Compilation of Team's First Week

While we are at the "shamba" (farm, referring to the orphanage school in the countryside) the team has designated a different person each day to blog. Since we don't have internet access there, these will come in the form of compilations of writings throughout the week.

From Lee, Sunday May 9th :

Our first full day at shamba was very eventful. We got to wash our clothes by hand, play soccer, and participate in a formal debate that the students put on.
One thing that we learned while washing our clothes is that we have way more clothes than we wanted to wash. Luckily, I had an idea about how long it took to wash clothes so I was conservative about how many clothes I wore. Yes, I wore the same clothes several days in a row. I should have warned the others. Hehe.
Soccer was fun. Very tiring. These players are used to the bumpy, high grass fields that I am not. Very few of us had cleats and most of the players played bare feet. Their passion for the game was exponentially greater then the pain of the harsh ground and relentless collisions. The debate today was about whether the sun of the rain was more important. It was all in English because they must improve their English to perform well on the national exams. Both sides were very articulate, although some had better English than others, I was impressed with the boldness and the confidence that was demonstrated in the debate.
Again today, I got to talk some of my friends from last time I was here. Yose Onesmo, is in his last year here, form 4. He is studying hard and excited about what God may have for him next. However, he has not idea what id could be. The next step would be form 5, however, Hananasif Academy does not currently have this level, so he is just focusing on his tasks at hand and once that is accomplished he will look to what he can do next. Shamba is beautiful. We start work on the farm tomorrow.

5/11/2010, Tuesday – Ryan McKenna:

We have been here several days now, since Saturday, and we have started and finished digging the foundation for the chicken coop. We had 2 shovels and 1 hoe to do the work, so we rotated on the shovels to keep the shovels going and our bodies from getting dehydrated. It is very hot and the sun is very strong, the hat I brought is a lifesaver. In the mornings at 6:30am we join the students for worship and then they are off to their classes. We then have our own team devotional and planning for the day. Then head out to work on constructing the chicken coop. They do all their own cooking and cleaning here so it looks like several students have cooking duties on a rotating basis. I think they are not able to be in class on the days they are cooking. We have had the opportunity to talk with the students and teachers here. They are very smart and motivated and grateful for this school. It seems that most of these kids would be on the streets of Dar es Salaam because one or both parents have passed away or left them and they have no way to pay for secondary school, which evidently is not tax funded here in Tanzania, each student must pay. There seems to be a self-ruling kind of process here among the students. There are about 95 students here, about half n' half guys and girls all in different grade levels they call “Forms” ~ our equivalent to high school. So the seniors seem to be the leaders in helping the younger ones. The teachers teach but do not seem that involved in the personal lives of the students during non-school time. So the older students lead worship, help with school work, etc.
On Sunday they have a worship service and asked me to do the teaching. I shared the Gospel message with them and I am not sure what they were thinking. I have not been able to figure out how knowledgeable they are in the Bible or what they understand so I figured starting with the Gospel would be good.

“Sing to God, sing praise to His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds – His name is the Lord – and rejoice before Him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.” ~Psalm 68:4-5

Hezekiah was saying that he wants these kids to understand that God is their Father, many of the kids here understand this because that is all they have, He trully leads them as they have no father in their life. When the kids found out I was a pastor several of them came up to me and expressed to me that they wanted to be a pastor when they got older. I shared with them the character qualities of an elder in 1 Timothy and Titus and told them to ask God to build their character in these areas. They had a Swahili Bible and they eagerly wrote the verses down on some paper. I do not think they knew these verses were in the Bible. These young men have no practical example of a father figure in their life and I am not sure what person will help them, so I trust God will use these verses to give them direction and a goal to trust God for in their lives.
In the evening there is time for the students to do their homework. Some do the homework and others hang out because they have finished their work. This is a great opportunity for us to interact with the kids. Lee and I are going to try and see if some of the kids want to learn how to study the Bible tonight. Our hope is that they will start a habit of studying the Bible together. I think some of the kids have Swahili Bible's and some do not. We will find out tonight.
The team overall is doing well, the Lord seems to be working with all of us in different ways and we are all excited to see what He will do with us.

From Galen, Tuesday 5/11 :

Yesterday we started the hard work, digging the foundations, which went suprisingly fast. Until Geophrey gets here tomorrow, we have done most of what we can do with the possible exception of moving bricks into position to be laid. That really isn't urgent because we have to wait seven days after we pour the pillars to let them set before we can lay the bricks. So it's going well, according to schedule.
During the days we've gotten to know the students. My favorite so far is a younger one named Omary, about 15 and a half. He's kinda small (Tanzanians have a reputation for being shorter than other Africans apparently) but apparently good at soccer and kind of a class clown. Also Jovin, Dietrich, Naima (Grace), Gustav, Doris, and others speak well and have been good to get to know. Doris and Irene told me and Carrie stories the other day. Irene made one up basically about a non-Christian boy and a girl who becomes a Christian, likes him, and helps him understand the gospel using the born again story fro John 3, which Ryan had taught on that morning. Then they get married after he turns away from his drug-dealing lifestyle and trusts in Jesus. It was interesting, because the girl telling the story is kind of shy and you can really see the common heart of women everywhere in the story. They really have the same desires as anyone here, but marriage and family is probably their biggest desire especially because of the families they've come from that are either missing parents or extremely poor. The orphanage is free to all, open only to those who demonstrate the greatest need. Many have families, but the families can't afford to send them to school at all. Also the students apparently aren't allowed to ate within; there are 90 students or so, and probably 2/3rds are girls.
On the lighter side, yesterday a boy from a nearby village came by with little plastic sealed bags of shelled peanuts. Only 100 t-shillings each, or about 8 cents. He didn't have change for a 2000, so I bought five with my only 500. According to Jovin, this boy is from a very poor Muslim family nearby. I am curious how they seal the peanuts in these bags; I doubt they have electricity. Also last night I took a shower late at night, like 1 am. When we woke up we discovered that a lion had coe by in the middle of the night, possibly chasing some other prey. I probably just barely missed it... the tracks led very close to where I was taking a shower. Like 10 feet away. There are hippos nearby too, at the river, hoping to get to see one this summer.