The Wheelers

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

It has been a long time since there was a Dodoma update – sorry about that! We have been busy but have had a great last few months. The Tiffin whanua flew over to holiday with us and see our stomping ground – had a fabulous time. We are very grateful to those who sent wishes, love and braces with them! The physio clinic is looking much better now that it is more fully stocked! Thank you!

Tiffin family arrival - first dinner in Dar Es Salaam, yummy ethiopian food!

So – we are entering our final 4 weeks here. Mixed emotions for sure. We are feeling ready to come home and launching into this next phase of life.  God and his people have inspired us and opened our eyes to new opportunities in the future. We are really looking forward to catching up with family and friends back in Wellington and the awesome introduction of Scott to his gorgeous nephew Cole! Not long now!

On the other hand, leaving Dodoma, Africa, the people, the sun and especially the physio clinic is very difficult. It seems far too early to going as we are well settled now and with a reasonable grasp of the language, how to cook and eat well without a New World Supermarket nearby we definitely could do this for longer. The people here, our colleagues and friends have touched our hearts deeply.

The plan for the final four weeks is really about tying up bits and pieces – I have almost hired someone as a translator for the clinic which is great news; just have to sort out contracts and details like pension payments etc – not the kind of stuff I ever thought I’d be doing! But it’s falling into place slowly but surely. By the way – I have not been asked to move out of my room – phew! That whole thing has been mysteriously dropped for some reason – but I’m not questioning anything! The new physio, Jane, arrives in a couple of weeks so the official hand over stuff will happen then, then it’s about saying goodbyes and packing.

I have had a few emails from people who are interested in coming to help in the clinic, but finances seem to be the biggest draw-back for all. No-one has committed to coming after Jane finishes mid year – so that is a bit of a concern – might mean the clinic has to close. It would be a huge pity ‘cos we are fully booked everyday and that would mean that many people would not have access to physiotherapy, but all we can do is trust the right thing will happen. Please pray for the right people to come along to continue this work if it is what is meant to be

Scott is doing well – very tired of office work though. The work he is doing at the moment is just behind a computer, which is not using his talents at all, but just what has to happen at the moment. He is still always a source of fun and laughter and lifts the spirits of the others in the office. He will be sorely missed by all. We had a premature farewell dinner type-thing a week or so ago and it was lovely to hear the comments his colleagues had to say about him. Very uplifting and a blessing.

Unfortunately we are still in the process of finding jobs for when we return to NZ. We trust that the right thing will come up – but if you guys can send up a prayer for us it would be appreciated. We knew that when we followed this call to be here that we would have to let go of some securities and trust in God’s plans, but it can still be difficult. Thanks for your support guys and we still are so blessed, especially when we have a look around at what people have to deal with here. We have wonderfully supportive families and know that whatever happens we will be fine. Thanks guys

So – we will be leaving Tanzania on Feb 25th and back in Wgtn about 11.30pm Fri 26th. Will probably be in hibernation for the first week or so, catching up with family and gazing around the supermarkets in awe! Will try to make it to church on the first Sunday back to say hello and thanks to all those who have supported us SO amazingly generously and who have made all this possible. Will hopefully see everyone and catch up on your news soon!!!

Lots of love from us!
Nix and Scott

Here are a few photos to show some of our highlights from the last couple of months

Serengeti Safari - can you see what's in the tree behind us???

Serengeti Safari - here's a close up for you!

Serengeti Safari - we were so lucky! Here's mummy and baby

New Years Eve on the beach in Zanzibar with Josh and Manda

Us in the Zanzibar heat - waiting for the ferry back to Dar Es Salaam

30c mangoes!!! Don't know why I'm looking so concerned about it all!

Our fruit and vegie market - luckily for you this photo has not captured the smell!

My zoo keeper sister could not keep away from the animals - our chickens had their 'pen' cleaned and soil tossed for the first time ever!

The view of a now very green Dodoma - we have had lots of rain this season - wonderful except the ground cannot handle the massive amounts of water very well and flooding has been a problem Poor people...

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated this thing. There has been so much going – so here’s update time!

