Tanzania Water Well and Construction Team, Thursday and Friday, September 24 - 25, 2009

Jubilation and Sadness

By now you should be familiar with our separation and rejoining routine and today follows the same pattern. Rob and John are determined to get one more well drilled and they rise and leave early with Robert driving them to Dete.

Mary Ann takes Earl and me to St. Mary’s hospital to look at the ultrasound machine. Mary Ann has been told that it is not working. After a few minutes, Earl diagnoses the problem and we start the application correctly. Mary Ann takes an ultra sound of my abdomen to verify that the equipment works and yes, my gall bladder is still gone.

To skip ahead a bit, a separate set of doctors used the equipment earlier this year. They had moved it into a different room and did not assemble it correctly. They told the local nursing staff the machine was broken and since those doctors were supposedly wise, there was no follow up – only relating the story of the broken machine to Mary Ann. This is troubling for many reasons. First is that for a few months the machine has been idle and some patients did not come to the hospital as the “magic machine” was not working. Strange to us as most of their symptoms did not need an ultra sound to diagnose. Second, is the power we “enlightened” people have over some of the people here. They believe what we tell them and don’t have the experience to verify for themselves. Finally, the people here do not expect hand outs but they also get discouraged easily. If a gift is provided and then breaks they do not have the deep seeded urgeny to try alternative methods to diagnose or fix the item. (See the bee story from the 20th). I’m sure many of us can relate to this by thinking to our use of personal computers (or how many of you still has the light blinking on your VCR or DVD player?)

This is simply to say, that change here is hard and will be generational so our continued efforts are encouraged. By the end of our visit the machine was “fixed” and we showed the nurse how to properly assemble, start, and shutdown the equipment. She was fully engaged and understood how to take care of it for the next time.

During this time Mike and Alan were breaking several drill bits while assembling some of the benches that had been cut out previously. After lunch, Mary Ann, Mike, Alan, Earl, Linda and I gather for a fun day as we planned to spend the night at Mikumi game park.

Mikumi is about an hour and a half south west of Morogoro and is a fairly easy drive. However, it continues to show us the poverty of the country. Mud huts and some brick homes speckle the country side and villages are basically open markets along the highway. I remember riding in the car as our family drove across Mississippi and Arkansas to visit Tulsa in the late 50’s and early 60’s and there is some parallel. I was in awe of the neatly aligned rows of cotton, soy bean, and other crops and saddened by the wooden shacks intermingled with the land. I could not imagine living in those homes at that time and felt sad for those isolated people who did. I have those same, yet even deeper feelings, with these people now.

As we drive to the resort each of has mixed feelings. We will surely enjoy our visit but also harbor feelings of guilt about our extravagance. Mission trips are a good time to confront our realities reset our priorities in life.

Mikumi is beautiful and large but it has been scorched by man set fires hoping to rid the old dead grass and rejuvenate some new. While much of the area is blackened and does provide excellent view of warthog and antelope, those who had been here before are sad as we compared the depth of green that we had seen after the long rains with the brown and black of this season.

The treats for staying at Mikumi are many. First is the evening safari where animals graze into twilight and then gather at the water holes. We had two amazing experiences as we came upon a few giraffe, who instead of running away, gracefully loped beside our vehicle for several hundred yards. The second was surprising a small herd of elephant as we topped a hill next to a water hole. They bellowed and moved about and danced into and out of the water hen quickly and then vanished in the darkness.

The next thrill of staying in the park is the evening meal which is served by candle light under the evening stars. There is also a lighted water hole a few hundred yards away and we watched water buffalo come for a long drink. The meal is good but the beauty of the surroundings and the ease of conversation thrills the soul.

Rob sends us a text message that there is abundant water at Dete. What an awesome God!

After warm showers, comfortable beds, and lions growling in the night, we rise for another trek through the park. Hundreds of impala, several herds of zebra, water buffalo, wildebeest and warthog are digitally captured. We see a few elephant then hippopotamus and crocodile at the water hole. Near the end we see more giraffe and are able to watch a few in beautiful ballet.

After a breakfast with entertainment by the server we return to the seminary. You must ask Mary Ann about the baboon that wanted to join her in the back seat of the van! Upon our arrival we gather with Rob and John must leave today. We are sad to see them go but thrilled that their hard work paid off in such good success. We all huddle and pray for their safe travels, hug, smile and say good-bye.

A final trip to St. Mary’s allows Earl and I to provide some documentation and training on the ultra sound machine. Robert takes us through a walking expedition of Morogoro as we look for several items of need. Many locations are becoming familiar now and we all feel at ease with the people here.

The evening is another occasion to celebrate the success that has occurred over the decade that Asbury has been involved in the region. We hear some of the changes and talk about possibilities for the future. Again, we find ourselves lingering out late into the evening, not wanting the day to end. Hoping and praying for more personal connections with the people tomorrow when we will assist in the children’s day camp.

I know each of us has something in our lives that brings us to joyful tears. For many it is Tanzania or Central Asia, or serving at John 3:16 or .… God knows how to break a heart in a really good way. Ours are shattered and rebuilt by all the love that is around us in Tanzania.

Brett Tabler