All in a year

It has been a while since I last wrote on my blog and since then many things have happened some good and some not so good, the last time I wrote I have just started a job as a Library assistant at Stellenbosch University on the 01 September 2010, since then life has been going on as normal with no forward movement really, it seems more a case of 1 foot forward and 2 feet back.

When I left UCT in 2010 I had high hopes of renovating my house and living peacefully doing the work God has called me to do. I started renovation on my house and to this day I am still renovating my house as the people I got to do the job did such a bad job that I am still renovating actually fixing their bad workmanship, every month every sent I have left over from my salary goes into fixing up the bad building work, even people that I consider trustworthy has stabbed me in the back with their empty promises and bad workmanship. After the taxman got hold of my pension payout I lost almost R42000 in taxes, money which I had intended to pay off all my debts and thus be debt free, unfortunately this was not the case and things were tough for me from then onwards and I came within a whisker of losing my house, the house that I want my sister to take over for her, my 2 nieces, my mom to live in without my nieces having to grow up like I did. (Currently my Godson also lives in the house) As I will be answering Gods calling on my life I don't know where I will live, maybe out there is a female with the same paradigms, and we will make a new start somewhere in Africa together, who knows what God has in store.

I went to Tanzania and even whiles I was there I received phone calls regarding outstanding debt. When I came back from Tanzania God made 1 thing clear to me, I was to be His servant, and be ready to follow Him. 7 months after my return from Tanzania I started working at Stellenbosch University. This I hoped would be the start I was hoping for to a new beginning, work in Stellenbosch is ok and I manage to find a sleeping corner in someone’s house on a farm in Stellenbosch , this off course is not ideal as quite a bit of my personal possessions have gone missing from the house I was however warned by the house owner that her grandson has got sticky fingers and also there is no privacy in the house but with my current situation it is better than nothing as people charge an arm and a leg for accommodation in and around Stellenbosch. Had I not been offered this accommodation I would have had to wake up at 04h30 am everyday and arrive back home at 19h30 pm in the evenings.  This is what happens when I leave for work on a Monday and arrive back home on a Friday evening for the weekend, there has been Fridays where I arrived home after 21h00 pm because of train delays.

 Shortly after starting working I got a loan to help pay my debts as I really wanted to rid myself of debt which included arrears on my house and other other accounts, I managed to get my accounts up to date only to fall for my 1 weakness which is to help my family, I manage to get a loan from Old Mutual and some of the money was spend on the house and some other debt.

Right now, I am not managing to meet my obligations to pay all my debt, 1 reason being I have taken out a life policy with 1life direct and with Old Mutual, this only amounts to R500 a month, but it is exceeding my monthly income by just under that amount every month. On top off this I am unable to meet my credit card debt to Standard Bank and this is a concern for me as I have not been able to meet my debt obligation for the last 90 days. I always have good intentions when I plan something, but it seems my weakness is the proper executions of my intentions.

It is my desire to follow Gods will for my life and if it means being single and lonely so be it, right now that is very hard for me as I meet women all the time and unfortunately it is always on some chat site etc and we get on great but when it comes to meeting there is always something preventing the meeting from taking place. I have just decided that if we should meet, we will if not then so be it, if you the person God has in store for me as my wife then such a meeting will take place, I have always said to myself that when I meet such a woman, I will know that she is the 1 for me

Please remember me in you prays as I look to do Gods will, pray that I will listen to God as He guides and leads me through this difficult time.

'Not I but Christ' 

The battle for homes in Hangberg, the infighting

On September 21 2010 the Hout-Bay police and the Cape metro police went into the Hangberg residential area to evict people from the bungalows they were living in.  The City of Cape Town took the decision to remove and break down these homes as it was build above the breakwater line and build illegally on land owned by the National Parks Board.

 At the break of dawn the police moved into the area and started breaking down the illegal dwellings. This action by the police led to a violent reaction from the locals in whom many people were injured and arrested as the police retaliated indiscriminately by firing into the crowd and damaging property. During the proceeding court case an agreement was reached through mediation whereby a committee representing the Hangberg community and the City of Cape Town would work together to find a peaceful solution.

One of the agreements was that the City would find alternative accommodation for the affected families. Recently the City started putting up temporary accommodation for the families on the site of the old Sea O Rama shop.

