Tuesday 8/11/2009 and Wednesday 8/12/2009

Our last two days at Irente were Tuesday and Wednesday. We were to spend those few days visiting the Irente institutions that consist of the Rainbow School for Special Needs children, the School for the Blind, the Irente Children's Home and also the Irente Farm.

Tuesday we started out at the Rainbow School.

Joy--it's the first word that comes to mind when thinking of the kids from the Rainbow School. They smiled, and had flowers for us, and greeted us, again, like royalty. The Rainbow School was really piloted by Mama Munga. The Munga's have two children with special needs, one of which attends the Rainbow School. This is one of only two schools for special needs children in the country. The children do not live at the school and for very good reason. The children need to learn to live in their villages. They will not always have the luxury of living in an adapted environment, so they need to learn to live with and in their surroundings. In addition, their parents need to learn to care for them. Therefore, sending them home at the end of the school day allows their learning to continue. The school is divided into three classrooms by age, the youngest children, the children in the middle and the oldest children. They work with them on all types of skills. They even help them to learn a trade in hopes that they can one day obtain a job. It was probably one of the most eye opening experiences we have ever had. It is such a drastic difference to the services available to those in the US with a dissability.

There is much stigma that also comes with having a dissability in this country. However, the Rainbow School is empowering children who are differently abled as well as their families. It is showing communities and individuals that having a dissability does not mean you are unable. It just means you are a little different and need a little more assistance. It gives families a sense of value and worth for their children. And if you look at the faces below it is pretty clear that these children take pride in their lives....

Special needs classroom...

After the Rainbow School we went to the Irente Farm. It is a fully functioning farm and is incredible eco-friendly as is much of Tanzania. They are people who are extremely careful of the resources they have. They do not waste anything and they are very, very respectful of the earth. This was something we all wanted to bring back to the US with us. We literally brought home much of our trash with us.

We also spent more time at the school for blind children and they had prepared more songs for us to enjoy.

That evening during our group time, it was ovious that we had all been so inspired and moved by what we had seen that day. We talked about how they give SO much to God and just have this constant faith. They always put God first. It really made us see that when you take away all the material items, what you are often left with is what truly matters. Someone mentioned how thankful they were to see so many doing the work for the least of these. Every single person who gives of themselves to take care of all of these children at the Irente institutions are truly the hands and feet of Christ.

They do it without complaint.

Without adequate pay.

But always with love.

On Wednesday we went to the Irente Children's Home. OH. MY. WORD.

Cutest.

Children.

Ever.

I was very close to starting my own kid-napping ring. If it wasn't for immigration and customs and many witnesses, and that rule that they insist on following about having to have a passport to leave the country, I'd be the proud mother of about 12 right now.

The Irente Children's Home is a beautiful space, home to 32 orphaned children. There are 17 children there who are too old for the home but have no where else to go. We met many of the children that day. We played with, held, and loved on sweet little babies. There were several rooms that we went into and each one was lined with white metal cribs Each crib had a baby in it, with a chubby, smiling face. Behind each face, a story. It was a little overwhelming to see such tiny babies, with such heavy stories. Some of the children are completely orphaned. Some have family members elsewhere in Tanzania who are either unable or unwilling to take care of them. Some of the children are HIV positive, which adds much complication to their story and often the results of this are that an adoptive family is unable to be found for them.

Irente Children's Home is for children up to two years old, however, Irente does not send children away at this age. If another placement cannot be found, they stay at Irente. This does create a problem, because these older children do not have anywhere to go and there are not many appropriate social outlets for them. It is also a struggle to find them appropriate housing at Irente. They need to have their own space and not live among babies. Irente Children's Home is working on raising funds to build a home for these children.

