Off on an adventure - Kili Trails Festival

Thursday 6^th February

Air Tanzania flight from Dar left on time at 9pm. First stop, Zanzibar, then onto Kilimanjaro International Airport. Leaving the airport building, taxi drivers were quickly in my face offering rides, but I could see someone holding an ‘Air Tanzania Airport Shuttle’ sign and headed for that. I’d done my research and knew that I could pay 10,000/- (about £2.85*) for a shuttle rather than the $25 (about £18.30) that hotels charge for their taxi services.

(*Approximate exchange rate at time of writing: £1 = 3500/- (Tanzanian shillings))

Shuttle worked as hoped, taking me to the door of Snow View Hotel, where I’d booked myself in for the night. Google Maps had shown lots of accommodation options in Boma la Ng’ombe, which is where I needed to stay in order to get a bus the next day. I’d phoned a couple of them up that were close to the bus stand, Snow View and Happy Family Lodge, and decided to go with Snow View for no particular reason other than its location and the friendly voice on the phone. Their cheapest rooms were 50,000/-. I’m sure there would be cheaper places if you’re willing to shop around more, but Snow View was conveniently located on the main road, so it was easy to get dropped off there by the shuttle. I finally got to bed at midnight.

Friday 6^th February

Not sure about ‘Snow View’ – all I could see out of my window was roofs! Maybe a different side of the hotel and a higher floor would afford better views. My room felt warm – 27.2C at 8am (so said my handy little thermometer). After a slow start to the day with time to pray, read the Bible, stretch and have a shower, I headed downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast. They provided me with some hot water so I could make my porridge and they cooked me up an omelette. The only fruit available was watermelon. I wish this wasn’t so often the sole fruit option in hotels – it’s very high in fructose so it’s not a good option for me, and I don’t really like them anyhow! They couldn’t even rustle up a banana.

Packed up and walked round the corner of the hotel to the bus stand. Went to an MPesa (phone banking) agent to get some more cash out, trying to ignore all the bajaj (motorised rickshaw) drivers who wanted to persuade me I needed their services. One outright lied, telling me the bus stop for the bus I wanted was further down the road. It wasn’t. The hotel staff had told me to look for a Noah (a Toyota people carrier) for Sanya Juu. Found one in the middle of the bus stand, waited about 10 minutes for it to fill up so that ten of us were squished into seats for seven, and off we went. It took us about half an hour to get to Sanya Juu, costing 1500/-. I alighted to find another vehicle to take me to Madati, once again trying to ignore the people trying to offer me rides. We were packed like sardines for the half-an-hour or so ride as far as Engare Nairobi, at which point most people got off and I sat in luxury in the front seat for the last 5 minutes. Cost 2000/-. (In theory, I think there are daladalas or Noahs that would go all the way through to Madati, heading to West Kilimanjaro, but I couldn’t find any.)

This time I needed the services of a motorbike and was soon on the back of one heading to Simba Farm, for 2000/-. Took about 10 minutes – the wind in my face felt good as we headed off the tarmac and along the dirt road to Simba Farm, with fantastic views of the mountains off to my right.

I seemed to be one of the first to arrive at Simba Farm at about 11.30am. The event officially opened at 12 noon. I hovered around feeling lost, until someone rescued me, pointing me in the direction of the people in charge of the rented tents. My tent was up and ready for me, among many other identical Quechua (Decathlon) tents. I got my stuff in, noted my thermometer reading around 30C, but low humidity, took my bearings and soaked up the view across to Mount Meru. Awesome.

Once registration was open, I reported at the tent and got my wrist band, took a rest and then went to find some food. Finding low FODMAP food was a bit tricky, but options existed. As I stood dithering, the chef of the Chinese food stall came over to chat to me, which led to him rustling me up a delicious low-FODMAP Chinese meal! A colourful plate full of rice, stir-fried vegetables and chicken with a tasty sauce. 20,000/- for a plate of food. I plucked up courage to ask a couple of people if I could sit with them and enjoyed chatting. Over the course of the weekend I did that many times, asking people I’ve never met before if I could sit with them, and meeting people from all walks of life. There was a surprising number of Brits, as well as Americans, Canadians, German and more; many had come from Arusha, Moshi, Nairobi or Dar es Salaam. I also met one couple from Switzerland and another from Canada, just visiting Tanzania on holiday.

Later on in the afternoon, when things had cooled a bit, I went for a walk with amazing views across to Mount Meru. By the time I got back the festival ground was buzzing, tents had sprung up everywhere, music was playing and food vendors were busy. I made use of the shower block – good showers, hot (I almost scalded myself), and a few handy hooks in the corner of the cubicle to hang your stuff.

Picked up my running bib and took a look at the merchandise. Enjoyed a light tea, using up some of the bits and bobs I had with me, and buying a big banana to finish it off. I also bought a banana ready for the next morning, in case I wanted something to eat before the big run.

Music went on until quite late, but it wasn’t too bad, and I think many people had headed to bed early after long drives or night flights, trying to restore their energy before the next day’s races. With earplugs, I slept surprisingly well. The little mattress, pillow and sleeping bag were comfy. Head torch proved an essential part of my gear (annoyingly my little solar light seemed to have stopped working at some point on my travels).

Saturday 7^th February

Woken by music about 5am, but then snoozed again until announcements began about 6am. It was just getting light outside. 16.7C in my tent. Oatcakes, half a banana and some peanut butter for a light breakfast – I was glad I had some of my own food with me for times like this. Toilet. Off to the start line.

Can you see me? Purplish top, behind the tall Tanzanian.
(Photo credit: @kilitrails photo)

We set off on the dot at 6.45am. It was a lovely route, though I didn’t take in my surroundings very much as a lot of the time you needed to watch where you put your feet. Most of the trail had been well cleared, with the only bad place being where some pine trees had recently been chopped down so there were sticks and pinecones all over the trail, and I brushed past some kind of nettle that stung me and left my leg tingling for the rest of the day. But this was only a short section.

There were two food stations, with little sweet bananas, avocado, sesame seed snacks and water. There was also a third just-water station, but I missed that one as I got lost! The route was well marked with red ribbons and chalk on the ground at key turns, but somehow I missed one of these chalked turnings, staying on a wide track when I should have gone onto a narrow track and into the woods. I should have turned back as soon as I noticed the lack of red ribbons instead of assuming that just because I could see someone ahead of me and I was on a good track meant I was on the right path! Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one who missed the path, so we were able to take council and decide what to do, and we all got back with more than a half-marathon under our belts! I was very annoyed about how all of this slowed me down, as I went back and forth and tried phoning the check points (but not getting through) and looking for other runners, but on the plus side I ran the farthest I’ve ever run!

Our names were called out as we approached the finish line, and a few people were there cheering us in. We had the choice of a medal or a tree – I obviously chose the medal as I wouldn’t be able to take a tree on the plane, and anyhow, I’d rather have the medal! Hung around, congratulating and commiserating with others who had run and got lost! I’d run 14.77 miles (23.77km), so an extra 1.67 miles (2.67km).

