Ilula Trip 2008
IOP NEWS
Lord willing I will be in the U.S. by the time this is read, but at the moment I am here in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. I have just completed what I think is the fastest 30 days of my life.
Weather in Ilula was very mild. This is winter time there, and lows were in the mid 50′s on some nights, to highs in the 70 to 80 degree range. A jacket was necessary on a few occasions, although the locals were wearing heavy coats! To me, it was perfect.
It has been a very eventful trip. My main purpose was to take as many pictures of our IOP students as I could (around 650 currently), so sponsors can have a recent picture of who they are sponsoring. Due to the shortage of secondary schools, we have students placed in nearly 70 schools across Tanzania. This made my task extremely difficult in such a short period of time.
We did manage to get 375 pictures so far, Annelies from IOP in Netherlands will continue my task until around July 9th. Various methods was used for travel to get these pictures, Berit’s vehicle, motorcycle, and walking. Several kilometers were logged on foot traveling to various schools. Due to the extremely high cost of gasoline, about 1700 shillings per liter (about $1.5 per liter, i think its about 4 liters to a gallon), and the damage that the roads cause to the tires on her 4 wheel drive (2 tires received punctures to bad they had to be replaced at a cost of $230 per tire), walking to as many schools seemed necessary. It also kind of gave me a good taste of life in Tanzania, as foot travel is the most common way of getting from point a to b.
My trip also involved some fund raising activities, and some visits to government offices on our electrical needs at the center. Upon arrival at the airport in May, Berit and I went to the Norwegian Ambassador’s house to discuss the high school IOP plans to build. Also visits to the American Embassy and a meeting with the Minister of Communication and Technology occurred while i was in Dar Es Salaam. Later meetings with Tanesco’s (the government run power company) regional and National offices concerning IOP getting connected to the power grid.
IOP, which is having a celebration the first week in July for our 10 year anniversary, is seeing even greater needs in the Ilula area. New government figures have come out showing that the Iringa region (the location of Ilula) now has the highest rate of HIV/Aids infection in the country. Various reasons for this is thought to be causing the trouble, from Severe poverty to local tribal practices of men taking their deceased brothers wife as their own (in addition to their own wife if they have one). Poverty can cause a woman to make poor choices that most would consider unthinkable. The cries of a hungry or thirsty child though, can make that poor choice seem like the best way of solving their problem.
Probably the most memorable part of my trip was the time spent with the 31 girls at the orphanage, who range in age from 9 to about 19. Having memorized all their names before leaving, and studying pictures, it took only a short time to be able to call all the girls by name. It was as if I had suddenly become “Dad” (or maybe grandpa) to 31 girls. Someone in the community even was heard calling me “Babu Berit” ( “babu” is granddad, Berit is know by everyone as “Bibi Berit”, grandmother). Saying Goodbye after 30 days was a very difficult thing to do.
I would like to thank everyone for the financial gifts of my traveling expenses, and for the prayers while i have been in Tanzania. Gifts from the church and others helped pay all the cost of my ticket, as well as helping with the cost for equipment that I took to Tanzania (battery powered photo printer, small backup hard drive, and a few other odds and ends).
From Tanzania
Ron Porter