Feb02

News from The Bethany Project Tanzania 1st February 2002

Graham Pountain and Victoria Kyriakidis return from visiting Bethany for two weeks Jan 15th to
30th. We are pleased to be able to report the family are all well. Thank you for all your prayers.
Here are some of the things we want to share with you all:

CLINIC: Rebecca has some new glasses - so she can now see what she is writing! and so we
hope for more accurate stock takes etc. Lazarus is the same as ever - reliable and dependable.

NEW MICROSCOPE: You will remember the last fax from Fares (11th Jan) mentioned that the bulb
needed replacing in the old secondhand microscope they use. Also the x1000 lens (needed to
detect malaria parasites in red blood cells) on the old microscope was missing. The UK team
decided it was time to buy a completely new microscope and so spent Ł600 of Bethany money on
a new Brunel SP100 microscope which included 10 spare bulbs a spare lighting base and spare
mechanical movement. Onsmass our microscopist (lab technician) was overjoyed. We also found
that the lenses from the new microscope fitted the old one and so did the bulbs! We have ordered a
new lens (x1000) for the old microscope (cost about Ł50) and will soon have two working
microscopes (with interchangeable lenses and bulbs).

COCKROACHES: I am happy to report that our latest visitor (Victoria) was privileged not to meet
any cockroaches. It appears that we have finally got the problem under control with the regular use
of powder and sprays.

MICE: Still a problem - they tend to eat anything including; wire, plastic pipes, paper etc etc. We
took with us some new electronic 'pest clear' ultrasonic sound devices which are supposed to keep
the mice away. However the mice are so well established that they seem reluctant to leave even
though the mice we saw seemed to have developed the 'shakes'. Fares has bought some poison
but was reluctant to use it as he says the mice eat the poison and then crawl away to die and start
to smell after a few days! I suppose it's a choice between live breeding mice or dead smelly ones.

SOLAR POWER: The battery (which weighs about a ton) which powers all our electrics seemed
not to be charging to full capacity. It seemed to be a combination of cloudy days and lights being
left on during the day! Sadly the boys were the culprits for leaving on the lights. Fares promises to
test the battery everyday and let us know when it becomes fully charged.

CHILDREN: A few problems with the school - a lack of motivation from the teachers means that
often very little teaching actually goes on. The children sit in classrooms whilst the teachers are in
the staff room (or just don't bother turning up). Sometimes the children spend much of the time
working in the schools fields cultivating crops for the teachers!

SINGING: Onsmass (our microscopist) is also a talented musician and spends a few hours every
week training the children to sing. About a dozen of the older children, boys and girls are singing 4
part close harmonies which have been written and composed by Onsmass. Once perfected they go
and sing the songs in the local churches.

VICTORIA: enjoyed her visit and we hope to be hearing more from her in the very near future!

Home News:

Brian will be visiting next - hopefully in March - still time to book to go with him.

Fax received Tuesday 12th February 16:46 hours

Quotes from the fax:

"The family is doing fine at the moment though malaria is still a big
disturbance to us!

No rain at our area from the time you left. This makes the solar system to work
more effectively. It reads now float at around 3pm."

Everything seems to be ok except they don't seem to have received the last fax
sent to them on the 6th February. The reference to the battery is to let us know
that the battery is being fully charged.

Other news:

Brain Bancroft is to visit on the11th March - for two weeks - he will have plenty
to do including some plumbing work!

Victoria Kyriakidis - will be returning to Bethany for a longer term. She hopes to
go out with Faith Turner sometime April/May. Gill Luck may join them later in
the the year June/July. Victoria has a vision for teaching the children English and
Faith is a nurse and will be helping in the Clinic as will Gill. Please pray for them
as they prepare for their stay at Bethany and for God to give them the strengths
needed for the problems they have yet to face.

Fax received Tuesday 25th February 2002 10:15 hours

Fares reports he is able to access the website from Magu and has read the prayer item!
They are looking forward to Brian's trip with plenty of jobs for him to do. They had a
problem with one of the alarms (mice eating through the wires) which has now been
disconnected + a puncture on one of the Landrover tyres (which cannot be repaired) and
so we are running on the spare. As Fares puts it " This shows that we need to know that
we are facing a shortage of tires!".

Regina has resumed her sewing course after her recent sickness and has 3 months to
go and most of the work is now 'practical'.

Otherwise the children are all well and growing up fast!

OTHER NEWS:

At our prayer and information day we had long talks with Faith Turner, Gill Luck and
Victoria Kyriakidis. Faith and Vicky are preparing to start their long term service for
Bethany sometime beginning May and Gill expects to follow on June/July (earliest).

Please pray for them as they make preparations to go - they have many things to
arrange!

Brian's trip: is now booked for 10th March

Future trips: None planned after Brian's trip other than when Faith and Victoria go out
early May.

Possible 'RAF' trip:

Caroline Day has been in touch looking at the possibility of bringing a group of 15-17
students under the leadership of the RAF to help with any building project we may require
help with sometime in August. We hope to meet Caroline at our next prayer/information
day on Saturday the 30th March.

POSSIBLE Trip to UK for some of the Bethany Children:

We are still praying about this and we feel it would be good in many ways (i.e.
encouragement for the children to work hard with their education especially to learn
English with their new English teacher - Victoria! They might also be able to take the
ECDL exam with the help of Learn-direct and Blackburn College. Hopefully music exams
also. They could visit schools and churches giving presentations using songs/prayer etc.)

There is of course one major obstacle - finance and we feel it would cost approx Ł1,000
per child to come for 4 weeks in total including a week's 'holiday' at Spring Harvest,
Skegness. Please pray about this and let us know if you know of any suitable
accommodation where the children could stay together as a family withing say 20 miles
of the Blackburn area during March/April 2003 (for say 20 children and 5 adults). Also if
you know of any firms or airlines who might sponsor the trip or offer cheaper fares or
things you can think of that we might need - including warm clothes!.