Sadly it had to come to an end :

 My time in Tanzania has now officially come to an end and it was with sadness that I had to say goodbye to friends who became like family to me over the 3 months that I was in Bulima.  On Wednesday I let the morning chapel service and I briefly spoke on doing the will of God my topic was "Here I am Lord sent me" and the bible reading came from Genesis 46:2 and 1 Samuel 10:3 I ended off by reading the words of a song called "Here I am Lord" by Daniel L Schutte.

 The words of the chorus is Chorus

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart. 

Those 2 verses and song were constantly on my mind during the last 3 weeks I was in Tanzania.  My time in Bulima started like it ended with 2 weeks of constant power outages, fortunately everything I set out to do was accomplish with the exception of 1 practical training which I had to do but because of the power failures I never got around to do that hopefully with the instruction I left the student librarians will be able to work out what needs to be done in this regard.  The last week was basically spend doing almost next to nothing because of the power failures which basically gave my body a change to relax after almost 3 months off slaving away in front of the computer.

 On Thursday we had a semi sent for me with the girls as they were leaving for Mwanza the next day to show M sister around town and it would be the last time we were all together to socialize with 1 another, Friday we had a staff party for me as I was leaving that Sunday by bus to travel to Nairobi.  The ride down in the bus to Nairobi was uneventful although it seems that bus drivers are in competition with 1 another to see who could get to their destination the quickest.  The road in Kenya is much better than in Tanzania except for 1 stretch of road where the bus driver had to avoid holes in the road basically every 2 meters. I arrived in Nairobi at 03h30 and at Mayfield guest house at 05h15 where I slept for 2 hours before heading to breakfast even though I was not hungry.

It's raining, the farmers are smiling and even the chickens are happy!

 

This week has been an interesting week, on Tuesday it felt like was Friday for me, maybe I am beginning to feel the effects of the hard work I put in the last 8 or so weeks, either way what has been nice is the cool mornings we have been experiencing the last 2 weeks, it seems that the weather is changing and we have been getting a lot off rain lately, on Wednesday as I left the house after lunch it started to drizzle and by the time I got to the college I was wet, not to wet as I had my raincoat on which protected me from the rain to a large extend. This I think was the first time I experienced the rain during the day as it has normally only rained at night when everyone and everything was indoors, everywhere it is wet and green, and this is making the farmers happy as they can now plant their crops and hopefully fill up their food stocks.

Work in the library is going ahead full steam and I estimate that I will finish phase 1 of the project by next week Saturday. The ladies are now sweeping the library every 2nd day and this help in trying to keep the place clean, I have asked for students to come for training on the new system and for them to have their books issued on the new system so that they can get into the habit of using the system. I have had to return the camera I was using to its owner so I don't think I will have any more pictures to take I am however hoping to ask the girls for some of their pictures which I will then post at a later stage, the staff meeting on Thursday went well and did not go on for to long, it was mentioned by the principle that I have not spoken in chapel yet, I am doing the praise and thanksgiving service on the 24/03, this will be 5 days before I leave Tanzania and head back to South Africa via Kenya.

If all goes according to plan, I should finish phase 1 of my project by next week Saturday, then for the last 2 weeks I will focus on training the students on how to effectively run a library. Next weekend we are welcoming another bible college for a day off sport which should be great fun and I am looking forward to playing Soccer and Volleyball, hopefully my knees will withstand all the training we will be doing in the cumming week. On Friday we played soccer and old age has definitely caught up with me, but the fact that we could have some fun was great. The weekend was spend playing card games and on Sunday I spend about 2h30 hours in the library inputting ISBN numbers as I am planning to download a full and accurate record of about 300 books from the internet on Monday, this will be the last of phase 1 and starting off a next phase will be done by the students as I start to train the student librarians on how to know the system and library procedures accurately.

IT’S A GECKO’S LIFE OUT HERE

 

This week has gone rather quickly which is great as I have been quite busy with my work. Training of the new students has gone quite well and they are both sharp students who caught on quickly to the work. If all goes according to plan I will finish my work between the 15th and 20th of March leaving me 1 week to train the students on how to work the system. Already I have started issuing books on the system so that the students can get a feel for the system and to train the mindset on how to use the system. Last week I had a meeting with the cleaners regarding the cleanliness of the building and it was agreed that 1 of them would come on alternatives days to sweep the building as I am not happy with the amount of dust that is floating around the books.

