A Kambi of Fishermen on Remote Ito Island

Ito Island is a very small and remote island north of Kome Island. Mainly fishermen live there. There is no electricity, no healthcare, there is no school on the island, no church, and very few women and children. 

The red arrow points to Ito Island. Our route is roughly marked in blue!

We went to Ito Island last week, while our cousin visitors had a few days in the Serengeti. We went with Simon and Reuben and Getrude to visit and encourage a pastor called Zakayo who has recently moved there to work with the fishermen. All the houses on the island are very temporary wooden shelters. Zakayo lives in one such shelter, managing a "kambi", a small camp of fishermen and boats in a small sandy bay, along with two women hired to cook for all the men. 

Pastor Zakayo in the brightly colour shirt in his small fishing bay

The fishermen who live there playing cards while 

the two women cook beans in the kitchen shelter behind the boat.

Resting a while at Zakayo's place

Zakayo took us for a walk around the island. It was quite fascinating to see such a completely different environment! The island is a reserved area and there are wonderfully lush jungle-like areas. The surrounding lake is absolutely beautiful. Yet evidence of the rough life of the fishermen is littered everywhere on the ground. There are no markets, but so many small shops who clearly profit only from alcohol. Indeed as one man we met said, the religion on this island is "pombe" (alcohol).

Drink bottles and more littered across the path

Life is clearly raw and tough on this beautiful island. It is very transitory with fishermen following the fish and girls following the fishermen. I chatted to the two women working in Zakayo's kambi. Both of them have children and neither have husbands. Mama Edward travels to visit her three children in Sengerema on the mainland every Monday, returning on Tuesday. The youngest is only five years old. She goes across on a fishing boat to Mchangani on Kome Island every three days to buy supplies of things like oil, rice, beans, sembe flour, tea and sugar. And every day between the two women, they cook two meals a day for the fishermen. I wonder how often they get together with other women. I wonder if and how the young girls with painted faces and non-traditional clothing integrate with them. And I also wonder about the school-age children I see and if they will ever go to school. 

We only stayed the morning as lunch was being prepared for us on Kome Island, so we were soon back on a little fishing boat for the 20 minute ride back (we went prepared with our own life jackets!).

Sitting on the huge pile of fishing nets with Pastor Charles from Kome Island

Louisa leads the way!

We docked at a place called Mchangani which is on the northern point of Kome Island. This is another very remote community, again part of a government reserve where no school-aged children are allowed to live and so there are no schools. Homes are all temporary structures made with wood. Simon was able to check out the latrine pits being dug here at Pastor Charles' church. And we were all able to enjoy a lovely lunch and I think you can guess what it was …. fish!

Wooden houses in Mchangani

Fish drying

It was also good to spend time on Kome Island. We were able to visit three churches that we are working with on the Health and Sanitation project. Getrude is living on the island three out four weeks, working with the women's health groups and Simon is going once a week, particularly to monitor the Clean Latrine project. Large pits are now dug at four churches; Simon has done a great job working with the individual churches to decide on appropriate technology for each and teaching sanitation training seminars with Getrude. Each church with its "demonstration toilet" will be able to reach out to the rest of the community offering help to improve hygiene and sanitation for improved health. It is exciting to see how things are progressing! 

A new church is being planted here in Nyamiswi by Pastor Medard

Pastor David's church in Nyamkolechewa

Here you can see the new building going up around the old one!

And behind the new building ….

The hole was dug rather larger than planned! 

This will be the pit for three toilets planned for the church plot

Simon gives out a sledge hammer head for smashing the rocks for the latrine pit

It was particularly lovely to see Pastor Margaret again! I had not seen her in such a long time! We had connected five years ago on our first visits to Kome and talked about EI partnering with her church. It has been a long time coming, but it is so wonderful to finally be working together! Her church shelter was sadly burned down a few months ago, but thanks to generous friends in London, work has started on a good church building! Foundations are laid! And as we looked at the foundations, it was exciting to know that these physical foundations were symbolic of so much more being laid and of what will be built up!

With Pastor Margaret wearing our exchanged gifts!

The foundations are laid

Brick-making in progress

Impromptu hopscotch, singing and English lessons at the church site attracted rather a crowd!

And here are a few other photos of some of our Lake Victoria travels to Kome and Ito Islands … Over three days we travelled on eight different ferries and boats!

Our journey from the mainland to Kome Island with some cows.

This was our taxi boat from Kome Island to Ito.

On the boat to Ito

It was a bit more of a job climbing into the fishing boat from Ito!

Louisa and Reuben were hoisted in by the fishermen!

This was a very crowded ferry from Kome Island back to the mainland. 

We were packed in next to a HUGE truck piled to the sky with harvested cotton!

