Philip & Fiona Richardson - Tanzania |
 |
Prayer Update July 2008 - A time for change
“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” - Isa 40:31a
Changes
 |
After the recent thanksgiving service for |
We hope you are well. Thank you for all your prayers for us as we returned to Tanzania. It has been great to be back with friends and colleagues again and to be able to be back in our own home. We thank God we can report that Fiona is well and the huge transition to Tanzania has been fairly smooth. Returning to Iringa after spending a year in England for medical reasons, we can see all kinds of changes. Before we left, a new government University was opened to add to the two private ones and this has really raised the status of the town and brought all kinds of investment, in addition to the sort of developments we’re seeing in many major towns countrywide. It seems every inch of space in town is being built on, with much smarter two or three storey buildings going up. There is even a shiny new Barclays bank opening and we can now use cash machines to access our English bank account. There is increasing mobile phone coverage in the villages, which has made an enormous difference to communications between family members and between us and our work colleagues in the Diocese. The government has been working hard to open lots more secondary schools and to make it easier for adults to attend special classes and gain secondary education. Quite a number of our colleagues are doing it part time alongside their jobs.
Challenges
It’s all very positive and there are lots of changes but the challenges of every day life for most, remain the same. This was vividly illustrated when a fire broke out at the main bus station recently. We have a new big red fire engine near the market so off it went a few streets away to the bus station. However when it arrived it faced a large crowd, angry because it had taken so long to get there, who mocked the firemen when they realised it was no help at all because it had come with no water. One woman brought a bucket of water on her head, saying, “I can help more than you”, as most of the shops burned to the ground. The same thing happened a year ago when the Regional hospital nearly burned down. Development is ever quite as simple as it may seem.
Costs
Although erratic rains affected the food prices, one of the major challenges since we came back is the price of fuel, which has pushed up the price of everything. The cost of oil for paraffin lamps and anything that has to be transported has risen to difficult levels for the average family. It also has a huge impact on those of us involved in training in the Diocese, since we either have to bring people in from the villages or go to where they are. Fiona works with the children’s branch of the Mother’s Union who are planning this year’s seminars to teach the importance of children’s work for churches and give practical help on how to teach children across the 8 regions of the Diocese. These are big distances and most of the cost is transport. There are many churches where there is nothing for children, either because they are new churches or because they do not take children’s work seriously. To date we don’t know where the relatively small amounts of money needed for each of these crucial visits will come from.
Health
The other thing which has struck us since we returned is the disruption caused by illness. All those we live and work with seem to be constantly going to the doctor, either for themselves or for their children for malaria, stomach bugs and other fevers. The students on the Pastor’s course, which Philip teaches at Amani college, leave their family in the village in order to study. When family members are sick they find it hard to concentrate on study and sometimes have to go home to help. We are also shocked by the number of people we know of who have died in the year we have been away, particularly those in their 20s and 30s and by the number of extra orphans who have come to live in families we know. AIDS education continues and is part of the work of the Diocese in churches and communities but the reality of the spread of the illness is all around and compels us to pray, especially for the work amongst young people.
Praise God for:
- Fiona’s health and strength, and that she has had no problem with heat or illnesses since returning.
- Bethany settling well, adjusting to home school. We thank God that she is starting to speak Swahili again and for our great house-help who has been such a good teacher.
- That in many areas of the Diocese the erratic rains have not ruined all the maize harvest.
- For 27 new students at Amani where Philip teaches who have come for the 6 month Bible course
Please pray for:
- All three of us as we continue to recover in every way from a very hard two years
- Wisdom for Fiona and colleagues in how to plan her Youth and Children’s work so that she is doing what God wants at the right time while easing back in gradually.
- God’s continued guidance and blessing on the next step for the Youth Bible Study materials which are currently being printed. Pray for God’s will to be done as to when and how to introduce them, for possible funding and for Fiona’s role in it. (See previous point!)
- God’s Spirit to bring a new determination to start and improve children’s work in the churches of the Diocese
- Philip as he teaches at Amani college. Particularly for God’s work in the hearts of those training as Pastors and for them to grow in their ministry as they go on placement and then start their final year in August
- God’s wisdom and provision as we plan the next year of Bethany’s schooling and a volunteer to teach her if it’s right.
- The new Archbishop of Tanzania, Valentino Mokiwa and Gods Spirit to guide him as he takes on the national leadership.