We are well – fortunately no stomach bugs or weird African germs have conquered us in the last while! The heat is starting to get up though – everyone here is starting to feel more tired each day. Was 37 degrees on Friday. It is also draining one of the only few ‘white people’ here – as the famine has started to really settle in, we are white beacons who people know will possibly carry more money on us than they earn in a month and what do they lose by asking? It is draining on us though – you can’t give to everyone and it is tough walking around and being hassled constantly.

But it has started raining!!! We had the most fantastic rain, thunder and lightning storm the other night! Very scary – those of you who have experienced an African thunder storm before will understand! Unfortunately because it is so dry, a lot of the water just runs off and floods in other places, but we have had a few light rains since then and so hopefully some of the shambas (farms) are feeling the benefits and people will have more food to eat! We have two rain seasons here – not very long but there are the short rains now and then in Jan/Feb we have the long rains – this is where flooding happens and the water is not very useful for the farms because the good topsoil runs off and the crops get drowned. Poor people! This is a tough place to live!

Life for the Wheelers is going well – we are busy and have been blessed hugely with some great glimpses of the direction in which God seems to be guiding us for the future – you never really know until you’re in the midst of it – but we have been very encouraged!

We have some exciting times ahead of us as the Christmas and holiday seasons approach. We have been invited up to Tanga, North eastern Tanzanian coast, to have Christmas with another Kiwi missionary who is working at a school up there. She is having a bunch of us up and is a real ‘Mama’ and looks after us well and spoils us!

My sister Manda arrives just after Christmas to spend some time on the beach with us in Zanzibar and then my parents are coming out for a couple of weeks! Scott’s mum came out to visit us in October so it is awesome that we will be able to share some of our lives out here with our families. You can never really understand what Africa is like until you have smelt the air and met the people I say! So here’s to safe travels and blessed family time!!!

So lots to look forward to but that also means our time in Dodoma at work is starting to be reduced to countable weeks! Eek!

I have been told I have to move out of my lovely physio room onto another floor into a grubby room   This will have to happen before Christmas which only gives me 6 weeks! Thanks for those who have generously given money to support us – we will be needing every cent! It is not cheap to sort out a room here; sanding, painting etc and the time to do it. I’m trying not to get frustrated about this – just seeing the room we have already done up so beautifully as a gift to the Diocese! There is no money here for people to paint and tidy up their rooms – so most offices are in a terrible state. So that will be another week or so of messy-ness and broken roller brushes and paint fumes in the heat! I hope to be able to continue treating patients throughout the time I am moving somehow – I hope to recruit someone to help me who I can pay in massages rather than cash!!! (Scott would pipe in at this time and say that he is far too busy at work at the moment!)

Some of you have asked to hear from Scott! I am working on him to write a blog update, but he is actually very busy at the moment with Carpenter’s Kids stuff. There are many cool development projects going on within the programme too – which he is just loosely involved in but are also very stimulating and great to see happen.

He has actually taken a week off work to go on a ‘short’ motorbike trip to the West of Tanzania with a friend. When you are in a place as stunning as this – it is silly not to explore God’s creation! Sounds like they are having a great time – experiencing much of the local village life and what it is like trying to find water when you haven’t seen a single person or village in two days! Lots of experiences that hopefully I can get him to share with you when they return! Prayers for their safety would be appreciated!

Here is a photo of the motorbikes they are travelling on – under one of the numerous stunning baobab trees all over this place.

While we are on photos – here is one of Scott sitting with a couple of Development and Water gurus from Australia – a Special Water Project is going on here at the moment is building several types of water catchment and storage systems to help people learn how to do it and take it back to their villages. Scott and I got stuck in and got dirty helping with this. This is them admiring another Sand Dam built by a friend of ours.

Another photo of the African Sun Setting Landscape when we went camping out near this Special Water Project. This is our mate Josh who helped build the Sand Dam above. There were hyenas circling our tent at night and baboons on the hill behind us – eek!

