One hot afternoon in February, a few of the pioneers in Arusha Kusini congregation decided to go and work our most distant map, at the southern tip of our dog’s-leg shaped territory.
Our maps are based on a town planning map which is very detailed indeed, though a little out-of-date. We know there’s no houses at all on the territory in question. In fact, in the past we’ve told you about the ‘ditches,’ the spectacular canyon valleys, and it’s that point of land were we went that day to preach.
Charles Larry sharing bible good news with a gravel-lady.
When we arrived, we found lots of people sitting on the ground in the baking sunshine, with old hammers and axes in their hands. Among them were old women, and even children. They were engaged in gravel-making. Mining the cliff faces into hollows to extract large rocks, these would be carried up to where the workers would gradually split them into smaller and smaller pieces. Trucks from Arusha were constantly in attendance, being loaded up with the precious building commodity.
The work is hard and the sun relentless. The salaries for these people, who are employed, is a pittance, even for here in Tanzania. They work long hours, and are considered perhaps the most unfortunate of all here.
Though we don’t have the means to put an end to these people’s sufferings and labours, we were able to give them a little encouragement from the scriptures. We showed them that in future, and in contrast to their present situation, God purposes for everyone on earth to “build houses and have occupancy and plant vineyards and eat [their] fruitage” (- Isaiah 65:21.) Many were happy to listen to these words of comfort, since so many have a healthy respect for the scriptures.
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