Archive for the ‘Tabora’ Category

We’re Home!

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

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!

Posted in Canadians For Africa, Red Deer, Red Deer Advocate, Save Africa Now Task Force Team, Tabora, Tanzania, Travel and Transit | 1 Comment »

2 Gifts (a Chicken and a Duck) – and Arrival of a Friend!

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

Thursday we worked at the home in the morning and left for lunch. Before we left the work site, two women who had been working with us at the house presented us as a group with a gift …. A chicken and a duck! At first we thought that the gifts were for the family that would be living in the house … but then we realized that the gift was for us to eat! That was definitely a first for all of us!

Although this was a bit out of our comfort zone, we realized that this was a great gift on their part … they literally have nothing to give … and these birds cost money for them! They were honoring us in a way that we could not fathom. We were overwhelmed! And so, I climbed into the back of the vehicle, holding onto a chicken, and Danica holding onto the duck …. and we drove away. They were cute … we named them appropriately “Mzungu” meaning a white person (the duck was white) and “Rafiki” for the black chicken, meaning friend …. Thankfully, we did not dine on them before we left, but we left them with the centre where we were staying!!!

Bill Shaw arrived Thursday afternoon and joined us for the celebrations. He will be travleing with us for the safari and then staying on for another 2 weeks to meet with officials for planning future construction sites and plans for Save Africa Now. We were excited to have him join our group! In the afternoon we welcomed Juma, Haruna, Sabina and the other orphans to see thier new home for the first time. Even though they
will not be able to move into their home for another couple of months, this was the first time that they have seen the house. They were overwhelmed … and so full of gratitude and thanks! One of the smallest rooms in the new home is larger than the tiny place they are packed into right now! This will feel like a mansion to them! We celebrated with sodas, many photographs, small gifts and much laughter … what a wonderful experience! When we sang a blessing to the group that will reside in the home, Sabina (the grandmother and
caregiver) broke down and cried … overwhelmed by the changes that will happen for them … New hope … new life … literally being saved from the despair they are currently living in! It was a wonderful afternoon …. but so hard to say goodbye! For them, there is much hope for the future, and yet … it is hard to see us leave
them! It was an emotional day for all of us!

Posted in Bill Shaw, Juma and Haruna, Save Africa Now, Tabora | 4 Comments »

Refugee Camp

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

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)

Posted in AIDS orphans, Africa Sing Me Your Song, Save Africa Now, Save Africa Now Task Force Team, Tabora, Widows | 1 Comment »

What the Work has been like

Sunday, May 18th, 2008

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)

Posted in Save Africa Now Task Force Team, Tabora, Tanzania, construction | 1 Comment »

construction

Sunday, May 18th, 2008

building building building, in more ways than one!

Posted in Tabora, Tanzania, construction | 1 Comment »

House Building

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

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!

Posted in Save Africa Now Task Force Team, Tabora, construction | No Comments »

Meeting Juma and Haruna (from Geannette and Nathan)

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

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 were
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

Posted in Juma and Haruna, Save Africa Now Task Force Team, Tabora | No Comments »

A bus, a home, a lost-and-found wallet, Tabora

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
we are happy to be here after a treacherous, long, bumpy, smelly, wet bus ride from dar es salaam to tabora. it started at 330 am when we rose to load our bags in two vehicles to take to the bus depot. the actual bus trip then left at 6 am. our first hurdle was trying to have our guide Joshua convince the voice-damaged bus employee to load our luggage, which there was much of. they finally opened the storage compartment and there seemed to be almost no room. they wanted 100,000 shillings (100 usd) to do it. mzungus, foreigners, are magnets for swindling here, and though Dan was hesitant we only gave them 10,000 shillings or almost 10 dollars. the seats were so close together you couldnt even have your legs facing straight ahead. and every bump was bone on metal. it felt it would never end. but it did. and we were pumped to see Elias at the Tabora bus depot. we had a late meal before a good rest in the FPCT center and then rising for breakfast. this morning we went to the site of the home for Juma and Haruna and their ‘family’. it will be a beautiful house. 5 bedrooms. Dining room. Sitting room. Bathroom. Running water. we then visited the largest hospital in Tabora region and had an excellent conversation with the head doctor. He is the only doctor, though the setting requires 6 more. he does all forms of surgery, night calls, etc etc and yet was very hospitable and willing to share with us and thank us for our participation in his country.
after a group internet session we are heading to the location where Juma and Haruna are currently staying. 11 of the 12 of our team will be meeting these amazing children for the first time. As for Dan, it will be a sweet reunion. Then we go to their old home (the broken glass, half wall home from Africa Sing Me Your Song) to remind ourselves of where it all began. it is an exciting transformation that is taking place. Tomorrow we begin actual construction. As we saw today at the site, a healthy portion of work is already done by the locals, and the engineer and his team are excited for what progress we can all make together.
oh by the way, about half way through our very long bus journey, right about the time we needed encouragement in order to carry on, Nathan looked and lo and behold there was Andrew’s lost wallet! it was a blessing to our whole team. we almost had the whole bus cheering with us even though they had no clue what just happened.
love you all, and more soon!
Daniel, on behalf of the entire team in Tanzania!

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Posted in Red Deer, Red Deer Advocate, Save Africa Now, Save Africa Now Task Force Team, Tabora | No Comments »