Tidings of Comfort

I was planning to blog today about my time in Tanzania. But right now, my heart is just too heavy. 

While I was in Tanzania, it was the funeral for an amazing and special young man, Oli Williams. We have known the Williams family since we arrived in Tadley in 2002. I have wonderful memories of teaching Oli piano and watching him grow up in our church youth group. But a tragic car accident took his young life so suddenly, so much too soon. 

Last week, while I was in Tanzania, I received a message from Amisadai with the heart-breaking news that her friend had passed away. She was just sixteen years old. Emma and her twin sister, Michelle started school with Amisadai at Aldermaston Primary. When they were in Year 6, Emma was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma and over the following 6 years, Emma continued to be an inspiration to so many with her brave and cheerful determination. 

And now, just a few days after returning from Tanzania, we received the news that a dear Canadian friend, Jade, in Mwanza, a young and healthy mom, suffered a sudden stroke. She and her husband do an amazing job as directors of Village of Hope, Mwanza, working with vulnerable children. Jade and I were chatting at The Hive as she picked up her coffee just the other week. Now she is fighting for her life in Nairobi as we pray for a miracle and my heart is breaking for Julius, her husband, her three boys in Mwanza and all her family in Canada. So sudden. In an instant everything has changed.

Life is precious. I was reminded of this over and over while I was back in Tanzania. People are precious. Every person, regardless of age, gender, colour, race, wealth or status. Time with people is precious. We need one another and were not created to be independent. One of the things that hit me as I was back in Tanzania was the precious value placed on community. Life in Tanzania is never lived alone. It is so different to the current situation in the UK in which it feels like community has been threatened.

In Tanzania I was confronted daily by so many needs and hardships, by pleas for help and the struggle to know how to respond. The burden can feel so heavy. So much time spent with people, which, yes, can be exhausting. But precious people. Less precious time. The way it should be. And in it all, we walk together. Life is precious. 

Today is the first Sunday of advent and the heaviness of waiting feels that much heavier this year. Waiting for light in the darkness. Praying for comfort in the darkness of the night. Our own weight of sadness of losing home and belongings and community this year and waiting for a new one, pales in light of the weight our friends are now bearing. But I keep thinking about tidings of comfort. Yes, there will be joy, but right now, it is time to embrace one another, to value what is most precious and bear tidings of comfort. 

Now to the Lord sing praises

All you within this place

And with true love and brotherhood

Each other now embrace

This holy tide of Christmas

All other doth deface

O tidings of comfort and joy

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

Upendo wa Mama Products in the UK!

I am happy to share with you now some Upendo wa Mama products that I was able to bring back from Tanzania to sell in the UK! Some festive Christmas face masks, lovely lip and body balms (including the popular Neem Balm), a variety of candles, sets of Kitenge BeesWraps...

Please take a look and see if there is anything you would like! Stocks are limited, so it is first-come-first-served, and when it is gone, it's gone! Message me and we can arrange how we get it to you and sort out payment! I have listed suggested prices for products, but if you would like to donate more, I am starting to fundraise to enable Aikande to continue working with the mamas and managing The Hive through next year! Your help will be so very much appreciated!

And if you haven't heard of Upendo wa Mama and are not sure who these women are, you can read our story here...!

Take a look and give a gift that keeps on giving for Christmas! And please do share with your friends! Thank you! 

Hugs at The Hive

Sunshine and warmth! Real live hugs! Yes, it was wonderful to be back in Tanzania! So wonderful to see good friends again! There is so much to say, but now I want to focus on the Upendo wa Mama women, who were really my main reason for going. It has been such a whirlwind of so much activity, working hard from early until very late, that I hardly know where to begin! I will save some of the adventures for the next post!

It was three weeks of time in Tanzania, but probably six weeks worth of work and 1.5 weeks worth of sleep! But I was able to spend precious time with the women in Mwanza and then in the final week with the group in Dar es Salaam. I can't begin to say how wonderful it was to see them all again ... the shrieks and hugs on the first day were very special! 

Mama Fatuma and Monica working on candles

Mama Laurencia preparing fish for lunch

Mama Rose working on labelling products

Aikande working in the new office

Time for a little hair styling when business was slow!

The Mamas Group in Dar es Salaam

Our family left Tanzania just a week after the opening of The Hive (Beeswax Shop and Honey Centre). There was so much left undone, so much still unknown. And so it was incredibly encouraging to return four months later and see how well they were all doing there! Even in this, the 2020 COVID year, they have not considered giving up and have been able to continue to support themselves from local sales. 

Yes, things are drastically different for them with the collapse of tourism which shut down all their markets to lodges and gift shops in the Serengeti, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Arusha and means few visitors to Mwanza. Things are different with the borders closed, making it impossible for products get to Masai Mara or Nairobi and impossible for supplies and materials to get in. Things are different with the effect all this has had on the local economy which has hugely discouraged their entrepreneurial efforts to generate more income. But despite it all, the mamas remain as resilient as they have always had to be as albinism mamas... and they are working hard. And working with them somehow puts things in perspective ... definitely a better view of a bigger picture, which leaves much less room for grumbling!

While I was there, we worked hard together on developing some new beeswax products. Amisadai had been getting some good ideas, and while we all really missed her presence with the group, we were grateful for her ideas! So we now sell a Baobab Cramp Balm, a natural massage balm for period relief. Made with pure beeswax, baobab oil and shea butter with essential oils, it is good for massaging on the abdomen or back! And our new big Kili Climb Bar, a brilliant lotion bar with neem oil, for rock climbers to treat and protect their cut, dried hands. And the new Paw Balm just for dogs and the fun number candles for birthday cakes! We were busy making these and so much more to sell at the craft markets opening up for the first time since COVID hit. 

Number and Birthday Cake candles

Our new doggy treat!

Kili Climb Bars

Honey and Coconut Lotion Bars

We were busy working on improvements to The Hive. We had more tables and shelving made and have just started a Community Table. We wanted to help local artisans and those making specialty foods to be able to market their products and are excited to get people involved. We were also working to see what other services and products we can serve the Mwanza community with. And are making plans for some new community ideas as things open up more. It was fun to back with all that is buzzing at The Hive! 

New shelves in The Hive

Every Saturday while I was there, we had a different Craft Market! First the Mwanza Pasha Fair, then the Isamilo School Charity Fair, and finally, the Artisan Market in Dar es Salaam. So good to see markets in action once again! 

Pasha Craft Fair in Mwanza

Isamilo School Charity Fair

Artisan Market in Dar es Salaam

Finally, if you are in the UK, look out soon for a catalogue page online where you will be able to order some of the Mamas products in time for Christmas! I was able to bring back a selection of products in my rather overloaded suitcase! Let me know if you are interested and we can arrange delivery and payment! We are very grateful for all the support for the these mamas right now!