Last week we were in Boston, England – yesterday we arrived in Mvumi.
It has been a hectic week with final goodbyes and travelling.
And it began with great excitement for Irene. One of her little known enthusiasms is ‘Monster Trucks’ and last Saturday she enjoyed one of her Christmas presents, which was to drive a Monster Truck – next Christmas she would like to be given a Truck!!!
Following farewell and a send-off from our friends at Emmanuel Church Chesham, and a couple of nights with our daughter and her family in Ely we began the long journey to Mvumi – which took only 18 hours from door to door compared with 2 ½ days last year!!! This year:
- we didn’t stay in Dar es Salaam overnight
- we avoided the normal 8 hour coach drive to Dodoma and the 1 hour car drive to Mvumi because occasionally the Mission Aviation Fellowship has cheap spare seats on flights chartered by Mission organisations – and yesterday was one of those occasions. And to our delight they flew us direct from Dar es Salaam to Mvumi airstrip – in about 1 ½ hours. Wonderful. It was also exciting for the villagers as planes seldom land at Mvumi – I remember only once during the 6 months we were last here
- we thank God not only for a safe journey, but a comfortable one
One of the most noticeable things is that it was a lot warmer in England when we left than Mvumi when we arrived – but we don’t expect it to stay like that!!! It is the end of the rainy season and there were clouds all the way from Dar es Salaam and Mvumi – today the skies are clear and it is very hot.
We also arrived to find that the village was having a power cut, and no tap water was available in our house – nothing new then!!!!! It will probably be more of a culture shock this time as we become accustomed to how things happen in Africa. Our house had been cleaned and friends had stocked us up with basic foods (though I can’t work out how you make tea without water or electricity!!!)
The news about the shortage of food in Mvumi is mixed. Before we arrived we had heard that parts of Tanzania had had very poor harvests and that Mvumi had suffered, However, although the price of food has apparently gone up, it may be that Mvumi has not suffered as much as other places. We shall have to wait and see.
This weekend we;
- sort out our house
- visit Dodoma for a Piano recital and to buy some essentials
- visit our church, St Andrew’s
and its back to work on Monday.
It has been a hectic week with final goodbyes and travelling.
And it began with great excitement for Irene. One of her little known enthusiasms is ‘Monster Trucks’ and last Saturday she enjoyed one of her Christmas presents, which was to drive a Monster Truck – next Christmas she would like to be given a Truck!!!
Following farewell and a send-off from our friends at Emmanuel Church Chesham, and a couple of nights with our daughter and her family in Ely we began the long journey to Mvumi – which took only 18 hours from door to door compared with 2 ½ days last year!!! This year:
- we didn’t stay in Dar es Salaam overnight
- we avoided the normal 8 hour coach drive to Dodoma and the 1 hour car drive to Mvumi because occasionally the Mission Aviation Fellowship has cheap spare seats on flights chartered by Mission organisations – and yesterday was one of those occasions. And to our delight they flew us direct from Dar es Salaam to Mvumi airstrip – in about 1 ½ hours. Wonderful. It was also exciting for the villagers as planes seldom land at Mvumi – I remember only once during the 6 months we were last here
- we thank God not only for a safe journey, but a comfortable one
One of the most noticeable things is that it was a lot warmer in England when we left than Mvumi when we arrived – but we don’t expect it to stay like that!!! It is the end of the rainy season and there were clouds all the way from Dar es Salaam and Mvumi – today the skies are clear and it is very hot.
We also arrived to find that the village was having a power cut, and no tap water was available in our house – nothing new then!!!!! It will probably be more of a culture shock this time as we become accustomed to how things happen in Africa. Our house had been cleaned and friends had stocked us up with basic foods (though I can’t work out how you make tea without water or electricity!!!)
The news about the shortage of food in Mvumi is mixed. Before we arrived we had heard that parts of Tanzania had had very poor harvests and that Mvumi had suffered, However, although the price of food has apparently gone up, it may be that Mvumi has not suffered as much as other places. We shall have to wait and see.
This weekend we;
- sort out our house
- visit Dodoma for a Piano recital and to buy some essentials
- visit our church, St Andrew’s
and its back to work on Monday.
1 comment:
Hey guys, glad you got there safely. You must definitely be used to the African way of doing things if you are not complaining about the 18 hours it took you. We will keep praying for you. God keep you. Renee (Emmanuel - Chesham)
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