Tanzania Construction, Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Tanzania Construction Team
Tuesday September 21, 2010

Breakfast at 7 a.m. is normal as is the steaming hot water for coffee of tea. We assemble with smiles and good mornings and are ready for the day. Shortly after eight o’clock we have 10 people: Robert & Linda, Marilene & Scott, Mike, Earl, Tonya and I in the vehicle with both first aid kits, 16 gallons of paint, a suitcase of tools, paint buckets, backpacks, and water bottles. We will first go to Lugumbo and drop off Scott, Linda and I then the rest will go back to finish the work at Muhungamkola. This latter statement is fulfilling as we had wanted to be complete and the Michael the evangelist had been out of his home for several days while the construction was being done. Being able to finish allows he and his wife to move back in before the service this Sunday.

Lugumbo is a location where Asbury assisted in building a church a few years ago. It is still in good shape and the locals have put up partial walls, kept the roof secure, and use the building for kindergarten as well as church service. Currently there is not an evangelist at Lugumbo but there is a volunteer, a young man named Simkoko, who has taken on that role. Simkoko’s wife Julia, and a handful of villagers, Pastor Mwembe, and the kindergarten students listened to a short sermon by Simkoko. The passage was the feeding of the 5,000 with a few loaves of bread and fishes. In his own words, Simkoko expressed that we coming from America are providing food to the 5,000 yet it is up to his people here in Tanzania to pick up the left-over food and share it with their brothers and sisters. I am not doing his sermon justice but the point is one of gratefulness but also one of personal responsibility. This is a pillar of evangelical outreach and many who we touch here are taking on that responsibility. We’re not just helping to build churches but we are helping to build disciples.

Gladly, I introduced our group and Robert helped me by translating a few words for the villagers. One item I stated is that it was good to see Pastor Mwembe in the group as he is like the Holy Spirit. You never know where he is or what he will be doing but he is always there when you need him.

With Robert’s continued assistance we all walked through the small three room house that had no paint on the inside and languished over the problem of putting screens on the home. The way the repairs had been done at some point in the past made it impossible to replace the rotted screens with new ones without chipping away a lot of mortar. George, a relative or Thomas whom I mentioned on Sunday, stated he would perform the work of removing the improperly applied mortar at a later date. Everyone agreed that painting and a few other chores was appropriate.

Linda, Scott and I remained and the rest of the group left for Muhungambola. It was good having Linda with us as she is well known among the villagers, speaks enough of the language to translate most items, and is just enjoyable to be around.

At the evening dinner we all recalled events of the day and many were similar experiences. Foremost we shared food with the evangelists and pastors which is a blessing in friendship as well as sustenance. We had many people wanting to help: children, elders, teenagers from nearby schools, and women who fixed the meals also helped clean paint from the floors as well as our tools. While we started performing these latter tasks, we were quickly banished from doing them and the pastors directed the children and women to complete the tasks. Again, these people are not afraid of any work and none of it is beneath their dignity. They happily learn and are willing to be instructed. They simply do not have many opportunities to be carpenters or craftsman. But from all we see, they are being successful fishers of men.

Throughout our day at Muhungambola, Scott played with kids and taught them to paint. At the end of the day there were several silly things done together. One of which was Scott and I singing the Lone Ranger song and pretending to ride on a horse together. The kids and some adults laughed but this allowed Scott to use his musical talent and make up some songs. Then he was able to coax those around, a few women and children, to sing songs for us. A wonderful exchange of kinship.

At the end of the day we pondered Scott’s observation. We see women caring for kids and men assisting basically in discipline but we don’t see parents and children engaging in games together. It could be that we just aren’t around at the right time and it could be that we do things with kids that are foreign to the thinking here. Never has it been any issue as the adults laugh at us (with us) as much as the kids. But we don’t see the type of interaction we have with our children. Perhaps it is because the adults are too busy getting a single meal onto the “table” for the children to worry about playing games with them. This is most probably the sad truth. I wonder if we will ever be close enough friends with these people to really know. However, we are close enough friends with them now to know that sharing even a little of Christ’s love with these children is a blessing.

Brett