Saturday, February 7, 2009
The Bridge at Mbuguni
If you go east from Arusha to Usa River and turn south you will go on a very poor road for about 15 miles to where the road ends. The road gets worse as you go and towards the end there are very large potholes and you best have four wheel drive.
At the end of the road is a very small and poor village called Mbuguni. Also there is a surprisingly large school, Mbuguni Primary, with 20 classrooms and lots of students. I was told both 1200 and 1400 students attend the school, so I'm not sure which is correct, In addition there is a Catholic school nearby and a very special 90 acre tract of land that will some day soon be the location of STEMM's orphanage.
I was told that the children walk very long distances to go to and from school each day, and I believe it, because the nearby Mbuguni villiage is certainly not large enough to have even a small percentage of the students who attend the school. As the children approach the school there is a creek which they must cross and I understand there was a very small bridge that was in such poor condition it could not be used. Therefore the children AND the teachers had to wade the creek.
Two problems: the creek is polluted and in the rainy season it floods to the extent that the flow of water could endanger the children's safety.
Wilson and Gayle Stroscheim noticed the problem when they visited the school to present HIV teaching and the idea of STEMM building a bridge was born.
Wilson arranged for some preliminary work to be done before we arrived. The men of Mbuguni diverted the creek around the location of the bridge site, so that where we built the bridge was dry. We thought we were going to build the bridge ourselves, but the project was so important to the village that the men of Mbuguni, perhaps some 25 or more of them, plus a couple women, pitched in and we found ourselves both watching and working as the locals were eager to do the digging, the forming, carrying rocks, and mixing concrete along with our team members.
Richard Hildebrand was the star of the show. He created the plans for the bridge in his mind, drew the plans so that everyone could understand and visualize the end result and he took charge! His drawings "bridged" (I coundn't pass that up) the language barrier so that the Mbuguni people could see what had to be done as well as we could.
It was neccesary to dig down to provide a base of large rocks and concrete, placed the culverts that allowed for the flow of water through the structure, prepared the forms to receive the concrete while others mixed the concrete. We had a "fire brigade" line of people to pass the concrete in "bowls" from where it was mixed to where it was needed and another line to return the bowls to be filled and passed again. Everyone chipped in to help. It was a very significant demonstration of diverse peoples cooperating on a project that was important to all. The intense sun and the 100+ temps did'nt slow these folks down at all.
The finished bridge is 12 feet wide, can support a vehicle to cross over it, and the stream has been returned to its original path and is flowing throught the culverts. When we left, the approaches on each side had yet to be filled in by the villagers and that has been completed as well. I understand that the approaches are somewhat steep and the folks intend to add more dirt so that the approaches on both sides extend out farther from the bridge so as not to be so steep.
The total cost of material paid for by STEMM was only $1000 USD. Not only did we solve a problem that was of great concern to the locals, but we will have their support in the future as we build the STEMM orphanage just across the road. As we left we took the time to get in a big circle, hold hands and pray, but we also heard a few speaches and what one Mbuguni man said was particular moving. He said, and this does not quote him exactly, "We were impressed that you would buy the materials for the bridge, but we were REALLY impressed by your willingness to joins us in actually doing the work! We cannot thank you enough!"
One more thing that they expressed that amazed them: That we would build their bridge before we built our own structures for the orphage. They must have assumed that we would tend to our own projects first.
In God's Love, Doug wiley
At the end of the road is a very small and poor village called Mbuguni. Also there is a surprisingly large school, Mbuguni Primary, with 20 classrooms and lots of students. I was told both 1200 and 1400 students attend the school, so I'm not sure which is correct, In addition there is a Catholic school nearby and a very special 90 acre tract of land that will some day soon be the location of STEMM's orphanage.
I was told that the children walk very long distances to go to and from school each day, and I believe it, because the nearby Mbuguni villiage is certainly not large enough to have even a small percentage of the students who attend the school. As the children approach the school there is a creek which they must cross and I understand there was a very small bridge that was in such poor condition it could not be used. Therefore the children AND the teachers had to wade the creek.
