That's what it's all about!

I’ve decided to call 2010 CK’s ‘Year of the Visitor.’ In the last few months we’ve had over 60 people come to visit the parishes with which they are linked through CK. While each group has been different, several of the groups have had two things in common: head, shoulders, knees, and toes and the hokey pokey. I can honestly say that I’ve now played both games more in the last few months than I have in the last 15+ years. Here are the highlights from the busiest visitor season we've had in the two years that I’ve been in Tanzania:

Our visitor season officially began in May when Buck Blanchard, the Director of Mission and Outreach for the Diocese of Virginia, and a group from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ivy, VA came to visit us. They spent almost a week in the DCT visiting Nzali, which is the parish with which their church is linked, and really had an opportunity to get to know their new friends and learn about the joys and challenges of life in Nzali.



Carolyn, Sarah, Chris, David, Miller, Carol, and Debbie with the Carpenter's Kids from Nzali.

One of my favorite moments was watching the group play, you guessed it, head, shoulders, knees, and toes with the kindergarteners at Nzali Primary School. After the kids learned the English version, they (with a little help from Noel) demonstrated the Swahili version for the St. Paul’s folks.



Not quite two weeks after the St. Paul’s, Ivy folks went back to the US, we welcomed Buck back to Dodoma for the 3rd time in 2010! This time he was accompanied by the Browner and Gottwald families. During their visit, the two families visited Mphangwe, Chadulu, and Chonde parishes and helped paint some classrooms at the Mphangwe Primary School. They also played the hokey pokey with a large group of kids and adults and introduced American football to the parish.



Christine, Jack, and Kaki make some new friends at Mphangwe Primary School.




Kimmee, Kim, Jack, and Hays show the kids in Mphangwe how to play American football.




Buck and John watch the hokey pokey action from a safe distance.

Suzanne Johnson, the CK Coordinator from the Diocese of Virginia, also returned to the DCT in early June with a group of people from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond. The group spent most of its time in Mwitikira working with the Standard 4 and Standard 7 students as they prepared for their National Exams later this year. The group was also able to attend a special service for the laying of the foundation stone at the main parish church in Mwitikira, which is linked with St. Paul’s. Towards the end of their trip the group visited Chamwino Ikulu parish and participated in the distribution of uniforms, shoes, and school supplies for the Carpenter’s Kids there.



Pastor Noah and Suzanne catch up on CK-VA matters in Mwitikira


In mid-June a group of nine students and two teachers from St. Christopher’s School in Richmond arrived in the DCT to visit the parish of Nhyinila, which is linked with St. Christopher’s. The group spent 6 days with the people of Nhyinila doing everything from teaching ‘Happy Birthday’ to playing soccer to carrying water to painting classrooms in the primary school and pretty much everything in between.




Ben, Foster, and friends return from their water expedition




The St. Christopher's group, Buck, Pastor Noah, John and people from Nhyinila who worked on the school painting project.

We had a short break at the beginning of July which was used to get ready for two groups who arrived within days of one another in the middle of the month. We welcomed Suzanne Johnson back to the DCT and were happy to meet Janet Edumundson from St. Paul’s, Richmond and Jim Huffman and his daughter Katharine from the Church of the Redeemer in Midlothian, VA for a visit. Jim and Katharine were the first people from Redeemer to visit their link parish of Veyula and they were welcomed with open arms – Jim was even made an elder of the church (like being on the vestry)! Suzanne and Janet spent most of their time in Mwitikira, with Suzanne teaching English and Janet working in the library.



Jim in Veyula parish. The priest had just announced that Jim was officially a 'mzee wa kanisa' (church elder).

Several days after the Virginia folks arrived, Pastor Noah, John Joseph, and I headed to Dar es Salaam to pick up 14 of the 15 members of the Diocese of New York and Diocese of Rochester group who came to visit the parishes with which their churches are linked. One member of the group, Robin Newman, arrived in Dodoma at the beginning of July and worked in the office with us for two weeks before the rest of the group arrived. When we got back to Dodoma, the group hit the ground running and visited the parishes of Kigwe, Swaswa, Chimuli, Nala, Nghonghonha, Membe, Hombolo Makulu, Nhinhi, Mbalawala, Isangha, Chadulu, Mita, Lufuto, Izava, and Manda (that’s 15 parishes if you’re counting) over 5 days before heading to Mikumi National Park for a day safari and then on to Dar es Salaam to fly back to the US.



