Jon Helgason's African Journal

from the Feb 21, 2003 Trip

 

to Arlington Hills Lutheran ( St. Paul, MN)

 

Companion Congregation - Idegenda  Lutheran  Church

 

 

It is February 21, 2003 and we are at the airport in Minneapolis - St. Paul waiting to take off for Amsterdam.  We will spend four hours there then we will fly to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania then to Dar es Salaam.  Once there, we will sleep about five hours then take a 10-hour bus ride to Iringa, Tanzania.  It is about 25 degrees here in Minnesota and it has just begun to snow.  There is no wind so it is very pretty.

 

It took 7 1/2 hours to fly from Minneapolis - St. Paul to Amsterdam.  The time difference is seven hours, so, we left at about 3:30 p.m., Friday, and arrived about 6:00 a.m.Saturday.  We found comfortable chairs on the second level at the airport.  Katie bought French fries at McDonalds for $2.08.  We received change in Euros despite paying in US dollars.  The US dollar is worth about 0.9 euros today.  Our next flight is to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

 

 

We are now about 40 minutes from touchdown in Kilimanjaro.  We just crossed the Equator!  The time change from Amsterdamto Kilimanjaro is two hours (I think).  Our flight time was about nine hours (I think).  We left Amsterdam at about 10:30 a.m. and arrive in Kilimanjaro at about 9:30 p.m., Saturday, February 22, and then we wait about 45 minutes and fly about 45 minutes to Dar es Salaam.

 

 

What a first day!  We started at 12:30 a.m.(Sunday) when we landed in Dar es Salaam and it ended at about the same time on Monday with Bishop Mdegala ordaining Neils Erickson, a Danish Ph.D. who is here working with the Massai.  The service was to start at 8:00 p.m., but the Bishop didn't arrive until nearly 8:30 p.m. and we returned "home" at 00:30 a.m.  In between, we took an 8-hour bus ride from Dar es Salaam to Iringa.  We stopped at three rest stops along the way then made about four stops in and around Iringa before climbing the hill to the center of town.  We drove through Mikumi  Game  Park and saw animals from the bus.  We saw elephants, impala, a giraffe, water buffalo and a baboon although the bus didn't slow down a bit.

 

 

We have been on Safari in Ruaha  National Park for two days.  We left today to return to Iringa--a three and a half-hour drive over dirt roads.  80 percent of the visitors to the park fly in either from Iringa or from Dar es Salaam.  The park closes in about a week until June.  I want to "bottle" the African morning sounds.  I am sitting in our banda on the bank of the Mwagusi  Sand  River with the first shafts of sunlight now touching the tops of the trees on the other side of the river.  Soon Sampson will bring us our morning coffee (our wakeup call so we won't miss the morning breakfast).  I can hear Karen's gentle snoring because the morning birds have stopped their calls now that the sun has arrived.  Chris Fox, the owner, and his wife Sylvia and their 9-week old son, Kiasele, eat each meal with us.  The camp can house about 20 people with about 15 staff.  I think Hele, the manager is Danish but she lives in Londonwhen she is not here in Tanzania.  She loaned us a star chart last night so we could try to locate a few constellations.  Orion was visible directly above us but was upside down.  The Southern Cross wouldn't be visible for another two hours.  The Milky Way was as bright as it is in the Canoe Country.

 

 

The only two other guests here are Zach and his sister from London.  He is a Solicitor and she is an Investment Banker.  Zach has been here seven years in a row now.  They don't drive through the park trying to spot every animal like we do.  They go out early in the morning and find a pride of lions, then stay with them all day long.  Karen made a list of all the animals we saw.  It is time to leave for breakfast, then on to Iringa for our next adventure.

