Dave’s sabbatical

Well, would you believe it?! Another reunion with Ruth Hulser as we share the same flight back to Istanbul. Great time of catching up and sharing our passion for this country. It's 3.25am and we're ready for take off. Thank you God for this extra special time in Tanzania. 

My host for most of the last 3 weeks has been Michael, the General Secretary of the Baptist Convention of Tanzania (BCT), a collective of about 1,500 Baptist churches. He is a quite extraordinary Christian and someone I have grown to love and hugely respect. He is a doppelganger for Eddie Murphy, but twice as much fun! Through long journeys (here he is eating his beloved sumaki/fish, tilapia, while driving) and the sharing of stories and many meals together, we have become friends - kindred spirits! His story will amaze you. Here I am with his family as I took them out for a thank you supper on my last night at the old New Dodoma Hotel. Born into an Anglican Christian family, Michael's father was a natural evangelist and church planter - around 20 in his life thus far. The Anglicans made what he considered an unreasonable demand on him, so he became a Baptist (Hallelujah!) and he continued his work for God. Having lost his mother at an early age, Michael became a troub...

When was the last time you saw a 6 year old boy pick up a stray goat?! This is my last full day in this special place. I have discovered a way of reducing the size of photos and therefore able to upload them, so I'm going to post quite a few in this blog. We are at over 5,000 feet on top of a ridge which overlooks the beautiful valley of the river Dudu, which never runs dry, though the flow recently is much reduced. Water holes that lasted months are now disappearing. Water, especially clean water, is increasingly a problem. I met a young man this morning who was baptised in the river recently. The journey here is tough. Imagine driving on this "road". One of the first greetings we had in this tribal homeland was one the village elders, the self-styled "Barak Obama B"! There just happens to be a tree growing behind him. It's not part of his head ware! Here is Owen inspecting one of the 2 water tanks he has helped to build for the brand new cl...

Cerys supplied it. I was the culprit! We'd been playing chase outside the Pugh home after working hard all afternoon to tidy up the pile of sand in their front yard. Their reward was popcorn and then games (slightly scary, thanks to me!). I'm sleeping a lot and absorbing the special culture of this tribal homeland. I'm afraid I turned down the breakfast I was offered in this traditional home, made on an indoor open fire! My stomach is still not quite right. We are out to a traditional supper tonight ... The team here are making a profound difference to the lives of their neighbours in so many different ways, water conservation,  language preservation, education and spiritual transformation. I have huge respect for them. Mim continues in pain from her fall on Sunday. Please pray for her. 

Briefly! 

The mobile signal for data is, not surprisingly, weak here. Uploading pictures is almost impossible so you'll just have to put up with my ramblings! The journey here was almost uneventful. In all their years in Tanzania, Mim and Owen have been stopped by the traffic police many times but never by immigration officers in this locality. Yesterday was the day. And this was the one day that one of us didn't have their passport! It could have ended with short term detention until the correct paper work was produced, but the officer allowed us to continue on the proviso that a photo of the passport was WhatsApp-ed to him after we returned. Phew! We left the tarmac road and the fun really began. Owen's four-wheel driving skills are something to behold. 16 miles of 'roads' made up of dirt, rocks, roots and boulders took almost 2 hours. Some of the ascents and descents just did not look possible! Respect, Owen. We finally arrived at the Pugh family home, having descen...

I had the privilege of visiting Asimwe, this beautiful yet wounded five year old, and Christina, her mummy, yesterday afternoon. I hadn't seen them since the day of Asimwe's accident. We sat and drank delicious freshly made fruit juice together in their home. Asimwe, without a word, just came and sat next to me and snuggled in. How precious. Asimwe is making good progress and is back at school, the hero with a broken arm. Let's pray the bone mends as it should and the metal rod which was inserted comes out successfully having done its job. Here are mother and daughter on their front door step.  You can see from the next photo that Christina's house is not finished yet (eg blue plastic sheeting for windows), but it is all hers so she pays no rent and is able to improve it pole pole (slowly slowly). She is willing to  courageously speak out on domestic abuse in her very patriarchal culture, so it would be great if a connection to a suitable charity could be ...

I continue to be unwell  Thankfully not as bad as Wednesday, but I have detected the source of the problem: malaria prophylaxis, specifically, malarone. A few years ago my system couldn't tolerate the other popular preventer, doxicycline. I'm not allergic to gin and tonic though. Sadly I'm not allowed alcohol here, being an mchungaji. (Pedant alert: yes I know the quinine is in the tonic, but really - bread and butter comes to mind.) So,  what to do? I've sought medical and local advice and I'm going fly solo. My next destination is malaria free and provided I'm sensible and sleep under a net tonight I should be ok... It's mid-winter's day today! It was very cold as we left Singida this morning and we didn't need the air conditioning in the car until well on into the journey back to Dodoma. I'm on my own for the first time, so I ventured out into the town, now turned into a thriving city since I was first here 14 years ago. I don't reco...

Thank you for your prayers. Yesterday was the hardest day so far. On a human level I should have rested in my room  but this was an opportunity to trust God for strength in weakness and he didn't disappoint. I had a 10 minute sleep in the lunch break, instead of food, and a resurrection happened! God enabled me to teach with passion and clarity. In spite of feeling utterly drained and dejected afterwards, the feedback was good. Bwana asifwe - praise God! Today was the last day of teaching with graduation ceremony. The above photo is the Mwanza class of 2019. I have done 26 separate talks and sermons in less than 2 weeks. It has been such a privilege to share some of my experience and training in a context where they, through no fault of their own, are denied it. Their appreciation was heart felt and effusive. I have fallen in love with Tanzania and Tanzanians all over again. Here is our cohort waving their much prized certificates! I feel so honoured to be hosted by Michae...