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Greetings from Tarime,

This is written on Sunday, June 26th, the first day we have had electricity since the last blog. There was electricity for a couple of hours on 2 days, but we were not home to write. The blog of last Sunday took 6 tries between outages to send.

Everyone on the team is doing fine considering a lack of sleep, hot showers, electricity, pasta for every meal, fish with the head and tail still on, riding in the back of a pickup on the wrong side of the road, toilets that are flat to the ground and a language we don’t understand. Probably the most serious problem so far is that Judy lost our camera, but there are many other pictures from other cameras. Beth has become the official photographer and has taken over 800 photos so far.

The hostel is ready to start the roof tomorrow (Monday) and should be about finished by the time we leave on Wednesday. Dave is having good success with the chimes. We have had dinner with 2 of the Secondary School faculty. Tomorrow we will have lunch with Anna (Angel House Supervisor ) and dinner with Lucas, Headmaster of Angel Secondary School. These meals have been extremely helpful in understanding the local culture.

After our trip to the Serengeti, I can attest that the pictures in the National Geographic Magazine are not fakes, but real. The roads are gravel with big stones and rough on passengers and the cars. We were able to see elephants, rhinoceros giraffes, lions, cheetahs, hippopotami, leopards, gnu, zebra, and many more. Judy and I opened the curtains on our bedroom window at 3:30AM to find a water buffalo looking back at us about 6 feet away. As we crossed from the Serengeti to Ngorngoro Crater we stopped at the Olduvi Gorge in Maasi Country. This is a branch of the Great Rift where The Leakys made great discoveries in the 1960s and 1970s of fossils and ancient footprints. The trip back from the crater began at 7:00 in the morning and after 2 flat tires, a leaky radiator, broken roof support, heater that didn’t shut off for 500KM, (300 miles), water temperature gauge pegged on H, headlights that lit up the trees, not the road, and numerous police road checks, we almost made it home about 9:00 in the evening. After the second flat tire and a jack that didn’t work, Eric was able to pick us up in the pickup truck.

Larry & Beth

Greetings from Tanzania,

This is Tuesday night and the power just quit after being on for about 20 Minutes and I can’ see the keyboard. The team is doing well and having new experiences by the hour. Tonight we had dinner at the home of one of the teachers at Angel School. His enthusiasm and vision for an English speaking school was enjoyed by everyone.

The walls on the hostel are about 1/3rd completed. We hope tomorrow to complete another 1/3. Dave Pinkerton and his chimes have been a hit with the students. Some of them are doing very well.

Riding in the back of the truck on the road to Angel House is a challenge for those of us from the US. However, yesterday, the truck hauled 20high school students in back and 8 adults in the cab from Tarime to Angel House. The truck is a Toyota 100 extended cab with a small bed. The road is one long 2KM rut. The distance from the house where we are staying to Angel House is about 5 miles.

The weather has been similar to a summer day in Ohio. Heavy rain last night and thunderstorms in the area tonight.

Beth just emerged from her shower when the power went out leaving her in total darkness with a head full of soap. Our miners’ headlamps have seen a lot of use.

I had my first ride on a pikiki (motorcycle taxi) today. You hope he knows where he is going.

Judy, Beth and Dave were invited to teach at the Secondary Summer School Today. After the panic left, they set about devising lesson plans. They had a great time and were impressed with the faculty and students. The level of instruction was much higher than what we had heard is typical for Tanzania.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will work on the hostel, Dave is teaching chimes and we have been invited to lunch.

Larry Riesser
Tipp City United Methodist Church

Greetings from Tanzania,

This is Tuesday night and the power just quit after being on for about 20 Minutes and I can’ see the keyboard. The team is doing well and having new experiences by the hour. Tonight we had dinner at the home of one of the teachers at Angel School. His enthusiasm and vision for an English speaking school was enjoyed by everyone.

The walls on the hostel are about 1/3rd completed. We hope tomorrow to complete another 1/3. Dave Pinkerton and his chimes have been a hit with the students. Some of them are doing very well.

Riding in the back of the truck on the road to Angel House is a challenge for those of us from the US. However, yesterday, the truck hauled 20high school students in back and 8 adults in the cab from Tarime to Angel House. The truck is a Toyota 100 extended cab with a small bed. The road is one long 2KM rut. The distance from the house where we are staying to Angel House is about 5 miles.

The weather has been similar to a summer day in Ohio. Heavy rain last night and thunderstorms in the area tonight.

Beth just emerged from her shower when the power went out leaving her in total darkness with a head full of soap. Our miners’ headlamps have seen a lot of use.

