Habari gani from Chelsea and Christina! We had a wonderful
experience today that we would like to share with you.
We were walking to go to the store at the Seminary where pop
is available. The store was not going to be open for another 5 minutes when we
got there, so we decided to explore the grounds for a little while. We ended up
in the area with dormitories for girls. An older woman emerged from her house
and began speaking to us in English. She had a very thick accent and was hard
to understand at first. The woman ended up taking us on a tour of the Seminary
and telling us about the history.
First, she showed us the areas where the girls and boys
stay. Supposedly, there are about 200 girl students and 360 boy students. About
50 students live in each dorm building. After that she led us to the dining hall and
place where the prepared the food.
Behind those buildings was the dispensary, which is like a small
hospital for the students. There are two
separate wards, one for women and one for men.
She told us that the most common problem here is malaria. Because no one was in the ward, we even got
to peek inside to what it looked like.
She kept telling us how gracious she was for all the things Americans,
Germans, and English have done, like providing mosquito nets. She even
encouraged us to bring back our future husbands and families to Tanzania in the
future.
Next, the woman showed us the area where the classrooms and
courtyard are located. Many students were gathering in the courtyard and a
choir was practicing in a classroom as we walked by. The Seminary even has a
library, which Chelsea is very excited to check out next week since she is
interested in becoming a librarian. The woman also told us that a German man
donated 75 million shillings (equivalent to about $52,500) last year to build
the administration building.
Finally, we walked past the beautiful chapel and a cemetery where
German, Tanzanian and American missionaries are buried. The chapel was being
used for prayer and a meeting, but we hope to go back later to take pictures. The
cemetery was very interesting. Each grave is raised up with brick surrounding
the dirt grave. Flowers are planted in the soil part of the grave and writing
is engraved on the top with the name of the missionary and dates of birth and
death.
After an hour of spending time with the woman, she finally
introduced herself as Frieda Denara. She has been at the Seminary for ten years
and greatly appreciates the help provided by Americans. Frieda talked about JFK
being the first president to take an interest in Tanzania. After our amazing
tour, Frieda even took the time to walk us back to our housing area. She said
that she felt that it was her responsibility through Jesus Christ to be a
gracious host and take us around the Seminary. Frieda was probably the nicest
person we have met so far, but everyone here is very welcoming.
We can’t wait to explore the Seminary even more and improve
our Swahili so we can talk to people in Tanzania and we are planning to try and
visit Frieda again before we leave!
It is so great to be able to hear about your trip as you are on it! Prayers are going out for all of you every day. Keep on posting! :)
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