Christmas Greetings from Tanzania

Brinds Christmas message for Ebe from Ebenezer Church on Vimeo.

Rejoice!

hand washing sink in our dining room

 
So many things tempt us to be frustrated and for those of you who have lived and worked in Africa or in a cross cultural, developing world situation, we do not need to list the daily and constant challenges as we are sure you can bring many to mind with ease! 
This week we are faced with daily power cuts at the most inconvenient times, a flooded bathroom again after umpteen visits from the plumber, cockroaches scurrying in the kitchen, scorpion in the sink and a bat flying in the lounge just after the house has been fumigated, another miscommunication which means our plans have to change, yet again. Those are just the challenges within our gates.... the list could go on....
 

As I drive the kids to their schools we run through the verses we have learnt together and I hear 2 year old Hannah pipe up “Our attitude should be like that of Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:5” and Isaac says “Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say REJOICE!” I can’t help but smile and be thankful and remember again that God is good all the time and in everything and in every situation we can praise God for his goodness and know that as we cooperate with Him, He brings good out of the work of the ‘thief, who comes only to steal, kill and destroy’. (John 10:10)

Well, that was written weeks ago but I didn't get around to posting it. Since then we continue to have a flooded bathroom several times a week, we are having daily power cuts, sometimes multiple, sometimes up to 12 hours at a time (which results in floods in the kitchen as all the ice at the back of the fridge melts), we have been on an extensive mouse hunt and now appear to have eliminated the vermin once again, the kids are still reminding me of life giving truths each morning, and last week I bumped into another scorpion, this time already dead, at Hannah's preschool. 

Did you know.... scorpions have blue blood?! They have haemocyanin (blue) instead of haemoglobin (red like us)

There are many more frustrating little (and not so little) challenges with living here in Mwanza but now we know that our time in Tanzania is coming to an end we are seeing these annoyances through different eyes, many of these things we will smile at for years to come and remember them with a laugh and even a fondness which we could not have imagined whilst in the midst of trying to solve, circumnavigate, ignore, or otherwise deal with the never ending list of problems that leave our teeth clenching muscles aching and over used!

Well done Isaac!!

Living in Tanzania and working for Bridge2Aid is pretty busy at times, so as much as possible, we try to prioritise time with family.  The weekend was full of good family time, and in particular, an opportunity for some quality time with Isaac.

On Saturday, we went to the swimming pool and Isaac swam the full length of a 10m pool on his own.  He's becoming a really good little swimmer.

Sunday morning was the Mwanza half marathon, 5km run and 2km run for kids.  We entered Isaac in the 2km run.  It was a tough run for Isaac.  He tripped and fell near the start of the race, but in spite of this we ran together and completed the course.  Pictures below are of us near the start line and Isaac at the end of the race at Kirumba stadium.

It was a proud dad weekend.  Well done Isaac.

Fixing a car......only in Africa!

Last weekend we had a little three day holiday visiting friends in Bunda and Musoma.  Bunda is about 2.5 hours from Mwanza just past the entrance to the Serengeti, Musoma a further 45 minutes beyond.

After an uneventful first half of the drive, the light indicating a problem with the battery came on in the car.  The engine still felt fine, and with the sun setting and only small villages between our location and Bunda, we decided to continue, hoping the battery would last out.  As we approached Bunda, the power assisted steering began to fail, followed by the ABS system,and we just about crawled up to the our friends (the Archers) gates when the car stopped.  Phew - made it!

Car batteries are often used in Tanzania to give a small amount of power to households....enough to power a couple of lights or a small TV.  Locals then take their battery to a charging station where a sign is displayed "Tunachaji Bettri" (we charge batteries) to be plugged into the mains supply and top up the charge.  So we sent a Tanzanian colleague out with our car battery to get it topped up overnight.  Early the next morning he dutifully returned with the charged battery.

Inspection of the engine in daylight, however, revealed a bigger problem.  A pulley wheel (forgive the lack of technical language) attached to the fanbelt had completely disintegrated, meaning the belt wouldn't turn, the battery wouldn't charge (alternator not turning), the water pump to help cool the engine would not work, and who knows what else. With the closest quality mechanic a 45 minute drive away in Musoma, we took the decision to try to make it there before the battery again died.

25 minutes later, half way to Musoma we're sitting by the side of the road with a dead battery.....again!  Samantha Archer towed us for about a mile, but since she was on a tight schedule the garage owner was called, Beth and kids piled into an already full Archer family car, and I got to sit at the side of the road and wait.

It turned out to be a day for patience.
1.5 hours later Mr Dogo showed up with a 4wd truck.  Attached a rope from one car to the other, and we set out on the 40km journey to Musoma....at 30km per hour.  On arrival in Musoma and having looked at the problem, Dogo phoned round spare parts dealers, other garages, his mates.....anyone really.....to find if the spare part was available in Musoma (taking 3 hours), with no success.  Just one part was found.....attached to the engine of another Suzuki Escudo of the same age, that was having some work done in another garage and waiting another week for some spare parts.  Here's the part from the other car which measures about 8cm in diameter.....

....time for some discussion.....and more discussion.....

...and finally a solution...

Since the car that was stuck in the garage waiting for spares parts for the next week would temporarily not be needing this pulley, I could 'borrow' the part from someone else's car. 