Eventually headed to the showers (water less hot this time due to high volume of people using them, but I only had to wait 5 minutes to get in), bought a coffee and got a cup of hot water to mix up my porridge as my stomach didn’t feel like it wanted a big, cooked breakfast. Feeling hot and sticky, I think I’d had too much sun, I headed to my tent, which was far too warm, so then I went to find some shade to sit and be quiet, but it was still very warm! Finally headed for lunch, getting a delicious gluten-free wrap filled with salad and chicken, which they prepared specially for me to make it free from garlic. Cost 10,000/-

Chilled afternoon chatting, writing this blog, and then eating cake while getting to know someone who works with SIL Tanzania but who I’d never met as she lives in Arusha. I chose a brownie (decided it was time to just indulge, even though it was wheat) – sadly it wasn’t in the least bit brownie-like. Then it was the awards ceremony. To my surprise I got a prize for being third in my age category for ladies, despite the extra kilometres and stopping to figure out what to do! The prize was a locally made necklace and a sweet snack. Later I found you could scan a QR code that took you to a website where all the races and times could be found – I discovered that there were nine ladies in my age category, and that altogether I was 37^th out of 50 runners, and 10^th out of 26 ladies. I wanted to get an idea of what I might have achieved if I hadn’t gone wrong – I reckon that I would have saved about 15 minutes (about 10 for the extra distance and 5 for the dithering about what to do), which would have placed me about 20^th overall and the 3^rd lady. I have to admit, those calculations made me feel good!  I then joined the sunset stroll – a short walk to a viewpoint looking across to Mount Meru. Absolutely beautiful, with the skies first turning golden and then red.

I chose Chinese again for dinner. Full plate of the same food as last time. Chatted with yet more new people from the UK, one who works remotely for the NHS! Another works with UNICEF and another with the embassy. I’ve met people working for the UN, teachers, someone in the coffee industry, someone with a gin business, people working in various aspects of agriculture, someone involved in reforestation…and so the list goes one. Fascinating to hear what has brought people to East Africa.

Sunday 8th February

Didn’t sleep so well, but once I’d stuck my head out the tent I felt awake and ready to get going. Decided to go for a good breakfast first before heading off for a walk. This time I chose Simba Farm’s breakfast buffet – particularly delicious was the granola, with some fresh raspberries, pineapple and banana.

My walk had two goals – one was to find out where I had gone wrong on the half-marathon and the other was to enjoy the sights and sounds that I’d only partially taken in while running the day before. I enjoyed pausing to take in the views, to look at the trees in the forest, to listen to the birdsong, to take phots and generally enjoy the variety and beauty all around. I saw signs that elephants had passed by – fresh dung and trees broken down. I saw some baboons and heard their loud bark. I saw a large bird of prey gliding effortlessly through the sky. I found where I went wrong – the turn had been marked with the usual white chalk dust, but as it was onto a small path off a much wider track it was quite easy to miss.

Beautiful views and natural forests

After a shower, I was hungry. One of the vendors was selling burgers and chips. The burgers were laced with onion and garlic, so not a good option for me, but you could have bacon and cheese on your burger, so I took advantage of that option and asked if I could have cheesy chips with bacon. They thought it a strange request, but played along, and I officially declare it was a delicious combo, washed down with some carrot & orange juice. After hearing my rave review, they said they’d consider adding it to their menu! Cost – 12,000/- I followed this with a homemade granola slice (5000/-), which was very tasty, and a banana.

All weekend I had been cheekily asking around if anyone had a space in their car to give me a lift at least partway back to the airport, but I’d had no luck – everyone’s cars were full of people and equipment. As the final awards ceremony progressed (with an amazing Tanzanian man achieving a record-breaking 75km in a race that involved running as many 5km loops as possible in 6 hours), the skies blackened, and as they finished there was a rumble of thunder. If I couldn’t get a lift, I’d need to get a motorbike to come and pick me up (i.e. do the reverse of how I came), and if it rained that would not be fun. I made one final attempt to ask for a lift from a couple I hadn’t spoken with before, and they said they had space! Within 5 minutes I was at their Land Cruiser with my bags, and my relief at getting a lift increased as we drove through heavy rain and some flooded sections of road! They dropped me off at the end of the airport road, where I was easily able to get a motorbike to take me along the long, straight road (cost 5000/-). It was hot and dry, and I looked forward to getting into an air-conditioned building, though I was not looking forward to the over-eight hour wait I would have for my 11.30pm flight. However, it turns out that despite Kilimanjaro Airport being an ‘international’ airport, it’s very small and once inside there was nothing but a short line of check-in desks and a few rows of chairs – you couldn’t even buy a bottle of water. The airport staff advised me to go to Jambo Coffee Shop, which was at the far edge of the car park. It’s an open sided café, but despite the breeze it felt hot (my thermometer showed 32C at 4pm). There were comfy chairs and a reasonable menu, including some nice fresh juice options. I spent my afternoon there – as it wasn’t too busy I didn’t feel bad for hogging a table for several hours with just a bottle of water and a juice. I later removed myself to some tables outside the café so that I could eat my own snacky food for tea. My only mistake was not putting mosquito repellent on before it got dark.

Plane was delayed, and then when we boarded there was a problem with the air con, so we continued to wait. Finally arrived in Dar about 3am. Luggage seemed slow in coming, but amazingly mine was the first to appear on the belt. Taxi for Transit Airport B&B was waiting for me, and I finally collapsed in bed at 4am.

Monday 9^th February

More hours sitting around at an airport before finally boarding my flight to Mbeya and heading home. I spent more time travelling than I did at the festival itself, but despite that… what a fab weekend! A few days later received an email from the event organisers with links to photos, race results and more. The whole thing was very well organised – a big thank you to the whole team, especially Brett.

Visit Kilitrails.com for more information.

Travel journal - my first time in Ethiopia and then off on an exciting adventure

General schedule: First stop, Ethiopia, to join the Scripture engagement (SE) interns for some SE training, with my former mentor, Bettina. I arrived just as they’d finished a week or so of training with all the other interns. Next stop, Dar es Salaam, including a visit to a Bible college. Finally, Simba Farm, West Kilimanjaro, for the Kili Trails Festival (see separate blog).

Leaving Mbeya

Thursday 29^th January (Tanzania: Mbeya-Dar)

Everything went unusually smoothly. White was on time with the shuttle (3.30pm), we got lucky at the hill (it was the lorries’ turn to wait), arrived at the airport early, internet was working, plane was on time, taxi was ready and waiting for me in Dar, and was welcomed to guest house by the friendly girl on duty who remembers me from previous trips. Stayed in the usual place (Transit Motel), as it’s the most convenient option  (pretty much opposite the airport) and they do a resident’s rate, currently 63,000/- per night (about £18 at today’s exchange rate). With Wi-Fi and breakfast included in the price, I really can’t complain (even if they had forgotten to put a towel and bed sheet)!

Temperature: With the AC on and fan whirring, it’s 27.3C at 9pm, 43% humidity.