Look at the stunning African sky – the sky is huge here! I have always believed it is bigger than in NZ – sounds crazy but if someone can explain it to me that would be nice

It has been amazing how this physio clinic idea has been blessed and continues to grow. Many people are being helped and there are many promising things in the pipe-line for the future. It is all still a bit uncertain but we’ll get there if it is the right thing! Thanks so much for all your prayers, thoughts, donations and best wishes! This is very exciting to see!

Not too much more to report – we are really just living life here. There are challenges and many fun times. It is great to be humbled everyday by the things you see here, and reminded that this world would totally fall apart if we were in control – God has it covered – but we have to hand it to him and trust in his promises that his plans for us are perfect and better than we can imagine.

Lots of love to all

Nikki (and Scott from the middle of no-where!)

We should keep this in mind when there are questions we cannot answer and when things don’t seem to make any sense.  We had some sad news today and it makes you wonder where God is in the situation; but then we must  think of all the miracles that happen only because God is in control. Life is a delicate balance and for most of it – we are not the ones in control.

I have also been reminded recently of a miracle where God blessed the situation beyond our expectations. Most of you will know the story of Amos, 25yr old bicycle accident victim. He was knocked off his bicycle by a truck on his way home to his wife – pregnant with their first child. He was badly injured. The local hospital diagnosed him with complete paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury. He had not had any physical intervention – just left in his bed for 2 months. Can you imagine the bed sores he was suffering from after lying there and not being able to move himself? The story that was relayed to me by his family was that they had been told to take him home and say their goodbyes as he would not have much longer to live.

An American missionary brought him to a private hospital I happened to be visiting one day and they asked if physio could help at all. I saw so much potential in the man they had almost pronounced dead. I visited him frequently and helped a Tanzanian nurse to start facilitating his muscle firing and getting him moving independently. By the time I had to travel home Amos was able to sit himself over the edge of a bed from lying by himself and with the assistance of two people we could hold him upright. His abdominal muscles could keep his trunk straight but standing independently was a long way off.

This was the great day when Amos was showing off that he could sit independently (only 10mins max – but he could do it!)

It really was inspiration from this story – seeing what could happen to people if they have access to some of the treatment that we have so freely in The West – that started me on this journey to open a physiotherapy clinic in Dodoma.

I had lost touch with Amos after I returned to NZ and then flew back to Tanzania in May this year. I thought about him often, but wasn’t sure how I would get to see him in his village without transport and directions. One day I sent a text in Swahili to what I hoped was still his brothers’ phone and hoped to find out how I could get in touch with Amos. His brother almost immediately called back and what followed was a bit of a muddled conversation in Swahili where I though he said he was riding his bicycle but would come to see me later. I told him where I had set up the clinic and hoped to see him soon so we could discuss Amos.

It was only a day or two later and there was a familiar face at my door, Amos’s brother. And guess who was with him? I had misunderstood what he had said on the phone – he had not been on his bicycle – he was telling me that Amos could now cycle! And that’s what he had done that day – bicycled half an hour to get to the centre of Dodoma and then walked up four flights of stairs to my physio room! Haha! I was stunned! When I had left, this guy was almost completely dependent on his family and now he is independently mobile!

This is the view from my physio room window. I managed to grab my camera just in time to capture Amos walking away after our most recent session (the guy in blue to the left) – Dead man walking!!! That’s what I want to say to the doctors who told him to go home and say goodbye...

This is the guy who 6 months ago couldn’t lift his own left arm – now he is in the process of doing sit ups and bicep curls with a 4kg weight!

There is still some work to be done with him but boy is he motivated! He still has significant left sided weakness but I have had two good sessions with him so far. Just the other day I had him doing full sit ups on the floor and he did 30 with only a small rest inbetween! I can’t explain his amazing recovery, but I’m sure God had something to do with it! Thanks for your prayers guys. I was obviously brought into this guy’s life at the right time to help motivate him to work hard to hold onto life when he had been given no hope by the medical profession.

They have invited me to their home, so in the next month I hope that will happen and I’ll get photo of him and his newborn baby for you all!

So just remember – there are always things we can’t explain, but they’re not always bad!