This was evident on Friday when I went on a cough fit because of the dust which is lying on the books, a clear sign that it was never cleaned before I arrived here. Saturday also saw a thorough cleaning of the library which has a lot of spider webs under the desk and on the wires, with dust also sitting on the computers. On Thursday the power was off almost all day and this gave my arms a well-deserved break from typing and staring at the computer screen all day, the power was supposed to be off on Saturday as well which it was not and this allowed me to work in one of the backrooms where I found a lot of books stacked away in boxes and sitting on bookshelves in another room gathering dust and providing a haven for fish-mots to go about their business off destroying the books.

I spend the rest of the morning cleaning the 2 rooms and dusting off the books. I have now organized for a lady to come in and clean the shelves and the books so that it can be preserved for use at a later stage, these books in the 1 room turns out to be duplicate books of those that we have on the shelves already. The books in the other room are books which has been donated to the school but was never processed something that I will start working on soon to ensure that staff and student has access to the latest books. I am thinking of possibly coming back next year to finish off the project as I feel that the only way to short the library out completely and for it to function properly is to come back for an extended stay and sort it out once and for all. An idea going through my head is to go home at the end off March sort out my affairs at home and do fundraising which will allow me to stay for a year or 2. Hopefully with enough funds available to me I can study in the field of missiology through correspondence.

If you would like to know more or feel that God has put something on your heart for me to listen to please feel free to contact me on +255682060971 or houties@live.com . Please remember this in your prayers. On Thursday as I was moving books from the shelves a Gecko appeared from one off the books, I guess we both got a bit off a skrik and as it landed on the ground I tried to kick it but it still managed to get away from me. Gecko’s it seems have a free rain in and around people’s property and they are everywhere some big others small, colorful the whole works. It is not all hard work for me as I do get a change to socialize with the folks around me, this part weekend I went to 2 parties and spend Sunday evening playing card games with the regular gang of 4.

 

You can share in the fellowship but not in the swallowship

 

As I enter the last 2 weeks of my time here at the college it seems that it is ending the way it started with more power failures and internet not working at the start of the week, internet not working was as it turned out caused when the ladies touched some of the cables and somehow 1 of the cables must have come lose without any of us realizing it. This however did not stop other work from going ahead and the training of the library students is going ahead as per usual, I have basically slowed right down and are leaving the last of the work to the students to finish off so that they can get the practical and the theoretical know how of the job.

This week there was a lot of excitement as the students got ready for a visit off another Bible school to the campus for a weekend of sport which took place on Saturday, the games in itself was fun to watch I never got to play in any of the games, I was told I would be a substitute in the soccer game but I was never called on to play something which I am happy about as my right arm are feeling the effects of all the typing I did over the last couple of weeks, I am happy to say that our team won the soccer game 2-0 and the ladies drew their netball game 3-3 both these games were entertaining and comical to watch and it was great to see people just having fun on the sports field. It was hilarious to see the spectators run on to the field with palm branches every time one of our teams scored a point or a goal and for them to fan down the players with the palm branches.

On the Friday before the sports day one of the organizers of the event made an announcement in chapel that everybody was welcome to join them for fellowship that night at 20h00 but not for the swallowship (eating) which would take place afterwards. On Sunday I went to a service just on the edge off town and had lunch with the evangelist afterwards. Before returning home to get ready to go to a birthday party later in the afternoon and a game of bridge that night.

As I get ready to return home, please remember the following in your prayers as I consider my future. I would like to continue serving the Lord in Africa as I believe this is what I am called to do. What would like to do when I return home is to take care of some financial issues at home(this will be a long and hard process) as this will free me up to focus on doing the Lords work, and to possibly do a 1 year course in Discipling Nations One Year Missions Training through the Bible institute of South Africa should finances become available and that I would find a part-time job which will allow to focus all my energy on the Lords work as He prepares me for future outreaches.

I am reminded daily of the words of the song by Daniel L. Schutte " Here I am Lord The CHORUS is as follows: Here I am, Lord. Is it I Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.