Friday 30^th January (Dar-Ethiopia: Addis Ababa)

A slightly unsettled night, due to the warmth, vibrations from loud bass music being played somewhere and an occasional loud horn, but not too bad. Oats and peanut butter were available for breakfast, so I was able to make some porridge (throwing in some chia seeds I’d brought with me), and also had a hardboiled egg and a vitumbua. I’d say that’s a pretty good breakfast; I just missed my usual banana.

Temperature: 29C in the restaurant at about 8am.

Banana problem resolved by asking taxi driver to stop at a duka on the way to the airport to pick up a banana. All the ensuing travel went smoothly. As we began our descent to Addis everything looked very dry and brown in contrast to the lush green I had left in Mbeya in the middle of rainy season. Arrived in Addis on time and the taxi was waiting for me. Overwhelming impression of Addis as we drove was that it has a very different feel to the African towns and cities I am used to, both in Tanzania and the few other African countries I’ve been to. In particular contrast to Tanzania, what stood out was: they drive on the right hand side of the road, loads of high-rise buildings, ladies with umbrellas up as parasols to keep off the sun (you’d never see that in Tanzania unless they are carrying a baby), jacaranda trees were in bloom (they stopped blooming a couple of months ago in Mbeya), cobbled side-streets, lots of things seem to be painted grey – walls, fences, houses. On the plane I was surprised to hear them describe Ethiopia as “The land of oranges” – I didn’t know it was famous for its oranges; as we drove away from the airport, we passed a building proudly proclaiming “The land of origins” – no oranges after all!

Bettina found me at reception and after I’d settled into my room I went to visit her and have a wee chat and get the low down on how things run. Addis is about 2400 metres (7874 feet) above sea level, making it 700 metres or so higher than Mbeya. I could feel it going up the many hotel steps to check out the meeting room on the fifth floor! Temperature: At about 4pm it was 22.7C in my room and only 38% humidity!

Went for a very short walk up a steep cobbled lane that turned into a narrow path between houses before emerging on another tarmac road. I felt uncomfortable not understanding what people were saying and not knowing how to greet people – I’m not used to that! Everywhere I have been in Africa so far, I’ve at least been able to greet people, with English, Swahili or rudimentary French. But none of those languages are much use in Ethiopia, even at the hotel the English ability of the staff was limited. It was a relief to see my Tanzanian colleagues later and be able to use Swahili!

Lovely meal in the garden of the hotel – fleecy blankets were provided to keep us warm. I enjoyed the unique flavour of injera (made from teff) with some tasty chicken (they cooked some especially for me without onion and garlic, but still with some spices), and then a dessert that was totally not what I expected. Also made from teff, and obviously having been through some of the same fermentation process as injera, it was not sweet at all but rather spiced with I-don’t-know-what! It was a kind of peppery flavour, but not black pepper, possibly with a hint of cumin and cardamon; I can’t quite describe it. It was a fascinating sensory experience that I would happily repeat, but it didn’t fit in the ‘dessert’ category in my mind!

Felt weird to be arriving as most of the others (non-SE interns) were preparing to leave. I wish I’d come for the earlier part of the workshop. But it’ll be good to have these next three days with the SE interns and Bettina.

Amazing high pressure hot shower and soft while towel. Bliss.

Saturday 31^st January (Addis: SE intern workshop, Day 1)

Breakfast – they made me a bowl of porridge with yellow raisins. Peanut butter was available, so I put a dollop of that in, and added some of my chia seeds. Perfect. Also had some cheese and a couple of slices of tomato.

8am: Met Bettina at the meeting room, set things up and prayed together. It was a good day, though I think it was hard for the interns to stay engaged after already having had over a week of other training. A good personal challenge to take away from today was the question of how are we bearing God’s image? And as we are descendants of Abraham by faith, how are we being part of the fulfilment of God’s promise that through him all nations would be blessed – how are we being a blessing to the peoples of this earth? And then how through our ministry are we helping local churches to understand these concepts and see their place in God’s story?

Geza joined us – I taught her at iDelta in 2012! Now Bettina is mentoring her towards being a Scripture engagement consultant. So lovely to see her again. She lives 30km away from the hotel on the edges of the city, because she says property is too expensive in town, but she comes to this area for church every Sunday because it’s hard to find churches that faithfully teach the truth, despite there being so many churches around.

Went for walk-jog in the evening. Once I got onto the big main road there was a beautiful wide footpath and even a cycle path (though I didn’t see a single bike)! So much contrast here – one minute young children are running alongside of me grabbing my hand, presumably asking for money (though I couldn’t understand a word they were saying), while all around there is development to make the city look really nice, along the side streets there are slum-type houses made from corrugated iron right between nice houses or apartment blocks, just a few minutes further along there is a bustling street with high-rise buildings (presumably offices, shopping centres and apartments), newly designed gardens and more sprucing-up-the-city activity clearly going on. Apparently, my observation yesterday about the grey houses is because the government is trying to tidy things up, and so everyone has to paint their buildings the same colour – white or grey.

Language continues to be an issue of frustration and hilarity, especially when it comes to ordering food. I finally got what I wanted – a lovely bowl of lettuce, tomatoes and olives, with some injera and my left-over chicken from lunchtime (I was given too much to finish in one sitting). Lovely time chatting with Bettina, Timothy, Napta and Ayuba, as each one waited for, and eventually got, their food. Special people. They love the Lord and are passionate for his name and helping people to know Him through His Word.

It’s 9.18pm, I’m writing my journal, I have my balcony door open and can hear the city traffic outside and the occasional dog barking. Temperature: 21.5C in my room, 48% humidity.

Sunday 1^st February (Addis)

Temperature: At 7am it was15.8C outside on the balcony. Went for a run – lots for the eyes to take in: hills on either side of the road with pines on, people wearing white head scarfs (going to or from Orthodox churches), daladalas (they exist here too, but no motorbikes or bajaj), other roads with uneven paths so that I spent some of the time running on the road, an ornate domed Orthodox church, the hustle and bustle of people going about daily life. Ran about 8km.

Enjoyed a nice chat with Timothy over breakfast. Later we all met for a time of fellowship: singing, Bible study (Romans 8) and prayer, led by the interns. A quick (and very bitter) coffee on the veranda with Bettina. A time of quiet in my room, after rescuing my running leggings that I had hung over my balcony railing to dry but had blown away, down onto the balcony below!

Lunch took them nearly 1.5 hours to serve, and then it didn’t come as ordered. I ended up with some delicious Nile Perch, with injera and a tomato. The challenges of communicating in English, finding food that people like on the menu and waiting for food to arrive certainly provides us with plenty to laugh about, albeit accompanied by frustration and hunger!

Fun and fascinating afternoon at Unity Park with Geza, her husband, their 10-year-old twins (all of whom spoke excellent English, which was a relief) and a relative of theirs. Lots of beautiful flowers, beautiful buildings, interesting history and wonderful wildlife (white lions, African wild dogs, zebra, giraffe, fish, birds and more). Kids were great fun to be with, and it was lovely to hear more about Geza’s family and learn more about Ethiopian political history. High security to enter the park – had to get out of the car as we entered the car park and be patted down, and I wasn’t allowed to take my camera in (which I don’t understand as taking photos was not prohibited); apparently this was all because the park backs on to the prime minister’s palace.

