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 clinic, less than an hour's walk from their home.
Clean water is being improved by enabling rain water capture, but what Owen is not capable of doing is reversing climate change, which is having a devastating effect on the hand-to-mouth crops here. It seems very unfair that those who have added the least to global warming are the most negatively affected by it. This is what a failed maize harvest looks like, just 50 yards from Owen's front door. Maize is the staple here and it has rocketed in price this year.
Deforestation is another big problem because when it does rain the water runs off very quickly, causing soil erosion and dangerous flash floods (Owen and Mim's friend lost his wife to one a few years ago).
It looks beautiful but it's effects are far from being that. Owen is passionate about sustainability and practices what he preaches in their small back garden. Trees whose leaves are especially nutritious are a particular passion.
Owen is often called on for physical and technical help, like helping a near neighbour carry stones in a wheelbarrow pulled by 2 bulls! These are needed for the foundations of his new family home.
Mim works just as hard as Owen! Apart from running the home, home educating Cerys (until July, when she joins her brother and sister at school near Nairobi in September), her passion is for Bible translation and story telling. The relationships she has formed in the community are truly amazing, not least due to her fluency in the tribal language. Once in a while Owen cuts the hair of local children while Mim puts on recordings of Bible stories for those waiting. They can't get enough of it!
They work with a great team, which has sadly deminished recently due to the diagnosis of leukaemia of one of the children of a relatively new American family. Please pray for God's healing and restoration of calling for them. The pastor of the team and his wife are Tanzanian, from Mwanza, and they are such a godly couple. I met them 7 years ago on my last visit and they were as warm and loving today as they were then. I have converted their 2 youngest sons to being Wolves supporters.
I am very concerned for Mim following her fall as we walked to church together on Sunday. She is in constant pain and finds it difficult to find a position in which to get comfortable. Hence this very unusual picture of her lying down during the day, which she won't thank me for! (She has sought medical advice.)
Mim and Owen's closest friends are their near neighbours. They really are lovely people. They have 12 children and 13 grandchildren so far! Here is the husband - the picture following is the supper they cooked in my honour last night. Ugali, beans and green paste. It would be ungracious of me to express an opinion on these local delicacies!
I have had such a wonderful time here and caught up on sleep which was lacking in the previous 2 weeks. I've shared some of Cerys' passion for bird spotting and just enjoyed being part of a family that loves me for who I am. As I sit on top of this huge termite mound to gain the best signal, I look out on the beauty of God's extraordinary creation and am deeply thankful for his love for me.
If you've made it to the bottom of this extensive blog, thank you for reading. May you too know the love of God who made you.
Tomorrow we leave at 6.30am. I hope to meet my former host Michael in the nearby town of Babati so that he can take me back to Dodoma for the night before the bus to Dar es Salaam on Saturday and the plane home on Sunday.
Bwana asifwe.
