Location: Dodoma, Tanzania
Time: 4:25 PM

We have just a few more hours here in Tanzania's capital. It's been a very refreshing few days here. The weather has been sticky, the sand hot and dry - but the friends and Mennonite church here have been so welcoming.

We've been staying with a Pastor and his wife and family. This family is Jo's primary contact here in Dodoma, and they've been very kind. Pastor Amos is head pastor of a mennonite church. The church is a type of hub of activity at all points during the week. Prayer meetings, choirs, compassion children, widows, and HIV positive people sit on the porches or busy themselves inside with activities. It's so encouraging to see a church step up and really try to be a loving active presence in the community. It's something Nick and Dr. Oronje have yet to see in Eldoret.

We've done a lot the last couple of days. Friday was another round of home visitations for HIV positives. It's hard to know what to do in some of the situations. One home we visited we found a husband and daughter standing around in a sweltering two room home. We ducked into the second room and the mother was lying in the dust practically naked. She could barely speak or shake our hands. Her name was Zainab, and she was seriously ill with HIV complications. Her family members had no clue how to help her, and the only food she had was some porridge on the ground in a cup covered in flies. Her body hadn't been tended to and so her legs were stiff from inactivity. We spoke with her (or more to her) and then Nick gave some suggestions to the family about some better care, and then we left. Later that evening two church members agreed to take her to the hospital.

HIV is killing everyone. But it seems to be especially catastrophic in the uneducated poor. We talked with one woman yesterday who was HIV positive. She was sleeping with another man - who was married. Because she didn't have the courage to stop sleeping with this man (thus cutting off any income - her husband and child had already died) she was almost certainly giving the virus to the man, his wife, and then - we discovered the man's wife had a new baby which was breast-feeding. Basically she was murdering three people.

Tanzania has been refreshing to see the church so active in combatting the epidemic. But the government is a little behind the Kenyan government in terms of support and training for the HIV positive community. Tests still cost money here. Jo and the Mennonite church have come in to subsidize these costs, and to provide some basic food staples for the affected.

I've decided to partner with the church here in Dodoma in providing some basic care for orphans in the community. Compassion is a great ministry, but it only takes care of kids from family units. Orphans are not allowed to be sponsored. So we've discovered there is a whole other class of kids that are even more desperate and needy - without any support right now. The team here is so professional, and they've had several years of experience with compassion. Another really cool thing is that Pastor Amos wants the Tanzanian community to be involved in the project as well. So we are going to offer $7 per kid per month, and he will find Tazanians to provide the other $7 per month bringing in a total of $14 per orphan kid. This is just about the same amount of money that makes it to each Compassion kid ($16). So we'll start off with a project of 10 kids here in Dodoma. If you'd like to sponsor a kid, or even all ten of them (for $70 per month), let me know - email me at dan@lahash.net.

Thank you everyone for the prayers. We've felt very encouraged for the past few days. We head out tomorrow morning to Rwanda by train. So the next update should be from there. If you'd like some other things to pray for, here are some:

1. Pray for the dear friends we are leaving behind here. We really connected with everyone in Dodoma, and will be sad to leave. They say to greet all of you friends and family.

2. Pray for our team unity as we venture into the genocide history of Rwanda. We want to understand more about the history and conflict of the little nation, but often it can be very taxing to ponder the brutalities. There is also a little homesickness setting in for some.

3. Pray for the desperate deserate HIV positives of this city. There are so many that need help. And its tough to know which fires to put out where. Jo and the church members here are quite competent, but I would say undermanned with all there is to do.

4. You can also pray that there will be a team of people that will decide to support the orphan kids here in Dodoma. Amos' vision is to bring the program to 50 kids eventually, and Nick would like to start a similar program in Eldoret. Education is just about the best option or gift a western person can give to the community here. It's extremely practical, and it ensures hope for the upcoming generations. Nested in the caring loving church community here, its beautifully life giving.

Thanks everyone - may God's love be with each of you.

- Dan