L-R: Jim, Caren, Jan, Lynn, Sara, Dahn, Katherine, Allyson, and Tom heading off to visit Holy Trinity Primary School. Notice the antiphonal seating!


All four of our VA friends joined the NY/Rochester group for various parts of the trip. It was a great opportunity for people from different dioceses to come together and exchange ideas about The Carpenter’s Kids program – and hopefully make some new friends while they were at it! I can also confirm that both head, shoulder, knees, and toes and the hokey pokey were played more times than I can count in multiple villages.



Sara and Katharine learn the Swahili version of head, shoulders, knees, and toes from the second graders at Nala Primary School


In late September, we’ll host our last group of the year (that we know of!) when some of the members of the Friends from Colorado group come to visit Mleche and Chilonwa. Until then, we’re back to business as usual in the office and we’re starting to look ahead to 2011 and what that may hold for the program. Despite the humorous t-shirts that say “No hurry in Africa,” or simply “pole, pole” (slowly, slowly), or “Haraka, haraka haina baraka” (literally: hurry, hurry has no blessing), time, it seems, does indeed fly!

P.S. If you’d like a Swahili translation of the hokey pokey, I’d be more than happy to e-mail it you!

The Bishop and Willy

That sounds like it could be the title of a children's book...maybe I'll have to work on that.

Searching for the Bishop

The Diocese of Central Tanganyika covers a large area and has 200 parishes. Bishop Mhogolo travels to every single parish every year to do confirmations. This means that he’s not always close by as he often spends days at a time on the road. Enter a challenge. When we need to make a transfer of US dollars to TZ shillings so we can withdraw funds for everything from health care to funds for Mama Lishes to salaries, we need to have Bishop Mhogolo sign a cheque. When he’s in town or at home in Nala, this generally isn’t too difficult to get accomplished. However, at one point during this year Scott and Noel had to drive to a village about an hour or so away from Dodoma to get a signature. They arrived in the middle of a confirmation service and were invited to go to the front of the church and introduce themselves. They were then invited to stay for the rest of the service and to the post-service lunch. It was only during lunch that they were able to explain to Bishop Mhogolo why they were there. He laughed and signed the cheque. Noel and Scott finished their lunch, thanked everyone, and returned to Dodoma to try and get to the bank before it closed.

Another time, Noel and John Joseph headed to another village to get a cheque signed only to arrive and find out that Bishop had already left and was on his way to the next village on his itinerary (he usually visits two villages a day). They headed to that village and were able to get their cheque signed.

Recently, we needed to get two USD cheques signed and because Scott, Nikki, Daudi, and I had been planning to use the CK vehicle that afternoon, we all went with Noel to the Bishop’s house in Nala to get the cheques signed. When we arrived, Irene (Bishop Mhogolo’s wife) met us outside the house and said that the Bishop was home but he was out planting. The Bishop and Irene have a fairly good-sized home farm and so while we couldn’t see the Bishop, we at least knew the general direction to go to find him. So we headed off to find the Bishop, Irene leading the way and Noel, Scott, Nikki, Daudi, and I following close behind. We walked through the papaya trees, past the rows of grapes, and after walking for a few minutes finally saw the Bishop planting cashews. He knew that Noel had been coming, but was a bit surprised to see the rest of us. We told him that we were Noel’s entourage! Bishop Mhogolo laughed, wiped the mud off of his hands (planting cashews is messy work), and signed our cheques. We chatted for a few minutes and then we headed back to the car and the Bishop returned to his cashews. I can’t quite imagine something like this happening in New York…

Willy’s New House

Willy and his family just moved into their new house in the Chang’ombe neighborhood in Dodoma. They have been living in a small rented house in the same neighborhood for quite awhile, but have been saving their money so they could build their own home. They started to do that earlier this year and now have a lovely new home right across the street from the one they’ve been renting. We visited the house a few times while it was under construction and last week we were invited back for a special house blessing service which was held the day they officially moved in.

