Most of this week has been spent helping the branch get ready for the Helping Hands service.
We went there on Wed. and had a good meeting with them. They were a little in awe of the offer but agreed to come up with something we could do for them on Saturday.
We visited several members of the branch this week. The attendance at Relief Society has dropped off and we needed to see why. Two of the members live way on the other side of town. We had never been on that side of town so it was fun to see where they live. It is the area where all the rich people that are working at the conference center live. One of the members, Jackline the Primary Pres., is a maid for a couple of the homes. Then we went back to the area of the church and walked to another couple of homes. We had good visits with all.
Aug. 18, 2011
Swahili lesson again as usual. Then no one showed up for english class. Monica (the 1st Counselor in the Primary) asked if we could go to the hospital to take food and give a blessing to her uncle (the one that sat in on the lesson we had at her house). She said he was very sick in the head and not doing well. We said we would love to. We waited for about an hour then she called and said the food was ready. So we took Elder Nagapasare and Harper and went to her house to pick her up. We presumed her mother would be going with us and thought the Elders might have to sit in the back. As it turned out only Monica and a friend went. We also presumed it was a hospital here in town. They gave directions as we went and we soon ended up on the other end of town near the Shanga River House. We just kept going and going. Another one of those “not too far” things. When we got clear out of town we asked how long until we would get to the hospital? She said probably 45 minutes. We were a bit shocked as we thought it would be in town. We kept going and going. We passed the Snake Park and were still going. Then all of a sudden she said “turn right here”, we were already past the road. They do that to us a lot. They only walk so they don’t have the relationship to speed and when to tell us to turn at the next right or left. Anyway, we turned around and went back to the road and it was another 7 or 8 miles to the hospital. Then we came to a building off the road that looked like a string of apartments and Minica said, “this is it”. We pulled in and someone came out and asked what we wanted. Monica asked about her uncle and they didn’t seem to know anything. They directed us down to the other end of the building and Monica got on the phone. Eventually we found the room he was in (there were only 2 that were hospital rooms). They had a women’s ward and a men’s ward each with 5 or 6 beds. The condition of the room left a lot to be desired for a hospital. He was there in one of the beds asleep, still had on his street clothes. We then found out that he was riding one of the Picky Pickys (motorcycles that take people around and drive like idiots in and out of traffic at crazy speeds) and was in an accident. We explained to his relatives that were there what we wanted to do. We gave him a blessing and Monica proceeded to serve them the food she had brought. After a while the uncle woke up and the 2 relatives helped him sit up as he could not keep his balance and would wave his arms around like he had no control over them. But he ate and drank quite a bit and seemed to be doing pretty good. He then laid back down to go to sleep and Monica cleaned up and we headed for home.
The next day we spent all day running around town with Pres. Spear, Bro. Kibanda and Bro. Rwiza (the chairman of the project) to get stuff for the project the next day.
Aug. 20, 2011
Today was our “Helping Hands” project. We started the day off by going shopping. Then to the church. We ran into Pres. Spear on the road and decided to take him to get a card to give to the owner of the Shanga. Then Pres. Spear went to line up dalla dallas for the ride out to the Shanga. We waited for what seemed like forever for them to come. Then we loaded up and headed out. We arrived there about 1:20 PM and had an orientation meeting to tell us what they wanted us to do. Then they gave us a tour of the facility showing us what they do. This was a great experience for all. They employ disabled people to make various gift items. They sell them all over the country and also there in their gift shop. They cater to tours so they also serve a buffet at what they call the “River House” to people on safari. The safari companies bring their people to see the place and then eat. They charge $25.00 per person for the buffet. A really good buffet.
They take old bottles and melt them down to make glass beads of all sorts.
They make necklaces using the beads. They also make a cloth scarf type of necklace that Sister R. really liked. We had seen them in stores but didn’t know they were built here in Arusha.
They cut mirrors to decorate items like shoes and all kinds of things, glasses or bottles they cut the top off from.
They melt down old aluminum window frames and make all kinds of things. Like plates, spoons & table decorations, jewelry etc. They make a particular bracelet that they had a current order for 1,000.
They make all kinds of cloth items.
And all this is done by disabled people. Some were crippled, some were deaf, some had no fingers on one hand, some were blind, it was just amazing. The people live at their homes, they have to come to work every day (they do have a bus to pick some up), they are paid by deposit into a bank account so they learn how to handle money that way. Many of them support their whole family. After the tour we were assigned to different parts to make the products. We were taught by the people who do the work. Several men made glass beads in the kiln. Several made necklaces. Sister Rydalch wanted to make the cloth necklace she likes. She made several and bought one. Then some of us were assigned to clean things around the facility. Some were assigned to wash bottles hooked together to make a sort of barrier between areas.
Some were assigned to clean the decorated walkways. Some were assigned to water plants. All in all it was a great project. The management said they had never had anyone offer to help like we did.
They also had monkeys running all over the place.
At the end we had a session to teach us some sign language. Then we met with all the employees and managers and presented the produce we had purchased for them. And we took photos and all that stuff. They really seamed pleased with what we had done. But the best part was what they did for us. I think all had a really good spiritual experience and a great day. We even had one of the managers tell us she would come to church the next day.
Then we went back to the church and had chapatas and soda. We were so wound up about the success of the project we decided we needed to send it in to the church and see if it makes the Liahona.
If you are interested you can learn more about the Shanga here:
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