Month Four in Tanzania

"Linda's new 'birthday' dress" 

Time is really flying by! Everything is going well here in Dodoma. The weather is great, not too hot yet. We have added to our household. We now have 7 chickens that we have named: Donna, Frances, Wilma, Betty, Irene, Tracey and Bwana (Mr.) T(anzania). I don’t think we will be eating any of them but we will enjoy their eggs.

"Lily tries out the chicken coop"

Before we got the chickens though we had to have a chicken coop constructed. We were introduced to a builder but we purchased the supplies with help from a colleague at CCT and the design was one we drew up. It’s not very big but there are only 7 chickens and they seem very happy to live there. Now where are the eggs??

Our daily routine continues with Linda in the CCT financial department and Ron working on the web page design. In any slow time we are continuing to work on the “Land for Life” project to benefit HIV/AIDS affected families and Orphans and Vulnerable children (OVC). We attended a seminar for organizations who are working with HIV/AIDS affected families. Ron gave a presentation on the proposed land for life project. We made many very valuable contacts and it will be good to collaborate rather than each group working alone with a lot of duplication of the basic ground work. The plan is to have more of these information gathering meetings to share ideas, successes and road blocks. We met the director of the Grace and Healing Ministry of Dodoma and we were invited to attend their next gathering with the Ipagala group of about 25 HIV/AIDS affected women.

"Ron briefs on Land for Life" 

We attended the fellowship at the small Mennonite Church with the Ipagala group. The afternoon began with a meal, followed by a slide presentation on the microbicide gel that was announced at the Vienna HIV/AIDS conference, and its effectiveness. While the Grace and Healing Ministry was passing out food supplies to the women, Ron and I walked the grounds with the Pastor, to find a possible location to build 8 “Land for Life” homes. This was an informative and enjoyable afternoon. On a second visit to Ipagala, Ron gave some of the potential beneficiaries a presentation on the Land for Life homes and received suggestions and comments from the group.

"UDDT Squatting Plate"

We’re trying to be very environmentally friendly in the home design with solar powered LED lights and urine diversion dehydrating toilets (UDDT). These toilets along with the capture of grey water will provide fertilizer and water for the gardens. Now we would really like to be able to begin building in October. We would appreciate your prayers for the success of this project. This will be a proof of concept trial. If all goes well many more families can be helped.

"Squatter Homes on Mennonite Land"