Lukali & Babayu Distributions

On Saturday, August 30th we headed to the parishes of Lukali and Babayu to distribute uniforms, shoes, school supplies and mosquito nets to 50 kids in each parish. Unlike the majority of the distributions I’ve been on so far, this was the first distribution of uniforms, shoes, nets and school supplies in each of these parishes.

The day started pretty early – at 7:00am. Sarah and I walked down to the lower CAMS compound where Pastor Noah lives at 6:55 so we would be there on time. It turned out that we were early. We sat in Pastor Noah’s living room for a little while and chatted with him and his wife. Then we went to Magi’s apartment (next door) and sat with her and Pat Grace, a priest at St. Luke’s Church in Atlanta, who was staying with Magi for about a week before heading out to Msalato Theological College for a week. We didn’t deliberately wake them up early on a Saturday morning. They were already awake, because Pat was going to go with us.

Willy and John Joseph returned from picking up the uniforms, shoes, backpacks of school supplies and bales of mosquito nets from the office and Sarah, Pat, Pastor Noah, Willy and I piled into the Land Cruiser with Callum and Laura Thirkell. Callum is the newest member of The Carpenter’s Kids staff and Laura teaches at the international school. They’d only been in Dodoma for about a week before coming on a distribution, but as Sarah and I discovered on our first distribution, seeing the distribution is a great way to get a sense of the impact the program has. It was a pretty crowded ride out to our first parish because we had 6 people in the back of the Land Cruiser (Pat got to sit in the front seat with John Joseph) along with several boxes of school supplies. We had to stop a couple times to pick up some bags of uniforms that escaped from their place on the roof of the car. Instead of putting them back on the roof, we just put them in the back with us. We drove for what seemed like a long time, and just when I thought my knees were going to scream from staying in the same position we arrived in Babayu.

We all gratefully got out of the car and met the parish priest and some members of the parish. Pastor Noah had a brief conversation with the priest and it turned out that they were not ready for us yet. So, it was decided that we would get back in the car and go on to Lukali which was about 20 kilometers away, distribute everything there and then come back to Babayu. We were all thankful for the chance to get out and stretch, even if it was only for a few minutes. We folded ourselves back into the car and headed for Lukali.

Lukali didn’t appear to be any more ready for our visit than did Babayu, but we got out of the car and met the priest and several members of the parish committee. They took us to the church so we could wait for the kids to arrive. There wasn’t much seating available in the church, just a few benches. The few kids who had assembled at the church were seated on those, but chairs and stools from houses in the village made their way to the church for us to sit on. We waited for about an hour for more of the kids to come before we started the distribution. Even then, only about half of the children were there.

Distributions follow a particular pattern. We start with a prayer from either the parish priest or Pastor Noah and have introductions of parish representatives and our team. Sarah and I were glad that we’d memorized our introductions in Swahili so we didn’t have to read them off of a piece of paper. John Joseph and Willy hadn’t heard Sarah and I introduce ourselves in Swahili since our very first distribution (when we read them) so they were quite impressed. They both shook my hand after I finished, which was entertaining. Once the introductions were finished, Pastor Noah explained The Carpenter’s Kids program to everyone who was gathered so they’d all know what participation in the program entailed. Willy served as our Master of Ceremonies for the day which kept things lively. He also showed everyone how to use the mosquito nets properly and explained how to care for them.

Then it was time to give the kids their uniforms, nets and school supplies. Pastor Noah asked Pat to hand the children everything. Willy, John Joseph and two men from the village assembled everything and gave it to Pat who shook hands with each child and his or her guardian and then handed them their things. The order goes something like this: Willy picks a neatly folded uniform from the bag, looks at the tag and calls the name of the child. When he or she gets to the makeshift assembly line, they ask what grade the child will be going into and choose a backpack filled with grade-appropriate supplies which is placed on top of the uniform. Then two family-sized mosquito nets – one for the child and one for the guardian – are placed on top of that. All of that is then handed to whomever has been appointed to shake hands and present everything to the child – in this case, Pat.

Since many of the children were not actually at the distribution, their uniforms, supplies and nets were given to members of the parish Carpenter’s Kids committee so they could give them to the children. After the children received their uniforms, they went outside of the church and changed into them and then came back in and sat down. Then we began the process of distributing the shoes. The shoes are in a large bag and are packaged in small plastic bags to keep them together. We take them out of the small bags and place them on the table, stacked to ensure that the shoe with the child’s name on it is on top. Once all of the shoes are out, we take turns reading the names and the kids come up and get their new shoes and go back to their seats and put them on. This is generally an amusing experience for all of the Swahili speakers as some of the names give us non-Swahili speakers a hard time, but we are getting better with each distribution.