We kept our dinner order a bit simpler – four of us shared a couple of big pizzas and some salad. Delicious. Tired after an afternoon in the sun and lots of people time.

Monday 2^nd February (Addis: SE intern workshop, Day 2)

Just time for a 10-minute leg-stretch in the fresh morning air before heading to the meeting room – made it as far as the British Embassy and back. Saw someone who definitely had the look of a fellow Brit striding ahead of me as I walked, and sure enough, he entered the embassy.

Continued to look at all the different spheres of life and in what ways our communities may know what the Bible says about that sphere of life, what they may not know and what they be misunderstanding.

Had a brief collapse of emotional resilience towards food at lunchtime, as I once again felt I had not and could not clearly communicate my needs, and that everyone else thinks I’m just over-reacting and I shouldn’t be so fussy about my food. I think I shouldn’t be so cautious about my food too, but I don’t know how not to be because get scared of what might happen if I have high-FODMAP foods; IBS symptoms aren’t fun, and I really hate being bloated.

The two-day workshop finished well; amazed at how well the interns remained engaged to the end. Said goodbye to the two Ethiopian interns – apparently it would take them a good hour to get home across the city. Time for a 5k run, though it was dark by the time I got back. Had salad for dinner, to which I added some nuts I had with me, and injera, to which I added peanut butter. A very un-Ethiopian way of eating injera, I’m sure, but it tasted good!

Tuesday 3^rd February (Addis-Tanzania: Dar)

Short walk as sun rose – roads were already busy and paths were full of people. SIL Ethiopia’s Land Cruiser arrived to pick Bettina and me up, plus all the left-over workshop resources, se we could visit the office. Took over an hour to get across town, as we crawled from one traffic jam to another; the complete absence of bajajs feels very strange, and I only noticed one motorbike. SIL office is impressive – big and spacious, several floors high, and they’re building another block to eventually be a source of income by renting out space for accommodation etc. SIL Ethiopia is certainly innovative, and it’s great that a few of the Ethiopian staff, including the director and his wife, are self-supporting (in the same way that I am). Hard not to be slightly jealous over all they seem to have, while in Tanzania we are having to scrimp and save.

Coffee break: barley bread with black cumin in it – unique flavour. I need to do some experimenting when I get home! Director has changed coffee breaks from being white bread to healthier options. Maybe I need to push for change in our office?! Time for a re-run of the healthy-eating course?!

Another long car ride to the airport. Had some left-over injera for lunch and bought a banana and a bottle of water for the usual extortionate airport prices, while Bettina bought some delicious teff tortilla chips. Said goodbye to Bettina – she still has a long journey ahead of her to get back to her home in DRC. Flight went smoothly. Charles was waiting to pick me up to take me to the FPCT guesthouse – even though it’s more expensive to use his taxi than walking out of the airport and taking a bajaj, it is nice to see a familiar face, and it feels safer. Asked if we could go by somewhere that I could pick up some carrots, a cucumber and some bananas, so we swung by a market (after sitting in a traffic jam for a while) on our way – another advantage of using Charles!

Good to be back in a country where I can understand what’s going on around me and make myself understood. Nice to be in the air-conditioned room at FPCT and know that tomorrow I get to just be on my own. Space to recover from the intense people-time over the last few days. I got lucky with Room 2 – much bigger and nicer than the room I had here last time; need to remember that so I can request it again!

Wednesday 4^th February (Dar)

Sun rises earlier here, amazing how being just that bit further east makes a difference. Went for a run, came back dripping! Warm and close – even before 8am my thermometer recorded 28.5C, 75% humidity. Was happy to spend the rest of the day working in my air-conditioned room (about 25C, 50% humidity), except for going to the dining area (32C) for lunch where I sweated over rice, greens and chicken. Dread to think what it is in the direct sun!

Nothing much to write about. Dealt with emails. Worked on checking ‘The big story of the Bible’ book translated into Manda. Went for a stroll in the evening, trying to ignore people saying silly things to me. Bought a couple of oranges en route. Rice cakes, an egg saved from breakfast, nuts, carrot, cucumber, orange, snack bar and chocolate for tea, while puzzling with Puzzler.

Thursday 5^th February (Dar)

A walk. Pray. Breakfast. Pack up. Few emails. Charles drove me to the Salvation Army Training Centre (Bible college). I was supposed to be meeting my colleague, Savera, there early so we could chat face-to-face before meeting with the students, but she was stuck in traffic. Altogether it took her 3 hours to get there! Good time with students (aka ‘cadets’), looking smart in their SA uniforms. Five of the twenty were from the Malila language area, which is one of the areas we have worked in. I’d guessed there’d be quite a few from there, as there are a good number of SA churches in the area. They kindly provided me with an air-conditioned office to use for a while after the session, so I was able to eat lunch there (I had the usual rice cakes etc with me) and get a few things done before getting a Bolt taxi to take me to the airport.

Sat outside in the canopied waiting area, about 31C even in the shade, but at least there was some breeze. Ate at the Bao café – a nice salad, chicken and chips – 20,000/- feels expensive, but I guess a meal for less than £7 at an airport isn’t that bad.

Checked in at 7pm. Let the adventure begin…Kili Trails, here we come!

(See separate blog post for the rest of the story.)

From cramped buses to fabulous vistas - visiting the Pangwa language area

The darkness was just beginning to lift as I left home at 5.30am to head to the bus stand. Despite the equator running through nearby Kenya, Tanzania’s neighbour to the north, it’s far enough away to create a noticeable difference to daylight hours. When I have the same early start in the middle of the year it is still pitch black, not beginning to grey until nearly an hour later. It doesn’t make the early start any easier though! I dozed on and off for the first couple of hours of the bus journey before settling down with a good book to read on my phone. We arrived at Makambako nearly 4 hours later, where we were allowed a ten minute food and toilet break. I wandered around the bus stand to stretch my legs before coming to wait near our bus so that I’d be ready to hop back on as soon as our time was up. I enjoyed watching the food vendors, with bowls of snacks (such as packets of crisps, banana chips and biscuits) or fruit balanced on their heads or carrying buckets of finger foods (such as hard boiled eggs, bajia and mandazi), as they touted their wares to travellers leaning out the bus windows – a colourful, bustling scene.

Less than an hour and a half later we arrived at Njombe’s big out-of-town bus stand, where I expected to meet up with my colleagues and find another bus for the next leg of the journey. Bernard saw me as soon as I got off the bus – a welcoming, smiling face amidst all the strangers milling around. Bernard is one of the translators working on translating the New Testament into the Pangwa language, and we were on our way to hold a workshop in the small town of Mlangali in the Pangwa language area. His family live in Makambako, so he had spent the weekend there before coming to meet me at Njombe. A third colleague, Frank, was also on his way. Frank is in the literacy/Scripture engagement team with me, and he is particularly involved in supervising literacy/SE work in the Pangwa language area. He and Bernard together would be leading the literacy elements of the workshop (i.e. equipping participants to read their language and be able to teach others to do the same) while I would be facilitating the times of Bible study and teaching on Paul’s letter to Titus, for which we’d be using the Pangwa and Swahili Scriptures side-by-side. The Pangwa New Testament translation is nearly complete and should be ready for launching in a couple of years’ time, so the goal of the workshop was to build on what we’ve already done in the Pangwa language area over many years, by strengthening the ability of a select number of individuals from across the Pangwa language community to be confident readers of their language and able to prepare people with the literacy skills needed to read the New Testament when it arrives. They would also be given solar powered audio devices loaded with Pangwa Scriptures to use at home and in church ministry. We hope that the workshop participants will become strong advocates for using the Pangwa Scriptures and able to help facilitate their distribution.