That’s it from us now. We are both fine – looking forward to seeing Scott’s mum in a weeks time.  Miss you guys at home and looking forward to when we head back to hang out again. Lots of great stuff happening here though, so let’s pray that if it’s meant to be, that God will facilitate it all to continue!

Lots of love and hugs all round!

Nikki (and Scott)

You never get used to seeing the crippled little old “bibi’s” and “babu’s” (grannies and granddads) making their way around the streets and villages. They still carry heavy things on their heads and work hard on the shamba (farm) digging with hoes into rock hard soil. You see people who are missing legs and to move around they just wrap their hip around a stick and hop along. If you’re blind – you get lead around holding onto the end of a stick and led where ever your grandchild takes you. Although all these ‘older’ people are always greeted with a “Shikamoo” a very respectful greeting meaning ‘I throw myself at your feet’ and the response is “Marahaba” – ‘I accept your respect’. It is nice to see these people being given the respect deserved after surviving many years in this place.

There are people on the side of the street everywhere. You can’t walk more than a few meters of any street without seeing someone asking for help ‘cos they are unable to help themselves. There are people around without legs who have a pair of jandals on their stumps and lurch themselves around with another pair on their hands. At least those are the ones who have been given some old jandals because although they only cost the equivalent of NZ$2 – that’s much more than they can afford.

Each time one of these people hold their hands out to you – we see Jesus saying ‘When I was hungry, did you feed me? When I was thirsty, did you give me something to drink? When I was naked, did you clothe me?’ – but how can you help everyone? He says though – ‘Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me’. Just got to keep that in your head and do you what you can…

I had a great opportunity to spend a day at Kisasa School for the Deaf. It is a fantastically loving and caring place, with beautiful children and smiling staff. It opened my eyes to how much we take our hearing for granted. Imagine trying to control a class of eight 4-6yr olds from their different corners of the room when they are not looking at you and you can’t say “Come here and sit!” or clap your hands to get attention.

There were a few children who needed physiotherapeutic assessment and so I spent time with the little ones playing co-ordination games and monitoring their reactions and activities. The children gave me my own sign language name and I enjoyed learning some Kiswahili sign language!

Here are some photos of the kids doing some coordination activities and also just their smiley faces!

Children doing co-ordination activities at the Deaf School

Cute little faces at the Deaf School

Scott has been busy with visitors to Carpenter’s Kids from New York – two groups, in July and August. It is a privileged to witness the sheer joy in the kids eyes when they get to meet the people who help give them a hope in life, confidence in themselves and a feeling that they are valued by someone. There is gift exchanging and lots of dancing and singing.

Now that the visitors have left, there is a lot of paperwork and jobs to do in the office.  Huge amounts of lishe flour also needs to be distributed to the ‘Mama Lishes’ (nutrition mothers) from each of the 94 linked villages. These mamas cook ‘Uge’ (a highly nutritious porridge type stuff) for the orphans each morning.

Here’s a photo of Scott shifting some of the Lishe Flour – it was a messy day!

Those bags of Lishe Flour were up to 180kg for some villages!

Scott with his work mate Willie

On the chicken front – unfortunately both our little babies died L There’s a little bug thing that is killing them and we are having trouble finding the ‘dawa’ (medicine) for them – but on the bright side, the mummy chickens are producing an egg a day for us and the best bit is that these are REAL eggs with yellow yolks instead of the white yolked eggs you buy elsewhere in Dodoma. I think it is because we feed them proper chicken food and they also get our scrap food and fruit.

Physio wise – I am all officially official! The clinic/room is up and running and now just waiting for more patients to find out about me and come! I have a few regular patients who are mostly ex pats/missionaries and in the rest of my down-time I am frantically studying more Swahili so that when someone comes in without English we aren’t left staring awkwardly at each other!

Here are photos of the final room layout with my high and low beds. We are still short of a few bits and pieces but have to extra creative in some cases – but that’s what we’re good at aye physios!?!

Physio room plinths

Some equipement we had donated from the States to DCT (Anglican Diocese)

Physio signs on my door (the name for physio in swahili is 'Mama Cheza' - literally meaning 'Mama play'!

