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Visit to Bethany Easter 2005

Easter 2005 saw us on a return trip to Bethany. The group consisted of my husband Graham and Cathy Riley a Nursery Nurse from Accrington and myself. Whilst this was mine and Graham’s third trip it was the first time we had been responsible for taking someone with us. Given that Cathy and I work in schools the departure on Friday the 1st April meant we had to take an extra day off work. The KLM flight to Dar-Es-Salaam is a good flight, the major drawback is you have to leave home at 2:45 in the morning to catch it. When we got to Dar the hotel accommodation that had been reserved for us appeared to have been cancelled but fortunately they managed to find us rooms in the hotel but without the benefit of air conditioning (air conditioning means you don’t need to use a mosquito net). After a 3 hour sleep we left to catch the early morning flight to Mwanza where we were met by Paul and Matiku and two of the children. It is always a great pleasure and relief when you arrive at Mwanza because you know you are almost at Bethany and meeting the children reminds you what the project is all about.

The trip from Mwanza to Bethany usually starts with a trip to the bank to obtain some Tanzanian shillings, given the exchange rate can be over 2000 shillings to the pound you can see how changing a large amount of Sterling to pay for several flights can be very confusing. Once back in Tanzania it seemed like we’d never been away. It was great chatting and catching up with each others news.

This was Cathy’s first trip and given that we had little contact beforehand the journey was a great way of getting to know each other better. As the one and a half hour road journey towards Bethany continued Cathy was taking everything in and wondering what she would see at the end of the journey. When we arrived we experienced the usual wonderfully warm Bethany welcome as the children swarmed over the Land Rover greeted us enthusiastically and carried our bags. Our first meal was rice and beans, this is mine and Graham’s favourite Bethany meal, although I’m not sure Cathy would say the same !

After the evening meal and when the chores were completed the children gathered in the dining room / pumzika for worship and prayer. One of the things we did in these meetings was distribute the “give to live” wristbands from Moorlands School, both the boys and girls put them round their wrists or ankles and everyone loved them. On this trip I’d taken out a laptop computer and in combination with the video projector we were able to shows films such as : Finding Nemo, Beethoven and several of the Home Alone films. The children loved the films and we all had a great time together. The dining room where we showed the films was also the same place that we used for the service on Palm Sunday which we led and everyone had a great time acting out the story of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem. The Laptop was also a great asset in that it helped us teach the children “Superhero” and other songs from the new Hillsongs children’s CD / DVD.

One day whilst in Magu with Daniel we took Nyangeta to visit her grandmother. This was quite an upsetting trip for Nyangeta as I think she thought we were taking her back to stay with her family. When she realised this was not the case she became less distressed and her aunt came with us to Bethany for the day. (the aunt left Nyangeta in hospital after her limb had been amputated). One of the things we wanted to achieve on this trip was to help find somewhere in Tanzania that would supply and fit an artificial limb for Nyangeta. Unfortunately the amputation site had still not healed and so we took her to Bugando Hospital in Mwanza. The doctor we saw was very friendly and his initial task seemed to major on making us welcome and finding out about our life in England and our impressions of Tanzania. Only after this could we actually get down to the business of dealing with Nyangeta’s problem. As a result of this visit she has undergone further surgery. During one of our visits to Bugando Hospital we found out that they can fit an artificial limb for about £60. Please pray that Nyangeta’s wound will heal and that her stump will soon be suitable to have an artificial limb fitted, a task that we hope to achieve when we return this summer.

Easter meant the children had a break from school and it was also a chance for the Bethany choir to visit some of the special meetings that were occurring throughout the area. The choir seemed to be in great demand, the children were always extremely well received by the appreciative audience/congregation. At one of the venues we were given seats of honour under the shade of a tarpaulin whilst at another more out of the way venue we became part of the show as we became increasingly surrounded by children who stood motionless and silent staring at our white faces and light hair, in reality this was rather uncomfortable and in the end we moved. This experience gave us a small insight into how celebrities might feel whenever they go out in public, although in our case our own claim the fame was our white skin ! These trips out of Bethany were only made possible by using the vehicles that belong to Bethany. We’ve previously encountered the tried and trusted Land Rover but this was our first use of the brilliant new Toyota Land Cruiser that was purchased following a very generous donation from Kids to Care 4.

The fact that Cathy is a Nursery Nurse was evident in her dealings with the pre-school children, who were making great progress, following her everywhere hoping she had something else to show them. Cathy used equipment from the resource area / library or from the things we’d all taken over but given that we had taken 25 Kg of screws in our luggage we hade little room left for books. During one of our trips to Mwanza we visited a bookshop with Eliada and used this opportunity to add further titles to the Bethany library. On our next visit we hope to take over some “Big Books” donated by Cathy and to add to these using money given by the children who attend the Hope Centre in Oswaldtwistle.

All in all this was a very useful trip, all the days were very full as you know what you would like to do but realise how little time you have to achieve it. When you tell people you’ve been to Tanzania they often understandably say “did you enjoy your holiday”. This always makes me smile because for those of you who have been to Bethany will realise that whilst it’s a great experience it’s certainly no holiday. Bethany exists to serve the 70 plus children who call Bethany home and it’s a tangible example of Christian concern and love in action. As such trips to Bethany will always involve a lot of hard work but that fits in with an expression that I like and one that I feel sums up my attitude to working for Bethany – work as if it all depended on you but pray as if it all depended on God.

Elaine Earnshaw