When we first arrived at the home, we were met by some students, who of course sang for us. There were a few small children also there, and they were quick to come up to each of us and shake our, hands, say "Jambo," and in turn, melt our hearts. As we were walking to where the babies were, one of the little girls who had greeted us, came up beside me. I took her hand. We all learned later that she is 5 and her name is Laima (Lame-a). As she walked, she held onto my hand, but was walking a little slowly, kind of looking around at all of us. I put my arms down, the univeral question for do you want me to carry you, and she reached back up. I picked her up, and she immediately just clung to me. If I had let go, she would have been attached to me with her arms and legs wrapped around my body. At this point, our group split and 1/2 of us went in one room and the other 1/2 in another room. I carried her into one of the baby rooms. I wasn't feeling particularly well this day, so I was a little "off" and not paying as much attention as I would have liked. I put Laima down and she cried, because she wanted to be held. Sandy took her and carried her around. We eventually left the room with the babies, and at this point, I believe Pastor Sharon was holding Laima. Somehow, at some point I had her back again. We were back with the other 1/2 of our group and I passed Laima off to Lisa, who then carried her around and entertained her for awhile. She really wanted to be carried, she wanted our attention and wanted our love.

After this we met with some of the adults who work at Irente. We presented them with the quilt from our VBS kids and they thought it was just beautiful. We talked for awhile about some of the needs at Irente and hhow the home works and functions. Children come here for many reasons, death of their parents, a parent who is too ill to take care of them, etc. There are times hwen a family can eventually take their child back after they come, but that is not often. If they have living parents, the parents must keep in contact if they ever want to be re-united permanently with their child. The parents or family also pays 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings per month if they are able to, to cover the cost of care for the child. 10,000 Shillings is a little over 7 US dollars. The average salary in Tanzania is 1 US dollar per day. After two years, they look for adoptive parents. Sometimes that is successful and other times it is not--as is the case for 17 of the children at Irente.

And it was after all of this conversation that we learned more about Laima. We learned that she is 5. We learned that she is small for her age. We learned that she is HIV positive. We learned that there was a family that had looked into adopting her. They had gone so far as to get the adoption permit from the Tanzanian government. When they learned she was HIV positive they decided it was not something they could handle and stopped the adoption process. But, she is still a little girl with potential and her story is still a hopeful one. Her story has touched people all over the world. At the moment, a Swedish church pays for all of her medications and she is doing well on the drugs she takes for HIV. A german woman by the name of Marion who is a volunteer there currentlt sponsors Laima's education. Laima cannot go to a regular public school. Because she is HIV positive she requires extra care, more rest and attention than healthy children as well as medication. Public schools in Tanzania are often too crowded and Laima could have found herself in a class with up to 90 other children. It would not be feasible to care for Laima in a public school setting. Thanks to sponsors she is able to go to a private school and receives the love and attention she needs to thrive.

When I got home I didn't think we had any pictures of Laima and I couldn't believe it. Thanks for Facebook I had seen most of the pictures within 24 hours of returning home, but none of Laima. Barb saved the day a few days later because she had the one and only picture that we have of Laima.

We were all touched by this little girl and we realize her story is just one of millions. She is just one of so many children who are living with HIV. We hear that HIV is just wreaking havoc throughout Africa, and now we have a face to go with that. For the rest of my life, when I hear "AIDS Orphan" I know I will think of Laima. And whenever I hear the word "fighter" and "spirited" I will think of Laima.

That evening we met with the church elders of Irente to discuss how we want to continue our partnership and to discuss ways to make this happen. We walked about the fact that we have been joined with one another in love and that we are one in Christ. We talked about the fact that it is our desire to continue to do God's work together. We promised them that we would find a way to put our experience into words. One of our biggest struggles is that we knew we would never have the words to adequately describe all that Irente has meant to us and taught us. They told us that they would not forget us coming and that our presence was historical. They told us that they have seen how we love them. We told them that through our experience and meeting them, we felt we had seen the presence of Christ.