We got a bit wet on this one!

Arriving on the mainland as the sun goes down … only one more ferry to go!

Final ferry and its time for bed!

As we were out on the Lake with nets in boats, watching the fishermen mend their nets, standing beside stone fires frying up fish, seeing Zakayo with his kambi of fishermen … it reminded us of Jesus. Going to live and work with fishermen, gathering a kambi of transitory people to be with him. And he taught them. He went with them to take love, healing and forgiveness to the people around them. And from that Lake at Galilee, his message of love, healing and forgiveness travelled the world from that time until today. And so now at this Lake, we pray for Pastor Zakayo as he lives and works with these fishermen. May this kambi also become fishers of men and take the life and message of love, healing and forgiveness to the people on these islands.

Goats, Bees and Varcoes

I am working backwards here in the blog! So before Zanzibar and before the Mamas big order deadline, we had a great visit with David and Ineke Varcoe who came just to support and encourage us, which is just exactly what they did! It was wonderful to have them with us and they treated us in so many ways! Kicking a football, singing and playing Phase 10 ... the girls especially loved having them around! They also came with us on many visits and encouraged so many of the people we are working with as well!

David and Ineke were with us for the birth of Stanley (Park), born to our Saanen goat! We now have two little kids Sasky and Stanley skipping about, and are enjoying the milk we get from Victoria! We are drinking some, saving some for goats cheese and giving some to the Upendo wa Mama group for Goat's Milk and Honey soap

Victoria and Stanley

Creamy morning goats milk

Kayenze Beekeepers

We had a really encouraging meeting with the beekeepers in Kayenze! They received the money for all the honey they have sold in the first harvest. After all the challenges they have faced, this was just wonderful to celebrate together!  It was such a positive time with deep and meaningful discussion beyond simply the honey. It was a wonderful time of sharing and learning from each other as we talked about London and Kayenze and the role of the church in community. The Kayenze beekeepers are keen to invest their talents and profits and have already paid for three more hives to be made which will be hung to colonise and we hope produce more honey for the next harvest!

We were also able to visit the papaya tree shamba at Alphonse's. As well as papayas and beehives, Alphonse also cares for one of the three Kayenze tree nurseries. It is good to see the tree planting project progressing alongside the beekeeping and agriculture in this area.

We were also able to visit the papaya tree shamba at Alfonse's

Papaya fruit!

The beehive at Alphonse's

Ngudu New Beekeeping Group

We drove further afield together with John, our beekeeping trainer, to the village of Ngudu, a new village for us, where we are starting another beekeeping group. It was great to be with Pastor Wilfred and the church there for a Sunday morning. David preached and after an amazing lunch, we headed out to visit an existing apiary which was struggling in disrepair. But it was great to see the interest in getting beekeeping to flourish in the village! We then returned to the church building where interested new beekeepers from the church gathered for some initial teaching from John about the beekeeping project and how the church can help and serve the whole community through it. We are looking forward to another visit in a few weeks and then officially starting the community group and beekeeping training after Christmas.

After all the other choirs, it was time for the Wageni Wazungu Choir!

Wandering through abandoned hives at the apiary in Ngudu

Kome Island Health Project

Tim went with Peter, David and Ineke to Kome Island for a few days where they met up with Gertrude to see all that is going on with the Health project. Gertrude has been doing a great job managing things while Simon and Victoria have been back in the UK!  They arrived in time for lunch and then they joined the fifteen women in VICOBA group run by Pastor Margaret. The group is going well - they meet weekly to deposit a small amount money. This scheme helps them to save and support one another and later on they can take out loans to start small enterprises amongst other things. While the women, Gertrude and Ineke continued with a health meeting, Tim, David and Peter went with Margaret to the mid-week church meeting where David spoke. Margaret is an incredible woman, passionate and committed and very supportive of the project. They all enjoyed sharing a meal in her home at the end of the day. The following day, they went to another village where Peter did some training on conservation agriculture for a group of fifteen there. They then returned to Margaret's village and did the same for a group there as well. The churches in both villages are going to plant a demonstration farm this season and we hope to start more training with more in the communities.

It was also good to see how the sanitation teaching is catching on! Simon had taught Pastor Daudi how to make and use the Tippy Tap, erecting one outside the outhouse at his home. The house with the Tippy Tap is now essentially a public toilet for all the school kids who want to use Pastor Daudi's outhouse, just so they get to wash their hands at the Tippy Tap! Wonderful! It was fantastic for Ineke in particular to see the work progressing on Kome as she walked a long 100km in 24 hours last year to raise funds for this project!

