In the beautiful Vwanji language area

Wednesday 15^th May

The day started like many other Wednesdays, with a 5k run around town, my usual breakfast of uji (see description below*) while reading the Bible and then… a slight change. I drove to work. Normally I walk, but today I had more than just my laptop bag to carry. There was my big rucksack filled with clothes, toiletries and other necessities such as toilet paper and a bag of food bits and bobs. I was ready for a week-long trip to the Vwanji language area.

Konga talking with people about language use

The trip would serve multiple purposes. My colleague, Konga, would be meeting with people from different villages and churches to ask about how the Vwanji language is being used at home and in ministry, and how the Vwanji Scriptures (print and audio) and other Vwanji resources are being accessed and used. Konga himself is Vwanji, and as part of his training to be a Scripture Engagement specialist (which he completed last year) he learned about the importance of doing research, both for needs assessment and to monitor and evaluate work, and he was keen to implement this training in his own language area. So rather than me taking the lead using ‘Outcome Harvesting’ (see previous blogs about this research method I was using last year), Konga would be the primary researcher while I get to do what I enjoy most – teaching. We’d start in the village of Ikuwo, where I’d teach a three-day seminar focusing on the book of Ephesians, as well as do an activity with children one evening, and attend local churches on Sunday. And then it would be onto the village of Matamba (the largest village in the Vwanji area), where the research would continue and I would teach a two-day seminar focusing on the book of Galatians. On our last d
ay we’d also have a meeting about New Testament distribution.

I’d loaded up the office Land Cruiser the day before with piles of books in the Vwanji language. Unfortunately, when we printed the first books of the Bible to be translated into Vwanji (Ruth, Jonah, Mark and the Pastoral Epistles) we printed way more than would ever be sold. (Over time we have got better at printing appropriate amounts, though it’s easy to be over optimistic.) So we stacked as many of these books as we could physically lift (though still leaving behind way more than we were able to pack) into big plastic boxes to take with us. Our plan was to give free books to people who attend the Bible seminars as well as to the people Konga would be interviewing, and to leave what’s left with the Vwanji Community Based Organisation to distribute.

I left the office after our morning coffee break, picking up Konga en route. We stopped at the town of Chimala, about two hours from Mbeya, to get some lunch, before heading off the tarmac and onto the dirt road for the climb up to Ikuwo. Thankfully we hadn’t had any rain for a week or so, so there was no risk of getting stuck in mud, however the road was very rocky, with occasional holes and dips that were very hard to see. Often we were crawling along at less than 10km per hour (I was running faster this this on Saturday in the Mbeya half-marathon, though that wasn’t up a steep hill on a dirt road)! After just over an hour on this road, a truck went past and stopped and beeped its horn. Wondering if they had a problem, we also stopped and Konga went to speak to them. It turned out we were the ones with the problem – they’d noticed that we had a flat tyre! The road was so bumpy that I hadn’t noticed anything was wrong! So we set to work, only to find a bit of the jack’s winding-rod was missing, so we had to improvise, and the jack wouldn’t go high enough so we had to find a suitable rock to balance it on. By this time, a couple of other trucks had stopped (unable to get past) and the crews had come to help and chat. An hour later we were on our way and, despite the last section of road being narrow and muddy, we arrived safely at about 4.30pm.

It was lovely to be greeted by the familiar face of the pastor of the Lutheran church where we’d be holding the seminar, who has also hosted previous workshops we’ve held in Ikuwo. After we had put our stuff in the guest house we stood outside chatting in the beautiful evening light. Later I left Konga at a café with a friend of his, while I continued to stretch my legs by accompanying a trainee-pastor, from the Lutheran church, on his way home.

After eating my tea (rice cakes, peanut butter, salad stuff, fruit and chocolate), I wanted to wash. It’s a simple guest house, so having a wash involved taking a jug from my en-suite bathroom (a very grand title for a small room with a long-drop, a tap and a bucket of water) to a big pan of water set on a small fire in the yard, to get warm water. It turned out the jug had a leak, so by the time I got back to my room I only had half a jug of lukewarm water for washing with! There was no bulb in the light fixture in the bathroom, so I propped up my solar-light and got on with getting rid of the dust of the journey.

*Uji: a kind of porridge made from a mixture of different flours – my preferred blend, learnt from a Tanzanian friend, is rice, maize, millet and peanut flours. However, I veer away from the way Tanzanians might make it by adding various other things to it, such as chia seeds, peanut butter, raisins and lemon juice, with a banana chopped into it at the end, and by not adding any sugar.

Thursday 16^th May

It turns out that my bedroom looks out on the yard of a children’s nursery, so after getting back from a beautiful morning walk between fields of potatoes, maize, wheat and sunflowers, I ate my breakfast to the sound of children playing outside my window. Thankfully the windows are reflective on the outside, so they couldn’t see in!

When we arrived at the Lutheran church, we stood around chatting as people gradually arrived. ‘Breakfast’ was provided – sweet black tea, boiled cassava and mandazi (a kind of fried dough, faintly resembling doughnuts without the hole); a standard Tanzanian diet is very high in carbohydrates. While I don’t dislike these foods, I prefer my homemade granola bar, peanuts and bananas! So I ate just enough to be polite.

We finally kicked off the seminar some time after 10am, with the focus of day one being on giving an introduction to the book of Ephesians, especially looking at where it fits into the big story of the Bible, and on practising to read Vwanji. There was a good turnout, with around 40 participants, all in some form of leadership or teaching role (from pastors to Sunday school teachers). All bar two came from Lutheran churches, which is the main denomination in the area. Lunch was rather late (2.45pm) and I struggled through rice and bits of chewy intestine, longing to eat the beans that were also provided, but knowing I’d probably regret it later if I did. As the seminar continued, the corrugated iron roof creaked is it expanded and shrank according to whether the sun was blazing or hiding behind clouds.

Practising reading Vwanji

After we’d finished, tidied up and chatted, I went for a short walk, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and the friendly greetings, before retiring to my room for the evening, snuggling up in bed to keep warm.

