Traveling to Sumbawanga

Last week we left the village of Nyabange, near Musoma, that has been our home base for the past two and a half years. We have friends there, from when we lived there from 1978-1982, and we have renewed those friendships over the past two years. At that time it was the central office of Tanzania Mennonite Church. Joe said he feels like Abraham, going to a place not sure of what we will encounter. Gloria said she feels like Sarah.

We were on our way to a town in southwestern Tanzania about 680 miles away, Sumbawanga. There is a growing Mennonite church with a dynamic young pastor who has been there only 1 year and has already brought new energy to the church. But they are isolated by distance from other Mennonite churches. So they are moving forward on their own without a lot of support or resources for growth. We are coming to do more intentional and in-depth mentoring with their leaders.

We had already delayed our move for a month or so because of the rains, and we thought they were over by now. And truly they had stopped. Some of the roads we needed to travel are not yet improved, so rain complicates travel with areas of slippery mud and potholes.

Discussing with other travelers, "Can we drive through?"

The first two days were normal travel. The first night we stopped in Mwanza, the second night in Tabora. And that night it rained. Or should I say it RAINED! Hard. The next two days we would travel over the worst part of the roads. We thought about waiting a day, but there was no assurance that the rain will stop. So we started the third day and traveled 9 hours to go 225 miles due to very slippery roads (that is an average of 25 mph). One place there was knee-deep water flowing over the road and we were unsure if we could pass, but after I walked through it and another vehicle passed through, we also tried and succeeded, then spent the night in the town of Mpanda.

When we left Mpanda, we heard a grinding noise in one wheel, but saw nothing unusual. About 10 kms into our trip, the left front of the car suddenly dropped a couple inches. All the lug nuts had come off and the wheel slipped off the lug bolts, but not off the hub. It was amazing that the wheel did not come completely off.  Accompanied by angels??

I jacked up the car, borrowed lug nuts from the other wheels and we went back to town to buy new nuts and we were soon on our way with no more car problems. There were muddy spots, however, and we were just able to pass a truck and a bus stuck in the road.

The countryside near Sumbawanga.

We arrived safely in Sumbawanga Thursday afternoon and were received warmly. The pastor had located a house for us to rent, which we moved into on Saturday. The house was unfurnished, and we had come with all our belongings in the car, which did not include large furniture. But we have been settling in with makeshift shelves and buying a few plastic chairs and a table and it is feeling comfortable. We plan to spend about 3 months here, with a break during June and July for other commitments and a visit to our family in USA in July. Then back to Sumbawanga for another month and a half before we move to a different location for another mentoring opportunity.