Celebrating with People with Albinism

The other week we celebrated in Mwanza the 10th Anniversary of Under the Same Sun, the NGO working to help people with albinism overcome often deadly discrimination through education and advocacy. It was a fantastic opportunity to appreciate as well as celebrate all that UTSS have achieved in these years to help and empower people with albinism!

At the Anniversary Celebration

Rachel speaks on behalf of the Upendo wa Mama women

As well as the celebrations, the Upendo wa Mama group was pleased to welcome Peter Ash, the founder of UTSS, and his team to visit our workshop. We were able to show him the work the women are involved in and serve them all some chai and honey spice cake! We are excited that Under the Same Sun is going to support the mamas group financially as we start a Social Enterprise Bakery and the team was also able to visit the neighbouring site for that. Watch this space … plans are underway and renovations could start very soon!

Peter looks at the all work the Mamas are doing

Site of the new bakery! 

After the Anniversary Celebrations, UTSS hosted a 4-day seminar on trauma counselling with Dr Rhodes. There were over 100 participants who work with people with albinism, including teachers, school matrons, doctors and nurses, social welfare officers and church leaders.

Dr Rhodes teaching the trauma counselling seminar

We joined the UTSS Canada and Tanzania teams at Pastor Charles Mkumbo's church in Mkuyuni on the Sunday before events began. It was wonderful to also have all the children on the UTSS school sponsorship program come from the Musabe Schools for the services. On the following Sunday, we joined the Dar and Mwanza UTSS teams and Dr Rhodes at MICC. Again, it was so great to see all the children there! It was lovely to see them treated with honour and respect as they were saved the centre front seats so that they could see well! As Tim prepares to present next month at the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology on the role of the Church for the Reconciliation of People with Albinism, we are thinking more about how the church together can step up in their role in fighting this battle.

MICC

Many of you have long been following our journey with people with albinism, particularly with the lovely women in the Upendo wa Mama Group, and we are so thankful for your prayers. The atrocities faced by people with albinism have been sadly too real. Witchcraft remains as real and powerful as ever, as you may have seen in recent reports on the child murders here and in Njombe(and these are children without albinism). But we pray and work for change. And it is so wonderful to hear the testimonies of the young people who have been through the UTSS education program and been forever transformed! It is so encouraging to hear the testimonies of the mamas and see the hope they have. May the power of love and life through our God be ever powerfully at work against the powers of evil and darkness!

Camp Time for Kids with Albinism

I love that life is never dull here! And this week was another occasion to prove it! It has all been rather crazy with various projects bubbling to the boil, and two girls arriving home from a fabulous, "best-time-of-my-life" 10 days in Kenya at Kids Camp, one ill with pneumonia and the other with a painfully sprained hand/thumb. As the girls arrived and an overnight guest departed, the daily 8am-6pm camp schedule began! In such situations, those basic things like sorting laundry and going to the market rather fall to the wayside. But thanks to a crazy influx of beans on all farming fronts, meals were sorted! And grab-piles in the living room work for clothes. But, I digress ...

Summer Camp 2016

This week was Summer Camp time with 171 kids with albinism! We joined in with the BMCC church here in Mwanza, Peter Ash with Under the Same Sun, and a super group of volunteers from Canada, the US and UK ... as well as the Upendo wa Mama Group! And what a fantastic week it has been! I cannot begin to cover it all here, but I want to highlight a little for you, especially about the Mamas! 

Peter Ash arrives to open the camp

Camp officially opened by the Regional Commissioner (centre)
along with Peter Ash (L) and Brad (R) with Pastor Mbuke (BMCC) in the background (L)

The camp was extremely well organized (led by Brad and Meg Sumner, friends from Langley, BC) with a day-care nursery and 6 stations for the age-groups of kids to rotate around throughout the week.

