Bee challenge

 A few Sunday's ago, Asheli was here doing his laundry and doing various things around our house (including learning more English, helping with some yard work, violin lesson and piano lesson.)  After lunch, we heard the very familiar sound of a swarm of bees passing by.
I quickly jumped up to close up the doors.  I am not afraid of bees, but it is a chore to capture them and return them back outside when they get lost in the house.  I was trying to help them out by keeping them in the safety of the outdoors.
Usually they pass so quickly it is a challenge to see them.  But they didn't move through so fast.  I went outside and was standing in the area full of swarming bees.  I looked to where the largest concentration of bees were flying around and watched for a while.  Soon I was joined by the rest of the group (Doug, Joshua and Asheli.)  I said, "I think they are going into your sleeping bag, Asheli."

There are still a few bees flying around the opening in the bag

Doug and I started talking about the possibilities of capturing the bees.  We were lamenting that we had not prepared the bee hive that we have often talked about.  As we continued to discuss possibilities, Asheli broke into our thoughts with the statement, "But what do I do???? What will I sleep in tonight?"
His voice reflected great concern.  I told him we would not let him sleep in the cold.  Bless his heart.  This was not a welcome sight to him at all, but Doug, Joshua and I were quite excited about it in a different way.
Quite a bit later, there were only a few bees flying around and the rest were not to be seen.  I tried to look into the sleeping bag, but it was dark inside, it was difficult.  I took my camera, turned on the flash and took a few pictures.  Oh, what did we see?  It was thousands of bees happy as could be snug as bugs in a rug!

Oh, wow.  Yes, the flash tells the story.  They are indeed in there!

We loaned a different sleeping to Asheli, and I carefully removed all of his remaining clothes from the clothes line.  He was not very interested in coming close to those bees.  After a while, the bees started being a bit more defensive about their newly acquired sleeping bag.
After many hours, when dusk was upon us, I started dressing a bit more carefully hoping to remove the bees from the precious sleeping bag.  Doug prepared a box for me.  I put on gloves, tied my shirt tightly around my waist to remove any gaps.  I was wearing two or three layers.  I put on a hat and put on a net over it.  I went out to the bag and started my new adventure.

waiting for the bucket - adventure begins

 I tried to shake the bees out of the bag into a 5 gallon bucket.  They didn't slip out nicely, but went here and there.  Some were in the bucket, some were on the outside of the bucket, some were in grass by the bucket, and too many were still in the sleeping bag!  Hmm.  So where is the queen?
After some encouragement from Doug I tried to shake out the rest from the sleeping bag.
After some time, a massive clump of bees were huddled on the bucket.  Some were inside, but most were outside.  This was causing the bucket to tip with the weight of them.  I didn't want it to tip over so I was holding it as Doug was preparing the box.

heavy bucket of bees.

After the box was ready I poured the clump into the box.  I was doing too much squatting and standing.  I started to notice that it felt that my shirt was feeling a bit loose around my waist, but I was too busy to do anything about it.  Foolish, foolish me!
I don't know how long I was out there dealing with all these bees until I started feeling a lot of crawling on my back, on bare skin under my shirt close to my waist.  Oh, that got my immediate attention!
I calmly stood up and tried to walk as carefully as possible as to not squish a bee and to produce a pain that I would not quickly forget.  These bees have a sting that seems to last a lot longer with complications than the ones we have encountered in the US.  I didn't want to give them any reasons to remind me of the reason many people fear them in these parts of Africa.
Doug came to my rescue.  He got a fly swatter and gently coaxed bee by bee and sometimes small groups off my bare skin and my clothes and relocated them onto the nearby wall of the house.
He removed bee after bee.  Over a hundred we are sure.  Finally he said that I could start getting out of my clothes.  Joshua had been sent to a remote part of the house, and I carefully came out of my outer clothes outside.  I left them outside.  (For a few days, actually!)

Still bees on my clothes the day after

I went inside in my last remaining layers.  In the bathroom, I removed the last of the clothes and prepared for a bath.  Another bee must have been tucked in somewhere, for now there was one in the bathroom flying around.  Doug helped him out.  There were at least two more in the living room also.
What a night!

The next day Doug dressed carefully and moved the box to a distant place hoping to get the hive prepared.