Friday 17^th May

Another beautiful walk, breakfast and a bit of work before heading to the church. I was encouraged to see that everyone was back plus one or two extras, and we had a good time working our way slowly through the book of Ephesians. I found it hard to tell how much they were understanding or discovering through our studies, as only a few people had confidence to answer and ask questions, but as far as it was possible to read their faces, it felt like most of them were engaged and listening well. Nyambo said people were enjoying it and saying that the seminar was too short, so I took that as a good sign! There were some good and some slightly odd questions and comments, and I appreciated the wisdom of some of the older pastors present as they shared their thoughts. Lunch was ready on time, and far more appealing to my palate, with chunks of meat and greens to go with ugali.

I felt tired after teaching all day and was happy to leave Nyambo and Konga to travel on motorbikes to a nearby village (where some of the seminar participants came from) to show the Jesus film.

Saturday 18^th May

There were eggs for breakfast today, which was a nice surprise. Local, free-range eggs are small, with a whitish shell, full of flavour with their lovely yellow yolks. And pumpkin – not something I’m accustomed to having for breakfast!

The final day of the seminar seemed to go well, with people sharing at the end how their understanding of salvation and grace had changed, or how they had been touched by the way we should love and forgive others because of how Christ has loved and forgiven us, or how it’s important to start at the beginning of a Bible book or passage to make sure we get the right meaning of the verses we want to read.

Composing a song using Ephesians 5:1-2, in Vwanji

Straight after the seminar, children gathered excitedly in the church. Many of them had already been waiting around since lunchtime, as they’d been told there’d be a special class for them in the evening. Altogether about 100 children turned up (apparently more than twice the amount that usually turn up to Sunday school). We had great fun playing ‘Simon says’ before Nyambo gave them a short lesson about Vwanji. Sadly we found that very few of the children could speak much Vwanji, which was something we had already started to notice during our stay there. Even Nyambo and Konga were surprised at how many children, including pre-schoolers, were using Swahili, compared to just a few years ago. It seems that one of the reasons is that children are beaten at school if they use Vwanji. This doesn’t bode well for the continuation of the Vwanji language or for the Vwanji Scriptures being used by the rising generation.

After reading a Bible story in Vwanji, and then in Swahili (realising that a lot of them hadn’t fully understood by hearing it in Vwanji), we had a quiz and finished with the Lord’s prayer (in both languages), and each child left with a simple Vwanji Bible story book to take home. Some of the kids followed us back to the guest house – I felt like the pied piper (a story that is apparently also told to children here)!

I was asked to teach in church the next day, so my evening was spent preparing for that. It would have been nice to just participate in the service from a back seat, but that was never likely to happen!

Sunday 19^th May

Finally, what I’d been hoping for each morning when we gathered for breakfast – potatoes. There’s something particularly enjoyable about eating new potatoes that have been pulled freshly from the earth in the very village where you are eating them. The high altitude and resulting cool weather create just the right climate for growing potatoes and wheat. The pastor was surprised to see me eating the tender skin; I attempted to explain its health benefits (but somewhat lacked the Swahili vocabulary to talk about digestion) as well as enthuse about how good it tastes, but I don’t think he was convinced!

I sat next to the pastor’s wife during the morning service, so that she could guide me through the Lutheran liturgy with her book of liturgy and hymns. The liturgy is full of wonderful truth and I enjoyed the calm, ordered service (somewhat different from the Baptist church I usually attend), though I did miss some of the spontaneity of a non-liturgical church.

When it was time to give offerings, a number of people came up bearing small bags or baskets of maize, beans, wheat or eggs to place beside the offering box. While it is not uncommon for people to bring an offering of food, it was my first time to see quite so many people doing this, perhaps giving a picture of the economy – people are not likely to go hungry with such rich farmland around, but they may have very little cash-in-hand. After the service they auctioned off some of the food gifts, so as to turn them into money that can be used by the church. I acquired some avocadoes, which someone bought for me!

At 3pm we began our journey to the large village of Matamba. Once again, we crawled along over the rocks, bumps and dips, alternating between first and second gear for much of the way, finally arriving in Matamba about 5.15pm. We visited the church where we’d be holding the seminar, and learned of a funeral nearby that had the potential to change our plans, as no-one would come to the seminar if a burial was taking place. The body was coming from some distance away (by the Zambian border), hopefully arriving that night.

Beautiful Matamba

It was a relief to finally settle in my guesthouse room, with the luxury of a table and chair, a good light, a tiled floor and a hot shower! I definitely needed the thick blanket, as Matamba is about 2160 metres (about 7080 feet) above sea level, and the evening air was distinctly chilly.

Monday 20^th May

I started the day with a beautiful walk along the road, as the birds sang and the sun shone on the fields and hills, giving me time to pray as I enjoyed God’s creation. Then breakfast. It was obviously going to be a day of eggs! It turns out the guesthouse provides breakfast (many do not, especially when you’re paying less than £5 for a room like I was), and while I couldn’t have most of the options (being made of wheat), I could have the eggs, so they gave me three! Yesterday, I had also been given a gift of three eggs, which I gave to Konga to boil at his home (although he lives in Mbeya, he comes from Matamba, and his younger brother lives in his old house). He brought them to me at the guesthouse, freshly boiled. I did not eat all six eggs! I stashed four away for later.

With the seminar not planned to start until the afternoon, I enjoyed a quiet morning, doing bits and bobs on my computer. I popped out at lunch time, walking down the road until I found a place selling chips. The vendor was very kind – seeing how cold I was she topped up a little stove with fresh coals and drew it across to where I was sitting, so I could enjoy my delicious plate of chips in the warm. One of the avocados I’d been given the day before made a good accompaniment.

I arrived at the church promptly at 3pm only to find the place deserted. A bit later Nyambo turned up, coming from the funeral; the burial had only just taken place, people wouldn’t be able to make it to the seminar today. So it was back to my computer.

Tuesday 21^st May

I really enjoyed getting into Galatians with the twenty or so participants that gathered together at the Lutheran church. The group were a bit more responsive than the folk I was with in Ikuwo, which makes it easier for the teacher! I also enjoyed beautiful walks morning and evening. A good day all round.

