Yodering in Africa : What a Week

Tuesday - Thursday, February 26 - 28, 2019

What an unusual week! We come to Tanzania in part so that we can withdraw from busy schedules and instead relax and do very little except read, write, and connect with friends.
I love days in which I have no set schedule and loose track of the hours I spend sitting on the garden veranda reading and thinking. Such hours are wonderfully restorative for me. John needs, and finds, more activity. He is still working on a book he’s editing and a manuscript he’s been asked to judge for possible publication. Plus, he takes long walks every day. Everyone knows the mzee who walks everywhere.

It has been the connecting with friends which has made the past several days remarkable. On Tuesday morning, we awoke to emails from friends who were very unexpectedly in Arusha for the day. The KLM plane which had brought them to Kilimanjaro airport had lost its brake fluid as it landed and could not continue on to Dar as scheduled. So, all the passengers on the plane who had planned to continue on to Dar, plus all the passengers waiting to board the plane for the flight to Dar and on to Amsterdam, had to be loaded into buses and placed in a large hotel/convention center in Usa River for the night. Our friends reported that they were surrounded by 300+ very grumpy people, so we hired a taxi and drove the 27 kms to spend several hours with them.

We caught up on all the many events that couldn’t really be fully communicated by email in the 3 years since we had seen each other face-to-face. There was so much to say! The hotel prepared a very ample buffet for a late lunch and said that adding two more people, us, made no difference given how many were there. So, we were able to enjoy a nice free lunch, too. Then, there was a notice that passengers continuing only on to Dar, not on to Europe, would need to be ready to leave for the airport at 5:00 p.m. so we got back into our taxi—the driver had waited for us—and came back to Kundayo. Because it was a very busy time of the day, the ride took almost an hour, and I thought I would die of asphyxiation from all the black diesel smoke and gritty dust. I’ve been coughing ever since.

On Wednesday morning, a former Whitworth student, came to see us. We knew in advance that he was coming, but because we were concerned there might be security issues, we had told no one. Still, at 11:00 a.m. when he arrived at Kundayo, Mazo recognized him as Alfred Mutua, the current governor of Kenya’s Machakos County (similar to a state in the U.S.) John had seen Alfred several times since 1998 in Kenya, but I hadn’t seen him since he was a student at Whitworth. What an amazing transformation from a wiry young person to a mature, accomplished man.

We spent 3 hours together at George’s Tavern and over lunch caught up on family and political news. The more I heard Alfred talk about his political and social plans, the more I became convinced that he is doing an excellent job as a governor. Unfortunately, he was frequently interrupted by phone calls because there had been a terrible accident in which a truck had driven head on into a convoy of 18 diplomatic vehicles in Alfred’s county. He needed to give instructions on press conferences, etc. He was impressively calm, even-toned, and succinct in what he said. I was amazed that with such a big international incident unfolding, he had not canceled his visit to us. (https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001314541/two-ambassadors-to-kenya-involved-in-road-accident) At 2:00 p.m. we returned to Kundayo, where we said our good-byes. Watch for the name Alfred Mutua in 2022 when Kenya has its next presidential election.

Alfred Mutua with John at George's Tavern

John, Janet, and Alfred

Yesterday morning was another women’s bible study gathering, and once again I had to lead the discussion. Fortunately, the women were very interested in the last verse on Chapter 9 and laughed when they realized that Paul must have caused problems for the early church. They had a hearty discussion on past troublemakers at ACC and what issues had been problematic. It was no surprise to me that as in churches in the States, the supposed theological differences were only foils for what were really power struggles. People everywhere are very similar in their sins. We also got into the story of Peter and Cornelius and the debate about inclusion. I ventured into the American church’s debate about homosexuals—the Methodists were voting on this at almost the same time we were meeting—and even though this is a very taboo topic in Africa—for church or state—the women listened very attentively. Apparently, I had not burned my bridges with them because they insisted I lead again at our next meeting, March 14.

For this gathering, Mary Lou wore a dress the albino women had made for her last week. The women were very taken with it. In this context it looks very appropriate even on a mzungu. Unfortunately, the same is not true once we are back in the States. I very rarely wear my African dresses anywhere but at home when I am entertaining Africans or people who have been to Africa. The few times I have worn anything made of kitenge cloth elsewhere, I’ve felt quite odd. Maybe if we lived in a warmer or tropical climate this would not be the case.

MaryLou in her new dress.

After our women’s group, I had several hours to read and rest before going to Khan’s BBQ, a very popular street eatery at a car parts store. Mazo drove and dropped us off while he looked for parking on the very congested street. Grills and serving tables are set out on the sidewalk and some seating is near the business’ entry with most on the sidewalk across the street. There is nothing fancy or modern about any of this, but the 4 Khan brothers work hard every evening from about 6:30 to 11:00 p.m. to serve delicious food at an extremely reasonable price—more than one can eat for 15, 000 Tsch. or about $6.60. The chicken was delicious, and the flavors of the other grilled meats and the salads were very pleasant. I tried to avoid anything too spicy, which wasn’t difficult at all. Only the mutton was too hot for me. We first shared our table with a three-generation family group from Sweden, and once they left, we had the whole table until we were ready to leave. Buses and safari vehicles kept pulling up to unload and later pick up groups of tourists. Almost all of them had to sit at the long tables across the street, while we stayed in front of the auto parts store, near the grills and cooking action. Going here with Mazo is always fun for us.