Two problems: the creek is polluted and in the rainy season it floods to the extent that the flow of water could endanger the children's safety.
Wilson and Gayle Stroscheim noticed the problem when they visited the school to present HIV teaching and the idea of STEMM building a bridge was born.
Wilson arranged for some preliminary work to be done before we arrived. The men of Mbuguni diverted the creek around the location of the bridge site, so that where we built the bridge was dry. We thought we were going to build the bridge ourselves, but the project was so important to the village that the men of Mbuguni, perhaps some 25 or more of them, plus a couple women, pitched in and we found ourselves both watching and working as the locals were eager to do the digging, the forming, carrying rocks, and mixing concrete along with our team members.
Richard Hildebrand was the star of the show. He created the plans for the bridge in his mind, drew the plans so that everyone could understand and visualize the end result and he took charge! His drawings "bridged" (I coundn't pass that up) the language barrier so that the Mbuguni people could see what had to be done as well as we could.
It was neccesary to dig down to provide a base of large rocks and concrete, placed the culverts that allowed for the flow of water through the structure, prepared the forms to receive the concrete while others mixed the concrete. We had a "fire brigade" line of people to pass the concrete in "bowls" from where it was mixed to where it was needed and another line to return the bowls to be filled and passed again. Everyone chipped in to help. It was a very significant demonstration of diverse peoples cooperating on a project that was important to all. The intense sun and the 100+ temps did'nt slow these folks down at all.
The finished bridge is 12 feet wide, can support a vehicle to cross over it, and the stream has been returned to its original path and is flowing throught the culverts. When we left, the approaches on each side had yet to be filled in by the villagers and that has been completed as well. I understand that the approaches are somewhat steep and the folks intend to add more dirt so that the approaches on both sides extend out farther from the bridge so as not to be so steep.
The total cost of material paid for by STEMM was only $1000 USD. Not only did we solve a problem that was of great concern to the locals, but we will have their support in the future as we build the STEMM orphanage just across the road. As we left we took the time to get in a big circle, hold hands and pray, but we also heard a few speaches and what one Mbuguni man said was particular moving. He said, and this does not quote him exactly, "We were impressed that you would buy the materials for the bridge, but we were REALLY impressed by your willingness to joins us in actually doing the work! We cannot thank you enough!"
One more thing that they expressed that amazed them: That we would build their bridge before we built our own structures for the orphage. They must have assumed that we would tend to our own projects first.
In God's Love, Doug wiley
Friday, February 6, 2009
We did the BIG 5 on Safari
Friday, January 23 through the 25th we were on safari. Two nights, three days, three different safari locations. What a welcome break from our exhausting schedule! STEMM people before us have learned of the need for the break and, even so, one should not go to Africa and fail to view God's animal kingdom up close if at all possible.
We learned that people from all over the world come to Africa just for the safari experience, and at least one criteria for success is to get to see (hopefully up close, but not necessarily) the following five animals: elephant, water buffalo, lion, leopard and the black rhino. You can count us in the distinct group of safari participants that DID achieve the BIG 5! The elephant, water buffalo and even the lion are readily viewed most of the time. The two that are often missing from view are the black rhino and more scarcely, the leopard.
Our first day we visited the Tarangire National Park, where we very quickly saw zebras, and excitedly took a whole bunch of pictures. Little did we know that we were to see hundreds, if not thousands of zebras, and even had them blocking our vehicle and surrounding us so that we could almost touch them. Naturally, more and better pictures were the result!
Then, to our suprise we saw a couple giraffe walk across the road in front of us. Seeing them up close in their natural habitat beats a zoo any day. We saw more later but not in large quantities.
Water buffalo were fairly numerous but I don't remember ever getting very close to them.
Other animals, and this list is probably not complete, that we saw were the hyena, wildebeests, a small deer like animal called a "dik-dik", the ibis, hippos, many monkeys and baboons. On a couple occasions we were surrounded by monkeys and baboons and laughed at their antics up close. We also saw many very different and beautiful African birds, some small and some quite large.