In drama, these kids, many of whom have faced a lifetime of rejection have been learning (without even being aware of it!) how to stand tall, project their voices and be confident in who they are. These kids who will struggle their whole life with impaired vision are learning memorization skills that will help them navigate their world. It was awesome to see the change in some of the kids in just a week!

In music they have gained confidence in performing while worshipping their heavenly father who has created them and loves them. We are talking enthusiastic and energetic singing here! 

In art they have been learning to express themselves, being bold with colour and ideas. These kids, who have suffered intensely, enjoyed art games, even without realising the activity was a powerful tool in trauma counselling.

A running-around art activity

The kids have gone to the Bible corner and learned the truth of God's word and experienced the power of prayer.

In sports, they used a large colourful ball they could actually see and discovered the fun they could have playing hockey, as well as many other team games!

And in science, as well as basic hygiene and sun protection, they learned about albinism; they learned the biology of their eyes explaining their visual impairment and heard (most for the first time) the true facts explaining their genetic condition. This is life-changing stuff for these kids!

Learning how to handwash. 20 second rule.

Through the camp as a whole, the children could together reject the lies about themselves (spread through witchcraft, rejection and abuse) and instead understand the truth about what it means to be a person with albinism (spiritually, scientifically/genetically, physically, emotionally, individually and socially). They have been loved and they have had fun!  

And a feast of rice, pilau, chicken or fish, beans, cabbage and fruits for lunch every day!

I was thrilled for all the women in the Upendo wa Mama group who volunteered to help! It was a huge thing for them, giving up their week away from their homes and any business they might miss and also whopping 100 000 Tsh of their money to cover transportation costs each day (which for many of them meant two separate buses as well as walking). But they wanted to serve Under the Same Sun who has done so much to help their kids! And there is something good that always happens when people join together to serve. It was such a growing and encouraging time for them.

The mamas were asked to share their stories in the science class. After learning about genetics, some of the older children had questions and fears about finding a mate and starting families. The women were asked to share with the children from their perspective as mothers of children with albinism or as mothers who have albinism. This was something they have never done, and they were naturally very apprehensive. These women didn't all know the genetic facts when they birthed their babies. Several of them were abandoned (even on the hospital bed), solely blamed for a condition that can only come from both man and woman. Accused of sleeping with Chinese or Europeans. Rejected by husbands and families. Several of them have had attacks attempted on them and their children. They have been discriminated against because of their children; children whom they love with a fiercely protective love. And yet they carry such hope. We had a lovely time as a group, just praying for them before they shared. They wanted the children to know how much they loved their children, no matter what. They wanted them to know that there was so much hope for these students to raise their own families in the future.

 

Mamas sharing in the class

There were tears from the mamas, myself and others listening as they shared from their hearts the heartache they have suffered, the love they have for their children, and the hope that they have. For the students, many of whom have never known a mother's love, to hear the "mothers' love" ("upendo wa mama") from these women was so precious; this lovely group of mamas truly lived out and lived up to their name. 

The Mamas' Group was delighted to run a stall at the camp, selling the fruit of all their recent labours! They sold bead necklaces, earrings, lip balms and body balms, candles, soaps and cards. It was a fantastic encouragement for them to persevere and work even harder! And another thing I found so wonderful was meeting with them at the end of the week with the final count of the proceeds (which more than covered their transportation costs!) and emphasizing the fact that this money was hard earned by them. They had done this with God's help, together. They are able. They are in business, they are serving others, they are reaching out to help others out of all they have been through themselves. And we thanked God!

Setting up shop
(Notice the amazing wooden necklace display which Louisa quickly made for us after the first day!)

Soaps and Balms

The final day is today! I think everyone is exhausted! Mamas, volunteers, organizers, the kids, me ... But it's the best kind of tired. Fulfilling and satisfying. Knowing we serve a faithful, loving, incredibly big God who is at work bringing his transforming Life and Light into the darkness!

Now to find some clean clothes and cook something other than beans!

