Broadband at home

Garden progress

Choirs in Celebration

“Sing to the Lord, you saints of His; praise His holy name.” Psalm 30:4

The Choirs here in Tanzania are wonderful to both to hear and watch. They are in constant movement, in unison and in rhythm! Performing for the Celebration of the service of the retiring Archbishop Mtetemela where three Choirs; the choir from the parish h that meets in the Chapel at SJUT:

Two choirs from the Anglican Cathedral.

The Choir below preformed in two styles, one traditional with matching dark navy suits, men and women, very conservative. They then broke and “changed” into the traditional Gogo tribal performance costume which for women was a strapless black shift with beads and for the men a large red plaid cloth tied at the shoulder.

The Leader added feathers on the arm and danced and played the trumpet. I have a very bad picture as he was moving very fast! I am hoping one day to see a village performance. Yesterday I was invited to see another Gogo choir perform as they where being filmed on a hilltop as the sun was setting, lovely. They also preformed in a simple navy skirt/pants and blue shirt and tennis shoes. I have no pictures to share but hope to at some point as they will be joining in a celebration of an upcoming opening for a local company.

Celebrating at St. John’s University of Tanzania

“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.” Philemon 7

Our Multi-purpose Hall at St. John's University was the site of the recent celebration held for the retiring Archbishop of Tanzania, Rt. Rev. Dondald Mtetemela and His wife Gladys, pictured above.

The staff which worked hard to prepare was very proud of the decorations. The Purple is the traditional color for he Bishops, so everything was purple and white, chairs, balloons anf flowers are typically expressive of the theme!

The Archbishop and his wife recieved many gifts of thanks from the Diocese all over the country. Everything from a car to a cow to a kanga (fabric) and refrigerators! Wonderful celebration to watch as some sang and danced as the gifts where presented. The celebration was to start at 6:30 in the evening and went on until past midnight, with three choirs entertaining the crowds.

The SJUT chapel was the host of the recent election of the new Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Tanzania! WOW! The Retiring current Archbishop Donald Mtetemela (http://www.acn-us.org/archive/2006/04/an-acn-interview-with-the-most-rev-donald-mtetemela-province-of-tanzania.html ), head of the Anglican Church of Tanzania and a Primate of the world wide communion ( http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/index.cfm) , the of the Episcopal Church in the US is also a (1) primate of the World wide communion) is the Chancellor of St. John’s University. The provision of Christian Higher education for Tanzania is a passion and commitment for Archbishop Donald Mtetelmela (http://www.acn-us.org/archive/2006/04/an-acn-interview-with-the-most-rev-donald-mtetemela-province-of-tanzania.html. The process of election takes place every five years, Archbishop Mtetemela has served for the past 10 years, was very CLOSED DOOR! The entire chapel was closed off and no one heard a thing although all where watching until the decision of the bishops was reached! The Archbishop elect is the the Rt. Rev. Valentino L. Mokiwa, Bishop of Dar es Salaam in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, elected archbishop of the province Feb. 28 during a special session of the General Synod in Dodoma, at SJUT.

Bishop Mokiwa (speaking to the crowd, above) will be installed in Dodoma on May 25. He succeeds the Most Rev. Donald L. Mtetemela, whose second five-year term concludes in May. Primates in Tanzania are limited to a maximum of two five-year terms under that province’s constitution. Archbishop Mtetemela will continue as Bishop of the Diocese of Ruaha for the next five years, while also serving as chancellor of St. John’s University in Dodoma.
Needless to say bishops arrived from all over the country. A celebration of the ministry and service of the Archbishop Mtetemela followed the days events.

Neema Crafts

"...so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:17

We arrived in Iringa about mid-day Saturday and our first stop was Neema Crafts. Neema is the Swahili word for grace and nothing could be more fitting. This workshop sponsored by the Anglican Church employed the deaf and handicapped. In Africa the handicapped are either left to die as infants or they are hidden away. Neema Crafts trains and provides an opportunity for work in weaving, papermaking, textiles, a small shop staffed as well sell the wares. We enjoyed our lunch at the first deaf staffed café.

While we were there we met a group from England that comes once a year to provide medical evaluation and hearing aides for the deaf. We also met lots of students from all over Tanzania who are working with the peace corps and congregating in Iringa for the Easter break. Most are serving as teachers in secondary schools.

The workshop has outgrown its current location and is building a new building adjacent to the Anglican Cathedral. What a wonderful witness and business! Plans are also in the works for a deaf staffed hotel, I hope tot be able to stay there one day as well!

Easter Sunday

“He is not here is has risen!” Luke 24:6

Easter Sunday was spent worshiping our Lord in Iringa, Tanzania, located about 5 hours south of Dodoma by car. The Area is beautiful, mountainous and supports a host of plants and trees I have not seen in the Dodoma region.

Our hotel was located at the top of one of the hills and you could see the city below and the mountains across. It rained almost the whole time we where there but none of us minded the refreshing coolness!
On the grounds we saw avocado , guava and citrus trees loaded with fruit, hollyhocks, lots of roses and dahlias to mention a few.