Scott, Nikki, Daudi, Pastor Noah, John and I all attended the service – a good showing from the CK office! There were also friends of Willy and his wife Mary from their neighborhood and from their church, Chamwino Mjini. The Reverend Canon Sudayi, parish priest of Chamwino Mjini, led the service, but he asked Pastor Noah to lead parts of it as well. I’d never been to a house blessing before and I think it’s fairly safe to say that I probably won’t go to another one that will be quite like the one at Willy’s house, but I guess you never know! The service opened with a prayer and then continued with a Bible reading and a homily before ending with the singing of “My Jesus I love thee” in Swahili (of course). We did all have to introduce ourselves at one point during the service. Some things never change! After the service ended, we all had dinner together in the sitting room of Willy and Mary’s new home. Willy and Mary’s kids, Tedi, Queeni, Tumaini, Imani, and Elizabeth, are all very excited about their new home (as are Willy and Mary!). We were all delighted to be able to share the special day with them. A real blessing for all of us.



Willy and his family in front of their new home. From left to right: Martha (Willy and Mary's niece), Tumaini, Imani, Mary, Queeni, Elizabeth, Tedi, and Willy

Here are a few more photos just for fun:



Here is Noel pretending to cook dinner. He saw me taking pictures and immediately volunteered to stir...



Sometimes it's hard to get both John Joseph and Willy to smile at the same time for a picture.



See what I mean?!

And because no end-of-the-year post would be complete without pictures of kids, here are two pictures from our distribution in Gawaye:



This little boy was waiting to get his new uniform!



A Carpenter's Kid in chekechea (kindergarten) clutches her zebra socks as she waits to get her new shoes.

And, finally, a Christmas surprise: Videos!



The Carpenter's Kids in Gawaye say hi! (Literally, hello our friends)



The Carpenter's Kids in Mahoma Nyika sing about God's grace as they wait for the supplies for the distribution to be brought into the church.

Distributions, Mini-Golf, and Thanksgiving

- A welcome site on the way back to Dodoma last week. -

I’ve been back in Dodoma for three weeks now and despite the fact that we’re nearing the end of the calendar year, things show no sign of slowing down. We’ve had distributions every weekend and we’ve just decided to implement the program in 3 more villages despite the fact that the rainy season should soon be upon us. I believe we’ll be all finished with distributions by 19 December. Of course, I thought we’d be all finished with distributions by 28 November, so who knows? The exciting thing about the additional distributions is that it means we’ll finish the year with 99 DCT parishes linked and 5,725 children in school!



- Here's John Joseph just as he was heading off to do photos and mesurements in one of the parishes that is farthest away from Dodoma (about 3 hours by Cruiser). John was traveling by motorcycle and decided to be prepared in case it rained on the way. -

In the last three weeks I’ve been on 5 distributions: Hombolo Bwawani, Mahoma Nyika, Mkonze, Makanda and Mchito. I’d been to all of the parishes before except Mahoma Nyika and Mkonze, which are new parishes linked with the Cathedral of St. Phillip in Atlanta, and it was wonderful to go back and see the kids again. They are all doing well and were happy to get their new uniforms, shoes, school supplies, socks and soap.

We had an unexpected delay at Mahoma Nyika. After we finished the distribution, we were invited to lunch at the priest’s house so Pastor Noah decided to move the Cruiser so we didn’t have to walk back to the church after lunch. Well, you know what they say about good intentions…The recent rains had created a rather foul-smelling mud pit and unfortunately the Cruiser got stuck in it. It took over an hour and, at one point, about 15 people from Mahoma Nyika, plus Pastor Noah and Willy to get the Cruiser free, but they managed. Talk about team work! Magi, Margaret (a visitor) and I had been directed to stay out of the way and a bench had been brought from the church so we could sit and watch. Apparently people decided that we wouldn’t really be that much help…fair enough.











Mini-Golf

Magi Griffin (Bp. Mhogolo’s Partnership and Project Advisor) and Martin McCann (Head of DCT Pathology Lab), both appointed missionaries from Atlanta, organized a combination welcome back for me/farewell to Callum, Laura, Scott and Nikki on Saturday, 14 November. It was held at Leone L’Africano which is the pizzeria/mini-golf course here in Dodoma – a favorite place of many of our visitors this year. The course consists of 12 holes which are actually a bit challenging because of the fact that they are made of concrete and the ground is not really flat, so something that you think should be simple is not actually all that simple (especially if you are mini-golf challenged, as I apparently am). Anyway, it was fun to get everyone together in a relaxed environment and have a mini-farewell party for our four Kiwis. Scott and Josh had finally taken their much-talked-about motorcycle trip together and made it back from Kigoma to arrive literally just in time for pizza on Saturday evening. That wasn’t their original plan, but I think they were both pleased with how it turned out!



