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!

Cinnamon buns for breakfast!

Yummy bites for tea

By special request: "Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake"

Happy Birthday Louisa!

A Good Year End!

Before Christmas it was a fantastic, (albeit exhausting!) flurry of activity and also sales for the Upendo wa Mama group! We have so much to be thankful for!

Mama Monika dips candles

Always a laugh in the workshop! 

In the first week of November, there was a Charity Fair at the International School. This was followed by a busy week with Emma, coming for the second time from Trinity Western University in Canada, working on a project aimed at helping mothers of children with albinism. She came with her two professors involved in the project, Barb and Sheryl, and it was wonderful to have them all with us. They are doing such great work and were just so encouraging and loving to all of us.

It was a lovely treat for our whole family having these three!

Sheryl and Barb with us at the Mamas workshop!

The following week both Penina (Upendo wa Mama Chairwoman) and I went to Dar es Salaam to meet with the group there to prepare for the big Artisan Market. Emma, Sheryl and Barb had gone on before us, working at the UTSS office, and it was lovely to meet up with them while I was there!  It was unbearably hot (Penina was struggling with the heat even more than me!) but we survived! We spent two days of preparation at Mama Happy's; on the second day were also joined by Emma, Sheryl and Barb, giving time to the women to share their stories, there heart, their heartache.

The Upendo wa Mama Dar es Salaam Group

With these lovely women who treated me to an amazing dinner on my first evening in Dar!

What a treat!

I can't really seem to put all of those five days into words! Finding Uber taxis who would take me from my little 'guesti' all the way out beyond Pugu is the first challenge at 6:30 in the morning. Then driving for over two hours in crazy traffic. Then working in extreme heat with an oven and gas stove with hot beeswax in a small space with many women. And then when the work is done, unable to find an Uber taxi that will come and pick me up! Both days I ended up traipsing on foot down the dirt road with either Faudhia (the new amazing UTSS staff member!) on the first day or Penina on the second day, from Mama Happy's house with armfuls of materials and products! Getting to the main road and then walking until a daladala (small minibus) passes by … then squeezing (yes, literally, SQUEEZING) in and riding it until we are in "Uberland" once again (nearer the city) and can find an Uber taxi to get back to my guesti. By which time I'm very hot, very hungry and very tired! But at the same time, it is just wonderful working with these women and so encouraging to see them so enthusiastic! And it was particularly wonderful this time to have Penina with us all, and for the first time see a real connection between the two groups!

Cutting beeswraps

Making Lotion Bars

The road back

The day of the Artisan Market, was extremely hot … so hot that we had to change our table as the lack of shade (even as we set up at 8am) was dangerous for the people with albinism (and indeed would have fried my white skin!) and was also was melting all the beeswax! It was a long day, but it was wonderful! The women did so very well. It was the second time the Dar group had sold at a fair and with help from Faudhia, they were amazing! We sold a record amount of products and found new customers and received more orders!

Smiles all round! (and yes, that is sweat my T-shirt is soaked in!)

With Faudhia, our amazing UTSS helper!

Also while we were in Dar es Salaam, Penina gained a granddaughter! There in Dar, her daughter gave birth and Penina was able to go straight to the hospital from Mama Happy's!

The following Saturday, it was the Mwanza Fair … so another crazy week on our return, quickly replenishing stock after the success of Dar which had cleared us out! And then I had three days before leaving for Uganda in which the group had to finish orders going to lodges in Maasai Mara, Kenya and also Zanzibar! Whew!

At the Pasha Craft Fair in Mwanza

When I returned from Uganda, we went to visit Jeni, one of the group who recently had a baby. Yes, there has been the arrival of three babies in our group recently (daughters for Jeni and Zuena and a granddaughter for Penina). All of us piled into the land cruiser and in terrible rainstorm conditions drove over 2 hours out of the city to find her house … which proved harder than we thought and on some rather muddy roads!

