Rats, Jikos and a Fat Mama

Woken in the middle of the night to the sounds of a stick being whacked about in the house, I peer in the moonlight to discover what is going on. It is Tim hunting down a rat with a broom in the kitchen. WHACK! He missed. Two hours later, he was at it again! These huge and determined rats had decided as soon as I set up the cupboard with food last weekend, they would invade. So now, out come the traps and poison. Food is hidden away in boxes and coolers and even things hidden in the oven! The rats had eaten their way through a trap door in the kitchen ceiling, so Tim fixed up a stronger wooden door. But then the following morning after the escapades of the night, the rats had gnawed their way through a ceiling board in the living room!

On a brighter, happier note, it was wonderful being back in Magozi on Wednesday. We were so kindly and warmly welcomed by the stoves group and many others in the village. To my delighted surprise, we were served bread, freshly baked for us on a fuel-efficient stove! As well as morning chai with Kalista, we were also served two lunches, one with Yuda and Lucy and another with Ezekiel and Bora, one right after the other! Feeling rather full, I then felt I was living up to the "compliment" I received many times that day, "Mama Lecho, you are so much more fat now!" It really is a compliment here in Tanzania ... does wonders for your self-esteem! I blame the English cheese and chocolate!

Lunch One

Lunch Two

It was then so moving to be back seated in our group "circle" in the church building, praying together our thanks for being together again. After the Bible study, we talked through how the work has been going. They are proud of the stoves which are very positively received, and pleased with their profits. The group recognises that they need to get out and sell more stoves, and we talked about using bikes with tomato crates to transport stoves. We will be doing a marketing session in two weeks to look further at the way forward with selling. They also talked about the need to improve the house they use to work in, but they are keen to overcome the problems and we were encouraged!




Bible Study

Making stoves

We took Toni with us, a gap-year student pursuing photography. She is here for five weeks, and has been going out to various villages photographing the work EI is involved in. And it was great to have her with us to take photos in Magozi. The group demonstrated to her how to make a stove and she was shown Kalista's garden and the trees which were planted last June. We were delighted to see how Kalista has persevered with her garden, and has finally enjoyed the fruit of all her efforts. We still have a long way to go trying to beat the pests though! We were also thrilled to see the size of the trees which are growing really well! So we with them, give glory to God for His goodness!
(Is. 42:12)

Ezekiel with his tree