Hearty hello there.... well here we are, final blog from Tanzania!

O lots has happened since we wrote last.....you might remember we were preparing to go to the international conference with 30 or so other MAF staff/programme managers in Thailand: strategy, discussion, prayer, fellowship and food - we'll not eat another Chinese meal without remembering the vast numbers of 'interesting' street traders in Bangkok!

 

 

...and they seem to cook any/everything, each night as darkness fell so the streets would come alive with sights, sounds and smells!  Folk would plonk themselves down on plastic picnic chairs/tables and munch away: with so much heat and humidity I guess this must be the sensible way to (not) cook! Oooh but the litter! It was the kirb side mess in the morning that turned ones stomach!...not a stray cat, dog nor rat in sight!

 

 

 

Statues and temples a-plenty....

 

 

 

 

Next stop: Papua New Guinea which was amazing, particularly as I recalled asking the Lord back in 1982 whilst visiting Jerusalem and reading a significant book ("from Jerusalem to Irian Jaya") if I might one day go to Irian Jaya, only recently realising it is Papua!! 

The local people are fascinating...mostly bare foot, very smiley and appearing friendly (despite reported as a nation with 100% domestic violence against women!) - couldn't get over most folk resembling hamsters with cheeks FULL of betelnut which they chew seemingly allllll the time, then spit the bright red contents of their mouth gaily about : ewwww :o(

The MAF work is brilliant as are the many staff who make up the Programme there; as for the terrain, well these photos speak for themselves - it's no wonder MAF aircraft are vital in reaching the isolated communities with their 850 different language groups!!!!.....

 

...and all their suspicions of one another.  We heard stories to curl your toes (head-hunters, cannibalism...and current tribal warfare, some villages with residents who had all killed another villager... ) and testimonies to make you weep and rejoice!  From mud-men to lavish headgear this nation is truly "the ends of the earth" and Jesus told His Disciples that when the Holy Spirit had come upon them they would preach the Gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth ..... so does this mean WE TOO are to go......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So if you're wondering where PNG is:

 

 

Did you know that PNG has 700 airstrips and only 680 km of tarmac'd road!?  Air travel is necessary and MAF are involved in delivering essential supplies around the nation, along with transporting people in and medevac'ing others  out..... Wycliffe Bible translators have their hands full and do a magnificent job!

MAF also works closely with CRMF, a Christian radio station that brings Good News to a nation that has grown exponentially since the discovery of gold, iron and much more, good and bad.

 

 

Here Jez is being shown one of the classes church pastors are offered: it's a super way to break down tribal as well as denominational barriers and trains them a little in some very basic technology, equipping them with the means to communicate in the trade language of Pidgin. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Most exciting for us was to see tiny wifi boxes that MAF planes are trial'ing: along with "buk Baibel" they take on board to the various isolated villages, people flock to receive the Word of God - they can download onto their phones.  They might have little else by the way of essentials/possessions but all do seem to have mobile phones and receive the opportunity to listen to the Bible... Jesus films are shown too.

 

 

 

As you've guessed there are loads of piccies to share, below shows local housing ... that's a story in itself.... and we've not included any of the BEAUUUUUUTIFUL trees, flowering bushes, blooms galore-ious!  With (incredible amounts of) rain and sunshine each and every day it's a veritable garden of Eden - even sticks popped into the ground to hold up fruit bushes for example, often take root, bud and grow!!  A gardener's paradise! 

 

 

 Ariel view of Goroka (of coffee fame)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mount Wilhelm stands at over 14,000 ft, drawing many intrepid climbers to attempt to scale it and is PNG's highest mountain, part of the Bismark range..... it was quite something to see the Bismark sea too - war time TV films memories came flooding back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The clouds were phenomenal in PNG!

We had 24 peaceful hours up here on Mount Hagen to celebrate Jez's birthday and enJOY the scenery..... the lodge had loads of masks, tumbuans, statues, fetishes, and other nasties... but we enjoyed Gods Creation....and felt a 7.2-magnitude earthquake.  We later discovered that our Oli was about to join the Chinook helicopters in aiding the Nepalese... 

