Karatu, Tanzania - Meeting up With the Hosanna! Mission Team

Karatu, Tanzania Slide Show

After over 2 months of not seeing a familiar face other than each of our all too familiar faces, we were blessed to be able to join the Hosanna! Mission Team for 5 days in Karatu, Tanzania. Hosanna! is our home church in Lakeville, Minnesota. We joined the mission team for the last 4 days of their 16 day trip where they built classrooms, conducted a women's conference, provided medical supplies to local organizations, helped orphan families, and worked with the local Lutheran church.

Hosanna! has been conducting mission trips in Karatu for 7 years. Driving around, we saw kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school classrooms that Hosanna! team members helped build over the years. The building of secondary school classrooms is essential because the Tanzania government will only provide secondary school teachers if the classrooms are built. As a result, many Tanzania students do not attend secondary school. We also saw a dispensary and church that Hosanna! mission teams helped build on past trips. These villages do not have running water or electricity, but they now have schools and churches thanks to Hosanna! and many other mission groups that have come to this area.
Much of Jennifer's time was spent planning for and attending the women's conference at the Lutheran church in Karatu, located across the street from the Lutheran Hostel that we stayed at. The conference was led by Pastor Kristi Graner from Hosanna! and attended by 100 local women. These are women that have dealt with the effects of poverty, abuse, HIV and other illnesses that have affected them and their families. The conference included fellowship, prayer, worship, personal testimonies, and talks from Pastor Kristi, Jennifer, Mama Jan, Papa Terry, local community leaders and Pastor Pray, the Pastor of the church.  It was deeply moving to sing and dance with these Karatu women, and pray with them for healing and encouragement! 
While Jennifer was at the women's conference, Noah and I helped out in the village. Most of the hard labor was done by the time we got there, so we helped gather a cow and food from the market to make a celebration dinner for 1,000 people. The celebration was for the students that had recently passed their tests and graduated to the next level. Buying a cow that was recently killed and butchered and then cut up in the great outdoors was quite an experience. All the cooking was on open wood fires in large pots. Noah and I played games with the schoolchildren. It is amazing how many games you can come up with rocks and oranges.
The children are precious. They are so eager to learn. When carrying stacks of wood to bring to the fire, the children were gripping their pens in their hands. They were afraid to put them down and loose them. All they need is a chance. One street merchant who I met who did not go to school spoke 4 languages. He picked them up from talking to tourists. That kind of intelligence should not be wasted selling nick-knacks in the street. The children thrive on attention. We brought out an orange to play catch with and the kids came out of the woodwork. If you sit down, many of them came over and sit on you or with you. One of the highlights was to see the families and schoolchildren all come to the graduation celebration. There were many speeches from local politicians that went too long, but the smiles on the faces of the family made up for that.
After 4 days in Karatu, we joined the Hosanna! team for a 1 day safari in Tarangire National Park. We saw many animals and stayed in a beautiful tent lodge in the park. It was deep into the bush near a lake with incredible views. It was a nice break from hostel living. Right outside the park, we were able to visit a Maasai village where the people live essentially the same way that they did hundreds of years ago. The only exception is that some of them have cell phones. The Maasai chief of this village has 3 wives and many children. This is far less than the wealthy Maasai chief that has 25 wives and 300 children. I feel no need to elaborate on the last sentence.
After our safari, it was time to say good-bye to the Hosanna! family. They are a wonderful group of individuals that have bonded over the last 16 days and have made a huge impact on the lives of many people in the Karatu area. Thanks Kristi, Steve, Jan, Terry, Rob, Kerrie, Sam, Dr. Wade, Angie, Desi, Zgia, Shirley, Stacey, Kathy, Todd and Sara.  We missed them already as we made our way to Marangu to begin our hike up Mount Kilimanjaro.
To see our Karatu, Tanzania slide show, click on the following link ==> Karatu, Tanzania Slide Show.