- Callum gets ready to swing, cheered on by Nikki and Laura. He went on to win the tournament. -

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner this year was quite different from last year when Sarah, Magi and I had Chinese food at the Dodoma Hotel. This year Magi, Peter, Jane, Linda, and I had dinner together at Peter’s house. Jane and Linda, who are from Australia and England respectively, decided that they had been invited so they could learn more about the holiday, though Linda, who is a history teacher, gave a far more detailed description of Thanksgiving that I think I could have. We had chicken instead of turkey because turkey is a bit pricy here and despite a lack of pumpkin pie, it was pretty much like a lot of Thanksgiving dinners I’ve attended in the past. There was one major difference, though: Magi’s ugali turkey! Ugali is a staple of the Tanzanian diet. It’s made from corn flour and when fully cooked kind of looks like a combination of mashed potatoes and homemade playdough and has about the same consistency. Magi said she thinks that she’s found her medium. Ugali. You can see from the pictures below that the finished product was nothing short of a masterpiece and it was really a shame that the unfortunate 'ugalurkey' had to meet its end.



- The great unveiling of the mystery guest. -



- Magi, Peter, and the ugalurkey. -



- The ugalurkey in all its glory! -

Just for fun: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, but Jack obviously doesn't work for The Carpenter's Kids!



- All Callum needs now is a white shirt and a backpack! -



- Willy thought that a blanket left over from one of the pilgrimages made a good outfit. Why? Why not? -



- Scott and Callum take five. -



- John Joseph and Willy decided to get in on the photo opp fun, but Scott was too tired to smile. -

A 4-Month Recap

Sunset in Nala












Time. It can fly, it can crawl and it can simply pass by at a leisurely pace. No matter how hard we try to change that, to add extra hours to the work day by forgoing sleep in favor of checking off one more thing on our ‘to-do’ lists or putting one task off for another day or week to prioritize the completion of another task, the minutes, hours and days still pass. We can’t change it. And despite being constantly guilty of wanting to add a minimum of 8 additional hours to the day, I think there’s something comforting in the fact that time simply marches on.

I have to apologize to those of you who have been waiting for an update from Tanzania for several months now. I’ve been deprioritizing updating my blog in favor of getting other work done. That isn’t really fair, but I hope you’ll understand. Below is a brief summary of what’s been going on in the last few months – well, it’s as brief as anything I ever write is and as brief as a summary of four months’ worth of news can be!

Easter

This year I spent Easter at Ipagala parish here in Dodoma. The parish priest is the Reverend Canon Mary Kanyamala who has the distinction of not only being the first female priest in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, but the first female priest in the whole Anglican Church of Tanzania! She’s also the first female Canon and Archdeacon in Tanzania. An amazing woman! Mama Kanyamala invited Magi and me to attend Easter service at her church and to come to her house after the service to have lunch with her family. Needless to say, we were thrilled to receive and accept the invitation. The service took place in her parish’s new church building which doesn’t have a roof yet so we got a fair amount of sun but we had a great time. The service opened with a familiar Easter hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today (or Bwana Amefufuka in Swahili) which was sung to the same tune we use back home so Magi and I could sing along fairly easily. It also helped that there weren’t any really long words in the lyrics!

The service was liturgically very similar to Easter services back home but with a few more choir performances. Magi and I had to get up and introduce ourselves (of course!) which was highly entertaining for everyone because Mama Kanyamala insisted that we start off by giving the traditional Easter greeting of Bwana Yesu Amefufuka (the Swahili equivalent of He is Risen). Well, we didn’t quite say it together – the fufu part of amefufuka threw us off, I think we may have said one too many fu’s – and so we started laughing and it kind of came out as amefufu(fu)ka-ha-ha-ha which made everyone laugh. Maybe you had to be there but Magi and I and the 500 or so people at the service thought it was funny.

After the service, we went to the Catechist’s house for tea and then we went to Mama Kanyamala’s house for lunch. We didn’t get home until almost 5pm but I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend the day with new friends. Mama Kanyamala said that I should consider Ipagala to be my home here in Dodoma and that I was welcome back at any time. I’m looking forward to going back again.

Visitors!