[You can find out more about the Upendo wa Mama Group on the blog page above]

 

Blessing when Spitting Watermelon Seeds

Rolling reluctantly out of bed on Saturday morning, I quickly threw on some clothes, took my husband a cup of tea in bed and wrote a quick job list for Amisadai and Louisa to do before they joined me later and headed off to the school where the Upendo wa Mama group meets. I was anxious about the group, thinking ahead to dinner plans for guests arriving at 5pm that afternoon and Tim's plan to be at a TAG Bible College event. I didn't realise then how humbled and blessed I would be when I returned home later.

I waited on my dusty step for mamas to arrive, apprehensively praying for our task of learning how to make soap and emulsified lotions, for a miracle of Swahili for myself ... and for each of the mamas and their children. Many of the women are struggling at the moment to keep money coming in and also with various health issues. One has diabetes, another bad asthma and many of the children have been ill with malaria and other things. With school fees on top of medical fees, life has not been easy. They have started a savings and loans scheme, but it is complicated to justly and compassionately manage the fines and interest!

When we were three, we hunted for the man with the key without success. I then realised that one classroom door was actually unlocked, so we went in. We have two new mamas with us now and as they were the first to arrive, it was good to get to know them better. Jeni, who lost her husband, has two young children aged 2 (with albinism) and 6 months (called Rachel!). Monica is a cheerful lady with albinism who has three children under six. Sadly, when her youngest, Agape, was born last year, her husband abandoned them. So Monica is struggling to provide for her children by selling charcoal at the side of the road. This is increasingly difficult now that the rainy season is over and people can more easily provide their own dry fuel. And yet she carries a big smile and a kind word for those around her.

When a few more mamas had arrived, we were ready to start making soap! Amisadai and Louisa also arrived, dropped off by Tim who was on his way to the Bible College. I started by stressing the importance of protecting ourselves from the hazardous sodium hydroxide with goggles, masks, gloves. They were all very happy to "gear up" in my random collection of protective gear!

Soap-makers in action (from left to right: Rose, Jeni, Mama Faith and Monica)

And so we made soap! It was fun and exciting and all were impressed their results! We made our first hand lotion (using beeswax, oil and water with an emulsifier). We tried out our homemade solar-protection cream on Mama Monica (skin cancer is still the biggest killer for people with albinism). Then after a long time sorting out loans, we finished with a time of encouragement from the Word of God and praying for one another.

Making the soap



Heating wax, oil and water for lotion

And it was then that the women shared their desire to come to our home and say "pole" ("poh-lay"), to show their sympathy for our loss after Dad's death. I love this Tanzanian custom when someone is bereaved, it is so rich in sympathy and encouragement, shows love for one another. We have been so encouraged by the love shown from so many who continue to come to us, often bringing kind gifts.

And so it was that fourteen of us (nine mamas and five kids) squeezed and pushed ourselves into the land cruiser alongside all the pots and pans, bottles of oils and water and a gas burner stove! I carefully put the soft, un-set soap on the dashboard out of harm's way in the scrum.  But after being so careful (and successful) to make sure no human skin came in contact with the soap, one mama climbed up and three fingers squelched straight into three soft soaps! Then it was another scramble for her to get back out and find water to wash with! Three uniquely finger-printed bars of soap.


Quite the car load for the journey home

What a special time at home. The girls and I got busy serving everyone cold water and watermelon. The women shared their love and presented us an incredible gift - an envelope of money they had all contributed to. After sitting through discussions of loans and repayments, of medical bills and lack of work, I knew so well the sacrifice this was for them. It was so wonderful, so special to receive from them, to be helped and loved by these special women . And for them a chance to give and be blessed; they know it is more blessed to give than to receive. And then we sang and prayed ... while spitting watermelon seeds all over the living room floor!

