The Red Deer Task Force Team and Gateway School are in the news again. Daniel Kooman was interviewed on the team’s return by Heather Schultz of the Advocate. Check out the article below:
Local Group Reaches out to African Orphans
After much packing, shuffling, sweating, driving, waiting, flying and traveling the Canadians for Africa team is home! A few of our members will be winding down in Amsterdam and/or Chicago for a few days, but the rest are happy to be home safe and ready to share with family, friends and perfect strangers about our experience.
Keep your eyes peeled for the Red Deer Advocate article about our trip and mark your calendars for Sunday June 22 at 7 pm. We will be sharing about our experiences at Streams Church on 55 St. The founder David Youngren will be present with our team and we will be premiering the footage from our journey on the big screen. Contact one of our team members or just show up on Sunday night (June 22) for an incredible night beginning at 7 pm. It will be a great opportunity to hear how the journey impacted each one of us. More on that soon!
Friday morning we all parted as a group. Thursday night was emotional as a team to try and grasp all that we had experienced as a group, as well as to part as a team and go separate ways … for Danica, Tami and Andrew, they headed for different destinations. Tami headed home, Danica headed to Whitehorse to work, and Andrew was heading for another 4 weeks of travel to Jordan and Egypt, etc …. The rest of the group
traveled Friday morning by bus (again … not as long as before but still as grueling) to Mwanza to experience a safari. We stayed overnight and headed out early Saturday morning for the Serengeti … What an amazing experience! We saw so many beautiful animals and were in the middle of such grandeur …. it was unbelievable and we often had to pinch ourselves to believe we were there! unfortunately, we did not get to see a lion or cheetah (apparently no one had seen any large cats for days) …. but we sar 26 giraffes, 4 elephants, many zebras, wildebeasts, etc, etc., etc ….. It was such a tremendous experience!!!
This morning we experienced part of a worship service here in Mwanza … again, such wonderful singing and worship. What a privilege! Now we are preparing to fly to Dar Es Salaam where we will be for almost 2 days. We will then begin the long journey back home on Tuesday evening. What an unbelievable time we have had! We cannot wait to share with you in person once we arrive home!
Please continue to pray for safety and health … many of us have battled stomach cramps and the intestinal issues … we are so thankful for safety and being spared real illnesses while here! We look forward to seeing you all in person …. Blessings to youfrom Tanzania!
Today was another emotional day. Today we went to the refugee camp that you see in Africa: Sing Me Your Song. We were welcomed and signed a guest book. Then we thought we would meet a few of the
orphans from the camp / settlement and hear their stories … instead we entered their church to face a group of over 1000 orphans and caregivers sitting quietly, waiting for us! It was amazing! They sang a song for us and welcomed us. We also sang to them and Daniel said a few words and Elias explained why we were there. Part of our intent was to begin to help in establishing a system of gathering information to catelog or organize for orphans to be able to be sponsored through Save Africa Now. This is a laborious job that
could be a full-time position for someone since there are almost 1000 orphans just there alone! We worked with Elias as a translator and were able to hear the stories of only 15 children, while Jeremiah
(another member of the church) did the same thing at another station.
It was heart-breaking … they lined up by the 100s, hoping to be able to find support for the children. Widows lined up and had to be turned away, since their children were not truly “orphans”. Some
children had lost their parents only 2 months ago. Others had lost their parents soon after birth. Many have died from disease, but most from HIV /AIDS. The children look into your hearts with sad eyes … they are beautiful! It was so hard to know that so few (at this time) could be helped …. There are so many more that need to be placed into the system and sponsored!
The people fed us a beautiful lunch meal and we felt like royalty! Totally spoiled! Then the good news was that after we left the church, we went and saw Esther (from the movie) … she looks healthy and well, and Richard … he is chubby and adorable, and the rest of their family. It was uplifting to see them and to know that Esther is still doing well.
We are emotionally exhausted tonight. But we are so blessed to be here. These people are so wonderful … and so grateful that we are here. And although we know we are doing such a little bit right now,
we are hoping and praying that this is only the beginning for being able to bring help and relief to these people!
We love and miss you all, and so wish that you could see and experience what we are seeing and taking in! – It is beautiful here … and has been life-changing for us!
