They just think I am a little strange

We finished the Kiswahili course on Nov. 29th and Bishop John came for us on the 30th. We had learned a lot of words and grammar but we had not had a lot of conversation practice. I guess that will come with time.

 

He took us first to Mbeya, his home town and we stayed there for three days. The hospitality was tremendous. The late bishop's wife, Eunice looked after us very well. We were invited to a wedding on the Saturday afternoon. This seemed a very propitious way to begin our mission. On the Sunday we went to church. I knew I would have to sit at the front but Olwen had planned that she and Michael would sit with Eunice. Not so. When I processed in, she was sitting beside the bishop with a place left for me. He introduced us and I made a short speech in halting Kiswahili. They seemed pleased with it. On Monday we drove to the Zambian border through beautiful countryside. We visited the parish priest. He had been there 3 years and started the parish in a pagan area. He had 200 members. This is the cutting edge. This diocese has started 6 new parishes in similar areas in the last 6/12 years. The church choir had assembled to sing for us. They invited us to join in which we did joyfully. It was great. I have promised to return and sing with them again.

On Dec. 31 we set out for Milo. It was great to think that it was happening at last ... About a half mile from the church many of the village had congregated and the nursing students were dancing and singing to the beat of two bass drums. I got out of the car and joined them and Michael and Olwen followed. We danced from there to the Bible school quad where the official welcome took place. The dancing and singing continued while we had refreshments and then there were speeches. There was even a poem in our honour. Again I did what I could in Kiswahili and told them that we were now villagers.

The house is very nice. It sits on the side of a ridge overlooking a beautiful valley about 5 miles across and 1,500 feet deep. The view is breathtaking. The house is very comfortable. The lounge is 21x24 with a fireplace in one corner. We are glad of that in the evenings. There is a hatch through into the kitchen. There are three bedrooms and ours has a bathroom off it. There are showers in both bathrooms but they don't work at present. However we brought a camping shower with us and there is always lots of hot running water in the kitchen. We have a Tanganyikan boiler at the back of the house. It is a 50 gallon drum with a fire under it and another one high up to feed it. The water smelled of diesel oil at first but we are glad to say, that by using it, the smell has worn off. We brought a gas stove with us that we bought in Dar Es Salaam and propane is available in Njombe. We have two tanks and rotate them.

... I paid the students of the Bible school to prepare a chunk of ground for a garden. It was good for me and they do not have much opportunity to earn money. I have planted some of the seeds that have been sent and have swiss chard, beans and cucumber growing well. The sweet corn is also starting to show through. My potato seed are not ready to be planted yet but soon. I also got a lot of cuttings from a lady in Njombe and they are doing well. We should have a small flower garden. I had forgotten how much pleasure I got from the garden because we did not have one in Winnipeg. I usually have a group of children watching me when I am working there as they are not used to men doing that. We see the women heading off to the shambas in the morning carrying their jembes and returning in the evening with loads on their heads. I also paid the boys to build a chicken house and run. When we were in Njombe on the 18th we bought 10 chickens that were just starting to lay. We have had as many as 9 eggs in a day. In fact we have an embarrassment of eggs and have had to give them away. Our chickens are pampered as they are fed twice a day and watered and to not have to forage for themselves. Michael thinks it is great and he is there 10 to 15 times per day looking for eggs.

... I started work in the hospital on the 7th and had some help for the first day. Since then I have been seeing patients on my own. The conditions would horrify you. As far as I know, I don't have a license yet. My temporary one expired some time ago. They wrote and asked me to send my documentation once again. I complied with this and heard nothing. Two nights after we got here one of the priests from Njombe arrived to get the documents again as they had been lost. That was the last I heard. One night I observed one caesarean and yesterday I did my first one here. A nurse gave IV ketamnine and there was a nurse to assist. There was no OR light. Daylight is good. The one scalpel blade was used for all layers and that blade was recycled. The woman who had a previous LCSC and had been in labour for 36 hours, walked from a nearby village. We had a live 3 kg female who did not go to the ICU nursery but was carried, unclothed across the quad and given to the granny who wrapped it in a thin cotton kanga. Mother and babe are doing well today. I have just put casts on a lady who was brought in by "ambulance" -- a bicycle with a back board and several men to push the bike and hold her on. She has bilateral colles fractures of the wrist and a very unstable fracture of tib and fib just above the ankle. That must have been some ride.

