Hearing Their Cry

This post stems from a conversation I had today with a young man attending the university Jason and I work at.  After going through the usual Tanzanian greetings and finding out where I was from, he proceeded to ask me a rather difficult and uncomfortable question: "Where does all the money America gives to Tanzania go?" he asked. "We are still crying.  The people never see it."  He told me to go tell the American embassy that the money they give to Tanzania is going to the wrong people.  "There are people all over Tanzania who do not know how to end their day" he said.  "Their crying is not heard."

"That is why we are here," I explained.  "We have been sent to listen.  The Peace Corps sends volunteers all over Tanzania to work alongside Tanzanians in villages and towns.  We help Tanzanians connect with the right people so that they do not have to cry anymore."

A smile widened the young man's face.  "This is good," he said.  "You will learn from Tanzanians and Tanzanians will learn from Americans."

And this is what it is all about.  Listening.  Sharing. Learning.  What we are doing here seems small and insignificant, and the work here is harder than I ever could have imagined, but it is good.  We hear the cry of our small little community.  God hears their cry.  And together, us and God, we make a terrific trio.

Peace,
Heather

Tukuyu

One fine weekend in October Jason and I visited our friend Beth when we had time off from work due to the Tanzanian national holiday, Nyrere Day (celebrating Tanzania’s founding father).  Beth lives near the hopping little town of Tukuyu and is surrounded by lush mountains that you can climb and tea fields that you can meander through.  We did both on our visit.  I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

This is on the trail on the way to the top of Ngozi Crater, which is not too steep at this point in the journey.  Ngozi Crater holds a deep blue lake which locals spin magical tales about.  You can see little banana trees growing around us.  Full grown banana trees have leaves as tall as Jason!  On our hike back down the mountain, we saw monkeys swinging in the tall trees that guard the path on the crater.


Tanzania’s Crater Lake, a nice 2629 meters high and well worth the scramble to the crater rim. We ate lunch on the rim and enjoyed the rumble of thunder from an approaching storm that surrounded us.


Beth (in the pink shirt) and Rachel (in purple) and I scrambled/down-climbed the steep sides of the crater in an attempt to reach the lake.  Roots from sturdy trees served as our climbing ropes in some cases.  About halfway down the crater wall to the lake, I chickened out and returned to the rim.


Jason and I hung out on the rim while our friends took a swim in the crater lake.


In the tea fields near Beth’s school!  The tea plantations stretch as far as the eye can see over verdant rolling hills.


Beth, Eunice, and Jason.  Eunice attends college in Mbeya and over the weekend she gave us a tour of the tea fields.  She has a very bubbly personality and is very patient in teaching Kiswalil.  She is also very generous.
Until our next adventure!
Heather