Tuesday and Wednesday: Days of Travel

On Tuesday, we left to visit Pro Africa children in Mbozi and Mbeya. Mbozi is just a few miles from the Zambia border. This was about a 7.5 hour drive. The ride was challenging but not as challenging of the life of Pastor Oscar and his wife. They currently take care of seven orphans in their home. Mrs. Oscar said, "If we can get some cement for the floor of that part of the house, we will be able to help more orphans. Only two of the orphans are helped by Pro Africa. The pastor and his wife take care of the other children. Adrian and Sorin interviewed Ester Halle. Her life as an orphans is very similar to many. She did not pass the national exam in order to go to secondary school. Now, she has major challenges. Does she take the exam again, try to get help going to private school, or go for vocational training? Right now, she is hoping to get a manual sewing machine to provide support for her life (she is 16 years old). The next young lady said that she wanted to be a seamstress. She, too, is trying to get a manual sewing machine. Please pray for both of these girls. Their options are very limited.

Pastor Oscar and his wife stand with a bicycle provided through the first Teleios Ministry Christmas Catalog. The pastor and his wife ride the bike together in caring for the churches he serves. The churches are as far as 1.5 hours away. He expresses thankfulness for the bicycle.

We visited Mpeli's parents and two children in Mbeya. Then, we spent the evening with our great friends, the Nyombi family. Advocate Nyombi is responsible for law and order in the Mbeya district which covers the borders with Malawai and Zambia. Unlike in the U.S., the police force is a national police that covers immigration, traffic, transportation, intelligence (FBI), border control, and regular police matters of law enforcement. We talked with him about expanding the ministry of DBLCH into the Mbeya region.

The night was spent on the hardest mattress that we have ever slept on. Please forgive this negative statement, but I advise against staying at the Forest Hill Motel Mbeya. In fact, this was by far the worst service received at any hotel I have stayed in during my 17 years of visiting East Africa. Interestingly, this was also the most expensive motel in Tanzania that I have stayed in.

We made a few visits the next morning and headed for Iringa. The shots are of a farm, a child carrying a bucket of water across the tracks, a local beer wagon, and of the main road that stretches across Tanzania. We arrived in Iringa about 2 p.m. We had a great trip. What a blessing to see how Pro Africa has changed the lives of many orphans and vulnerable children in Tanzania.