She Is Gone

Happyness

       Just a few days ago she left us.  No one knew it was going to happen.  We had no time to prepare for this. It was such a sad day.  Out of all the children here she seemed to be the most outgoing and independent and everyone loved her so much. Having the greatest laugh and the most beautiful smile she brightened everyone’s day.  She just started talking a few weeks ago with the deepest voice you ever heard from a child.  You could almost hear her singing your favorite hymn.

     The students stood along the wall as she went by.  Tears were flowing like rivers cascading down a mountain.  They all said their goodbyes.  You could see their pain in their faces.  The students stayed along the wall not saying anything for the longest time, then they start talking about how a little child made such an impact in their life They all had been her Mama since she arrived about two years ago.   For the time that she was here, the students FILLED IN as her mother, playing with her, feeding her, holding her and most of all loving her. But no one could ever replace her mother.

       When in your life has someone FILLED IN to help you through troubled times?  Has someone FILLED IN when you thought you could not make it on your own ?   Has someone FILLED IN when you thought you were in your darkest time?  Has someone FILLED IN to walk with you so you never felt that you were alone?  Has someone FILLED IN to just to listen to you when you needed to talk?                 Has someone FILLED IN to pray with you?

     If you said yes to any of these questions then you received a gift from God.  All throughout the Bible it describes our responsibility to FILL IN (SERVE) as Jesus has taught us.  We all face difficult times through out our lives and what a gift it is to have someone be with us.

      In the American entertainment industry, awards shows are held each year whether in films, music or Broadway shows.  All of theses programs are televised. When people in the audience are participating in the program whether it is to present an award or receive one, their seat is occupied so the room always looks filled.  That person sitting there has no other job than to fill the seat.  Our job as Christians is not only fill the space, but to provide the love and support that we have been taught.

    Today, wherever you may be, think of someone who you could help by filling in. Could that someone be you neighbor or maybe a member of your family?  How about your co-worker?

    God has given each of us special gifts.  He wants us to use them.  Become a person that FILLS IN and you will find that you will receive much more than you ever gave.

   And now for the rest of the story:

    Yes that day was very sad for everyone, but it was a day to celebrate.  You see Happyness went home with her father and aunt.  She lived here at the home because her mother died when she was born and her father couldn’t take care of her.  This is the situation with many of the children here.  Her father now can start to build a relationship with her filled with joy and love.

    We thank God  for Irente Children’s Home and the students and staff who are willing to FILL IN .    

Bibi Maria

Last week, one of the women from church invited us to visit her for tea.  Her name is Mama Tumaini and she is our housekeeper Veronica’s mother.  She lives in the village of Kivumbi, a walk of about 1-1/2 hours.  On Wednesday, Bwana Alfred came to our house to take us there.  He is a member of Irente Church Council and a good friend to us. 

We left our home at around 2 pm and walked up the mountain, past a small waterfall, through part of Irente Farm property and then onto the next mountain.  The scenery was beautiful and the walk was not too strenuous.  Alfred was surprised that as two “wazee” (old people), we could walk without too many stops to rest. 

We passed through several small villages of brick or mud homes.  Almost every home we passed had a small flower garden and a shamba (farm).  The area around each house is well cared for.  Many people greeted us as we walked.  Because of our truck, many of them have ridden with us, so they knew us already.

When we arrived at Tumaini’s home, we were greeted very warmly.  She lives in a mud home surrounded by similar homes of many family members. Tumiani served us coffee, a delicious vegetable stew, and some roasted corn on the cob, all home grown.  She grows and prepares her own coffee, which she sells in town.

Mama Tumiani and Bibi Maria

After a short time, her mother arrived.  Bibi Maria is a small lady with beautiful, clear eyes and a big smile.  She walks with a stick that is almost as tall as she is.  She does not speak Kiswahili, so Alfred translated our conversation into Kisambaa (the local tribal language).  Bibi had some coffee with us and started eating the corn on the cob.  We were amazed to learn that she is 110 years old!

Bibi Maria was born in 1903.  She has no idea of her birthday, only the year of her birth.  She raised nine children and has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Many of the children who sat in a row across from Tumaini’s house watching us are her descendants.  She understood that we are here from America.  She knows about President Obama and that his father was from Kenya.  We enjoyed our visit and our conversation with her, Tumaini, and Alfred.

Bibi Maria was born when Tanganyika was a German colony.  She saw the defeat of the Germans and the arrival of the British.  She lived to see the independence of her country and its union with Zanzibar to create Tanzania.  She has lived through many things.

After we returned home, Tom and I talked about Mabel Haller, the matriarch of a large family from home.  Grandmom Haller was the oldest living person we had ever known.  She missed reaching 100 by a few months.  At her funeral a granddaughter’s husband spoke about her and all of the progress she had seen.  I remember that Lou had asked her what the improvement was in her lifetime that she appreciated the most.  Listening to his question I thought of man landing on the moon, automobiles, and jet planes.  Grandmom Haller had answered “indoor plumbing”.   Tom and I talked about places like Kivumbi, where there still is no indoor plumbing.  Close to Tumaini’s house, there is a water tap and community wash area for everyone’s use for laundry.   They have a latrine outhouse.  Like us, they wash with bucket showers. 