After the Mamas had all gone (Tim returned in time to thank them before they left), as we quickly swept up the watermelon seeds and mopped the watermelon juice from the floor in readiness for our dinner guests arriving soon, I felt so thankful for each one of those women. Encouraged. Truly life's unexpected interruptions to our plan are really God's opportunities to fulfil His plan!
 

New soaps:  milk and honey (L) and plain (R),

As the mamas continue to work towards getting products they can successfully sell, I know there are many of you who were trying out the first efforts! Please do give us some feedback on products you tried as we are eager to find out what recipes work best! We already see that oils that are liquid in Tanzania are solid in the UK, and that makes a big difference for what we sell where! Here is a link to a feedback survey where you can give us your opinion and constructive criticism! Thank you!

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LLT2N5S

And don't forget June 13th is International Albinism Day!

Please remember these mamas, their children and many others with albinism!
 

Upendo wa Mama lip balms, body balms and candles

What's Going Right

Many times over the past few weeks, maybe months, we have felt discouraged. Many times tired. Many times frustrated. We seem to have been pedalling (or should I say mopping!) hard for a long time without stopping and it often feels like we are not getting anywhere! We seem to be jumping numerous hurdles in the house, outside the house, in the car and with our health and I've found it overwhelming at times. Realising I'd forgotten to prepare our guards breakfast and lunch, losing homework and school socks, fumbling around in the dark, falling in a wet trench and running out of cooking gas in the middle of baking a pie, sometimes with so many things going wrong, I could no longer think of anything that was going "right." So it has been good to start thinking together as a family at the end of a day of all the things that have "gone right"... and not all the things that have "gone wrong!" A good exercise in making that decision to choose joy even when it's not so easy! On the day of writing this, we are thankful that the bedding sheets have dried, that the power has stayed on all day, that the light came on in the kitchen, that we were finally able to talk on Skype to Tim's dad battling cancer, and also Louisa has been given the all clear on parasites in her intestine!

In line with that, here are a few photos from this week, which remind me of good things to be thankful for ...


Children with albinism at Lakeview School

It was great to be back at Lakeview School at the end of last week with Samuel and Megan, who did some stories, crafts and games with the children there! I am thankful for these kids with albinism and their lives which are being transformed!

And I am thankful we were able to get safely to the school and back home again! After all the heavy rains, the roads continue to be really awful! On the way home, we proceeded through a large puddle... and got well and truly stuck in mud, surprisingly deep. I climbed out the back of the Land Cruiser, jumping into the deep water and waded round to the front right wheel which was submerged almost completely in mud. Up over my knees, and well over my wellies, I groped under the water in the mud for the 4WD hub on the wheel to turn the lever clockwise. I managed to turn it and then tried to get around to the other front wheel. But I was well stuck in the mud.

With my boots full of water and now sunken in thick mud, I couldn't move! Tim grabbed my hand through the window and pulled! It was a job to get myself through the mud to the other side and definitely drew the amused attention of bystanders from the village! With four wheel drive eventually in action, Tim was able to reverse out of the pickle and get around to the other side! But wet and muddy as I was, I was relegated to sit and bump on the spare tire in the back of the Land Cruiser the rest of the way home!

Children from Mama Minja's Console Nursery enjoying games with Megan and Samuel

I am thankful for Mama Minja and her servant heart in action for the young children at Console Nursery School! She is currently struggling both at her home and the school with the heavy rains and flooding. As I drove Samuel and Megan to the school on Friday, it was another case of getting well stuck in the mud. I hopped out the drivers door into the large puddle and waded through the mud to the front wheels to turn the 4WD hub... yep... familiar story! We got out of the mud, but it was a dodgey road on! And when we arrived we were so sorry to see the trouble Mama Minja was having with squatters from the area digging channels in the road creating havoc for their home. There is just so much water. Mama Minja was telling me about one of the children who has lost their home to the floods, and it's not an isolated story. But through it all, Mama Minja is persevering and changing the lives of these precious, vulnerable children!