On the 24 March I am leading the chappel service please pray that God will lay the right words on my lips to share with the students and whatever message I bring to them that they will take it to their heart and focus on God is saying to them through me.

Kwaheri

Named and shamed in Public

This week was a bit of a shocker to me as I experience the local culture of naming and shaming in public. The week started with the 2 new student librarians reporting for duty which is a big help to me as they will take the library forward once, I leave. The other student librarians just keep on waiting on me to tell them what to do, and this is still a problem for me as I try to get them to work without me having to tell them what to you. A lot of my free time at the start of the week was to look at NGO on the internet, the type of work they do and then if any jobs were available on their websites. I have pretty much accepted and come to realize that I will never work in the secular world as that is not where God wants me to serve him, I am His servant, and He needs me in the field. By Wednesday I asked myself “ what are you doing? Looking for jobs when God has already mapped out your future, from that moment on wards I stopped looking at the website and felt pretty much at ease for the rest of the week, knowing that my future is in God’s hands, I also don’t worry about how many books I put on the system during the week, as I just go in and do the best I can giving 100%, not even the power failures this week could upset me. I start of slowly during the day and then just pick up the workload as the day progress, normally leaving here between 17h30 and 18h30.

On Thursday we had our normal weekly staff meeting and what a meeting it turned out to be, the meeting started around 16h00 and finished just before 19h00, at one stage I thought I was going to miss movie night with the girls as the meeting just dragged on and on, fortunately it finished in time for me to go and enjoy the movie as I certainly needed it after what happened in the meeting. During the meeting one of the 3rd students were brought in to explain charges off plagiarism against him, and then apologize to the staff etc for his behaviour, this took place in Swahili to enable the student to better express himself and this actions, afterwards it was all translated into English for the English speaking staff, just a pity we were not told before the meeting what was going to happen, as it turned out the student is a repeat offender and was therefore suspended with immediate effect from the campus for a full year, he also has to leave the school accommodation with his family by the end of the school term in March, this was the second incident his family was involved in two weeks as just the week before his wife was suspended from the English school for more or less the same thing all be it under different circumstances.

What happened on Friday at chapel however shook most of us. The principal of the school informed the student that he was suspended from the school, this however was not told to the student before chapel started and in fact he heard the news at the same time as the other students, in fact his letter of dismissal was read to him by another student in front of everybody, plagiarism is a problem and I guess the principle used the latest case to make an example of someone. This I have heard seems to the local culture of naming and shaming someone in public. Please remember this family in your prayers as the future does not look good for them. Money as also another issue at the school and most off the staff meeting were spend talking about money.

As the new week starts, please remember me in your prayers, I would like to see this project through to the end and if it is God’s will then I would like to stay or come back next year to finish the work and to ensure that the library run as efficiently as possible before returning to Cape Town. On a later note in chapel this week we were praying for the 3rd year student who are going on term out and the 4th year students who will be assigned churches where they have to pastor, during one of these sessions one of the students asked for prayer for the single pastors, that God would sent them a life partner to share their life with, this caused quite a few chuckles in the room, I am still single…… nuff said. 

"The English is poor but I have lot of material"

Today I heard a very funny statement in church. Every day we have a church service here on campus. Today the 1 pastor spoke but because of his poor English he was suffering a bit, he then made the following statement 'The English is poor, but I have a lot of material “everyone found it quite a funny service maybe because of the poor English which made things sound funny. It has been a frustrating time the last few days.

I have tried to place an order for the System and to now it has failed to go through either there is a problem with my card or the money that was paid into my account has not been cleared yet or the company that I placed it with has a problem, please pray that things will be sorted out soon as I need to get stuck into work. The plan is to download all the books via their ISBN numbers from various Libraries, from their my staff and I will update all the relevant information pertaining to the books, this is a big task so please remember me in your prayers as I go about installing all the information and teach both staff and students how to work the system. It is pretty hot here and I do suffer a bit from having to wear a long pants all day.