 

 

 

Here's our 10th departure (out of 13 flights round trip!)

 

 

 

When not too tired Jez used his time wisely... 50+ hours in the air, alone!.. plus waiting time in between, with a 10 hour time difference to GMT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final leg of the journey was made bearable via a 23 hour layover with lovely family/YWAM friends in Hong Kong, also "out" from our home church in the UK ... brunch and high peak sight seeing!

 

 

Since our return we've got stuck into finishing up all the nitty gritty, including packing our world into cardboard boxes...again... our 7th time in 4 years (of 4 months stay or more).... and our hearts are jam packed with experiences myriad!

This weekend I finish my time here with the Programme Review where we all come together to reflect, rejoice and look to God for His future here .... then its a couple of days work in Dodoma/final goodbyes, and a weekend at Dar es Salaam coast before I zoom off to Sweden to lovely family and friends, leaving Jez for the month of handing over and joining me in Blighty forrrrrr (crescendo!) Asher and Louise's wedding !!!!

 

By then it'll be time for a UK blog. 

 

Although Jez has another month of work here we send you love and final fond farewell greetings from this beautiful nation of Tanzania where we continue to ask for Gods blessing on her.. it.. them.. you :o)

 

Jez and Carina xx

It is finished

 

Hello!!     Just look at these lovely rainclouds (and lovely Jezzie with mount Meru!)  When he arrived home saying it is finished i thought Jez was getting into Easter – these of course are Jesus’ words: “It is finished” meaning He had finished being God with skin on, completed His 33 years on earth, experiencing much of our humanity, demonstrating the Kingdom of Heaven, teaching His friends and loving enemies, restoring a way for man to walk with God.  All that was finished.  Halelu-JAH.

 

What Jez was referring to however was our assignment here in Tanzania, having completed the four tasks we were set:

- Implement/complete the retrenchment of staff

- Redistribute the assets, including the sale of all the properties

- See Central Aviation Services established – hanger/contents officially taken over

- Transition MAF from Dodoma and Dar to Arusha.

It is finished: glory to God.... we hope and pray that this "reset" of MAF Tanzania will mean that many will continue to hear the name of Jesus and be touched by Him.  Obviously there is still lots to do and Jez has to finalise a few bits and pieces yet....but what better time of the calendar year to be able to say “finished”.

 

We spotted a rare sight: CDM!! We bought some of these from ‘the’ supermarket in town, our ‘token’ chocolate Easter treat: it's labelled "giant buttonS" – plural – but i guess with the heat they had melted into one... still tasted delicious, a rarity

to have real UK Cadburys chocolate here: sometimes we have the variety with non-melt additives, meaning it tastes rather more plastic-ie.... we read the wrapper to see if it has the tell-tale Arabic writing on and if so we know its the sub-standard variety, sadly.  Fussy, no, just connoisseurs!  

Anyway the ‘one button’ made me consider our One True God that we and the Jewish community celebrate at this time: Passover ... without which the Christian community would have no Easter – the passing over of the angel of death (final plague) and the passing over of the Jordan River into the Promised Land..... so Happy Pesach to our Jewish friends.

 

Although understandable it was so sad that the early Church fathers rather “threw the baby out with the bath water” so to speak, and lost us much of the Christian community's rich inheritance; if we only look to the Jewish community we would grasp SUCH an enormous depth to our Faith.  Dianu - sufficient.... don’t get us started on it here tho!

 

By Sunday we shall have to brush up on our Swahili so we can say: He is Risen – Risen indeed.

 

Meanwhile today here's the view outside from our 'home office'

 

 Houses have bars on all the windows and mozzie nets too - here's our papaya tree, home also to what must be the noisiest pair of squirrels known to man!  They sound like cars revving their engines on cold winter mornings!  See the 'inviting' shards of glass!

 

Out of the front door we have other wildlife:

 

 

 

 

 

That lovely flower only came into bud this morning and within 5 mins of me photographing it the beastie had eaten the beautiful petals!  Found circling above us today were 6 enormous vultures, you'll have to believe me as they're not really visible on this ...but vultures, oh dear...