Wednesday 22^nd May

Enjoying the morning sunshine as they practised
reading Vwanji, while we waited for folk to arrive

The seminar continued until lunchtime. We had fun learning very serious truths through playing tug-of-war (illustrating how the desires of the flesh wage war with the Spirit, as Paul describes in Galatians 5:17) and we looked at the ways in which we may give the flesh an opportunity to pull us in the wrong direction and what we can do to give the Spirit more of an opportunity to pull is in the right direction.

In the afternoon we’d planned to have a meeting to follow-up a seminar on distribution that Konga had done in November with the CBO and people they’d chosen as distributors. Unfortunately most of the distributors couldn’t come, and those who did come didn’t have particularly encouraging reports to share. Effective distribution, leading to people really using the Scriptures, continues to be a huge challenge. We left them with the Vwanji books we’d brought with us and encouraged them to distribute them freely in appropriate settings (such as church services, children’s activities, to people who buy a New Testament etc).

We finally left Matamba at 5pm, with an extra passenger, Mahali. He is our Project Team Leader, who also happens to be Vwanji and who had returned to his village home for a few days to work on his avocado and passion fruit farm. (While many of our colleagues have built houses in Mbeya, most of them also have farms back in their home village.) The journey home took us up into Kitulo National Park – there were some magnificent views on the way and the wild moors of Kitulo have their own beauty, which I love. But I could see cloud ahead, and halfway across the moors we became enveloped in fog and the journey became an exhausting attempt to peer through the thick whiteness and avoid potholes, mud and rocks. Mahali kept us regaled with stories of childhood, when he used to walk to school across those moors, and of his translation consultant work with the Hadza people and their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, which helped distract me from anxiety over the painfully slow progress we were making and the fast encroaching darkness. We finally made it to the tarmac road at 8pm (it gets dark about 7pm) and I arrived at the office just under an hour later, having dropped off my colleagues en-route at places where they could jump on a bajaj (motorised rickshaw) to get home with their sacks of avocados. My car was patiently waiting in the office carpark, and soon I was home. Food, unpack, shower, bed. I was thankful to be safely home but also thankful for the opportunities the trip had provided to enjoy God’s creation and serve his Church.

Magnificent views as we left Matamba

Postscript

While I was in Matamba, the news came that Margaret Hill had left his earth and gone to be with the God she faithfully served. She was my tutor when I did my Scripture engagement training in 2007, and I have worked with her on a couple of different projects over the years. She was a remarkable woman, continuing to travel and consult into her eighties. She also taught Konga as he did his Scripture engagement training over the past three years, in Uganda, and as he said, “We have lost an important person.” I sat in my guesthouse room, in a Tanzanian village, and grieved her passing and thought about how she is one of the reasons that I was there, doing what I was doing.

Some people would call it an adventure

It’s rainy season, so you don’t expect the roads to be good, but they were even worse than I had anticipated as we travelled several hundred kilometres from Mbeya to Makete to Njombe to Kidugala and back to Mbeya over four days. The goal of the trip was to meet with the Kinga Community Based Organisation (CBO) in Makete, and then the Bena CBO in Njombe, to discuss distribution of New Testaments and other resources in their languages, before going on to talk to students at a Lutheran Theological Seminary in Kidugala.

My colleague, Konga, and I set off at noon on Tuesday in our project’s Land Cruiser. After about an hour we left the tarmac road, and the impact of rainy season on dirt roads quickly made itself felt as we started the gradual climb up to Kitulo National Park. This park isn’t for wildlife, though some seemingly elusive zebras are reported to exist, but rather has been made a protected area in order to preserve important sources of water as well as wild flowers including rare orchids. The road is frequented by lorries carrying produce (such as potatoes), which churn up the road in the rainy season, as well as a few small buses and occasional cars (mostly 4WDs like we were in).

Before entering the park we stopped off at village to get some lunch. Konga asked someone on the roadside where they’d recommend we go for food, and we were directed to a dingy café, with a couple of tables inside and a cramped cooking area outside. Despite external appearances, the food was good and the staff friendly, and I enjoyed ugali, greens and roasted chunks of beef. After we’d eaten, we made a dive for the car in the pouring rain and continued our journey. As we drove through the park, Konga pointed out where houses had stood, and a church once existed, before people were evicted in order to turn it into a preservation.

The journey included rain, fog, mud, puddles and holes as well as moments of beauty when the skies cleared and we could look across the wild moorland and see interesting plant life and gnarled trees. It isn’t so easy to appreciate beauty, though, when one is worried that they are going to have to spend the night sleeping in their car in the middle of a wilderness. This is what I feared would happen when we encountered two lorries that had got stuck in the mud as they tried to pass each other on the narrow road. We waited, and waited, with the occasional vehicle joining the queue behind us, while the lorries awaited help, which came in the form of a chain that another lorry then used to pull the stuck lorries, with some difficulty, out of the mud. We could have turned around and taken an alternative, longer, route, but that road is being worked on (to eventually make it a tarmac road, which will be amazing) and I had grave doubts about how good it would be if construction vehicles were using it. In fact, we’d earlier made a decision not to go to another Bible college en-route to Makete that would have involved using that road, because we’d heard reports that it might not be in good shape. So instead we waited as the rain fell, and then stopped, the skies cleared and then started to dim as evening approached. Two and half hours later, with much relief, we were able to resume our journey. But this now meant that it would be dark before we arrived. Some would call it an adventure, but driving on unfamiliar roads, engaging 4WD to avoid getting stuck in mud, in the dark and the rain, was an adventure I could have done without. With only a mile to go, we slipped into a dip and almost got stuck – the wheels were spinning and the mud was flying and we were going nowhere. Konga got out, examined the situation, suggested that if I turned the wheels hard to the right I might be able to gain traction and get out of the dip, and with a sudden lurch it worked!

We all wait for the lorries further down the road to get unstuck. Spot the cow!

Kitulo National Park

With relief, we finally reached the new tarmac road that starts on the edge of Makete and runs all the way through to Njombe, and a guesthouse Konga had stayed in before had vacancies and hot showers that actually worked. A trip that should take no more than about 4.5 hours had taken us about 8. But we had arrived safely. I ate, showered and collapsed into bed, snuggling under the blankets to keep warm as Makete is about 7460 feet (2274 metres) above sea level, and hence rather chilly at night.

