Quick fix - tyre repairs!

One of the constant things we have to deal with here in Tanzania is bad roads and damage to tyres (sorry, tires for my U.S. readers). There simply is no maintenance at all done on the roads and they become a dumping ground for all sorts of things. On top of that people cart loads of scrap metal in hand carts that are not covered and things often fall off. I while back I put a four inch tear in the side wall of one tyre that could not be repaired.

While I could do nothing with that tyre, there have been many punctures that I have fixed and I am getting pretty good at it.

Tomorrow I am heading out to Singida for a couple of days and as I was checking the truck I noticed that one front tyre was down some. Time for some repairs!

Fortunately this puncture was in a nice position and was easy to find.  It was just a case of digging out the offending object (in this case a screw) with a pair of needle nose pliers.

Then you have to ream the the hole with a special tool so it is ready for the plug.

Putting the plug in is the next part. This is the hardest because it is obviously a tight fit. The plug has this "goo" on it to make it stick.

All that's then left to do is cut off the excess of the plug and check for leaks.

Then inflate the tyre to the required pressure and you are good to go - until next time!

Photos from Singida

We did a lot of this - waiting in line for fuel! For some reason there was no diesel in Singida for sale (there was only a little petrol). Each fuel station was either completely closed or had lines of traffic waiting to see if they would sell any fuel. Oh, by the way, the tanker 2 ahead of me was not delivering fuel, its tank was empty too!

Sister Dorcas from the Singida congregation, with her daughters. We had a very good study with these people on Friday.

Marabou and the moon
These Marabou storks are huge birds and about 20 of them hand out at the Catholic Guest House where I was staying.  Have a look at this link to find out more about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marabou_Stork

We traveled out to Nkalakala village to study with some of Samuel's family. As there was too many people to fit into the house we had our study sitting under a tree. They really appreciated the tracks we left with them

Time for a Photo!

People here LOVE to have their photo taken and when they are able to see the results strength away often hilarity follows. Here is the family gathered in front of their house. (Samuel/s mother is in the purple in the middle and Samuel and his brother are standing right behind her.)

The country side around Nkalakala village. Note the road!

Sunday after services at Malade. For those interested you can see Yohana 4:24 (John 4:24) and "roho na kweli", "spirit and truth". I think my Swahili is improving (a very little)

Samuel Nandi and myself.

On the way home from Singida

Video Blog - road to Singida

This is a little diffeent, a video blog. Let me know what you think.

Seek first the kingdom of God (in Singida)

Today I want to write about a young brother who is an inspiration to me, and I hope his will be to you. His name is Samuel Nandi.

Samuel

I first met Samuel in Nairobi, Kenya last year. He was a quiet, reserved young man. We was a active member of the church by then. I remember he was asked to lead a prayer by the preacher and his shyness caused him to pray so quietly it was impossible to say, "amen".

The next time I saw Samuel was in Arusha, he had come for a Leadership study we had arranged. Again he was very quiet, but there was something about him. At the end of the study he told me he wanted to stay in Arusha to go to a tourism college and could he stay at the church building. Of course the brethren were happy for him to do that and he became a part of the congregation.

At the Leadership Study

Samuel was has a Kenyan father and a Tanzanian mother. He speaks very good English and he is very intelligent.  He showed a great interest in studying the Bible and learning. I ended up finding him work around the church building that needed to be done to help him with the cost of furthering his education.

He was waiting to start college at the beginning of this year when he told me he wanted to go to his family village in Singida to visit his mother. We have had this happen to a number of Christians and unfortunately we have not see these brethren again. I was wondering if this was going to be the case with Samuel.

Around that time Anne and I traveled to Malaysia to assist the brethren in Kuala Lumpur and then went on to Perth. While there I received an email from Samuel telling me he had started 2 congregations! One in the village and one in the town of Singida.