... It is impossible to describe the poverty, it has to be seen. People living in North America cannot imagine living the way they do. I know the conditions on the northern reserves are not good but they are princely compared to this. Even very small children have jobs to do. I passed some cows the other day and their herder may have been 4 but probably was 3. He was dressed in an old t-shirt that was holey and came down passed his knees. I suspect that was his only clothing. He had probably been out with the cows all day and was now on his way home. Very small children, 5 to 6, are carrying their baby brother or sister on their backs all day. They care for them while the parents are in the fields. It is very hard to refuse to give them anything when they come to the door but if we start, it will never stop and we could give away our whole living allowance and it would not make a jot of difference. We are going to see if we can arrange to do something through the church so it is not seen to be coming directly from us.

I have been involved in the church ever since we got here. The first Sunday I preached in Kiswahili. Rather I read the prepared text that Father John and I worked on the previous evening. I had written the sermon during the week and we translated it into good Kiswahili. Most people seem to understand it. many of the older people only speak Pangwa and I don't expect they got too much out of it. This is a very Anglo-catholic area and high even by those standards. There is incense and bells and genuflecting and crossing. I just go along in my usual way and they just think I am a little strange ... The first Sunday we were there the bishop was still there and he stood at the front with cope, mitre and crozier and told everyone in no uncertain way that we were to be made welcome and helped any way they could. We have heard that he is planning another trip this way to see how we are managing. He really has been most solicitous about our welfare. We think we will go to Mbeya at the end of this month for a long weekend and in March head for the coast and visit Zanzibar.

Michael is settling in well. He has a friend in the son of Father John. Edward is 5 but quite big for his age and he can understand some English. We had hoped that Michael's Kiswahili would improve but I think it is Edward's English that is doing better. There is a little brother, Christopher, 3, and he is always just a little behind. We hope to see the head teacher before school starts to see if it will be possible for him to attend there, even two days a week so he gets to meet some other boys and learns some more of the language. Olwen has been home schooling him but she has had to make up lessons so far as the Manitoba curriculum has not arrived yet ... He is becoming more adventurous about eating which is as well. In fact he told us he had eaten some dried fish that I would not have considered. He always seems to be hungry so maybe he will start to grow. We were going to buy him a bicycle for Christmas but decided against it as he would be the only child in the village to have one and it would be used by a lot of kids. He has a Meccano set and I have been helping him build some models until he has the idea how to do it himself.

My days have settled into a routine (or rut as my children would say). We rise at 6:30 just after the sun is up and I leave for the hospital at 7:40 a.m. It is less than five minutes up the hill so I am there for morning prayers. These are attended by all the staff before the days work starts. It is a form of Morning Prayer complete with Venite and Benedictus. These are direct translations as are many of the prayers. I like to follow the readings in my Biblia as I still have difficulty recognizing the spoken words. Every morning after the service there is a radio call to Njombe. I opt out of this as, not only is it in Kiswahili but it sounds like Donald Duck. 9:00 a.m. there is a ward round and conducting it seems to have devolved on me. I go home for coffee at 10:00 and return at 10:30 to Ops. With the good weather I have usually seen all of them by 12. They tell me it will be much busier when it gets cooler. I go home for lunch and return at 1:00 p.m. and sit around until 2:00 before calling it a day. In the afternoon I garden, read, play with Michael when he is around or do my needlepoint. I have done about 1/10th in the first month. We were a bit short of reading material but the books that we left have now started to arrive from St. Aidan's.

God bless you
Love from Olwen, Iain and Michael

Iain & Olwen Elliott
Diocese of South West Tanganyika
Box 32,
Njombe, TANZANIA, East Africa

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The Rev. Dr. Iain Elliott will serve as a medical doctor at St. Luke's Hospital, Milo, in the Diocese of Southwest Tanganyika in the Church of the Province of Tanzania. He will be accompanied by his wife, Olwen and their son, Michael. The Elliotts are from the Diocese of Brandon. Their placement is for 2 years. They depart for Tanzania in early August to attend Language Training for 4 months in Morogoro before Dr. Elliott begins his medical practice at St. Luke's Hospital.

Links:

• Other stories, reports, and photos from Iain and Olwen in Tanzania