Introducing Hannah

The latest member of team Brind made an appearance on Thursday night.  Hannah Joy Brind was born at 11.30pm weighing in at 9lb 6.5oz and is already preparing her voice to challenge the early morning Mwanza call to prayer.

Tanzania Preparations

We're right in the middle of a whirlwind of preparations for heading out to Tanzania next month.  Here's a little taste of a life in the Brind household at the moment.

The activities for each day are all detailed on the wall planner.  Breakfast time is often becoming a business meeting as we plan who needs to do what that day!   The day's events include include people coming to view our house for rental, visits to solicitor and financial adviser, trying to learn some basic Swahili, working on our latest newsletter or prayer card, odd jobs around the house and garden and lots of other stuff.  In addition we're doing a lot of presentations on the work we'll be doing in Mwanza and trying to catch up with friends and family as much as possible.  Plus there's looking after a 2 year old, preparing for the arrival of a new baby!  It can be exhausting at times, but we're enjoying this season.

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to Adec in Nuneaton for some training.  Adec kindly donated the dental units that we'll be using at Hope Dental Centre several years ago, along with lots and lots of spare parts, and have made an ongoing commitment to help with their maintenance.  If a dental chair broke down in the UK, we'd be on the phone to a dental engineer to come out to fix the problem.  There's no such facility in Tanzania.  

Adec have stepped up to the mark and committed to sending an engineer over to Mwanza every couple of years to service the units, and to providing remote support by training us in having a basic understanding of 'what's under the bonnet' of a dental unit.  When we have a problem we can contact Adec directly and with their help, troubleshoot and solve the problem.  It's such a valuable partnership that will make such a difference to us on a day to day basis as we work in the dental clinic in Mwanza.

We had a great time at the Adec HQ - a big thank you to Brian and Amy who looked after us so well.

The world's most common disease

Here's a video clip put together by Bridge2aid last year which really captures the heart of the problem of dental pain in rural developing nations, and how to overcome this huge problem.  This is a huge part of why we're going to Tanzania.  Watch and learn.

The Matthew 25:40 principle

We've been asked a lot of times why we're going to Tanzania.  What's our motivation, why give up good jobs and a good life in the UK to go to a developing nation and work as a volunteer for a charity?

If your view of the world is that the only thing that counts is wealth, possessions and personal comfort then what we're doing will make no sense.  But we believe there's far more to the world than that.

We believe in God who loves everyone, who made everyone equal, everyone important, everyone deserving dignity.  And yet we live in a world of inequality, a world where some have but many go without.  We believe that God's calling on us is to stand up and make a difference in this world taking the skills that we have to make a difference for the many who suffer with dental pain day after day.  For us it's very simply loving God and loving people.  The two are inseparable.

That's where Matthew 25:40 comes in.  In the parable, Jesus is rewarding those who have served him - but they ask "when did we serve you?".  Jesus replies "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."  Basically, if we as followers of Jesus see someone in need and help them, through this deed we're serving him.  If we love people, we're loving him.  If we give people dignity, if we honour them, if we make a real difference in their lives, God is honoured.
 
That's what motivates us.  That's what drives us on.

To us God matters. To us people matter.
What better way to express our faith than to make a lasting difference to those in need in this world.

Paul