Doug the next morning

He worked on it most of the day.  I noticed many small areas of bees that morning and through the day until the sun was very high.  We decided not to do our laundry this day.  We would give the bees some space.

Little pockets of bees on the clothesline posts

The number of bees seemed to increase through out the morning.  There were a lot it seemed that were no longer in the box.

Bees here

Bees there, here a bee, there a bee....

After hours and sunshine, the small groups of bees that were here and there all over the walls and clothes lines post appeared to have disappeared with the exception of one large massive clump of bees that was growing on the post.  It seems that they had all come together in that one spot.  So I was wondering if they were confused or if we had truly missed the queen.  (I didn't get a pictures of the mass on the post.)

After another hour or so, they took off in a swarm!  Hmm.  I guess she was there after all.  Doug went to check the box, and it was EMPTY!  They had escaped and returned to the group during the morning hours.

Well, we have no bees, no stings, and now a partially built bee hive - and some experience.
AND WE GOT THE SLEEPING BAG BACK.  There was a lot of white stuff in it where the bees had been.  It appears that they had started setting up house and they were already putting out the wax!

Life is always an adventure in the mission field, and we just don't know where the next adventure will spring up!  It can even be in the sleeping bag.  Who thought laundry could be so exciting?

God was so good to us through this.  Truly He cares about the little and the big.  He kept us totally safe during this whole adventure, and gave us hopes for future honey making as well.  Truly it is SWEET to trust in Him.  Truly sweet indeed.  

Seeing Double - playing around

We have really enjoyed the new camera that Craig brought when he came with the One-Day-School building crew.  Here are a few shots that we had fun with on this trip.

Watson, our translator, checking out something on the motorcycle

Joshua playing on the gate wall

Lunch being made by Godfrey

Watson at the guest house "relaxing" with his phone

Kiliangawana and Kipeta

We were invited to do health meetings and health expos in two villages in the Rukwa Rift Valley on the West side of Tanzania.  Several of our past students and current evangelists came to be at the meetings with us.  It was very nice to see old friends and to work together to share the love of Jesus with others.
We found a guest house in a village between the two villages where the meetings were to be held.  The good news is that the rooms had decent beds, and private toilets.  The challenging news was that the place is also a pub and people were drinking and making all kinds of noise until the wee hours of the night every night (except when it rained.) 
We had to fetch our water out of a cistern that catches rain water from the roof.  I had forgotten how “refreshing” cold water bucket bathes were.
The weather in this area is very warm during the days and it cools just a bit during the night. 
The local government officials were very happy to hear about the programs that we were planning to do and they offered us meeting locations free of charge. 

Joshua teaching the kids a new game

Teaching under the mango tree

Lots of people coming to the meetings

Kipeta full house

Woman pounding rice (probably)

The big government building we used

Ripe ready rice

Health expo in Kilangawana

Our team (minus Doug and Joshua plus a couple of kids)

Village sights

Health Expo Kilangawana under the mango tree

Teaching in Lipeta

Our rice we purchased drying before going to the mill

The mill and owner (and a Pastor Zawadi)

In Kilangawana we actually met at the village counselor’s house!  We met under the big mango tree in his front yard each day for four days.  We taught using the generator and projector each day.  We ate our lunch in their home, then each afternoon we held the health expo.  People came to get their heights, weights, BMI, peak-flow meter test, and health counseling.  Our past students and evangelists were a huge help with both the meetings and expos. 
Each day we had a full crowd for the meetings and many people for the health expo.  There were 180 people that came through in Kilangawana.  We praise the Lord for keeping the rains away during meeting times.  It did rain a little during some of the nights.


After four days of meetings there, we went to the village of Kipeta.  The local government gave us full access to a new government building for the meetings and health expo.  Again we had very good attendance for the meetings and expo.  118 people passed through the health expo.  There would have been more, but this is the time of harvest and many people have gone out to the fields to harvest the grains that are starting to dry.  We have been asked to come back again in August or September when the field work is done. 
People were very happy.  We saw changes in people, in just a short time.  These villages are plagued with pombe (homemade beer) drinking.  As we taught about the harms of alcohol on the brain and body, we saw people’s lives changing before our eyes!  It was so very exciting!
The Lord blessed in many, many ways and we pray that people received with understanding the message the truly God is LOVE and He loves each one of them.

