Friday, 3 October 2014
TIME 03:00
On the Rocks

As promised here are a few fun photos taken while Sue Fallon (EI) was with us last week! Fun on the rocks at Malaika Beach and more fun on the Dancing Rocks, just a short walk up from our house in Bwiru.








On Sunday, Tim and Amisadai went with Sue and also Esther and Peter (Agricultural Awareness Group) to the Church in Kayenze (35km from Mwanza and where we held the Sodis Shake). After the service, in which Tim preached, they all headed outside to the Lake where there was a baptism for four members of the church!
Lake Victoria, Kayenze
Kayenze TAG Church
Lake Baptism
Then our little group toured the shambas where Tim was pleased to see the progress made even since the training seminar the week before last. The farmers have started mulching and covering the ground and impressively have started a compost! So we are eagerly awaiting planting the crops with them next week! As you know from the last blog post, the rains have definitely started; we awoke to the same dark and wet scenario this morning, but thankfully made it to the bottom of the road without incident!
With Pastor Amon and Peter and Esther
Compost!
Amisadai loves goats!

Amisadai before she crashed into the tree.
Just kidding - it was stationary!
I was delighted to be invited to speak last week at the weekly women's service at BMCC in Nyegezi. We have formed some great relationships with various people at this church (most of whom are called Esther!) and I am excited about doing more with the women here. Mama Esther (the pastor's wife) is a lovely lady, with a great big heart for people which is demonstrated in the way that she serves others and seeks transformation!  

Women's Bible Study at BMCC
And telling more in pictures ...

Sue talks about EI to Tim's Bible College students


Dinner with Dr Makori


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Wednesday, 1 October 2014
TIME 03:22
Car Breaks Down in Torrential Storm

Sometimes the not-so-simple act of living here causes just a slight adrenalin rush that makes me realise how much I enjoy living with the exciting unpredictability of life here! The birth of the baby on the roadside the other day was one such moment. And this morning was yet another of those moments when I felt that living anywhere else must surely be boring!

We woke early this morning to a huge rainstorm. The rain pelted down as lightning flashed wildly and the thunder cracked in deafening bursts. The power went out ... thankfully just after the kettle boiled. So we fumbled a little in the darkness getting ready for school, but that's not so unusual. We fed Louisa anti-sickness drugs in the dark and forced down her amoeba medication. She felt lousy and went back to bed. With the road outside fast becoming a river and almost no visibility in the grey light and horizontal lashings of rain, we realised we had better wait a while before venturing out. By the time the storm had calmed down a bit, Louisa's sickness had subsided and she quickly threw on her uniform and they all headed out in 4-wheel drive as I held open the gate, my feet submerged.

After waving them off, I ran back inside and changed out of my wet clothes. Five minutes later I had a phone call. "We have broken down at the end of the road." The road was in a terrible state, flooded and potholed. Tim had sunk in an unseen crevice; there was an ominous clunk as the tie rod broke and the steering was gone. While they waited for a friend to rescue the girls (and the two boys in our car pool) to take them to school, I realised Louisa had left a bag behind in the rush. So I heroically set out in the torrential rain, down the road that was now a river. It was over my ankles and then over my knees, it was rushing and gushing in torrents carrying rubbish and debris, and the mud underneath was sucking off my sandals as I sank down! As I passed under the power lines, there was an almighty CRACK-bzzzzzz as blue sparks, fire and smoke erupted when a branch fell on the line. I almost jumped out of my skin and hurriedly waded away! I wish I had a photo of this bit!

The "river" outside our house


This was taken after the worst... but you can see the crevice that caused the problem!
Tim waited with the car for a mechanic to arrive. I headed back up the "river" and stripped off my second soaked outfit in an hour. Poor Tim was waiting for ages in the rain at the bottom of our road, but then was joined by a friend who kept him company. They watched as the electricians arrived to fix the line ... and then got stuck in the potholes and mud. After a failed attempt at towing themselves out with electrical wire, Eric was able to lend them his tow rope which worked fine; they got on with the job. Back at the house, the power came on! Kettle back on. Feeling sorry for Tim after two and half hours at the bottom of the road, I took a thermos with tea and coffee and cakes down, which we had with the two mechanics. And then with the car fixed, having said our farewells, Tim and I drove carefully back up the road and I changed out of my third soaked outfit. Not sure why I bothered.