I had my first ride on a pikiki (motorcycle taxi) today. You hope he knows where he is going.

Judy, Beth and Dave were invited to teach at the Secondary Summer School Today. After the panic left, they set about devising lesson plans. They had a great time and were impressed with the faculty and students. The level of instruction was much higher than what we had heard is typical for Tanzania.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will work on the hostel, Dave is teaching chimes and we have been invited to lunch.

Larry Riesser
Tipp City United Methodist Church

Greetings from Tanzania,

This is Tuesday night and the power just quit after being on for about 20 Minutes and I can’ see the keyboard. The team is doing well and having new experiences by the hour. Tonight we had dinner at the home of one of the teachers at Angel School. His enthusiasm and vision for an English speaking school was enjoyed by everyone.

The walls on the hostel are about 1/3rd completed. We hope tomorrow to complete another 1/3. Dave Pinkerton and his chimes have been a hit with the students. Some of them are doing very well.

Riding in the back of the truck on the road to Angel House is a challenge for those of us from the US. However, yesterday, the truck hauled 20high school students in back and 8 adults in the cab from Tarime to Angel House. The truck is a Toyota 100 extended cab with a small bed. The road is one long 2KM rut. The distance from the house where we are staying to Angel House is about 5 miles.

The weather has been similar to a summer day in Ohio. Heavy rain last night and thunderstorms in the area tonight.

Beth just emerged from her shower when the power went out leaving her in total darkness with a head full of soap. Our miners’ headlamps have seen a lot of use.

I had my first ride on a pikiki (motorcycle taxi) today. You hope he knows where he is going.

Judy, Beth and Dave were invited to teach at the Secondary Summer School Today. After the panic left, they set about devising lesson plans. They had a great time and were impressed with the faculty and students. The level of instruction was much higher than what we had heard is typical for Tanzania.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will work on the hostel, Dave is teaching chimes and we have been invited to lunch.

Larry Riesser
Tipp City United Methodist Church

Greetings from Tanzania,

This is Tuesday night and the power just quit after being on for about 20 Minutes and I can’ see the keyboard. The team is doing well and having new experiences by the hour. Tonight we had dinner at the home of one of the teachers at Angel School. His enthusiasm and vision for an English speaking school was enjoyed by everyone.

The walls on the hostel are about 1/3rd completed. We hope tomorrow to complete another 1/3. Dave Pinkerton and his chimes have been a hit with the students. Some of them are doing very well.

Riding in the back of the truck on the road to Angel House is a challenge for those of us from the US. However, yesterday, the truck hauled 20high school students in back and 8 adults in the cab from Tarime to Angel House. The truck is a Toyota 100 extended cab with a small bed. The road is one long 2KM rut. The distance from the house where we are staying to Angel House is about 5 miles.

The weather has been similar to a summer day in Ohio. Heavy rain last night and thunderstorms in the area tonight.

Beth just emerged from her shower when the power went out leaving her in total darkness with a head full of soap. Our miners’ headlamps have seen a lot of use.

I had my first ride on a pikiki (motorcycle taxi) today. You hope he knows where he is going.

Judy, Beth and Dave were invited to teach at the Secondary Summer School Today. After the panic left, they set about devising lesson plans. They had a great time and were impressed with the faculty and students. The level of instruction was much higher than what we had heard is typical for Tanzania.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will work on the hostel, Dave is teaching chimes and we have been invited to lunch.

Larry Riesser
Tipp City United Methodist Church

We have arrived at the Missionaries’ house in Tarime. It was another long day of travel. The team members are pretty tired getting only about 6 hours of sleep since leaving Dayton on Thursday and it is now 11:00PM Saturday in Tarime. The ride was long (10 hours) and bumpy. We saw some zebras and monkeys along the road in Masai country. We saw Maisi tending their livestock and selling coal by the side of the road. The terrain varied from dry semi desert areas to gentle mountains and green crops which included tea, coffee, sugar cane, wheat and bananas. We had no problems at the border crossing from Kenya to Tanzania because Eric has made friends with a supervisor who made the entry go without any problems. We ended our day by eating a delicious meal outside and enjoying the balmy breezes at a local restaurant. Tomorrow, Bonita preaches in the morning and in the afternoon we will go to another local church’s music CD release party for the debut of their CD the church made. The Angel House Choir will participate as they made a CD last fall (which can be purchased for $10).

Addendum: This was written Saturday night as the power quit. Today, Tuesday is the first time we have had electricity at night.

Larry & Beth