Ok – that’s all I can think of for now. Life is no piece of cake over here. There are many times when we get hideously frustrated and down, but fortunately there is a good group of ex pats here so we can moan about our frustrations together and then leave it in God’s hands. He knows why it is all the way it is and we must trust him to give us strength to do our bit and hand the rest over.

Lots of love to all of you

Nikki and Scott

Hello again!

Have just got the great news that the Tanzanian Ministry of Health have approved my Physiotherapy Registration! Apparently it has taken so long because I’m the first Western Physiotherapist to apply for a work permit here, so new policies needed to be created. So exciting that it is finally happening! Still waiting for the final word on my residency permit and I’m not allowed to start working till that is through, so it’s still frustrating, BUT my room is finished!

Has been a difficult process as it started in horrible condition but after a lot of preparation and three coats of paint with the most horrible rollers ever – we are there! This weekend the furniture fundi should be finished my plinth/massage table/physio bed and we are making a trip later this week to an abandoned hospital to grad a few other bits and pieces – so then the room will be complete!

In other ‘non-physio’ news – We’ve been very busy with Scott’s work. There have been many visitors from the US to see the Carpenter’s Kids in the villages. It’s been great fun going out to the villages and celebrating with the local people. Lots of dancing and music real African style!

It never fails to open your eyes when you see how the people suffer through so much but how happy they are and grateful for our little bit of help. This next photo shows us at one of the Carpenter’s kids distributions which Scott goes on every Saturday, giving 50 of the most vulnerable children in each partnered village socks, shoes, school books, pencils and a mozzie net.

And look what I managed to get my hands on! CUTIE!!! You can see that it is winter in Tanzania by the way they dress the babies! They must be so hot in all those woollen clothes! We are only finding it a little chilly at night – meaning that we need a blanket on top of the one sheet – but a lot of the Tanzanians are wearing ski jackets during the day!

So we have been busy taking the US visitors around Dodoma and on safari (which was great!) and now have a short break to catch up on lots of paperwork before the next group arrive.

So all is well here – there are several frustrating things to deal with here in regards to the physio which we’d appreciate prayer for. Won’t go into details, but if you could pray for it to be possible for all the people who need my help can be able to assess the service. There are some political and physical hurdles ahead.

Also, please pray for Dodoma which is struggling big time with drought and famine is starting to hit hard. Most people are not able to eat even one meal a day and the ground is so dry that nothing is growing, so the only way to make any money to cut down the trees (few that there are) to make charcoal which is so bad for the environment and adds to the inability of the ground to hold onto any moisture. Here is a photo of a river bed just a few km’s out from the centre of Dodoma town. Scary huh?

Ok – will end here. Thanks for those of you who have emailed and sent mail! Your prayers and contact is very much appreciated!

Here’s a photo of a baby chicken! He/she is growing well and is super cute still!

Lots of love to all!

And happy 21^st Grace and Tom!!!! Sorry we missed it!

Nikki and Scott

Just wanted to let everyone know the progress on the physio front….
No permit yet unfortunately, but have managed to get my hands on the key to my room (got ‘misplaced’ for a long while – was another very frustrating Africa moment!) It is the first time I had seen the room! Was great to be in there finally (once we cleaned up the wasp nest in the corner!) and start planning. The room is in terrible condition with very little paint still on the concrete walls, but it is a welcomed challenge! It may still be several weeks till the permit comes thru, so Im pleased to be able to get stuck into this extreme makeover! I have ordered some floor mats to be made at the local prison and am currently searching for a good Fundi to make a plinth/physio bed for me. Will be an ergonomic challenge without a high/low bed, but will make do with a bit of kiwi-ingenuity! We have a few friends with good Kiswahili who will hunt thru the markets with me to find paint and the other necessities and then it’s all go!
For those of you who heard me speak about Amos, the young guy who got knocked off his bicycle and who I worked with from a state near death, I have not yet been able to see him because he lives in a village very far away and I have not had transport yet, BUT I have heard from a few sources that he is walking now! Im not quite sure how and what he is using for support but that’s exciting huh!?! Hope to see him as soon as possible and will let you know how he’s getting on!
Have had news that there is an Australian physio who is keen to come over for about 6 months and continue working in the clinic once we leave which is fantastic news! Please pray that this happens the way it’s meant to and that God has another long line of physiotherapists ready to continue this clinic until everyone in Dodoma is walking well and there is no more need for us!!!
All is well here – Scott is very busy at work and sends hello’s and thanks again to everyone!
Will keep in touch…
Nikki
(By the way – Scott’s chickens in his small shamba (farm) who had a lot of trouble initially laying eggs, we found out are both males! (you can tell we are city folk!) So we got a local hen (which is actually a girl!) and she has successfully laid 6 eggs, one of which hatched yesterday into a very cute little ball of yellow fluff! – we are very proud parents! – I would post a photo but the baby prefers to sit under it’s mummy rather than pose at the moment! )