The electricians get stuck


Nothing a good cup of tea can't sort out! Thanks, Eric and our men in blue!

I was supposed to be updating on what happened last week ... but am carried away with current events at the moment! I am currently drying out my fourth outfit in Gold Crest making the most of their power (ours is out again ... it didn't last long!) and internet with some large files that needed working on and sending out.

I think the rains may have started.
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Monday, 29 September 2014
TIME 13:05
Parasites, Postal Paperwork and a Birth on the Pavement!

Louisa hasn't been too well for a while. I kept attributing her lack of energy and poor appetite to tiredness due to starting school, late nights with a busy time recently and told her to just "get a good sleep ... finish your lunch ... drink more water ..." But with repeated bouts of diarreah and recurring tummy aches, I finally clued in that she might have a problem. So we had her tested and she has another amoeba. But then it might just be the same one which has been lying dormant for a while? I am trying to figure it all out, but every time I start reading up on it, I end up just going again to wash my hands!

So this was all a cause of great distress as Louisa remembers all too clearly the last amoeba, or rather the medicine given to treat it. Before it does the job, the medicine causes more sickness than the amoeba. It isn't fun. But as we began waging war on Louisa's parasite, today we plodded through hurdles at post offices with little yellow papers in order to procure a parcel of books for pastors, and I read a prayer that seemed rather amusingly appropriate. The prayer by Anne Washington (who lives and works in Bolivia) is her prayer for all those "suffering under the weight of paperwork or parasites" ...
“May your lines be short and your patience long.
May you rejoice in the moments of health and know that in the moments of sickness this too shall pass… literally.
Or you’ll vomit and then you might feel better. Or you might not feel better but at least you might lose a few pounds.
May you have the gift of tongues to interpret the medical jargon on the very strong medications.
May you interpret, as well, the official wording on forms, visas, signs, documents, contracts, etc.
When the parasites come crawling and the paperwork keeps trailing may you be surrounded by people of compassion and be filled with perseverance that pushes through to find some kind of humor in it all.
Amen.”(Life Overseas)
Other than treating parasites and plodding round post offices with papers for parcels, today (which happens to be our 13th wedding anniversary and thus entitled us to coffee at Gold Crest), I also had an interesting drive home from school! As I pulled up to a stop with a carload of kids, waiting to turn onto the main road, I saw a woman struggling on the ground in obvious pain at the side of the road, surrounded by a few others. One was stretching a khanga (cloth) across on the roadside. But from where we sat, we watched one woman bend over the first and then incredulously realised what was happening as she suddenly lifted up a tiny baby! She wrapped the baby in a khanga and other women hovered over the new mother, setting her as gently as one could on the hard tarmac at this busy corner. With speeding motorbikes cutting the corner and a huge ditch right beside, this has to be one of the worst places to give birth, but what excitement to all see a new life begin! And it was all over just like that as we turned onto the main road! Wow!  
Anniversary selfie at Gold Crest!
This past week, we have enjoyed having Sue Fallon, manager of EIUK, here with us. She came to see how things are going, so we've had plenty of time to chat about what we are up to, how we are doing, go over our finances situation ... and play some games, make loom bands, climb to the Dancing Rocks and enjoy dinner out at Malaika (we will post some fun photos soon, but here is a sneak peak... )

 
She has been able to have a few visits with us to see what is happening on the farms with the agricultural projects, to meet with the BMCC women's group for a Bible Study, and meet with various key people we work with here.
 
So on Wednesday we were with Sue in Kisesa, (a village about 20km away), checking out the three or four "shamba's" (farms) of people we are working with. As you can see, the land is very dry now, but we are anticipating the rains and preparing for planting.
Potential for growth!

This pit is being painstakingly dug by hand to collect water in the rains.
Hot, hard work!