On Wednesday morning we drove the short distance to the place we would be meeting with the Kinga CBO. Only a couple of people had arrived, but by the time we got going with the seminar we had around 15 people in attendance. After a substantial breakfast (chapattis, egg, samosas and milky tea) we got started. Once we had been formally welcomed by the chair of the CBO and introductions had taken place and a brief Word given, we were invited to continue. We began with a Bible study on the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, providing an opportunity to listen to the Kinga Scriptures and discuss the fact that distribution of the Scriptures is about more than just getting people to buy books, it’s also about helping people to understand what they are reading. So then we moved into hearing about what they have done so far in terms of distribution and discussing what else could be done, including how they will use the two new motorbikes they had just received from a partner organisation of SIL, which have been provided to support their distribution activities. We also talked about how to use the New Testament, making sure they all understood how to use footnotes, discussing the value of pictures and showing them the glossary at the back. Then we explored the Kinga Bible app with them, showing them how to download it from Google PlayStore and download the audio and create memes (putting Bible verses on nice backgrounds) to share on social media. We finished by mapping out their language area and places they felt hadn’t been reached much yet, discussing how much it would cost to get there and working out a budget to make initial distribution visits to those places. We will put the necessary money into the CBO’s bank account before the end of the month, ready for them to start using in May when the rainy season should be coming to an end. We hope and pray that they will use the money as planned and that their efforts will bear fruit.

A sunny morning as we waited for people to arrive, Makete

In the middle of all of this, we had lunch. At that point the rain was pouring down, and I felt sorry for the lady unloading big hotpots of food from the bajaj (motorised rickshaw) to bring them into our meeting room. As we saw the line-up of dishes, Konga and I looked at each other. When Konga had been communicating with the CBO about the seminar, he’d told them to arrange for a ‘normal’ breakfast and lunch, but what had been provided was definitely not normal, and we wondered what the bill would be. As feared, it turned out to be more than twice what we had budgeted per person! And then we had problems getting the receipt at the end of the day, involving another half hour’s delay when we wanted to be on the road for the two plus hour trip to Njombe. So we didn’t leave until 6pm, meaning that once again I had to drive along unfamiliar roads in the dark (it gets dark about 7pm). At least the roads were tarmac this time, but as it got dark it began to rain and there was also low-lying fog for much of the way, which made for tiring driving conditions as I strained to look ahead through the blur of the windscreen as the inefficient windscreen wipers swept backwards and forwards.

We finally arrived in Njombe and started to look for a guesthouse. The second place we tried turned out to be suitable, and I once again ate, showered and collapsed into bed. The next morning we headed to the Lutheran Centre for our meeting. We had met with the Bena CBO back in November, when we were able to give them MegaVoice players (solar powered audio devices) loaded with the Bena audio Scriptures for them to share around the community. So after the Bible study, we asked how the distribution of these players had gone. We were discouraged by the lack of implementation of some of the plans we had made at that previous meeting, which meant we didn’t feel it would be a good idea to follow the same strategy for the Bena as we had for the Kinga of mapping out the language area and planning trips. (That is basically the method we had used for the audio players, and it obviously hadn’t worked too well, which we think is largely due to the people in the group – their personalities, their age and being few in number. I guess we’ll find out whether it’s that or something else when we compare to how well the Kinga implement the plans we have just made with them.) So instead of the mapping exercise we asked that after they have met again they should share their plans with us for how they will use their two new motorbikes for distribution, and we will give a contribution to the fuel to get them started.

We also adopted a different food strategy in Njombe, giving them money to go and buy lunch for themselves, which meant we could stay within our budget. It turned out we had been more than generous with the 5000 shillings we gave them, as just across the road we got lunch for 2000 – 3000 shillings (less than £1)! This is what I am used to paying in Mbeya too, but last time we’d gone to Njombe we’d ended up at a surprisingly expensive café and so had left with the impression that food there was more expensive than in Mbeya, hence we had set a higher meal allowance.

We were able to finish in good time for the next leg of our journey to Kidugala. The Bena CBO thought it would be good if one of their leadership came with us to the Bible college, so that they could build a connection with them as it is within the Bena language area. So Ng’eve (who used to work with us many years ago) dropped everything and came with us – he didn’t even go home to pick up a toothbrush, but just came along as he was! Once again the road was bad, but bad in a different way. Before we had hardly left the town of Njombe, we turned onto a dirt road, which was pitted with small holes that were hard to avoid and made for a very rough, slow ride – much of the journey was taken at 20mph or less! At some point the road improved, but then we encountered a much worse problem. Slick clay. The car slid and slipped all over the road, despite being in 4WD, it was like driving on ice. I had very little control and crawled along at about 6mph! Thankfully it wasn’t like that the whole time, but there were long stretches that were, and I feared that we’d end up in a ditch or, even worse, hitting a pedestrian strolling along the side of the road oblivious to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to stop the car if it decided to slip in their direction. At least we were doing this journey in daylight! Thankfully we arrived safely at the college just as darkness fell.

On arrival, all I wanted to do was lie down and close my eyes, but instead we sat and made polite conversation with the college principal while our rooms were prepared. We were provided with hot water to bathe and then invited to the staff room to eat. After downing some rice, chicken and avocado, I made my excuses and left them to talk over a cup of tea, while I retreated to my room, tucked the mosquito net securely around my bed (I had killed several of those little beasts in my room already and could hear many more) and read for a while before putting in earplugs (so that I wouldn’t hear the mosquitos) and falling asleep. Incidentally, there was no need to use mosquito nets in Makete or Njombe, as due to the altitude and cool weather there are very few mosquitoes there.

I was rudely awakened at 5am by the sound of the church bell clanging, but I dozed for another hour before getting up. We attended the 7am service for the college and secondary school students (there is a school connected to the seminary) after which the school students left and we took our place at the front of the hall to talk to the 120 or so seminary students gathered there. We discussed barriers to people reading and engaging with the Bible and the fact that one of these barriers can be language. We then talked about language use in ministry, showed them the various resources available in local languages (such as the New Testaments, Bible apps and audio Scriptures) and answered questions. We sold a significant number of Bena New Testaments, as well as a few in other languages. All in all it felt like a worthwhile visit and the teachers seemed to appreciate what we had to say.

