Namnyaki School

Maasai girls traditionally marry young and receive little education.  The Image Project, started by Deb Pangerl from Minnesota, helps girls with supportive families (or sometimes just mothers are supportive) go to secondary school.  Because of class status, they found that regular secondary schools were not good environments for the girls to be successful.  The Image Project started Namnyaki school for Maasai girls to create a supportive environment for the girls to live and learn together.

The school is nestled up against the mountain near Image Secondary school in a beautiful setting.  They currently have preform, Form I, and Form II with about 30 girls in each.  Preform is a year of studying English and catching up on mathematics to prepare them for starting secondary school with Form I.  Deb came with two other repeat travelers with the Image Project and I was able to go out to the school with them for a couple days and spend time with the girls.

Girls greeting us on our arrival with traditional Maasai singing.

Girls assembled to greet us with singing.

Front of dorm, the girls sleep in bunk beds with two to a bed.  They prefer to sleep together to keep warm.

Playing with the soap bubble solution I brought.

On Monday, I went to class and was asked to talk about Chemistry with the Form I girls.  One of the girls first grilled me with questions to make sure I was qualified to talk about Chemistry.  She asked me to define Chemistry, explain the difference between Physical and Chemical change, define atom, explain the Dalton theory of the atom.  Apparently I passed and we had a nice time.  Their syllabus notes were covering mixtures and saturated solutions but after talking about that off of the notes, I told them about soap and how it works to clean our clothes and how it makes the bubbles the girls had been playing with using the bubble solution I brought.  These were Form I girls and it is remarkable that I could even talk with them in English.  A couple did some explanations in Swahili for a few others.  This is what having a year of preform to study English and having small class sizes can do.  Most students do not go to preform and struggle to understand content in a language they are still trying to learn.  I expect that these girls are going to perform remarkably well when they start taking the national exam

Watching Planet Earth video on Jungles with amazing Bird of Paradise courtship rituals.

Deb's group brought a 500 lumen projector like the one I brought to Image Secondary and we had the girls watch a segment from the BBC Planet Earth DVD on jungles.  The segment had some amazing footage of courtship rituals for different species of Birds of Paradise and a segment on forest elephants in the Congo.  The girls loved the video just like the students at Image because they are seeing things they never new new existed and they expand their awareness of the world and learn some biology and geography along the way.

Projector worked well but their solar power system had a broken connection that repeatedly shut down with the girls needing to go touch some wires together to reconnect.  An electrician was coming the day I left.

Girls singing We are Marching in the Light of God in circle.

Girls smartly dressed in their class day uniforms

Mtera School Water Project

Hanael, Peter, and I went out to Mtera School with a new submersible pump to install and finish the water project.  Mtera School is north of Iringa in low, hot, dry country.   Fortunately, the highway has recently been improved and now is a major north-south route with many buses. On the way, we stopped at Mgoli village which has become a bus stop for roasted goat and drinks.  I had a letter from Fran Nordhausen at St Paul Lutheran, Wyoming to deliver to their new partner at Mgoli.  Only the pastor's wife was home and she seemed a little confused why this mzungu was coming to her door and handing her an envelope.  Hanael tried to explain.

The pastor's wife wasn't sure why I was there but it will be clear when he gets home and opens the letter.

 
 Mtera School has a water system with concrete tanks that was built in 1988 and the tanks are now deteriorated. Monkeys and other animals have used them as their personal swimming pools and the water is now contaminated.  The new system was designed by UMN Engineering students in 2013 and has two 10,000 liter plastic tanks to hold clean water from the well.  This water from the tanks feeds taps for drinking and cooking.  Water will still be pumped to the old system when the tanks are full to be used for cleaning and watering.

Two tanks fill at the same time, 20,000 liters is about 5500 gallons.

Lowering the pump into the well, the blue rope is to support the weight of the pump.

Most of the 30 meters of pipe as it is lowered. The new headmaster is in the middle.  The old pipe is on the ground.

Hanael inspecting damage from a tumble off of the truck in transport.  The school was satisfied the tank is OK.

Most of the students had not returned from Easter break yet but a new headmaster and some new teachers had just arrived.   The headmaster previously was a teacher at Mtera and was a headmaster at another school.  He was very involved with our project and an encouraging sign that he will be attentive to the needs of the school.

