Safari Nzuri – East Africa

Sunday was an interesting day. Alberto, the principal of LTC College, brought me to a nearby church called Kimobwa Parish.  They were finishing up a multi-day conference at the church, so they held the service outdoors.   There was lots of singing by several choirs, some of which came from other parishes.   I was asked to sing some songs too.  I’m not fond of singing songs for people, so I included lyrics in Kiswahili so the congregation could join in during the choruses.   “I Surrender All” and “Sing for Joy” were the songs.   “Sing for Joy” is one I’ve done in the past in Tanzania, so I knew that the chorus translation worked.   “Imba kwa furaha kwa Mungu nguvu yetu”.   It simply translates to “Sing for joy to God our strength.”    The other song, “I Surrender All,” also worked out.   The chorus words needed to be changed to work with the melody.   So we went with:

Yote kwa Yesu 
Yote kwa Yesu
Yote kwako Bwana Yesu
Yote kwa Yesu

This translates to “All for Jesus, All for Jesus, All for you, Lord Jesus, All for Jesus.”   When I return to the USA, I’ll lead the worship songs for October 27th.   I will include this song and teach the chorus to our congregation in Swahili.  I know there will be friends back there in Tanzania and Kenya who will be watching our service online.   I know it will be special for them to hear our church sing it in Swahili.

Another thing about the service at Kimobwa was the dancing.  This is something I’ve witnessed many times, especially here in Tanzania.  There is no lack of enthusiasm and joy in the worship here.  Can you imagine St. Paul’s Brookfield, CT, breaking out in dance?  But, understandably, it’s very much a cultural thing.  And it’s one that I enjoy when I’m in the country.   I’ve even joined in occasionally, a few years and back operations ago!  

Today (Monday), I went to LTC College, which is one of my main reasons for coming to Tanzania.  For those who don’t know, I’ve been coming to Kasulu for nineteen years, partnering with the Diocese of Western Tanganyika on various projects.   The one project I’ve focused on the most is the computer lab at Lake Tanganyika Theological College.   Similar to Bishop Okullu College in Kenya, this is an area of much interest to me.  It is not only because of my computer systems expertise but also because I want to support the church in development and leadership training.  Each year since 2005, I have visited DWT and LTC College to help with computer maintenance and upgrades.   This year is no exception, and for good reason.  Earlier this year, they experienced a power surge from Tanesco (the national power provider), which shorted out eight computer monitors and many power adapters for the thin client computers.   Unfortunately, I was told about this the day before I left for Kenya in September.

 As you can imagine, I was concerned about what we could do to get some of these failed thin clients back in operation.   Today was the day of reconning.    I thought we would need to purchase some of the equipment in Dar Es Salaam.  But that is a two-day flight back and forth.  That was not an option.  But remember what I said in my last post about how Tanzania has rapidly advanced in development since my first trip in 2005?  It turns out the answer was right in the middle of Kasulu.  Reginald and I went to a small computer supply store, and behold, they had monitors and various power adapters that met the specifications of the thin clients.   And here is the amazing part of the story.   Because of the current exchange rate, we got six monitors and eight power adapters, along with some new keyboards and mice, for $440 USD.   I would be lucky to get half of this equipment for that price.   

For the rest of the afternoon, I hung out at the computer lab with Reginald and others, putting the thin clients back into service. Wow, so much has changed in Kasulu. Back in 2005, there was no power grid, no Internet service, and no supply stores of any kind. Now, they have high-speed cellular and fiber Internet available, 24/7 power grid (most of the time!), and several computer stores nearby.  I was so relieved today that we could take care of this issue so quickly.  And now, with the battery backup system put in last month, we should be safe from Tanesco power problems.

Thanks for all your prayers, especially those I told about the damaged equipment.  I’m looking forward to doing some normal, routine maintenance over the next few days.

Bill