With Samuel and his family

Since then, readers of this blog will know that I have made a number of trips to Singida to help the work there. The congregations are small, the Christians are young, but the truth is being preached. Samuel had been living in the village with his mother and step-father, but he was concerned about the lack of growth in the town. He could not afford the cost of the bus ticket (Tsh 4000 - about $2.40) each way, to help them. He therefore decided he needed to move to the town to help the church there.

Just as we all do, all around the world Samuel has Samuel has to deal with the problem of supporting himself financially, and helping the church. He has just come up with a plan and I am so very proud of him.

Together with another new brother, Edward, Samuel found a unfinished house in Singida town and started renting it. The deal is that for the first 2 month it is rent free, but these young men have to do some work on the house - they are doing that.

They have set up the building so they can use the main room as a place of worship for the church on Sunday. During the week they are using it teaching school to the children of the area.  The local schools charge parents Tsh 200 ($.12) a day for after-school tuition. Samuel and Edward are offering their "school" for Tsh 100 a day! This means that these young men are earning around Tsh 1000 ($0.60) a day with which they are able to buy some vegetables to eat.

Edward teaching a Maths class last Saturday

The students on the seats (not built for comfort, but they work)

I am so proud of Samuel for doing this. He could leave Singida and get a job that paid good money, but he is putting the Lord first in all he does.

Please pray for this brother and the work he is doing.

A Quick trip to Singida

Anne and I have just returned from a very good little trip to Singida.

I was looking at my increasingly busy schedule and realised that if I didn't go and visit the brethren in Singida soon, it would be a couple of months before I would be free to. Therefore we decided to make a quick trip this last weekend.

Samuel

Samuel, the young man who started the work there, decided to move into the town as he saw the village congregation had members that were better able to keep it going. The congregation in town was really struggling. He together with another brother, Edward, have rented a house in which to live and hold services in. This house is not complete - it has walls, roof and bars on the windows. These young men have put doors on it and made a good place for the church to meet.

Anne and I were so happy to worship with the brethren on Sunday, there was only a small group meeting, but the worship was from the heart and scripturally correct. I taught the lesson, my subject was the Gospel and how to obey it. In the lesson we went to Acts 8 and studied about the Ethiopian Eunuch, how he obeyed the gospel and how he was the first African Christian.

We had to leave right after services to get back to Arusha before dark - you really don't want to drive in Africa in the dark! On the way we saw a young man we had seen in Singida, he was riding a bicycle and hitch hiking. We stopped and gave him a lift. Hi name was Michael and he was from Poland. He told us that he had been riding for the last 9 weeks all around East Africa. We gave him a lift into Arusha and found the Catholic Mission he was looking for to stay at. You never know who you will meet here.

Anne with our new friend, Michael

Guest House - Singida

I am writing this on Friday night as I lie in bed with a mosquito net with more holes than good bits. I am staying at the Catholic Guest House in Singida, having come here today to assist the church.
My traveling companion for this is Mbise. He is really good company and I enjoy spending time with him. Singida is a 6 hour drive south west of Arusha, today we had a really good trip. They have been working on the road and each time we come it gets better.
Getting back to my current situation. On previous visits we have stayed at the Hill View Motel and been thoroughly underwhelmed by the service there. This time we thought we would try out the Catholic guest house.
When we arrived we were straight away shown the top of the range rooms - these, we were told cost Tzh 30,000. That was too much so I asked to see the other ones. "Sorry", I was told, the Tzh 15,000 were all full, but the nice ones were available! I then asked to see the other rooms, knowing they came cheaper. We were shown the single rooms and I said yes right away. So that is how I come to be writing this under a holy mozzie net. (oh, by the way, these rooms cost Tzh 10,000 - about $8!)
We went out to visit Samuel's family this afternoon (Samuel is the one who started the work here). We had a nice visit and we arranged to have a Bible Study tomorrow, Saturday, and worship together on Sunday.
Please pray for this work as it is avert new one. I will try and post some more during this visit.
Keith
-- Post From My iPhone

Video - Safari Singida

Here is a litle video of our tip to Singida, I hope you enjoy it.

Keith