The Purpose Driven Retirement of Eddie Ozols Supporting the Tanzanian Anglican Church

I retired from Anglican Aid, the Sydney Anglican Diocese's overseas relief and development arm in April 2022 and then spent six months in Tanzania working in the Diocese of Musoma at the invitation of the bishop. I am essentially assisting with capacity building across various areas of the diocese.. In 2023 I led a tourof 18 Australians who visited and observed the work of the church in the Mara Region - three dioceses - Mara, Tarime and Rorya.

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Going home but feeling like I have just got my skates on

I couldn’t believe I haven’t written for over three weeks! When I look at my diary I can see why. It has been busy. Apart from the normal stuff going on here I did a crowd funding appeal for a young woman requiring heart surgery which occupied more time than I had anticipated. I was overwhelmed at the generosity of many who contributed to raise over $10,000 in two weeks. As I write from the airport hotel her father is making arrangements for her to go to Dar Es Salaam, subject to the heart valve having arrived from India. You can read more at https://www.mycause.com.au/p/294630/philbia-needs-lifesaving-heart-surgery

Philbia Baraka (Ogina) the day after discharge from hospital

I was still recovering from malaria on my last post. I went to work Monday feeling a lot better but by the afternoon felt fully recovered, and have felt so ever since. I am off prophylaxis on the advice of the local doctor who treated me. So prophylaxis consists of keeping mozzies at bay by clothing appropriately at dusk and nightime, spraying my room and insect repellant on exposed body parts.

The first day back to work involved a journey to Issenyi Secondary School in the Serengeti region. It sits atop an escarpment overlooking the vast Serengeti National Park and regularly has elephants visiting to eat the sisal plants which grow in abundance near the school which sits on 15 acres. The school history is interesting. It was opened in 1962 as a primary school. The community lobbied the government to provide a secondary school for the village and area and after failures by the government to successfully operate it as a secondary school, the Anglican church was asked if it would operate it as a secondary school which it has done since 1990. So it is a school with aging infrasructure and lots of challenges. When I return next year I will be working to assist the principal Ezekiel with some of his challenges.

My last month has been consumed working on budgets. The level of financial literacy amongst leaders of institutions here is abysmal and has highlighted a huge gap needing to be addressed. The bishop has asked me to conduct some leadership training when I return next year which I’ll be happy to do.

I started working on the Theological College’s budget before I got malaria and it has taken a month to finalise it as there were answers required from overseas supporters about assumptions which had to be confirmed. That college has the most complex finances and it was good to work with the principal to help him understand.

The Girls Brigade budget needed redoing as everything was in one sheet. Separating that out and preparing a budget for a hairdressing program was the next challenge as well as taking staff through what it all means. Luckily the accountant was there to assist.

Then in my last week the head of a vocational college in the Serengeti about three hours away popped his head into my office and that was the start of helping him. His college is in terrible financial shape and after five days I sent it back. It requires retrenching four staff and ensuring his college can get a minimum number of students to remain viable. Very nice guy but clueless but eager to learn. So a leadership program next year will be a priority.

The heading of this blog really summarises my time here. I really only feel I could function effectively in the last few weeks. It has taken time to understand how things work and the dynamics involved. The very politeness displayed in relationships masks the same relational dynamics we have in the west. Honour and shame is how this society operates and I am still thinking through how shame can be used in a way to motivate people. I will happily listen to suggestions.

A number of strategic matters have been raised by me including a restructure of financial payments, development of a reporting system for schools and improvements to communications between agencies in the diocese. The bishop got the silo mentality when I explained it to him having assumed people worked collaboratively, which he is starting to see is not always the case. Amazingly the suggested financial restructure was fully supported by the accountant. It was like something he could see needed to be done but ….? It took a visitor to come up with the suggestion? Fear of change? I don’t know.

I am arranging a tour for Australians who will be in Kigali, Rwanda in April 2023 to come to Tanzania and have spent some time on the logistics. Numbers are lower than anticipated so having to do some rearranging of the itinerary, which was further complicated by a public holiday in the middle of the dates I am working on.

My other big task was training some members of the English service in setting up an overhead projector and putting the service and music up. That was a Saturday and the next day went surprisingly well. So well in fact that they sang four songs recorded by my church in Australia, following the words on video as Aussies sang. It does not take long for the locals to pick up a tune.

So we started when I was still sick with malaria but as you see from the photo above I had my first and only ride in a Bujaji to travel to church as no car available and the screen shows two singers on video from Keiraville Anglican Church with words to the song as the music played in the background. That was four months work which involved sourcing a laptop (thanks AM) and an overhead (Thanks Glen T). I wa away on my last weekend here but Mary who I trained ran week three on her own and did well I am told.

My penultimate weekend I was invited to dinner at Adram Nkware’s home. He pastors the English congregation and is accountant at a bank. He lives in a flat above the bank building. Think any country Australian town with an old bank building which housed the manager and you get the picture. This building was huge and had three apartments and the roof is on the fourth floor. No elevator but the best views of Musoma. The evening was great and I had Bishop Georges’ s daughter as he was away. Adram’s recently graduated daughter was there as well.

