2023.09.10 Providential Networking

Today, I took my first solo dala dala ride from the bus stand across the road from Tumaini University Makumira (TUMa). I started chatting in my basic Kiswahili with two young men in their 20s who had their Bible’s with them. Yes, we were all going to church. I wanted to get into a larger “costa” (from the Toyota Coaster bus model, with about 30 seats, but more passengers can stand in the aisle), but when a dala dala (van) came, they welcomed me in.

Over the next 40 minutes and many stops, people got on and off this informal quasi “public” transportation. There is no municipal bus service that I know of. Everything is privately owned. The “conductor” whistles to get attention–or the driver honks the horn–for any potential passengers. The goal is to get as many people in the van. The highest number this morning was 27, though 3 were children on laps. Fortunately, I was usually by a window, so there was some fresh air.

Dala dalas aren’t my favorite way to travel, as besides the discomfort of being squished in to a small seat, they aren’t very safe. Seat belts are unheard of as they weave in and out of traffic. However, they are interesting for observing the stuff of life. One time, a dad passed a 2-ish-year-old child to the mother, but before grabbing the child, the mother plops her purse on the lap of the stranger next to her, a young man in his 20’s, without asking! He just held her purse until they were getting off, when he handed it back. Where in the world would you have a stranger next to you hold your purse?

My 40-minute van ride cost me 700 Tanzanian shillings or 28 cents.

I arrived early at the Arusha Community Church, as I wanted to make sure I had enough time. I was told that it could take longer on the dala dala than it actually did, probably because this was a slower Sunday morning. So, I sat and read a Bible that was on the chair. Soon, a woman introduced herself. She is on the ministry team. There is no professional staff at this church, so it is all volunteer led. She heard that I am a good preacher, and asked if I’d be willing to preach. There are a few people who have actually heard me preach, but 20 years ago! I must have made an impression, or perhaps they are desperate. Yet, thanks to my time this past year at Wartburg Theological Seminary, I believe I am better equipped to preach the gospel, thanks to great preaching modeled by my Wartburg colleagues and some really insightful information from the new preaching professor. She really is inspiring. I now check my sermon preparations with her primary evaluation criteria, “Did Jesus have to die for this sermon?”

I had made plans to talk with Erwin and Angelika after church over lunch. Both of them have been in Tanzania for around 40 years or so. Erwin is director of the Tanzanian branch of ECHOcommunity.org, an environmental agricultural NGO (and prior to that Heifer International), and Angelika has lived with the Maasai as nurse, midwife, public health educator, and started an elementary school deep in Maasai land and orphanage in Arusha, and she knows the culture and Maasai spirituality so well. We were able to discuss this project, and they shared from their wisdom, experience, and networks. I am an informed “outsider” with limited experience compared to these 40-year veterans, and often conversations start trying to figure out how much I know about the Maasai. I am always learning, but I usually am able to bring the conversation into a meaningful depth rather quickly, and then get to the stuff that is strategic as I frame this project at the beginning.

One of the others at lunch was a Canadian that knows Erwin. He offered to drive me to the other side of town to catch a dala dala that would go directly east (instead of going into the Arusha bus stand, and then coming out to the same road on a different bus that drives east from Arusha). He ended up offering to drive me to TUMa, which is about 15 km/9 miles farther, as our conversation was interesting. Then, I may have done a bit of networking, as he needs an accountant and my very part-time research assistant is a CPA! Amazingly, they both live in the same village outside Arusha. So tentatively, we will all meet on Tuesday.

The little victory of the day is having an OK dala dala ride. I was a bit unsettled before hand. But it went OK. I still have to learn where the dala dalas for Usa River (east of Arusha) are located in the Arusha bus stand, as it is known to be congested and chaotic. It is a bit ironic that I just was in Norway for 3.5 weeks with one of the best public transportation bus systems I’ve ever experienced and that had the most informative apps to now be in a context where the information is learned by word of mouth. Yet, here, a random young man will even hold a stranger’s purse!

Mungu akubariki? (God bless you!)