Prayer Request:

For good health

Energy to complete this mammoth task

My work permit be reissued without having to pay again

The road ahead for me (God's plans for my future)

The week that was in Bulima, Tanzania and Power failures

This past week has gone rather quickly and went great until Friday when the inevitable power failures happened. On Monday I went to Mwanza to sort out the work permit, we arrived at the AIC compound and spoke to the person in charge of the process, after this was done we left to go and buy some books which are needed by the students. We were then called back to the AIC compound as they neglected to give me the necessary papers to fill in for a renewal of my work permit, this done we headed back into town to catch up with the rest of the group for lunch before I went in search of some items for the library.

It was a pretty hot day and during our time in Mwanza I had about 4 sodas which I drank like water. The person with me just could not understand how I was able to do this. Work this week had gone well in the library up to and including Friday when the power went out for most of the day, up till then we had about 1900 books on the system which meant I missed out on the target of having 2000 books on the system.  The advantage of the power failure personally is that the body could have a well deserved break from sitting behind a computer all day.

I am planning to put in long hours from Monday to Wednesday as the student will be having time off to study on Thursday and Friday most staff will disappear over the weekend I will be heading into Mwanza for a few days of rest myself with some other missionaries. Last night we watched movies with some other friends and whiles we were watching the movie on the big screen the power went out again, after having been on for a few hours, we were supposed to watch the movie on Saturday night but because there were no electricity, we watched it yesterday instead of going for our weekly Sunday evening walk. Actually I am glad the power was off on Saturday evening as I was also invited for supper with the neighbours Had the power been on I would have had to decline the invitation as I had already accepted the invitation to watch movies.

I don’t know how for how long the power was out on Sunday as I was out for the afternoon having lunch at the "Serengeti rest stop" with my host and another missionary. As this week is a short work week the plan is to spent long hours in the library doing as much as I can "electricity availability" permitting. We have also been blessed with some much needed rain this weekend as it is desperately needed by the farmers to help their crops grow. Walking back home last night in the rain was fun as we were slipping and sliding our way home in the mud puddles which reminded me of the hike I did at the Sipi Falls in Uganda last year.

Prayer Request:

Please pray for

My work permit to come through this week.

Maja who has not been feeling well.

The students who are getting ready for exams etc

Student finances are a problem, as many off them can’t afford to pay their school fees.

Myself as I consider and pray about what God has in store for me, once I return to RSA

My friends and family back home 

Heat and moving issues

 

The heat has been unbearable these last few days and I have been feeling the effects of it lately especially in the morning when I wake up. I normally wake up between 06h30 and 07h00 now, last night it was incredibly hot and I struggled to fall asleep and the sound of "Mossies" under the mosquito net does not make for a good night sleep. The new system has been up and running for a few days now and I have been hard at work moving books on to the system, this is time consuming as not all the books have ISBN numbers, so I have to add them manually.

Last night a heard a funny story, the 1 lady, our neighbour, was going to move into an apartment because she did not like the house she was living in for various reasons.  Any way she moved in yesterday afternoon and promptly moved out again 3 hours later as there was no hot water and her big fear of  little cockroaches running around freely, cockroaches are a problem here. I have been working hard to get the "Librarians" to get to know the system and to take ownership off it.

I normally get here around 08h00 and leave after 18h00 in the evenings every day except for Sundays when I come in after lunchtime, so yes, my body is taking strain, we have now started to have a games evening every Friday just to socialize with the people around us instead of just having a working relationship with everybody, this is a good way to take our minds off the busy schedule we all have. On Monday I am going to Mwanza to sort out my work permit and hopefully this will not be an issue with the local authorities. My body is feeling tired, but I will push ahead to the finish line to the benefit of the local college and it's future students...

Going to Church

 

Since I arrived in Bulima I have been attending the local church about 5 minutes from home. The problem I have is that the service is entirely in Swahili, and I only understand here and there a word, this means that my mind starts to drift and I don't focus. For myself this month I will be focusing and praying about the "will of God" I am thinking of not going to church or to search for an English service. This Sunday I am actually thinking of going to another service, "which sometimes is in English" I was told by my two German friends who I climb the little "Koppie" with on a Sunday evening to look at the sunset.

