Hayden, John and Anne - Tanzania
Hayden main pagePrayer Letter May 2006
The last few weeks have been some of the busiest in recent years and certainly some of the most amazing. I am used to God-instances and they continue unabated. Praise God for his wonderful deeds.
There are two major matters that are taking over life at present for me and especially for those working in Kiteto while I am away.
FAMINE
The central area of Tanzania has been the hardest hit by the lack of rain. We had a poor harvest last year and we are by no means certain to have a harvest this year. Under normal conditions the rains should be finishing now and moving north. They have, and we rejoice to hear of rains in northern Tanzania and on into Kenya and other drought areas. Our rains of November – February failed. God can work wonders but we are not expecting much to harvest this year.
The response to that need has been very encouraging. I gave the eulogy at my uncle’s funeral in Norfolk and afterwards a reporter from the EDP (the local paper for that part of UK) asked me about the famine. As a result the EDP began a fund raising appeal to help children 4-7 years old in our area through our infant schools.
So far the people of Norfolk and north Suffolk have contributed over £60,000.
The publicity has led to an offer by Rotary to send out a container of water purification and storage equipment for those schools and several teachers have offered their services for 10 weeks stay.
HOUSES
A fantastic gift earlier this year and some promises of church sponsorships should enable us to make sure all the parish houses for pastors are at a basic standard of having brick walls, corrugated iron roofs and in many places concrete floors. This is a major advance over the mud huts we found three years ago and has lifted the morale of our clergy. The logistics of this work are not easy and I or others have to keep a careful eye on the many local builders. Here I am discussing with Pastor Peter and his rural dean about the reinforced ring beam – essential as we are in an earthquake area.
We are also seeking help to give each pastor a water harvesting tank.
Of course the famine situation is very difficult and the help from the newspaper appeal does not involve our church workers. It certainly will be a means of helping the community as a whole and as such will have knock-on effects. In the meantime we need to continue to support our pastors and other church workers.
At present very few of the 50 diploma students have been able to return to college to complete their one year course. They are very much needed at home to support their families We are trying to give each pastor and full time evangelist a sack of maize but that will not last for long. So please keep them in your prayers that, if it is God’s will, there may be rain and a harvest.
Through a very generous offer of support from friends we were able to recruit one of the top nurses in Tanzania, Sister Sarah Mbelwa to initiate a health clinic in Kibaya and visit the parishes. In the first two months she has certainly exceeded all my expectations. Her expertise is in eye care and she has saved many from blindness and provided glasses so that others can read again. We need to pray for her as she suffered concussion in an accident and we have flown her by flying medical aid to KCMC Moshi for a scan. News of that is still awaited.
We are also trying to keep our staff at Kiteto Christian College. Normally paying students cover salaries but because of the famine we have only one fifth of our normal numbers. That just about enables us to employ the principal, Mary Sisanjo but other staff have no income including Anna - needlework teacher, Zilipa - administrator and Ruth - accountant.
Many of you know most of my ministry up to now has been with Christian books and probably the highlight was the 15 years I worked on that with John Stott. So I am delighted that this year three key Swahili books are back in print and available. I took the opportunity to buy 500 bibles and 100 whole bible commentaries. I would like to buy some prayer books as many who lead worship do not have them but I have already put the book account deep in the red and that is not a good example to Beatrice for the future!
On a personal level Anne’s health is reasonable at present and I plan to be in Tanzania during July, August, September and October. We plan to have a 10 day holiday together in June.
Praise for
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help with famine relief for 4-7 yr old school children,
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houses for pastors,
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availability of key Christian books.
Pray for
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the continuing need for famine relief for others like pastors,
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Sister Sarah, KCC staff during this famine time,
John and Anne Hayden