Off to Ubende

My trip to the Bende language area (or Ubende in Swahili) began with an eleven hour bus ride from Mbeya to Mpanda. My colleague, Frank, and I sat next to each other. I took the first aisle shift, getting bumped by people going up and down, and having backsides a little too close and personal when passengers who were only on the bus for a relatively short distance had to stand in the aisle for the duration of their ride. In the afternoon I got my turn by the window, which meant I was in prime position to see animals as we went through Katavi National Park - or at least, I would have been if there'd been any animals to see! Near the end I finally spotted a deer of some kind and a couple of waterbuck.

The most stressful thing about traveling by bus is going to the toilet - I never know when we'll get a chance to go, so I drink as little as possible. We actually had three brief stops, which was pretty good going. Unfortunately one was a rather humiliating experience as I wasn't sure where the toilets were and someone shouted across the car park, "Mzungu panda ngazi kukojoo" (white person, go up the steps to wee) - maybe he thought I wouldn't understand so everyone else could just have a laugh at my ignorance, but of course I did understand.

I'd only been to Mpanda once before, and things had changed in the intervening years, including the building of a new out-of-town bus stand. So from there we got a bajaj (motorised rickshaw) into town. A room had been booked for me at a nice guesthouse, called Good Morning Lodge. Desperate to stretch my legs, I decided to go out despite the rain, to reacquaint myself with the town. I got thoroughly wet, and after hunting for a place to eat, eventually came across a drab little café that had one dish available, ugali dagaa. Thankfully, this is a dish I rather like, of maize stodge (ugali) with little dried fish (dagaa) in a tomato sauce. This kind of food is the equivalent of fast food here, as they prepare large amounts and keep it in the saucepans or put in hotpots, so it's ready to serve as soon as it’s needed (though it can also mean the food may have been sitting for some time and, as was the case this time, may only be lukewarm, but I don't think I've ever been really ill after eating at these cheap and convenient cafés).

That night I slept well until I was shocked into wakefulness at precisely 3am by a loud crack and a rumbling sound and the room began to shake. An earthquake! My heart was going nineteen to the dozen as the rumble disappeared into the distance and the room stopped shaking. Apparently earthquakes are quite common there, but although I have experienced tremors in Mbeya (three, I think), think this was my first time to hear an earthquake and not just feel it.

The next morning, Erick, the team leader of our project office in Mpanda, picked us up and took us to the office, where I worked for the morning while they had a team meeting about the appointment of a new director for SIL Tanzania. In the afternoon we piled into the project Land cruiser for our journey to Mwese, in the Bende language area. Once we’d left the town behind, we turned onto a red dirt road. While the rains meant the road had a few nasty ruts, they also meant we were surrounded on all sides by lush green forest and farmland, the latter being mostly maize, though I also saw fields of sunflowers and occasional other crops. Many of the houses we passed were made from red bricks, formed out of the red soil of the area, and topped with corrugated iron roofing, but we also saw lots of mud houses topped with grass, often with a solar panel resting incongruously on top. While you are unlikely to find a grass roof anywhere in a city like Mbeya, they are not uncommon in more rural areas.

We stopped at a village where we could get a very late lunch. I asked for dona (wholegrain maize stodge) and goat meat. It's quite unusual to find goat meat at a café, it's usually chicken or beef or maybe fish that's available. The dona was rather dry and crumbly and the two pieces of goat meat, floating around in an oily broth, were barely warm. Despite its unappetising appearance, the meat had good flavour, and I determinedly ploughed my way through half the dona, moulding small portions into a ball in my hand to dip in the broth, but after a while it defeated me. There was a bowl of beans too, but much as I enjoy beans, I gave most of them to my colleague as I'm not sure my tummy enjoys them so much.

We continued our journey. For some of the way, poles stood erect just a few metres from the roadside, awaiting wires, promising the coming of electricity. Much of the countryside felt pretty wild, but every now and then you'd see someone walking alongside the road or suddenly there'd be a patch where the bushes or trees had been cleared and the land carefully cultivated or I'd spot a small herd of cows grazing under the watchful eye of their herder (often a young man).