I also go up the "Koppie" on a Saturday as part of my walk, last week we decided to go around the "Koppie" thinking that it will take us away from the town a bit, well to say the least we walked straight into a local high school which took us back into town. We then just decided to walk to the lake to make up some distance, the "Koppie is about a 200 meters high and very steep which make up for a lack of distance. This past week I was out at night standing at a Duca (house shop) and I had all these small kids touching me and running away laughing. Early that morning I actually had a little boy who ran away screaming when he saw me "maybe it was the hat I am wearing".

The work in the library is progressing nice as I input books onto the system, the goal is to input 1000 books a week. I am still working on getting the librarians to work on the system on their own, they seem to be lacking confidence, but I still have time to fine tune their mindset. We have now moved all the books to where I want it to be so from here on forward it is just a question of getting a few things which a library need and training the students. Yesterday I went to Mwanza to try and sort out the work permit issue, and hopefully I do not have to go in again to do more paperwork as the trip is long and arduous with lots of people on the side of the road etc which makes for a dangerous journey.

Work wise things are going well and everything is in place as I would like it to be, I still come to the library 7 days a week to work (half days on Sundays and shorter hours on Saturdays). I might take next weekend off just to give body a break from working so hard. The idea is to go to visit another missionary in the Mwanza area, this will mean that this coming week and next week I will work doubly hard as I do not want to fall behind schedule. I think 1 of the reasons I am feeling so tired is because I was not taking in enough fluids, well that has now changed and I make sure I have a water-bottle with me all the time. Yesterday in Mwanza I had about 4 sodas which I drank like water, the guys who was with me just could not understand how I could drink the sodas like that!!! whereas they struggled to finish theirs.

PRAYER REQUEST

1.It is my goal to serve God in Africa, please pray that God will open doors for me in Africa when my time here comes to an end to serve him elsewhere where their is a need.

2. For the well being of my family back home that everything will go well with them

Dodgeball on the Tanzanian Highway

 Driving in Tanzania certainly leaves a lot to be desired and it’s a national lottery when you travel on these roads, bus drivers drives as if they own the road with no amount of care really for other road users and yesterday I saw another example of that as we were on our way to a pray meeting, and since I have been here I have heard of quiet a few fatalities on the road and with no ambulance service to take people to hospital that is not surprising. Every time you go out on the road you not only have to watch out for reckless drivers but also for people who walk on both sides of the road and off course stray dogs and cows who cross the road as if they own it. Fortunately for me I have only 2 more road trips to take, 1 into Mwanza on Monday and another 1 on either Sunday or Monday next week on my way to Nairobi.

Yesterday we had a Aim Prayer meeting which took place in the town of Kitonki which is about 1hr drive away from Bulima, it was a good get together and it was great to catch up with other Aim missionaries in Tanzania, unfortunately my fellow South African missionary could not make it to the meeting as she was waiting for another missionary to return from one of the islands.

My work at the library is just about finished and all I now have to do is to ensure that the student librarians are up to speed and can take over my responsibilities without the fear of making a mistake and a changed attitude as running a library take dedication. Since the 22 January over 7500 book were imported on to the system, another 150 – 200 new books and about 500 duplicate books are still in storage and it will be up to the student librarians to import these books on to the system. On Wednesday I will lead the praise and worship service and this will also be my goodbye to the school as from Thursday and Friday students will be writing exams so there will be no classes. I am hoping to use this week to reinforce the responsibilities that each student librarian has in ensuring that the library are run as effectively as possible, I will basically only have 3 days to do this as I won’t be at the college on Monday leaving only Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday to train the students.

This week we heard that 1 of the teachers sons who are studying in Nairobi got hurt in a fall where he was staying and he was hospitalised, staff members each made a personal contribution to the staff member and this enabled him to travel to Nairobi to be with his son, fortunately the news we got was that he did not require surgery and this was an answer to prayer after all the miscommunication we received from Nairobi, AIM Nairobi office also made some funds available to pay his cost which could amount to about $1500 ( I am not sure if this was from the College account or from the AIM account itself)

On Friday we will be having a staff get together to say goodbye to me and another USA volunteer and on Saturday I will be having supper with my neighbours whose sons are returning home for the school holidays. I have been offered a ride into Nairobi on Friday but this will mean that my travelling cost will be more and also staying in Nairobi will work out more, just for spending 2 days in Nairobi I have to pay almost R400 to stay at Mayfield guesthouse, the cost of the ticket to get to Nairobi is another R150 give or take. As I run down my time here in Bulima please remember me in your prayers and also the students who are writing exams on the 25 and 26 March

Library System

 

I now finally have the library system in place and have started to download books from the internet, the quickest and easiest way to do it is to go via the Internet, I started yesterday, and the goal is to download 150 books a day, the plan is to teach the student assistants how to download the books which will free me up to work on other aspects of the library in the next 3 months. The Internet is working much quicker now. I saw the maintenance guy on the roof working on it and when I came online the Internet was going so much quicker.