We’re connected!!!

We have been back in Dodoma for less than a week and have internet in our house! It’s still very expensive and so we won’t be surfing the net like we’re used to at home, but we will be able to keep in touch much better. We have a big voltage regulator box attached to our computer ‘cos the power here surges crazily and has been known to kill many missionaries’ computers…

I have been back in Dodoma for about a month now. Scott and I were reunited in Dar es Salaam and then had to head up to Mombasa, Kenya to renew Scott’s Tanzanian Visa as our residency had not yet been approved. We had a lovely week up there before heading to language school in Iringa for two weeks to tackle Swahili.

Iringa is very different to Dodoma. There are hills in the area, which may not sound exciting to those of you in Wellington, but it is in Tanzania where everything is flat! The language school is set up next to a river, again a novelty in Tanzania. We had lessons each day in little huts called Bandas with various Tanzanian teachers. We found Swahili to be quite a challenging language. The two weeks was great to get an understanding of the basics and most useful verbs and vocab, but there is still a long way to go and we will have to keep up with learning and vocab tests! I had a session specifically on medical/physiotherapeutic/body parts vocab and phrases which was very helpful on a day to day basis in my clinic.

Unfortunately only Scott’s residency has been processed thus far. I am legally allowed to be here as his wife, but unable to work yet until my permit and medical registration is approved. Parliament is in session in Dodoma at the moment, so we have to wait till that’s over and then the Ministry of Health will meet in Dar to discuss my application. So please pray that that process happens swiftly and I can get my room up and running asap! In saying that though, I have been far from ‘not-busy’. I am fielding calls frequently from excited missionaries and Tanzanians planning times to meet with me for advice/assessment. Frustrating not having a place to sort things out for them, but it’s looking like I’m gonna be busy and a useful body here!

Scott is doing very well, of course! He has his wife back! Hehe J He is well and doing great things with The Carpenter’s Kids programme along with the rest of the team. He unfortunately has a big back up of work after being away for almost 4 weeks, but I am getting in there and helping him out until my registration comes through. He sends ‘Hi’s’ to all friends and family! Here are a couple of photos of the African man he has turned into! There are many ways that the boys keep busy out here in their free time and roaming the bush with spears and machetes is one of them (to our mothers who are reading this – don’t worry, now I’m back there will my much more care taken and medical kits on these adventures from now on!)

Another brilliant part of our experience at language school was the Traditional Cooking day we had. We learnt how to cook many local foods and how to prepare dishes with the limited veges available. These photos show our fellow language schoolers in the midst of preparation and a close up of how I have to get my hands on dessicated coconut these days!

Many many thanks to all of you who are supporting us. The financial help has been incredible and your prayers are so important. God has it all sorted huh? No need to have a doubt in mind if you put your life in his hands.

Will keep in touch as permits come through and the physio clinic starts up (yippee!!!)

Lots of love to all, we’ll write again soon….

Nikki (and Scott)

I must first apologuise for the fact that our blog has not been kpet up to date… we have discovered that access to the internet in Tanzania is very difficult, amongst power cuts and just lack of computers! Our laptop was broken on the bus and because we were moving around it was difficult to find consistent access somewhere. Anyway – I will give you a brief update of where we are at now…

We have had an amazing time in Dodoma and had the privilege to work with many peopel and make a big difference to ppls lives. We have done many things, mainly teaching english, some social studies in there too, painting, shelf building, tiling, swing building…lots of different jobs.