That evening we met with the church elders of Irente to discuss how we want to continue our partnership and to discuss ways to make this happen. We walked about the fact that we have been joined with one another in love and that we are one in Christ. We talked about the fact that it is our desire to continue to do God's work together. We promised them that we would find a way to put our experience into words. One of our biggest struggles is that we knew we would never have the words to adequately describe all that Irente has meant to us and taught us. They told us that they would not forget us coming and that our presence was historical. They told us that they have seen how we love them. We told them that through our experience and meeting them, we felt we had seen the presence of Christ.

They had another gift for us. Identical candle sticks. Pastor Sharon made the request that we leave one of the candle sticks there with them, so that we could have one and they could keep one. A symbol of our unity. They would keep a piece of us there with them, and we would take a piece of them home with us.

A candle was placed in each candle holder and they were lit by the two pastors. Pastor Joyce lit the candle that is in the candle holder that is not sitting on the Alter at LCR. Pastor Sharon lit the candle in the candle holder that remains at Irente.

The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one as we are one.

Monday 8/10/2009

Monday was going to be a bit more of a low key day for us. We went to Tanga, which is about a 3 hour car ride from Irente and is on the coast. We were picked up at 7am by Kiondo. Pastor Joyce had her entire family with her and Alfred also came. We first stopped at a Port in Tanga. Pastor Joyce knew the manager, so we were given a great tour and saw and learned about things that were imported and exported. We saw a ferry boat that transports people back and forth from Zanzibar, which is a small island off the coast of Tanzania. It is a big tourist spot and many people go there to vacation.
Kiondo and Alfred just trying out the ship...

After our tour of the Port, we ate a snack at a restaurant we stopped at, and then went to the Amboni Caves. These are huge caves that are millions of years old and we were even told by our guide that there is a way to get to Kenya through the caves, but you have to have an oxygen mask with you. He then told us that there is a story of two people who attempted this and were never seen again.

Lovely.

There's a story you don't want to hear when you are inside the caves. It was amazing to see these and impossible to comprehend how God could create such a thing.

So, some of us thought the caves were really cool and were just completely fascinated by them and loved the entire experience.

Others of us may still be having flashback of crawling through dark, tight spaces and bats flying overhead.

Some of us were happier than others to, literally, see the light at the end of the tunnel as we exited.

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I fall under the having flashbacks of crawling through dark, tight spaces and flying bats overhead category, which didn't make for a lot of great photos.

Either way though, the caves are amazing.

After this it was time to go to the beach. This was a highlight for all of us. We were SO excited to get to be in the Indian Ocean. By this time it was later afternoon, so we went to a beach club, where we had some picnic tables to put our things on and went and got in the ocean. We collected shells and stones from the ocean, the Spencer's went swimming, and we just had time to sit around and relax.

After this we got ready to leave and by now it was about 5ish. We had to stop at the Port again to say goodbye to Pastor Joyce's friend who manages the port. They are very formal in Tanzania, so stopping by to tell her goodbye again was the respectful thing to do. Pastor Joyce also asked what we wanted to have for dinner and we said pasta would be wonderful. So, we stopped at the market to pick up the pasta and a few other things that were needed. It was around 6 when we left Tanga.

It was a long ride home, but it was beautiful. I actually ended up in the front seat on this trip and when I looked out the window the stars looked so close it looked like you could almost touch them. They don't have other lights in Tanzania that are lit up in the sky at night, no buildings, not a lot of planes, etc, so it is so easy to spot the stars. It was so beautiful. We had been advised before we left not to drive on the roads at night. It isn't the safest thing. That is mainly because there are no street lights, and you could run into an animal. And it isn't like here where you might hit a skunk, or a squirrell, or maybe a dear in the worst case scenario. It means you might hit a zebra, or a lion or a gazelle or a wildebeast (even though we didn't just see these wondering around). Any person who walks on the road at night seriously takes their life into their hands. It was kind of interesting, but I can definitely see why it is suggested not to do it. And as an aside, it is kind of amazing that you just get used to the site of cars/trucks coming directly at you and one of you moves at the last minute :)

While two of us sat in the front looking at stars, the rest of the team occupied themselves and probably Pastor Joyce and Alfred by playing the alphabet game. The. Entire. Way. Home. Evidently they could not think of any word for the letter "Z" because from the front seat, every few minutes you would hear them shout "Zanzibar" completely in sync.

