off to Ruaha. We made it. Peter confessed it was the fastest he had made that drive. We waited at the gate for the paperwork to get completed and drove about 45 minutes to Mwagusi Camp. Ya gotta go there!

Dinner was ready when we arrived and our hostess, Charlotte, took us down onto the dry river bed where we feasted in the moon and firelight. We retired to our bandas relaxed and happy.

The bandas were elegant as was the food. I will try broccoli with ginger at home! The next afternoon, we were lounging in our banda after an exhilarating morning on safari when an elephant wandered into camp to say hello. S/he (I know I am biologist but how would I know close up? All I could see was trunk and ears!) strolled by the banda, looked in at us and moved on. Birdie stammered - not her usual, I assure you, “Ken, an elephant.” I rolled out of the hammock without the elephant batting an eyelash, and yes, we were that close, so I could get the camera. Mr/s Elephant nonchalantly took a little taste of the banda roof, posed so I could adjust the settings and focus the camera and Snap!, saved for posterity, if I can find it amongst the 700+ photos I took.

Oh there is so much more to tell. And I think it is safe to say our love of Africa is maturing.

Some personal notes, Bibi Esther was a little under the weather for a couple days, a combination of some mild illness and/or a bit of dehydration with a lot of activity. She is now back to herself and enjoying all. Nona has been solid and so much fun. She said hello to the elephant too. Actually, I think our whole party did. Judy has been enjoying this too. She amongst us is the most widely traveled, I think. Our friends Bob and Sandy are a joy. Bob is an engineer, so we depend on him to get the mechanical things understood. (Like shoring up the bridge to Lutangilo.)  Birdie’s organization and hospitality strengths show through. I am taking it all in.

I hope the photos come through.  I see they did, just not very "artsy."  They take forever to upload, even small files.  The first sun is sunrise, the second, sunset.

Love you all,

Ken

Idunda

We have been gone for the past four days, two nights in Idunda. It’s about 90 Km from Iringa. It is virtually all dirt-washboard road, so to get there it took us about four hot and dusty hours in two vehicles since the basi (Swahili for bus) couldn’t negotiate it. It was worth it! People lined the little road as we came into town, singing and dancing. To our great surprise and pleasure we got to attend a wedding Saturday afternoon. Now that was amazing! In the evening we danced and sang. The best part was the Idunda choir came to our quarters and sang to us. They serenaded us after we went to bed. There are few Americans who can claim this elite status!

Sunday came early. We had breakfast. The meals were all quite similar, with chicken, pork, rice, beans, potatoes and once pumpkin greens. They served tasty pork and chicken sauces and ugali, the local equivalent to bread (but you would need a much longer explanation on ugali to understand. This is significant because I do not think the Idunda Tanzanians eat this well on a regular basis, yet the showed us their best. Worship was fun! Lots of singing and dancing, five baptisms, and a sermon by me! All in only 2 1/2 hours. The pastor let the congregation off easy since he decided that hearing me preach was enough. I doubt you can imagine either my surprise or panic at finding out I was expected to preach. It went OK. Say a sentence, Pastor Ma ng’ulisi would translate, talk, translate, talk, translate, etc. I said, “Asante sana,” many times. It means “mangen tak.”

They need a dispensary.

During the rainy season, eleven women delivered before they could get to the nearest dispensary, because they could not cross the river. Two of the infants died. Dispensaries have wards where babies are delivered and newborns are attended.

They have a building that can be brought up to standard and a residence for the nurse who runs it. The community is already planning to rebuild the residence, which has a good roof, but needs new exterior walls. For both, they need support for supplies, but will provide sweat equity. It will take 3,000,000 TSH for the rehab of the dispensary, 1,000,000 TSH and 2,000,000 TSH for the required photovoltaic electricity source. This is about $5200 USD. We left heartened and excited that something this significant can be done so inexpensively. Two of Idunda’s form four graduates want to go to nursing school, so they will whet their appetite at Red Cross training for a year, with ambitions to stay in Idunda. Wow! Would that be great!

On Monday morning as we left Idunda, people again lining the road, I had the great joy to see a mother and her daughter a second time. This time, the mother was very happy and the little girl no longer had a cleft lip, having been nicely repaired and well healed. Of all the wondrous things we saw and experienced, this was my peak experience.

Iringa

Wednesday

Wednesday I think. About 7AM, I think. We are in the Amsterdam Airport, Schiphol, I think. That’s what happens with water-boarding, I mean sleep deprivation. The flight was nice, but none of us slept much. We all watched movies. The backs of the seats in the Airbus A330 were equipped with LCD screens.

We have about three hours until flight, so we are camped for awhile until someone gets restless and wants to wander. This is a BIG airport. Eateries and other interesting retail establishments should be opening soon. Napping seems out of the equation with no place conducive to lay down. The low-back chairs are great for sitting, not so for sleeping.

