June 8, 2008 by Stephen Day.

I wanted to let you all know that I have posted some new pictures to my website. You can view them at: http://stephencday.com/Prayer%20Walk%20Page/

These are pictures of last Friday’s Prayer Walk. It was a day of prayer here at Msalato and the day began with a prayer service in the chapel. The service was followed by a prayer walk around the campus. The pictures on my site show the staff and students of Msalato walking and praying around the campus. Enjoy!

Also, I have just posted a video from today’s service at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit here in Dodoma. The service was led by the Pre-Diploma and Pre-Degree students of Msalato. The video is from the Offortory when the students sang and dance. You can view or download the 20 MB video at www.stephencday.com/Students-Singing-Dancing.m4v You will need Quicktime version 6 or better to view it. You can get Quicktime at www.apple.com.

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May 29, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Hello Blog-afficianados,

Life is going pretty well here at Msalato. Some money has been found in New Zealand to help cover some of the fees of the students. This will hopefully keep the school afloat for a few more months. I ask your prayers for the continued support of Msalato and for the school to find a long term financial plan.

Today during my Diploma in Applied Ministry, Year 2 class I had an interesting experience. I was teaching about the Roman Catholic Church during the 20th century and in particular the rule of Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council when all of a sudden from the ceiling a small creature landed on my desk. This was… an itty-bitty lizard. The lizard crawled around the table for some time and then crawled on me.

This reminded me that we have a lot of lizards here. I can’t imagine that there is anywhere on earth where there are more wild lizards. Every day when I approach the library there are several that scurry along the sides of the building. They are gorgeous and sometimes quite big.

Well, we have only a week and a half left before the end of classes for the semester. I will be giving essay assignments to both of my classes instead of a final exam. For my Reformation Church History course I will ask my students to write an essay explaining the theology of Martin Luther and to explain what they agree with and disagree with. I am not certain what I will ask my students in Modern Church History course to write about.

I ask that you pray for Moses a student here whose father just died. He is at his home village now and should return to Msalato soon. I also ask your prayers for Timothy, a friend of mine. Finally, I ask that you pray for teachers everywhere as they work to conclude their terms and semesters.

God Bless!

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May 22, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Greeting brothers and sisters!

I hope that all of you are doing well. Life is going very well here. I have been very busy teaching for several weeks and so busy that I have not had a chance to blog in a while. I am really enjoying teaching. The two Church History courses I am teaching are progressing nicely. The class on the Reformation is finally now at the Reformation (I had to catch up the students to the Great Schism, the Crusades, and the Middle Ages). My class on Modern Church History has finally reached the 20th century. I know understand why so many of my history classes never finished all the material we were supposed to cover — history is big!!!

There are now two and a half weeks of teaching left. I have a lot to cover in this time period. After that we have a reading week and then an exam week. Following the exam week I will have a special visitor. My father will be arriving in Dar es Salaam on June 26th. We will come back to Dodoma for a few days and then we will go on safari at Ruaha game park.

In early July I will be setting up a new server for Msalato that will be used to create an email system here that lives off the internet (saving our precious bandwidth) and backs up the main server (to protect from human and software error). This server will be purchased in parts from the US and paid for by donations from the great people of the Diocese of West Virginia. This purchase will use up the last of the extra money donated in support of the work I am doing here. So I would appreciate it if all of you could prayerfully consider donating more. You can send checks to the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, PO Box 5400, Charleston, WV, 25361. Be sure to put “Stephen Day - Tanzania” in the memo line.

In other news, I have scheduled a return date to the United States. I will be leaving Dar es Salaam on December 12, 2008 and return to the US on December 22. Where will I be in the interim? I am going to spend a week in Europe with my mother. This is going to be a wonderful birthday and Christmas present. I have never been to Europe and look forward to spending a few days in Paris and London. I look forward to being back in the USA once again.

Well, I just wanted to share these bits of news with you. I pray that all of you are doing well. Please keep Ed, a family friend in your prayers.

-Stephen

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May 4, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Today I preached at two services. The first service was at 7 am and the congregation was the Msalato students and staff. That service is in English, but my sermon was translated for the non-English fluent students. It went very well, except I almost slept through the service. I had awakened at 4 am and not gotten back to sleep until almost 6. The second service I preached at was at the same building but was at 10 am and the congregation was made up of people living near Msalato. This was a more interesting service since it was all in Swahili. I preached basically the same sermon at both services. I left out some talk about eschatology and a little bit about the Greek word used for sharing. It went pretty well. I am uploading to my site my sermon as it was edited for the second service (although it still has the Greek thing). Enjoy! Just click on the link below.