Bernard had already reserved seats for us on a small bus that would shortly be leaving for Mlangali. With five people squeezed into the four seats on each row, there was no room to do more than wiggle your toes. Halfway into the journey I began to struggle with a desperate need to move my legs, which was virtually impossible! I had my laptop bag filling the space between my legs, a mother with a child on her knee filling up more than her share of the seat on one side, and a lady with two big bags on her lap and a 5-litre tub of oil jammed between her feet and mine on my other side. We finally arrived in Mlangali at about 3.30pm. A motorbike took our luggage to the guesthouse while we followed on foot.

Beautiful views around Mlangali

After washing my face, tidying up my tousled hair, putting my feet up, drinking a lot of water and taking some time to pray, I felt more myself, and set out for a walk. Mlangali is in the hills, at about the same altitude as Mbeya, and the surrounding landscape is beautiful. As I walked along the bright red dirt road, my eyes soaked it all up: rolling hills, tall eucalyptus trees providing shade along the path, reeds waving around some wetland, clay brick kilns, carefully stacked planks of wood and open views. I returned to Mlangali to find Bernard walking slowly along the road with one of the workshop participants who had arrived early. We strolled together towards the Anglican church where the workshop would be held, met with the pastor there, and looked around to see how things could be set up. The pastor told us about how he feeds and teaches 200 children every weekend as part of a Compassion programme – he clearly has a real heart for children.

Views on walk around Mlangali

On the way back to the guesthouse we stopped for dinner at a creatively decorated café. I ordered rice, greens and fried beef. The greens were one of my favourite varieties – pumpkin leaves, cooked with ground peanuts. The rice was also very tasty – it was yellow, presumably from the use of turmeric, and flavoured with cardamon, which I have never encountered before in Tanzania, usually it’s just plain white rice. Despite Tanzania being a land rich in agriculture and spices being easily available, food usually lacks any seasoning other than salt. Ginger may be added to some dishes, but that’s about it, though sometimes a plate of chillis is provided to add some heat for those who want it. There were two Chinese men in the restaurant, which came as something of a surprise in this fairly remote town. I found out later that the Chinese are involved in some local factories; it seems they have a finger in many pies in Tanzania.

On Tuesday I woke to a beautiful, blue-skied morning, making the red roads look even redder on my short morning walk. About 25 people turned up for the workshop, out of the 35 or so who had been invited. Other than getting a bit behind schedule, the day seemed to go well and there generally seemed to be a good atmosphere in the group. While Frank dealt with people’s travel fares and food allowances at the end of the day, I was able to help a few people get the Pangwa Bible app on their phones and also got to enjoy listening to one of the church’s five choirs sing the song they were practising for Sunday’s service.

Frank helping participants develop their Pangwa literacy skills

After dumping my bag back at the guesthouse, I met up with one of the participants so that he could show me the way to the Catholic church on the hill – its tower is quite a landmark, visible for some distance and standing separate from the church, and I hoped to get some good views of the area. My companion was able to explain what I could see and map out the boundaries of the region. As we walked back, the sun had already set behind the hills and the sky was painted in soft shades of orange and pink, with streaks of blue and yellow. Breathtaking. Back in the town my companion insisted I greet almost everyone we met to showcase my very limited (about three words) of Pangwa! It turned out that my Pangwa was purer than that of some of the people we spoke to as because Mlangali is a town on a significant road there are many non-Pangwa people there and the local Pangwa has become mixed with other neighbouring languages and with Swahili.

The next day, I left my key with the guesthouse manager* so that my room could be cleaned, before heading off to the workshop. (*I’m not sure if ‘manager’ is the right word to use – this person usually lives in and looks after the guesthouse on behalf of the owner. In Swahili we call them the mhudumu, which literally means service-giver and can also be applied to other service-givers such as a waitress in a café.) I led the first session in which we continued our studies in Titus, and then Frank and Bernard took over to focus on reading and writing Pangwa. At lunchtime I decided to return to my room to eat (I had my usual rice cakes, peanut butter, carrots, cucumber and fruit with me for one light meal a day), so I made the just-under-ten-minute walk to the guesthouse only to find that the manager was nowhere to be found so I couldn’t get into my room. Often a phone number is pinned up somewhere to contact the manager, so before allowing myself to get into a fluster I looked around and, sure enough, two phone numbers were written with a black marker pen onto the door of the guesthouse. Thankfully the manager picked up the phone! She told me that she’d gone out to get food but that she’d left my key in a small bag hanging behind a curtain in reception. With relief, I retrieved my key and had lunch.

We finished the day promptly at 4pm, as the church has a service at that time on a Wednesday, but then I was spontaneously invited to speak at said service! I tried to persuade someone else to do it, so that they could teach in Pangwa, but he pointed out that not everyone in the congregation would be Pangwa. Having therefore failed to find a good excuse to not teach, I took a few moments on a bench outside to try and compose my thoughts, before joining the service and engaging them in a study on the temptation of Jesus. I chose this story as an opportunity to emphasise the importance of knowing God's Word and teaching it to our children, so that it can help us to stand firm in the faith. One lady was so touched by the study that she gave me some money to buy myself some food!

Selling Pangwa books to people after the service

We were invited to the pastor’s house for dinner in the evening. I took him a couple of small pineapples I’d found in one of the many small shops lining the sides of the road, as it is normal to take a gift of food when visiting someone’s home. Neither Bernard nor Frank had thought to do that, so maybe the gift-giving doesn’t apply when you are away from home. I enjoyed a good pile of boiled potatoes, which isn’t something you’d find in a café where the options are usually just rice or ugali. It was a good taste of home, as I grew up eating potatoes almost every day. Viazi viringo (round potatoes, as opposed to viazi vitamu – sweet potatoes) thrive in the highlands of Tanzania, if the soil is right. Despite this they wouldn’t be considered a staple here; they are more often eaten for breakfast (boiled) or served as chips, which are just considered a snack. As well as potatoes, there was rice, greens and chicken, all thoughtfully prepared without the addition of onion for my sake. I was asked to pray a blessing on the home before we left, but as my Swahili was starting to get a bit jumbled, which happens if I’m tired or talking about topics where I have limited Swahili vocabulary, I prayed in English. However, by halfway through I wished I’d used Swahili – there’s something about being surrounded by Tanzanians and using Swahili all day that just makes it feel awkward using English!