The only damper on the trip was at the end! Peter, David and Ineke all boarded the ferry to head to the mainland. But Tim, driving the landcruiser, was booted out the way and left behind on the island! The others had to wait three hours on the other side for him to get across!

Ferry from Kome Island 

The Women's VICOBA group meeting

David preaches the small gathering at Margaret's church

Tadley Team Tanzania

The Brits have departed. Now in the quiet, tired, rather subdued calm as we clear up and finish unpacking our boxes, I am finally re-emerging and posting a rather overdue blog update!

The team has been just fantastic! We had our pastor, Greg Whittick from Tadley Community Church here with four young people, Samuel, David, Lottie and Alex, also from Tadley. They will tell their own story here later, but here is a quick snapshot of all the things they got up with us ...



David, Samweli, Alex and Lottie with the infamous Vomiting Fish of Mwanza

Team Tadley 2014

They arrived on June 26th and jumped in immediately the next day with a seminar on discipling young people in the church. It seems this will be the start of something bigger; Tim will carry on with what Greg has started, working with pastors to help them see the potential and opportunity in training young people.


David leads "Set a Fire" at Mkuyuni Church

In their first full week in Tanzania, the team worked at two separate schools for children with albinism connected with Under the Same Sun. It was a special and moving time with these kids. A young boy shared his story with us. He and his brother and sister all have albinism and he told of how when living at home, they were woken by intruders in the night. He and his siblings managed to hide that night. But the next night, the men returned. While hiding, his sister was found and he was helpless as they cut pieces from her, including her tongue, and sat and drank her blood. Another girl, Elizabeti who is missing a finger, shared her story also. These kids, considered by many to be a curse, have lived a life of danger and rejection. They have witnessed and experienced horrific things as their body parts are sought after for witchcraft purposes. But it was beautiful to listen to these children share how God has saved them and to hear them share their hopes to become accountants and pilots and to help others like them. And it was wonderful to share some fun and laughter doing games and songs and crafts.

Arts and Crafts

Parachute Fun!



Greg's Famous Balloon Ministry!


Lunch with the children at Jellies School



After a 2-day trip to the Serengeti, camping in tents and seeing all the incredible wildlife, they were back leading services again for their second Sunday. They enjoyed a special service and lunch with the street kids of the city. It was great to all share a meal together; we all tucked into huge platefuls of rice and beans! The BMCC church is helping these kids get vocational training or more importantly, returned to their homes and reconciled with families. The work with these kids is also growing with Mwanza International Community Church; the work is ballooning really as more and more kids are coming to Sunday services! Girls on the street are also coming; one young girl arrived with her newly born twins (you can see one of them below). All are in desperate need of help, both physical and spiritual.

Pastor Zakayo (MICC) with the children at MICC

The team's second week was a trip to Kome Island. A 6-hour ferry got us all to our guesthouse, where the team experienced the joys of no running water and multiple meals of fish and saw some of the poorest living conditions they have ever seen. We "helped" in Dr Makori's clinic and did surveys in the area. The aim was to discover what the main sicknesses in the area are. From our research, the top problems were typhoid and amoeba and other stomach related illnesses (water-related) as well as the usual problems of malaria. The survey was also able to find out more about childbirth situations. Jountwa, one of the guys from Mwanza International Community Church, came with us and was able to offer counselling for people with HIV AIDS. We were able to walk around the village in the late afternoons/evenings, visiting people, praying with people and sharing the love of God with loads of children that followed us as we went! Samuel came into his element as he shared the gospel with his flock of children!  Greg and Tim were very encouraged after meeting with local pastors, talking about how the church can reach out to their community and how they can disciple young people. Tired and dirty, but healthy and happy, we returned to Mwanza via the night boat... an experience the team will never forget as they struggled over rocks through the sea of people both coming off and getting on the boat, all with sacks of rice and jabbing elbows on a narrow causeway jutting into the lake.

Attempting to board the ferry!

Greg leads the Pastors Seminar on Kome Island
 

Their work finished with some teaching at Console Nursery, the school run by Mama Minja for orphaned or needy children. We succeeded in our goal to get a smile from a little girl called Esther, whose father has died of HIV AIDS and whose mother is very ill with it. She is a malnourished and sad little girl from a very difficult home situation, but we coaxed a smile! 



More parachute fun at Console Nursery

Alex and Lottie work on making a clay stove (they later cooked on one!)

So it has been a full three weeks, but thankfully all stayed healthy and although it seemed impossible at times, all were fed and watered daily (note to self for the future... do not try and host a team after just moving house and with a small dodgy oven and without sufficient help or a washing machine!) The team was a great encouragement and blessing to us and many others and they have opened doors for the work of God here. They have worked hard, they have served and given so generously and have learned and received even much more!