Back from Arusha

"Landscape as seen from the MAF plane"

We have just returned from a Swahili language course in Arusha at MS-TCDC, a Danish run school. Our journey was made on a MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) flight. We were thankful not to have had to drive as it is at least a 12 hour drive. It was a small plane that was full with 7 passengers and was a great flight. The return flight was on an even smaller plane and we were the only two passengers.

"Monkeys were fun until they jump on your roof at 5 am" 

Now back to the language course. It was a tremendous opportunity and experience.  We were in a class of 5. We were well matched and worked well together. It was a lot to learn in a very short time but we were surprised at how much we absorbed. During the second week, we were taken to the market, given 1000 shillings each and tasked to buy some food items for the kitchen. Of course we had to bargain for the best price and all this in Swahili! We drove some hard bargains and came back with more produce than we thought possible. Together, Ron and I got 4 pile pile hoho (pronounced like “pill ee” what a great name) which are green peppers, 5 bunches of michicha (greens like spinach), 2 parachichi (avocado) and 1 papai (papaya). Quite a lot for 2000 Tsh, which is less than $1.50. It was a stressful but fun morning.

"Mealtime - table for five at the Cadle of Love Baby Home"

"Linda trying to keep up"

One afternoon our class made arrangements to visit “The Cradle of Love Baby Home – Arusha” which is a short walk from the TCDC.  In Tanzania, the Cradle of Love Baby Home is responding to the cries of orphaned and abandoned babies. Within the region of Arusha there is one other home for infants and toddlers; however, they do not accept HIV positive babies and are often overflowing. Established to provide interim care for infants in need, the Cradle of Love Baby Home creates a safe environment where the babies receive proper nutrition and medical care, as well as all the love and attention they deserve. Since it responds to those found HIV positive, there are times when a baby dies; however, that infant will feel loved and secure until its last breath.  At the time of our visit, they had 37 children all under the age of three. They were delightful and very friendly. We stayed to help feed them dinner which was fun and a challenge to keep up with the demand.

All of the language students went to the “Watoto Foundation” in Arusha which is a school for street boys between the ages of 13 and 18. They are given school lessons in the morning and in the afternoon they have trades training. They can learn to farm, care for animals, garden, or do carpentry, welding, masonry, machinery repair or general construction. Each language student was shown around the site and shops by a foundation’s student. All their activities were explained to us in Swahili. Good work is being done here.

After classes on the final afternoon those who were interested went to visit a traditional healer and to learn some of the local customs and traditions. Two doctors, a nurse and several female students were invited by the healer to accompany him as he performed an examination on an expectant mother.

"Just a little off the top"

Our time in Arusha was three weeks jam-packed with learning. Once more, the phrase “drinking from a fire hose” comes to mind. Now that we are back in Dodoma many of our colleagues are trying to speak to us very swiftly, so we are having some trouble. We just need to remind them to talk “polepole” or slowly. Photo right: Ron used his best Kiswahili to ask: “Ninapenda Kukata nywele kidogo” meaning I want my hair cut a little. But as you can see, the barber didn’t interpret it that way.


The picture below is a colourized rendering of the Land for Life project home drawings done by Teresa Johanessma-Wood, formerly of Mortlach, Saskatchewan. A drawing of the floor plan follows later

While we were away, things have been progressing at the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT). The CCT, as the Implementing Organization, is bringing together several partners for the Proof of Concept (POC) phase of the ‘Land for Life’ project. These partners include: the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) a member church of the CCT, the Centre for Community Initiatives, Grace and Healing Ministry Dodoma (GHMD), Light Up The World, Floresta and Heifer. The Mennonite Church has some land just to the north of Dodoma in Ipagala, where the POC phase of the project could take place. There is also an adjacent parcel of land, for which the CCT may seek title from the District. Next week we will walk the site to see how many houses can comfortably fit there. It may be necessary to find creative ways to address land ownership since the available land is not optimal in size for individual titles – possibly a cooperative structure formed by the beneficiary families could be the answer. In this case, the housing project may change somewhat from the original concept in order to adapt to the local situation.