On the road again…with an unexpected passenger

I realize that it’s been awhile since I’ve written a post for my blog, so sorry for the silence! It’s not deliberate by any stretch of the imagination, but things get really busy and I put off non-work related things for when I ‘have time’ or for when I’m ‘not tired’. Before I know it then, it’s been over 2 weeks since I last wrote something. So, here it goes…

The last few weeks have been busy. We’ve had distributions in Nzuguni, Chinangali B, Mchito, Makanda, Mnase and Hombolo Bwawani over the past 3 weekends. These all went quite well. We were warmly welcomed in each parish and I enjoyed meeting more Carpenter’s Kids and seeing parishes that I hadn’t been to yet.

Nzuguni and Chinangali B are very close to Dodoma and we were able to travel on the paved Dodoma-Dar es Salaam road almost the entire way to both parishes which was a great treat. Most of the time we are on unpaved dirt roads that make me feel like I’m at an amusement park playing bumper cars. I’ve hit my head on the roof more times than I can count when we go over bumps. We always take our older Land Cruiser when we do more than one distribution on the same day and though it’s a sturdy vehicle for the most part, it isn’t the most comfortable as those of you who’ve visited us will undoubtedly remember. There are two seats in the front (the driver and the front passenger) and the back consists of two benches that can sit 5 people each, though I’m sure we could probably cram more people into the back if we had to. Needless to say, leg room is not exactly plentiful and Sarah and I have quickly learned not to sit across from each other as we both have long legs. We often put boxes of school supplies and bags of uniforms inside the Cruiser as well, with the shoes on the top, so it’s a bit cramped. We’re always relieved when we head back to Dodoma in an empty Cruiser and can stretch out a bit.

Our November 15th visit to the parishes of Mchito and Makanda was more of an adventure than we’ve had in awhile. For one thing, it was one of the longest days we’ve had in quite some time. We left at 8:30am and got home at 6:30pm. Most of the day was actually spent in the Land Cruiser, I think. At least, that’s how it felt! The trip to Makanda, our first stop of the day was 2.5 hours. We did have to make a stop at a parish to drop something off, so while we technically had a short respite after an hour of driving I don’t really think it counts as the car stopped for literally about a minute and then we were off again. Pastor Noah had warned us that it was going to be a long trip, so I brought a book with me thinking that it would be a good way to pass the time, right? Wrong! I discovered, to my great disgust, that I could only read for about 5 minutes before I started to feel nauseous. Not a good way to feel when you’ve got another hour plus to drive, let me assure you. Usually, I can read in almost any environment, but apparently not while sitting sideways in the back of a Land Cruiser going along a bumpy dirt road. So, I put my book down and looked out the window.

We finally arrived in Makanda and distributed the uniforms, shoes and school supplies to the kids. We were then invited to have lunch at the priest’s house. Lunch wasn’t actually ready, so while we were waiting, Pastor Noah talked to the priest and the chair of the Carpenter’s Kids committee about how the program was going. Sarah, Willy, John Joseph and I entertained ourselves outside by watching the women make ugali, chasing chickens, attempting to have conversations in a mixture of Swahili, English and gestures and throwing seed pods at each other. I think you had to be there. Lunch was finally served and I had my first taste of ugali. It kind of looks like homemade playdoh and is much easier to eat with your hands than rice, a fact for which I was extremely grateful as there were no forks to be seen. Willy and John Joseph enjoyed that immensely.

We took our leave of the priest in Makanda and headed back in the general direction of Dodoma to Mchito. It took about an hour and a half to get there from Makanda and when we arrived there was a church full of people waiting. Apparently, they’d thought we were coming in the morning so some people had been waiting since 9:00am. We also found out that some people had walked 10 kilometers to get there! Needless to say, we felt bad that we’d kept them waiting as it was closer to 2pm than 9am when we arrived…The distribution itself went very well. Mchito is new to the Carpenter’s Kids program, so it took a bit longer because there is a time for people to ask questions about the program as a whole and a demonstration on how to use a mosquito net properly. It was here that I caught a new word Willy had been using to describe Sarah and me when we speak Swahili.

