Branch Dedication Expedition

On January 25 we once more boarded the coach headed for Dar - for a rather less scary reason than two weeks before. The newly-constructed branch office, which was completed last year, was to be dedicated to Jehovah - the moment where the building is 'given' to God by its constructors, much like what King Solomon did after the Jerusalem's temple was completed (- 2 Chronicles 6.)

We were not invited to the ceremony itself, which took place in the grounds of the Bethel itself. The following day, however, in Tanzania's national football stadium, the programme was reprised for a larger audience, which included many of the brothers from Dar's 20 or so congregations, as well as many visitors. The audience was 4,480-strong, one of the largest gatherings of Jehovah's Witnesses ever to be held in Tanzania.

The stadium was interesting in itself. It has apparently been standing for several decades, and I was told that all the nation's presidents since independence from Britain were sworn-in in that very stadium. Understandably, the ground is considered to be part of the nation's heritage, a sacred site. As a result, throughout its history, the authorities have never permitted any other events to take place in it, with the exception of the nation's unimpressive footballing exploits. Not so sacred, though, that they had put money aside to paint it...

The witnesses started work on the site some weeks ago and painted both of the grandstands and the perimeter wall, and also cleaned the site throughout. Thus they became the first organisation ever to be permitted to use the stadium for a religious purpose. Avril was told by one of her return visits that it was on the news here.

The programme included a watchtower summary, and a lengthy exposé of the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tanzania, and then a series of reports from countries both far and near, relating news of the work's progress.

The final discourse was given by Brother Samuel Herd, of the governing body. He reminded listeners that they needed to brace up their minds for activity, alert to signs of a weakened mind, and aware of ways to be firm and steadfast despite trials.

Following the 10am programme, brothers and sisters stayed for several hours to associate, a chance for many to renew acquaintances from long ago. Tanzania is a pretty large country, and though transport is not difficult or expensive for us, it is nevertheless beyond the reach of many of the poorest people here in Tanzania. A single one-way ticket from Arusha to Dar costs at least two weeks' wages for ordinary folk, so you can appreciate that attending is a major project that requires much forethought.

We were able to meet with many brothers and sisters, including Tanzania's missionaries, who hail from the US, the UK, Scandinavia and Germany as well as a host of other countries. We met with Mark Noumair, formerly a Gilead missionary himself in neighbouring Kenya, but now an instructor at Gilead Missionary School in Patterson, USA. He related to us different facts about the school and tips on how to apply.

The following day we were able to tour the new offices and meet the brothers once more. Thankfully we were staying with a kind sister, Lorraine from Southport, England, very close to the branch complex. That afternoon the missionaries and many others went to the nearby White Sands beach to enjoy the sunshine and the surf and play volleyball.

Translation Exams Expedition

Early in January, Avril and I travelled once more to Dar es Salaam in the muggy heat for a six-day stay. The purpose of our visit was for me to sit the exams to qualify as a French to English translator - the project that has engrossed me for the past 20 months - since I last failed those same dreaded exams.

The British Council is a charitable organisation run by the UK education system, established to educate by British standards and invigilate UK exams for wealthier foreign people. So it was to the BC that I headed on January 13, to sit a series of 3 exams, all on a single day, seven hours in total. Like last time the experience was testing in the extreme, physically and emotionally as well as mentally.

I felt on the whole that the examinations went as expected. In particular I knew that all the preparation in the world would be useless if the texts chosen for the exam did not suit me, and so I realised that I would need considerable fortune on my side if I were to pass all three in a single attempt. In fact my tutor (on a correspondence course I did) said that few people succeed, even well-prepared candidates. Fortunately I can return to re-sit any failed examinations next January.

On the day the three texts were about diverse subjects. The first general paper was a text from Le Monde French newspaper about the role of intellectuals in the French government, which concluded that there wasn't any. Paper 2, the technology paper, to my horror, was nothing to do with France and wasn't even my idea of 'technology' either. It was about the Three Gorges hydroelectric project on the Yangtse river in China and its engineering specifications, as well as its advantages to the local communities. Care was needed to transfer all the data and the units of energy so on. On the other hand, I felt the first two papers weren't too difficult - though I hope I'm not speaking too soon.