May 4 2008 Sermon.pdf

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May 2, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Written on May 1,2008

Happy May Day (also Ascension Day),

Yes, in Tanzania they celebrate May Day. It is a holdover from the socialist era of the 1960s. Anyway, I wanted to share my experience yesterday shopping for a water heater. Ever since I learned they existed and were relatively affordable, I have longed for a water heater for my shower. Finally, I have decided now is the time to do it. I have used the advice of another missionary and am working with a “fundi” (expert/craftsman/technician) who also teaches at a local technical or trade school. Yohana, the fundi, teaches electrical students and earns only 60,000 TSh (about $45 a month) so he has to find outside work to support his family. I am also using a plumbing teacher from the same school to help with that part of the job.

So, yesterday Yohana, the plumbing fundi, and a student from their school arrived at my place at 1:30 and we hoped to use the college’s one working car to do our shopping. However, the principal needed the car to go to a meeting, but he did offer to give us a ride into town. So we left around 2:45, when it was convenient for the principal, and got dropped off in town. So we went from store to store tying to find the different parts that were needed. It took trips to many different stores to find the right parts. Things were complicated by the fact that the plumbing in my house was very old and not standard so most of the plumbing in the bathroom had to be replaced. The hardest part to find was the right size water heater. We found some that were far to large and eventually we found the right one. It was an interesting experience because a lot of the places we went to are not frequented by westerners so I got quite a few interesting looks. We walked all over town — it was quite an interesting experience. Eventually, we left town via a taxi with several pipes and some wire cover tied to the side of the taxi.

A long, but productive afternoon. I hope all is well with y’all.

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April 28, 2008 by Stephen Day.

I wanted to share some interesting observations about life in Tanzania. I was on the phone with my dear sister last night and she asked about my students. I explained that they are, on average, in their mid to late thirties and very few are younger than me. She asked if they respected me since I was younger than them. I replied yes, but explained that much of that respect might be simply due to the color of my skin.

This idea comes from past generations views of wazungu (which is slang and derogatory Swahili for white people). Back in the era of slavery and later colonialism Tanzanians and many Africans were forced to greet and respect Europeans. This most commonly took the form of using the greeting “shikamo” to whites from Tanzanians. The word actually means “I bow down to your feet” and was required to be said by all Tanzanians to all whites. Now the term is mostly used by younger people to their elders (regardless of races).

Despite the changes in the use of the word shikamo, the heritage of slavery and colonialism is to show special deference to Europeans. I would like to think that my students now respect me for more than my background.

Well, I need to get back to work. Have a great day!

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April 27, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Click the link below to view the lecture notes from a recent class with Diploma in Applied Ministry, Year One.
Lecture 3.pdf

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April 27, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Click the following link to view the lecture notes for one of my recent classes for Diploma in Applied Ministry, Year 2.
lecture 4.pdf

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April 27, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Easter Greetings!

I am pleased to say that our internet access has returned sooner than expected. So… today I got a chance to go to go to the Kiswahili church service here on campus for the first time. It was quite interesting. The service began at 10 am and ended around noon. I was a bit surprised to see how many people showed up late. Also, there were just a lot of people there. Once the pews filled up some benches were setup in the main aisle for more people. Equally interesting, I noticed that it appears the women and the men segregate themselves (women sit on the left and men on the right). As people showed up late they sat wherever there was room. It was a very nice service, although it was all in Kiswahili. I think I know somewhat what Roman Catholics experienced before Vatican II in the 1960s. Before that reform in the Roman Catholic Church all masses were in Latin, even though many Catholics did not know Latin. Like them, I knew basically what was going on in the service even though I basically do not know the language.

In other news, I will be producing my newsletter very soon that will include the past four months. Sorry for the delay - it is just a busy time. I am really enjoying teaching. I will share some of my lectures with you all soon.

Also, I thought I should let you all know that the changes in the missionary system of the Episcopal Church USA or The Episcopal Church that I outlined recently have been postponed. The Church’s committee that oversees the mission of the Church has said that more work needs to be done to determine what should be done. This is a very good development, but if you care about the mission of the Church I encourage you to let your rector, bishop, and deputies to General Convention know what you think.

One final thought… there are a lot of needs here at Msalato Theological College that just need a little bit of money to remedy. In the coming weeks and months there are several things I would like to accomplish. Some of these include getting a new accounting software program for the college’s financial secretary (the current one is outdated, unreliable, and pirated). This will cost about $200 for the software and a few helpful guidebooks. I also hope to get new hardware to create a real second server at Msalato that will help protect the campus from viruses, provide a local email system, and a backup for the main server (this might cost up to $1,000, but will work for five years or so). Also, there are two new classrooms and two offices that need to be wired to the network here so that they can have computers (I don’t yet know how much this might cost). So these and other projects need your support. If you would like to support some of these or other projects feel free to write a check to the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia (PO Box 5400, Charleston, WV, 25361) and mention my name (Stephen C. Day) in the memo line. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Yours in Christ,
Stephen

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April 24, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Hello,
I wanted first to apologize for not posting more often this month. I have been really busy enjoying teaching. Things are great! In other news, we have run out of our alloted internet bandwidth so, I wont be able to post or email for the next week (until May 1). Keep in touch!

