Thankful

We got a head start on Thanksgiving last Sunday, when many friends gathered at our home to celebrate. For the third year in a row, we had an honorary German, and this year we also had a couple Kenyans along with our Tanzanian Mavuno kids. While we tried to stick to mostly traditional Thanksgiving food, I still haven’t figured out the local poultry. I figured I would make four chickens, and since someone else was making chicken as well, it should have been enough. However, four foreign fowl do not equal large amounts of meat, and Dave and I had a good laugh at how “nicely” all the parts from the quartet fit into one small pan. Five years here, and I’m still clawing at the learning curve.

The kids had practiced a play for the big day.

That very morning they had been cramming lines into their heads, getting their war paint on,
and propping up cardboard trees.

The play was a tremendous hit, and all our non-Americans learned a little more
about why we celebrate this day.

Wednesday we headed out for Kigoma, on the shores of Lake Tanganika.

 After crossing a section of Lake Victoria on a ferry at 6:30 am, we headed down on mostly dirt road

and ARRIVED, after the closest call we have ever had with a bus. Evidently we weren’t the only ones wanting to get somewhere, as this driver most definitely was trying to break some kind of record. Thankfully there was a ditch to drive into instead of a cliff or the side of the road (or worse, a pedestrian). There were several moments of silence in the car as we contemplated how close we came to being creamed. And then big sighs of relief and “Thank you, Jesus.” We felt grateful to still have breath and life! And reminded again of how God protects us every time we drive!

We arrived at the Ramsey’s house that afternoon. Len and Cindy Ramsey are from Bozeman as well, and we have gotten to know them over the years here in Tanzania. They have a medical ministry for the villages on the edges of Lake Tanganika, where there is very little to no medical care whatsoever. Incredibly, someone several years back donated a helicopter to use for this endeavor, so Len got his license and flies in and out of these remote places.

The day after we arrived, he needed to take back a young girl who had been in Kigoma healing from an infection in her bone. She is only 16 and had been there for many weeks waiting to heal. Dave, Jake and I were able to go up with Len to take Leonia back to her home. As they pulled the helicopter out of the hangar, I asked her if she was nervous to go up in it. No, she said with a smile, she had already done it once! As we came over her village about half an hour later, people ran out from their homes and the school to welcome her back.

 She was BEAMING as she stepped out of the chopper, gave Len a great big hug, and ran to see her family.

After dropping her off, Len took us further out to some of the very remote villages that they visit.

They have done traditional birth attendant trainings in these villages, with great success, and the local ladies are able to call Len if they have a woman in trouble. Many women and babies are alive today because of that work.

It was incredible to see everything from the air.

 Most amazing to us was the vast forest in all directions, something we just don’t see up here near Lake Victoria. Many of the villages were unreachable by vehicle.

Watching the smoke rise over the trees from cooking fires and charcoal making reminded me of David Livingstone’s “smoke of 1000 villages” that he wanted to reach with the Gospel. What a tremendous ministry the Ramsey’s have, and what a privilege to see it first-hand!

This was Livingstone territory, and after we met up with our friends, the Howells, we took a little trip to see the place where Henry Morton Stanley came upon Livingstone with the famous, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” I’m not big on monuments, but it was just COOL to stand in that very place and think back to what was going on 140 years ago in that spot.

The museum is “being developed,” so it was just the right amount of pictures and information for ten kids to take in, in about 15 minutes. And Henry and Dave didn’t even notice the big pack of rowdy youngsters standing around them.

Aside from the memorial, most of our time was spent swimming,

jumping off large rocks (that's Hannah in black, mid-air),

snorkeling, and just hanging out. Lake Tanganika is the second deepest lake in the world, and its waters are crystal clear most of the time. The kids just stood in the shallows and caught little aquarium fish by the dozen, then let them go again. Jake managed to use one to pick up this fellow, which he later fried and ate.

Carter also found a clam, cooked it, and started eating it, but decided it wasn’t his favorite, even with a lot of salt.

The last night there, we were eating on the lookout point, watching the sun set behind the mountains of the Congo right across the lake, and we were treated to a great view of the Liemba, a boat we had been waiting to catch a glimpse of. It is the oldest passenger boat in the WORLD.

Isn’t it scarey that it is still running, and in a 3rd world country?! Really, though, it has been refurbished and has a very interesting history.  Read all about it here. According to Dr. Ramsey, it isn’t a boat that you really want to ride on if you don’t have to, and he has stories to prove it! It doesn’t ever dock, it just goes up and down the lake and the little fishing boats come out to it to take or pick up passengers. Even in the middle of the night. With no entrance/exits signs, and no protocol. And no one to notice if you happen to fall off in transit. Which is just one of the reasons we didn’t make a big effort to ride on it. But it was great to see it nonetheless.

So, home again now, with a big wedding tomorrow, a team coming from Bozeman on Monday, a couple more guests and then we’re off to Nairobi for Christmas and on to the States around the new year. We are looking at a busy and great next couple of weeks! And with fresh thoughts of thanksgiving in our hearts—for family, and friends, life, breath and health, and most of all, HOPE because Emmanuel is still with US!