 

 but what you can see are the lovely, welcome rain clouds :o)  Also out of view is an aerial drone which appears for about 15 mins, once a month seemingly!?!...we know why they're called drones now - what a dreary sound!...better any day than the minarets however!!

 

So after a whole year of blogging about life over here we want to thank you for journey'ing with us....

Now we consider/confirm the next gate to walk with Jesus through....

Here's sending love from us both,  grateful for your friendship,  prayers and love, also thankful for at least SOME electricity at home here (a rare occurrence at the moment) in order to send these greetings to you!

 

Next blog, God willing, will be after Bangkok, Jez's birthday and our Papua New Guinea visit: see you mid May we hope! 

Jez and Carina xxx

 

 

 

Yesu Amefufuka!!  :o)

 

 

 

Heri got it!!

Hello hel-lo-ho!

Look what has happened!?!  Yup, its the Aircraft Maintenance Organisation (AMO)approval...   Finally!

 

Here's the main man Heri, centre, with Thomas and Jez after a key prayer time.

 

We want to thank God and tell you that CAS (Central Aviation Services) has been granted the AMO.  Halelu-Jah!  Heri, MAF's ex-chief engineer down in Dodoma, along with us and "team" has been waiting and praying and working and persevering, petitioning God and the Aviation Authority in various offices in order to gain the AMO, something we've been working on since we arrived. 

 

Central Aviation Services is up and running, independent of MAF.  Glory to God!

 

It's a wonderful legacy for MAF to leave in the nation and means we here in Arusha can continue with the vital work of reaching isolated communities secure in the knowledge that our planes can be reliably and efficiently maintained to the high level assured by Heri et al....we are so pleased, it has taken almost a year of waiting for the wheels of Government to turn! 

 

Well now we’ve just worked out that a month from today we shall be visiting Papua New Guinea and three months today we shall be on another plane headed for Home Assignment in good ol’ Blighty!!  This means 3wks of work then 3wks away (2 of which are work and one of holiday/celebrate Jez’s birthday/get over 50+ hours actual flying time alone, minus all the hanging around, waiting for flights) with a final 6wks here in Arusha, with at least 5 lots of separate non Tanzanian overnight guests and a gzillion tasks to complete ... and realised we haven’t even shown you “our street” yet... without further ado then:

 

Coming out of our gate and looking up the road to Scripture Mission compound where the MAF office is, so no reason to be late to work (or home! ahum!)  

 

 

 

 

 

Looking down towards the main road – not certain how we shall negotiate it when the heavy rains arrive, its pretty treacherous!

 

 

 

Just to our left of the above picture is the quarry, about 300mtrs from our gate – VERY narrow road currently with nothing to stop the earth becoming saturated, mud sliding and road disappearing....!

 

 

 

 

 

The quarry below us, to the right of where the lady is sat

 

Think we may have showed you before: rocks that were hacked out of the quarry, this size:

.....are smashed into tiny pieces .... supervised by a minder who speaks pigeon English as opposed to the hardworking ladies who sit all day, every day, saying “salaama, salaama” to greet us!  And no, they don’t want their photos taken thanks very much!  It's a local dialect they speak, frustrating (OH UNDERSTATEMENT) not to be able to communicate more than smiles and waves...besides they're too busy, not permitted to stop.

 

 

 

Some of the local housing....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Inspector called....and praise the Lord he granted the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) for MAF TZ to continue flying for one more year.  He was due Monday and arrived Tuesday.  A good example of the difference in cultures.  In Africa “time is coming” and there’s plenty of it so why rush, whereas in our Western minds we’re of the opinion that time is rushing, slipping away from us and we must seize every moment and fill it!  QUITE a lesson for us to learn and put into operation – the heat helps slow us down of course but we couldn’t possibly convey the frustration often felt ....”poley poley” is the phrase on everyone’s lips “slowly slowly”........

 

Now we are up and running - well flying, hahaha, with both regulatory requirements fulfilled.  We now await the buyer to actually  complete payment for the Dodoma compound A and then we can finalise paperwork and tick another box.  

Finally, this coming Monday the new finance officer begins :o)

 

So on a happy and relieved and grateful note we'll close with a picture of random pineapples growing.  Why?.. just because ...

