Ukwega

Last month I received a call from Tanzania at midnight and the caller said he was Pastor Shukuru from Kising'a.  I found out that Pastor Wihale was transferred to the village of Ukwega last September and Kising'a has a new pastor.   Both Pastor Wihale and his wife Yesina have family members in Ukwega which is about 37 km from Kising'a.  Pastor Wihale was at Kising'a for more than 11 years and had built a very strong parish.  Ukwega parish started 4 years ago and was formed from a preaching point of Ipalamwa, about 10 km away.  In Tanzania, parishes are growing and spinning off new parishes.

 We rented a land cruiser for our trip to Kising'a so we were able to go to Ukwega on the most beautiful mountain drive we have been on in Tanzania.  The roads are very steep and fortunately, the rains had stopped and the sun had dried the roads.  Hard to believe that they actually have bus service from Ukwega to Iringa.  Emmanuel, our driver, told us his cousin drives the Mwafrica bus and that special buses for the mountains are built in Kenya by taking a truck body and building a passenger bus on the frame.  On our way back to Iringa, we saw the Kising'a bus which had been in a bad accident crashing into the back of a stalled lumber truck and killing several people.  Sue and I have sometimes taken that bus to Iringa and maybe we should reconsider in the future because these buses are so big coming down mountain roads that they can be hard to stop or control.

The pastor house in Ukwega is smaller and not as well finished as the house in Kising'a.  One thing it needs is a ceiling, right now the house is open to the rafters and metal sheets and not as well protected from insects.  We visited the dispensary and they were treating quite a few malaria patients.  Ukwega is lower than Kising'a and therefore warmer with more malaria risk.  The village is spread out over many ridges with steep roads.  We walked to one preaching point that evening and listened to a small choir.  They have a cute chant here that they do that ends with the roar of a lion and the roar is the love they are spreading.  This preaching point is made from lumber boards and they have plans to build a brick building.

The following morning, we took a two hour walk to the top of a ridge and saw another preaching point operating out of a home temporarily.  It was a beautiful morning with views everywhere and Sue is especially good at greeting people in Hehe.  I try but my pronunciation is not as good which causes great entertainment.  Everybody greets everybody here, whether you know them or not.

Ukwega has a SACCOS which is a member owned bank that makes agricultural loans.  They are also starting a AMCOS which is an agricultural cooperative that will purchase fertilizer in larger quantities at better prices and help with taking produce to market.  The SACCOS has about 79 members and members can get a 500,000 tsh loan when they have about 150,000 tsh savings in the bank.  The loan is used to purchase seed and fertilizer and then repaid in 6 months with about 2%/month interest when the crop is harvested. Pastor Wihale is a member but has not taken a loan yet. The King Foundation had just built a beautiful building for offices and fertilizer storage.  The opening celebration for the building was the day we left and we met Russel King and some board members coming to Ukwega on our way back to Iringa.

Pastor Wihale came back to Iringa with us along with Pastor Shukuru to check on victims from the bus accident.  We had an emotional goodbye.  Pastor Wihale plans to retire in 4 years with a home he is building in Kising'a and I think this new assignment at a new parish is a challenge.  He of course accepts the difficulty like all Tanzanians but this must feel like starting over building up the parish.  Anna is married now and living in Kising'a with Gody and her husband and Joyce is living in the retirement home and working the family shamba (fields) in Kising'a.  Kising'a is 37 difficult kms from Ukwega and about a 5 hour walk taking a footpath.  The bus is 8,000 shillings to Iringa and Pastor Wihale usually rides on the back of a piki piki instead which is cheaper.  We would like to help him purchase a piki piki to visit the preaching points and travel back and forth with Kising'a.

On the road to Ipalamwa on a beautiful day

Pastor Wihale and his growing boys

Children of the cooking crew, Karin with the pony tails.

Old style iron heated with coals

Main parish building near the pastor house

We left a One World Futbol for the parish which is solid so it never deflates

Preaching point with small choir roaring with love like lions

Morning walk, notice the woman at the top of the right hand trail.  She is carying 40 lbs of water on her head and another 20 lbs in her hand as she climbs up to her house from the valley below.

Ndizi (banannas) meant for us.  The mtoto (child) has one in his hand.

SanLG chinese piki piki (motorcycle) which costs about $1200 and is excellent at climbing hills.

Sue with Emmanuel, our driver, who did an excellent job.  He was fast but safe and helped us tremendously with translation and cultural understanding.  He seemed to be having almost as good a time as we were.  Usually he takes people on Safari in Ruaha but enjoys this kind of trip.