 

 

Now it is Friday and it is about 74 degrees and sunny.  Yesterday we drove to Pomerinni ( Pommern  Secondary School).  We met with Mr. Wilbert who has been Headmaster for a couple of weeks.  They have 1,325 students, 356 of who are in Form 1 (late 8th early 9th grade).  We exchanged questions through our interpreter, Isreal Kaponda, toured the school and then we had an all school assembly where we said a few words and sang a few songs to each other.  We discovered that Pommern is a highly rated school.  There is a Tanzania wide national examination for all students who complete Form 6.  In 2001, Pommern was number 10 among the 760  A-level Secondary schools in Tanzania.  In 2002, they were number 8.  Now they focus on Geography, History and English.  As soon as they upgrade their laboratories, they will be able to add more Physics, Math and Chemistry.  The students were eager to talk to us.

 

 

It is now Saturday--75 degrees and sunny.  Today we travel to Idegenda.  Last night we met Jeffet Mbwanji at Benjamin Ngede's house.  He is now the district pastor for Idegenda and has been there several times.  We are a little nervous about traveling there because we are trying to think of everything.  Lunch yesterday with Gideon Mhenga was great.  We learned how to eat ugali and met Cecelia (his wife) and Kerry, their only child still at home.  In between, we bought shelf paper, a bicycle, mangos, pineapples, bungee cords, and other supplies. 

 

 

We arrived at Idegenda to a welcome like the one Jesus must have experienced at the beginning of Holy Week.  We had a runner who led the vehicle for what seemed like 3 kilometers.  People lined the road on both sides cheering and waving palm branches.  We walked the last block because there were too many people close to our vehicle and we were afraid someone would be injured.  The drive to Idegenda was spectacular.  We kept climbing until we could finally see the village on another peak across a valley.  We could not drive through the valley because there was no bridge, so we had to drive along the peaks around the valley.  They interrupted a wedding to welcome us for about an hour.  Then we were invited to watch the second half of the wedding.  A pastor from Masisiwe conducted it.  The pastor at Idegenda, Sawel Kasuga is an ordained deacon (they wear green shirts).  He is not an ordained pastor because he does not have sufficient education (perhaps he has completed high school).  After the wedding, we visited their two preaching points.

 

 

The main sanctuary (where the wedding was held) is called Isanga.  We first went to the Idegenda preaching point, which was started in 1949 and is the oldest of the three.  We met two of the founders.  They started their church building in 1998.  They told us they have 130 Christians and 180 children.  They have done some cement work (from our $1,000) at all three preaching points.  They need more cement (the sanctuary has a dirt floor).  They also need benches and they need to build a house for their evangelist because he lives far away.

 

 

Next, we visited the Kisitumbi preaching point, which is on top of one of the peaks.  They started their building in 1997.  The roof was added in 2002.  They still need about 25 bags of cement.  This is the smallest of the three preaching points.  They have 115 Elders and 150 children.  They hope to complete their building this year, and then they want to build a house for their evangelist, Estony.  They also decided to use their portion of the $1,000 from us to buy cement (they divided it equally among the three preaching points).  Their overall priorities are to finish the three buildings, educating more of their students, and then building houses for their three evangelists:

 

 

            Estony Kisoma - Kisutumbi

 

            Apollo Kahise - Idegenda

 

            Aleny Mtenga - Isanga

 

 

These three teach Christian Education at the local primary school three days per week.  They also run the preaching point when the pastor is not there.  None of the three receives any pay for their evangelist work.  The total amount of cement needed to complete all three buildings is about 65 bags.  The cost of one bag of cement is about $7 ($7 x 65 = $455).

 

 

We slept in the pastor's house.  Karen, Katie and I in one bedroom with three single beds and a chair and Bob and DeeAnne in another bedroom.  I awoke when the first rooster crowed ( 4:37 a.m.).  I got up because I wanted to see the sunrise from our mountaintop.  Unfortunately, it was so foggy I couldn't even see the stars.  I was glad it was clear the night before.  The Milky Way was as bright as I have ever seen it.  None of us are acquainted with the constellations in the Southern Hemisphere.  The only one we can all locate is Orion.  We keep looking for the Southern Cross, but it must be out in the early morning.  I stayed up for about an hour just listening as the people and the birds awoke.

