November 5 Jublate was there waiting however the District Commissioner was not there yet. We waited for almost 2 hours.
About 12:30 the District Commissioner arrived. We waited a bit more and then were invited into his office. He said he could not come with us to Bassodawish. While I pondered other options for arranging this, Honorina (our Program Manager) respectfully tried to convince him by telling him about the people who were gathered there waiting for him. He asked how many goats were in the project. After hearing the number in Bassodawish, he said he would go and that he would bring his photographer and video man as well so it could be on tv. Go God!
So we headed off to Bassodawish with the District Commissioner (DC) and Mayor Jublate. There were 27 recipient families waiting for us with their goats. What a sight to see! I was able to hold a couple baby goats while there. The DC spoke to the group and had each of us: Pastor Kessy, Honorina, myself and the village commissioner, speak as well. All on video which will be aired on tv today or tomorrow. Did I mention that already?!?
Pastor Kessy and Honorina told me that the DC had very good things to say about the program on the video that was taken. It should be good publicity for us. He also mentioned that if anyone tries to come against us, we just need to inform him and he will take care of it.
After that Jublate wanted to show us and the DC his farm which was not far. The farm has bananas, coffee and a fruit I have seen only once in the US. He has a restal house, sort of like a country cabin, that he uses only on weekends. He said we can use it when we are in Tanzania for 2 weeks, free of charge. Not sure if he was serious or not, but I’ll take him up on it! It was nice with 1 or 2 bedrooms.
While we were at Mayor Jublate's farm, the DC invited Honorina and I to have dinner at his home tomorrow. Not sure what the discussion will entail, but what an honor! He also invited us to meet with him and the villagers on the 8th and mentioned that the President of Tanzania may be there. Upon further discussion, it was decided we will not attend the meeting on the 8th because the President will likely not be in the Karatu district until later in November. It sounds as though the DC wants to arrange for the President to be go to Bassodawish to see what Food for His Children is doing in Tanzania. As part of that request, he would like all the recipients and himself to have a ‘Give goat, Pass it on" tee shirt.
Total time with the District Commissioner, probably 2 ½ hours- but very productive!
After leaving Jublate’s farm, Honorina and I went back to Bassodawish to meet with the families a bit longer. In the Bassodawish Project only 4 families still need to complete their goat sheds. Gwandu is the chairperson of the Bassodawich project's committee. He and his 7 children are also goat recipients. Gwandu shared that once he has more goats, he has 7 now, he will sell them and use the money to send his children to school and maybe help other families also.
After all the Bassodawish meetings, we headed back to Karatu and had a very late lunch at 5pm. William, our driver while we are here, as it turns out, is the son of a member of Parliament, a politician in the Ngorongoro area and has a bachelor’s degree in Project Management and Community Development. He previously worked for Willy Chambulo managing one of his lodges. He decided to take a year off before he pursues his master’s degree in the above.
I watched God do many things today. He was in charge and we will continue to wait for him to arrange things. We are praying that the District Commissioner will offer land to us for the Development Center that we can register in our name instead of having on loan.
-Written from the Karatu District of Tanzania by Founder Kerrie Holschbach
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