July 21, 2008
As I write this it is Wednesday morning, July 16. We arrived back at the cabin at about 3:00 a.m. in the morning on Tuesday, having spent the previous 48 hours either in airports, in the air, or in the car. But we are now fully rested and will begin to send back pictures of our marvelous trip to Africa. We left Chicago on Monday, June 30, joining the group from the Northern Illinois Synod (there were 19 of us in all). We flew to Rome then Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where we spent a quick night. The next morning we flew to Arusha, Tanzania, seeing Mt. Kilamanjaro from the air (picture below). It's the highest mountain in Africa, much higher than any we have in Colorado....somewhere around 19,000 feet! (We discovered later that it takes six days to climb and $2,000 -- so it's probably good we decided to skip that!)
Upon landing at Kilamanjaro airport, we saw our first African Acacia tree. They are beautiful with their spreading canopy of branches (thorny, too; we found out later that the Maasai use the branches as barbed wire to keep their cattle enclosed).
After resting up at the hotel, the next day we traveled to the headquarters of the Arusha diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. Bishop Thomas Laiser is in the center above, in the wine-colored clergy shirt. The Lutheran church in Tanzania is growing at the rate of 5 to 6% a year.
Later that day we traveled to the Mwangaza Education Resource Center...a church-sponsored center where teachers can return for continuing education and materials. The building pictured here was first built by German missionaries in the early 1900’s.
Everywhere we went we were welcomed with great hospitality. Here we are served a meal at the Mwangaza center.
Here's a picture of Pete with the former director of the center (now retired, but returns occasionally to consult). And, lo and behold! whom do we met as we are about to leave.....
....but Pastor Gabriel (who is the chair of the board of directors for the center). Pastor Gabriel is the hospice chaplain at Selian Hospital, who preached at Lord of the Hills Church this past Thanksgiving!
Here's a typical scene from the streets of Arusha.
The headquarters of the entire Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania is also located in Arusha. Here we are welcomed at their church center. At the far right is Mary Laiser, who is the Director for the Department of Women in the Arusha Diocese (and who traveled with us for much of the two weeks). All along I thought she was the wife of Bishop Thomas Laiser (whose name is also Mary) and was only corrected on the day we left!
Arusha is also the place where the United Nations tribunal is meeting to sort out the war crimes which happened in Rwanda (perhaps you saw the movie "Hotel Rwanda"). I took this picture, then as I was walking back to the hotel, noticed the sign which forbid taking pictures!
A number of street vendors greeted us every morning (and at all other times, too) outside the hotel where we stayed. Pete made friends with one of them, Brian (pictured below). Brian took us to the natural history museum in Arusha. You may remember that Africa is the place where homo sapiens (and the fore-runners of homo sapiens -- australeopithecus and homo erectus -- were discovered. Here, there is a water buffalo head between them.
And some birds that were wandering on the museum grounds. That's enough for now....but over the next several weeks, I will report more on our fabulous time in Tanzania. It was an amazing experience....and we think we also have a lead on a sister congregation there. It's a mission of the Arusha diocese (which makes sense for us, who began as a mission congregation 12 years ago!), actually in west central Tanzania, in Tabora. More about that later. It's good to be back, and we're enjoying the fruits of the garden: snow peas last night! Delicious!