We had two very unique experiences with lions. On one occasion we saw a female lion and a couple cubs feeding on a wildebeest that they had killed for food. That was interesting enough, but as we watched, along came a huge male lion, walking casually about 40 feet in front of us, and when directly in front of us, he decided to relieve himself. Our guide said in all his experience as a safari guide, he had never seen that before. The big lion then walked up to the others who were feeding and laid down to rest. It was obvious that he had had his fill earlier and now it was the female and the cubs turn to eat.
The other lion experience was when we saw a female lion stalking prey for a kill. It had seen three zebras, two adults and a young one, who had seperated from a large herd. The lion hunkered down motionless, and at intervals would slowly creep closer to the zebras. Then, in a great burst of speed, it ran toward the zebras, the zebras saw her and started running away. This took place in a very large meadow area, so we saw the entire chase. After chasing for several minutes, the lion gave up and simply stopped running. Knowing they were out of danger, the zebras quickly stopped as well, and to my surprise, immediately started grazing again as if nothing had happened. While that lion didn't succeed on that chase, one can pretty well bet that it would get its dinner before too long.
We also visited the Ngorongoro Conservation area, part of which is a huge sunken crater from a long ago active volcano. It is about 13 miles in diameter and about 4000 meters below the surrounding area. It is in this crater that exists a huge quantity of animals, and it was here that safari viewing was at it's best. The floor of the crater is a huge open meadow with a lake and water holes. It was here that we saw the lion chase the zebras.
While in the crater we saw a black rhino far away, became aware that he was slowly heading our way, so we waited. Sure enough, he eventually got quite close and crossed the road we were on immediately in front of us. All that's left of the big 5 is the leopard.
On out third day we visited the Lake Manyara National Park and it was here that we were surrounded by elephants, from a big bull to a bunch of little ones, all cooling off in a small stream. We counted 27 elephants in this herd.
I frankly cannot remember which of the last two areas we were in where we saw the leopard. Our eagle eye guide spotted him, laying on a branch of a not too nearby tree. I guess they hunt at night and it is not unusual to find them resting during the day in a tree. As hard as I looked, all I could see was a silouette and would never have quessed it was a leopard. However, looking through the binoculars, I could see the beautiful animal, and those with zoom lenses got some good pictures. Score one for the big 5!
I hope others of our group will post their experiences on safari, because there was a lot going on that I have not related.
While we welcomed the break in our busy schedule for a safari, we were also ready to get back in the missionary groove as we had a bridge to build. Missionaries are always building bridges, between different cultures, different beliefs, but we had a REAL bridge to build. Tomorrow I will post a blog about the bridge we built from my perspective.
In God's Love, Doug Wiley
We learned that people from all over the world come to Africa just for the safari experience, and at least one criteria for success is to get to see (hopefully up close, but not necessarily) the following five animals: elephant, water buffalo, lion, leopard and the black rhino. You can count us in the distinct group of safari participants that DID achieve the BIG 5! The elephant, water buffalo and even the lion are readily viewed most of the time. The two that are often missing from view are the black rhino and more scarcely, the leopard.
Our first day we visited the Tarangire National Park, where we very quickly saw zebras, and excitedly took a whole bunch of pictures. Little did we know that we were to see hundreds, if not thousands of zebras, and even had them blocking our vehicle and surrounding us so that we could almost touch them. Naturally, more and better pictures were the result!
Then, to our suprise we saw a couple giraffe walk across the road in front of us. Seeing them up close in their natural habitat beats a zoo any day. We saw more later but not in large quantities.
Water buffalo were fairly numerous but I don't remember ever getting very close to them.
Other animals, and this list is probably not complete, that we saw were the hyena, wildebeests, a small deer like animal called a "dik-dik", the ibis, hippos, many monkeys and baboons. On a couple occasions we were surrounded by monkeys and baboons and laughed at their antics up close. We also saw many very different and beautiful African birds, some small and some quite large.
