Tuesday, September 15. Hard to believe we have been here three weeks already. I have been reading a chapter per day in English Grammar For Dummies. The other day I came across an interesting fact—in 1850 the British Parliament passed a law establishing Masculine by Preference for use in English—e.g. everyone should bring his notes to the meeting. The book did not say if the law was ever repealed. Today Hiari and I walked to the local market, about 1 km, for some groceries. We got 2 kg of rice, 1 kg of wheat flour, a cabbage, a coconut, a little over a quart each of onions and tomatoes, two small hands of bananas, and about 2tsp of pepper for 9,700 shillings. Hiari said that market is very expensive compared to prices in Mbeya, 10km from campus, but it seemed very cheap compared to prices in the US—at 1300 shillings to the dollar, I spent $7.46, but then that must be balanced against an average income in Tanzania of perhaps $600.00. Minimum wage for domestic workers is 65000 shillings per month—about $50.00.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Haven’t written for a whole because the Bishop invited us to attend the meeting of the Diocesan Executive Council at Matema, a conference center that the church has on the shore of Lake Nyasa. Matema is known as a resort, and everyone we spoke to before going there said it was very nice, but it would be very hot. What they did not tell us was the difficulty in getting there over dusty bumpy dirt roads. On they way from Mbeya to Tukuyu we stopped and bought a stalk of small bananas from a grower who was selling them along the highway—500 shillings (less than 50 cents) for the entire stalk. We munched on them as we traveled. They were small and sweet but very good.
The Tukuyu area gets some rain year found, so the landscape is greener, and there are crops growing that have not yet been put in around Mbeya—corn, potatoes in various stages of maturity, beans, etc. They get three crops of potatoes per year—we saw some that had been harvested—it wonders me that potatoes are not a bigger part of the local diet, rather than corn. On the way home on Saturday we bought a large sack of potatoes, I would guess 40 pounds or so, for 3,500 shillings—a little less than three dollars. Even though the landscape is greener, it is no less dusty than at Mbeya. Once off the pave road, dust is still everywhere.
From Tukuyu there are two ways to Matema—we took the one that is unpaved road the whole way, because Mwakenja wanted to visit his father, who has been ill. Along the way we visited a former German colonial outpost, saw a troop of monkeys near a secondary school—Mwakenja told us they frequented the school to beg for food, and stopped at Masoko Crater Lake where legend has it German Troops dumped treasure during WWI to keep it out of the hands of the British. The Tukuyu area is home to two dormant volcanoes, one of which, Mt. Rungwe, is the third highest mountain in Tanzania. There is still enough volcanic activity to make the “harvesting” of carbon dioxide economically viable. Along the way we also saw several other craters which did not contain lakes. We are told, however, that there are several other crater lakes in the vicinity. It seemed to take forever to get to Matema over those bunpy roads. Mwakenja continually assured us that it was only a few kilometers more but I became very impatient as more time passed and we still were not there yet.
Matema itself was nice, although many westerners might not consider it much of a resort. The facilities were perhaps more like church camp. As guests of the bishop we were accorded VIP treatment, which I am not accustomed to. Food was plentiful and very good. Dinner the first night included a large catfish baked with the head and skin still on. I had never before eaten catfish that had not been skinned before cooking. The temperature was certainly warmer than in Mbeya, but not unbearable, and there were few mosquitoes. Lake Nyasa (also called Lake Malawi on some maps) is the third largest of the African great lakes. Our “hut”, actually a brick house with tile roof and western toilet, was right on the beach facing the lake. Every night you could see lights out on the lake which were fishermen out in canoes fishing for sardines. When we arrived the first night it was already dark and it looked as if the lights could have come from buildings along the shore, except they were actually stretched across the long narrow lake. In addition, even if on the shore they would not have been electric lights because that part of rural Tanzania is not yet on the grid. The Lutheran Centre runs a generator each evening from 7 to around 10, and the Lutheran Hospital at Matema also has a generator which it runs whenever doctors are operating.
The Bishop introduced us to the executive committee after first giving an exhortation that the ELCT should not be quick to condemn the ELCA for the general assembly’s recent action concerning pastors in publicly accountable same sex relationships because the Germans and the Swedes had already gone down the same road as the ELCA, with the Swedes probably having gone farther and faster. It was good that none of the committee had any questions for us concerning that issue. It was interesting that some of the committee members that we spoke to during the sessions thought that we were from Germany! Perhaps because the long term missionaries who are ex officio members of the counsel were from Germany.
On the way back from Matema on Saturday we took the other route by way of Kyela which still required about two hours of travel along unpaved roads until we finally reached the paved road at Kyela—we are told that this route is sometimes impassible during the rainy season. It is also said that mosquitoes are much worse during the raining season. The trip back included a side trip to the Malawi border where we got to walk across the bridge into Malawi, stopping just short of the customs gate, and a breakdown just past Tukuyu. The clutch master cylinder in the car that Mwakenja had borrowed from a friend for the trip failed. We waited a few hours while Mwakenja’s friend and a mechanic came out from Mbeya to make the repair. Very interesting—had the same thing happened to us back home I am sure that the best we could have managed on Saturday afternoon would have been a tow to Lebo’s. Thankfully, the breakdown occurred along the highway rather than been back in the bush when we were visiting Mwakenja’s parents whose farm is way off the road. When we finally did get back to campus we baked some of the potatoes we had purchased and ate them for dinner.


Tuesday, September 8 2009

Last evening we were invited to dinner at the home of the principal of the College, whose house is next door to ours. He introduced us to his family, beside his wife and two children, there are his wife’s younger sister, and his three younger brothers. If that house is configured the same as ours, and I have no reason to believe it is not, then the home is very crowded. That house is receiving an extension to accommodate a western toilet attached to the main living area, because the principal like ours so much after it was built.
Each weekday at 7:30 we attend morning devotions which all students, including those who are Muslim, are required to attend. There is very good singing, all without musical accompaniment, and usually student lead worship. The Chaplain, Mwankenja, usually attends but has preached only once since we have been here.
We had our first detailed meeting about the library today, with Verywell, the Assistant Dean. He had started the library but then gave up that duty when he began teaching. The books are roughly shelved according to the Dewey decimal system, but the books themselves are not individually cataloged, and because the current librarian is on maternity leave, there are no library hours. If both of us were to do nothing but work on the library it would seem to be a boon to the College.
At morning tea we have been speaking with the other staff members in an effort to learn some Swahili. They say we are doing well for having been here only two weeks, but I doubt we will be able to learn enough to be able to follow conversations.
When we returned to the house we found Hiari working in the garden, digging up a much larger area than I had already prepared. We could not convince her that we did not need that large a garden. She had purchased seeds of various fast maturing greens, which she has also planted and watered.
Today I started reading “Giants in the Earth” by Ole E. Rolvaag. I had read an excerpt in 11th grade English but no further exposure, although I have had the book for several years. I finished the book the following Sunday—sort of a tragedy I guess. It covers much of the same subject matter as the Little House series. The books I have bought that could be considered literature I plan to donate to the college library.
Later in the afternoon, before some of Karen’s students arrived unexpectedly, I spent a short time photographing some of the wild flowers near our home. I do not know the names of any, except that one is a variety of thistle.