Roping Megan and Samuel into some hive activity!

I am thankful for our bees! With two hives busy with bees, while Samuel and Megan were with us, we baited a third hive with honey... yes, a sticky job! And then when night fell, by which time the hive was covered with bees, we helped Joseph to hang it with ropes in a mango tree at the bottom of the garden. I'm thankful for a harvest of honey to come and two bee projects about to start next week!

The Upendo wa Mama Group
Mama Penina holds the new official certificate!

Last, but not least, I am so thankful for these women in the Upendo wa Mama group! On Saturday morning we celebrated getting their "Certificate of Recognition as a Community-based Organization" from Mwanza City Council! With this they have opened their own bank account (no small feat!), which is now up and running! This is an awesome step forward for these women! We had a great morning together as Megan taught us how to make a new card design and shared Scottish shortbread and Thornton's fudge with us all!

Making cards

 

Strength and Joy in the Turbulent Times

Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,

 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

So much turbulence is shaking the world right now. Paris. Beirut. Syria. Burundi.... The atmosphere seems so sombre, although our world has long been broken and hurting. And in the midst of the vast turbulence, all of us face our own small or huge personal turbulent situations. I am just thankful that my strength is not in the governments of this world, not in the success of a crop, nor the rain or the sun. And pertinently for me, especially not in a house in the floods. All these will fail. I will fail. My strength and my joy are in the Lord ... no matter what.

I can't really get my head around my thoughts of the greater turbulence right now. My brain is tired from the lesser turbulence around me. As I write, Tim is stuck in Dar es Salaam, unable to fly in on time because of the turbulent waters in Mwanza. It has been a busy week. I can easily and quickly focus on the frustrations and all that has gone wrong. But while the turbulent waters swirl about, my desire is to keep them off-board. Being in a place of strength and joy rather than sinking with the waters. Treading the heights with the feet of a deer. Looking for the sparks of hope, the glimmers of beauty.

I am rejoicing for the opportunity that Mama Saidati and Mama Wilson have to go to an International Albinism Conference in Dar es Salaam this week! They are excited about representing the Upendo wa Mama Group, taking some of their handmade goods to sell. Some of my recent "turbulence" has come about from the busy preparations for this event. The mamas are enthusiastic to meet and make things to sell, but gathering the group together at one time for a profitable time has been a challenge and involved a lot of "waiting." And trying to keep quality a priority over quantity has also been a challenge!

A busy morning!

After various meetings and plannings during the week, which included ordering, waiting for and picking up our very own "Upendo wa Mama" rubber stamp, we met at the school to do final work on Saturday. As the dark skies thundered ominously, we realised the man with the key was gone! We couldn't get into a classroom to work. We found a spot out of the deep, squelchy mud of the compound, someone ran to borrow a mat, and we got busy on the ground. Again today, heavy rains thwarted plans. Missing all the mamas but one, I ended up driving boxes of soap with Mama Wilson through driving rain to a red container at a bus stand. I can't say I've felt much like we've had the feet of deer treading in the heights, but we do have reason to be joyful!

Now the bus tickets are bought, the soap, Christmas cards and necklaces are boxed up and ready to go. The two mamas leave early in the morning. We have prayed together as a group for their safety as they go. I can't even imagine how it must feel as a woman with albinism, who can neither read or write, who has never travelled to Dar before, to be embarking on this trip! I pray it will be an encouraging and life-changing time for both of them. They have been through terribly turbulent times and my prayer is that they could find real strength and true joy. I can't wait to see them in Dar when I arrive at the conference on Friday!

 

 

Bottling the homemade soap

And finally, to finish with some more strength and joy in turbulent waters... water is such an appropriately apt analogy for me at the moment as we vigorously fight the rising floods downstairs every few hours! But while I still struggle to find joy in the basement, this church in Kisesa quickly found joy in the remains of their ruined building. They have been building a church, and had just put the roof on. But the high winds of the other week tore off the roof and the flooding torrents tore through the foundations. And yet the people sang.