Dogo agreed.

It was attached to our car, which we then drove back to Bunda, followed by a day trip in the Serengeti, and then on to Mwanza. Once home, we took the car to a local garage, had the part removed, and sent it back to the Musoma garage in a small package.  The replacement part was then successfully located in Mwanza and our car is now fixed. 

Not quite the system you'd get in the UK, but it works!!

Growing Bananas

Dan gave us an offshoot from the Mavuno garden

Andason helped plant the 'cutting' Sept 2012

Banana flower

Mgomba (banana 'tree')

Isaac inspects the fruit and decides they are ready to harvest

Hannah enjoying the excitement of climbing up the ladder

overnight the bananas changed from green to yellow

Esther (5 months) now being weaned on home grown bananas

Chicken Bravery Award

This chicken, otherwise known as 'Kuku' (swahili for chicken), was rewarded today for displaying great bravery whilst performing guard duties at the Brind residence in Mwanza, Tanzania.

When faced with a snake, considerable longer and more agile than herself, this selfless chicken took no regard for her own safety as she went about the process of ridding the Brind garden of a potentially dangerous intruder. Within seconds of discovery, the snake (long brown and wriggly) was decapitated and Kuku then proceed to clear up the mess by eating the now lifeless snake. It disappeared rapidly, taking but a few seconds, despite running for the camera and getting to the scene extremely fast, this photo was taken just as the tip of the tail disappeared from view.

Well done Kuku.

First day at BIG school!!!

Isaac started at Isamilo international school yesterday and was very excited to be going to big school.  He had a great day.  Two very proud parents sent him off wearing his school uniform and carrying his lunch bag.
We are really blessed to have Isamilo international school here in Mwanza.  It's run on a British curriculum with many teachers coming over from the UK to work for a couple of years teaching at the school.

Hannah did well at Mama Kilala's without Isaac....and Esther....she just chilled out at home grinning at one and all.

Off to Tanzania again

It's almost time for us to head off to Tanzania again.  We've enjoyed a wonderful holiday in the UK, enjoying the great British summer, eating lots of tasty food, and most of all, spending time with lots of wonderful, wonderful people!  Here's a little taster of our week at Revive camp with lots of Ebe friends.  Goodbye UK for 2013 - see you again next year.

Spitting Cobra

We often go to visit our friends at Mavuno village, about an hour's drive outside Mwanza.  At Mavuno there is a little beach on the shore of Lake victoria.  We have been fortunate to spot a large monitor lizard on several occasions at the beach, but we were really surprised on Sunday to be greeted by this large spitting cobra.

We had been watching the cobra for a couple of minutes, taking some photographs and video when suddenly a mongoose appeared from the bushes to the right of the picture and attacked the snake.  The cobra retreated to a hole in the rocks on the left of the picture, where it remained hiding for the rest of the afternoon.

All who visit Mavuno beach - take care around these rocks!!  You never quite know what's hiding in there!

Phase 2

Next week we are launching a new training programme for clinical officers which is an exciting step towards significantly increasing the number of rural health workers trained in emergency dentistry.  Currently, we run Phase 1 where we take UK dentists and dental nurses to train the clinical officers.  Phase 2 is about Bridge2Aid training Tanzanian dentists as trainers of clinical officers.  The potential benefits of this are huge.  First, there's the language - Tanzanian dentists are all fluent in Swahili.  Second, they are based in districts around Tanzania where we often can't get UK volunteers due to travelling or accommodation constraints.  Third, they work for the government and part of their job is to supervise rural clinical officers - we will simply be equipping them to offer training, and helping with some of the logistics to provide basic instrument kits.

It's taken a lot of work to get to this stage, and we're almost ready to go.  The Bridge2Aid dental team are working hard this week preparing all the equipment needed for the training programme.  We are really blessed working as part of a team that is so focussed on doing the job well in a professional, ethical, sustainable and relational way.  

We'll keep you updated as the programme develops.

Paul

New Region Trip

Last week, Paul headed off as part of a small team from the Bridge2Aid office to visit two regions in central Tanzania - Manyara and Singida.  The purpose of the visit was to evaluate these regions as possible locations for future dental training programmes.  Furing the 5 day trip we drove almost 2,000km, visited 29 hotels / guest houses, ate lots of beans and rice, and met a lot of key government officials with the opportunity to present the work we do and discuss growth into new regions in Tanzania.

We thank God for safety on the roads and for the opportunity to discuss the programme and gain the support of so many influential people who will help make future programmes in central Tanzania a real success.

We are also blessed to work alongside some great Tanzanian staff who work tirelessly to help us grow the vision and programmes across Tanzania.

See if you can spot the zebra crossing in the 4th picture....we couldn't!

Paul

Moses, Paul and Nizar from Bridge2Aid with Dr Mollel (Regional Dental Officer, Manyara)

View of Lake Manyara

River crossing on the way to Mbulu district

A prize for anyone who can spot the zebra crossing

Windy road to Mbulu at 2,400m elevation

Working at the Mines

Happy New Year!!

Here's a video that Beth put together a few months ago of one of her visits to the mines to do some dental work.
 Follow the you tube link below to see the video clip.

http://youtu.be/YoDfZw9Exc4