Doug and Frank 2019 visit #1

March 04, 2019

It has been a busy couple of weeks here in Kiruani. Doug and Frank from Blessed2BlessU Ministries, Inc. (the group I am working with to help build the school) came over from the USA to visit the site and set in motion our next big journey. There are a lot of stories from these two weeks. I cannot do them all justice in just one blog so I am going to split them up over a couple of weeks, but I am going to share a sample of the photos of some of our activities.

Frank and Doug with our teachers-Yes I am wearing my championship shirt on Friday like I am supposed to

Doug with new friend

Doug talking to students

Frank talking to students

With our Pre-School classes

with our Standard Classes

Normally when they come over, we spend most of our time in the valley with a side trip to see another project someone requested or to visit an orphanage they have connections to. Normally they also stay at a house down the “road” a little bit. This time they stayed at the site which meant I vacated my tiny house so the headmaster and his family could move into it, while Doug, Frank and I used the headmasters house. Ladies from the church cooked their meals. Last year, I tried to cook my own meals because of my diabetes and their fondness for rice and ugali. They would not have any of that and when they found out I sometimes eat Chipsi Mayai (French fry omelet) because it was not so hard on my blood sugar, they started making that. This time around I again brought over all my food from my house to cook for myself but instead the fixed Chipsi Mayai for me both lunch and dinner every time we ate there. Since they went to the trouble to make me a special meal to accommodate my needs, I ate every bite every time.

All My "Stuff"

It may be a little sad to say I could move all my stuff including my stove, cookware, utensils, all my clothes, my tools, my bedding, my yarn, all my food and my electronics in under 15 minutes. The drawback to moving all my food and cookware and utensils is the amount of grease over everything. It is also a little tough watching someone roll their motorcycle into your house every night.

We hiked up the hills to get an "aerial overview" of our school. The tin roofs are it-yes that is a bunch of wild brush growth surrounding us in every direction for quite some distance.

Overview of our buildings. The small one to the right is the kitchen. The one closest to you is the latrine. The three long buildings are our classrooms. The small building in the gap between two classrooms is my house. The larger roof in the background is the headmaster house. In the distance you can see the village.

Now I also mentioned they normally don’t travel much. Not this time. About two weeks before they came, we did our first money wire to the school bank account here in Tanzania. We have been told the money never arrived. So, we made many trips (I think 6) just to find the money. Every time they wanted transaction information that USA banks don’t do and could not make out the information the USA did provide. We took trips at night to TPC sugar plantation so we could get cell service and call the banks and family members in the USA who could help. Now understand the forms we showed the bank here in Tanzania showed all the information about the account we sent the money to. We asked them to verify the account information was correct. Finally, after a week we are with the Bank Manager who tells us the money is in their bank. So, we ask when it got there. Turns out it had been there the who time, it had successfully transferred almost the same day it was sent. They had been looking in the wrong account the whole time.

The food at TPC clubhouse

So we ate a lot in town during this trip and some at the TPC Club House (turns out they have a golf course). The food was excellent just not used to having so much of it then coming back to the house and the ladies have prepared some Chipsi Mayai which I now need to eat. I hope I am over the flu completely so I can get some walking in. I need to lose weight.

We did a lot of other things some of which I will cover in detail in later blogs. But Pastor Doug did 7 services and we listened to a lot of great singing. The second church had no speakers, sound system or electronic keyboard to play the preset beat sounds which was fantastic. Just listening to their voices. I hope I can upload some to YouTube in the coming weeks.

with the kids at Kiruani TAG church

with adults at Kiruani TAG church

Maasai choir at Kiruani

Choir at Kiruani

praying for the children

praying for the children second night

This young lady sees me most Sundays but with Doug and Frank there she was trying to get my attention every 20 minutes and she has a beautiful smile

Furahini!!!

We also did some things with the kids and they put on a special presentation with singing the last day of the visit. Doug and Frank also helped recognize the top students from the February test.

Last blog I had a contest to see which photo everyone would like the best. Out of 16 votes the picture with a group of kids one significantly and the second place went to the Kilimanjaro picture.

My favorite photos of the last two weeks include: