First Presbyterian Church
Tanzania Mission Trip
2005


Sent: July 14th, 2005
From: Lorien
Subject: Thursday, July 14th

Good Afternoon,

We have had a good week, although it has been strange to be missing two from our group. We have received some updates about Jane: She has been connected to a chest tube which is draining fluid that has surrounded her lungs, but she is feeling much better. Her spirits are better each day, and we are thankful that she is able to rest and recover under the care of such concerned doctors.

We have been trying to spend as much time as possible at TCRC to work with the boys. They returned to school this week, so there has been less interaction with them during the days. Several members of our group have been sitting in on classes. We are working on art projects, and singing with the boys.

Yesterday Micah asked me, my father, and Rick to look at the bio-gas system of TCRC. The theory behind this system is that a large containment tank is built and fed by several incoming pipes. All of the latrines are connected to these pipes, and there are other inlets in which to deposit animal waste, or food scraps that are leftover. The waste would then collect in the tank and as it degrades the gasses released are captured and piped to homes and buildings at TCRC. The gas can be used to light lanterns or stoves, as there is no electricity here. The system seems very interesting to me, but there is a problem.

The system was built by a man who claimed to know what he was doing, and as the project was near completion, the man ran away and dissappeared. The man was apparently the taxi driver for an engineer who had created a system for a different location. Feeling that he also understood how the system worked he went to other people pretending to be an engineer with the knowledge of how to build the bio-gas system, and as such there are many flaws in its operation. We looked through the system and mapped out the piping and tanks which are underground. It may be possible to salvage this idea and make it work, so we did a survey of the conditions in order to help to come up with a solution. This became a very interesting project, and we are hopeful that it can be fixed.

We have also been surveying the water collection systems at TCRC. There are currently 3 water tanks that collect and store rainwater during the wet season. A substantial amount of water is saved, but the amount greatly depends on the amount of rain in a given season. We have mapped out a path with which water may be pumped to TCRC from another location, but this system would require a great deal of energy on the part of an engineer, to make it work. I am sad that we no not have more time here to help with this project, but i hope to be able to offer some ideas based on the understanding I gained while working in Peru with community development. It would be valuable to these people to have other options for accessing water, as it is a precious and rare resource.

Everyone here is doing well...we are learning so much every day. We are also developing some wonderful relationships with the people here, and it will be hard to leave so soon. We will be attending a meeting tonight that has been arranged to talk to several community leaders and business people. For the most part, these people are not associated with any churches, and the goal of the meeting is to reach out to members of the community that would not otherwise be reached through other ministry. We hope to bring awareness of the problem of having children on the streets. Micah wants for people to understand that these children that are abandoned and rejected are the responsibility of each of us as humans. We need to help to stop the problems, and to reach out to these children to help them to have other options rather than drugs, alcohol, stealing, and violence. They live on the streets, and have to survive by any means necessary, and often use substances to escape from their struggles. I pray that eyes can be opened tonight, and small changes can begin to happen. There will be around 100 people at this meeting tonight. I dont expect that changes will happen overnight, but I hope that some seeds can be planted in the hearts of these people. I think of how Micah and his wife, with four children of their own, accepted two additional abandoned babies to adopt as their own. Emanual was found wrapped in his own placenta in a trash can, and no one would care for him or take him in as thier own.....but Micah and his wife did....then 3 months later another baby, Moses was found abandoned in a basket by the river......and when no one would take him in they did.

Babies should not be thrown in the trash, but if this happens, someone needs to take the responsibility of that child.....it saddens me that people were so quick to turn thier backs......I hope that this can change.

Enough sobering thought for now.....Please continue to keep this ministry in your prayers. I want to thank each of you who have written to me with your letters of support and interest. Knowing that you are also loving these people means so much to me, and it means so much to the people here. They appreciate knowing that people in other countries love and care for them. They appreciate love in a way that many of us do not even understand, because these people have been rejected so strongly.

I hope to be able to write again before we leave to return to the states.....time has gone so quickly.

Many blessings,

Lorien