Flowers in Kitulo National Park

Finally it was time to return to Mbeya. Konga learned to drive recently but has very little opportunity to practise, so I let him drive for the first hour along a good dirt road, before taking over when we reached tarmac. He told me how a lot of the driving instruction he had received was delivered sitting in a classroom or being one of several taking it in turns to drive a car. It wasn’t until he gave the instructor some extra money that he finally got some independent lessons until the instructor said he was ready to go solo. There was no driving test. I think I had every right to feel slightly nervous as I sat beside him, but it was good to see even within that hour how he grew in confidence.

When we reached the tarmac road we dropped off the person who had come with us so that he could catch a small bus back to Njombe (a more reliable option than trying to get a bus directly from Kidugala back along those dodgy dirt roads). Further on Konga and I stopped for lunch at a roadside café and then continued our journey along the sometimes straight, sometimes smooth, sometimes ruckled and sometimes potholed road back to Mbeya. I dropped Konga off near his home and finally arrived back at the office about 3.30pm. Some people would call it an adventure, but I was just thankful to be safely home.

Ten vehicles in three days - a short trip to Njombe

Thursday 12^th October

It’s 9.15pm and I am sitting on the bed of my room in New Ufunuo guesthouse (Ufunuo means ‘revelation’), the heavy blanket keeping my legs snug and warm. I’m in the town of Njombe, which always feels colder than Mbeya, being at an altitude of about 6450 feet (1960 metres) compared to Mbeya’s 5600 or so feet (1710 metres). I boarded a total of five different vehicles to get here, leaving home at 9am and arriving at 5.30pm. First, just a few minutes from home, I was able to flag down a bajaj (motorised rickshaw) to get to a place where I would easily be able to catch a daladala (a sort of minibus) to get to the place where there’d be buses going to Njombe. But the daladala conductor turfed us all out part-way there and we had to wait for another daladala to take us the last leg of the journey! The conductor waited with us in order to transfer our fares, and we piled onto an already full daladala with standing room only in the narrow aisle. I arrived at 10am and joined my colleague, Konga, with whom I’d be travelling the rest of the way. We found a suitable bus fairly quickly, but then sat and waited in it for over half an hour before we finally set off – this is pretty normal on all except the big, long-distance buses, as they wait for the bus to fill up before heading off. (On the big buses, you normally get your tickets in advance, so they don’t have to wait around, and also they have a long way to go so they don’t want to be late heading off.)

The travel saga continued… the last person to sit on the seat I was on had obviously enjoyed a hard-boiled egg. Egg shell was tucked into the net pocket on the seat, and gradually fell through the netting into the open front-pocket of my rucksack that was wedged between my legs. There was also the loud, beating music to contend with (I asked the conductor to reduce the volume, which he kindly did to a more tolerable level).We eventually made it to the windy highway town of Makambako. After over 5 hours of sitting on the bus, we were ready to stretch our legs, and as Makambako is where you leave the main road, which stretches all the way from the border of Zambia to Dar es Salaam, and turn right towards Njombe, we thought we might have a chance to get off the bus for a few minutes. Sure enough, we pulled into the bus stand where most of the passengers got off to catch buses going elsewhere, and the conductor said we’d be there for 5 minutes. I got off, bought some oranges and went to the toilets. Do not think motorway service station toilets – those free, nicely tiled and with fancy hand dryers toilets! But at least this toilet (not the kind with a seat) had a full bucket of water for flushing with and a door lock that actually worked. I headed back to the bus, only to find the bus wasn’t there! I quickly walked to the exit of the bus stand in case it had moved forward, but there was no sign of it. Konga wasn’t to be seen either. I phoned him, we reconnected, but still no sign of the bus. I had been gone less than the 5 minutes I had been given, so where was the bus (and our luggage)? We left the bus stand and started walking alongside the road. Konga didn’t seem too flustered, and decided we should get a bajaj to a place further up the road where he thought the bus may have stopped. That was the fifth vehicle of the journey. And there was the bus, with the conductor looking wholly unconcerned about the fact they’d left without us! We waited there for another 10 minutes or so (for the bus to fill up more) and finally we were off.

It’s nice to be back in this guest house, somewhere familiar – I’ve stayed here twice before. I enjoyed a nice little walk at sunset, in the cool Njombe air, along quiet roads where lots of house building work is going on; it’s a rapidly expanding town. Then my colleague and I went to get food. We both chose ugali and greens, though I opted for beef while he went for gizzards. We had a long conversation about food, in which I failed miserably to explain stuffing and mint sauce as there is nothing remotely similar to these things here, while he told me how gizzards are considered a delicacy, so it’s the part the of the chicken the father would normally be given as a sign of respect. We also talked about alcohol, where I did a bit better at explaining mulled wine, while he told how he grew up drinking locally brewed alcohol. He described an idyllic sounding scene of how neighbours would help each other out with their farms: his mum’s friends would help on their family farm and after a day of labour they’d all drink the local beer she’d brewed, and then another day they’d work together on someone else’s farm and finish with more beer. Unfortunately this communal spirit isn’t quite as idyllic as it sounds, as rather a lot of beer would be drunk. The general consensus I hear from my Tanzanian friends is that when people drink here, they tend to drink too much. For this reason, drinking alcohol is prohibited by most church denominations, and Konga himself give up drinking when he became serious about his faith.

The strength of feeling many Christians hold towards alcohol was brought home to me in another way today. While I was on the bus a Sunday school teacher from the church I attend (where I also teach Sunday school) messaged me as he’d just travelled somewhere to start a new job, only to find that the shop he’d be working in sold alcohol. This went against his conscience, and despite having literally travelled across the country for this opportunity (work is hard to come by) he courageously turned the job down and will head back to Mbeya at the weekend. I couldn’t help but admire him for what he did, even if I don’t have the same conscience about drinking and selling alcohol.