We learned that in these villages there are at least two machines that can refine the locally grown rice into brown rice instead of white rice.  We were so very excited for this news.  The owner of one of the mills brought us some brown rice as a gift.  We were so happy to know that people can make the choice to eat the healthier brown (unrefined) rice if they so choose.  The people in these villages were glad to learn this also. 

We purchased two buckets of the fresh rice and it will be taken to the mill tomorrow to have the husks removed.  This area grows much rice a large type of millet (much bigger than the kind we have in the U.S.) corn and sesame seeds.  I asked what the people use the sesame seeds for, and I was told that they don’t use them at all.  They only grow them to sell to others that take them far away to sell.  Isn’t that interesting?  It was very interesting to me to see the plants in various stages.

The people here have greeted us warmly and want us to come back to encourage them more.  I hope that we can meet their request as God opens the way and provides means.

 

Sights and Sounds of the Rukwa Rift Valley

VGiSights and Sounds of Rukwa
As we traveled from the main road after 9 hours of driving, we exited the land of paved roads, speed bumps and police stops, and we entered into a very different landscape.
The stretch of paved road from Tunduma to our turn off was great.  There were signs along the road that said that this part of the road was built with help (funds) from Americans!

Another police stop

The nice road from Tunduma

  The road quickly degenerated to a complicated path of dodging ruts, rocks and holes.  As we approached a cement bridge, my eyes grew big as much of the bridge had dissolved away in the rain storms.  The concrete reinforcement wire was openly displayed in massive holes in various places.  Yet, we carried on.

Holey bridge  (not HOLY)

Washed out and rocks and logs inserted

Big ruts

It was obvious that vehicles had passed this way, but only one set of tracks was ahead of us.  There were not very many side roads either.  We crept along at painfully slow speeds at times.  Some times the pain was due to the bumping, jarring or banging of one’s head against the side of the truck as we tried to maneuver through ruts and holes.
(Honestly I didn't get pictures of the worse parts because I was "holding on."
Soon we started down a very steep mountain pass.  The “switchback” turns were sharper than anything I have ever experienced.  Many times we would arrive at the turn and come to a complete stop in order to turn our wheels sharp enough to make the turn successfully.  As we drove at times, we could see the road directly beneath us many meters below.  The rainy season was coming to an end, and the roads had suffered much during the downpours.  There were many places where the road was washed away and a very scary ravine was working its way into the road.  If you get a wheel off in one of those ditches, it may be a very long time before you will be on your way again.  I praise the Lord that we only met a couple of motorcycles on this road, and it was after most of the worst part was past.  If we had met one of the big trucks that come to get rice out of this valley, I don’t know what we would have done, honestly. 
When we made it to the end of the mountain descent, the land changed very much.  It was hotter and very flat.  The road continued to be challenging as mud and ruts were the issue, now.  We continued on for two hours.

Rukwa Rift Valley village life

I asked our passenger whom we picked up by the main road if there were many white people in this area.  He said not at all.  That would explain why we seemed to be getting more than the usual stares and screams, “Wazungu” as children came running to the road and pointed with a multitude of expressions (from smiles to absolute surprise!)
(Some children have heard stories that white people will capture them and eat them!  So some children will absolutely flee in terror!)
The landscape changed many times, and we often found ourselves hedged in by 10 foot tall (or taller!) mtama crops (a very large type of millet) or drying corn.  We passed fields of sesame seed and rice, also.  I am sure there were more houses along the way, but the tall crops concealed them very much.

Another building in the valley

Flat lands

More mud and ruts

we just passed through this mud hole

sesame drying

Finally we stopped (in Kipeta) and were met by anxious and happy meeting organizers (and old friends.)
We were directed to the next village where the guest house is located.  This village is called Kilyamatundu.  Here (where I am currently typing this) there are many more shops and places to buy fuel out of used water bottles.  We haven’t seen a gas station for miles or days!  I think the closest one is four hours away.  Obviously some of the people here sell some of their crops because there are so many stores, someone must have money.  There are many pubs or bars also.  That indicates that people have a little more money here.  I was more than a little concerned when we pulled into the courtyard of the guest house (which is fenced with a gate) and the smell of urine started to burn my eyes.  It smelled so much of rat urine, it reminded me of our challenges the first time we visited Tanzania in 2011.    I was so grateful when we checked the rooms that the smell was outside and not inside the rooms.  It seems that thousands of bats have made the roof their home.  And bats do, what bats do.   Sometimes during the night, the vapors will come through the window into our room.  Honestly it is so strong it burns the eyes from time to time.