The evening became interesting when I was asked by him “What is the system for the ‘bride price’ in Australia”? I won’t spoil a future blog by talking about it here other than to say there was incredulity as they could not believe we did not have this practice in Australia. And especially from two young educated women!

The final weekend was a big one at Musoma with 32 choirs in town from Friday to Sunday for Mara Day or Cathedral Day held every two years. Basically a songfest and I was sorry to miss it. Sunday service went for six hours.

I was in Tarime Diocese for a confirmation service where Bishop Mwita Akiri confirmed 61 people aged from 14 to 55 years of age. I preached on 1 Kings 17 on the theme The Word of God. I stayed at Mogabiri Farm owned by the church on Saturday night. First time I started sleeping with a sheet and pulled a blanket on during the night. The coldest I Have been in my six months here. Saturday afternoon Umaki or Mothers’ Union had a choir day for woemen from each parish. I went after lunch and presented song books donated by Sparklit Australia to 250 women.

Some of the women with their new songbooks. Thanks Sparklit Australia

Bishop Mwita Akire and some choir members with their books

Church on Sunday was six hours plus photos with myslef and the bishop after the service for another 30 minutes. This also hapened on Sunday.

So six months feels as though it has flown by quickly. No TV or mod cons. I haven’t been bored and I have had a great time. Looking forward to 2023.

I will blog on themes over the next few months – polygamy, female genital mutilation (Novemember/December is known as the “cutting season) and bride price.

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Malaria Strikes Big Time

Malaria Again. My latest blog

I am writing in my bed, four days after contracting malaria a second time in less than two weeks! Who would have thought that possible? Tuesday after lunch, as I rose from my chair, I suddenly felt giddy, tired and had the aches and pains similar to my symptoms a few weeks back but more acute.

At the Coptic Hospital, saw the same doctor, had the blood smear and was on a vitamin B drip within an hour in a room lying down which is all I wanted to do. The doctor came to confirm the diagnosis but this time the blood smear indicated a more severe case of falciparum malaria. Symptoms include fever, chills, sweats. headaches, nausea and vomiting, body aches, general malaise. I had everything apart from the nuasea and vomiting. I was started on a 24 hour course of three injections for malaria and then moved to an annex where the doctor resides.

The next twenty four hours was essentially spent asleep apart from when the nurse came to medicate me and inject me at 6am. I was discharged next evening with a cocktail of medications including a follow up dose of anti-malarials for three day (4 tablets twice a day). Since then my hosts have been forcing me to eat (as much as I don’t feel like it) and the aches and pains have essentially gone but lethargy and breathlessness is still a problem. I was given antibiotics for a possible URTI given my oxygen was at 90% on discharge.

Up till then I had been flat out. The previous week I spent three days at Bunda about an hour south. The trip down on Tuesday saw us having to replace a puncture. which was an experience in itself. Half a dozen guys helped the drived get the jack underneath a thirty years Landcruiser and replace the tyre.

On Tuesday I met with school leaders conducting a workshop on Inclusive Education as there amy be an opportunity to establish a unit to support schools in the region cater for kids with disabilities. It went surprisingly well and I learned a lot about the Tanzanian education system in my preparations.

Malina reporting on her group at the inclusive education workshop

Wednesday and Thursday was spent at Bunda Bible College helping them prepare their budget for 2023. A bigger task than anticipated as changes to how students are supported and different types of scholarships needed sorting. In addition, the new secretary there was tasked with trying to help the principal move from student lists as word documents and using spreadsheets to make it simpler to update records. She also saw the magic of Google Drive as I showed her how she and the principal can share files easily. Thursday was interrupted for two hours with the handowever at Shalom School of the new classroom block and the electricity substation generously provided by a donor. Very formal and time taken due to local protocols involved, followed by lunch.

Shalom’s new classroom block opened by the bishop

Friday was the final workshop for senior staff on strategic planning. Essentially the ideas raised at the three previous workshops were distilled into a number of themes. A final workshop with the executive and then a draft plan that can be approved at year’s end Diocesan Council.

My weekend was in Rorya Diocese where I was the guest speaker at an ordination service for 16 men and women being consecrated as deacons, priests and lay readers. I was being installed with an 80 year old woman as a lay canon of their cathedral (St Peter’s Rorya). I bought another goat and donated it t the old lady.

Many houses have storerooms like the one behind because some food you buy in 100kg bags like this maize.

I arrived Saturday and was taken to the site of a new school being built about ninety minutes across dirt roads to Nyang’ombe. The location is beautiful sited on the banks of Lake Victoria and could easily be a development for a resort if not so isolated and if you could swim in Lake Victoria. I was impressed that with US$50,000 the church had completed four classrooms, a teacher’s house, toilet block and water pump. They hope to open in January 2023 but have a long way to go.

