Received Tue June 27 2:25am.
web-note: (There was some confusion re the pictures included in the report. The issue has been resolved and the pictures are now correct - 7/2 msd)
Wednesday, June 27th, Third Report - "Exploring Iringa":
Good morning! We’ve been in Iringa now for three+ days and we are in the process of repacking our belongings and equipment to go to Lukani. We’ll leave a large amount of personal clothing, etc. at the M R Hotel while we visit Lukani. The past two days have been filled!
Monday morning we headed off to Ganga Longa Rock to climb to the top
It was a fun climb between boulders and cracks in the rock itself. At the top we had a brief musical practice (getting the guitar up was a challenge) and took a bunch of photos. The view of Iringa is particularly beautiful from up there. We have a cell phone (011 255 786 952 039) and it was sort of strange to be interrupted multiple times with calls from Iringa and Scotland. One of the calls was from the Diocese office saying the Bishop was in and would like to visit with us. So, after Ganga Longa we went to visit Bishop Mdegela. Out of our three trips this was the first with an audience with the Bishop. It was especially enjoyable to walk into his office and see a predominantly displayed "Jerry Engen official photo" of the Tanzania Choir at St. Stephen in the fall of 2006. The Bishop invited himself to lunch with us and we gladly welcomed him.
In the afternoon we went out to Isimilla stone age site.
This was really fun, educational, and a physically exhausting. Isimilla is one of two sites in Tanzania that according to archeological reckoning dates back to 100,000 B.C., the other dates back to 500,000 B.C. (it’s the place where ‘Sally’ was found.) The site is filled with hand made prehistoric tools. Most of us were exhausted by the end of the day.
While Monday was filled with exploring the geography of Iringa, Tuesday was filled with exploring various ministries which are carried out here. Ken spent the day meeting with the Water Board of Tanzania-the group which installed the well at Lukani. The rest of us first visited Tumaini University, fifteen years old - the first University in all of southern Tanzania - begun and supported by the St. Paul Area Synod - now with 1,400 students. After that visit we did some shopping for our trip to Lukani.
Then had lunch and toured Neema, a craft center for people with disabilities. A wonderful ministry employing about 30 people in a variety of crafts.
Normally people in this situation would never find work in Tanzania, other than begging. Each of the people working here makes a good wage according to Tanznaian standards. We concluded the day visiting an Orphnaage run by Mama Chilala (Twin Cities TV did a story on her recently) There are 43 children (orphaned or neglected) from ages 5-20 living at the orphanage.
We shared music with them - they sang for us and we sang for them. We left three blankets there for them that were made by our (congregation,) Mama said she'd let them use the blankets when they were sick. It was a very moving experience. At night the women in our group reviewed materials for the Water hygiene training in Lukani.
We’re off now to Lukani. We'll report again after we return from Lukani.