Mtera School is near the Mtera Dam and Reservoir.  The dam is a major hydroelectric source for Iringa Region and because of this, the school has electric power.  The reservoir is also famous for fish and some of the teachers at Mtera have a side business of drying fish to sell in Iringa.  Visitors to Mtera like us take back fresh fish which is expensive in Iringa.  The fish are small and strong in taste, much too strong for me to handle.  You can see them piled in the market in Iringa.

Mama laying out fish to dry.  They can stoke a fire underneath although a dog was sleeping there most of the time.

Dried fish.  They slice the fish with razor blades to help with the drying.  These fish are cooked is stews and then served with ugali, a staple made from maize flour with a consistency like firm mashed potatoes.

Fresh fish to take home, they paid about $10 for all of these fish and Peter and Hanael split them.

Easter in Kilengapasi

I went to a new parish called Kilengapasi with Gary and Carol Langness for Easter.  Kilengapasi was a preaching point of Kilolo parish and is one of the many preaching points that are growing large enough to become new parishes as KKK of Tanzania grows (Kanisa la Kiinjili la Kilutheri - Evangelical Lutheran Church, not what you were thinking maybe?).  As we drove up, the pastor came out to meet us and I was surprised to recognize Aid Kasenegala from Kising'a who LCP sponsored in secondary school many years ago.  Aid was studying theology at Tumaini when Sue and I were there and it was great to see him, his wife Ester, and baby boy Holybless.

Aid holding Holybless and his wife Ester standing in front of me.  You can tell I am not Hehe by the way I tower over people. I think the others are extended family.

We went right to the first service because we were a little late and afterwards came back to the pastor house for Chai (tea breakfast).  The small church was full and filled again for the second service.  The second service welcomed new members including four "back sliders" who are former members who slipped and now are being welcomed back into the church.  After that there were 6 baptisms which are popular during Easter services.  Easter Monday is also a national holiday and Gary preached at a service at his partner parish and had 43 baptisms.   One couple wanted to have their child baptized but were not married.  Pastor Nixon told them they must be married first so their wedding was held at 6 AM so the baptism could happen at the 7:30 service.  I have heard of shotgun weddings but this is a first for a shotgun baptism.

Walking into the small church for first service.  A much larger building has been under construction for several years nearby.

Aid presiding in his Parish.

Breakfast Chai between services.

Children's section up front where they sit quietly for a 3 hour service.

New members and back sliders, only the congregation knows which is which.

Baptism line up.

Dancing in a crowded church.

Kising'a Visit

The water team left me in Kising'a for Palm Sunday weekend after we handed the water project over to the village.  I think this was my 13th visit to Kising'a and it feels like home for me.  They even let me help clear the table or pour water for others to wash hands sometimes, a sure sign you are a host and not a guest.  LCP donated quite a bit of money for books for a library in Kising'a and I used the rest of those funds to buy a lot of books, mostly Swahili, in Dar for preschool, primary, secondary, and adults.  Anna Wihale, Pastor Wihale's oldest daughter, has done a great job setting up a library in a small room next to the pastor's house and it is getting used!  There were three full novels in the adult collection that I wasn't sure would be appropriate for a village library with translated titles of Blood and Tears, Death Denied, and The President Loves My Wife.  I checked with Pastor Wihale first and he said they were OK and the Tanzanian author was well known.  It turned out that those were the most popular books in the collection and Joyce and Anna Wihale and one of the church leaders helping prepare food were reading them during my stay.  Helps to have books that people want to read, even if they might not be too enriching.

Anna at the library desk with book for recording check outs, the books on the right shelves are English and dictionaries and the books on the left shelves are Swahili.  Anna's son, Godlove, is peeking at me.

 Pastor Wihale's house has two grandchildren now.  Joyce's son Heri is now two and a lot of fun.  He is very verbal and repeats anything I say.  He calls me Babu (grandfather) and now they are calling me Babu Mzungu (white grandfather).  Rushwa is now in Kindergarten, Stefano is in 2nd grade, Grace is in 6th grade, and Amani is in his first year of Secondary at Ukwega, a government boarding school.  I brought a couple frisbees and a bottle of soap bubble solution and both were great hits with children.  Frisbees are great because boys and girls can play together.  In fact the girls seem to have better eye/hand coordination because they play net ball (like basketball with passing instead of dribbling)  and the boys play soccer.  The boys might do better playing frisbee with their feet.  The soccer influence shows up with the soap bubbles too because children try to hit the bubbles with their heads.