Unfortunately, the power went out as I was downloading books from the Internet, fortunately this did not affect the books that was already downloaded so no work was lost, just time. Next week I am going into Mwanza to have my work permit sorted out as it expires on the 09/02. I am hoping to continue working late hours in order for me to finish the project. I would the library to be on the system by the end of February and then to teach staff and student how to operate the system. Physically I am ok just my ribs were a bit sore the last 2 days probably from moving books around the shelves.

The week has gone quickly, and I am still enjoying myself although the heat is something else, although I should be used to it. I made the decision that I will wear long pants to work but at home I will wear my short. I even played Volleyball in my running shorts this week as the college gets ready to take on another college in a few sporting events. I have given away my Springbok rugby jersey earlier tonight to a lecturer son who was helping me to short out a problem on someone's computer. He said he was a rugby fan, so I just gave it to him, no sweat.

Rest Day

Today it is very hot here in Bulima and I am suffering a little bit after a long walk up to the cellphone towers and along some farms in town, I even did a 30m run up the hill without to much trouble from my knees which is a good sign for me meaning that my knees are at last beginning to recover. I am hoping to start downloading the library data base soon, I am just awaiting final confirmation from the AIM leader who is currently on home assignment in the US. I have spoken to 1 or 2 off the lecturers and they are quite happy with it, the Internet is showing signs of recovery and that will play an important role in the job that lies ahead as it will be much easier for me to download the books information on to the system.

There are not many students around in the library as the college only has about 40+ students. Most if not all of them also work for the college either in the library the farms or at some off the teachers homes, they all also have to play in role in keeping the college grounds clean and everyone has an assigned role to play, most off the students live on the grounds, some are married with kids and they live off campus. Tuesdays and Fridays are Bank days when the students get paid for the work they did during that time, this can take anything from 2 Hours to 4 hours to finish the bank, my host came home at about 20h45 on Tuesday as he is in charge whiles the team leader is away.

Today the library was cleaned and I am quite happy about that as I have set out certain goals for the library Assistants that needs to be met whiles' I am here. I believe that this will take more than 3 months to finish and I would like to see the job through to completion even if I have to come back later in the year to finish the assignment, please commit this to pray as I go about my job, if you want to get involved in this either financially or with pray please feel free to contact me houties@live.com or on +255682060971, my work permit expires on the 09/02 and I still need to have it renewed, hopefully for free.

College life

 

I arrived in Tanzania last night after a 10 hour drive from Nairobi, the drive itself was uneventful and it went off without a hitch, at the Tanzanian border though I discovered I had to pay an entry visa which was not on the schedule off payment, we arrived in the town of Bulima and I spend my first night in Bulima and not in Mwanza as I had thought, I arrived at the college and spend my first day getting to know the area a bit and also the college library. Getting to know the staff names etc is going to take a little while though, the day was basically spend researching which library system will be best for the college, it does not look as if the library will keep me to busy and I will also help out at the college where I can.

The library has a few students who act as monitors and this Saturday I will be meeting with them to discuss the way forward for the library and how I will get them to work in terms of hours as the students are paid to work in the library, 1 of the first task that will need to be done is to have the library cleaned and I am thinking off getting the students to come in on Sunday and clean the place up. Where I will end staying is still up for discussion as I have an option of 3 places to stay, 1 being living on my own for the next 3 months this will however mean I have to cook for myself, it does however offer me privacy in terms off Cumming and going during the day and evenings when I might be working. My first full day in Tanzania has gone well and I already feel part of the community here. If you want to get in touch with me please email me at houties@live.com, my contact number is +255765542885.

