What's cookin' in Tanzania... and Uganda?: Is COVID-19 All We Talk About?

So what is happening in Tanzania? Again, it always seems to come back to talking about COVID-19! And it is hard to say here … for several reasons!

But basically, official reports show that the virus has spread from Dar es Salaam into almost all the regions of the country (and unfortunately from here into other neighbouring countries). Tanzania announced last week they would not report on cases and deaths (in order to "focus on the positive" recoveries) but did recently then publish some numbers and it seems evident that numbers of both cases and deaths are rising rapidly. There are rumours and stories abounding which I dare not mention here for obvious reasons! Even without a lockdown, the economic effects are becoming more widespread as small businesses close and prices of certain goods rise. We notice here in Mwanza (apart from the obvious loss to hospitality and tourism industries), those catering to students have been hit hard. Mwanza is home to St Augustine University, which along with all schools and colleges in the country, has closed. But increasingly now, as more and more people avoid town, more and more businesses are struggling.

In the surrounding villages, we are very aware of the lack of information reaching people about COVID-19. And so we continue to do all we can to help prevent the spread of coronavirus in these more rural areas, which have such limited access to healthcare. Our team has been working hard with the generous funds people have donated, to get handwashing buckets with posters and soaps distributed through our partner churches. We have also put together a pamphlet on "Corona and Faith" and have distributed 10,000 copies to 350 churches in this area. You can watch a little video on all the action here!

It is such a privilege to partner with the church and at difficult times like this, particularly so! The pastors we work with have been thrilled to get the materials and keen to play their part in safely sharing the teaching and materials with others. To see the church at the forefront serving their communities is fantastic. Missional living! The fact is that little is known about COVID-19 in many of these places, and there is a lot of misguided information confusing things as well! But look at Theopister in the video, teaching in Igombe (where she and Laura have been working with the Girls Health Project)! They are making sure everyone social distances and washes hands and that all get a thorough teaching on COVID and prevention!

Please pray for us as the situation unfolds here in Tanzania. We want to help and serve in the safest and most effective way we can, supporting the groups and villages we are already working with and helping our partner churches to reach out to local communities. Peter remains in contact with our farmers groups; with the terribly heavy rains and floods ongoing, many farmers who recently planted, have lost that harvest. Bhatendi remains in contact with all our beekeepers and we are a little worried about how the long heavy rains will have affected the honey harvest, scheduled around now. The Kayenze group is hoping to harvest some honey this week … they are on their own and we pray they will be successful.

Meanwhile, in town, it is now mandatory in many places to wear a face mask, so demand stays high for masks! I have been persevering with mass mask production with Laurensia, Jeni and Saidati! They are making a variety of colours with a choice of elastic or adjustable ties. As well as keeping up with local orders, we are trying to share the skills of making them with others and also now sewing many for all those in Standing Voice's albinism program.

Saidati models a mask!

Masks freshly washed and hanging to dry in the sun before packaging

To be very honest, I am feeling like a lot of this all looks great in a blog .. (and yes, there are many great things to be thankful for!) but actually I must confess that it has not been an easy time... and it doesn't all revolve around coronavirus! It has been rather a stressful and busy time trying to secure a rental property for The Hive, which has involved jumping numerous hurdles and crying over numerous setbacks; it has been both time consuming and super discouraging over recent weeks. But we are praying for all to be agreed in time for the Kayenze beekeepers to process their honey! I have been working with Aikande on the handover for the Mamas group, which is difficult as we are not able to meet as a group. And all this happening as we thought we were leaving the country in just under 2 months! How does one even begin to think about reducing the whole contents of a house into 8 bags at a time like this? There is literally no time ... or head space right now. And no one likes the thought of leaving without being able to say goodbye. There are just so many unknowns… I think I may be rambling into another post here! But all to say, it's a lesson in faith... and patience!

And so to finish (…and to prove that we don't only talk about COVID19!) here are some photos of the 14th birthday celebrations for Louisa last week! It was without cards and gifts and friends in person, but we had so much fun at home, enjoying yummy food and fun games! Amisadai put a video together of friends from all over the world wishing her a happy birthday and I was crying, listening to all the lovely kind words from special friends! What a delight this girl is! We are so thankful for her! She has been busy recently… helping the mamas businesses by riding her bike around the neighbourhood taking deliveries of sales of face masks, moringa powder and soaps!