The currency is in euros here, so the exchange is excruciating. A bottle of water is nearly $5, hard to swallow for someone from Minnesota, where clean, fresh water is plentiful and, uh, cheap! Oh, what we take for granted!

For some reason, I am intrigued by the Sahara, particularly its expanse and the many hours it takes to fly over it. Amazing! Perhaps when we reach sub-Saharan Africa we will be able to see Kilimanjaro. Although in 2006, as today, it was cloudy.

It is fascinating to hear so many voices speaking in different languages, wearing non-Western garb, all quite comfortable in this environment.

For entertainment, I am writing this, Nona and Esther wrote in their personal journals and Birdie is writing in the shared journal. Now there are books out and a cribbage game going on. Son Chris supplied two philosophy books to read and I will turn to them next, Deep Thoughts and Deeper Thoughts by Jack Handey.

Seems like a good way to close for now.

Ken

Friday Morning, September 5, 2008

Yesterday was a long travel day to Iringa, but fun! We left a beautiful morning at FPTC, with gorgeous blossoms and shrubs, some familiar like the bougenvilla, many not. On the way to Iringa, we stopped at Chalinze for an enlightening bathroom stop, physicially, culturally and mentally! We did not indulge in the cashews, but next time we will. They are safe because they are roasted. Our bad! Reviewing things that impacted us most included the people, the crowding in the Dar es Salaam, streets lined with “dukas,” little shops, potholed roads (just like MInnesota, not the same reasons), and the animals!

We stopped at the Mikumi Game preserve for lunch. See the menu. Wow! Were there animals! See the picture. We saw tembo, twiga, impala, pumba, punta milia and some nyani or, if you don’t speak Swahili, elephant, giraffe, impala, warthogs, zebra and some baboons. The animals arrived on cue as we began lunch. We took the photo ops. I don’t think they were truly posing - they looked so natural....

We arrived at the Iringa Lutheran Center tired out but exhillarated. The establishment is very nice. It is still plain in its inaugural year and needs nothing but some art. I see the proponents voting for television won out, but that’s the world. Dinner was excellent. We liked the cucumber soup, Tom Nielsen’s favorite. The presentation was as delightful as the food was delicious. And we all slept “lala fo fofo” (like the dead).

This morning we made or plans for the day and trip to Idunda. We will stay over two nights. Then we will come home briefly for a change of clothes and on to our safari.

This afternoon we will sort through the gifts we brought and try to decide what goes where. With this being a tough year here, we will also bring some rice, sugar and tea as gifts to the congregation. We will leave the pencils, crayons and other things at the school at Idete, now named for the founder of the nearby town, at least formally. We still refer to it as Idete School, as does everyone else.

One ugly surprise: I was quite sure we would be asked to sing. John Mhekwa, recent graduate of Tumaini University and our guide informs me we will indeed be expected to sing. Here’s the ugly part. I am expected to preach. Others will introduce themselves and say a few words. I will preach. Hmmm. Well, there’s our dedication to partnership. And that we pray for each other. We are invested in the success of Idunda and want the Dispensary to succeed. Tom Nielsen can give me the text for the day, but maybe I will just resort to my favorite Bible verses. At least I don’t have to deliver it in Swahili. Twiga, pembo and nyani aren’t enough Swahili words to say much. I can throw in rafiki (friend) and pumba somehow, despite having learned both from “The Lion King.” They are still legitimate Swahili, although I wonder if warthog has ever been used in a sermon before. More in a couple days.

I am posting this a 8:45 AM, your time.  It's 4:45 PM here.

Ken

Off we go!

After months of planning, detailing, fretting, laughing, the day is here. All packed but for the minor flotsam - and a little rearranging to get the poundage just right all around. Finished about 12:30 AM this morning and awoke at 5:30. On the good side, I suppose sleep in the plane on Amsterdam time will come easier. Did I forget anything? Still need to change the cat box and mow the lawn, get a few last, last-minute details accomplished. Like get the bigger bottle of Purel to refill the little ones that will be constantly at our sides.

Took my "Breakfast of Aging Champions," the fistful of pills I take each morning with my banana, this morning, including my anti-malarial. Check. Made coffee. Check. Updated the last electronic bill payment so now everything should be on autopilot while we are away. Check. Make a new list. Check!

I have noticed a couple things on the blog: first, if you want to see Iringa weather, not Hong Kong, click on settings next to Hong Kong. Type in Iringa, click. Select Iringa, Tanzania. It reverts to Hong Kong when you leave the page. I haven't been able to fix that.

If you did not get one of the devotion booklets, try this link:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/5416805/Devotions-Sept-2008

Next post across the ocean I hope: Amsterdam? Tanzania!

Peace,

Ken