I have a slight headache, probably from dehydrating myself on the bus (because you never know when you might get to use a toilet, so it’s best not to need it at all) and from the flashing lights at the place we went to for dinner. But hopefully I’ll be right as rain in the morning. Good night!

Evening walk

Friday 13^th October

I’m back under the blanket, but though the night is cool and this morning a chill mist hung low over the fields, the midday sun was fierce. Walking the streets of Njombe at lunchtime to find food, it was a relief anytime we passed under the shade of a building or tree. While on the topic, lunch proved surprisingly hard to find. We headed off with a local to find something, but the first two places only served rice and beans (and I can’t eat beans due to my IBS) and the third place was closed. We finally ended up at a decent eating establishment, but the food was surprisingly expensive. I got ugali, greens and a fried egg, costing a shocking 5000 shillings. While this doesn’t sound much in UK currency, about £1.65, it’s twice the price you’d pay for the same meal in Mbeya.

Morning walk

We came to Njombe to do a one-day workshop. The goal of the workshop was to distribute audio devices loaded with the New Testament in the Bena language and train people to hold ‘listening groups’ (a kind of audio Bible study). We had a small group of eight, less people than hoped, and all bar one came from one church denomination. This was frustrating but out of our hands, as it was the local Community Based Organisation (CBO) who had chosen who should be there. This is what we did together:

• Talked about the value of audio Scriptures
• Had an audio Bible study on Luke 15:1-10 and talked about the experience
• Discussed the qualities of a good group leader
• Had another study on the rest of the chapter
• Talked about how you decide what to listen to depending on who you are listening with and why you are listening together
• In pairs they discussed who they could listen with and what they would listen to and then they wrote their plans down.
• 
  Finally we mapped out the Bena language area, and gave each person 4-5 audio players – one for themselves, one for someone else in their village (from a different church denomination) and one for each of 2-3 villages they’d identified in their part of the Bena area (they all came from different villages), as well as some money to cover their travel costs to do the distribution.

This sounds very strategic when I write it down though I have some doubts about how well it will work out in reality, but I hope and pray that God may use these efforts for good.

By the time we’d finished, got a bajaj back to the guest house and walked to the bus stand to get tickets for our return journey tomorrow, it was already 6.45pm and I was tired. I retired to my room for a light tea (rice cakes and peanut butter that I’d brought with me and carrots, tomatoes and fruit from a local market), a WhatsApp call with a friend in England and…

…time to stop writing and get some sleep ready for tomorrow’s early start (the bus leaves at 6am).

Saturday 14^th October

A headache and the night-before-travel feeling made for a poor night’s sleep. We walked to the bus stand and boarded our bus. It was not going to be a particularly comfortable ride – the seats were far too narrow so I was squished up to the window with no room to adjust my position over the five plus hours that we spent on the bus. As you can imagine it was a relief to get off, though we were straight onto a daladala for the final leg of the journey, and once again I was turfed off part-way and put on another. That makes ten vehicles in three days – four bajajs, four daladalas and two buses!

And finally I was home. I gulped down a glass of cold water, put my luggage away, had lunch (a chance to chat with my housemate), finished preparing for Sunday school and then took a rest on the little sofa in my bedroom, tired from travel and lethargic from the heat (it’s over 27C in my room). I hope the rains come soon to dampen down the dust, freshen up the air and lower the temperatures, though by that time I might be in England, and probably complaining about the cold instead!

From the hills to the tropics – travelling around Unyakyusa

Meet the people

Before we travel, let me introduce you to some of the people you’ll meet along the way. Above is a photo of the literacy/Scripture engagement team from five years ago. The people you see worked in eleven different language areas, some of them were (and still are) based in the Mbeya office, but the majority lived and worked in their home area. A year or so after the New Testament translations were completed in nine of these languages, the employment of the workers in those areas ceased (for most of them this was at the end of September 2021). However, we still partner with them as they continue to serve their language communities through local Community Based Organisations.

For our trip around the Nyakyusa language area (a.k.a. Unyakyusa), Frank (from the Mbeya office) and I would first be accompanied by David Mwangunga, who lives in the northern part of Unyakyusa (closest to Mbeya), and then by Andrew Mwangosi, who lives in the southern part. Finally, Frank and Andrew would be joined by another Andrew (not on the picture), who was one of the Nyakyusa translators, for the final leg of the journey into Malawi (while I returned to Mbeya). You can see our journey on the map below – 2 stops in the north, 2 in the south and 2 more for my colleagues in Malawi.

Wednesday

Frank and I left the office at 2pm, arriving in the small town of Kandete less than 3 hours later. The journey was uneventful, our project Land Cruiser behaved itself, and I enjoyed leaving behind the brown, dusty landscape of Mbeya (currently in the middle of our long dry season) for the much greener, lusher landscape of Unyakyusa. Unyakyusa is made up of both a hilly region that gets rain almost all year round and a low, hot, tropical region that also reaches into Malawi. Kandete is at an altitude of about 1590 metres / 5200 feet, making it fractionally lower than Mbeya, and isn’t far from Kitulo National Park (a plateau about 2500 metres / 8500 feet above sea level, and known for its rare orchids). It was colder than I anticipated! So after getting a somewhat disappointing dinner (lukewarm, slightly greasy rice isn’t very appetising) at a rather funky looking café, Frank, David and I headed to the market to find coats! It was David in particular that needed one, but I saw a long black coat that was a reasonable fit on me, costing less than £3. Okay, so it was second-hand, with some marks on it and a couple of tiny holes where the filling kept spilling out despite my best efforts to sew it up, but it would do to tide me over until we dropped down to warmer climes later in the trip. 

Once it got dark, I set up our speakers and projector to show the Nyakyusa translation of the Jesus film on the outside wall of the Lutheran church. I left my colleagues to supervise the equipment and endure the chilly, damp evening air, while I retreated to our guest house until it was time to pack up. It was one of the nicest guest houses I’ve stayed in for a long time. Everything felt new and even toilet paper was provided (an unusual luxury), as well as soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste and a little pot of scented petroleum jelly (which Tanzanians use as a moisturiser).

