Dr Victor’s house is out in the country. As we travel into town, life is already bustling. We listen to country music and meet my companions who have spent the night at the Texas motel. A hint of home wherever I go.
There is an occasional grand tree that begs me to sit beneath it. It’s branches are expansive and lush with affusive orange blossoms that transform the forest all around. Among the dusty brown and green trees along the highway, life is celebrated by this tree. It is a glorious sight and I stop and imagine this tree is Jesus gathering his dusty children, I among them, to Himself.
After a car repair or two down sketch alley, we go to see Namyani in her hospital room. I left her frightened last night but today she and her Papa smile wide as Sandy and I enter. She has had a blood transfusion and it shows on her face. God’s gift of this one small, teeth baring smile blesses me with His message that He’s got her…and me. I tear up with gratitude, take her hand and sing hallelujah!
The drive home is warm and bumpy. It amazes me how our driver, Dominic, has such an extraordinary sense of timing. There is no slowing down for obstacles yet they always seem to move in just the nick of time. We run up right to the back end of a slower goat and barely miss an ostrich running at full speed in front of us. I sit in wonder at each near collision averted.
On the horizon, I notice an impressive dust devil. It is a towering swirl from sky to ground. When I arrive home I am told the story of clinic on Wednesday. While I was in Arusha with my kids, my team was doing battle with a sudden, wicked twister of a dust devil. Its sudden swooping launched our clinic tents 20 feet into the air, tossing them like tooth picks into the bush. Our former tent homes were demolished and our people scattered in all directions. The flying debris impaled some and injured others. We are told that people have died from such big and sudden winds and that they are not uncommon. Thankfully our own mini disaster took no lives though it took its toll in injuries, both physical and emotional.
I spent the afternoon with several team members in need of quiet debriefing and rest.
TanzaniaAnne
November 11, 2021
Tripping with God: Stories of Faith and Inspiration 