Check blog posts on the right side.

Ranjit baptizing a baby in Kigwe village.

JoRanj with a few members of the Kigwe church.

Members of a local tribe that graced our college with their wonderful music and dancing. A true gift.

Most of degree two class at home for some food..

Students from Johanna's pastoral group at our home.

Some of our students dancing at a farewell graduation party...lots of fun

It's been too long....

Jambo Everyone!

Habari za asubuhi!! (good morning)

Pole (sorry), its taken us so long to write something on our blog. We have been really
busy, and our days are just so full....from teaching, designing and preaching!
Lots of good stuff. So ya, our semester is almost over. Two more weeks of teaching.
And then reading week, then exams....and the semester is over. Crazy how fast its gone. Over the last two months or so, Ranjit has begun to teach at a girls school
for religious education. It's been great for him as the girls are appreciating learning about how women are also called to preach and lead services, not just men!!

We have also been to Nairobi for a retreat for all American Episcopal missionaries in Africa. That was great because we got to see what our fellows were doing in different parts of Africa. What a treat! From working in agriculture, doing community development, teaching....great work is being shared! We have also been to the Serengeti, which was unbelievable! A real spiritual experience. We don't know how else to describe it.

The last couple of weeks we have gone to two different villages at the invitation of students here. What a gift to be in their homes, receive their families hospitality and love! Here is a photo of when we went with a student, Chris, to go to his village Church. His Church is called Millewa and as you can see it doesn't have a roof....but the service and the hospitality of the people will blow
your socks off of you!!

More later...also the reason we don't post many pictures is that Msalato only has a certain number of gigabytes of bandwidth and when we upload...it take up a lot of bytes....but we will
try the best we can, ok??

Kwaheri for now...

Of God, Rap Music and Tongues

A few Mondays ago, Johanna and I were on our evening walk, and yet lost in the beautiful Tanzanian sky. As we meander a dirt path, in the distance we hear a cry, of “hello Mathews,” and after some confusion, we discerned the call was from Michael, a friend of ours from the college. He was doing some farming with two of his children and we intersected at a small pond. His kids are adorable, but I have a hard time writing their Swahili names. Good excuse??!!
Michael, (a lot easier), is quite a gregarious, outgoing guy, with a great smile. I immediately took to him, and in this particular instance we started talking and he wanted to show Johanna and me a Church structure that has been in the process of finishing for the past 30 years!!! Money of course is the big reason why it hasn’t happened. The lack of it.
As we were walking away from the site, we started talking about African spirituality and he said something that has really stayed with us. He said, “people in the West want to know who God is, people here in Africa want to know what God can do.” He had surmised his thoughts from his trips abroad, and the statement was quite provocative. Instead of interrupting and maybe arguing, I just had to let it sit. I thought, in many ways that is so true; he went on to say, “we want a God who can provide us with crops, otherwise our people will starve.” His statement was so real and it cut to the chase of what faith means here in Tanzania. The reality of faith not being an appendage, but something so absolutely important to ones survival. We are still sitting with it. Now it reminds me of an essay, I had written after coming from South Africa, some years back. Check it out if you are interested: www.
On Friday afternoon, we had lunch with the students and since we were late, we only got a little ugali (a staple Tanzanian food item) and beans. For the rest of the afternoon, I didn’t have any other food…and it made me irritable. The previous day, one of my students missed my class which was uncharacteristic of him. That same night he came to our house and told me that he had to miss class, because his family didn’t have food and he needed to get to town and send it to them, in his village. The reality of food security is sometimes so stark. It made me think of what Michael said, and it jarred me as someone who has so much privilege as a missionary.
I was part of a team that went to the girls school to talk to the students about speaking in tongues. There was a Pentecostal pastor who had come into the school and taught the girls many false teachings regarding speaking in tongues. He was preaching that one isn’t really a Christian, unless you were born again, in the Spirit. This caused a lot of divisiveness on campus, and was not building up the Body of Christ at the school. If there is one thing we do know, God’s spirit works to build up the Body of Christ not to tear it down and cause division. Of course, we know that in baptism, we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us in our Christian walk. In any case, because of the teachings there was mass hysteria, fainting and howling. Students and teachers from Msalato college were called by the faculty and administration of the school to come and give the proper biblical instruction regarding gifts of the spirit, as some of the girls were being led in a direction that was not biblically sound, due to the influence of the pastor. Because of their resultant behavior they were suspended and sent home for a couple of weeks. The girls will be ok and to his credit the charismatic pastor came back and apologized for trespassing. He didn’t apologize for his teaching, however.
It was surreal to be part of this particular work, and it reminded me of my experience when I attended George Washington University and how someone had prayed over me, as I desired the gift of tongues. I didn’t receive it, and it just goes back to the bible – we receive the gifts of the Spirit on God’s time, not on our own.
That same Friday, some of us are a part of a team that works to help students learn and comprehend English. One of the mediums our friend Robyn uses to teach is to have them watch ABC news with Charles Gibson and then work to deconstruct it and see how much the students pick up. Mind you, they already speak two languages and are studying to pick up English. Wow. I can barely speak English and Spanish, and struggle with my mother’s tongue of Malayalam. In any case, one part of the news segment was dedicated to a American rap group called, Clipse, and that sparked some discussion. After some discussion about rap music not being so edifying and taking kids in the wrong direction; I was more than happy to give another viewpoint, and then offered a brief history of the genre….and where Hip Hop comes from. I was also able to share about my ministry at Hope in Hollywood Inc. in LA, working with young people through the medium of Hip Hop to connect with them on a spiritual tip. It felt good….to offer a new take, and I might work with some Tanzanian pastors to see how they can use Christian rap to connect with their young parishioners….Nice ....
Next week…will look to dissect some Christian rap….

