Monday, March 18, 2013

Long Goodbye to Dar es Salaam

The following emails and pictures tell the story of our last days in DAR.   All times on our emails are central time in the US.


Here is our frantic email to our daughter sent late on Thursday night from Dar es Salaam:

Sent: Thursday, March 7, 2013 2:18 PM
Subject: Airline problems
 

We were just checking on our flight from DAR and discovered that our reservation was for tonight and not tomorrow night as we had thought and we have missed it.  We are having difficulty getting a hold of anybody to see if we could reschedule for Friday March 8th........................ Would you please check with Delta for us?

  We will try to check with KLM in the morning, because we cannot reach them on the phone tonight. 


So sorry for this mess up.

There is nothing like being being in our room and hearing the plane you should have been on flying overheard at 12:07 AM.  No sleep tonight.

The following is our message to our friends and family.

On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 9:10 AM

>  I am extremely embarrassed to be writing this email, but fortunately the end result is going to work out just fine.  Last night we saw our second group off to MSP.  We were scheduled to leave on the following day.  I had checked the itinerary I had made back home which had us arriving in MSP on Saturday afternoon.  I thought I would check our reservations on line and at 10:30 last night and I discovered that our tickets were for leaving on Thursday instead of Friday.  An hour and 37 minutes later I am sure we heard the plane we should have flown on, fly over the hotel where we are staying.

Meg was our great helper and spent a long time on the phone rescheduling our flight which is now on Sunday at 11:58 pm.  We will be arriving on Monday at 1:30 pm.  Calls and emails to Delta were unanswered.  Today we did what we had planned and rented a car to go the Bagomoyo with Nixon, a driver associated with the hotel, and we included our faithful bus driver Kurwa who wanted us to bring back information on Bagomoyo for him. Kurwa had been to Bagomoyo six times, but had never taken the tour.  We had a wonderful time and it was especially nice to be sharing time with these two
gifted men.    Although because this place was a huge slave trade area it was sobering.  The fish market thrilled Lyn. Large plastic containers of cooking oil were arriving by water having been thrown off boats and floated into shore where the tax man was assessing a tax before the product was sent to market.

 Our email may go out, due to the expiration of our modem, so please don't be alarmed if you do not hear from us in the next three days.

 Love to all of you.  I have learned a lesson I already knew a lot about; which is check the primary source.  We are planning to use our time here to good use and will use the hotel driver to get around and to deliver us to the airport early on Sunday evening.

 All our best,
>
> Mollie and Lyn

Wista's Chalet Courtyard



Outdoor dining


Beautifully Kept Garden

Carver's Market

One of many stores


Africa Art in new location shopping center location


Slipway shoreline




Cindy Bullock studying lunch menu at Slipway

Fishing off Slipway




Dar Streets


Free ride

Street Scene
Bago Moyo - "Lay Down Your Heart"

German Fort and formerly area for holding slaves
Our Bago Moyo Guide Paul, Kurwa and Nixon



German Cemetery


Cooking oil from Zanzibar floating in, going through customs and transport to market

Customs Building

Seashore




Fish Market with fish frying in background.
Lyn and Paul said the fish tasted sweet.

Red Snapper held by proud fisherman
Christian Monument

Kurwa at Monument dedicated to the arrival of Christians in Bago Moyo


Baking Rolls in an open-air kitchen connected to Catholic Retreat Center.  Nixon was the only one who got a taste.




Former Catholic Church House/ Currently Museum

Chains which held slaves


Catholic Church


Chapel behind church
Bago Moyo Lunch at Poa Poa with Kurwa and Nixon


  Village Museum

One of twenty one village homes at museum


Museum Dancers


Another Village Home
On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 10:14 AM, <lyn_mollie@comcast.net> wrote: 