We got home to Tumaini and were really hungry. We really had not eaten all day. This is the point where we may or may not have had a melt down as a group. We had actually talked about this as a group. We discussed that we may get to a point of having a meltdown at each other because we would be traveling together for 17 days. It's a lot of togetherness :) We actually did great as a group, and our small melt down came after a long day of traveling and not eating much all day. We're Lutheran's. We get hungry. We went way to many hours between feedings :)

One down...

Two down...

Dinner was not ready when we go back to Tumaini, becauce, remember, we had the pasta with us. So, we never ate that night until around 9:45. It was just a part of the trip. The meltdowns happen and ours was very mild. The next day we apologized up and down to our hosts for the fact that we were less than pleasant after our day. They decided that they would not pick us up until 10am the next day. I guess they thought we needed the rest...or maybe they needed a break :) We all learned from the day. The next day, it was back to Irente and we were excited about visiting the institutions at Irente over the course of the next few days.

PS...the pasta had sauce on it and was sprinkled with cheese. Well worth the wait for me personally :)

Worship at Irente

Disclaimer: I read back on the posts I did while we were in Tanzania and evidentally while in Tanzania I had forgotten all the grammer and spelling I had ever learned I must have been a little tired because there are quite a few errors!

Sunday we spent the entire day at Irente. We were picked up around 8:30am by Kiondo and he had the car all decorated for this special day. We all noticed immediately that the seats were covered in a royal blue fabric and even the dashboard was decorated. Worship at Irente was one of the best moments of the trip. It was such a wonderful, uplifting Worship service. Most of us had African dresses made earlier in the week and we wore them that day for church. We loved having them on for this special day and Pastor Joyce said that especially the women from Irente liked that we were dressed like them and were happy that we wanted to be dressed like them.

Now guess how long Worship was.


Seriously. Guess.


Not 1.


Not 2.


But 3 hours.


And if felt like 20 minutes.

It was amazing. It is going to be another one of those times that I really struggle to put it into words. You just had to be there. There was alot of singing fortunately not by us by the different choirs and the children at the school for the blind also sang for us. When we first walked in the Sunday School children were praticing songs they planned to sing for us later.
They were adorable.

Alfred sat with us and translated for us what was going on.

It was interesting to see that when sitting in the church the men sat on one side and the women sat on another side. The choir was seated across from us .

The children from the blind school were seated next to us. They were the most well-behaved children for that entire 3 hours.Pretty early on in the service we were asked to come stand up front so that we could be presented with gifts.

This is when we did have to sing again. You would think that by now we would have punished these people enough, but I guess they liked our songs!

So we all got up and stood in the front. After a song and some marching, singing, and praying in the light of God it was time for them to present us with gifts. We were thinking there would be a gift or two from the congregation.We were wrong. Big time.

We were bombarded with beautiful gifts and we were SO overwhelmed by the love and time that went into each one. We received small little notebooks covered in fabric by the orphanage because they knew we were writing a lot of things down during our trip. We were so touched that they realized this and this was such a thoughtful gift. We received three wooden spoons that had been hand made completely from the carving of the actual spoon to the burning of the detail into the spoon. We each received a beautiful piece of fabric. The children from the blind school made us jewelry. We received tea, a beautiful piece of fabric which we hope to turn into a table cloth for LCR, handmade baskets, the children from the blind school made us a welcome mat that will be displayed at LCR. When we stood up there before these people, who have very little material items, and received each of these gifts, our arms were full.

Our hearts were overflowing.

It still amazes us that they have hardly anything in the way of material things and here they were giving us such beautiful gifts. We saw this everywhere in Tanzania. They gave the best of themselves to us, the absolute, very best.