The months between March and November are a busy time for The Carpenter’s Kids program. During this time period we go to villages every week to distribute school uniforms, shoes and school supplies – sometimes two villages in a day and sometimes up to five or six – to the children in the program. For obvious reasons, this is also a good time for people who are supporters of the program or are interested in learning more about it to come and visit us. Our first visitors came in April and we’ve had a steady stream of visitors since then.

In April we were visited by people from all over the United States. Rev. Patrick Ward, the Interim Rector at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Granite Springs, NY, arrived in Dodoma on the 15th for a week-long visit. He visited his current parish link of Izava and returned to Ng’hong’hona, linked with St. Mary’s Church In Scarborough, NY where he was previously rector, to participate in the 2009 distribution of uniforms, shoes and school supplies there and preached at their Sunday service. We greatly enjoyed having Rev. Ward here and we look forward to welcoming him back for his 4th visit to Tanzania next year.


Rev. Patrick Ward with the current and retired parish priests of Izava










On Saturday the 18th, the Friends from Colorado (Buck, Darryl, Rick, Scott and Steve) arrived in Dodoma for just under a week. They visited four DCT parishes including Chadulu (where Pastor Noah is parish priest), Chilonwa, Mwitikira and Mleche. The guys endeared themselves to children of all ages in Chilonwa by shouting woohoo at the drop of a hat, giving lots of rides on their shoulders and bumping fists, the local equivalent to a ‘high five.’ They actually did that in all of the parishes they visited, but it was especially evident in Chilonwa that the woohoo sound had caught on. I’m sure the parents, guardians and teachers of the parish will be eternally grateful! :-) The guys said they want to come back next year and bring their families, to which we all say ‘woohoo!’


The Friends from Colorado in Chilonwa










On Friday, 24 April Suzanne Johnson, Roger Whitfield and Amy Millican from the Diocese of Virginia arrived in Dodoma to visit Suzanne and Roger’s link parish, Mwitikira. Suzanne and Amy spent most of their time here in Mwitikira, though they went on two Carpenter’s Kids distributions and took a special trip to Manyoni, the seat of the Diocese of the Rift Valley, so Amy could meet with people there to discuss the possibility of her working in Tanzania. Roger spent his time in Dodoma and Mwitikira working on getting a new water pump sorted out for Mwitikira, so we saw him more often than we saw Suzanne and Amy. Magi, Noel and I went with the Virginia group to the Sunday church service in Mwitikira on April 26th and we enjoyed seeing the very strong friendships that have been built between Suzanne and Roger and the people of Mwitikira.


Suzanne and Roger with Father Erasto in Mwitikira










Language School

In May, I headed off to language school in Iringa (south of Dodoma) with Magi. Despite being in Tanzania for nine months, prior to language school my Swahili left a great deal to be desired. I could only have very basic conversations and buy things at the market. So, we headed off to Iringa for two weeks of language classes. The bus ride to Iringa took about 8 hours, but we made it there suffering from nothing more than a little NBS (numb bum syndrome). Once there, we moved into our tents (the school is located at a campsite) and met our new classmates. The teachers were great and I learned more in the first week of classes than I’d learned in the previous nine months of my time here. In fact, even though we’d only planned to stay for two weeks, Magi and I were having such a good time and learning so much that we decided to stay for a third week. So we were away from our respective offices for a little longer than anticipated, but it was well worth it. I can actually have whole conversations in Swahili now! Very exciting.

More Visitors!

In June we were very happy to welcome Suzanne and Roger back to Dodoma along with some of their fellow St. Paul’s parishioners Cindy and Si Wofford and Natalie Davis. We were also happy to welcome Suzanne’s daughter Rebecca, a pediatrician, to the DCT so she could share the experience of visiting Mwitikira with her mother. It was a special visit for everyone involved. The St. Paul’s crew, sans Roger, went on two distributions with us to Manda and Huzi which are quite a long ways from Dodoma. A good three hours’ drive one way! While in Manda we were all thrilled to meet Willy’s mother as well as distribute new uniforms, shoes and school supplies to the 50 Carpenter’s Kids in the parish.


Willy and his mom!











The St. Paul’s crew also visited several medical facilities to get a better sense of the status of health care in the area. The main purpose of the trip for the St. Paul’s crew was to spend 2 weeks in their link parish of Mwitikira teaching English, which from all reports they all enjoyed a great deal. The group headed to Zanzibar for a little R&R on 23 June, but Suzanne returned to Dodoma on 28 June with Caroline Gottwald and Amy Millican. Amy was on her way back to Manyoni to attend the Diocese of the Rift Valley synod (like a diocesan convention), but we were very happy to see here again and have an opportunity to catch up on what had happened in the month and a half since we’d last seen one another. Suzanne and Caroline headed to Mwitikira to continue teaching English.

