We're in Iambi!

We made it to Iambi hospital! On Saturday morning, March 8^th we gathered together for a lovely breakfast at the Arusha resort.  We crammed all of our luggage and supplies into one vehicle and then took two other land rovers to fit all 12 of us.  We experienced Saturday traffic in Arusha.  I don’t think we can ever complain of our street lights or 3 car “traffic jams” at the stop signs any more.  We take our own road rules for granted, here there are no rules at all and you take your life into your own hands! I was very grateful for our drivers! We traveled  6 hours over some very nice paved 2-3 lane roads and some very bumpy, coarse gravel one lane roads.  We traveled across the Rift valley and up the valley wall.  We saw cows and goats being herded by the side of the road by children no older than my 6 year old daughter, Ella.  We did see a lot of corn fields along the way.  We also saw the rice fields while we were in the valley and bought some rice to bring with us.  Sorry, but we don’t have any chicken on the roof stories!   

While at home Bishop Alex informed us that the village should be able to provide for us while we are here.  On the last leg of our journey, we traveled across a makeshift bridge that had been washed out the last time that ZLC came to Nkungi Village.  We are arriving at the beginning of their long rain season.  So, when we got to the other side they had already gotten some significant rains! We have some awesome videos with our vehicles going through and around a huge mud puddle!   

We were greeted warmly by the hospital secretary and the pharmacist and were shown to our accommodations.  We are split into two different groups and are within walking distance to the hospital.  The hospital staff cooked us a wonderful meal of chicken, rice, noodles, and spinach.  We made some repairs to the screens and covered some windows without screens with netting.

This morning we are headed over to the 7:30 church service and will have some breakfast, then tour the hospital and village to get our bearings.  The shipping container is going to be leaving port on Monday, but we will not likely see it here in Iambi until Wednesday.  We are all grateful for the hospitality that we have and will be receiving this week in Iambi. 

Brenda