On our way home, a large Tanesco truck, the Tanzanian electric company, had passed us.   The truck was loaded with electric poles.  They are in the process of bringing electric service to Kivumbi.

We were struck by the differences in the lives of Bibi Maria and Grandmom Haller.  Because of the places where they were born, their living conditions were almost opposite.  We in America and “the West” are blessed in so many ways that our brothers and sisters throughout the world cannot begin to imagine. 

More important, though are the similarities.  Both of these women lived or are living long and wonderful lives.  Both have, or had, large families who surround, or surrounded, them with such love.   Most important of all, God’s love for each of them is the same.  

Visiting America

(written 12/10/12 but unable to post until now due to computer difficulties!)

What a blessing it was to be able to visit our family and friends in America.  In many ways our time there was very short and in other ways it was long.  We missed seeing many people that we meant to see.  Some of our plans did not work out for obvious reasons.  We had intended to take the train to NYC for the day and also to go to Point Pleasant at the shore.  Hurricane Sandy changed those plans for us.

Here are some of the things we enjoyed:

We spoke at several churches about our work here.  We were warmly welcomed to our home congregation, St John’s in Philadelphia.  We also visited St Luke, Devon; the Northeast Conference All Saint’s worship at St Timothy, Philadelphia; Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Yardley; and St John’s Lutheran Church on Oahu, Hawaii where our son and his family are members.  We also attended the Bishop’s Fall Gathering. It was a joy for us to meet so many people and talk about God’s work here in Tanzania.

We enjoyed time with our children and their spouses and especially with our eight grandchildren, who have all grown so much.  Lilliana ran right up to us in the Philadelphia airport and we thank God for the gift of Skype.  We enjoyed watching Mira and Milan play soccer at their last games of the season.  We swam in the Pacific Ocean with Connor, Kadyn, and Avery and got to sing “Happy Birthday” to Lukas on his second birthday.  We enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner with Maureen, Louis, Ella and Lilliana at a beautiful old inn in PA.  We went to the Junior ROTC ball with Chris and Abigail and had the great pleasure of listening to her A Cappella group sing the National Anthem.   We also enjoyed going to the movies with them and an amazing Amish breakfast there.

We were moved by our visits to the Arizona Memorial in Hawaii and the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon.  

We flew over thirty thousand miles!  We also drove about 2500 miles while in PA, NJ and MD.  Getting re-accustomed to the traffic in America was very challenging, especially on the Washington Beltway!

We managed to eat our way through our food wish list.  When we returned to the Children’s Home, our students proclaimed us both “bonge” (fat)!  Now we are back to our rice and fresh vegetables and fruit.  This is really a more healthy diet, but we did enjoy all of the things we had been craving.  In answer to the question of what we ate first, I had a Wawa meatball parm sandwich and Tom had a Wawa hoagie. 

Both of us had minor meltdowns in stores at home.  When Maureen and I went shopping at Boscov’s in Pottstown, I could only stay in the store for about 15 minutes and needed to leave.  Too many choices!  Tom had the same thing happen when we stopped to pick up a few things in a grocery store.  The life of plenty can be overwhelming when you are not used to it.

On returning to Tanzania, we discovered that the update to our Mac computer resulted in not being able to use our Airtel modem.  Airtel requires a new update, but without being able to connect to the internet, we were unable to run the new download for Java.  It has been a Catch 22.  Right now I am writing from Uhuru Lutheran Hostel in Moshi on their wireless internet.  Hopefully the download that is running will solve our connectivity problems.  If not, who knows?   We are very sorry that we have been out of touch for so long!  It will take some time to catch up with emails.

We are here in Moshi to meet Chris and Abigail at Kilimanjaro Airport tonight.   We can’t wait to show them around and have them be able to re-assure the family that we are doing just fine here.  I am sure some people have their doubts that things are really good here.  Mama Mdemu, the staff and our students are so excited to get to meet some of our family.

While they are here, we will spend a couple of days at a resort in Pangani on the Indian Ocean.  We will celebrate New Year’s Eve in Arusha and spend the 1^st and 2^nd at Ngorongoro Crater and another national park.  They leave for home early in the morning of the 4^th. 

We thank you all for your love and understanding that we are so far away.  We feel that this is where we are meant to be right now.

Love,

Susan and Tom

On our way

Dec 7th, 2012

“We’re on our way home” as the Beatles sang so long ago.

We have had a great visit to PA, NJ, MD, DC and HI!  By the time we get back to our little home in Tanzania, we will have flown over thirty thousand miles and driven about 2,500 miles.  We are ready to store the suitcases until the next visit.

We thank everyone we have visited with for your love, support and friendship.  We could not enjoy our time here without you.

To those we did not get to see, our sincere apologies.  Next trip we will try to do better.  It has been a whirlwind time.   Some mornings we woke up wondering where we were and where we were going that day. 

