Getting closer to God in Tanzania
Gillian Nelson
| 01 Jan 2010
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Gillian Nelson is spending three months helping with the English teaching programme at Msalato Theological College, near Dodoma, in Tanzania.
My days at Msalato have settled into a gentle routine. All students and staff gather in the chapel at 7.30am to begin the day with a short service. This is one of the best parts of the day.
It’s impossible not to feel close to God at Msalato. Every minute of the day brings evidence of God’s work here. The people come from a world where day-to-day survival is, at best, difficult; a world where there is little hope of ‘improvement,’ where every morning someone new is ill or has died from a disease that is so easily treatable.
Yet, despite all of this – or perhaps because of it – the people have a deep, unshakeable faith that they are where they belong, doing the work for which God made them. Theirs is a joy in life that I have not often seen. From chapel we move into three hours of classes.
The Foundation One (beginners) English class has three hours of grammar every morning, starting at 8am. I used to think two or three grammar lessons each term was too much! At 5pm each day I walk with a group of teachers.It’s a good opportunity to see the surrounding countryside.
Just outside the college ground is a large area that has been cleared of houses. This is being turned into ‘Dodoma International Airport,’ which sounds like a fabulous idea.
Planes will be fly directly to the capital city; international travellers will infuse the city with life and money… But the sacrifice for the people of the area has been huge. All of those living in huts in the designated area were given two weeks to be out of their houses.
There was no compensation, no relocation efforts. Now they have nothing, and nowhere to live. Not long ago Dodoma was fairly fertile. There was a small lake and stream to bring water, lots of trees and vegetation.
Unfortunately, one of the easy ways to make money is to cut down the trees and make charcoal; a large bag sells for TS1500 (about NZ$1.50). Without tree-root systems, the land is turning into a wasteland.
Westernisation has done little to improve life here; it has only made people more aware of the poverty in which they live.
I wish that the world I normally live in would sit up and take notice of these people: especially their love for each other and the world in which they live.
I wish the West could look past the poverty and see the people.
One Sunday we travelled about an hour from Msalato for a baptism and the new priest’s official welcome to the parish.
The community has struggled for 50 years to find the money to train a priest, so you cannot imagine their joy in having their prayers finally answered.
Watching the villagers during the service, I tried to work out which children belonged with which mothers. In this culture babies are passed from woman to woman. If a child cries, someone picks it up (often one of the older children). Everyone looks after every child and baby.
The strong sense of community is wonderful to watch and something from which we could learn. I had a lovely moment in class the other day.
During the “speaking and listening” class we went for a walk around the college grounds. As we returned to the classroom I said something about needing to get out of the sun before I burned. They could not understand this. Their skin does not go pink and burn from the sun! Then it happened.
One of my weakest students spoke… a man who really struggles with English and never volunteers anything. “Teacher,” he said, “your skin is paler than ours and that is why it burns.”
Doesn’t sound like much, does it? What you must realise is that we had been learning comparatives that morning and had earlier worked on conjunctions. This student had apparently not managed to grasp the use of either. Yet here he was, making a statement that correctly used both. I was so proud.
It was suddenly all worthwhile.
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