The temporary building

The now-roofless frame. The rebuilding begins.

They know where there strength and joy is found. Yes, they see the problems, and I'm not talking about just their own building problems, but also those of their community, faced with harsh weather conditions, poor soil, and a lot of witchcraft. They see misplaced strength and a lack of joy. We are looking forward to working with them in Kisesa, reaching out from where we have been working at the demonstration farm at the School, to the rest of the village.

So yes, these times are turbulent. The history of our world has always been turbulent. But yet we can rejoice and have strength. In God, when all else is failing around us, we can rise above and tread the heights with our feet like the feet of a deer. And this is my prayer for friends, and also suffering strangers, in turbulent times now.


Singing in Kisesa Church from Rachel Monger on Vimeo.
 

Walking Together: Sugar and Rice and a Landcruiser Search

Four bags of sugar, a bag of rice and a basket of money. We are so grateful to be working together with the church in Kayenze! This very small but hugely missionally-minded group had a "Missions Service" last Sunday. And out of what they had, this group of maybe 18 people, gave. And then they gave to us.

It was wonderful because we realised then that we were together! So often people look to us as "outsiders" to provide or give. Often we have received a gift as a thank you for what we have done or given. But as they gave us these gifts, Pastor Amon acknowledged our need and our place with them. He appreciated and shared the fact that the work we are doing, we cannot do alone. Everything we have and do comes from the giving of others. It comes from people in other countries faithfully supporting us each month. It comes from the help we get from people here in Tanzania. We are doing this work together! He encouraged the church to support us in our work; as well as practically helping us, also financially and sacrificially supporting us. Yes, it was humbling to receive such a gift. But beautiful.

Upendo wa Mama (Albinism Mamas Group)
I am also so grateful to be walking together with a group of women who support one another in a humbling and beautiful way! I'm so glad to be back with the mamas again! Last week, after several failed attempts to get together, we finally met on Wednesday and then again on Saturday in that Primary School classroom. I had already met twice with one of the Mamas, but one of those times is another story...

Mama Mary and I met on Monday to try and find one of the mamas, who no one had seen or been able to reach by phone for some time.

It was one of those unfortunately now familiar landcrusier adventures, as Mary directed me where she didn't really know. We ended up on a crazy dirt "road" full of the biggest potholes (which made the "road" disappear) and eventually came out at a primary school where she told me to turn in. I wasn't sure that there was a road out, but we continued ... weaving through the classroom buildings, then through the middle of a football game on the school field until we really could go no further! We continued on foot, but Mary could not remember where our friend's house was. After much asking around, including a visit to the local official, I was starting to get concerned. I knew that the woman's husband had left her and that she had fought attempts made on her girls' lives. I was concerned for her safety and whereabouts.

After fruitlessly searching in the heat, Mary and I discovered that we were looking around the wrong school! So we took directions to another school, which Mary was convinced was near the home we were looking for. I began to worry about how we were going to find our way back home as we travelled on small dirt roads and took turns this way and that, following doubtful directions from people along the way. But to my great relief, two hours after setting out with Mary, we arrived at Mama's house! To find she was out! But we saw her two young daughters (both with albinism) and they said their Mama was fine. We sat with them awhile. We are thankful Mama is physically okay and are hoping we will meet with her soon and have an opportunity to talk.

While I was driving all these roads with Mary, we had plenty of time to chat. It was difficult to hear about her struggles. Her little girl (with albinism) is struggling with her eyesight getting worse and finding it difficult at school. Mary is hoping to get her into Lakeview School, but the fees are high and the sponsorship places are limited with so many children wanting to get in. On her own, she is trying to raise school fees for her other children as well. We talked about the Upendo wa Mama group and how working together the group could help one another, and it was exciting on Wednesday to meet together and talk a plan through into action.

