Back from Kising'a

We are all back from a wonderful four days in Kising'a. Pastor Wihale came out to meet us on the road with a group of 10 piki piki (motor bikes) to symbolize the 10th year of our partnership. They lead us in procession with branches on their handle bars through Isele and then Kising'a with people waving to us along the way. We visited the two primary schools with school supplies and the assembled students sang for us and we met the teachers. On Monday we had a science workshop at the secondary school with 160 students and 7 teachers. They had never seen most of the science materials in their text books and the students crowded around Ben with Biology, Karen with Chemistry and Steve with Physics in three separate groups rotating. Afterwards we all went back to the school where they had turned on the generators for lights and the students performed a dance and a play on the risks of bacteria in water for us. They then gave us gifts of eggs and a live rooster that we gave to Ben to take care of. The rooster and another hen from the church came back to Iringa with us in the cars but I don't think they will make it back to St Paul. On Sunday we attended a 4.5 hour church service in Isele that seemed much shorter with lots of singing. Afterwards, I was the successful bidder on a live chicken from the offering. We visited the dispensary with prescription medications we purchased in Iringa and medical supplies from home. We met with the partnership committee to present the uniforms we purchased with the ss offerings and the sweaters purchased by the LCP women. We also added student support at the Kising'a secondary school where tuition for girls is $40 and boys is $60 per year. As we left Kising'a today, we met with the women who had been preparing all our meals and presented them with gifts of kitchen utensils, sewing supplies, candy, towels and soap. We presented Pastor Wihale and his wife with the quilt that several LCP women had made for them. We had a tearful good bye and now will be heading to Ruaha Park for safari tomorrow.