You need a little background for this to make sense. While Swahili is the main language we attempt to speak, there is also a local dialect called Chigogo. Sarah and my Chigogo vocabulary is quite limited. We know a greeting (Mbukwenyi) and the response to that greeting (Mbukwa) and we know how to say cat (nyau). That’s about it. Really, limited is not even the right word. Nonexistent is actually a better adjective. Anyway, in the villages we hear a fair amount of Chigogo whereas in Dodoma, we hear mostly Swahili. The word mzungu or ‘white person,’ is arguably the Swahili word we hear the most as we’re walking around town. As you may remember from earlier posts about the distribution process, when we give the children their shoes, we have to call out their names one by one. Sometimes this is easy and sometimes it’s not at all and a native Swahili speaker has to help us pronounce the name or repeat it after we’ve said it so the child in question actually knows that his or her name has been called. So in his remarks before we start passing out the shoes, Willy tells the kids to listen carefully because we say their names in a new Swahili dialect: Chizungu.

Well, after we’d read off the kids’ names in Chizungu and taken our group photos, we were invited to the priest’s house for dinner. This was literally about 3 hours after we’d been given a big lunch in Makanda. We aren’t always given food when we go out to villages. In fact, we tell people that they don’t need to give us food or gifts when we visit, but we are generally given food in most places. So, despite the fact that we were all still full from lunch at Makanda, we ate rice and beans with the priest and committee in Mchito as well. An interesting fact about Mchito: the parish priest is a woman. Now, for most people who read my blog this is something you’re undoubtedly used to, female priests/pastors. Here in DCT, however, there are only about 15 female priests and the priest at Mchito is actually only the fourth female priest I’ve met here. Mchito is also one of the small number of parishes in The Carpenter’s Kids program that does not have a link parish yet, so if anyone reading this would like to have a link parish in DCT, let me know!

We left Mchito between 4:30 and 5:00pm. At that point, I think I’d lost track of time. We made it almost all the way back to Dodoma without incident until we reached Msalato, which is about 6 miles from Dodoma (10 kilometers for those of you who prefer to measure distances that way). As we were going down the road, we saw a large group of people on one side. Pastor Noah told John Joseph to pull over and Willy opened the back door of the Cruiser. Almost immediately, a man came running up to the vehicle speaking very rapid Swahili and then he ran back to the crowd. He returned seconds later carrying a young woman who was obviously in a great deal of pain and proceeded to put her in the back of the Cruiser with Willy’s help. All CK staff in the vehicle squished together so the young woman could be laid on the bench without too much trouble. We were about to close the door and pull away when a crying woman came running up to the car. She turned out to be the girl’s mother, so we helped her into the car as well as the man who’d carried the girl and then we set off for Dodoma.

It turns out that the young woman had been hit by a car and the family had been trying to figure out a way to get her to the hospital. They’d apparently been about to load her into the back of a pick-up before we drove by. While the Cruiser is not that comfortable, especially on the bumpy road from Msalato to Dodoma, it was undoubtedly better than riding in the back of a pick-up. John Joseph did his best to drive slowly and carefully, but even small bumps were painful for the girl. It didn’t help that her mother kept trying to move her leg, which was the obvious source of her pain. We finally arrived at Dodoma General Hospital and Willy helped move the girl from our car to a stretcher. Her mother thanked us all a great deal in both English and Swahili. As we pulled away from the hospital, I was struck again by how grateful I am to work with the people I do. Willy and Pastor Noah each held the young woman’s hands as we were driving and tried to comfort her mother. There was no hesitation at all in their offer to help. I don’t think they even had to think about it. I’m sure that even if our vehicle had been full, we would have found a way to help even if it meant that some of us had to get out and wait for them to come back.