Ducks and ditch

The next morning, we drove to the village of Kilangawana.  The drive was very interesting.  There are long puddles, perhaps ditches, filled with water on both side of the road in many places.  There are actually many ducks enjoying theses water refuges.  I really enjoy seeing the baby ducks.  We don’t see many ducks in the country but there are places where they are more common, and this seems to be one of them. 

A couple village children

Someone is in the process of “fixing” some of the road, so there is bypass area that goes through some fields of crops until the drainage culverts are  put in place along the “main road.”  Going through that road was a challenge every time, even after the rains had stopped and much of the mud had dried.  The first time we pass that way a huge truck was stuck in the big mud hole area.  We drove through extremely tall crops of the mtama.  It was pretty, but a bit dangerous (don’t stick your head out the window or you will get whacked.  Actually you can get whacked with your head in the truck also!) 

Our daily route through the mtama fields

Mtama heads almost ready

The big mud hole on the detour

There are cow pulled carts along with pack donkeys here and there. 
Of course there are the village dogs, lots of goats, and lots of chickens all along the way.

Ox (or cow) cart

Donkey helping to carry water

There are chickens and often goats even in the courtyard of the hotel.  There are chickens in the houses.  Our first evening we arrived, we were sitting visiting with the locals in their house.  A hen came in and got down in the corner and her little ones were hiding under her wings (all in the main room of the house.)  Several days later, we saw another hen come out of a room and into the area we were eating our breakfast.  It appeared that her chicks which followed her were brand new.  A couple were still figuring out the "walking thing." 

Baby chicks learning to walk in the house.

Sesame Seed Plants

It is harvest time and many people are going out to the fields to bring in the long awaited harvest.  
Driving to this village each day we have several people getting a ride to the site.  On the way back, we are always full over capacity and more wanting to push in the truck.  I counted 15 in the back one time (and that was with many items in the back that we have to transport each day!

Full load coming from the meetings

Traffic

We enjoyed the shade of the mango tree under which we taught each day, very much! 
After four days in this village we went the other direction to do meetings in Kipeta.  The village is much closer (or seems to be without all the mud!)  It only takes between 5-10 minutes to travel this direction.  The other trip was a 20 minute trip each way.  We again pass many houses and animals each day.  Children come screaming to the road to wave and greet us as we pass.  The sesame seed harvest is coming in and we see bundles banded together to dry before it is beaten out. 
We have just finished our last night here (I woke up early.)  Last night was the buggiest night we have had so far!  I am so thankful that God kept the bugs away until now!  There were two cockroaches in the sink.  A huge cockroach crawling across the wall just a few minutes ago.  I saw the biggest cockroach looking bug ever in my life yesterday evening.  It was probably 4 inches long and seriously plump.  There have been a large amount of smaller bugs and grasshoppers in our room, and often in our bed as well.  It seems the mosquitoes are louder these last days also.  Fortunately, none of us are terrified of bugs, but I can’t say we exactly enjoy living with them either.  While trying to steady myself over the squat toilet in the middle of the night a couple of nights ago by holding on to the edge of the door, something landed on my hand.  It sort of creeped-me-out a bit.  I don’t know if it was a big spider or what.  Icky.  Those kinds of things wake me up more than I want to be woken up.  Smacking things and picking things off during the night, is not my idea of ideal sleeping conditions. 
One evening we saw lots of lightening on the horizon just before going to bed.  Joshua and I tried to capture some of it with our cameras.  We got a couple of shots.  We were rather tickled about that.
One day there was a bushy tailed rat running around the building where we were doing the health expo.   He was really fast.

Bushy tailed rat

At the same location, there was a thorny tree full of weaver bird nests, also.  I so enjoy watching the birds.So this is a glimpse of the sights, sounds and experiences on this trip.  (But honestly it isn’t over yet!)

Weaver bird next under construction