Mungu Atubariki – God Bless You
(Nathan and Geannette)
I cannot begin to tell you what a privilege it was to worship on Sunday morning with the Free Pentecostal Church of Tabora … We arrived according to “African time” and they were already well under
way singing. Their worship is so beautiful … completely uninhibited … they are full of energy and joy in heir worship.
They dance, they sing, they harmonize in ways that bring you to tears. They include all ages within their church and have choirs of varying ages that sing and dance (with choreography) and lead the congregation in worship. They were so welcoming to us and made us feel a part of their congregation. Stu preached and Daniel shared, and our group sang a few songs for them as well. Stu also presented them with the gift of a guitar for their congregation that Parkland Audio had helped to provide. They were very grateful. It was quite
a moving experience to worship, sing and yes, even dance, with their congregation!
Monday we worked on the house in the morning. Mixing concrete was started …. it is amazing. Everything is done by hand … it is gruelling work! We carried (in a chain / line) 84 buckets of aggregate (rocks) and later 50 more, all to be mixed in the concrete. This was used for the flooring of one of the bedrooms in the house.
It is all poured, one bucket at a time, and smoothed with a hand trowel in the rooms. Quite a job!
In the afternoon we had the “party” hat we had planned for the orphans. These were children who were invited by the church that are orphans and are being taken care of by various guardians or relatives. We had a compound location for the party, and expected approximately 75 – 80 children to attend the party. We were prepared with small gifts to give to the children and drinks and snacks. We had planned various games to play with them and were excited about the party ….. We were NOT prepared for over 200 children to come,
along with their caregivers! We were overwhelmed! We played with them and the games were a riot! They enjoyed frisbees, bubbles, skipping ropes, playing soccer, and playing with balls and beanbags
on a parachute! The kids were enthusiastic and excited and they immediately captured all of our hearts! We laughed and hugged and held hands with them and as we played with them our hearts ached that
they were ALL orphans and they ALL need sponsors!
When it came time to have drinks and snacks and give out the “gifts”, we were in a panic … there were not nearly enough. We quickly redistributed the items that were in the gift bags and went out to purchase more drinks and snacks. Still, we did not have enough. We worked hard and prayed hard, and by the end of handing out the little trinkets and items, there was nothing left! It was an unbelievable
experience …. such beautiful children …. and yet, such heartache, and an ocean full of need! They took our hearts with us when they left!
Where ever we go, if we take a picture of children and then show them themselves in the camera, they laugh and shout and clap! They get really silly and want you to do it again and again! We have even found it to be true with the adults! We have had great fun with the cameras!
(Nathan and Geannette)
Our team has been working hard on the building site for a couple of days. it’s a little hard to see progress but a lot is being done. in the past few days we have hauled about 100 buckets of water from a pond about 200m from the building site, used a trailer to haul 3 loads of aggragate (gravel) from one side of Tabora to the other (loading by shovel at the supply yard unloading by shovel at the building site) and today we cleared a 30m road to provide better access at our building site.
The work has been hot and dusty. For the most part we are all well watered (bottled), covered in sunscreen, wearing sunglasses and hats. very few mosquitoes. Christy got what we think was sunstroke yesterday and she stayed at the FPCT centre for the afternoon. She’s doing better today.
Today, Saturday, we started at 8:30 AM and finished at 1:00 PM. Had lunch (food is always tasty and there is lots of it — rice, ungali, salads, some fruit, usually chicken or beef but once a great tasting fish — chicken isn’t the fat juicy kind you find in NA). Methuselah is our cook and he is a great guy serving us for all meals each day. after lunch we cleaned up and went downtown so all of us could buy material and get fitted for a dressy African outfit. the girls have a Tanzanian lady helping them, the guys have Elias helping us.
It’s amazing to see what these people live with (and without). With a 20litre bucket and a bicycle they can pretty well do 90% of what they need to do. Most of the places they live in (from what we have seen) would be considered unlivable in our world. the current home for Juma, Haruna, 5 other orphans and the grandma is beyond comprehension. one small room (8 x 10??), one mattress and an entrance way (5×5??) is what they have. When the place is done, they will move to a mansion — even if running water and sewer is a few months away. It looks like they won’t move in until about July. The house is quite a bit more than we had imagined and everything is labour intensive.
We bought a shovel, 2 rakes and a wheel barrow. The shovel broke in about 1 hour, the rakes looked strong but bent to become close to useless and the wheel barrow is so shakey that it takes two peope to load it — one to load, one to hold. I’d love to talk peavey mart into sending them a few really good implements.
