Arrival in Dar and travel to Morogoro

Wednesday July 6

After our arrival at Dar es Salaam Monday evening around 10, we were happy to see Barbara (Robertson), the liaison for our team. Barbara is from Washington State, but has lived in Tanzania for 12 years and works for the ELCA as a missionary assigned to the Morogoro diocese of the ELCT. Her fluent Swahili and intuitive understanding of Tanzanian culture and customs paves our way as we meet and work with our new Tanzanian brothers and sisters. All 13 team members and all of our personal and medical bags arrived safe and well.

Monday night was spent at the Catholic guest house in Dar es Salaam, just a short ride from the airport. This first taste of Tanzania, in the dark, gave us very few glimpses of the teeming city that would come alive the next morning.

The Catholic guest house is a walled compound that allowed each of us a small private room with a bath: very clean and utilitarian. As we will see throughout Tanzania, all of our beds were draped with mosquito nets as an added prevention against malaria.

Breakfast was our first chance to visit with Barbara, who took the time to coach us on the dos and don’ts of life in Tanzania before we did our last hop, a three hour drive to Morogoro. We had received an invitation from the family of a patient the team first met in 2008 and had treated each year since then. Jenifa suffered from Thyroid cancer, which ultimately claimed her life just a few months ago. Our intervention in 2008, and the subsequent treatment begun by our team and continued by her family, added several years to her life. During that time, Jenifa’s spirit touched everyone she came into contact with, and she never missed a chance to praise God daily for her blessings. So when we stopped at Jenifa’s house to join her family for a simple lunch, we made a solemn trek across the field to the communal burial site where Jenifa’s grave, the freshest one there, was well tended and decorated with flowers and mementos. Andrea led us in a prayer, as we honored the life of this spirit-filled woman.

We returned to Jenifa’s house to see sisal mats spread out for our comfort under the shade of the trees. Sitting crosslegged in a circle, Jenifa’s daughter served each of us by pouring water over our hands to wash before our meal--a large bowl of rice, seasoned with a few beans, sliced tomatoes, boiled potatoes and a small piece of chicken, washed down with fresh, boiled milk seasoned with sugar.

The end of our day found us at the Amabilis guest house in Morogoro. We unpacked and then relaxed outside under the Tanzanian sky (with a beer) while we had our first team meeting, prepping for our first day at Mazimbu hospital.