T.I.A.

My initials stand for This Is Africa. I have been so extremely busy here. The medical mission week ended very successfully. My eye clinic was a huge success. Having Dr. Peter with us from Kenya was an absolute blessing. In 4 days we managed to examine 305 patients and distribute more than 500 pairs of eye glasses. There are specific needs in this country for glasses. I will be forming a more specific list of those needs upon my arrival home. The doctors that we worked with from the Singida Regional Hospital were so kind and gracious. They helped us run the clinic and it was successful because of their help. The last day of the week I was asked to do triage for the pediatric clinic. What an eye opener. I was doing all the preliminary work for the Doctors and met all the "pediatric" patients and mama's that brought their children in. I remember so vividly a little girl affected by HIV...her Mom the same...I held this little girl and she was almost 2 years old. Her weight was under 12 pounds and the circumference of her bicep was less than 5cm. She had not been breast fed since March and had thrush in her mouth so severe. I couldn't help but hold her and pray for her life!! There were many others like this that I could share with you but I think you get the picture. The children suffer so much as do their parents.

Saturday evening the Honorable Regional commissioner, his secretary, the VP's of Singida had a wonderful "gala" event for our med team. We were all honored with a wonderful gift for helping his village/region. The highest dignitaries were there and I wore my African Dress that had been made Special for me for that night and felt honored to be able to be in that very room. They are so grateful for all the help we provided for these people.

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to the "bush" and visit a small village. It was a very different experience. It was so remote and so peaceful compared to the area where we stayed in Singida. This village that we visited was amazing!! They have learned to accept their subsistence farming and live with it. They are very simple people and their needs are only what is in front of them for that day. They don't live for anything but God and their families. We toured the primary school and visited their dispensary. This village is run by the same order of nuns in which I have been working with in Singida. I will meet there head order today so see where other needs are in and around Tanzania.

Yesterday Karen and I went to visit the sister parish on Mt. Meru. The travel to this remote village was a bit...well,....not like anything I have encountered yet in Tanzania. The road began as bumpy and rocky...they it narrowed to just two paths of dirt..they it narrowed to one little dirt path...finally running out of any site of a path or road. We had our driver take us in a van and at one point we hit a huge rock (not seen on the road) and it sounded as if the whole bottom of the van had been torn away. We gasped and they held our breath as we did not know what would happen next. Augustine our driver remained calm and got out and began to pick away at the rock until it finally moved ...then the van went forward and we were happy. We made our way to the remote village and were greeting by the church Pastor and evangelists. We had tea upon arrival and then toured the church/school and other preaching points. I had brought prayer shawls with me and took one to a man who was very very ill. The church choir came to sing to him and I wrapped that shawl around him and said the Lord's prayer. I could hardly get the words out as this is such a powerful ministry. God needed me there to assure this man he would be well. After I was done he told me "Nakupenda sana" which means I love you so much. His wife came running to me with a "kuku" and handed it to me. I wasn't sure what to do. I had never held a kuku before but she too kept repeating the words Nakupenda sana Nakupenda sana and she began to cry. I knew from this that the prayer shawl ministry is a very strong ministry in this country. I took the kuku and put it in our van with its legs tied up...and knew that I would give it to our driver. He had a very stressful drive taking us to this remote village.

I will end here. I have so many more stories to share but my time is very limited. I have a meeting this afternoon in Moshi so will be departing from Arusha soon.

Thank you for all your prayers and kind wishes. I appreciate everyone of you.

Until next time ~

Cheers!!