Love from Jez and Carina xx

Breeze

 

Hello once again and thank you for the anniversary greetings ... we've not been to the post office yet but I hear there is some reeeeallll mail there awaiting us!

 

We had an amazing weekend away (and Jez didn't take his laptop)....

 

 

We were the only overnight guests at the Lodge - the chef thanked us for giving staff something to do!  It was a real anniversary treat, to be away from the dust, mozzies and heat, enjoying some welcome breeze up near Ngorongoro Crater/Conservation area, if you're familiar with Africa and this wonder of nature.  We didn't have the time/inclination/fees to go into the surrounding park but enjoyed the surroundings nonetheless!

 

 

These Maasai folk welcomed us, as they do all visitors... the Lodge employ local workers from surrounding villages to clean, guard, etc., wearing their traditional clothing mostly, with woolie hats and coats over the top in the chillier months!  All around northern Tanzania the local Maasai really do wander around dressed like this in their shukas, with sticks, employed wherever they can make a living now that so much of their pastoral land is taken, sadly.  MAF have flown many medical and evangelistic safari's to some of the vast and isolated regions - even this past week - where hundreds and hundreds have Jesus as their personal Saviour :o)

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the pool/view towards the Crater by night where we could watch the sunset... bliss: "from the rising of the sun to its setting, the Name of the Lord is to be praised"

 and lovely by day too...... the water was fabulous and cold, thanks to the (ahhh!) constant breeze - I took several delicious dips!

 

Here's the view from our room... its also the view from our bath tub and outdoor shower!!  Such luxury, such fun!  Both provided excellent places to rest, where we had time to read, think, talk and pray.

     

We have now booked our flights to Bangkok to join the other MAF Programme Managers' Conference and then God willing shall fly on to Papua New Guinea to see the work MAF undertake to reach the isolate communities, separated by vast spaces of hills, valley's, mountains and tribal groups (with their 800 separate languages!)...beautiful bath tub eh!?

  

 

Flora and fauna and bird life were all very different from down here, incredible sun birds and song birds, we even enjoyed a large nest of love birds tweeting and sqwarking in our eaves... they were too shy to be photographed....fabulous colours, all of them.

 

 

 

 

Any idea what this plant is called?.. see how dry and cracked the ground is!

Up here the short rains were November and December, the longer rains are now due, hence we've spotted a little cloud cover - March to May we can expect them, apparently. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our 3 hour drive took us past "Lake" Manyara.... spot the brown muddy looking puddle, almost empty.  The area is normal of outstanding beauty, with tree climbing lions!

 

 

 

 

 

    

Back home we've managed piles of paperwork and prepared for upcoming visits.  You might notice the large yellow and black butterfly and pretty pink petals/bush but behind it you'll see electricity pole/cables - not much more than "decoration" at the moment it would seem.  We have been experiencing power cuts like those back in the days of the UK miners strike in the early 70's!  It makes work VERY tricky when much of it relies on technology.  We don't have the luxury of air conditioning but even a simple floor fan helps WHEN we have power - at least the defrosted fridge/freezer decides what we shall eat for our dinners (romantic, candle-lit but which adds to the lack of air/heat!)  The Government promise to sort out the power issues by the end of June, just when we're due to leave and just prior to their elections!  Think of us when you next flick an electrical switch...

 

A little information on Arusha, to close with :

Arusha, meaning "rising sun" in Hindi, has a large Asian/Hindu community; it is northern Tanzania’s major commercial centre and the country’s undisputed safari capital, with both a local as well as an international airport. There are many NGO’s and missions, and a large expatriate community.  It can be found on the eastern edge of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, part of a fault in the earth’s crust, stretching 6,500km from Israel’s Jordan Valley to the mouth of the Zambezi River, halfway down Mozambique!

 Thankfully Israel's elections went well this week....and our Oli and his Lizzy had happy birthdays!

We have the AOC Inspection on Monday, feels a little like Ofsted (eh, Asher!).  Happy resting a wee bit :o)  Sending our love to you,

Jez and Carina xx