Thursday

I didn’t want to get out from under the blanket! But telling myself I’d feel better for a brisk walk in the cold morning air, I forced myself to get up and head out. The clouds hung low over the mountains and by the time I got back there was a faint drizzle in the air – I was thankful for my new coat! We had come to the Nyakyusa language area with the primary goal of listening to people’s stories of the impact of the work we have done there, including making the New Testament available in the Nyakyusa language in both print and audio forms. This method of research is known as Outcome Harvesting, and would later involve analysing the short stories we have collected, to look for patterns in the data to see what we can learn from it for future work.

In Kandete we hoped to meet with ten people, starting at 9am. We eventually started about 2.5 hours later with seven people, in a room belonging to the Lutheran church. Frank and I were disappointed with the small number of stories we were able to gather. On the plus side, they were very happy that we had visited, we had a good Bible study time at the beginning, we sold a few Nyakyusa books and were able to leave three audio devices behind for them to use to listen to the Nyakyusa audio Scriptures.

After a very late lunch (as disappointing as the previous day’s dinner) we set off for our next location, Mbambo. I drove slowly over the rough road, trying to avoid the worst of the bumps, and enjoying the beautiful scenery all around, from the rolling hills to the green fields of potato plants, and from rows of tea bushes to big, leafy banana trees. At a seemingly random spot, the dirt road suddenly became tarmac, and the rest of the journey was an almost constant descent on a lovely smooth road.

Being at a lower altitude, Mbambo was much warmer, so I was finally able to shed my coat and cardigan. The guest house wasn’t anywhere near as nice as the previous place, but then again, it was also half the price (at about £3.30). The worst problem was the loud music emanating from the bar next door and the drunk people talking too loudly just a few metres away from my bedroom window. David and I went to visit the pastor of the church where we’d be holding our meeting the next day, and were invited to stay for dinner (the kind of invitation that you can’t refuse). What I really wanted to do was go back to my room and have some time alone, and I felt guilty for feeling like that in the face of such kind hospitality. When we did return to the guest house, it was to find that the music seemed even louder, so it was nothing short of a miracle that I managed to fall asleep.

Friday

We were able to start our meeting more promptly this time, going through the same routine as the previous day, but gathering even less stories than before. However, our time together felt very worthwhile as we were able to sell print and audio Scriptures and talk about how they could all play a part in raising awareness of the availability of the Nyakyusa New Testament. As they finished off their sodas at the end, which the pastor had kindly provided, they also enjoyed watching a short section of the Jesus film. It’s amazing how even in the most rural places you can find crates of fizzy drinks in glass bottles (usually from either Pepsi or Coca Cola, who produce a much wider range of drinks than I was ever aware of when in England). A common gesture of hospitality is to give your guests a soda – unfortunately my favourite sodas (bitter lemon and ginger beer) are not so easy to come by out of town, so I am very thankful when a bottle of water is amongst the drink offerings.

And then we were on the road again, to the village of Itete, where the plan was to hold a seminar on the book of Ephesians for local churches (especially church leaders), beginning Friday evening and continuing throughout Saturday. Only four people were there at the time we were supposed to start, so I played the audio version of Ephesians in Nyakyusa for them to listen to while we waited for others to come. By the end, there were still only four people! For some reason they’d omitted to tell me that most churches have a service on a Friday evening, so they couldn’t participate at that time. So, quick change of plan – I used the time instead to do a Bible overview (a quick revision of a Bible seminar I taught there last year) and to have a Nyakyusa literacy lesson (taught by David).

After teaching, I wanted to rest but David and Frank needed food, so I drove them to the village centre and waited in the car while they got something to eat, which took longer than expected. I was hungry, thirsty and tired and desperate to get back to the house when they finally emerged from the café an hour or so later. Driving at night in a rural village is a disorientating experience – the dark feels so very dark, and I lost all sense of direction and had problems turning the car as I couldn’t see what was behind me (an issue exacerbated by the tinted rear windows).

We slept in the same house I stayed in last time I was there (the owner of the house doesn’t live there anymore, and lets the pastor use it for his guests). David and Frank were given the room I slept in last time, as it has a double bed, which they had to share, while I got the room with a single bed. This didn’t seem to disturb them too much – Frank told me the main thing was that they both like to have the light off when they sleep, so at least they were in agreement on that! Later I could hear one of them gently snoring.

Saturday

I enjoyed a short but beautiful early morning walk to a crater lake, with fantastic views in all directions, to Lake Nyasa in the south and mountains in the north. Then it was off to the grass-roofed church for the seminar. This time there was a good turnout, from a range of church denominations, and we enjoyed studying Ephesians together. One of the main challenges I found was getting them to give thought-through answers that related specifically to the Bible passage in question – instead their answers were often just based on their general Bible knowledge. While the answers weren’t necessarily bad or wrong, it just meant that they weren’t ever getting beyond the basic truths we are all familiar with to discover the breadth and depth of what is revealed in God’s Word.

As soon as we had finished we were off again, saying goodbye to David en-route and hello to Andrew as we arrived at our next sleeping place less than an hour later. But no time to rest, we needed to be off again to show the Jesus film at an evangelistic meeting outside a little Baptist church, where a piece of tarpaulin had been stretched across some bamboo poles to create a big screen. Being a warm location and having been well advertised at the evangelistic meeting in the preceding days, as well as drawing in people passing by on the road less than a stone’s throw from where the screen had been erected, there was a big turnout of both children and adults. Although it was hard to tell in the dark, I reckon over 150 people had gathered, with even the children staying to the end, despite the late hour.

Sunday

On Sunday morning we headed back to the Baptist church, which was little more than a wooden hut. Andrew preached to the small congregation, using mostly Nyakyusa, though with enough Swahili mixed in that I, and any other non-Nyakyusa speakers, could still follow along. We also had the joy of witnessing the baptism of some teenage girls and a young boy, at a river a one mile walk away from the church. I wouldn’t have wanted to get baptised in the muddy water there, a place that, judging by the multitude of hoof marks on the banks, was obviously frequented by thirsty cows, but the girls didn’t hesitate to squelch through the mud and into the pool, afterwards getting changed into dry clothes behind a bush.

Singing and dancing as part of the evangelistic meeting.
In the back, left-hand corner you can see the little church.