While Suzanne, Cindy, Si and Natalie were teaching in Mwitikira, Roger was stuck in Dar es Salaam waiting for the new water pump that St. Paul’s purchased to clear customs. He had a bit of a long wait and ended up spending 12 days in Dar! However, his patience paid off and the pump was delivered to Dodoma and has now been successfully installed in Mwitikira!

In June we also welcomed Leslie Steffensen from St. Andrew’s Church in Burke, VA to Dodoma. Leslie works at the Center for Anglican Communion Studies at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) and was a missionary here in the DCT several years ago. She is also a big supporter of The Carpenter’s Kids and we were very excited to have her here in Dodoma and thrilled that she was able to participate in the first distribution in Chololo, which is St. Andrew’s new link.

Later in the month, the Very Reverend Dr. Ian Markham, also known as the Dean and President of VTS, visited Dodoma to participate in a conference at Msalato Theological College and deliver the keynote address at Msalato’s graduation ceremony. VTS recently committed to joining The Carpenter’s Kids program and is linked with Mgunga. Rev. Markham was able to attend the first distribution in the parish on 26 June and elicited a great cheer from the parish when he told them he’d like to come back and bring his family. The Very Reverend Rich Martindale, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, GA, was also in Dodoma for the theological conference and graduation and was able to attend and participate in the distribution in Mgunga as well.


Ian and the Carpenter's Kids from Mgunga










Robin Newman from the Diocese of New York, more specifically St. Martha’s Church in the Bronx, arrived in Dodoma on Friday, 26 June. Robin has been to the DCT several times and we were happy to have her back with us and happy that she could spend some extra time with us before the July pilgrimage, for which she was the administrative lead. On Sunday, 28 June we went to the Msalato Theological College graduation (and got to have a mini-reunion with Ian and Rich) so Robin could attend the event on behalf of Bishop Roskam. The diocesan (EDNY) Global Women’s Fund has supported a theology student named Tumaini (Hope) during her years studying for a degree in Applied Theology at Msalato, so it was a very special for her to have a representative from New York attend the graduation. In the weeks that followed the graduation ceremony, Robin spent lots of time with the Carpenter’s Kids staff and helped prepare for the arrival of our NY and UK pilgrims.

On 29 June Danielle Tirello Givens, the Program Associate for Africa and the Middle East from Episcopal Relief and Development, arrived in Dodoma to spend time with The Carpenter’s Kids program and the DCT Development Department both of which are supported by ERD. On Thursday 2 July we took Danielle to Chitelela which is a CK parish and it is also one of the two parishes in which we are launching a community health care education program. The visit allowed Danielle to get a sense of how the Carpenter’s Kids program is going in Chitelela and also to learn more about the parish’s health care needs and their hopes for the health care education program. On Friday we spent a day learning about monitoring and evaluation techniques and getting Danielle’s advice on the best way to move forward with that for our overall education program and for the community health care education program.

In July, a group from St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roswell, GA and Solar Lights for Africa arrived in Dodoma to install solar panels on the dining hall and library at Msalato Theological College. They also wanted to participate in a Carpenter’s Kids distribution and so on Saturday, 11 July they traveled to Dabalo with us. Dabalo is a good two hour drive away from Dodoma on roads that if you called them rough it would be an enormous understatement. The group then headed out to Msalato and installed 10 solar panels in 4 days! Not an easy feat. The results will allow Msalato to save money on their electricity bills and have a more reliable power supply!


Allison from St. David's with new friends in Dabalo










On 14 July we welcomed what I like to call our super-transatlantic pilgrimage. I’m the only one who likes to call it that, but I’ve accepted that. The Diocese of New York has pilgrimages in July and August of each year and this year Pam Stone, Fran Jenkins and John Teare, who are all from England and are affectionately known as the UK3, joined the July group. Though their churches are not linked with DCT parishes, they support our health care (urgent care) program and we were very happy to have them here in the DCT to visit parishes and meet many Carpenter’s Kids who’ve benefited from the program. Together with Robin Newman and Deacon Eliza Davies from St. Martha’s Church, Bronx, Marsha Nelson, the Head of the Cathedral School, Kate Ross, a student at the Cathedral School and her father David Ross, Ruth Anne Cary and the Reverend Elizabeth Garnsey from the Church of the Heavenly Rest, Manhattan, the Reverend Duncan Burns from St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingston and Christina Hing from the Church of the Good Shepherd, Manhattan, they made up our 12-person group.


