Welcome to Tanzania! Morning came early for the Eastern Team as we left Dar es Salaam at 4 am after 3.5 hours of sleep. We headed out in the darkness for Iringa and a “welcome like I never had before in my life.” The team had the great experience of seeing Tanzanian traffic police up close and person. We saw a 4-5 mile line of trucks and buses (Roy and Oby passed the all). We found three tractor trailer trucks wrecked on the left side of the road and a petroleum transport burning off the right side of the road.
To the delight of Justin, Campbell, Sam and Trey, we stopped and found Red Bull and Pringles. Coming through Mikumi National Park, we saw elephants, giraffe, zebra, gazelles, antelopes, wildebeast, cape buffalo, baboons, and wart hogs. After Mikumi, we made our usual stop for real food at Vamos Hotel. From there, we headed up the mountains to Iringa. In the mountains we encountered another incident of a blocked road by broken down truck. We arrived in Iringa just before 3 PM. We settled in Mpeli and Neema’s home and Daily Bread Life Children’s Home.
The most beautiful and uplifting welcome in the world came from the Daily Bread Life Children and Staff. They had prepared new songs of welcome—even a traditional HeHe tribal welcome dance. Awesome. Justin, Sam, and Campbell quickly found new friends. Trey reunited with his DBLCH buddies from the past. So many new children over the past six months. Now the number of new children equals the number of “old timers” living at the children’s home. Tomorrow I hope to post one of their songs. For sure, the children made sure that we felt loved and welcomed. The greatest blessing to be welcomed by the children of DBLCH.