Treking along narrow dirt roads cut with thornbushes!

Surveying the land


This deep pit still has water, but I didn't want to attempt descending the slippery pit to collect it!

Making plans for planting
So with parasites in check and parcel procured, I am left only wondering what they named that little baby ... thinking it must be something like Barababa (road) or Haraka (fast, quickly)!



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Monday, 22 September 2014
TIME 10:25
Students, Pastors, Farmers

It's hard to know just how to catch up on our blog! With many things happening and very bad internet, we seem to be many stories behind and we are now another visitor ahead with Sue Fallon visiting us from the UK. But here is a bit of a catch up!
 
We have had a great month with Tim's parents here. Amisadai and Louisa have blogged about some of what they got up to with Grandma and Grandad. Tim has started teaching weekly at the Bible College here in Mwanza and is enjoying his 19 students as they work through Missiology together.
 
Last week we were with Mama Minja and the children at Console Nursery School. I know many of you have visited or supported the work here and you will be so pleased to see how well the new building is coming along! They are almost ready to use the new classrooms which will make such a huge difference for these young children! And the plan is to also use the building for some income generating projects to support the school with a fully-paid and qualified teacher and provide more nutritious food for the children. Praise God for Mama Minja and the amazing work she is doing! 
 
The new building for Console Nursery
One of the new classrooms
 

Pastor's Conference
We had to wait a while to begin the Pastor's conference the other week. The electric meter had run out and no conference can proceed without PA! So we waited until someone had topped it up with some money in the slot and then we were powered and ready to go! The only problem was he can't have put enough in, as a few hours later everything fizzled and he had to pop out again to top it up! Needless to say, lunch was a little late later on! But the conference was great! Tim and his Dad taught over the two days and there was lots of good discussion and good questions from the various pastors there, all from different denominations.

Teaching at the Pastor's Seminar
The conference delegates

A good lunch!
Agricultural Training Seminar
Last week, we were excited to officially start the conservation agriculture project! This has been a lot of preparation work for Tim recently. We are working on this project with a group of three graduates from St Augustine University, Mwanza. These visionary young adults have formed an awareness group to focus on the need for agricultural education in this region. It seems crazy in an area which struggles agriculturally with bad soil conditions and unfavourable weather, but we hear that agricultural courses have been cut. So this group has taken it upon themselves to initiate change! They formed the awareness group, applied for and received land from the government on which to work and are now working with us to help train local farmers in conservation agricultural techniques.
 
So we invited eight subsistence farmers from three surrounding villages to work with us. We are going to work with them for a year, with the condition that they then teach  others all that they learn! So they came last week for two days of "classroom" teaching where we laid out the theological basis of what we are doing and outlined the practical steps we will be taking. Tim's Dad led the opening with the Word on Psalm 65. Peter and Esther (two from the awareness group) also helped with some of the teaching. Now the task for the farmers is to prepare their mulch and compost for the planting season coming up. But it will be a busy few weeks as because we had some early rains, the schedule has moved suddenly forward!
 
So it was a good two days in Nyakato - albeit very hot and long for Mum and Dad as it was all in Swahili under a tin roof!
 

Peter demonstrates how to space seeds when planting
with the use of a rope and scrap cloth markers

Esther teaching
And here are a few shots from our farewell picnic on the beach before Grandma and Grandad left us here last week on the shores of Lake Victoria!

A game of horseshoes
 
 
 
 
Leaping in the Sunset

 And finally ... anyone looking for a foam mattress?

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Saturday, 20 September 2014
TIME 00:44
Baptism in the Indian Ocean

We were so delighted and proud to see Amisadai get baptised on Sunday! We have put some of the photos together in a short video for those of you who would have liked to be there for it! Thanks so much for the messages and prayers - it was very special!




Amisadai Faith Monger Baptism from Rachel Monger on Vimeo.

