March02

Fax received today from Brian 14th March 2002 08:26 hours

Extracts from the fax:

"Arrived safely at Bethany on Monday afternoon. Time was tight between
JMK and Wilson but thanks to ex-Kamikaze taxi driver made it on time."

"They have had a lot of rain this past few days, the river at Magu is in full
flood, but the rain has been intermittent and the crops are not good.

There is a lot of malaria at the moment and the 'mossies' are rife. However,
They are very well at Bethany. Regina has been unwell and Nuriati has been
to see a doctor who thinks she may have a defective heart valve."

"The new keyboard has caused great excitement here and Onsmous will take
charge. He is also teaching 4 times a week and is very good"

"We are expecting the new district commissioner to visit us tomorrow (Thurs)
he is very interested in Bethany."

Home News:

Faith Turner and Victoria Kyriakidis are preparing to depart for Tanz mid May and
Gill Luck should follow mid July. All three are preparing for an initial 12 month stay.

Other Trips: The July/August Trip is still open for those wanting to go - we shall
have to book by the end of this month since the prices for the flights will start to go
up dramatically if we leave it much longer. So there's still time for you to go!

Next Prayer/Information day is Saturday 30th March at Abbey Book and
Resource centre - details on home page of website.

Spring Harvest: This year it appears that some of our team and some prospective
volunteers will be attending Spring Harvest on the same week. i.e. Saturday 23rd to
Thursday the 28th March (Word Alive week). We are taking the opportunity of
meeting up with people whilst we are there. If you want to find us perhaps you could
visit the ICC stand where Rachel Hill is helping. Rachel will be able to tell you all
about Bethany as she spent 3 months there last year and also put you in touch with
others who are on site. So far we have Graham Pountain(co-ordinator) and John
Fisher (treasurer) from the team staying along with Victoria Kyriakidis who leaves
for Bethany in May. We hope to meet up with Jo Edwards along with others. The
rest of the team including, Hilary, Brain, Heather and Eddie intend coming to visit for
the day so that we can all meet together.

News as reported Sunday 31st March 2002

Brian returned from Bethany safe and well on Saturday 23rd March. As he left Fares was
suffering from Malaria and Jamari was confirmed as suffering from Typhoid. We pray that
they both recover soon. Whilst there Brian met with the new District Commissioner, the
Education Officer and the Health Officer. He and Fares had useful discussions and are
hoping for better things in the future especially with regard to the teaching at the village
school where sadly little education seems to take place! The keyboard which Brian took with
him was well received and Osmas and the children were overjoyed and have been practising
ever since. Brian managed to repair some of the plumbing and also cladded the gables of the
new garage/workshop. Grace and Moses are both well and the children continue to grow
steadily in all areas.

Other News:

A date has now been fixed for Faith Turner and Victoria Kyriakidis to start there long term
service with Bethany. They leave on May the 19th accompanied by Graham Pountain who
returns after 2 weeks!

At Spring Harvest some members of the team were able to meet up with Jo Edwards who is
considering a summer trip. Also they met up with Rachel Hill who has already spent over
three months at Bethany and who is now considering returning for a longer term - but not
until she has finished her course and taken her exams! Gill Luck is still aiming to start her
long term service in July. All three definites (Faith, Gill and Victoria) are sorting out work
permits with the help of MAF logistics based in Dar.

Future trips: Due to the number of people wanting to join our summer trip in July/August and
the shortage of accommodation we may with the help of Sharon Gerrard spilt it into two trips
- two weeks at the end of July and two weeks in the middle of August. Unfortunately Caroline
Day was unable to make our March 30th meeting so we are unable to give any news on
progress with the possible RAF trip. We are also in touch with Hannah Child, Kate Bird,
Rebecca Taylor, Vicky Payne, Barry , Dorothy and others concerning possible visits.

Prayer morning/Information day 30th March was well attended and productive - don't
forget the next one on April 27th