In the middle of the night I was startled awake by a loud rumble and my bed shaking. In the morning an alert on my phone told me there had been an earthquake, with the epicentre being about 14 miles away. More loud rumbles woke me too early in the morning, this time lorries. Daylight soon came and I set off for a brisk walk, exploring new roads and enjoying the slight chill in the air due to the cloudy skies. Any children I passed were keen to greet me, with some making the surprisingly common mistake of calling me Mchina (Chinese)! This seems to result from the fact that the lighter-skinned people they most commonly see are Chinese, and so they assume that I am too, even though to my eyes there isn’t even the faintest resemblance. However, to children who rarely see someone who isn’t Tanzanian, we obviously look somewhat similar.

Participants practise reading in Pangwa

The third day of the workshop went well, with participants showing a noticeable improvement in their reading ability. After we’d finished, one of the participants (a pastor in his fifties) volunteered to accompany me to the top of a hill with a phone tower on its summit, meaning it must be one of the highest points in the area. We took a motorbike to the foot of the narrow path we would climb, with both of us perched behind the driver as he sped along the rough dirt road, expertly finding the smoothest sections to ride on. It was a good climb up to the phone tower, with the path sometimes winding up through trees, sometimes skirting round small plots of land being prepared for planting crops and other times weaving through scrub. There was also the chance to do a bit of scrumping – we passed both a peach tree and a plum tree and enjoyed their fruit! You can’t normally get plums in Mbeya, and if you do they’ve come from this region, as the altitude provides the right climate for them to grow.

In just under half an hour of brisk walking we had made it to the top, 6706 feet (about 2043 metres) above sea level, while Mlangali is at about 5770 feet (1758 metres). It was definitely worth it. In one direction I could see the familiar outline of the mountains that skirt round the edge of the Kisi language area, while in other directions layer after layer of hills faded into the distance into the Nyakyusa, Kinga and Bena language areas – all places that I have visited as we have been involved in Bible translation in all of these languages. As we skipped back down the trail, the hills looked ever more beautiful as they became silhouetted against the soft sunset sky. We walked all the way back to Mlangali, with the pastor accompanying me to the gate of the guesthouse as it was already dark.

Looking across to the hills of the Kisi language area

The last day of the workshop included a repeat of a little reading test we gave them on the first day, to see if there was any improvement in fluency and speed. A quick scan of the results showed that there was, with most people making less mistakes and reading faster. For some of them a lot of practice is still needed, but the improvement was encouraging. Other highlights of the last day included watching them study and discuss the Scriptures in Pangwa, the beautiful songs they composed based on verses from Titus and the joy one lady expressed over the unity in the workshop between church denominations that wouldn’t usually come together. We finished with the obligatory group photo before everyone started for home, some on foot, some on motorbikes and some (after a long wait) on buses.

Engaging in group Bible studies on Titus 3 in Pangwa

Frank and I went to say goodbye to the pastor of the church we’d used, which was Anglican, and he once again invited us for dinner. This time Frank and Bernard had plans to watch a football match on TV (a Tanzanian team versus a Moroccan team) as they are both big football fans (as are most of my male Tanzanian colleagues), so we declined the invitation. It turned out that one of the reasons the pastor had invited us was because a little girl that he is caring for wanted to see me again! So we passed by his house as we left and took a photo together, for which she’d obviously been and put on one of her favourite dresses.

After sorting out various things, like securing seats near the front of the bus we’d take the next day (not by buying a ticket, as we wouldn’t be able to do that until we were on the bus, but just by a verbal agreement with someone), arranging to meet Frank at the bus stop at 5.45am and dealing with some work issues, I went for a short evening walk before it got dark. Once again I soaked up the beauty all around me and told myself not to get annoyed when children pretended to speak Chinese with me. Instead, I befriended them, explained that I was English, talked to them in Swahili and then let them walk alongside me, pretending that they were my guards and helping me find the way back to the main road. They wanted money at the end, but I just told them I didn’t have any (as I’d conveniently forgotten the note in my pocket that I’d put there to buy myself a bottle of water) and instead we solemnly shook hands and said our goodbyes.

On Saturday morning I met Frank at the appointed time and place – it was a good job we were there early as the bus we’d been told we’d take wasn’t running and instead we were put on a different one that left earlier! I got a seat right near the front next to the pile of luggage stacked up behind the driver. As we drove, the luggage shifted so that I was pinned firmly into my corner, but it was better than being squeezed between lots of people as at least I didn’t have to worry about treading on someone’s foot or prodding someone as I squirmed around to get comfortable! In Njombe, Frank and I went our separate ways (he was meeting someone), though first he made sure I’d got a seat on a bus going to Mbeya. We left just before 9am but the journey took somewhat longer than I anticipated. I gradually got more uncomfortable as it heated up and at some point I also started to need the toilet, knowing full well I wouldn’t be able to get to one for a couple of hours. I eventually made it home at 4.45pm, having switched buses a couple more times on the way into Mbeya town, and had multiple waits at bus stops dragging the ride out even longer. My recovery strategy was to drink lots of water, have a coffee (I’d not had one all week), have a cold shower and get some exercise by walking to the market to stock up on fresh food. The house felt quiet and lonely, as my housemate is in the UK. Although it’s good to be home, I’ll miss all the people interaction and opportunities for different walks and experiences. It always feels like a privilege to work in such beautiful places, but I confess that I selfishly chose the Pangwa language area over the Bungu language area, where other colleagues had gone to conduct the same workshop. I chose the cool of the hills, while they suffered heat and mosquitoes. I thank God for their willingness to go where I did not want to go! May God bless the work of all of our hands, using these workshops to help the Pangwa and Bungu communities read and meditate on the Scriptures in their languages.

Visiting Katavi - long bus rides, heat, beautiful skies and the joy of teaching

Monday 8th September

At 4.40am my alarm rudely interrupted my sleep, jolting me into wakefulness to catch the 5.30am bus to Mpanda. Mpanda is the main town of the Katavi region, in the west of Tanzania, and it is where one of our regional offices is located. The team there are working with several different language communities and I was going to help them do workshops in two of them, Bende and Pimbwe, which would aim to encourage the distribution and use of some Scriptures recently printed in those languages.

The journey is marked in green, from Mbeya in the south to Mpanda further north-west.
Map source: commons.wikimedia.org

The only problem is that Mpanda is a day’s bus journey away, and then getting to the language areas concerned includes yet more travel. I was not looking forward to the journey! It didn’t get off to a very good start when half an hour into the ride our bus knocked the side mirror of a smaller bus, which led to a long argument and fisticuffs and our side mirror being smashed in revenge. Somewhat further into the journey we were directed to pull over because the president was passing through! I took this opportunity to find a toilet (a long-drop in an abandoned, tumbledown house) and after just a few minutes a dozen or so big, shiny, 4-wheel-drive vehicles sped past at an alarming rate of knots – the president and her entourage. Altogether the journey took 14 hours, resulting in the usual problems of dehydration and swollen feet. On the plus side, we were right at the front with good leg room, I had control of a window, there was more than one toilet stop and as we passed through Katavi National Park I glimpsed giraffe, elephants, two herds of buffalo and some hippos’ noses.