We had two very unique experiences with lions. On one occasion we saw a female lion and a couple cubs feeding on a wildebeest that they had killed for food. That was interesting enough, but as we watched, along came a huge male lion, walking casually about 40 feet in front of us, and when directly in front of us, he decided to relieve himself. Our guide said in all his experience as a safari guide, he had never seen that before. The big lion then walked up to the others who were feeding and laid down to rest. It was obvious that he had had his fill earlier and now it was the female and the cubs turn to eat.
The other lion experience was when we saw a female lion stalking prey for a kill. It had seen three zebras, two adults and a young one, who had seperated from a large herd. The lion hunkered down motionless, and at intervals would slowly creep closer to the zebras. Then, in a great burst of speed, it ran toward the zebras, the zebras saw her and started running away. This took place in a very large meadow area, so we saw the entire chase. After chasing for several minutes, the lion gave up and simply stopped running. Knowing they were out of danger, the zebras quickly stopped as well, and to my surprise, immediately started grazing again as if nothing had happened. While that lion didn't succeed on that chase, one can pretty well bet that it would get its dinner before too long.
We also visited the Ngorongoro Conservation area, part of which is a huge sunken crater from a long ago active volcano. It is about 13 miles in diameter and about 4000 meters below the surrounding area. It is in this crater that exists a huge quantity of animals, and it was here that safari viewing was at it's best. The floor of the crater is a huge open meadow with a lake and water holes. It was here that we saw the lion chase the zebras.
While in the crater we saw a black rhino far away, became aware that he was slowly heading our way, so we waited. Sure enough, he eventually got quite close and crossed the road we were on immediately in front of us. All that's left of the big 5 is the leopard.
On out third day we visited the Lake Manyara National Park and it was here that we were surrounded by elephants, from a big bull to a bunch of little ones, all cooling off in a small stream. We counted 27 elephants in this herd.
I frankly cannot remember which of the last two areas we were in where we saw the leopard. Our eagle eye guide spotted him, laying on a branch of a not too nearby tree. I guess they hunt at night and it is not unusual to find them resting during the day in a tree. As hard as I looked, all I could see was a silouette and would never have quessed it was a leopard. However, looking through the binoculars, I could see the beautiful animal, and those with zoom lenses got some good pictures. Score one for the big 5!
I hope others of our group will post their experiences on safari, because there was a lot going on that I have not related.
While we welcomed the break in our busy schedule for a safari, we were also ready to get back in the missionary groove as we had a bridge to build. Missionaries are always building bridges, between different cultures, different beliefs, but we had a REAL bridge to build. Tomorrow I will post a blog about the bridge we built from my perspective.
In God's Love, Doug Wiley
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I'm home from TZ and ready to Blog for the first time
Hello, everyone. I have finally got over my jet lag having arrived home safely on 2/2/09. It's now 2/5 and all I can think of is our incredibe experience in Tanzania. I didn't blog while there because we were, frankly, too busy and other things came first, which is God's work.
First of all, let me say we had an incredible team of people, all of whom put God's work first and not a one faltered in being totally involved in what we did. The team was divided into a medical group and Bonnie and I were in the "orphanage" or "grunt" group. I'll let the medical group report their experiences, except to say that when we visited Selion hospital it was so unlike an American hospital that it blew my mind. Poorly organized, dirty linens on beds with patients that were so terribly sick. I'm sure the nurses are dedicated, but thay have so little to work with, so backward in their teckniques and so ill staffed. At one point we became aware that the hospital had exhusted its supply of medications. It had NONE!
A word or two about Tanzania: It is summer there, 5 degrees below the equater. Sun is intense, temps were 95 to 100. People are everywhere, traffic is crazy, roads are terrible! People don't shop like we do. No Walmart! The streets are lined with vendors selling everything imaginable. Hawkers trying to sell their wares drive you crazy if you let them. All you can do is ignore them, yet they are still in your face.
We visited two orphanages, Humura, far from civilization, incredible poor, but the kids were terrific. Oh, if we could only be so happy, so satisfied if we had NOTHING! We brought them schoool supplies, blankets, toys, stuffed animals and bought them a 6 month supply of food. We sang for them, they sang beautifully for us and we prayed together. What an experience! There are kids that have been abandoned, parents have died, mostly of aids, and if they weren't at Humura, they would be street kids, surviving however they could. One of the boys was the one in the DVD that lived in a tree. He is a bright, lovable guy and will, God willing, grow up to be a substantial adult.