Heri wearing Babu Mzungu's hat.

Watching music videos on the Pastor's phone.  Most of the solar power goes for charging phones instead of storing in the battery for lighting at night.  Phones are more important, they get by with other light sources at night.  Rushwa (far left) is almost as big as Stefano (second from left) now.

Pastor Wihale working with Rushwa and Stefano with Addition flash cards.  The boys really enjoyed the exercise and Rushwa did really well for kindergarten.

Playing frisbee, something new in Tanzania.  I also gave a frisbee to Brian in Dar.

It was great to see Sajeni.  He was a sponsored student of ours and is very active in Kising'a with many projects.  He found the spring water source and laid the first pipe to show it could bring water to Kising'a.  The engineering students had a great time with him and he is very proud of the result.  He cleans the water tank every 2-3 weeks to make sure water stays fresh.  He is also budding mature avocado stems to young plants so they start producing fruit in 2-3 years instead of 10-12.  He has a shamba (farm) and also plants pine trees which will grow to harvest for lumber in 10-12 years with the great growing season (US trees harvest in about 40 years).  A South African forest company called New Forests has also been in Kising'a for a few years planting eucalyptus (utility poles) and pine trees (lumber).  This has significantly raised the level of economic activity in Kising'a as evidenced by more dukas (small stores) and many piki piki (motor cycles).

Sajen showing his avocado seedlings with grafted budding stems from mature trees.  They need light but rain must be kept off of the plants so the plant does not rot at the graft.

 Church leaders had come to Madisi preaching point from all 7 preaching points for a two day seminar.  The first day was conducted by Pastor Chaula from TEE (Theological Education by Extension) a training program for evangelists and church leaders and the second day by Pastor Wihale.   I spent some time during the seminar with an american volunteer at Kising'a Secondary school and came to the sessions at the end to greet the participants.  The volunteer has been in Tanzania since September and was happy to have an american to talk to.  I was amazed at the number of church leaders involved in the seminar, including evangelists, youth leaders, womens group leaders, choir leaders, and education.  After the seminar the group formed a circle outside the church to sing before adjourning.

Church Leaders Singing

I asked Pastor Wihale if they did anything special for Palm Sunday, expecting a procession with palms but he told me communion.  They did have two baptisms though.  Gary Langness from BKB was preaching  at another parish and ready to preach on Palm Sunday, but he was asked to preach his famous stewardship sermon instead.  One Easter tradition they have that we do not is Easter Monday, it is a holiday with church services.  Baptisms are popular on Easter Monday and one year Gary Langness preached at Ipogoro and baptized 65 babies in one service.  The service started late, around 10:30 and lasted until 1:30.  The youth and women choirs sang throughout the service.  Pastor Wihale preached the sermon but he asked me to talk about the importance of reading and the books in the library.

Two baptisms and one family had three older children who had been baptized in a different church who were also received by the congregation.

 Youth Choir, 20 members aged 18-25

Women's Choir with offering goods to be auctioned.

This is the rainy season, especially at higher elevations like Kising'a.  The bus I had planned to take back to Iringa stopped in Lulanzi (Bariki Mhanga's home town) and did not come to Kising'a on Thursday and Friday because of bad roads.  I was happy to see better weather and the bus arrive on Saturday and then again on Sunday.  This is a new bus called Florida because the old Kising'a bus is undergoing repairs.  Pastor Wihale and I took the bus back to Iringa together, leaving Kising'a at 4:30 AM and arriving in Iringa about 8:30.   The bus was almost what we would think of as full when we left Kising'a but we kept picking up people and goods for the market along the way.

Kising'a bus ride is a far cry from Florida Tours.  The big sign in the background is for Tigo cellular and the caller is telling someone we have arrived at the bus terminal.  Cell phones are huge here and kising'a has places in the village where you can get "network" or cell reception.

 Worship is now in the new church and the parish wants to use the old church building as an expanded library and community center.  The old building has sound walls but needs new iron sheets for the roof and a redone floor.  I helped Pastor Wihale purchase 50 iron sheets and 20 bags of cement for this project.  He returned on the bus with the sheets and 2200 lbs of cement loaded in the cargo holds.  Vehicles are often overloaded here, capacity is limited by space and what you can attach, not by weight.