Dan and Sue in Tanzania: Kising'a Visit 2017

Sue and I are in Tanzania again with the Shoulder to Shoulder medical group at Ilula Hospital. We spent two nights in Dar and visited the fish market and purchased books at TPH Bookshop for Kising'a again. We visited Kising'a for a few days while the rest of the group was in Ruaha National Park. A lot has changed in the last year at Kising'a. Pastor Wihale was transferred in October to Ukwega Parish which is a village about 37 km away. The new pastor is Pastor Shukuru Mkakatu and it was nice to meet him, his wife Atuwilye, and their daughters, Revista (15) and Lightness (4). The other news in Kising'a parish is that Isele and the Msale preaching point are now a separate parish with a different pastor who we did not meet. The two pastors are still communicating together as Isele becomes an independent parish. Churches in America are consolidating while in Tanzania preaching points are being spun off as new parishes. Ukwega parish is also a new spin off 4 years ago from Ipalamwa Parish.

Devota, the clinical officer in Kising'a, came to Iringa for the medical conference conducted by the Shoulder to Shoulder group. The pastor and Yoram came to town also and we purchased pharmaceuticals at the Green Zone pharmacy for the dispensary. The parish also had some funds from their Swedish partners for books and pastor and Yoram purchased many secondary school textbooks. We were impressed by the books that they selected.

We had an excellent driver from another company since Tatanca cars were not available and we headed to Kising'a Saturday afternoon in the rain. On the way we stopped in Lulanzi to visit with Mama Bariki and Bariki's sister and drop off some photos from Bariki and Ruthie. Bariki's father was not home but we had a nice visit and they really enjoyed the photos. We also dropped off some medical supplies at the dispensary in lulanzi from Shoulder to Shoulder. When we arrived in Kising'a we learned that a lightning strike had hit the solar panel on a house in Kidumuka and sent electricity down a wire into a room, killing a mother and 14 year old boy. We attended the funeral Sunday afternoon and will tell about this in a separate blog. We had a nice service Sunday morning and Sue and I received matching outfits to wear which fit quite well considering our non Hehe physiques and the fact that no tailoring measurements were made.

Pastor Wihale came to Kising'a Sunday afternoon on his way to Ukwega from Iringa and it was great to see him again. He stayed with Joyce in his retirement home and Anna is married now and living with her husband and Gody who has gotten very big. Pastor Wihale invited us to Ukwega and we all went to Ukwega on Monday.