Once the kids in Lukali had their shoes on, Pastor Noah asked us if we wanted to say anything. We took turns thanking everyone for their welcome and wishing them well. Then we were invited to lunch with the priest and his wife. When we got to the priest’s house, a woman poured water over our hands before we entered the house. Then we all sat around the table and were given bowls for the rice and meat, only to discover that they only had 4 spoons. So, I got to eat with my hands for the first time. Let me just say, that it isn’t really that easy. I asked Pastor Noah to show me the proper way to eat. You are only supposed to use your right hand, so really I was eating with my hand, not hands. The process is you take some rice with your fingers and then squeeze it into a small lump/ball and eat it. It was much easier to do that with rice that didn’t have any of the sauce from the meat on it, but I stuck with it and managed to finish my lunch. I was very happy to wash my hands outside when lunch was over. Willy and John Joseph were highly entertained by my attempt as well as my telling them that it wasn’t easy. They were still laughing as we said goodbye to the priest and his family and got back into the Land Cruiser to head back to Babayu.

When we arrived in Babayu the second time, things were quite different. We were greeted by a larger group of people and ushered into a now packed church. There was singing and clapping as we made our way to the front of the church to take our seats. The distribution here followed the same pattern as the one in Lukali. We started with a prayer from the parish priest and had introductions all around. It’s kind of entertaining how surprised people are when Sarah and I can introduce ourselves in Swahili. We really each only said about 5 sentences, but people are so happy that we try that we always get a huge round of applause. It’s quite a different experience than I’ve observed that people who are learning English in the US seem to have. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve heard people in America say that someone whose English is not yet fluent, say ‘He should learn how to speak English’ or something along those lines. In every instance here, people are very patient and try to help you figure out what they’re saying as best they can, be it with gestures or using a few English words. It’s a very humbling to realize that you have to rely on others to express yourself in some situations. We are very lucky that everyone on The Carpenter’s Kids staff speaks English. Some are more fluent than others, but they are all willing to speak English so we understand what’s going on or to translate for us if need be.

Anyway, back to Babayu...so after introductions we began the process of distributing the uniforms, nets, school supplies and shoes. I also took a picture of a little boy with a cleft palate, because there is a clinic in Dar es Salaam that will repair his lip for 70,000 shillings, or about $60-65. Including transportation, food and hospital lodging costs for the little boy and his father, the operation will cost about $300. It’s just mind-boggling that this little boy can have a life-changing surgical procedure for that small amount of money. I have no idea what that operation would cost in the US, but I would guess that it would be much more than $300! We talked to the boy’s father and explained that we’d send the picture to the clinic in Dar and that he needed to bring his son to Dodoma for a HIV test and an iron test. The clinic will perform the surgery regardless of the boy’s status, but they just need to know. Needless to say, the boy’s father was very happy and made a point to shake my hand even though all I did was take a picture of his son.

Once everything was distributed, we went outside the church and took a group photo of all of the kids in their new uniforms and shoes. A woman asked me to take a picture of her with her two kids and was very happy when I took the photo and showed it to her. After that, though, I was surrounded by a group of at least 30 children – maybe more – who wanted to see the pictures I’d taken of their friends and wanted to have pictures of themselves taken as well. I’d take a picture and show it to them and they’d all try to crowd around my camera and push to get closer. I’d try to tell them to be careful – in English of course, which really didn’t help too much – but they kept pushing to get closer. I don’t know how long I was with the kids, only that at some point Pastor Noah came over and said that they wanted me to go inside the church because we were being served lunch (again!) and people were waiting for me.

We had more rice and meat of some kind in a tomato-based sauce with chapati and, of course, the ever present soda. Willy and John Joseph made a point of laughingly showing me that there were plenty of spoons here so I didn’t have to eat with my hands again. As soon as we’d finished our meal, the women brought us some baked sweet potatoes so we could have something for the road. Really, generosity here seems to know no bounds.

The drive back to Dodoma didn’t seem as long, but every time we go somewhere the last 20 minutes of the drive make me feel like I’m regressing to my toddler years. I just want to ask ‘are we there yet?’ over and over again. When I threatened to do that while the New York group was here, Miriam told me she’d throw something at me if I did. Thankfully, I didn’t ask the question (out loud that is), and we arrived back in town soon enough. We said goodbye to everyone and stopped in to see Miriam at her apartment before heading home to our compound more than ready to go to sleep.

I hadn’t thought about doing this before, but it would be interesting to track the total number of kilometers I travel while I’m here. I’m sure it would be an incredibly high number. Having now been to a total of 7 parishes, I can understand why the largest line in our administrative budget is for fuel. Gasoline runs about $8.00 a gallon here which makes me glad that I can pretty much walk anywhere I need to in Dodoma. Not that I have a driver’s license, but that’s another story. I guess I could re-learn to drive here and just get a Tanzanian license. Of course, I’d have to learn to drive on the other side of the road (the correct side as I’ve been told) and learn to use a stick shift, but I suppose it’s something to consider. We’ll see...