We have seen many sad sights and ppl suffering in ways we cant comprehend. We are SO fortunate, we have no idea. The rains were three weeks last this yea, which leads to many crops dying and a big increase in the number of ppl starving this year.

We have seen aread where we can be of help to these beautiful people and in Feb this year, we decided to extend our time in Tanzania.

I (Nikki) am currently back in Wgtn for 2 months and Scott is still in Tanzania. Scott has taken up a position with a programme called Carpenter’s Kids, which works to link Parishes around the world with parishes in Dodoma. They local parishes choose 50 of the most vulnerable and marginalised children in their community and these children are supported with uniforms, shoes, breakfast, school bags and books to help them for 5 years. Most of these children are HIV/AIDS orphans and otherwise would have little chance in life.

Scott has recently complete a post grad diploma in International Development Studies and so has many ideas of ways to help this organisation in ways of sustainability, especially during this worldwide recession. Think about how it is affecting you. Trying to cut down on the number of coffees during the week? Try only having one meal a day and having to cut down further…

I have seen a huge need to better medical care and an area where i can help is physiotherapy. I have spoken with the Bishop of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika and we have decided that i will open up a physiotherapy room in a medical centre in Dodoma City. I will be one of the 2 phsyiotherapists for at least 40,000 ppl.

So, we have some exciting challenges ahead. Our current plan is to stay in Dodoma until the end of Feb 2010.

Once we are back in Dodoma more permantly we plan to get internet set up in our home so we will keep you all up to date with our actions and adventures! Your support and prayer are SO appreciated and welcomed! Thank you all so much, I hope to catch up with most of you during my short time at home!

Love to all!

Nikki & Scott

We arrived in Dar Es Salaam to chaos! Our flight was 2 hours late, so the trustworthy taxi driver used by NZCMS had left already. We had heard so many stories of how dangerous Dar was and that you couldn’t trust many people, so it was a bit scary arriving at 9pm without any money, sim card or way of finding out where we were staying! The ATMs had decided not to work just as we arrived too. Anyway, God sorted out the situation and after almost being charged triple what we should have been charged for a taxi, we got to the place we had been booked into.  Dar was humid and busy, but the place we were staying in till our early bus ride to Dodoma the next morning was a safe haven.

The bus ride to inland to Dodoma took about 7 hrs. We travelled from the green looking coast westward into desert land, the region called Dodoma, Tanzania’s Political Capital. We were welcomed at the bus station by one of the CAMS (Canon Andrea Mwaka School) teachers and whisked off to find our new home!

It has been incredible how welcome we have been made to feel here. We are staying on the CAMS campus in one of the compounds with 7 other teachers and people working with various DCT (Diosease of Central Tangynika) projects. Our first few nights included pot luck dinners, movie nights and lots of laughs. We were quickly plunged into invigilating exams at the school and so met the teachers and staff early on. Most of teachers are “Wazungus” (Swahili for European/white person) and a surprising number of kiwis. It was nice to be able to speak English to people in our spare time, ‘cos it gets tiring trying to work out Swahili in the markets and on the street. The Lion King has taught us alot! We are ‘Rafiki’ to most people (friend) and ‘Asante sana’ is our most spoken word couple (thank you very much).

There have been many opportunities to get out into the villages and to see the ‘real’ Tanzania. The people live in mud huts and work the ground hard to provide a living for their families. Groups of school children can be seen out in the fields with hoes working the breaking up the ground for their village in hope of rain. We spent 4 days out with an optometrist organisation called ONA, who run Eye Camps out in the villages surrounding Dodoma. A team of optomitrists (who were all Ozzies expect for one Tanzanian and a handful of translators) and us as volunteers, spent from 7am-6pm travelling around testing peoples vision and where appropriate giving them prescription glasses. These glasses had been donated by the Lion’s Club in Australia; many were old school 70’s style, but actually suited most of the people who received them!