After lunch at the pastor’s home, the ubiquitous rice, greens and meat and a soda, we headed back to the guest house where I was able to have a couple of hours of respite, while Frank went off to find a barber to shave his short beard and hair off as it was getting itchy! And then it was off again, for yet another showing of the Jesus film outside the church where we’d hold the next day’s meeting. I was amazed to discover the church was carpeted inside – I felt like I was back in a church in England! Why they would carpet their church located in a hot, tropical village, where I doubt anyone has even heard of such a thing as a vacuum cleaner, beats me! A cement or tiled floor is much cooler and easier to keep clean, which is what you will find in most churches and people’s homes.

Showing the Jesus film (we'd taped white sheets up over the window to create a screen)

Monday

Same again, another meeting, in the warm, carpeted church, with a fan whirring furiously overhead. Then it was back on the road to the district town of Kyela, and back to the same guest house and room I had slept in a couple of months previously when we’d gone to meet with the Nyakyusa team to talk about the research and plan the trip we were now in the middle of.

Tuesday

Our fourth (and my final) meeting location was half an hour outside of Kyela, very close to the border of Malawi. It was hot. We met in a Moravian church, and I was very confused when participants introduced themselves and I discovered that there were two Moravian churches in the village, with slightly different names. Sadly there had been a big split in the Moravian church some time previously, leading to a family being burned in their home and a break-off of the original church being started. No wonder Jesus prayed for believers to have unity (John 17), for he knew just how hopeless we are at maintaining it in our own strength.

A late lunch was followed by a siesta and then sitting outside in the shade to work together on writing up the stories we’d heard, while mosquitoes enjoyed a sumptuous dinner at my expense. Thirsty, I crossed the main road to a little shop boasting a fridge, to buy a bottle of cold water. Shelves lined the walls, bearing pot after pot of local herb mixes claiming to help with all kinds of ailments. I told the ownders of the shop about our work of Bible translation and the Nyakyusa Bible app that you can download from Google Play Store – to my delight, they immediately downloaded it onto their phone.

There was just time to go for a short walk before it got dark. Well, I would have been back before dark if my stomach hadn’t decided it was time to complain about something or other I must have eaten that I shouldn’t have. I begged a woman, who was sitting outside her home cooking plantain, for use of their toilet, rushed to their little brick outhouse, grabbing some leaves off a tree en-route (I had made the fatal mistake of not carrying toilet paper) and ducked under the curtain that served as a door. Being dusk, I turned on my phone’s torch so I could see where the hole was and let my body do what it needed to do. I thanked the lady profusely and weakly walked the rest of the way back to my room, looking forward to having a shower. But my shower had to wait as less than five minutes after arriving I was plunged into darkness as my bedroom bulb blew. As they had no spare bulbs and no ladder to reach up and replace it anyhow, I had to move all my stuff to another room. Bed number six of a trip of just seven nights. Paint was peeling on the walls and loud music emanated from the bar across the road, but once again, God calmed my spirit and I was able to relax and fall asleep, even as the music continued.

Wednesday

After a final bit of work together, I dropped my colleagues off at the border to continue their journey into Malawi by public transport, and began my drive back to Mbeya, climbing back up into the hills and leaving the tropical heat behind. I was surprised to pass by a total of three white (or more precisely, sun-bronzed) men cycling along on bikes heavily laden with panniers, each some miles distant from the other, each persuing their own crazy goal of cycling from who-knows-where to some distant destination. (Incidentally, these were the first white faces I had seen since leaving Mbeya eight days earlier.) One sported a ‘Cross Africa’ sign across the back of his bike, and I marvelled at how different the idea of ‘a fun way to spend the summer’ could be from one person to another. While some people might think my life is exotic and adventorous, the reality is that it’s generally quite calm and ordered! It also helps that I can speak the language and any of my more adventorous trips are usually in the company of someone who knows their way around. When I do have to face uncomfortable situations I have a strong motivation to persevere because Christ’s love compels me. How does someone find ‘fun’ the idea of cycling alone day after day, up and down steep hills under a hot African sun, unable to communicate easily, not knowing whether you’ll be able to get a decent shower at the end of another dusty, sweaty day on the bike or any hope of good coffee and a bowl of porridge to get you going the next morning? We are truly uniquely and wonderfully made!

After a couple of hours of driving I stopped off briefly for one of my favourite Tanzanian lunches, chipsi mayai (chip omelette), before entering a windy and dusty Mbeya mid-afternoon. I’d driven a total of 399km (248 miles), along some interesting roads and through some beautiful countryside and remarkably diverse climates; what a privilege to work in a place like this. But it was so good to be home.

Back in Mbeya

The stories we heard

A few of the forty plus stories we gathered, both the uplifting and the disheartening:

A certain retired teacher has always liked to use Nyakyusa. If he was given a chance to teach in church, he'd read in Swahili and then begin to translate it. Since getting the Nyakyusa NT he has used it when given a chance to preach in church. Now he doesn’t have to translate from Swahili as the Nyakyusa NT can be understood straight away.

One church member said, “After attending the literacy/Bible study workshop in 2017, I haven’t known where to get Nyakyusa books. I didn’t know the NT was available here in Mbambo. And I’ve stopped teaching people to read Nyakyusa.”

A particular pastor uses the Nyakyusa audio Scriptures when he is preparing to preach. He listens to the Scriptures until he finds a passage he wants to use, and then he listens to it carefully so he can prepare his sermon. He also uses the audio Scriptures when there is a power cut and can’t see to read his Bible.

One day, a couple of years ago, this same pastor visited a lady who was unwell. He sang her a song from the Nyakyusa Christian songbook*. The lady sat up and began to sing and felt a lot better!

*The songbook has existed for some time, but a few years ago we updated the orthography (spelling system) and republished it, much to everyone’s delight. The new orthography that we developed and used in all our Nyakyusa publications is much easier to read than the old one, because it looks more like the Swahili alphabet. The new songbook quickly sold out, and although we haven’t been able to reprint it, we have been able to make it available as an app for anyone who has a smart phone.

Last year, a pastor read John 3:16 from his Nyakyusa NT to some neighbours who had visited his home. One of them came to faith!