Tanzania Water Well Update, Day 7, February 19, 2009

Today was a hard hot day. We drove to the SE corner of our focus area to a village called Dete. The purpose of this journey was to decide on possible locations for a water well. Dete is only about 22 miles as the crow flies from the Lutheran Junior Seminary (where we stay) but it was a 2.5 hour drive over road that several times tested the abilities of our 4-wheel drive vehicle. By the time we got there I had a significant headache.

We hiked around the area and found 3 possible drilling locations. Based on the depth to water in nearby watering holes, two of the locations might yield water at a fairly shallow depth. The third (located by the church) would have to be drilled deeper. All in all, I'm optimistic about being able to bring clean water to the village. God is good.

At one of the watering holes, a Bari Baig livestock herder had built pens immediately next to the water supply. Less than sanitary... The pens were made out of tall sapling trees that were basket woven around tree posts that had been driven into the ground. It was very interesting.

There are many Bari Baig in the Dete area. Because they raise livestock, they are quite wealthy (like their more famous counterparts the Massai). Unfortunately, they are most known in the area for their drinking, which I saw first-hand. A sad prayer concern. According to Pastor Herb Hafermann, very few Bari Baig have been saved. They continue in their animist ways and are not open to hearing about the gospel.

Upon arriving home, I had a 2-hour meeting with Bishop Jacob Mameo, Robert Spitaleri, and Grant Miller. (Asbury has teamed with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania to do our work.) The meeting went exceedingly well. I am very confident that our work here is making a big impact on the Kami people and that there is complete unity between our two groups. Praise be to God.
Mark Dalton