Tom Hansen from BKB and Pastor Msigwa, the DIRA/BKB liaison, gave me a ride to Kising'a to see the construction results. We visited the new building at Kidamuka preaching point which was built a year ago and they are completing the finishing work. A beautiful building in a beautiful location.
The new main church for Kising'a was just a stone foundation when we first visited in 2006 and now has a roof with the metal sheets just purchased. The congregation has outgrown the current church building, especially for occasions when they have members gathered from all the preaching points.
Last year I saw a new water source that Sajeni, one of our sponsored students, had discovered. The source is a small spring high on a ridge and Sajeni laid about 2 KM of pipe to bring clean water to the edge of Kising'a. This time we climbed the ridge following the path of the mostly buried pipe to see the source. The hike was steep and fortunately, we were able to cross over the ridge to get to a road that was easier to return.
The major project for this visit was to start a small library in Kising'a. LCP generously contributed funds for books and the library. I purchased books when I arrived in Dar (see TPH Bookstore). There was a lot of excitement about the books. A locked storeroom next to Pastor Wihale's house will be converted to be used for the library. They already have some book shelves. Many books are for children in both Swahili and English, some of the books are in both languages. Pastor Wihale returned to Iringa with me on the bus and we purchased for solar charged reading lights for the library. It is important to be able to use the library at night because people spend the daylight in the shamba's (fields).
I was in Kising'a for the weekend and enjoyed attending Church. I was lucky because this weekend was women's celebration weekend and they had three choirs present for an afternoon competition. The service lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes and one of the women gave a very animated 30 minute sermon. I have no idea what she said but the congregation was very attentive and laughing at times. I will never complain if our services run over an hour. I said a few words about my visit and read a letter from Pastor Joy for Pastor Wihale and the Kising'a congregation. Yoramu translated the letter for the congregation. After lunch we went back to church for a Choir competition. That evening a pastor and his family from Idunda arrived at the house after a six hour walk from Ipalamwa. The Pastor's family cleared out a room for them and they took the bus back to Iringa with us the next morning. The bus leaves at 5 AM and started blaring the horn at 4:20. Pastor Wihale had a 5 AM prayer service every day except Sunday and his daughter Anna was up to conduct the prayer service this morning. I attended the service once on a previous trip and it is a nice quiet service with some singing and a drum in total darkness with a couple candles. (I will see what Pastor Joy thinks about a 5 AM daily prayer service for LCP).
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| Kidamuka preaching point. Sue and I helped carry foundation stones in 2011. |
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| Beautiful inside of Kidamuka church. Glass for windows is next. |
The new main church for Kising'a was just a stone foundation when we first visited in 2006 and now has a roof with the metal sheets just purchased. The congregation has outgrown the current church building, especially for occasions when they have members gathered from all the preaching points.
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| Outside of new main church building. |
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| Inside of new main church building. Will be able to accommodate 300 to 400 worshipers. |
Last year I saw a new water source that Sajeni, one of our sponsored students, had discovered. The source is a small spring high on a ridge and Sajeni laid about 2 KM of pipe to bring clean water to the edge of Kising'a. This time we climbed the ridge following the path of the mostly buried pipe to see the source. The hike was steep and fortunately, we were able to cross over the ridge to get to a road that was easier to return.
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| Sajeni |
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| Girls carrying clean water for the dispensary from the outlet |
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| Water Outlet at edge of Kising'a |
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| On the way we passed many pine seedling beds for forest planting. |
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| A lot of pressure in the pipe and Sajeni has to repair leaks by wrapping tightly with strips of inner tube. |
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| Climbing with Emiry, Yoramu, and Pastor Wihale. Yoramu and Emiry are sponsored students and helped with translations. |
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| View of Kisinga from top of ridge. Notice bright roof of the new church on right edge of village. |
The major project for this visit was to start a small library in Kising'a. LCP generously contributed funds for books and the library. I purchased books when I arrived in Dar (see TPH Bookstore). There was a lot of excitement about the books. A locked storeroom next to Pastor Wihale's house will be converted to be used for the library. They already have some book shelves. Many books are for children in both Swahili and English, some of the books are in both languages. Pastor Wihale returned to Iringa with me on the bus and we purchased for solar charged reading lights for the library. It is important to be able to use the library at night because people spend the daylight in the shamba's (fields).
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| Pastor Wihale working with Stephano with a Hesabu (Math) workbook. |
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| Rushwa (age 5) reading a Swahili ABC book. |
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| Library room, the big bags of maize are owned by the parish and will soon be shipped to Iringa for sale. |
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| We purchased four of these solar lights for the library when we returned to Iringa. They cost 40,000 tsh or $25. |
I was in Kising'a for the weekend and enjoyed attending Church. I was lucky because this weekend was women's celebration weekend and they had three choirs present for an afternoon competition. The service lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes and one of the women gave a very animated 30 minute sermon. I have no idea what she said but the congregation was very attentive and laughing at times. I will never complain if our services run over an hour. I said a few words about my visit and read a letter from Pastor Joy for Pastor Wihale and the Kising'a congregation. Yoramu translated the letter for the congregation. After lunch we went back to church for a Choir competition. That evening a pastor and his family from Idunda arrived at the house after a six hour walk from Ipalamwa. The Pastor's family cleared out a room for them and they took the bus back to Iringa with us the next morning. The bus leaves at 5 AM and started blaring the horn at 4:20. Pastor Wihale had a 5 AM prayer service every day except Sunday and his daughter Anna was up to conduct the prayer service this morning. I attended the service once on a previous trip and it is a nice quiet service with some singing and a drum in total darkness with a couple candles. (I will see what Pastor Joy thinks about a 5 AM daily prayer service for LCP).
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| Shoulder to Shoulder thank you for the books. |
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| Congregational photo at front of church at end of service. |
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| The LCP photo that was in a letter from Pastor Joy and inspired the Kising'a congregational photo. |
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| Sunday school happens before the service and these kids were just let out. |
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| The three choirs from Madisi, Manillo, and Isele preaching points. Isele (in blue) won a close competition 55 to 50 to 45. Each choir performed three songs and I have video of the singing that I will bring back. |
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| Sunday afternoon is social time. This is Festa and his wife. Festa is the evangelist for Luhapo preaching point., a remote preaching point about 10 km away. His wife is conducting a Kindergarten there so the children do not have to walk two hours each way to school in Kisinga'a. She walks an hour each way to Luhapo every week day. Msale is another remote preaching point also doing their own Kindergarten and I brought some books for both kindergartens separate from the library. Festa's wife is apparently an Obama supporter. |
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| This handsome couple is from Msale. I took this picture about 6 PM and they were just preparing to leave for Msale, a 3 and a half hour walk. The last two and a half hours will be in the dark. |
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| Getting off the Kising'a bus in Iringa. Vito Laini means "smooth thing". It took just over 3 hours to return and I was able to purchase two seats with Pastor Wihale's help. The bus aisle is totally packed by the time it arrives in Iringa. |
