An Iringa Saturday

2-11-2012

Here it is nearly 5:30 PM.  We all spent the day in Iringa.  It started out just Carl and me, but then Tuli and Rita, two of the Ilula nurses, told the rest that they would be going to iringa, so with them as our guides, we all went.  They shepherded us to and from Iringa and the buses.  We took the daladala - actually, the Tanzanians call it "the mouse" because it is small - to Mtua and caught the bus there.  There are sort of three parts to Iula.  Isile is where the hospital is.  Mtua is next along the highway and a bit more commercial.  The third is Sokoni.  Collectively, they are Ilula. The whole community is spread out along the highway, between the highway and the ridge of mountains along the road.

The first stop was the BKB office, where no one was home.  We did see Gary drive by and waved. The next stop, without much pause, was the bathroom at the Lutheran Center.  I tried to get Dennis Ngede on the phone, but accidentally dialed Jake’s dad, Mike Feigal, a family doctor in Menominee.  At 1:30 AM.  I am truly sorry Mike!  At least he got to here Jake’s normal voice without panic or pain.

A little later, after I finished at the ATM and had just finished my business with Tatanca I ran into Gary.  He was standing outside the fourth bank he had driven Eunice and Tuti too on student scholarship business.  They need to hand write receipts, if I understood correctly, for all 1500 students and everything is done in cash.  Gary hopes (don't we all) to have a better accounting system by the time we get there this summer.

Then I went back to the apartment and worked on the computer.  The bank of four USB ports weren’t working.  (Don wanted to make sure there were enough USB ports on the front.  I don’t know if he has used more than the two on the front, but now he has six!  It was just a loose wire.  Took about 15 minutes for diagnosis treatment and cure.  My hypothesis is that one of the heavy cables got jostled in the transfers and pulled it out of the socket is.  Since it is Saturday, I charged like a plumber instead of a doctor.  (It is an old joke and not too funny.)

The others had been shopping and were now laden with baskets, spices, batiks, a tinga tanga (a special local style of painting) as we met for lunch.

After lunch at Hasty Tasty Too we walked back to the big bus station.  I understand the system a bit better now.  As far as I know there is no time schedule.  As the buses fill up, it takes off.  That may mean waiting until there are enough passengers or that the bus driver thinks there are enough passengers.  I asked Tuli about the passengers who would duck down.  My guess was correct.  There are regulations about how many passengers the bus and "mouse" can hold.

We caught the big bus home.  It is an hour and a half trip, and I feel like a veteran now.  We were all exhausted when we got home.  I still couldn't nap.  I am pretty relaxed tonight.

My granddaughter Parker Grace, whom I call Sparky had her second birthday yesterday.  Birdie said she came into the house and queried, “Grampa?”  Almost broke my heart!  I will be home in a week, but with plenty of fun left to come!

As I have been reorganizing for the return trip, I discovered a pair of socks in the suitcase Bev and Gary gave me to use and is staying here. I think they may be Gary's or one of the boys.  I think I should bring them home.  It would be novel to say they had been to Africa and back!

Nuts! This may be a few days late.  There is no power to the internet room.  Oh well, this is Africa!