Kilengapasi

Last year I went to Kilengapasi with Gary and Carol Langness on Easter Sunday.  When we pulled up I saw that the pastor was Aid Kasenegala who was a sponsored student of ours and it was a pleasant surprise.  I visited again last Sunday but Sue wasn't feeling the best and decided to stay home to rest.  I had planned to take a bus from Ipogoro to Kilengapasi, which is near Kilolo, but Aid thought better of that and arranged a car to pick me up.  It was a wise decision, the bus would have been more difficult than taking a bus to Ilula or Mafinga.

They had two full services and I caught the end of the first after having Chai in the pastor's house.  I think they extended the music program until we were done.

Aid with his wife Ester and daughter Holybless.

The pastor's family had the friendliest cat I have ever seen in Tanzania.  She was up on the chairs rubbing against people and ended up curled up in my lap purring at one point.  After the picture below was taken, she jumped down and grabbed the chapati on the plate and took it to the floor to eat.  Aid did not pay any attention to her so this was apparently normal.

Aid being hugged by his paka (cat)

Services were full and the gentleman in the colorful blanket I found out later was conscripted by the British in 1939 to fight in North Africa in WWII.  He said he served 8 years there.

Church was full for both services

Kilengapasi is also the only church I have seen that has guitars, they were there last year also.  They have an amplifier in the church that they can plug their guitars into and sound great.  Nice to see a little boy with a book, even if it is upside down.

Guitar singing after the service.

There were not many children at Church because it was market day and they were there with their families.  Villages have market day once a month when vendors come in with trucks and lay out a lot of merchandise.  This is also a good time for people to get together in one spot.  It is also a good time to butcher cows because there are a lot of customers and the meat must be used in a few days without refrigeration.

Youth practicing singing after church

  They have been building a bigger church and are already using it for weddings and baptisms even though it needs iron sheets for a roof and finishing.  They need a larger church because this area is growing.

Choir in new church building that needs iron sheets for the roof.

 Last year I learned that they did not have a good source of water and came back with Hanael and Peter from St Paul Partners.  We met with village leaders in the nearby community of Luhanga where St Paul Partners had drilled a well which had not been working for years.  Hanael encouraged them to collect fees and repair the well and I found out that they did this last August and the well has been working very well since.

Old St Paul Partners well from 2006

 The well is a good producer and has very clear water.  They are collecting 100 shillings (about 5 cents) per 5 gallon bucket.  The woman who is monitoring the well said people take about 40 buckets per day and they are collecting about 40,000 shillings a month so some people must not be paying, perhaps more needy ones.  The fees are to be used for future repairs and this is a good thing although some people are going to the river instead because they have little money.  Since the well is a good producer, I suggested they could charge 50 shillings and maybe increase use and still collect as much money.  Ester says that her family uses about 10 buckets per day and this well is still a good walk from the church.  The area farther out is growing and there is a need for another well close to the church.

Well is producing crystal clear water and never goes dry.

 The well is open at certain times and secured with a bike chain and padlock when no one is there to collect fees.  This is a nice example of what we want villages to do for sustainability of their wells.  It is especially nice that they did this without any assistance from us and found their own fundi to repair the well in Kilolo.

Well security to ensure payment for water taken.