L-R: Bishop Mhogolo, John, Christina, Pam, Ruth Anne, Robin, Pastor Noah, Elizabeth, Duncan, Eliza, Fran, Marsha and Brian



In just four days the group visited nine DCT parishes, all but one of which are linked with the home parishes of the pilgrims. They also toured two DCT-run schools and a government primary school, attended the confirmation service at the Cathedral in Dodoma, toured Msalato Theological College, had dinner at Bishop Mhogolo’s house and went on a day safari at Mikumi National Park. All of this in less than two weeks! I hope they’re all taking a well-deserved break back home. We look forward to seeing them back in the DCT in the future. Check out www.thecarpenterskids.org in the next week to read more about the July Pilgrims’ adventures in our July newsletter.

Looking Ahead

In August, we’ll be welcoming a group of 18 pilgrims from New York. We’re very excited to have so many people come to visit The Carpenter’s Kids. I’ll have to write more about their trip after they’ve actually been here!

In September, Suzanne Johnson will be back for her third trip to the DCT this year and will bring another group of Virginians with her. I won’t be here for that trip, so be sure to check out the September Carpenter’s Kids newsletter to read about their time here in the Diocese.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…a Carpenter’s Kids distribution

Anyone who’s been on a Carpenter’s Kids distribution knows that they’re generally all-day affairs (with a good portion of the day spent in a Land Cruiser). When we leave at 8:00am we generally don’t get back home until 4:00pm-ish…emphasis on the –ish. So, that’s why Sarah and I would randomly look at each other on Saturday, March 14th (when we had not one but two distributions) and laugh and shake our heads in amazement. We left Dodoma at 8:05am and got back at 1:35pm. While it’s true that the two parishes we visited, Iringa Mvumi and Mvumi Makulu, are closer to Dodoma than most, 40-50 kilometers away, we were finished so quickly that I still can’t quite believe it.

As with so many situations here, some background information would undoubtedly be helpful. First of all, the promised Land Cruiser roof rack update: we did end up getting a new roof rack and this one’s not made out of aluminum! We didn’t actually use it this week, though. The wife of Bishop Madinda, the bishop of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika before Bishop Mhogolo, passed away this week. She lived in Morogoro, about 300+ kilometers from Dodoma. Her funeral was to be held in Dodoma and she was to be buried in the Cathedral grounds, also in Dodoma. As the funeral was being planned, the diocesan administration asked Pastor Noah if they could use the Land Cruiser to bring Mama Madinda’s body home from Morogoro as it was the only vehicle that was large enough to hold the coffin. Pastor Noah asked all of us if we thought that it was ok to use the Cruiser for this purpose and we all agreed that it was fine, so John Joseph got to drive to Morogoro on Thursday afternoon. Willy ended up going with John so he didn’t have to drive by himself.

Pastor Noah told us that John Joseph and the Cruiser would be back on Friday evening, so we didn’t really think anything more about it. At about 6:45am on Saturday morning, I heard an engine start and a vehicle drive off. I figured it was John Joseph and Willy taking the Cruiser to MacKay House to load for the distributions. At 8:00am, I heard a car engine again and looked out the window. Instead of seeing our Land Cruiser loaded with everything we were taking with us, I saw our Prado loaded instead. The Prado is smaller than the Cruiser, but it’s actually much more comfortable to ride in as all of the seats face forward and not sideways. However, considering the amount of stuff we were taking with us, I was a bit surprised that we were taking a smaller vehicle. It turned out that the Cruiser was still needed for the funeral, so that’s why we were taking the Prado. It was more than capable to holding everything that we needed to bring with us; however, it was a good thing that there were only four of us going on the distributions: Pastor Noah, Willy, Sarah and me.