We had an amazing weekend in Dar es Salaam. We arrived very late on Friday night. On Saturday, Tim's dad was teaching at the Bible School and in the afternoon we enjoyed some fun in the pool! We were up before sunrise on Sunday and set off at 6am to the beach for Amisadai's baptism in the Indian Ocean. We all sang Amazing Grace in the early morning sun, Amisadai shared why she wanted to be baptised (read below), Pastor Huruma gave a short message and a few of us shared some things for Amisadai. Then it was into the waves with Grandad and Uncle Huruma! It was lovely to see Amisadai take this big step as she follows God in her own walk with Him.

Click here to read what Amisadai shared.

After a quick change, we arrived late at the 7am first service in which Tim's Dad was preaching. That was followed by chai and then the 10am service. It was great to be back with Victory Christian Church (VCC) again; they have been such a great support to us!
 
 

After the services, we were treated by VCC to the most incredible, amazing lunch with the Nkone family! It was such a treat, and such a good time all together! We were 21 stories high and yes, the LONG lift was pretty exciting for the girls! The experience was comparable to Buddy's in Elf, but although the comment was made to press all the buttons like a Christmas tree, we didn't! We stepped out of the lift to a view from heaven! Surrounded by windows in a revolving restaurant! Wow!

Only in Africa would you find an open window at waist height on the 21st floor!
And yes ... we had to tell Louisa to get down from the window sill!
This photo was taken leaning out of the open window on the 21st floor ... don't show my mom!

 


Louisa with Joan and Marion
 
 

Beautifully presented!
Delicious! Pickled Octopus
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Friday, 12 September 2014
TIME 06:34
Compassion (com·pati)

com·pas·sion. com·pati. com·passus. co-suffering

Our English word, compassion comes from the Latin words "com" (with, together) and "pati" (the one who suffers, from which we get the word "patient" and "pity"). It is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as the "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it." It is to love together. The Swahili word is "huruma."

Last week we saw this word in action. The people at BMCC (Beacon Mission Christian Centre), a TAG church we work with in Nyegezi,  are compassionately serving their community in their desire to see people released from problems and all types of poverty. They run a nursery school, have been working with street kids since 2010 and with children with albinism since 2013. They recently teamed up with Compassion (Child Sponsorship Program) and it was their Compassion project for children in poverty that we specifically went to see last Saturday. Friends of ours in Tadley who work with Compassion UK were speaking at our church in Tadley last Sunday and they wanted some first-hand information and recent photos. So we went and Remmie (the Projects Director) told us more about the work they are doing.

Compassion kids learning about malaria
With Pastor Mbuke (centre) and Remmie (left)
So far, they have 201 children from families in poverty who they are helping through the Compassion partnership. They seek to help the children in four major areas: spiritual development, physical development (health and nutrition), social development, and intellectual development (income generating projects, education and skills training).

Many of these children are underweight or malnourished. Diets at home are poor and help is needed to help and teach the mamas about nutrition and balanced diet. Many of the children are often sick; every week Remmie says that over 20 children are at home sick. This is often due to poor hygiene and sanitation. Teaching is given on clean water; mamas have been told to boil water, but they say that they don’t own a big enough pot to boil the water in and it uses too much valuable fuel. Children that have been orphaned and are living with relatives are often abused or badly treated. BMCC teaches about the rights of children, their right to be loved and protected. They work with the government on child protection issues and are able to intervene and help children in harmful situations. They are able to pray with these children and their families. Sharing in the suffering and helping to alleviate it. And they are seeing suffering alleviated.
Uji time!

It is so encouraging to see the love and passion of God's people shared with others in the midst of their suffering; people demonstrating true compassion. People who are not selfishly thinking of their own desires and avoiding suffering. But looking at Jesus who embodies the word compassion. People who are joining with (com) other people, seeking to understand their situation, showing love and kindness, especially to those who are suffering (pati).

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
And so from the above verse, we see that all this compassion ends in com-fortis (with strength). A good place to finish. How many ways can we think of to show compassion and to give comfort?

Outside the BMCC church building
 
On another note, here is a recent news report from CBC which looks at the need for fuel-efficient stove projects! Good to see that CBC agrees with us! http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/1.2753661
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