But it was lovely to see Jeni and meet her little daughter! We shared chai and cake and then, when I thought we were leaving to return to Mwanza, we actually starting cooking lunch! We stayed to enjoy a meal of rice and chicken together which was lovely! It was a really special time of thanksgiving as we finished our work for what has been an amazing year of growth! We read together Mary's song of praise as the season of advent dawned and we celebrated the joy of birth and the goodness of God to us all! And then we headed back to Mwanza, again in rather torrential rain!

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour!"

Cooking lunch at Jeni's

Enjoying lunch together

Try Not to Push!

Oh my, what a day! I am still recovering!

It began quite normally. I was with all the mamas at the workshop at 8am and we were pushing hard to prepare more products for the Pasha Christmas Craft Market this Saturday. There was the usual bustle of activity with candle-making, sewing, making beeswraps, beeswax body balms and lotion bars! We always manage to produce a lot ... but today produced rather significantly more!

Mama Zuena was making candles. At one point I looked at her and she looked a little pained while frozen in position. A little later, at 10:45am she went outside. I followed. She told me she was "feeling bad" which was code for "I'm in labour" (one doesn't discuss pregnancy and childbirth here in Tanzania). She said she was fine and in a little bit she would go home to wait and fetch a bag of clothes for the hospital. It didn't sound too urgent and I told her when she was ready, I would give her lift in the Landcruiser.

I went back inside to continue cutting beeswraps. But eying Zuena, it seemed contractions were coming on rather quickly. I suggested maybe we should go straight to the hospital. But she really wanted to pass by her home (in the opposite direction to the hospital) to collect her bag. But then she was doubled over in pain again and so I suggested her daughter bring her bag from home to us and then we go together to hospital. More cries of pain. Then … I said we should forget the bag.

We were going now! I helped her into the back of the Landcruiser and called to Rose to hurry away from the neem balms and hop in fast. As the guard ever so slowly came to ever so slowly open the gate, Zuena was on the floor of the Landcruiser with full cries and moans of labour. I drove as gently as I could, as quickly as I could down the terribly pot-holed, bumpy road. We were all praying hard and loud. Zuena was praying loudly in between cries, asking that God would open the way for the baby … I was praying earnestly that God would keep it closed for just a bit longer. We had to get across town and I stepped on it. Zuena's waters broke and she was in full blown labour! In a rather futile but desperate attempt, I told Zuena to hold on and try not to push.  As traffic slowed at the lights and the cries intensified, I was wondering if I should be pulling over and simply terrified that Rose and I were going to have to deliver this baby on the side of the road! We kept praying!

We made it to the hospital. I flew into the emergency department and we got Zuena to the labour ward. She didn't even have time to go to the delivery area… she just had that baby right there by the computer at reception! At 11:35, fifteen minutes after arriving, Zuena was holding a beautiful baby girl!

I found it rather hard that we were not allowed to stay with Zuena! I managed to sneak a photo very quickly before I left the hospital. But really the "important" role of labour supporter was sorting out the forms and payment … and that took an hour and half longer than it took to have the baby!

A beautiful baby girl

A Mother's Love

The baby, weighing 3.3kg, is doing well. Zuena is struggling a little with high blood pressure. She has diabetes (another reason I was terrified to deliver her baby in the Landcrusier on the side of the road). But she is being monitored and doing well and she should be able to go home tomorrow! And now my own stomach is starting to untangle its own knots … and the high adrenaline slowly calming down!

Rose and I returned to the workshop where all the mamas were delighted to hear the news and see the photo of the new baby on my phone! And we carried on with all the candle-making, balm making and beeswrap making! All rather surreal! All in a day's work! What an absolute privilege it is to share life in so many beautiful ways with these amazing women!

Enjoying the work after the good news!

Update! I didn't publish last night as I wanted to get Zuena's permission first! I went back to the hospital today with Rose, Saidati (Zuena's eldest) and Louisa. Unfortunately Zuena needs to stay in with her high blood pressure. Baby (not yet named!) is doing very well!

