Africa, Tanzanian Style

As the first rays of sun radiated across the horizon yesterday morning, we arrived at Mikumi National Park after a 1 ½ hour drive in company with the team from Asbury Methodist. Our guide was skilled at finding wildlife and pointed out animals we would have missed. Although Simba (lion) eluded us, we were enthralled at the sight of countless giraffes, zebras, elephants, water buffalo, and hippopotami, just to mention a few. The photographers on our bus bounced from side to side as our tolerant driver waited for us to signal our readiness to continue our tour. Because the Asbury group needed to be back to LJS to prepare for their return home, we still had half a day left after our safari.

Barbara ferried us in to Morogoro, about 15 minutes away, giving us our first look at the city. The doctors were eager to tour the hospital and work out logistical problems they might encounter. We were welcomed with open arms and broad smiles when we greeted the staff, who refused to allow us to carry the bags of supplies into the hospital. Once they had arranged the suitcases in one of the rooms we will be working out of, we tackled the task of unpacking and organizing almost 400 pounds of supplies for our mission. Our tour of the simple facility caused some concern when we saw that the area we will be using for surgery was in the midst of a facelift. The dust and debris made the area completely unusable. A worried conference with the hospital administrator, Mama Tosa, eased our concern when she assured us that the job would be completed before Tuesday, our first day scheduled at St. Mary’s.

Barbara joined us for dinner at LJS and the conversation lingered long after the meal as we discussed our schedule for the next couple of days. Every time we are with Barbara, we learn so many new things about the people of Tanzania and how we can best integrate into the culture. We know that God wants us to be here, doing His work. Our prayer is that we will be able to soften our American ways so that we will not detract from His mission and Barbara has become an invaluable guide to help us in that effort.

Today we joined the Bungo congregation for worship at the cathedral, which was led by Bishop Mameo. Bungo is a congregation in Morogoro and is part of the Morogoro diocese. When the ELCA was first established in the diocese more than ten years ago, it started as a single small congregation at the diocese headquarters. There are now 45 congregations throughout the diocese, 10 of which are in Morogoro. We sat in two pews, clustered around Barbara, who translated the service so we could follow along. Some parts, like the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s creed, we spoke in English. Other parts, like the hymns, we stumbled through in Swahili, reading from the Swahili hymnal. Throughout the service, we were blessed to worship with our Tanzanian brothers and sisters as we joined them in their joy in our love of Christ.

The elders of the congregation honored us with lunch at a local restaurant. Bishop Mameo entertained us with some of his stories of the culture differences he has experienced in his trips to the U.S. After lunch, a trip to the pharmacy to supplement our medicines was completed. We will be travelling to a remote village tomorrow to see patients who have problems that have not been resolved with other medical consultation. If we find we are able to help any of these patients with a surgical procedure, we will be seeing them early enough in our trip to make arrangements for that surgery. These patients live more than 2 ½ hours away and must use a bus to come to Morogoro. As there is only one bus a day that serves their village, they will need the extra time to make arrangements.

We will be closing the day today, again, with a team devotion. Dana Pennie, Cindy’s husband, accepted the job of preparing our daily devotion and we are all grateful to end our day remembering why we are here.