My Journey

There are many people who know the history of the Chimala Mission and in much more detail than I do.  The Chimala Bible College was originally started up on the mountain.  I was able to make my first trip up the mountain to see the old remains.  The following pictures are what is left of the original Bible College.  The picture above was the main building.  Even from these photos, I can just imagine how nice it must have once been. As I understand things, when the mission moved from the mountain down to Chimala it had a negative effect on the Tanzanians in this area.   The decision has been made to re-establish our presence on the mountain.  This will open up an additional opportunity for us to help with the church there and set up additional mobile clinics in an area which is in need.   The road up to the mission is really bad.  Mostly ruts and rocks.  It was a really rough ride.  At one time, the truck st...

I have never been a very good dancer....mostly cause I didn't dance except for a couple of years when line dancing was the rage.  When the "Macaraina" was the rage, I just thought it was silly.  But now, the "Green Mamba".....this is a jolt of adrenaline!!  Let me explain. When I see the "Green Mamba", my pulse goes up, my adrenaline surges and most people who are around start jumping and screaming.  That is because this is the "Green Mamba"...... This little guy is very poisonous and was on my screen door.  I was in the house and one of the girls was coming to get me for church.  As she reached to open my door, she noticed the snake and started yelling with that intense, high-pitched scream that young girls have.  She yelled for the security guard, but she was yelling in English and he speaks swahili.  So after yelling for the guard 3 times, she changed to yelling for her Dad.  Chad, the guard and another one of the Tanzanians came to...

The Nursing Day celebration went very well.  The crowds were big and the enthusiasm was high.  Once the "Guest of Honor" arrived the parade of nurses marched through town on the highway up to the hospital entrance.  The Guest of Honor was the District Commissioner. Here comes the parade! The parade had a small band and lots of dancing (the African type of dancing).    Chad is sitting up front and center with the important people... Chad gave a short, nice speech to the nurses thanking them for their service and encouraging them to continue their good work.   The music was very good even tho the instruments were made from wood.     It wasn't easy to get good pictures, but this is  the District Commissioner speaking. And as you know, I love the little ones....so here are a couple of shots I thought were too good to miss. And another shot I thought was too good to miss was the ...

Many things were done in order to have the hospital looking good for the Nursing Day Celebration.  The good thing about "putting on a face-lift" for special occasions is that the face-lift helps boost staff morale and much of the "face-lift" will remain in place after the occasion is over. I mentioned in an earlier blog about the bridge leading to the hospital.  It was all wood, badly rotted, crooked and has been in need of replacement for quite sometime.  It just was not a "priority" until the "Nursing Day" celebration was to be held here.  So this is a BIG face-lift which will remain and the staff were so excited to have this new bridge!   For 3 days prior to the Nursing Day celebration, nurses from our hospital as well as other hospitals in our district held a "Health Fair".  As we do not have big conference rooms or conference areas for such things, temporary tents were built outside.  As you can see, the decorations were...

The Chimala Hospital has a department which serves the community with family planning, pre-natal care and infant care.  They also perform mobile clinics 2-3 times per month where they perform education to new mothers and give vaccines to infants.  Weights are also performed on children up to age 5. Rena and I worked together performing weights.  There were many children to be weighed.  As we began completing the weights, Rena and one of the other staff began sorting through the records for those who needed vaccines and administering them.  Notice the purple and blue cloth being worn by the ladies.  This is a Masai village.   The day was a very good day.  We did have a couple of small "hick-ups" tho.   We all know that young children are sometimes afraid of strangers.  Well many of these children are not only afraid of  strangers, but also may not have seen a "white" person.  So some of the little ones began...

The past several days have been very full and busy.  Tanzania will be celebrating "Florence Nightingale Day" and I believe their 60th anniversary of nursing together this year on March 19th.  Chimala Hospital will be the location for the Regional Celebration.  We will be expecting many, many guests to our hospital.  As I informed you a couple of weeks ago, the mattresses in the hospital are in bad shape and I have decided to try to raise funds to purchase new ones.  Well, I decided to go a step further.  I have had two wonderful people tell me they were sending me a donation for mattresses, but I decided to trust that God will provide.  I have already purchased 40 new mattresses for the hospital!  I am praying for donations to help cover the cost. Renee, Chad, Anna and I spent last week sorting through the donations of sheets we have received from our brothers and sisters in America.  We and the staff are working together to get the old, ho...