Stephen

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April 10, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Last week I requested permission from my supervisor, the Mission Personnel Officer of the Episcopal Church (TEC/ECUSA), that I be able to stay for the complete spring (August-November) semester instead of having to leave halfway through at the beginning of October. Early this week I heard from the MPO and was granted permission, if approved by the DCT bishop, to remain here at Msalato through mid-December 2008 so that I can complete my grading and organize the IT situation here.

In other news, I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my bishop, the Rt. Rev. William M. Klusmeyer, of the Diocese of West Virginia, and the Rt. Revd. Godfrey Mdimi Mhogolo, of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, as they discuss some important things.

Have a wonderful day!

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April 4, 2008 by Stephen Day.

I just wanted to note that it has been exactly six months since I left Charleston, West Virginia. In theory I will be here for only another six months. It has been amazing. I hope to post a bigger entry later, but wanted t o point out this milestone. God bless!

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April 2, 2008 by Stephen Day.

I accidently deleted an email recently that had been labeled by my email provider as junk, but realized two seconds after I clicked delete forever that it was not junk. It was related to my work here. So if you sent me an email within the past two weeks requesting my help with pictures or something like that, please send me another email. Sorry. Happy Easter Season!

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March 27, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Happy Easter! In the past week it has rained more days than it hasn’t. This is pretty amazing since the rainy season is supposed to be over by now (it started in December). In fact, it has rained for the past five hours or so. This is very good news for Tanzania… the shambas (farms) have been hurting because there has not been much rain this year. Also, most of the electricity in Tanzania is hydroelectric so, rainfall is very important.

In other news, in less than 300 days the United States will have a new president. I don’t mean to get partisan, but that is good news for the US and for the world. Countdown status: 299 days, 10 hours, and 5 minutes.

I have spent the last week and a half grading quizzes, planning the rest of the semester and fixing some computer problems. At the beginning of last week the computers here decided to stop working with the internet, which has caused some problems. I was not able to figure out the origin of the problem until Tuesday of this week. It was the DNS server settings… for the fellow geeks out there. Well, I better get back to work. I would ask for your prayers for the Commission on Ministry and the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia over the next three days - they are meeting and discussing many important things. Also, please pray for Msalato’s students as they return from their short break.

Bye for now.

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March 16, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Greetings on this Palm Sunday. Things are settling down at Msalato — on Friday Fall/Easter Break began. This will be a two week break during which students will return to their villages to celebrate Easter and hopefully find some money for their school fees. I will be using this time to take care of some computer work and also to plan out what I will be teaching during the remainder of the semester, which ends in mid June.

I am glad to have a break right now because it has been a very busy month or so since the campus woke up from its long break. One of my first priorities is to produce a newsletter covering everything since the new year. It has just been a very busy couple of months and I have also been trying to learn my new computer and the Mac OS. I will get out the newsletter before the end of the month and perhaps before Easter.

Well, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few tidbits about life here. First, I am pleased to announce that the Anglican Church of Tanzania has elected a new archbishop and primate. I have nothing against the current primate, but I know that he was adamantly opposed to my Church, The Episcopal Church (TEC) or Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA). He has refused to accept any money for the US Church for some time, which limits some of the work my church can do here. The new archbishop and primate of this church will be Bishop Valentino L. Mokiwa of the Diocese of Dar es Salaam. I have heard very little about him, but I know that he comes from the part of the Tanzanian Church that is considered to be “high church” liturgically and that he is opposed to women’s ordination (I will talk about that a little later). The new archbishop will be installed on May 25 at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, here in Dodoma. The cathedral is just the diocesan cathedral and, to my knowledge, holds no special significance to the province as a whole. I assume that it was chosen simply because Dodoma is basically the center of the country and easier to get to for more people than Dar es Salaam. There is some hope that the new archbishop might restore relations with The Episcopal Church.

So women’s ordination… yes there are ordained Tanzanian women serving in the Anglican Church of Tanzania. I think there are only about a dozen or fewer in the Diocese of Central Tanzania, which has over three hundred parish priests, but that is more than I would have thought. There are a few other diocese in this Church that have ordained women, but they are few. This new archbishop wants this to stop, but supposedly his power does not allow him to prevent this at this point.