After church Sunday I visited a school where the church does a feeding program. I have posted a photo of the ebst classroom. 125 kids per class and one teacher. Sadly not uncommon across Africa in government schools. That explains the proliferation of private education as a business here.

I spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning with the director of the local compassion program who was seeking my advice on graduates from vocational college and his submission to the national office to start a hairdressing salonand mechanic workshop with nine graduates working collaboratively to establish businesses that could eventually train others. An then malaria hit.

So that’s been my fortnight with enforced bed rest since Tuesday and hopefully back to work Monday after seeing the doctor for a review.

Monday, August 29, 2022

Back into work and Malaria strikes!

My first full week back was spent reorienting myself and looking at the remaining time here and what needs to be done. I developed a spreadsheet to plan my time as I know it will fly. I also had invitations from two nearby bishops to visit them and spend the weekend including preaching at their cathedrals. The fist was due on my second weekend back but cancelled as he is away. I will be at Rorya about two hours north near the Kenyan border on Sunday 4 September for an ordination service. So preparation for that is a priority. If you pray that would be helpful. I have selected Daniel 1 as the text.

My major goals before I leave are to complete a strategic plan in draft form for the diocese and have it ready before I leave at the end of September, help the diocese decide if it wishes to pursue a disability program following my visit to Karagwe and the opportunities that provides, work with the IT guy on the website and the next newsletter and do some financial policy work.

The financial reporting system here is not robust and I have suggested that there be a reporting system established by each unit which receives and spends funds. An audit a few years ago highlighted some basic issues that need to be established so I was asked to speak to the management team about that and the disability program. A meeting with all schools is planned for 30 September to discuss inclusive education and the possibility of using a site here as the base and having all four schools involved as part of a model supporting kids with disabilities unable go to school due to their disability.

The principal of the Bible College asked me to assist with some correspondence he received. This required the 2023 budget to be prepared and sent to the funder. Budgets here are on a CY basis and usually not completed till November or December. Apart from drafting a budget based on the 2022 budget and returning it to him, this provided focus on the whole budget preparation cycle. The bishop and the accountant agree that the end of the year means little time left to critically review and analyse budgets and make changes. The example of food at the college based on maize prices of 800TZS/kg in the budget when it is now 1200TZS/kg (thanks Putin) means that the budget for this year will see blowouts in food. Inflation here is running at least at 10% although public servants received a 21% pay rise in June.

I met the accountant and he is happy for a policy on financial reporting to be established. We also discussed moving to computer based accounting which will be a huge task but might be looked at slowly as a trial. We will see as it does require money that is not there.

I had various discussions with staff about a staffing issue in one of the schools and the way to manage this. Cultural issues here mean a solution is more complex than in Australia.

Mwita the IT guy is away working as an IT specialist on the census so discussions about the newsletter have been limited. Hoping this can be prepared by early September.

Tuesday of week two saw me listless, lethargic and tired. It was census day so no work. I did nothing for the day and felt generally unwell. This continued into Wednesday and while not a flu I wondered if Covid had hit me again. I googled malaria late Wednesday and took myself to the Coptic (Egyptian) Hospital Thursday morning. They actually spoke good English. I waited like everone else – mainly women with infant children and a few older people. A very ordered system where on arrival a small marquee is where you have your BP, temperature and pulse done and then go inside to register. Pay 2000 TZS ($1.25) to see the Egyptian doctor. He ordered a blood smear to test for malaria as well as RAT for malaria which was interesting. Back to the cashier to pay 2,000 TZS for the blood test. Waited an hour and back in to see Dr Peter who confirmed falciparum malaria and said there were three options. The best he told me was the drug I was prescribed, I didn’t need to worry about the other two as I had financial capacity.

The wait between the blood test and the result was interesting as I sat outside the room where my blood was acuired from a needle prick and I hear every kid screaming after they entered so most were being tested for malaria. The killer for kids is if they come to late and the disease becomes untratable due to cerbral malaria. It is a terrible death. However I was also conscious that these parents, as poor as some of them looked invested 2,000 TZ which may equate to a day’s wage for their children’s sake.

Rembrant’s Prodigal Son in the waiting room

The cost of medical treatment. Cheap for me but unafforable for most. US$/2300

I was seated next to a mum still breastfeeding her daughter who was happy to clamber over me. She had a cough but looked OK otherwise so I guessed she also ws there for malaria. Once I had seen the doctor, received my script it was back to the cashier to pay 15,500 TZS ($10) for my medication which included 20 panadol which I didn’t think necessary but on reading the side effects of the malaria meds I realised they were for the possible side effects.

Saturday lunch at the Rehema Cafe. Last Saturday as the coordinator Heather leaves for South Africa for annual medical checks. Lunch was a group of ten or so. Arthur from the office, the bishop’s son and daughter and the IT guy Mwita as well as Arthur’s family.