Weekly worship - Moravian Church

The gift of a cow.

Last Sunday we ventured into new territory again. Our hostess for the day was one of the teachers from Shukrani and we attended a nearby Moravian church in Mbeya. The Moravians are strong is this area - and we have to learn a little more about their history and doctrines, but understand them to be similar in many ways to the Lutheran church.

It was the second service that we were to attend, and we had to wait just a few minutes before we were able to enter. Our chosen seat was just behind the choir in the section of the church facing the pulpit. Two 'wings' extended right and left of the raised platform in front of us, and each had a capacity of at least 150 persons. Very early in the service we were invited to move to a more prominent position, and later in the service were 'formally' introduced and asked to greet the church.

The singing commenced before the worship leader or the preacher arrived. The tune was familiar, but not the words, so we sang in English "What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus". It was one of only two songs that were familiar to us. There were elements of liturgy in the service, and the three choirs all contributed. Readings were taken from Old Testament (Exodus and Psalms) and from the New Testament (Gospels and Epistles) - four in all.

One of the interesting background noises was a cow periodically moo-ing in the background. It seemed unusual, as we were only a couple of kilometres from the centre of Mbeya, but there are quite a number of cows that are tethered in streets and lanes. During the notices there were two unusual announcements. The first was to turn off your mobile phone - with the added advice that "If you did not know how then someone hear to you would be able to help you!" The second was that as a thanksgiving offering a family had given a cow to the church. They were thankful that their children had passed form 4 and form 6. This is a very significant gift, worth many months' wages for an average employee. A very generous gift indeed.

There were two offerings during the service - the regular tithes, and a thanksgiving offering. At the end of the service there was a short auction of goods people had brought instead of money. The money was then put in their giving envelope. (Envelopes are reused, and people received a receipt for their previous offering when they got the envelope back.)

Once again we enjoyed the music, and the privilege of worship. We were the only white people there, we didn't understand much of what was said (our hostess translated for us), yet it was great to share in worship and praise to God.

The patterns of Shukrani

After a few weeks at Shukrani there is a "pattern" to our life here. While not always running according to a timetable, there is a certain predictability to our days and weeks.

A call to prayer will come from the loudspeaker at the nearby mosque at 5.00 a.m. Sometimes it will serve as an alarm clock and wake us up, but most days we seem to sleep through.

At around 6.30 - 7.00 am it is light enough to let us know that the day is beginning. One of the first things to do is to switch on the hot water service. About an hour later we have hot water for a shower.

Some time during each week day Beth will be scheduled for class, and when not teaching she can be found in the library cataloguing or sorting books. For me there are three days of teaching, but on the others I might be found in a computer class (just making a nuisance of myself) or auditing the college books.

This time of year it seems to rain every day. It may not rain for long, but it will rain. Getting the washing done is easy, getting it dry can be tricky! If it doesn't rain during the day, it will rain at night.

The power will fail. Friday evenings seem to be a standard time for power failures, but there is no guarantee. Last week there was no power for four hours during afternoon class time. Unfortunately desktop computers don't run without electricity. The diesel powered generator had to be fired up so the students could at least practice some of the things they were learning. Sometimes the power will simply drop out for five or ten minutes - and that creates few problems. Power outages are just one of the things that happen. On the domestic scene loss of power isn't a major problem, since most people cook with charcoal or wood fired burners, and only a small minority would rely on electricity in their homes.

The Internet will be slow! At its best here it is rated at 256 kbps. Often downloads will run at about 10% of that speed, if you are lucky. It is also expensive. 54 Mb of downloads cost 22,000 Tanzanian shillings (about A$27). Since they dropped out midway through the process due to a power outage the net result was a wipeout.

It is quiet at night! With no radio and no TV evenings are spent reading, preparing or marking lessons. I have already finished four books, including "Birds of Prey" and "Monsoon" by Wilbur Wright. Occasionally we may indulge in a video from the limited private stocks of our hosts.



When we walk to the market some children will say "Good morning" or Good afternoon" in English. When we reply and then ask "How are you?" they won't know what to say, since they have already used most of the English words they know.

When we walk down the street and greet someone someone "Habari za asubuhi" and they reply "Nzuri, asante sana". As soon as they say something else we won't know what to say, since we have reached the end of our conversational Swahili!

When we go for a walk around the streets one of the small children will say "Mzungu" (foreigner). They are right, we are foreigners. In this part of the world, and particularly off the main road they don't see many foreigners. We are getting used to being stared at by little children. They think we are odd. They may well be right!

If we are stuck for words or have trouble communicating someone will come to our aid. While many people here speak only Swahili there has never been an occasion when we have been stuck. Someone will quietly help us out. Students from the college or total strangers have translated for us and helped us communicate.

Life here is predictable in an unpredictable way...but it's good, and we are still enjoying being at Shukrani College.

O yes...one other. The roads will have potholes. This is the beginning of Soweto road, just off the major highway!

Soko - the market

Most days we take a trip to the market. Our Swahili is not good enough to chat with many folks. Mia (100), mia tano (500) and elfu (1000) are important words, as is the use of fingers and the display of the coins or notes. When we have been at a loss someone, a student from the college or a total stranger has come to our rescue. If we have been charged twice the price the locals pay we would not know, and it would not hurt us much anyway.

Chips and chapati from the local food hall are very edible, and much better value than the chips from home. Minimum chips (the only size serve really) is 600 Tshs (75 cents), and chapati, a sort of fried pancake type bread, 200 Tshs. The local 'donuts' (no holes) we buy from the kids. They may not be hot, they do not have any icing, but they are OK, and who would argue anyway over 100 Tshs.

The fresh produce is aso cheap with an abundance of stalls selling most types of fruit and vegetables, spices, rice, etc - and a variety of other stuff.
A visit to the market is an adventure in itself - and we always encounter people who want to talk to us, or kids who want to practice their English.

For us "Asante sana" (thank you very much) is a major part of most conversations.