The third paper spoke of a ray of highly energised photons from the centre of the galaxy, and speculation as to the astrophysical phenomena which could give rise to such rays. Though I felt the subject matter suited me - compared to other topics which might have featured - I did feel that this was the hardest of the three papers. This was not least because, on beginning work on that paper, I had already been sitting working on hard translations for five hours. Extreme stress and mental fatigue was setting in. After drawing on my last reserves to translate the piece, I paused to read over the result, only to find that there were certain logical problems with what I had written - the text didn't make sense. Try as I might, I could not find where my mistake lay, if indeed there was one. I tried to make clever use of English to mitigate the contradictions. So I have my reservations about that final paper. I would be somewhat content to pass two of the three, and re-sit just one next January.

The Diploma in Translation is a Masters-equivalent degree in translation. It qualifies a person to become a chartered translator with the Chartered Institute of Linguists. Qualifying would certainly lead to major changes in our expectations economically over the final years of the system (- 1 Corinthians 7:31.)

Anna and I

This is a sister from another congregation. I was happy to see her continueing to do so well. She was one of Natasha’s students (Natasha and her husband were missionaries who had an unexpected pregnancy and had to leave) Anna was baptised shortly after Natasha left. Her three children are also doing well. One is also baptised and the other an unbaptised publisher.

Circuit Assembly Pictures

Jenifer did get baptised, as you can see here! Another sister in the queue had big problems getting baptised. She is afraid of water and wouldn’t put her head under. After many attempts she succeeded! There were 15 baptised.

There were some particularly nice interviews. One was a brother Steve studies with last year. He started studying 27 years ago. Became a publisher and then fell back and became a drunkard. About 5-6 years ago he started studying again but struggled to overcome his problem. Finally last year he succeeded and was baptised and is still doing well now! Gives us hope for those students who do not act immediately on what they learn. I just hope I don’t get any student who take that long. I don’t think there is time left.

Another brother who is single and a pioneer was having problems with his work taking too many hours. He had to decide between pioneering and his job. He decided to give up his job. That is a big sacrifice here. It took him two months and he found another suitable one. The bros interviewing him asked him how often he went without food for those two months and he replies that he didn’t sleep hungry even one night. This was very encouraging and surprising to the brothers in a place where going to bed hungry is not that unusual. Many here are choosing between work and meetings, never mind work and pioneering, it is good for the bros to see practical examples of how Jehovah fulfils his promise to ‘add the necessary things’.

Last Ever Bookstudy

This is a picture of our last ever books study. I think we will miss seeing the brothers on a Tuesday. We are made up of three families, two have come in the truth in the last three years. Some single local sisters, a South African couple who are here for a 6 month construction project (a new missionary home). Two Japanese pioneers and us. Nobody else seemed to have realised it was the last group so no big party. I did bake a cake though but all the Tanzanians thought it was a strange time of day to eat cake but politely ate some anyway! 

Circuit Assembly Time

Thought it was time I wrote a blog! I know the gaps between them are getting bigger.

We are fine healthwise. Steve is tense in the lead up to his big exam in January. We have had some difficulties in arranging permits to stay. We now have a temporary 3 month one. So we know we are here until the end of February. After that we are now not sure, which is disconcerting! We are doing all within our power to find a way. We feel like now after two years, the language is easier, we understand the culture more and now we want to use this knowledge, not leave!

Our circuit assembly is this weekend. It is busy busy busy leading up to it. Seeing as the hall is 5 minutes walk away we always seem to be very involved in the preparation. Also we will have Tanzanian special pioneers staying with us from outlying groups. We also have a Swedish pioneer who arrived last Friday staying. She is planning to stay for three months. She is called Anna, is 30 and is normally in an English congregation in Sweden. She is currently sleeping. Arusha seems to have that effect on new guests.

We have a few baptismal candidates. One is called Jane, she is about 17. She is the housegirl for a Tanzanian witness family in our congregation and has been drawn to the truth through them. She is from a very rural area and has a poor education but tries hard to understand in her study, she looks up lots of the verses. She has had a few different teachers since she started to study and I have been very happy to study with her these last few months. She started publishing earlier in the year but had some months of inactivity. It seemed that no-one was regularly studying with her. Anyway after some discussion it emerged that each Saturday she conducts Bible studies with some other girls. It seemed that she had been doing this for many months but not submitting a report. Finally I understand that she didn’t know conducting bible studies was preaching and that the time doing so would also be included on ones report. She has now submitted reports for those missing months and as a regular publisher we hope she will be able to be baptised. The elders did a local needs a few weeks ago on how to complete ones report so hopefully that will sort things out a bit.