Two sisters

Giant Kitenge BeesWraps for FlipFlopi

Great big Kitenge BeesWraps are being crafted in the workshop! Upendo wa Mama are helping the FlipFlopi Expedition demonstrate that "single use plastic doesn't make sense"!

Check out the website of the FlipFlopi Project which has made a boat out of 100% recycled plastic and old flipflops! They are to set sail on January 28th, travelling the 500km from Limu in Kenya to Zanzibar, while raising awareness along the East African coast about plastic pollution. And during their 2 week journey, the team will be keeping all their food fresh with great big Upendo wa Mama Kitenge Beeswraps! We are looking forward to following their journey and it is exciting to be involved in a small way!

With a few of the big wraps

The past few months have been busy and exciting for the women! It was wonderful to be selling at the Mwanza Charity Craft Fair back in November and then busily re-stocking products to sell at the Iringa Craft Fair in December. I will write more about our time in Iringa in another post, but it was so special to be selling at the Craft Fair on the table next to Mama Lucy (read here...) selling her yummy cinnamon buns and breadsticks!

With Mama Lucy in Iringa

We had so many individual sales in the run-up to Christmas, it was hard keeping up! One hundred gift bags were also sewn for Manji's, a local Mwanza company. The Kitenge BeesWraps are proving really popular in the UK and are available online through BeesAbroad (more headed that way on Monday). The group is now also supplying Standing Voice with cooked peanuts for all the patients at their Albinism clinics which keeps more work coming in. We are grateful to have so many wonderful organizations and individuals supporting us with their business! We are eagerly anticipating the start of renovations on our new Bakery/Shop which will be most exciting (and terrifying).

And finally, next week we are very excited to be connecting with students at Cardiff University who will be working with Upendo wa Mama as part of their Project called "Tipping Point: How to be an Agent of Change." This is based on Malcolm Gladwell's theory that "a curiously small change can have phenomenal effects". The students will be challenged to come up with ideas to help us as a group raise awareness of albinism issues through our marketing and products. I am so interested to see what they come up with and how they encourage social impact through the arts. I am presenting the project to the students via skype on Tuesday … more on this to come soon!

Busy in the workshop

Beeswraps in the making

Inspection time is important!

Mama Monika makes Nyuki Stix

Selling at the Mwanza Craft Fair 

From the Hive! Kitenge Beeswraps and Beeswax Balms

Before our Zanzibar adventures, things were really moving with the Mamas! The Upendo wa Mama group in Mwanza was working hard to make a record number of beeswax balms, soaps and beeswraps for a friend connected to a Fair Trade Shop in Sweden. They were also busy making many Kitenge Beewraps for the Bees Abroad table at the National Honey Show in the UK. Talk about a hive of activity!

It was wonderful to have Ineke Varcoe come and help us finish off the last things on our last day before boxing up! She (and the members of Harrow Church in London) have been prayerful and practical supporters of our group from the start, and it was lovely to have her with us. She shared chai and English shortbread with us and we continued our delve into Proverbs, finding nuggets of timely and applicable wisdom. 

Products ready to go!

It was a big relief to have the orders completed in the nick of time! I then travelled to the Under the Same office in Dar es Salaam to work with the Upendo wa Mama women's group there. It had been an unusually long time between visits, and it was wonderful to see them all again. It hasn't been easy for them, and I wish I could offer easy answers, but sometime there just aren't any. But I hope I could encourage them to persevere, and together we made progress! We are working to connect their work together with the Mwanza group, as they continue to make beeswraps and soaps and hopefully now more balms. 

Making Coconut Milk Soap

Making Beeswraps

While in Dar, it was great to catch up with Ester, Rahab and Hadijah and others in the office. It was great to go with Ester to VCC a few times and share a meal together. I was able to drop off a visa application for Laura, our new teammate and do some exploring and shopping in the completely crazy Kariakoo market. It was also a really special surprise to find a good friend in Dar at the same time! Amy Dixon and I were able to meet up for lunch and an afternoon of chatting while I was there!

with Amy

And this past weekend it was fantastic to hear reports from Bees Abroad about the National Honey Show! Our Tanzanian Beeswraps were very popular with their unique African prints and soft pliability, and quickly sold out! Demand is now high with a London market asking for an initial one hundred! And they will soon be available for Christmas in the UK through Bees Abroad online!