Crazy traffic in Tunduma, a town on the Tanzania-Zambia border. Lorries queue up for days, even weeks, waiting to cross the border, and bajajs (motorised rickshaws) abound.

Mpanda is also home to a good friend, Karin, who I have known for over 20 years. (Wow, is it really that long since I studied at All Nations Christian College, which is where we met?!) We lived together for a few years in Mbeya, before she married a Tanzanian colleague of ours. Work took them to Mpanda for a while, then they returned to Mbeya, and now they’re back in Mpanda, and I hadn’t seen Karin for about one and a half years. Now you know what the bus journey is like you may realise why we hadn’t managed to visit one another, despite being in the same country! So this work trip gave me a chance to finally see her again. Her husband met me at the bus stand and we used a bajaj to get to their home, as their car was at the garage. It was a relief to finally arrive and lovely to see Karin after such a long time.

Tuesday 9th September

Mpanda is much warmer than Mbeya and I struggled with the heat, but thankfully it cooled off overnight and I slept through the noise of the dogs (I must have been tired!) and was able to enjoy a relaxed morning with Karin before heading to the office. My colleagues were waiting for me: Abdul, who I had travelled with from Mbeya, and Elya, who is the Literacy & Scripture engagement Coordinator for the languages served by the Mpanda office. We set off in the office’s Land Cruiser, with me driving, picking up the Bende translators and a couple of other people en route. After a short stretch on tarmac we turned onto a dirt road, which in large part was very good. I was sad to see all the trees and bushes that had recently been chopped down and the swathes of land that were being cleared for farming in what was once a wild, untamed area. The road climbed upwards, so that by the time we reached the village of Mwese three hours later, we were about 1700 metres above sea level, which is the same altitude as Mbeya. It was a relief to be greeted by the cool evening air and know that I’d get to enjoy an Mbeya-type climate for a few days, before returning to Mpanda and going onto the hot Pimbwe language area for the second workshop.

It was my second visit to Mwese and since the last time electricity had arrived! The guest house was unchanged, except for having power. Power also meant that a loud mill, where people bring their maize to grind into flour, was operating most of the time, directly opposite the guest house. However, that kind of noise is highly preferable to loud music, which is a problem I’ve struggled with in many places I’ve stayed on my travels, and I somehow managed to fall asleep to the throbbing of the machine.

Wednesday 10th September

At about 9am we arrived at the church where we would hold the workshop. I was disappointed by the turnout – over 15 people had been invited but only 8 turned up. I learnt that part of the reason for not inviting more people in the first place was simply that there aren’t many Bende people in church leadership, as Christianity is not the dominant religion for this people group. This poses challenges for the best way to use the Bende Scriptures as church congregations are made up of people from different language groups, however they can still play an important role in homes and in evangelism.

The church where the workshop was held

The focus of the workshop was the pastoral epistles, particularly Titus and Philemon, as these letters have recently been printed together as one book in the Bende language. We started with a couple of hours of teaching on how to read Bende, particularly focusing on features of the language that are different from Swahili. For example, Bende is a tonal language, unlike Swahili, and so certain marks are used (e.g. ^) to indicate these tones. If the wrong tone is used, the meaning of the word will change, or the word becomes meaningless. After a bit of reading practice, we plunged into the background of Titus and its structure and then one of the Bende translators read the whole letter aloud, from start to finish. Having now grasped the context of the letter, we began to work through it passage by passage, which allowed lots of opportunity for participants to practise reading Bende. As we went we also identified Bible handling principles and applied them to our study of Titus.

Reading the Bende Scriptures and discussing in groups

At lunchtime, participants were given money to go and find food for themselves at the village centre, less than a 100 yards away from the church. Several of us went to the same café, where I chose ugali (maize cooked with water to form a firm stodge that you eat with your hands), dagaa (tiny fish) and cabbage.

On my evening walk I passed by farmland being burned ready for another season of planting and I could feel the heat of the flames as I went by. I find this practice somewhat terrifying, as I wonder how they prevent the fire from spreading where it’s not wanted. I found out later that they clear the edges of their fields first, before burning, so that the fire won’t spread.

Clearing farmland ready for another season of planting

Thursday 11th September

Day two of the workshop seemed to go well, with participants getting used to the teaching format and growing in confidence in reading and in answering and asking questions. We also had three more people join us, which was encouraging. We continued to work our way through Titus which, despite being a short letter, is full of practical guidance for living, motivated by God’s grace towards us in Jesus Christ.

I chose rice with greens and chicken in broth for lunch. I think this means I have now exhausted the menu (except for beans, which aren’t a great idea for me to eat). The food might be simple and limited, but it tasted good, and a banana with the rice was a delicious accompaniment. If you’ve never tried the banana-rice combo, you should!

My evening walk was less than pleasant as yet more burning was happening – bits of ash were floating in the air and I was breathing in smoke as I strode out along the road. Arriving back at the guesthouse, one of the workshop participants was there looking for me and Elya, as we’d asked to buy some of her bananas. I bought a bunch of plump, sweet, delicious little bananas, as well as taking one long fat one (a different variety of banana to any I’ve seen before) to try.

Friday 12th September

The workshop continued well and we finished on a positive note as people shared what they had found helpful. It was encouraging to hear them say things like:

• I’ve grown in confidence and will teach those around me.
• I’ve learned things I didn’t know about teaching. I would just take one or two Bible verses alone [without considering the context], but now I’ve learnt how to explain things well.
• I’ve been to college [by attending this workshop]! What we’ve learnt will be a guide for me. There are things I didn’t know, but now I do, and I will teach others so that we can correctly handle the Word of Truth.

However, it was also discouraging to hear them share how the community may react as they try to teach others and distribute the Bende books – they said some people will just think they attended the seminar to get money, especially because a white person was there, and they won’t understand or accept that this wasn’t the case and that the books and teaching are for the benefit of the church and community.

Discussing Paul's letter to Philemon

We finished around 4pm and I was hopeful that we’d get back to Mpanda before dark, but that was not to be the case. A few kilometres down the road, where we stopped to buy a strip of rubber to firmly tie down the luggage on top of the Land Cruiser and to buy some bananas, someone noticed that a tyre was leaking air. Some young men had a hut where they mended vehicles, especially motorbikes, and despite the fact that our jack was missing its turning-rod, they managed to jack up the car and take off the tyre. A careful inspection revealed that there wasn’t a puncture, instead where a previous puncture had been plugged it had temporarily been leaking air and then resealed itself, which is apparently quite normal, and usually you don’t even realise it’s happened.

Loading up the Land Cruiser ready for the journey back to Mpanda

This palaver set us back by some three quarters of an hour and so darkness overtook us well before we reached the tarmac road. The lights of the car proved to be rather weak, so my eyes grew tired from straining to look ahead, trying to see potholes and people and vehicles without lights in time to slow down and avoid them, as well as occasionally being blinded by other vehicles coming towards us without dipping their lights. It was with great relief that we arrived in Mpanda and I found out that our office manager there would take over driving for the last stretch and drop me off at Karin’s house. I arrived there about 9pm and enjoyed a plate of salad and fruit, a good chat and a refreshingly cool bucket bath, before going to bed.