We attended Easter Service as the Anglican Cathedral where Archbishop Mtetemela was delivering the sermon, in Swahili. He paired us with a lovely New Zealand couple with four children ranging from 16-5! They translated the sermon and we where along to understand the message. The youngest was so cute and spent our time at tea in the pastors house in my lap! The hospitality was wonderful.

Outside we where greeted by Gladys, the Archbishop’s wife.

Rev. Dr. Carr and his wife also enjoyed the celebration and worship.

Night Rider

“…He causes Hi s sun to rise on the evil and good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” Matthew 5:45


I am not sure which of the category we fell into, but we definitely received the rain! As mentions in regard to the elephants… While having enjoyed a day at the game park, we where “hurrying” back to the Hotel trying to beat the DARK and approaching storm. There is no such thing as street lights once out of a city; only one road in Dodoma has lights. It is dark, very dark. The vehicle we were in was very old Land Cruiser, John guesses the 60’s, canvas covered. We watched as our diver twisted the two wires that where coming out of the “dash” together,..Volia lights-hit a bump, no lights,…oh there we go lights again. The entire instrument panel was non- functioning, no idea of speed, fuel, temperature or how much oil we where burning. But to be honest none of us cared! Then,….the wind and storm was on us! Well the canvas was keep in place in the front sides by shutting the door frames on them, the canvas there made up for no windows in the doors, I think we stopped twice in the POURING rain to catch and eventually hold the canvas down as we went along. The rain was coming in horizontally and straight over the windshield, we are all dying laughing. I look over at our travel companions and friends from St. John’s University, Dr. Neville Carr, Dean of Education and His wife Elspeth and could not resist a photo!

This is Dr. Carr, note totally cover and still wet, -wind!

His wife Elspeth!

John and I had opened an umbrella and had it in front of us deflecting most of the rain. It was so dark I could not even see what I was doing. Just pointed and shot the photos, delighted with the results! We laughed the whole way back at our “spa treatment”.

Me! Missed John!

Snake park

“ When I am afraid, I will trust in You” Psalm 56:3
I do not like snakes, but our hotel in Mukumi had a snake park, and I definitely needed to know more about the snakes in Africa. So in we went, early one morning before breakfast!

John “holding “ a cobra by the neck, well painting of a cobra, at the entrance to the park.

(Think Gatorland)

There was no information as to what is what on most exhibits, but I believe these to be the black and green mambas, DEADLY!

A nasty pile of green mambas.

These tree viper where by far the creepiest, you could NOT see them! They look exactly like thin branches. Only the head and eyes give them away and as we saw one at first we kept looking and saw the entire tree branch was draped with vipers. AUGH! We are sure we would never see one in the wild before they would see us.

Elephants!

“Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.” Proverbs 4:26

This seems to be the motto of the Elephants!

And they are not kidding! This massive male elephant was NOT happy with the land rover in front of us on the road.

Quite scary for us in the “jeep” behind, as you can see from the photo, canvas on a simple welded frame, three of us sitting up on this high welded seat. Our driver/guide could not turn off our oil burning vehicle because we had already been jumped start by pushing with another vehicle at the Hippo pond moments before!

The elephant charged, raised and shook his head and then came face to face with the Land rover! As you can see from the size of the elephant that he could have easily pushed it over. Our driver reversed as that is seen as nonthreatening and we still smelled (oil) and where loud!

What we found out was there was one more left in his “group” that had not crossed the road! When she crossed, everything was fine, and we were able to drive on slowly past and then really left!

A bit further on we say the cutest/little frightening demonstration of elephant idea of family. What you can no see in this photo is a brand new baby elephant, no taller that the grass and all ears! SO CUTE!!!! We stopped took photos and one of the group auto flash went off. Well that was it- the mama would have none of that. What you see is her beginning her charge. Within seconds, literally the others in the group made a circle around the baby all facing out! You can see the formation, even a young adolescent, in seconds- you could not even see the baby. Completely organized, the mama only charged about 10-12 feet then took her place in the circle. We did not hesitate to move on, the sun was setting quickly and we all needed to get out of the park. More on that later!

“He wraps himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of His upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds His chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.” Psalm 104:2-3

The landscape was amazing, and the photos do not do justice to the expanse and awe one feels as you just stand there. The mountains in the back ground seem to surround the park on all sides, the clouds where very dramatic and the grass, about 6 feet high in most places was like a sea.

Mukumi National Park 2

“The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.” Psalm 104:21

Although we personally saw no lions, reports of four including two cubs was the hunt of the late afternoon. Our guide was quite diligent and we saw much of the park.

We finished the evening at the Hippo pond, where they usually exit the pond. The poor hippos where just exhausted, they had been laying in the pond ALL DAY, we saw almost every one of them yawn, even the little ones! What did you do all day!

This huge crocodile was living with the hippos, most of the time you could only see the backs or the just the top of the heads!

These baby warthogs reminded us our sweet little scottie dog, all head! Very cute!