Now the mamas are busy preparing all these beeswraps and also other products for the Mwanza Christmas Craft Fair. The progress of the group is certainly not without frustrations and problems, but we are continually trusting God to make a way! In the midst of all the work, there is plenty of time to talk and pray which is always so important. Supporting one another in these recent weeks through sickness, family troubles, attempted break-in/attacks is more important than any number of beeswraps we could make. And the good news is that the women are able to take home monthly profits now and it is encouraging to talk about their goals and plans as they save for new home enterprises. And also wonderful to be talking about how we as a group can reach out with the blessings we have received to bless others.

Waggle Dance Honey News

It was great to officially start selling Waggle Dance Honey the other week! The beekeepers in Kayenze and Malya are thrilled with their first real harvest and delighted to have their sales money which they are putting towards getting new hives made in Malya (soon in Kayenze) and getting more suits for the group!

We had the Waggle Dance Honey Day at our house, temporarily converting our house from a home to a shop. It was a fun day, welcoming a steady stream of people from the community! We had the honey table with the variety of different local honeys available. It has been fascinating to see the difference from not only the different villages (about 160 kilometers apart on opposite sides of Mwanza) but even from different hives in the same village. It all depends on what the bees are feeding on. We had some dark honey (which we think must be coming from the bees in the mango trees), some light (probably from the bees in the cotton fields), some runny, and some lovely creamy set honey!

Then we had a table set out with all the Upendo wa Mama beeswax products. They are really producing a lot from the wax they buy and clean now! We had Nyuki Stix (our own version of Wikki Stix), dipped candles and citronella tealights and the new Lotion Bars alongside all the usual beeswax balms and honey soaps. Word is continuing to spread, and this week we had an order from Dar es Salaam, which we were able to send, and soon after it arrived someone else smelled the lotion bars and placed another order. So we are all pretty excited in the Mamas Group!

The Upendo wa Mama Table

The new lotion bars

Kitenge BeesWraps and dipped candles

We also had a table outside complete with our new "Bee Bunting" (yes - a crazy last minute sewing idea!) with Louisa selling honey-sweetened lemonade and iced tea with lots of cake and cookies! We made batches and batches of honey-iced cinnamon buns, about six honey spice loaves and then lemon loaves and other cakes and biscuits! All the money we raised at the Honey Bake Sale went towards purchasing a honey press for the Beekeepers Groups. We are keen to establish a honey processing centre in town which will collect the honey from all the village groups to press, bottle, label and sell! So now we are about £60 on the way to pressing!

Setting up the day before

Ready to go!

In other bee news … Tim and John and I were able to harvest some of the honey from the bottom of our garden at the weekend. Unfortunately Tim managed to get a bee in his bonnet and got stung right on the top of his nose which rather altered his appearance for a few days. But pleased to have the honey! 

Tim with stings

Louisa agreed (for a fee!) to help me process the honey!

John is with the beekeepers in Malya tomorrow and they are keen to get their new hives made and hung! And on Friday, we are going together to a new village, Ngudu, where we are meeting Pastor Willfred who is keen to get a new beekeeper group going with training and hive hanging. So as you can imagine, we are thrilled to see things moving at better pace in the right direction!

And in case you were wondering …. 

What is the WAGGLE DANCE?

The Waggle Dance is a special 'figure-of-eight' dance that is done by the honey bee in its hive. By this, a worker tells the other bees in the colony where it has found a good source of food (nectar). Through the dance, the honey bee can communicate both the direction and distance to the best flowers. The angle from the sun shows direction; the duration of the waggle part of the dance shows the distance. Isn’t this amazing?!

And finally, if you haven't already seen it on other social media, here is a short video of some of this seasons work getting the first waggle dance harvest in!