Arusha

Hello from Dodoma!

Following our recent trip to the UK we returned to Tanzania to spend some days working in MAF's new'ish operating location in Arusha...as promised we said we'd tell you more about it.  Oh doooo watch (and listen to) the following link to understand a little more of what it is we're up to ...

http://www.godtube.com/wings4christ/

In support of our two pilots Kirstein and Jarkko who live/work/fly/serve from the Arusha programme they need the support of a team (two of whom you'll notice have turned grey!)

Stewart, foreground left, lives/works in Dar es Salaam. Next to him (toasting tea!) are Steve and Debbie who live in the south of the country in Mbeya, splitting their time between MAF and Wycliffe Bible translators.

Often Jez 'meets' with them remotely via skype to discuss, advise and support, also having regular meetings with staff from MAF UK and International offices too, when there's electricity/wifi!

Meet more of the team: Pirita is office manager, Jarkko's wife, mum to Jeremias and Samuel

Below is flight-follower Emmanuel, no coincidence that his name means "God with us"... comforting to know 'they' are always with us ;o)

To the right is Gilbert, the finance and admin officer who live in Arusha with his wife and baby daughter - his family are from the Maasi tribe.

Our office isn't near Arusha airport; we rent space on the Scripture Mission compound,a beautiful haven away from the dusty town/streets. Here are some lovely, dedicated folk: our office neighbours who work with Bible translators and run a bookshop, also housed in the building shown.

 

 

Unlike Dodoma water isn't in short supply up in the north; our 'sophisticated' sprinklers (hose pipe attached to plastic water bottle with holes in!) are needed to reduce dust and keep it beautiful....

This shot is taken outside the guesthouse where we and other visitors stay when working in the Arusha office, with Mount Meru in the background, an active stratovolcano but which thankfully last erupted in 1910. It stands at 14,977 ft (4,565m). 70m west is the highest mountain in Africa and which surprised us to learn that it's the highest free-standing mountain in the world: Kilimanjaro stands at 19,341ft (5,895 m).

We'll hopefully have more news on life with us and MAF Dodoma next week. Have a great weekend! Enjoy autumn!

Sending you love and WARMest greetings (its currently 32 in the shade!)

not-yet-wilting-simpsons,

Jez and Carina xx

There and back again!

We're ho-ome! Did you miss us!? Maybe we saw you?!...there and back again (sounds like a Hobbit tale!), sadly missed out seeing many friends on our UK trip, namely Devon folk...but soooooo enjoyed time with others....sharing with new, praying friends at Copthorne Chapel and All Saints' Crawley Down (oh we've never been advertised before, golly!)

We also had opportunity to sleep in 8 different beds, kindly and lovingly provided by numerous precious folk in the middle 'belt' of the country, p'haps you recognise Grandma or one of these fab friends:

We thoroughly enjoyed our combined birthday trip/treat to see stage show musical The Lion King with the added treat of a backstage tour....Asher on stage+under the lights, lol!

.....with a "high tea" and cake treat at the lovely Marheinekes afterwards. This set the scene for an extended family weekend in beautiful weather/location with time for some to swim, kayak, walk 'n' blackberry pick, cycle (tandem and trike!)... and eating fine English fayre, mostly thanks to the baking-queen: Louise-Erskine-Designs!

In addition to celebrating birthdays, the main purpose of our trip back to the UK at this time was to attend the Regional Managers Conference, an opportunity for Programme Managers from Africa to join hearts, heads and prayers in strategic thinking and planning. It was here we had hoped to make next step decision after our project here in Dodoma is completed, but we didn't and therefore prayer is ongoing. One possibility is South Sudan, this shows a MAF plane over Juba, the capital.

We're now back 'home' to a decidedly quiet, empty MAF Dodoma compound, with a long-time friend Simon, all the way from England to keep us company for a few days. Here's our return journey from Dar es Salaam where we met up.

You can see how things look here in this long, dry season... the river beds haven't seen rain for several months now. Thankfully we have had a few days in Arusha, to adjust to soaring temperatures (currently low 30's C), it being slightly cooler up in the north of Tanzania, with the MAF Arusha team: more of that next blog.






Amazingly it was exactly a year ago that we left (then returned for 3 months to) beautiful Sweden for a look-see visit at the work here; this is what it looks like now in YWAM Restenas, not dissimilar to the spectacular array of colours we enjoyed in the UK where it was a real treat to enjoy some glorious autumnal weather, particularly knowing we were coming back to summer rather than having winter to .. er.. look forward to. Colours there contrasting with colours here!

This final picture shows a real "timone and pumba" on the plains of the Serengeti!! We have two pilots/planes working in that region, reaching the isolated communities, including Maasi tribes... you can see more of that next week.

Time to go, lots to be getting on with here, such as the bank run: as we've no staff in the finance office I've been withdrawing millions to pay our casual workers (its rather like Monopoly money!).
Bye for now then, until next week...
Jez and Carina xx