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
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.
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.
