Tanzania

January 18 ~ February 17 2023

During my time in Discipleship Training School, I had the opportunity to serve and train in Tanzania for 1 month. It was a great experience. During my time there, our team ministered to the Dhaiso people in Bwiti. The children specifically. We also did construction in their village. We also ministered to widows and orphans of the Maasai people in the  Engikaret village and also to the people of the Matala village.

 

Arusha 

   

   

Bwiti village

           

Engikaret village

 

Matala village

                 

While in Tanzania, I didn't have cell phone service. I was only able to contact my family when we were on the YWAM base in Arusha, where there was wifi, and when we traveled through cities that offered wifi services in cafes. I would "send" updates to my parents by text which would only go through when I traveled to these places. Often, my parents would get multiple messages at once from a few different days. Here are copies of a few of those texts from when we were with the Dhaiso people.

Day 3! Went back to the dhaiso village today. We're building a storage room and choo. The church has already been built. It's small, but good enough for now. It was already finished when we got here.

The village kids are so cute. They show up in the evenings after school. They love touching our hair. And they try to repeat everything we say. We carried buckets of sand for hours. Some also carried water, I didn't. We finished the foundation of the building. We also did a kids club since so many showed up.

Day 4! We went to the village again. I'm a bit sore from yesterday. We'll be going back soon but we have a meeting first. We carried a lot of water and bricks. The building is getting taller. They called in pros to do the brick laying. Sadly. It's faster that way.

Something amazing happened this evening! We went back to the village to work and the kids started showing up as usual. There were about 50 yesterday and we did the kids club. We had another kids club planned for tomorrow. But more and more kids started kept coming. We had a plan in case this happened. We did salvation bracelets. I did it. Y'all almost 150 kids showed up and some parents! I asked pastor Alfred if that happened before. He said no the usual amount is about 25. He said they came because of us. And it wasn't just dhaiso children they were coming from surrounding villages. We dismissed them afterward and they wouldn't leave! A few did but the rest didn't leave until we left and they followed us down the hill to the van. It was so cute. Mind you this is a Muslim community. It was closed to everyone until a few years ago.

Day 5!

We went to the dhaiso village again. The walls are taller than me now.
We are having a devotional this evening. Then are doing sin chair again. I'm narrating again. 

Now it's Saturday, our first free day. We are going to Tanga. Going to swim in the Indian Ocean!!

Today was the last day here. We are leaving at 5am. It was kinda sad saying bye. My little friends were like "See you tomorrow?" And I was like "No, I'm leaving." So sad. I hate goodbyes.