Jambo!

It’s been over a month since we arrived in Dodoma and we are settling in well into our new environment. We have completed four weeks of classes and it is such a joy and gift to interact with the students and faculty here in Msalato. Every day we try and understand and learn a little more about their context. On Friday afternoons we have lunch with the students and that is a gift because we get to experience more of who they are, away from the classroom setting.

On Sundays we get to chapel by 7 am and after that we go to our respective village churches with our assigned pastoral groups. Jo goes to St. Mark’s church which is in a village about 30 minutes by foot from our campus. What a privilege really to be part of a worship service so different from the ones we have attended! The existing church is a small mud structure and corrugated iron roofing. Colorful fabric pieces tied to strings on the ceiling replace colorful stained glass windows. Mud seats and floors replace wooden benches and floors. Singing involves a lot of dance and drums. Attached are a few pictures. They are in the process of building a new Church.

Ranjit goes to Msalato Secondary girls school, which abuts the college. It is amazing listening to the girls singing, and being a part of the worship experience there. They sing with such passion for God, and often times their voices bring tears to his eyes. He thinks of the millions of girls on the planet, who undergo such horrendous pain and hardship and believe that the Msalato girls are standing in solidarity with them.

On Thursday afternoons, we head into town with a fellow missionary friend, and we do our shopping. We look forward to this day because it gives us the chance to go into the “big city”, and experience a different setting for a few hours. These are the small luxuries that mean a lot. As you would expect, there are ups and downs. Some days we struggle for meaning and ask ourselves if we are indeed making a difference here; those days are tough, and we are glad that we have each other to lean on. Other days are wonderful - listening, learning and being transformed by the Tanzanian people.

For showers we boil our water, for there is no hot water. It makes us think of the luxury of water, and what privileges we’ve enjoyed. Most Tanzanians get by on next to nothing. It just makes you think, and also gets you angry at the inequality of life.

Where are our prophets, where is the justice?

Kwaheri for now.....

Onto the semester

Last Sunday, we had our first cultural experience in Tanzania at Bishop (of Central Tanganyika) Ndimi Mhogolo daughter's wedding reception. The exotic tribal dances, sumptuous food and an extraordinary array of people in colorful Tanzanian garb, made us realize the richness that exists in this particular culture. It was such a gift to be a part of the celebration.

We started the semester on the 15th. A regular school day begins with worship at 7:30 am and we end the service with a formed circle of teachers and students exchanging greetings outside the chapel. We love that ritual.

Every teacher is assigned a pastoral group of about 10 students and over the course of the semester (14 weeks), each group leads morning worship. Last week, a group of staff members led worship and Ranjit was part of that group. He preached on Friday and his homily was very good. On Wednesdays, we meet with our respective pastoral groups and share more intimately what’s going on each one’s life. Thursdays, the worship is in Swahili and the singing is a lot of fun, at the same time very reverential. The somberness of an Ash Wednesday service took on a new form here, with song and dance along with the customary sign of ashes on the forehead.

Classes begin at 8 am and go till 11:00, where we break for tea till 11:30, after which classes resume and go on till 1:30 pm. Students go to their dining hall for lunch and teachers go back to their respective homes. People here believe a siesta (short nap) is a must. We totally agree! At around 5:00 in the evening, Ranjit and I go for a walk. We meander through villages, open fields and main roads. We love this part of the day, because we walk on dirt roads, saying Habari (what news?) to everyone we see.

Ranjit teaches three courses (Johannine Theology, Issues in Biblical Theology, and Pastoral Theology) and I help 22 students with reading recovery and also do a little bit of secretarial work for the academic dean. Just today, I was asked to put my architectural skills to use for the college. Every day involves a lot of prep work for the next day's classes, and since English is not the first, second or even third language for nearly every student, teaching and comprehending often becomes challenging. Yet, the students are a real delight, and they have such respect for teachers (called mwalimu), and it’s been wonderful starting to build relationships with each one of them. These students come from villages, far away from Msalato, leaving their families behind and it is amazing to see how these students persevere despite their limited economic means.

Over the past week, we along with three other missionaries were invited for dinner at different faculty member's homes. What great food, and even more valued, a chance to meet their families and get to know them in a more intimate setting. We finished up our last house visit on Saturday evening at the Academic Dean's house, and we were lucky to have been served chapatti's. There is a lot of Indian flavor here, a nice bonus for us.

Life here is different, rather the pace is. We experience a lot less stimulation than what we have been accustomed to - no television, (we are very happy about that), sporadic internet connection, and our conversations on the cell phone are not very clear. We don't have a car so that makes us a lot less independent, and thus dependent on others just to do something simple, like going grocery shopping.

We might lack the same stimulation as before, but at the same time, it’s really, really nice, just having time. Time to be, time to think, time to read, time to reflect, spending time with each other, time spent in silence, taking time to say Habari to someone.....

There's something about finding comfort in something new and different.....