Aug02

News from Bethany Tanzanian Wednesday 7th August 2002

Graham returned home from Bethany on Tuesday 6th August and reports the following:

The children are working hard at their studies, coping with the various illnesses and very much
looking forward to the planned trip. They are doing well with their studies having just sat their
exams at the local primary school. They are also enjoying their singing led by Onesmo who is
now employed to help with education etc.

Victoria Kyriakidis is recovering from both malaria and typhoid and Faith Turner is recovering
from Typhoid - so much for vaccinations! Gill Luck and Rachel Hill are so far in good health and
we all hope that we can eventually eradicate typhoid from Bethany with a rigorous and sustained
emphasis on hygiene (i.e. washing of hands etc).

Regina is still unwell and we need to continue our prayers.

The team now has 6 members and are all having to adjust to a new way of working. They
need our prayers as they start to work together as a team.

On the practical side we have a few problems with the electrics. The power automatically
switched off in the evenings on two occasions during my 2 week stay. The battery had run down
and wasn't seemingly charging properly. We cut down on electrical use to only about 4-5Kw per
24hour period. Even so the solar panels didn't seem able to lift the battery voltage to what we had
previously enjoyed. The Sunday before I left we ran the diesel generator all day to try to lift the
charge in the batteries. Gill has the job of keeping a record of how the battery is charging and
both she and Rachel know how to charge the battery with the generator if need be.

We also had problems with the Landrover. Firstly, we managed to move the first container half
way to its new position when the handbrake set on fire. Apparently a small electric switch inside
the rubber housing of the handbrake decided to melt and set on fire filling the cable with molten
rubber and smoking out the inside of the Landrover. Switching off the engine stopped the electrical
short and eventually having removed the smouldering handbrake cover things returned to normal.
However the handbrake cable had to be sawn off as the melted rubber had been drawn down into
the cable and locked it solid. Having sorted that out the solenoid on the winch packed up. To
conclude, I left an emptied container stuck in the middle of nowhere with a Landrover with a broken
winch and no handbrake. Hopefully the garage in Mwanza will have sorted it all out by now.

Faith has finished her second newsletter which will soon be available from her church and
Vicky's newsletter is available - click here to see it

Young Peoples trip - including Sharon, Rebecca, Vicky, Barry and Paul have arrived at Bethany
at 4.30pm Tuesday and are all well and getting involved.

September trip is now booked and includes; Eddie, Brian and Hannah Child.

Future trips no yet booked; We are looking to borrow a 'Portastudio' and preferable someone
who knows how to work it to accompany Graham to Bethany in October to help with the sound
recording and video.