Although we were able to help many people with these glasses, out of the 100 people we saw each day, almost half of them we were unable to help. The main problem was the prevalence of people with cateracts. We met one guy who was only 50, but had no wife or children because he had had no vision since he was 30. It was so sad to know that for a mere US$50, which would cover his travel to Dar Hospital, three nights accommodation and the surgery and within 20 minutes, he’d have his sight back. This eye clinic does 100 of these cateract operations a year for free for these people, but that is nowhere near reaching everyone who needs it. We couldn’t let that bog us down though, you have to keep focussing on the good you can do and keep striving to do more where possible.

Babu from local village with new glasses

Sadly these people had to be turned away at the end of the eye clinc day. Some had walked three hours to get to us and waited most of the day, there were just too many people.

Scott also managed to get out into a few villages with a guy who is high up in the development world and helped him with some projects he was working on. Very interesting experience for him following on from his Post Graduate International Development studies he completed prior to us leaving NZ. I was quickly thrown into the deep end and given the task of making all the costumes for the school Christmas Production. The school only has very limited resources and I only had three days (!) so it was a challenge.  But our help with the exam invigilating and costume making took a lot of pressure off the staff who work here full time. Even though sometimes it can feel like we could be used in many other ways, part of our lesson is being useful in the ways the local people need you. That is also why we are doing a lot of painting, Scott is tiling and also building shelves.

Everything is sold at the markets here. You have to bargin for fruit, onions, potatoes, everything! If you have white skin they assume you have mountains of money and so the price can be up to 8 times what it should be, so the wazungu will always pay more than we should. If you want chicken for dinner, you have to choose a live one from the cages at the market and then you get to take it home and turn a live chicken into dinner.

Third stage of chicken prep (you dont want to know the previous stages)

 There are many things you can’t get here that you can at home and there are only a couple of items you will recognise. Everything has to be cooked from scratch and you cannot use the water here. Everything must be sterilised and boiled – it’s quite tiring! And no washing machines! Everything has to be hand washed and after being hung outside to dry, everything must be ironed ‘cos there’s a nasty bug called the mango fly which lays its eggs in your clothes and when it touches your skin they hatch and eat your flesh – eek!

This all makes us appreciate New Zealand so much – guys, we are SO lucky!!!

The school closes over the Christmas break and so we are heading off for a few weeks with some new friends of ours (2 kiwis and an American guy) to Zanzibar and to the Ngorogoro Crater for a safari experience.  Looking forward to it and hopefully the excitement will distract us a bit from missing everyone at home celebrating Christmas together! Unfortunately as we write this, Nikki has come down with what we think is a nasty Giardia infection which is meant to last several weeks, so the 7hr bus trip back to Dar is not looking very appealing tomorrow (23^rd Dec). Your prayers for a speedy recovery would be appreciated!!!

We will try to update early in the New Year as possible. We have several weeks of English teaching courses from January 12^th until we leave at the end of February, which will be challenging.

Thanks again to all of you who have supported us in getting here. We are learning a lot about how much we have been blessed with and how much there is that we can help others with. Your prayers are appreciated and also for the people here, there are so many who are living in challenging situations and under corrupt governence but also many who are trying to help them. Pray for God’s people everywhere.

View of Dodoma from the top of Lion Rock (45min climb)

Hitting johannessburg was another cultural experience, noticeably cleaner then expected when compared with India. Many people manning the sidewalks, intersections ad most places possible. The developmenet and growth in recent years was incredible. The business centre has almost completely moved to Sandtondue to the horrid incidenc crime in Johannesburg City.

We were fortunate (much to mum’s horror) to go to Hilbrow, edg of Jo’burg city, and visit a soup kitchen where my cousin volunteers weekly. They set it up through their church for  the children to come daily.. in each meal with a sermon and prayer. Scott tried some of the stew the kids gt nd said it was very tasty. They get a nutritionist in to advise the cooks in how to include ll the good stuff the kids need. It was so awesome to see so many people from churches living out their faith and reching the people who need it. These Christian people live out their faith so well by putting so much time, love and care into these kids, who they know could turn around and kill them if they had a bad day on drugs or glue, which is a huge problem with street children. Makes you think what it meas to ‘love one another as yourself’