 For all of you who are wondering about our adventure. We are leaving DAR  tonight at 11:58 pm. We are going to dinner in an hour and fifteen minutes and two hours later we have scheduled Nixon to take us to the airport. 
Nixon has been driving us around since Friday when we went to Bagomoyo, a coastal town that is steeped in slave trade, a port for Zanzibar, and a former German Fort. Yesterday Lyn and I walked to a shopping center, about 1/2 mile. We only got slightly in trouble when Lyn took a picture and the guard came and told us it was illegal to take pictures of the shopping center. In the afternoon we went to a village museum that has twenty-one different homes from twenty-one different tribes. There was dancing which  we watched. There were three different tribal dances, but after two it was enough. It all went OK until Lyn wanted to go into one more house; I had had enough and as I was standing outside and a bat flew out of the house and passed me. Today Nixon drove us to the Azania Front Lutheran ChurchThe church was built like a Lutheran church from Germany; built during the German period. The service was very interesting despite out inability to understand Swahili. The pastor spoke with us afterwards and sent a letter home to Paul Harris who had taught him at Tumaini University in Iringa; Paul was instrumental in encouraging us to come to Iringa for an extended stay.  The pastor knew people we knew, so now it is a small Lutheran world. Lyn 
and I had a quick bite of fast food, andazi and samosas for Lyn. The National Museum was interesting and took up our remaining time in downtown DAR. This was a very successful day with nothing dangerous happening. If there are no more mishaps we shall be home Monday at 1:40 pm. 

> Love to you all, 

> Mollie and Lyn  
 


 Sunday in Dar

Azania Front Cathedral Main Entrance


Azania Front Cathedral Lutheran Church.  Lady in foreground greeted us and told us where to sit.




Family of Newly Baptized
Rev Charles Mzinga





Gathering area in front of Azania Front Cathedral Lutheran Church


Azania Front Cathedral Lutheran Church - side entrance

Offering Registration Cards
Eastern and Coastal Diocese Headquarters next to Azania Front Cathedral

National Museum




National Museum Display - Slavery





Walk to additional National Museum Displays


Last Morning in Tungamalenga - Impalapandi



Pastor Paulo Kisakinike and family.

We visited Impalapandi preaching point in the morning of March 1.  During our bus ride Absolum lead us all in songs that we were able to follow fairly easily and it made our trip seem shorter.  This Masaai Preaching Point is one that we visited four years ago.  At that time worship was under a big tree and I think it is the same tree that is in the photograph below.  In 2009 the women had made and fired bricks for the new chapel.  The bricks were being laid when we visited and the men, though not Christian, noticed the women's hard work and donated the funds to purchase the mortar for laying the bricks. Before entering the chapel some preschoolers were standing under a tree eager to show Pastor Bonnie their skills with the alphabet.   During our time in the new chapel, Pastor Paulo, spoke about this being Women's Day.  It was also interesting that when we first entered the chapel there were more men than women.  Pastor Paulo said that three years ago husbands beat their women daily, but now that they are Christian, they do not beat their wives.  During our time in the Chapel, the members of Shepherd of the Valley (Bob Kelfsass, Ben Olson, Lyn and Mollie MacLean) presented Pastor Paulo with the letters of introduction to the Tanzanian Government and US Embassy that will enable Paulo to get a passport and visa for traveling to the US in October 2013. 
Pastor Bonnie working with Preschool students on vowel sounds


Women Clapping during singing in new chapel

We walked with many members a short distance through the brush to a Masaai home and cattle corral.  Unfortunately I stepped where I should not have and Angelina had to help me clean my shoes, so my visit to the Masaai home was shorter.  We then processed through more fields, coming to a flat area, where the members hope that a grade school can be built.  The Masaai students have to walk over an hour to and from school and as a result, they tend to lack interest and are unable to keep up with their school work.  Masaai and Barabaig students could benefit from having a school nearby.

Masaai Home as viewed from corral.
Cattle corral holds 400 cattle at night


Grazing Cattle






Men Overlooking Site of Proposed Local School
Pastor Paulo and four church leaders walking from school ground site.



Four  Masaai men in traditional dress ready for dance


Girls Dancing
Little boys practicing jumping like the big guys


Jewelry for sale
 Kate, Nancy, and Bob found friends

Kate Madison with friends.




Nancy Johnson and friends

Bob Kelfsass and friend.







Women at the well

As we arrived back at the chapel and bus, there were sodas and delicious tender bites of grilled meat waiting for us.  The women had jewelry for sale and the colorful dance involving men jumping very high and women dancing is something we always enjoy seeing.

Back home at Tungamalenga Church we were invited to a Prayer Meeting in the sanctuary where we spoke briefly and then we went for our farewell at the Community Center.  On our way to pick up the Immanuel Church Group at their special village stay, we saw creative merchandising pictured below.

Bob Klefsass sharing message at Tungamalenga Church
 with Dr. Barnabas and Pastor Bonnie


Gustavus Adolphus Travelers with Absolum, Naftal, Barnabas, Angelina, and Mollie
Produce for sale at roadside



Store on bicycle