I was thinking about how the profits from the group (small weekly contributions from the group and necklace sales) could be used to help Mary get a loan to pay her school fees. But as the group talked about it at a special meeting on Wednesday, I saw that all the mamas wanted loans. I knew how much Mary needed and knew there was only just enough for that. But she was so immediately willing to share that amount between them all. And they didn't just divide it equally between them. They discussed their needs and some agreed to take less so that others could have more. They also all agreed to hold back some savings for an oven for the benefit of the whole group later on. It was beautiful to see. And the Savings and Loans scheme is now in place and in action, helping these mamas support their families!

That we could all be so willing to acknowledge others needs before our own. To be willing to give and able to receive. That we could all then truly be in relationship, walking "together."

Mama makes some cards with the group this Saturday

Dora and Louisa have fun playing school while the mamas work

Making Christmas cards

*Names in this post have been changed to protect identities

Kneading and Waiting with Mamas of Children with Albinism

On Saturday I was with some hard-pressed lovely mamas of children with albinism. We were all shocked and deeply saddened by the recent murder of  little Yohanna with albinism. The previous day, 18-month old Yohanna's broken body had been buried beside the graves of his older brother and sister (also with albinism). He was buried in a deep grave built with bricks and mortar, iron rods and corrugated iron to prevent his grave later being robbed. His mother Ester still lies in serious condition in hospital in Mwanza, after desperately attempting to protect her baby from the five attackers who broke into their home with machetes. His other siblings (ages 3 and 12), also with albinism, are being protected, but their fear and grief is unimaginable.

I have written before about the evils of witchcraft. The horrifically numerous incidences of killings of people with albinism in Tanzania are the horrible and gruesome evidence of such evil. Every one of Yohanna's limbs was severed from his body, taken by his killers to sell for huge sums of money. Witch doctors will pay as much as $75,000 for a "full set" of albino body parts from which to make their charms and spells to bring good luck and wealth.

It has been suggested that the killings and tortures of people with albinism are linked somehow to politicians (using witchcraft practices to secure power or foretell the future), given the fact that killings increase around election years. Tanzania elections will be held in October of this year. Fear is rising as Yohanna is the second child this month to be taken. There has still been no sign of 4-year old Pendo.

The word is getting out around the world on the atrocities happening here. And it needs to. Please share! Many are working to put pressure on the government to act. On March 2nd people are gathering in Dar es Salaam to protest the killings, the lack of action and the lack of prosecution of those responsible; to plead on behalf of people with albinism and pray for victims. Please pray!

Also complicating and worsening the situation, is that now there is an increase in vigilante justice, as people take matters into their own hands. Witch hunts are leading to the killings of innocent women accused of being witches. Last month, a 58 year old woman, Jane Bakiri in Tabora was attacked at night in her home by many villagers with machetes and knives and then burned alive. Older women, particularly those with red eyes (caused by the smoke over years of cooking on a three stone fire) are at risk from angry or frightened villagers seeking their own form of perceived justice. Tragic and unjust.

The mamas and I that met together on Saturday all knew the dangers, the feelings of helplessness amid such wickedness and corruption; they knew first-hand the fear. Mama Penina talked about the instant worry if she has a moment wondering where her little Maria is playing. I cannot imagine. None of Mama Wilison's five children have albinism, but she has it herself. She has grown up and lived with the danger. Yet they are so brave. Both Mama Penina and Mama Faith shared from Psalm 140; they have little confidence in their government, but every confidence in their heavenly Father.

That day we kneaded bread. We kneaded hard. They have been asking for some weeks now to learn how to use a small jiko (fuel-efficient clay stove) to bake bread. And so we did. And we talked. With my stumbling, inadequate Swahili, we talked about their children. We talked about our broken world and talked about a God who created us and loves us and clothes our nakedness. We talked about a good God who has a saving plan that started with another broken body. And we prayed.

We drank chai. And we broke the bread and ate together.