 

 

About an hour before the Sunday worship service we met with the pastor, Sawel Kasuga, and the seven members of the Partnership Committee.  We asked each other questions for about 45 minutes.  Apollo Kahise, the evangelist at Isanga, leads the Committee.  They said that nearly everyone works in the fields.  They grow maize (corn), peas, beans, pears and cabbage.  They are discussing forming a COOP with the neighboring community so they can sell their crops.  The roads are not good for trucks, so most of their goods must be carried out by hand.  They have to go all the way to the valley floor to get water.  It is carried up the mountain in five-gallon pails on the heads of the women.

 

 

They said they make baskets but it is difficult to get them to a place where they can be sold.  We talked about prayer.  They said they pray for us every Thursday.  We said we also pray for them every week.  We asked them for specific prayer concerns:

 

 

1.  Our relationship

 

2.  HIV/AIDS

 

3.  Economic situation

 

4.  Change

 

 

The worship service was about 2 1/2 hours long.  Don Fultz preached with Benito Madembo interpreting.  There was lots of singing and dancing.  The offering was a processional and the crowd was large.  People were looking in each window (about three deep) throughout the entire service.  Each preaching point presented us with baskets and we presented a bicycle to Pastor Kasuga, some clothing, pencils, paper, crayons, song books, frisbees, a sewing kit and the suitcase it was all in.  Immediately after the service, there was an auction outside the church.  They auctioned five large baskets and a kilo of potatoes.  We asked Pastor Madembo to bid for us and we won.

 

 

We tried to hand out wedding bubbles to about 100 young kids, but the ones in the front were getting pushed from the back.  I ended up throwing the last 10 into the crowd so no one would get hurt.  Finally, we ate a meal and then left for Iringa.  We had 10 in our vehicle for the first half of the trip to Pommern  Secondary School.  On the way back to Iringa, we experienced our first hailstorm in Tanzania.

 

 

After we returned to Iringa, we ran some errands with Don and Eunice for a couple of days.  Bob and DeeAnne were brought to the bus station for their return to Dar es Salaam on Monday.  On Tuesday, we visited the Diocese Office to call on Bishop Mdegala, but he was not there.  We met some of his staff including Pastor Madembo who was our interpreter in Idegenda.  He is in charge of Christian Education for the Iringa Diocese.  We met Mama, who runs the Huruma  Center, a home for street or abandoned kids.  We also met Lambert who is in charge of special projects.  We have seen him at Don and Eunice's apartment several times.  He is currently working with some scientists on a water project.  We visited a kindergarten class of 40 kids.  They all went outside after putting on their jackets (it was 90 degrees) and sang the Tanzania National Anthem for us.  They also sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in English for us.

 

 

Next, we visited a cooking school run by an Italian nun.  There were about 25 women cooking ravioli, pizza, samosas (like Korean mandu) and cutting pasta.  There were also five women in one corner who were cross-stitching runners and tablecloths.  We were told these women were infected with HIV.  We bought some biscuits, samosas and some runners.  In the afternoon, we were treated to a tour of Tumaini  University.  Our guide was Arnie Blomquist.  He is the former Provost and is still involved in nearly everything that is happening there.  We saw the dorms, the basketball court, the library and all the classrooms.  We also saw dorms under construction and took pictures of one sponsored by Easter Lutheran, my boss's church. 

 

 

The University is on 110 acres and they are negotiating for more land.  It started in 1989 with $400,000 from twenty St. Paul Area Synod churches, only two of whom did not fulfill their 5-year pledge.  Later they added a library for $200,000.  They now build dorms and other buildings with gifts from congregations and individuals.  They can build for $11 per square foot.  There are 32 persons in a dorm and it costs $50,000 to build one.  They now have just under 500 students and expect to have 600 in September.  Students can earn degrees in Education, Journalism, Business, Law and Theology.  Arnie's wife, Mary was the Chief Financial Officer for the first eight years.  She has a degree in mathematical statistics.  Arnie has degrees in genetics, education, economics and engineering.  They are both now "retired" but are active in the continued development of the University.