Shanilla

Shanilla is an 11 year old girl with whom I have been studying. She attends the Sunday meeting regularly on her own. She is very bright and understands well. We have just reached chapter 11 in the Bible Teach Book on why God permits suffering. I originally started studying with her mother but she works every day and I haven’t seen her now for months. Shanilla has continued and seems to really want to please Jehovah. She has started preaching to her school friends and has brought up to 8 along with her to the meetings, two others are now regularly studying. She seemed very depressed when I studied with her this Sunday. It seems that she is to be sent away to her families village in the middle of nowhere. She is worried about it. Her mum it seems is to busy to care for her, her dad is dead already. She also mentioned that she wouldn’t be able to come to the meeting. I have done some research though and found out that there is a congregation which is not too far away so I will try to get in touch with someone there. I will miss her study. I now have to trust Jehovah to care for her.

This is the miniature dashhound puppy of some our friends here.

I know I am a sucker but I think he is just too cute!!

Kimbunga

The rains started last night. They are somewhat delayed and a great relief. The dust has been phenomenal this year. The air was full of it, you could smell and taste it as you breathe. I had to wash my feet and legs with a scrubbing brush each time I entered the house. Even the trees and flowers are covered in dust, muting their colours, it will be nice to see everything bright again for the first time in months.

On Wednesday afternoon the sky was blue, I was working in the garden, it was very hot and suddenly the wind picked up and the sky started changing colour. It first went dark then gradually turned from dark blue to having swathes of sandy beige in it, until eventually the whole sky was a kind of orangy beige colour. We shut ourselves in the house and tried to shut the windows (not very many of our windows do shut!) The air was just full of dust blowing round and round! I asked the sisters about it yesterday. They said it was ‘Kimbunga’, a tornado or whorlwind nearby, sucking all the dust into the sky and then dropping it all back down on us. Ugh!! I have been sneezing none stop ever since.

Normally I have three Bible studies this morning but this is Africa and when it rains everything stops and waits til the rain stops. I have had a text from the sister I arranged to work with this morning to say we will meet when the rain stops! The bible studies would be more surprised if we turned up on time than if we waited. It doesn’t usually rain all day, this rain started yesterday evening about 9pm and it has been raining incessantly until now about 9am so maybe it will stop soon. The rain is was so loud on our tin roof it was difficult to sleep!

Along with the rain this morning the sky is full of 1000’s of weird insects. I don’t know what they are called. They have four wings and a fat body. They seem to appear in huge quantities at various intervals through the year. Apparently they are vary tasty. We haven’t tried, people just pluck them out of the sky and pop them in their mouths. Mmmm! The cat seems to agree, normally very averse to rain she is dashing around the garden jumping into the air, batting them with one paw knocking them to the ground and then eating them. Last time these insects came, within a few days the ground was littered with them like a blanket, crunching under our feet as we walked, somehow reminding me of autumn!

Goodbye Dowds Family

Farewell to Akina Dowds (the Dowds party)

So on Friday evening we finally said goodbye to my mother, brother and sisterin-law. It was a sad moment when we finally waved them off as they departed for the airport. We were all agreed that the holiday had been an unqualified success, and quite action-packed too.

The three of them went on safari in the Ngorongoro crater and in the Lake Manyara national park. They were fortunate enough to see a Cheetah, as well as the usual hippos, elephants, antelope, zebra, monkeys and baboons. They returned exhausted after their two-day trip.

Our little house can be a little crowded with five in it, but we managed quite well with the space we have. We have managed to acquire a barbecue grill for our little compound, and so now the sunny days have returned we hope we will make regular use of it.

Tomorrow more guests will be arriving - a couple from the US whom we don't yet know. As they are our brother and sister, doubtless we will get along just fine.

The second photo here is a snap of Kilimanjaro from our aeroplane to Zanzibar.