Pastor Noah, Willy and I got into the Prado and set off for Sarah’s compound to pick her up and then headed out of town on the Mvumi road. Before I go any further, it’s important for you to know that it was raining. Pouring, actually. On any other day I’ve been thrilled as the rain makes things much cooler, but it really doesn’t make driving on dirt roads much fun. It’s also not the best weather for driving in when you have boxes and bags of supplies loaded on the roof covered by a thin tarp…

As we drove out to Mvumi, I looked out the window and marveled at the difference rain makes. The landscape that I remembered being dry and brown was incredibly green as we made our way to Mvumi Makulu. When we do more than one distribution in a day we always go to the parish that is the farthest away first. Today was no different, we were planning to start in Iringa Mvumi and then go back to Mvumi Makulu. However, since the Prado was so full, we stopped at Mvumi Makulu and unloaded their supplies first. Unloading 50 boxes of soap and 100 kids’ worth of uniforms, shoes, school supplies and socks eased the strain on the Prado considerably. Because it was still raining and the roads were full of puddles, we took the long way to Iringa Mvumi. I’ve never taken the ‘short route’ to Iringa Mvumi, but I would hope that it’s faster. We definitely got a scenic tour of the Mvumi region!

We arrived in Iringa Mvumi and were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of Carpenter’s Kids and guardians. Everyone assisted with the unloading of the Prado - everyone that is except Sarah and me. As soon as I tried to unload something from the vehicle, it was taken from my hands by a member of Iringa Mvumi parish. I tried about three times and then gave up and watched. Pastor Noah just laughed and ushered me into the church. The parish priest greeted everyone and then introduced Pastor Noah. As he spoke, I could get bits and pieces of what he was saying. He told everyone that Mama Madinda had passed away and that we’d have to do the distribution quickly so he could get back to Dodoma for the funeral. Then Sarah, Willy and I introduced ourselves and then we got the distribution started. I kid you not; we were done in an hour. Now, part of the reason we were finished so quickly was that the children didn’t go change into their uniforms after they’d received them. Apparently, there is not a place near the church that the kids can use to change. Or maybe there is and they just didn’t want to get wet. I’m not sure. Anyway, once all the kids had their uniforms, school supplies, socks and soap, we distributed the shoes and took our leave. I was able to tell everyone that two members of their link parish in New York would be visiting them in August, so I didn’t feel as bad that we weren’t staying long.

As we got into the Prado to head back to Mvumi Makulu for their distribution, the parish committee came up to the driver’s window and handed us some chapati and a bowl of meat of some kind. They’d prepared tea for us as well, but we couldn’t take it with us. This only served to make Sarah and I feel a bit guilty that we had to leave right after the distribution, but everyone seemed to understand. Sarah and I decided that we’d probably just experienced the only Tanzanian version of a ‘drive through’ that we know of.

The rain hadn’t let up at all, so we took the long way back to Mvumi Makulu. Pastor Noah said that we had to do this or we’d just end up getting stuck somewhere. At one point, as we approached a large puddle (seriously it looked like a small lake), Pastor Noah glanced back at Sarah and I and said ‘Be prepared.’ We looked at each other and laughed as Pastor Noah put the Prado into gear and powered through the puddle. This prompted Sarah to break out into song. Which song, you ask? Fans of The Lion King will recognize it: ‘Be prepared.’ Appropriate.

We made it back to Mvumi Makulu with no trouble and walked into the church to find that the distribution was already in progress. When we’d unloaded the supplies for Mvumi Makulu earlier I’d heard Pastor Noah explaining that the kids got 5 pairs of socks and 5 bars of soap in addition to the uniforms, shoes and school supplies. I’d obviously missed the part where he’d suggested that they start the distribution as soon as all of the kids arrived. Sarah went about taking pictures of the photo gallery for St. Bart’s in Manhattan, Mvumi Makulu’s link parish, and Willy and I helped distribute everything as best we could. Once all of the kids had their uniforms, shoes, supplies and soap, Pastor Noah explained that the reason the distribution was a bit unorthodox was that we had to get back to Dodoma for a funeral. Of course we still had to introduce ourselves – some things never change! I was able to share some messages from a few members of St. Bart’s who’d been to Mvumi Makulu last August which made everyone very happy. They were even happier to hear that there are going to be two groups of visitors from St. Bart’s coming in July and August.

As soon as I finished reading the messages from St. Bart’s we said our goodbyes and headed back to Dodoma. We pulled into Sarah’s compound at 1:35pm, about 2-3 hours earlier than expected. The funeral had started at 12:00pm so Pastor Noah was a bit late, but we found out later that he was still able to be there for the majority of the service. It didn’t end until after 5:00pm.