 

 

We packed our things and traveled to Dar es Salaam with Don and Eunice one day early because they had some things to do in Dar.  We left at 8:30in the morning and arrived at about 4:30in the afternoon.  We stopped twice for bathroom stops and once to deliver a package to two of Gideon Mhenga's children who are attending secondary school in Morogoro.  We saw a few giraffes and a couple of elephants in the distance as we drove through Mikumi.  A bicyclist turned into the car in one of the towns and broke the mirror.  It knocked him down but he got up quickly.  Don told us it was wise not to stop at traffic accidents of any type.  We had dinner at a Croatian restaurant called Simonas.  It was very nice and cost about $75 for five of us.  Dennis Ngede joined us as we traveled around Dar. 

 

 

It is our last day in Tanzania.  We will go to the airport about 10:00 p.m.tonight for our departure at 12:30 a.m.   We started the day by finding a mechanic at the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania (FPCT) where we stayed.  He helped us check the battery in the Toyota Land Cruiser.  He checked the water level (OK) and cleaned the terminals but we still had to push it to start the engine.  Don decided we should get a new battery so we went to the Toyotadealer where they installed a new battery and replaced the passenger side mirror the bicyclist broke.  Next, we made travel plans for six different people, including getting our seats assigned, at the KLM Office.  The office manager invited Don and I into his office to conduct our business.  His name is Hashim Maruma.  I found out later that he was in the US last June for the graduation of his cousin from Luther  College.  He is somehow related to the wife of the President of Tanzania.  (The wife and his mother are sisters?)  Then we met Karen, Katie, Eunice and Dennis across the street at the Royal Palm Hotel Pastry Shoppe for coffee and Danish.  In the afternoon, we ran a couple of additional errands then had dinner at the Cafe of the Sea  Cliff  Hotel.  We sat for a couple of hours overlooking the Indian Oceanwith Don, Eunice, Dennis and the three of us.  Again, it was very nice and cost $75.  They brought us to the airport at about 9:00 p.m.  We have completed our first trip to Africaand left on time.

 

 

 

African Epilogue

 

 

Tanzaniahas more mountains than I expected.  It is a pretty country but it is economically poor.  The people of Tanzania seem to be mostly content and they smile easily.  They are very polite.  They do lots of hugging.  Even shaking hands is done three times--the regular way, followed by a thumb handshake followed by another regular handshake.  All are accompanied by karibou, welcome, asanti sana.  We met many well-educated families: Benjamin Ngede, he is now Dr. Ngede.  His wife Anna cooked dinner for seven of us (and 6 or 7 others).  Dr. Rich Hense, his wife Vicki and their two kids.  Rich is the CFO of Tumaini University.  Arnie and Mary Bloomquist.  She was the CFO before Rich and was formerly the CFO for the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota.  Richard Lubawa will receive a Ph.D. from the University of South Africa in about a month and is now Assistant to the Bishop.  Bishop Mdegala will also receive a Ph.D. soon.  I am told the idea for companion congregations was born at a meeting between him and Bishop Mark Hanson of the St. Paul Area Synod (now the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA).  Arnie interviewed me for a job, but when I told him I had few (no?) marketable skills, he lost interest.

 

 

We had a wonderful time and I consider ourselves fortunate to be able to do the things we did.  In my life......

 

·        I didn't expect to go on safari.

 

 

·        I didn't expect to be welcomed as Jesus was welcomed on Palm Sunday. 

 

 

·        I didn't expect to meet such caring, concerned, genuinely thankful people as we did at Idegenda.

 

 

·        I didn't expect to see and hear how a University is created from vision to having 500 students.