It was 46 degrees in Mbeya, Tanzania when we woke up this morning in Tanzania. Seems a whole lot colder than 46 in South Carolina!
Bonnie and I are so excited to be back with Mpeli and Neema Mwaisumbe in Tanzania—added blessing was Maka and Sam were with them. Flowers greeted Bonnie at the Mbeya airport.
Our journey began with negative COVID tests in Greenville then flights to Atlanta, Boston, Amsterdam, Zanzibar, and then the welcomed site of Dar es Salaam. We landed and first act of business is COVID antigen test and $25. We were so negative again. But, being one of the first off the plane, we think this is the fastest we had been through immigration and customs at Dar airport.
Greeted by our friends from Airport Transit Lodge for a ride to the lodge, good night sleep, breakfast. Thanks to Ken there for handling everything. Air Tanzania had notified us our flight was leaving two hours early, so we headed off to the domestic Dar airport and waited, waited, and waited. Seems our two hours early turned into four hour delay.
Getting to be at home again with our Tanzanian family was so exciting nothing else mattered! We had not seen them face to face since Feb 4, 2020.
We stopped by to greet Rev. James Mwaisumbe, Mpeli/Frank/Swiga’s father. Then, it was off to dinner and early rest.
Tukuyu, our homeland was Saturday’s trip. Harry Mwasanjala, Bonnie’s adopted father, and Sarah her sister greeted us at home. Bonnie visited “her place” the avocado plants and banana trees were doing great.
Farming has become a stronger emphasis including commercial farming to support and supply all the Daily Bread Life children’s homes and BLSS secondary school. The newest addition is a small farm in Tukuyu that will supply beans this year, sugar cane, and is planted in avocados. We are excited about this property because it is on a small river which means constant water source. But, there is a lot of rain in Tukuyu year round.
Sunday was Acts Fellowship Mbeya worship and fellowship. Rev. Julius Mkapa is the leader. The church is really growing. Their choir is amazing! Neema’s sister, Jane, sang a song that she composed herself. Such a blessing to see the three sisters singing and dancing together. There was the dedication of 5 children. Floyd brought the message. Following the worship, the church ate together like their namesakes from the book of Acts.
We are looking forward to more travel in 2022 with teams going to serve in the different areas.
Tomorrow we are off to Iringa and seeing the children of Daily Bread Life Children’s Home—we can’t wait. Thank all of you for your prayers, concern and support during the pandemic. Yes there are cases of COVID. Yes, Mpeli has asked us to mask ourselves in certain situations. We saw very few masks and little precaution. However, everyone was protective of us.
We are so excited to be with our Tanzanian partners seeing first hand the growth that has taken place. Please pray for Tanzania. The economy is really struggling, and the people are really being hit hard as there is no stimulus or support for the vulnerable. In Dar, at the Airport Transit Lodge which is next to a very busy street. In the day there was little traffic. Tanzania is recovering but the impact is very evident.
Thank you, again, for joining us on this safari.
Comments