We arrived in Mwese and headed to the guesthouse. I was concerned to discover there was a bar there with loud music. (When I say bar, don't think of a nice counter with lines of bottles behind it, rather a handful of people were sitting outside on plastic chairs drinking bottles of beer or spirits.) I don't cope well with loud noises. After depositing my luggage and discovering there were no sockets in our rooms because there was no mains electricity, just solar, and that the rooms were not en-suite so I'd be sharing a bathroom with three men (all people involved in the workshop I had come to teach), I quickly left to escape the noise and stretch my legs.

The landscape was lovely, with hills in the distance and an undulating red road to stride out on. I wasn't alone for long. I soon felt like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, with a crowd of children following me, carrying their hoes on their way home from school. I spoke to them a little, which helped me feel that we were walking together rather than me just being followed. After a while, we saw a big group of secondary school students ahead, just staring at us. How I sometimes wish that I had Harry Potter's invisibility cloak! Later I retraced my steps back to the village centre and found my colleagues there. I chatted with a few ladies who were surprised at how far I'd been. I bought some bananas and, as the light faded and the air turned chilly, I joined my colleagues in heading back to the guesthouse (I guess this would have been about 7.30pm). 

Thankfully they turned down the volume of the music a little at our request and, after having a bucket bath with lovely warm water, I settled in my basic but clean room for a light tea (I'd brought some simple food with me) and to read by the light of a solar light. I was relieved when they turned off the music earlier than I had expected, and the night went quiet. Very quiet. As a result I slept well, until 6.30am, when the sky started to lighten for another day.

The workshop was held in the Anglican church, a short walk up the hill from the guesthouse. As is my custom, we started by putting pictures of key Bible stories in order and telling the story of the Bible together, while we waited for everyone to arrive. I love this opportunity to, albeit briefly, remind people of God's desire to be in relationship with his people and all that he has done to make that possible. By the time we had finished this activity, everyone had arrived and we could officially open the workshop with greetings and introductions. It was great to see a real mix of denominations coming together. The goal of the workshop was to enable the participants to read the Bende language and to prepare and lead simple Bible studies using the Bende Scriptures (so far, they have Ruth, Jonah and Luke printed in their language). So we started with a Bible study on Luke 4:1-13, to give them a taste of what a group Bible study, with questions and discussion, is like. We did this in Swahili. During days two and three of the workshop we would continue to work through Luke 4, by having simple Bible studies, however the rest of the first day was spent learning to read Kibende, with the help of Frank and the two Bende translators.

A lavish spread was provided for our morning tea break. This was people's breakfast. There were chapattis, portions of chicken in broth and a mug of milky tea. (It should be noted that this is not a typical breakfast. Usually people have the previous day's leftover rice or ugali for breakfast and black tea. Occasionally they might have bread or mandazi (fried dough, a little like a doughnut). But it's hard to make generalisations as it depends on what they grow in their area and the season, so you may get potatoes or something else). To be honest, I was surprised, as we normally try to keep things simple, to keep the budget low, to do things in a way that the community can continue with. But this workshop is the first of its kind in the Bende language area and the Erick has a different perspective to me; I wasn't involved in organising the workshop, I was just invited to teach. I did not eat all that food (I had already had my homemade breakfast bar and a banana, as my tummy issues mean I have to avoid certain foods), but I did take a piece of chicken, which felt like a rather odd tea break snack but was tasty! At lunchtime we all headed down the hill to the village centre to find food. I ended up with rice and a plain egg omelette - it was hot and fresh, and the eggs were from the freely ranging chickens all around, so they were very yellow and full of flavour.

Day one of the workshop over, I headed out along the road in the opposite direction to the previous day, in the hope of avoiding a following! I enjoyed beautiful views to the layers of hills in the distance and saw some interesting birds and unusual flowers. I met two men herding a few cows up the road - one of the cows had the biggest horns I have ever seen, they must have been half a metre long! A lady I chatted to asked if I was afraid to walk alone, and when I asked why, she said there are lions! I found that hard to believe. I asked someone else about it later, and it sounds like there definitely used to be, but they have probably been driven further back into the forests as the area has become more populated.

Day two of the workshop was rather wet, making the red clay soil of the area sticky. For a while I had to strain my voice to be heard over the sound of rain on the corrugated iron roof, but most of the time it didn't disrupt the workshop. Later in the evening, although the skies looked black, I set off to stretch my legs. En route I caught up with Frank and together we climbed the hill to the new hospital people had proudly told us about - the buildings looked new and smart and there were great views over the surrounding countryside. Thankfully it also stayed dry for showing the Jesus Film in the Bende language in the village centre that evening, running the equipment off a generator - although I didn't go I heard that a good crowd gathered to watch it.