The other orphanage was called "New Paradice" where we tore down their old crummy kitchen and built them a new one in two days. A kitchen to them is simply an area that is walled, a dirt floor, where they cook in pots on a fire as they squat to tend it. The old one was black with soot, walls covered with creosote from the fire and NOTHING else. Now they have a new structure, a bench and a shelf. The old one had a "roof" if you could call it that, which leaked so bad they could not cook when it rained. Now they have a secure area with a corregated metal roof , that does not leak!! The ladies were so grateful for their new kitchen, that they cried and we cried with them. The kids, again, were wonderful, so innocent, they don't know how poor they are and how little thay have. We gave them school supples, stuffed animals, sunglasses and bought them six months of food also. Food consisted of rice, corn, beans, vegetables and we also included both personal soap and cleaning soap. Again, we prayed with them, we sang hymns with them and they insisted on cooking a meal for us in their new kitchen. It is amazing the meal they prepared for us. As you guess, there was no way we could refuse their invitation and it was very special to break bread with them. Hugs all around when we left and they all wanted to know when we would come back.
Enough for now, tomorrow I'll relate our experience on safari.
In God's love, Doug Wiley
First of all, let me say we had an incredible team of people, all of whom put God's work first and not a one faltered in being totally involved in what we did. The team was divided into a medical group and Bonnie and I were in the "orphanage" or "grunt" group. I'll let the medical group report their experiences, except to say that when we visited Selion hospital it was so unlike an American hospital that it blew my mind. Poorly organized, dirty linens on beds with patients that were so terribly sick. I'm sure the nurses are dedicated, but thay have so little to work with, so backward in their teckniques and so ill staffed. At one point we became aware that the hospital had exhusted its supply of medications. It had NONE!
A word or two about Tanzania: It is summer there, 5 degrees below the equater. Sun is intense, temps were 95 to 100. People are everywhere, traffic is crazy, roads are terrible! People don't shop like we do. No Walmart! The streets are lined with vendors selling everything imaginable. Hawkers trying to sell their wares drive you crazy if you let them. All you can do is ignore them, yet they are still in your face.
We visited two orphanages, Humura, far from civilization, incredible poor, but the kids were terrific. Oh, if we could only be so happy, so satisfied if we had NOTHING! We brought them schoool supplies, blankets, toys, stuffed animals and bought them a 6 month supply of food. We sang for them, they sang beautifully for us and we prayed together. What an experience! There are kids that have been abandoned, parents have died, mostly of aids, and if they weren't at Humura, they would be street kids, surviving however they could. One of the boys was the one in the DVD that lived in a tree. He is a bright, lovable guy and will, God willing, grow up to be a substantial adult.
The other orphanage was called "New Paradice" where we tore down their old crummy kitchen and built them a new one in two days. A kitchen to them is simply an area that is walled, a dirt floor, where they cook in pots on a fire as they squat to tend it. The old one was black with soot, walls covered with creosote from the fire and NOTHING else. Now they have a new structure, a bench and a shelf. The old one had a "roof" if you could call it that, which leaked so bad they could not cook when it rained. Now they have a secure area with a corregated metal roof , that does not leak!! The ladies were so grateful for their new kitchen, that they cried and we cried with them. The kids, again, were wonderful, so innocent, they don't know how poor they are and how little thay have. We gave them school supples, stuffed animals, sunglasses and bought them six months of food also. Food consisted of rice, corn, beans, vegetables and we also included both personal soap and cleaning soap. Again, we prayed with them, we sang hymns with them and they insisted on cooking a meal for us in their new kitchen. It is amazing the meal they prepared for us. As you guess, there was no way we could refuse their invitation and it was very special to break bread with them. Hugs all around when we left and they all wanted to know when we would come back.
Enough for now, tomorrow I'll relate our experience on safari.
In God's love, Doug Wiley
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