Shaping the bread dough

 

Eating bread and drinking chai

Mama Faith enjoys the bread and chai

Kneading and waiting. These two things are key in the process. Kneading to get the right consistency, to make the bread strong and prevent collapse later on. Hard pressed. Waiting. Waiting for the yeast to do its job and leaven the dough and make it grow.

And we do pray for this country and its government, that the leaven of the Kingdom would do its work. Even where governments fail, a little leaven will go a long way.

Working with the bread, seeing a product good and strong come out of a time of kneading and waiting, was a good reminder in the middle of a time of hard pressing and waiting. Not just for these mamas. Also for our guard Thaddeus who three days ago asked us to pray for his two boys. They are away at boarding school and the other night, Thaddeus received a call to say that both had run away and no one knew where they were. There is still no sign of them although police and family are searching.

Also for Tim's Dad and our whole family. We talked with Tim's parents yesterday, receiving the news that Dad's surgery to remove the brain tumour is set for March 10th. All felt that it would be best for Tim to be there. Suddenly the waiting from afar leapt into a blur of action as we changed Tim's tickets and tried to make fast plans for Tim to leave here on Wednesday next week in order to be with his Dad. So sad that we cannot all go together, particularly at such a "kneading" time, the girls and I plan to stay the rest of the month to finish things well here and pack up before our 4 months away. It's strange how things that seemed so important before, are suddenly not.

And so in the kneading and the waiting we remember we all have the opportunity to grow stronger. And we remember that it was through brokenness that we have wholeness.


Bread in process

There will be No Need for Darkness and None for Tears

Yesterday I listened to this song by The Gray Havens ("Far Kingdom") and just cried, tears streaming. I cried for the shock and sadness of suffering for Tim's dad who this week was diagnosed with a brain tumour. For family hurting far away. I cried the sweet tears of goodbye for my Grandma whose funeral is on Monday and tears of sorrow for my Grandad left behind. For my cousin, who at the same time was hours in surgery. Tears of confusion wondering where we should be. And I cried tears of outrage and sadness for Ester, a mother in serious condition here in hospital with machete wounds from the attackers who kidnapped her 18-month old son, Yohanna with albinism. Tragically, like so many others, his little limbs were later hacked off for witchcraft and his mutilated body left a few miles away. Tears for the fear of many with albinism (including Ester's other two young children) and their families as the election approaches and the witchcraft practices escalate. Tears for myself, so helpless to do anything. Tears for a broken world.

But there will be no need for darkness and none for tears.

Inspired by the writings of C.S. Lewis and Jonathan Edwards, David Radford wrote this song, "Far Kingdom." The song poetically and musically expresses our longing for the world to come, but this a longing in which we find an earthly joy now. I felt that longing. A longing for a kingdom without tears.

As C.S. Lewis said, our life now is “an unsatisfied desire, more desirable than any satisfaction.” Our hope is not ultimately in this life (which will always have its darkness and tears), but in the one to come. And here in this hope is joy. There really is joy in the longing.

How much more we can know God now if we long for this eternity. How much more we will find our joy in Him today as we long for this eternity! How much more we will see the beauty in the tangles now as we look towards what is coming? If there was no suffering, would we know compassion? Would we know true love?

The compassion and love of Jesus is real and he wants us to share it. So in the midst of suffering, we pray for healing - healing for Tim's dad, healing for my cousin, healing for Ester. And in the midst of darkness, where evil and witchcraft penetrate, we shine the light. And in the midst of sadness, in the midst of the brokeness, we find joy in the longing and the hope.

May this eternal "not-yet" perspective always be now transforming us and others through us.

You turned my mourning into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God I will praise you forever. Ps. 30:11-12


For more on the tragic attacks see the links below ... and then pray.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31518397

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/18/kidnapped-tanzanian-albino-boy-found-dead-with-limbs-hacked-off?CMP=share_btn_fb