Posts

The Days We Had Five Flat Tires

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One of our Five Flat Tires   Many people ask: Why do we have a few days of rest after working in the clinic before coming home? Because it is necessary to unpack what we’ve done during clinic in the last week and because we need to prepare coming back to our “normal” lives in the USA.     What a different life ours is than what we’ve seen here.  We’ve experienced so much in this country, met the people, learned about them, learned of their hardships and troubles their different way of life and we were very touched.     It is also very sad and we will take that all home in our hearts.     Additionally, we’ve gotten to know each other as a team and now we can talk, pray, and enjoy a break.     Having a break is very special.     But WOW…. To get a chance to go to two parks in Africa is MORE than special.     Tanzania is rich in animals and plant life as you can imagine - like out of the Social Studies books or the Travel Channel. Tarangire National Park.     This is a wonderful park full
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The Day We Changed Our Clothes

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  This is Moses, the Watch Repairman - He Can See! The day started with another incredible breakfast at the Lodge.    The Spanish Omelette is the dish of choice.     Our meal in the morning always got us together and on the right mind-set for the day and included a devotion and prayer.    Cornelius, our host, always came to greet us and tell us stories of his travels and meeting many people (George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Clarence Thomas, Bill Gates, ...).  This morning we did eyeglass testing for a few people at the Lodge, including Rashid, our server and his wife.    We wanted to see if they needed glasses and they did - and we brought their glasses back from the clinic.    We were so glad to help these very nice people.  Today was another memorable day at the clinic.    One man that captured our heart was Moses, was a watch repairman.    He was so happy he could see his watch.    He didn’t want to read for the test, but brought an open watch to see if he could see the inner workings bet
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The Day We Built Each Other Up and Saw the Rainbow

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The Rainbow on the road from  Mbuguni As with any mission trip there are ups and downs.     There were so many people today that really wanted to get into the clinic there were some very loud discussions and a little bit of tension outside the clinic.     Our great hosts helped with crowd control and making sure there was communication on why the wait - but this was hard - we want to help as many as possible but realized today that it is not possible to help everyone.     Some will eventually have to be turned away.     Their hope for glasses and better sight might not be realized.     We can’t     even imagine how they feel especially after walking a long way to get to the clinic. Laurence said we could do another two weeks and still not get to everyone. We served 118 people in the clinic today.    There were a lot of elderly and a lot of very young.    The oldest was 100 and the youngest that we tested was nine.  Several of the elderly do not know even their age. More than 200 people
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The Day That Solidified The Reason Why God Sent Us Here

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A Busy Sunday at the Eyeglass Clinic What struck us on the way to the road to Mbuguni this morning was all the people dressed in their colorful Sunday clothes and walking to church.     Dozens of families  and lots of children.     It was dusty and hot already. (We felt bad for driving by and making a huge trail of dust). We take it for granted that we can jump in a car and be to church in a short time.     These families may walk an hour or more to church and then back.   It was another successful day, serving 60 people in the clinic, however we didn’t get to see over 100 people who came to the clinic.    There is such a need for eyeglasses in this community and we were really blown away with the number of people waiting again.    Because we went to church in the morning we only had a half day of clinic.    We registered 50 of the people we could not get to to make sure they come back in morning and to get us a jump-start on getting them in. Over 160 people were served a meal today.  
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The Day That Started with No Water and Ended with the Light

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  An amazing feat - Dora can see much better! As with a lot of mission trips, the unexpected can happen.  Sometimes it’s just a minor discomfort, like no water in the lodge where you are staying.  That is the case with us today.  It started with no water - but “Hakuna Mata” (no worries in Swahili).  That’s just a minor thing and we are all good friends now.  We were a bit dirty and didn’t smell as nice as we wanted - and our hair - oh well; The people of  Mbuguni  won’t mind. Being Saturday, it was Market Day in the village and Laurence wanted us to experience what it was like.  Jacob, one of our bus drivers said “Welcome to the  Mbuguni  Walmart.”  Everyone goes to the market to get their food and wares, sells their goats, sheep, etc. You can pick out your goats and watch them slaughter, cut, and cook them over an open fire.  Not a sight we all want to see, but this is their way of living.   It was chaotic, busy, and dirty (to us), but a place to gather and make sure they had provisio
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