An African Odyssey, Part 3

The traffic on the road to Kisarawe was a lot less on Sunday after-noon, still many people were selling and buying. We arrived at Kisarawe about 5 PM, had dinner and devotions, but still there is no talk of a work project. Mama Bulugu (the head mistress at the school) decided to house us in the infirmary instead of in the dormitories since there were only four of us. We each had our own room, small but clean with doors that locked with old fashioned house keys.

On Monday morning I dressed for work, complete with blue jeans and leather boots, not knowing what I would be doing. After devo-tions and breakfast Mama Bulugu showed us two teacher houses that were not finished. The houses had been built 5 years ago but the contractor walked off the job for unknown reasons. Mama B asked if we could finish one of the houses for the school. The house has two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and sitting room. All walls are made out of concrete to defeat the termites. The roof is metal. The framework was in place for the ceiling but ceiling board needed to be installed. The plumbing and wiring were half finished. The doors were warped from 5 years without stain or varnish. There was no mosquito mesh or steel mesh on the windows. There were no eave-troughs or water tanks to catch roof water. Everything needed painting. The house needed to be connected to the septic system. The house was the perfect size for our little crew of four people. There was plenty of work to keep us busy for 3 weeks. How would we pay for the materials? The school had no extra money. Fortunately Bob was carrying a contingency fund.

The contractor for the second floor of the library arrived. He is a Christian and has established a Christian organization. His assistant read 1 Cor. 10 about diligent builders. We prayed together for good work and favorable building conditions. This prayer together was one of the highlights of the trip and helped build a relationship between the contractor and the school.

The school had one vehicle so our trip to town for supplies was combined with a trip Mama B was making to see her daughter. Apparently the game plan was for Bob & I, with two Tanzanians, to get dropped off at the lumberyard while Mama B went to her daughter. She might come back for us, but we might have to find our own way home. The lumberyard had most of the materials we needed but not the nails. In true Tanzanian fashion we priced materials but took home only nails and paint. The lumberyard would not take American dollars. With no transportation we did not purchase the big items. Darkness fell.

We learned a very important lesson on this trip, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SHILLINGS WHEN YOU GO TO TOWN. After buying nails and paint Bob and I had 6000 shillings (about $6) left. After waiting an hour for Mama B to show up we decided to find our own way home. In the excitement our Tanzanian brothers had not brought their wallets. Between us, Bob and I had 10 American dollars and 6000 shillings -- $16 for a 25-mile cab ride. The first cabbies wanted $25. Time passed. Someone suggested taking a bus. [The buses in and around Dar es Salaam are typically diesel powered Toyota minivans with 15- 20 people riding inside. To get to Kisarawe the bus would cost about $1 per person. Bob and I really didn’t want to ride the bus because we would not fit in the seats.] Finally, we found a cabbie who agreed to take us to Kisarawe for 10 American dollars and 6000 shillings. The 4-door Toyota Corolla did OK until we got to the last two miles of dirt road. The bottom drug several times as we negotiated ruts and I heard the sheet metal bend. We were home, late and dead tired. I rearranged my bed that night and found that I was sleeping under a quilt made by Immanuel Lutheran Church, Winnipeg, Canada.

The next day (Tuesday) the two Tanzanians went back to the lumberyard, purchased the materials (after Bob exchanged some money) and arranged for a truck to deliver the materials to the work site. The cost of the truck to deliver the materials was cheaper than the taxi! With no materials today, I with some Tanzanian helpers, dug a trench from the house to the septic tank. Our materials arrived late in the day (all in the back of a severely overloaded Toyota pickup truck!). We unloaded and the driver discovered that he had punctured his gas tank on a rock while trying to avoid the ruts on the road up to the school. He was able to patch it up and head back to town. Now we had enough materials to keep us busy a long time.

click here to go to Part IV