The next day we packed up our luggage and paid for our rooms (costing the standard village price of 10,000 shillings per night, which is about £3.30) before heading to the church to begin the last day of the workshop. The three people who we had chosen the previous day to lead Bibles studies did a great job. It was encouraging to see them facilitate their groups well and it was clear that they had taken on board what I had taught them.

After discussing how we choose Bible passages for studies and encouraging them to do a series of studies on the last chapters of Luke as we approach Easter, we did an audio Bible study. We listened several times to an audio recording of Jonah chapter one, before retelling the story in our own words and discussing it. As so often seems to be the case, they clearly enjoyed listening (more than reading), laughing over the dramatic narration and sound effects, and responding eagerly to the questions.

There was a chilly wind blowing all morning and I wished I was wearing socks (here I unashamedly wear socks in sandals when the weather requires - closed shoes can become too warm, whereas it's easy to remove socks when the day warms up). By lunchtime it had warmed up a bit, and I enjoyed a plate of boiled potatoes with a bit of tomato mixed in and a bowl of mchicha (a small leafy green vegetable, also cooked with tomatoes). It was yummy, but I couldn't finish the pile of potatoes! (This cost less than 50p.) We finished the workshop by 4pm, and there was some encouraging feedback and promises to start doing Bibles studies with their families and, after gaining experience, with groups at church. At 5pm we started the journey back to Mpanda, with Erick driving the Land Cruiser at terrifying speed along the dirt road. We gave an elderly workshop participant a lift part way - he told how he had walked all the way to Mpanda in his youth and how, in those days, it would take eight hours or more by car while it took us less than two. We went straight to the bus station to pick up our tickets for the next day and found a guest house nearby. It was cheap but pleasant enough, except for the mosquitoes.

The next morning we rose in the darkness and walked to the bus station. It was still pretty dark when we reached Katavi National Park and we only saw one animal, but it was a male lion! It was lying on the road, and as we stopped it lazily got up and moved off - it was only a few feet away as it turned and looked at us unconcernedly. Awesome! Once out of the park we stopped for a brief roadside loo break, and were then joined by about twenty children getting a lift to school. They stood quietly in the aisle in their very worn school clothes, some carrying bags creatively made from old nylon sacking. They alighted nearly 15 minutes later, which means we must have gone three miles or more; I wonder how often they manage to get a free ride and how often they have to walk all that way.

My back and bottom were witnesses to the fact that it was a long bus journey. We were seated directly behind the driver and at one point we had a big cardboard box of eggs packed in rice husks in front of us. The box had ripped slightly and the husks were trickling out, and then an egg fell out, thankfully staying whole (guinea fowl eggs have tough shells)! With difficulty we lifted out the big box without dropping any more eggs and it was put onto alternative transport at the next bus stop. I think I may be finding husks in my laptop bag for a while. The trip was made longer by ridiculously long lines of lorries in both directions at Tunduma, caused by Tanzania-Zambia border checks, as the town of Tunduma is right on the border. Thankfully the line in our direction wasn't too bad, but I felt sorry for anyone going the other way - the line went on for mile after mile for about 12 miles. We also passed through torrential rain, thunder and lightning before eventually arriving in Mbeya under a heavy sky, almost exactly 12 hours after our journey began.

I walked the short distance (¾ mile) from the bus station back to my house, dumped my bags and went for a brisk walk. This walk, followed by a shower, felt wonderful, and when I went also went to the toilet I realised that this was the first time I had sat down on a toilet since Monday morning! Other than at the fancy guest house in Mpanda, all the places I had been to just had long drops, which in some ways I prefer to a sit-down toilet – it feels more hygienic to stand where others have stood than to sit where other bare bottoms have sat! They were nice ones, with a ceramic sink and a bucket of water with a jug for flushing. I also realised, as I poured myself a decaff coffee and sat down to finish writing this blog, that it was the first hot drink I’d had all week. I hadn’t missed these things when I didn’t have them, but I did enjoy them when I came back to them! And so here I am once again, until the next trip, tired but thankful for the opportunity to travel and serve, and I pray that God will cause the little seeds we have tried to sow to grow and bear fruit for the strengthening of his Church in that place.