(Nick)
We have been busy working on the house. We have loaded and unloaded
bricks and rocks, dug holes, cut grass and cleared a way to make a
road, prepared flooring in the rooms to be ready for concrete, and a
lot of “grunt work” that is needed to help the project move along.
We are getting sunburned and sore, but it feels so very good to see
some progress made on the house.
While we work and travel with people we are trying to learn as much
swahili as we can … it is not an easy language to pick up and they
laugh at us often as we try to pronounce words or to communicate with
them. It is a lot of fun!
Tabora is a very friendly city compared to Dar Es Salaam … people
wave to us and greet us wherever we go. The children are absolutely
beautiful! Their smiles take your heart away … they are so
gorgeous!
Tami had an incident with her tooth yesterday where the tooth split
apart (it was a tooth that had previously had a root canal done on
it). The part that broke off was hanging off. So I went with her
and |Elias to a local dentist (we sent a picture to Andrew for the
blog of this!). What an archaic dentist office … concrete and
simple …. He was very good and put in a temporary filling as she
did not want the piece pulled. However, it had fallen out by supper
time! Today we went back again and he pulled the broken piece off
for her and put some temporary composite on it until she returns
home. We were so very grateful that it was not worse than that.
While we were at the dentist, there were so many people waiting at
the medical clinic. People with all types of illnesses. It was
heart-breaking! Others had their teeth pulled at the dentist …
literal screaming from the chair. — I know we complain often about
our healthcare system, but I am so grateful for how well we are taken
care of!
Tomorrow we are going to church — Stu will be preaching and we will
be singing a few songs for the congregation. We are so very excited
to worship with the African people here … We are sure to have a
wonderful time of singing and worship with them! The people here are
so kind and gracius and have been so good to us! It will be a
blessing to worship God together.
Today we had the pleasure of being taken to the market to choose
material for tailors to make outfits for the women and suits for the
men … All in all with the material and the fittings, the outfits or
suits will cost about 30 – 35 dollars! We are amazed! Their fabrics
are absolutely beautiful and the people dress in such a gorgeous
manner! We are excited to see the outfits when they are finished
next week!
Hi there …
a quick update! We are thankful that we have access to internet again.
Yesterday afternoon we met Juma and Haruna …. it was emotional to
finally meet them and to know that we were here to make a difference
in their lives! We also met their grandmother and children from the
area where they live. We were allowed to see the “house” that they
live in right now … approximately 100sq ft … dark and dreary with
a pile of belongings and one bed that the grandmother and 7 children
share. It was so emotional to know that people are living like this
…. it is unimaginable!
We then saw the site that you see on Africa: Sing Me Your Song …
where they lived when they did not have a home. Again, we were
overcome with emotions that children could “live” under such
conditions. We also visited another home site where they lived for a
while as well. We met MANY children, eager to hold our hands, have
their pictures taken with us, to touch us and to laugh with us. It
was so emotional …. so much need. And yet, for those two little
boys, their grandmother and the other orphans living with them …
there IS hope. Hope that is so much more than brick and mortar …
hope that will deliver them out of the dark situation they are
currently in and that will allow them to begin to live … to learn
… to grow and to dream about the future! That in itself is so very
powerful!
Today we worked for the morning at the building site. At first it
seemed to take a while to get going, but then we were able to
accomplish a great deal. We know that every little bit that we are
able to do allows the workers to accomplish that much more. We we
re
thankful to get as much done as we could today. We will return
tomorrow and work at the building site all day.
In the afternoon we planned a party that we will be holding for a
group of orphaned children … it should be exciting and fun!
We are grateful for your continued prayers, and for all that we are
able to experience here. The people are beautiful …. the children
absolutely fill your heart … their smiles and laughter are
infectious, in the middle of such need and despair. There is much to
learn from them!
Blessings from Tanzania -
Geannette and Nathan
We’re FINALLY here! After weeks of planning, praying, and preparing to come, it’s good to finally be in Africa.
It was a long flight, but worth the trip. We got here yesterday. After arriving at the airport, we went directly to the FPCT Center in Dar es Salaam. Today was a day to relax and start to prepare for our time here. It will fly by fast.
This morning we’re on our own, after our orientation with Elias, we get to check out the city. It should be fun.
We’re excited for the things that await us in this land. Soon we will help build that house!