Saturday 13th September

I woke with the light, and as soon as I heard Karin going out to see to the dogs, I went out to find her and asked to be let out of the compound (which is walled and gated for security reasons) so I could go for a run. The morning air was fresh and cool, but I was a sweating like a pig by the time I got back! The rest of the day passed pleasantly (though very warmly!) and included a chance to visit the site where Karin and her husband are planning to build a conference centre for youth ministry and also an orphanage.

Sunday 16th September

Mid-morning Karin walked with me to the bus stand, where I met up with my colleagues ready for the bus trip to the village of Manga in the Pimbwe language area. The bus was somewhat rough around the edges, with ripped seat covers and windows that no longer sat well in their frames. The seats were rather narrow and leg room was limited, especially as the handbrake (a literal handbrake – a block of wood with a handle) was pushed under the seat in front of me (which was the front seat of the bus) ready to be swiftly grabbed and put behind a wheel if we stopped, so I didn’t have much space to put my feet. After rattling along for about three and a half hours we arrived at our stop and got on the back of motorbikes to take us to nearby Manga. Unfortunately, my motorbike driver had misunderstood where we were going, and so he took me to the guesthouse owner’s home, rather than to the guesthouse itself, which was a few minutes outside of the village. We all had a good laugh over the mistake and I enjoyed seeing something of the local surroundings as we rode through the arid landscape along grey, sandy paths between thorny hedges – if we’d gone straight to the guesthouse we’d have just been riding along a wide tarmac road for a few minutes.

1. On the bus. 2. Guesthouse bedroom

I had a late lunch with Elya at one of the little cafes near the guesthouse. Like most cafés, it was a single cement room with a couple of plastic tables and a few plastic chairs and with a net curtain hanging in the doorway. Just outside the door, two ladies were doing the cooking – the usual fare was available, ugali or rice, with greens, beans or meat. We had a good chinwag before taking a short walk with one of the Pimbwe translators to check out the workshop location – the Baptist church. The pastor turned out to be extremely talkative, so it was hard to get away for a much needed rest, but after excusing ourselves there was still time for me to go for a very warm walk as dusk turned to night. Back at the guesthouse I enjoyed a refreshing cool bucket bath and a quiet evening with a sermon and cross stitch.

The arid landscape around Manga

Monday 15th September

Day one of the second workshop. It felt so different to the workshop in the Bende language area. Not only did we have a full turnout, but the character of the Pimbwe people is different – they speak much more openly and directly, making it easier to gauge their understanding and making the interaction more dynamic. It got very warm in the afternoon, but most of the participants valiantly stayed alert and engaged.

Lively group discussions

Back in my bedroom I dealt with a few emails while I waited for things to cool off a bit and then went for a brisk walk along the road; the sky was shaded softly in the pastel colours that are left after a sunset. On returning to the guest house I discovered there was a power cut so I had to wash, eat and spend the rest of my evening in the dim light of my travel solar light. Unfortunately, darkness also provides mosquitoes with a great opportunity to bite you unawares! Although I hadn’t seen many mosquitoes, it only takes one! Normally in a situation like this I’d retreat under my mosquito net, but the net’s frame was broken leading to the net lying rather low, which wouldn’t be very practical for trying to sit on my bed to do things! I eventually resorted to watching an episode of a TV series that I had on my external hard drive, while trying desperately not to scratch my itching mosquito-bitten foot.

Young cows learn to pull a plough by first getting used to pulling a heavy log behind them

Tuesday 16th September

Tuesday passed much as Monday had. Some of my favourite moments included seeing the dynamic discussions taking place in groups and at break times about things we were reading in Genesis, watching the red sun set as I went for my evening walk, friendly exchanges with the guest house staff (a lady with a young baby) and the cook where I got lunch (I’d put in a special request for eggs to go with the standard rice and greens, so she’d kindly found some to cook for me) and the feeling of camaraderie with my colleagues.

Abdul's turn to teach

Wednesday 17th September

The workshop finished well. My prayer is that they would have an ever-increasing desire to read God’s Word, after having seen how rich it is and having learnt more tools to help them understand and apply it. A highlight of the day was listening to the wonderful Pimbwe songs they composed, which were based on what we’d learnt together – I was amazed at how they could come up with unique tunes and good words in less than the forty minutes I gave them and sing the songs as if they’d been practising them for weeks.

At some point in the day, the translator called me out of the workshop to pay for the next day’s bus tickets as the agent had arrived who was making the booking for me and Abdul. I coughed up the cash (about £8 per ticket for the 250+ miles ride), was told we’d be given the tickets when the bus came, and received instructions to be at the roadside for 5.30am.

1. Interesting flowers 2. Little roadside stands selling oil

Thursday 18th September

I awoke a couple of minutes before my alarm went off at 5am, brushed my teeth, packed up and went to check if Abdul was ready. I knocked quietly on his door – he wasn’t up yet! Apparently he’d been told there was a slight change and we didn’t need to be at the bus stop until 6am. Someone could have told me too – I could have had another half hour in bed! I went and stood outside in the fresh night air – for the first time since arriving in Manga, I even felt slightly chilly! Abdul emerged a few minutes later and we walked to the layby just across the road, where a few others also waited in the dark. We waited and waited, as the night turned to dawn, the sky softly turned to oranges and pinks and finally blue, and the sun rose over the horizon. The bus finally arrived just after 7am!

Sunrise while we waited for the bus

Having run out of most of my own snacks, I enjoyed the Tanzanian version of drive-throughs, buying food from merchants holding their wares up the windows of the bus. First I bought peanuts, perfectly roasted. Then vitumbua – these are something like a soft crumpet in texture but greasier, made from rice flour and slightly sweet. They are delicious warm, but less pleasant when cold. Then around lunchtime I got chipsi mayai (a chip omelette), one of my favourite Tanzanian dishes, which was freshly cooked and tied up in a plastic bag. I also picked up a couple of oranges at a bus stand where I’d alighted for a quick toilet break; it was so refreshing to dig into one of these late in the afternoon when I was feeling thirsty but unwilling to drink more because there wouldn’t be any more toilet stops.

Most of the landscape we passed through was dry and brown, with lots of scrubby bushland interspersed with occasional villages and small towns. The pale purple bloom of jacaranda trees provided beautiful splashes of colour against the otherwise drab background of dry season. We finally arrived in Mbeya about 7pm. Abdul found himself a bajaj for the ride back to his home (2-3 miles away) and I enjoyed the chance to stretch my legs on the ten minute walk back to my house.

Roadside scene at a layby - lots of food vendors.
You can just make out the purple of the jacaranda tree in the left hand corner.

It felt so good to lie down in my own bed. I’d experienced quite the range of mattresses while I was away, most of which were rather thin or saggy, as well as got tangled up in different kinds of mosquito nets (though Mwese was mosquito-free, so no net was needed there) and had varying quality pillows. So a good shower and slipping in between my own clean sheets and laying my head down on my own pillows was a happy end to the day.

It has been another trip full of moments of sheer beauty and joy and also frustrations and doubts. It is such a privilege to travel and teach in this remarkable country. Where next, Lord?