College and Town life

 

Life in Bulima is very laid back as it is a rural town with not much going on, on Tuesday I went on an awesome walk up the mountain and for the first time in long time I felt like running again, the natural beauty is something else from the top off the hill. Live at the college has been a stop start affair purely because off the constant electricity cuts which can drive any normal person insane, this has not stopped me from planning my work and the power cuts gives me the opportunity to plan ahead for the library. I had my work permit stamped into my passport on Monday and are therefore now legal to work in Bulima, the only problem is that it expires on the 09/02(It was date stamped on Monday is valid for 3 months but is expires on the 09/02, all because it was 1st issued on the 29/11/09) which means I have to take a day off work and go into town which is a long journey there and back and is something I am not looking forward to.

This also means I have to pay another $120 which is not budgeted for, this is now the 2nd time where I will have to pay for something not on the budget, this is the norm in any country though, I have also met some German volunteers who volunteer at the local private school down the road from us, so it is nice to have fellow foreigners with me here in town, I am still hoping that I will be able to get hold off a camera to take some pics and put in on the site for people what life here in Bulima is all about. If I thought that work in the library was going to be a walk in the park, how mistaken I am, you will need someone here full time for 2 years to pull the library straight, please pray that the Lord will lay it on someone heart to volunteer here for at least 1 year. All in all I am enjoying my time here and I hope to make a real difference not only in the library but also in the lives of the people here.

I am hoping to install a new library system this weekend, this will mean that I will spend long hours in the library from now on, I just need to get permission from the college staff and get the students input then the hard work will begin, it will be easy to download all the books information from the internet and I am praying that we will have constant internet connection which will allow things to go smoothly, the library assistants I have here with me still need to learn about hard work and I am slowly working on them to get them to do things my way. Later today I will be printing some date stamps and get the Librarians to put it into the books a real sign for me then that we will be moving forward full steam. I have changed my phone number as the Vodacom network here is all most nonexistent, my new number is +2550682060971. Where I live is no tv which means by the time I leave Bulima I would have finished 4 books (3Bible Study reading and 1 Christian counseling book) which is a record for me. I try to make contact with people back home 1 a week so if there is a foreign number on your phone, it might just have been me trying to get hold off some friends...

Arriving in Kenya

 

I arrived in Kenya earlier this evening after leaving home at 05h10 am this morning with my 2 nieces and their 2 friends, the flight up to Joburg was uneventful and went off without any problems, Joburg was a bit of touch and go as in between phoning the bank and chatting to family and friends I had failed to notice that my flight was boarding earlier, and I had to make a mad dash for the plane which was then delayed in any case as 2 passengers pitched up late. Sitting in business class was a good thing for my knees which held up quite nice during my mad dash for the plane. I am a bit annoyed with a friend of mine who never brought my camera to my house before I left which means I do not have a camera here.

I brought 3 reading books (which I haven't paid for yet, sorry DW will make right when I am back home) and 2 Bibles with me which I hope will be enough reading material for me. On landing in Kenya, I discover there was another ex-South African missionary on the flight with me and we will be traveling to Tanzania together, she will stay in another part of town and I am sure we see a bit of it's other in Tanzania, the staff at the AIM guest house is nice people and I have already met quite a few other missionaries, even 2 from Zimbabwe. I don't know how I will sleep tonight I was tired earlier and had a shower and changed into a shorts and sweater and now I am wide awake. I must just remember to take my anti malaria tablets before I go to bed tonight, and as I write this my eyes are beginning to feel heavy, I guess I will be off to bed sometime tonight and hopefully have a good, nice rest. I am up early tomorrow I might go for a short walk into town, but on the other hand I do tend to get lost easily, I will decide tomorrow.

Day 2 and last day in Kenya for a while

Today was day 2 in Kenya and it was another full day off orientation for us, this time we were joined by Ruth E from Northern Ireland who will be working in Korr, Kenya for 6 months, tomorrow morning at 05h30 we will be leaving for Tanzania with the Anderson's which will take about 12 hours by car. Apart from going into town with the ladies to do shopping not much happened today as the orientation lasted until 06h50 after a short break off 3 hours, a long day of traveling lies ahead tomorrow, please pray for a safety on the road for us, as the traffic here is something else to say the least.