We are honored.

We also had gifts for them. We presented them with the wall hanging that that the LCR quilters had made. We gave them a plaque for the church with the same scripture on it that we had given to each subparish and ministry within the church. Pastor Sharon has on a neclace that she had received from a pastor in Puerto Rico. She took this off and gave it to Pastor Joyce.

We also presented Irente with a monetary gift of 600 US dollars. Pastor Joyce opened the envelope and said "There are no words to thank you for this."

If we were not crying before this, which I am pretty sure we all were, we definitely were now.

We all also chose to write a note of thanks to Irente and read it out loud during the service. Each of us went down the line reading off words of gratitude to these amazing people, all the while realizing that the words just don't do justice the gratitude we each had in our hearts. Sometimes words just are not enough. This was one of those times.

After the presentation of the gifts, Pastor Sharon preached her sermon and it was awesome. She prayed first in Swahili, and during the sermon Pastor Joyce translated for the rest of the congregation.

Pastor Sharon was also able to do a baptism while we were there. She baptized a little baby named Charles. It was a very special moment, one that not many pastors have in their career. It was also very special to watch.

As she wrote in her newsletter article for August it is not the fact that we are Lutherans that unites us. It is not a common interpretation of the Bible that unites us. It is one Baptism; one Lord, that unites us. It is the words "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" that unites us.

I am so glad she wrote that because it is a much better description for this event then I would have come up with :)

Pastor Joyce and Pastor Sharon gave communion.

It was really special to kneel at the alter with our brothers and sisters in Christ from Irente. All week we had been hearing people say we were joined by the blood of Christ and here we were kneeling at the alter with them for communion.

After the service we all went outside to gather in the lawn outside of the church. We were not quit sure what we were doing and we quickly realized we were there for a type of auction. Yes, you read right. An auction. Many of these people live a cash-less existence. Meaning, they live completely off of the land. They do not have a monetary offering to bring to church on Sundays. Instead, they bring a good that they have and then that is auctioned off and the money given to Irente. It was so smart in so many ways, and most importantly it allows those who cannot give money a way to contribute to their church.

Once worship was over and we ate lunch, we were all sitting outside just visiting with the people and the children. I am not exactly sure how it started but pretty soon we began a little impromptu concert.

We were on the lawn with the kids and just started teaching them and singing songs with them.

We taught them "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."

We taught them and sang with them "Jesus Loves Me," as well as "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". The more hand motions required, the better.

We then sang with them the longest version of "Old McDonald Had A Farm" ever known to man. We seriously did every single animal we could think of. We had a swahili book with us and would look up how to say the names of different animals. There was Old McDonald had a chamba (farm) E-I-E-I-O. And on that chamba he had a simba (lion) E-I-E-E-O. Old McDonald had a chamba E-I-E-I-O. And on that chamba he had a tembo (elephant) E-I-E-I-O. (I bet you are now singing these words in your head, not just reading them :) ) We even did Old McDonald had a twiga (giraffe) E-I-E-I-O.

Then we got to the part about what noise a giraffe makes and we all stopped and looked at each other.

What does a giraffe say?!

We had no idea so we made something up.

We learned on safari a few days later that giraffes don't make any noise. Good to know!

It was really sweet to see the kids catching on to the songs and the words. It was especially moving to sit with a group of children who were strangers just a little while ago and sing Jesus Loves me. We all agreed this was one of our favorite moments of the day and a highlight of the trip.

After our little concert, we went back into the church. The Sunday School children had beautiful songs to sing for us.

After this everyone at Irente split up into different groups, i.e. women, youth, blind school, children, men, etc. The 8 of us split up and spent time with a group answering questions and talking to them about LCR.

After this it was time to go back to Tumaini. We were exhausted. It was an emotionally and physically tiring day, but it was one of the highlights of the entire trip. It was so special to share in worhip with our brothers and sisters in Christ and it was very clear on this day, that because of Christ we are, in fact, one.