We are at the airport now waiting for our flight to London, then Dar es Salaam, then Kilimanjaro Airport near Arusha.  We will arrive there Sunday afternoon.  After a day of shopping in Arusha, we will return to Irente and Lushoto.  We will write again after we get settled in at home.

Love to all,

Susan and Tom

Listen to the students of Irente Children's Home sing during their evening devotions.

We are visiting home at the present time, but miss the children, students and staff of the home very much.

A Year End (almost) Report

Greetings from Susan and Thomas MacPherson

Irente Children’s Home

   As our first year here at the home is coming to an end we wanted to share some of our experiences and plans for the year to come. The time here has sped by so fast.  In many ways we are still getting accustomed to the area and the culture.  We are blessed to have so many brothers and sisters helping us each and every day.

  At the present time we have 30 children at the home.  Some are orphans some are abandoned, and some are waiting till their families are capable to bring them home.  It’s a wonderful feeling to walk up to the home and have so many of them calling “Bibi, Babu”.  (Grandmother, Grandfather).  Nothing could ever feel so good. 

   September 28th was graduation for the second year students.  These women were here for two years leaning health care, midwifery, hospitality, horticultural, nursing, cooking, and many other skills to help them in their lives.  Many of the students will continue with their studies.  Past students have become teachers, nurses and even a doctor.  When we began here we didn’t realize our mission here was not only taking care of the children, but these young women also.  They are the most incredible, hard working and most respectful students you would ever meet.

    Our jobs here continue to bring us joy and happiness.  Susan is teaching English, computers skills, and bookkeeping.  I try to repair anything that is broken, cut fire wood, and provide transportation for the children to and from the hospital.  We both play with the children everyday.  Together we have a class teaching Conversational English to the girls. This is so much fun.  In January a class will begin with the employees to help them improve their English.

   We have said from the beginning that this is a joint mission with the ELCA, NED, SEPA, many friends and family.  Without all of you this companionship would not be taking place.  The relationship is growing each and every day. Your financial gifts and prayers have made this mission possible.  The ELCA’s support through our health insurance and transportation has been a wonderful gift.  Without the truck many things would not be accomplished. Here is a list of what the truck has been used for so far:

1. Taking the children to the hospital
2. Bringing firewood to the home
3. Transportation for the students
4. Carrying manure
5. Taking maize to market to be ground
6. Picking up supplies for home
7. Carrying cow grasses for feed
8. Transporting the brass band for a “Send Off” party

I am sorry to add that it was also used to carry the coffin of a child who died after only being here for one day.  I know we will never forget driving the truck with Hussein’s little coffin and many of the students in the back, singing hymns on the way to the gravesite.

    The North East Diocese has been gracious to provide us with our home.  All of you are always welcome here.  Their support has been amazing.  The staff at the diocese helps us in many ways.  We thank God each and every day for their gift.

     What can we say about SEPA?  We could go on forever saying all the things they have done for us. Bishop Burkat, Joanne Carlson, and the Tanzania Partnership team consisting of David Neal, Alice BellSon, Sharon Smith, Joanne Carlson, and Nancy Shaw have guided us from the beginning. This group was formed when the thought of having mission personnel was in the infant stages.  Their time and effort is Immeasurable.  We thank you all so much for your support, your vision, and most of all your love. 

   To our friends and family, we thank you for all your support, words of encouragement,  your gifts and your love.  We know its been hard on you not having us with you in your time of need.  You are always in our thought and prayers.

   One of the most fantastic experiences we have had is meeting people from around the world.  I bet we have met well over a hundred visitors.  Here are some of the countries they have come from:  England, Scotland, France, Italy, Iran, Israel, Poland, Spain, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, India, New Zealand, Austria, Australia, Norway, Sri Lanka, Canada, the United States, and many more.  When we meet them we talk about the mission of our church here in Tanzania and at home.  We have shared our experiences and also our slide presentations with them.   SEPA’s mission is now being shown all around the world, in universities, schools, churches, organizations and in homes.  You have planted the seed and now we all are watching it grow.  How marvelous is that?  Thanks be to God!

    One of our biggest support systems here has been the United States Peace Corps. We have developed close friendships and supported each others mission here. The Corps has eight volunteers doing projects around our location.  They have come to the Children's Home to work on projects and we have gone with them to work on theirs.  We support each other by listening and encouraging each other when times are difficult.  Did you know the idea for the Peace Corps was based on a church mission suggested to John Kennedy by Hubert Humphrey?

    So here we are about to start our second year. Where will we as a mission of the church and the people go from here? There are many projects here at the home and  surrounding areas in which we as a church can get involved. We will be meeting with the Tanzania Team when we visit Philadelphia in November to discuss what programs or projects that are of interest.  We will keep you updated.

    In closing we want to thank veryone for giving us the opportunity to represent the ELCA, SEPA, family and friends by serving here at Irente Children’s Home.  Our thanks go out to our home congregation, Pastor Lee Miller and Pastor Patricia Neale for their guidance and support.  We have faced  many challenges  and we couldn’t have gotten through them without the help from God and the people we represent.  We thank you for your support and prayers.

    

 With God’s peace and love,

    

Susan and Thomas MacPherson