A slight correction about my previous post and the shift in the future of missionaries in the Episcopal Church. After further reading of the announcement that came from the Mission Personnel Office of The Episcopal Church, I have come to some different conclusions. So before this announcement the Church had three different missionary programs - the Young Adult Service Corps (which I am part of and is a one-year program for people from 18 to 30 years old, Volunteers for Mission (who got logistical support from The Episcopal Church but were largely responsible for all of their funding) and Appointed Missionaries (who got most of their funding directly from the Church and were appointed for three year terms). The new plan for missionary work has just two programs YASC (which will continue unaffected because it has funding under two different programs) and Missionaries. The former Appointed Missionaries and Volunteers for Mission are now one program. Everyone in this new program will get health insurance and pension contributions, but beyond that… not much else. This is an increase for former volunteers but a dramatic cut for former appointed missionaries who will now have to find funding for living expenses, language training, and transportation to and from their post. This is a dramatic shift and a sad one. Other Churches and missionary organizations provide a great deal more funding and provide for four months of language training and cars and many other things. I encourage each of you to ponder these shifts in policy and consider the best actions to take.

Well, I need to go into work and take care of a few things and then hopefully get a haircut. I hope that all of you have a blessed and special Holy Week. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

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March 9, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Greetings from Africa!

It has been a while since I have been able to post and this is mostly due to my busy schedule in the past two weeks. Things have changed dramatically since my first three months here when I had little to do. I am quite busy now and like it! I have been teaching now for two full weeks, although classes have been meeting for three weeks (the first week there were few students and my main goal was just to get to know them and find out where their previous Church History courses had left off. In my Church History II course for Diploma I students I have covered the Great Schism (the split between the Eastern and Western Churches) and the Crusades. The other course I am teaching, Church History IV for Diploma II, has been focusing on the Church at the dawn of the nineteenth century and missionary efforts during that time. At the end of next week I will be giving my students their first test/quiz. Also, at the end of this coming week the school will be going on an Easter Break for two weeks. During that time I hope to figure out what I will be teaching throughout the rest of the semester and work on my lecture notes.

On a different matter altogether… I recently got an email from the Mission Personnel Officer of the Episcopal Church. His email informed the missionaries of the Church of some recent changes that resulted from a recent meeting of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church. The email first explained that the Church had finally agreed to provide a pension fund for lay missionaries for the Church (ordained missionaries had been part of the Church Pension Fund for some time). However, the email continued by stating that because of the financial situation in the Church and the new expense of providing pension funding for lay missionaries, the compensation for appointed missionaries of the Church will be changed. The new compensation package provides for participation in the Church Pension Fund and health insurance. That is all. Appointed missionaries will now be responsible for finding their own funding for living expenses, travel expenses, language training, immunizations, and everything else. This is a dramatic shift and a sad one. The program that I am part of, the Young Adult Service Corps, is not affected by this change because its funding comes jointly from the Mission Personnel Office and the Office of College and Young Adult Ministries. I am not seeking to speak out against the Church that I proudly represent, my goal is simply to draw attention to the state of the Church. The Episcopal Church has been in some financial trouble ever since the events of the 2003 General Convention, after which several dioceses and many parishes decided to end their financial support of the “national” Church. This lack of support has had a direct impact on the Church’s ability to “seek and serve Christ in all people” as the Baptismal Covenant requires us to do. Now, more than ever, it is essential for the Episcopal Church to have a presence throughout the Anglican Communion. One of the key ways that this is done is by sending out missionaries, where invited, to help to build up the body of Christ. I encourage all of you who might agree with me to pray for a change in the priorities of the Church and for improved funding for missionary work. Also, if you know or happen to be a delegate to a diocesan convention/council or the General Convention of the Episcopal Church I encourage you to speak out and act on this issue. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

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February 27, 2008 by Stephen Day.

With tremendous help from the computer fundi at Mackay House, James, I have succeeded in getting Msalato Theological College back onto the internet… with one little caveat. TTCL signed me up for a prepaid plan that is best suited for one person not a campus. So I need to go into TTCL and tell them to switch us to a plan that is designed for internet cafes and has a monthly cap on 20GB of data transfered.

So hopefully by friday afternoon Msalato will be surfing the ‘net. Thank you for your prayers.

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February 23, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Friday, February 22, 2008 9:10 pm (East Africa Time)

I am glad to say that I accomplished a few things today. I received many papers from my new student answering three questions: what is church history, is it important, and what do you want to learn. I went into town and got some money from the ATM (the Tanzanian bank didn’t realize how much money was in my account) and bought fourteen new keyboards (cost about $175) so there computers here will be a lot more useful for the students now. However, the main purpose of today was to setup an internet connection for the whole campus. That goal was not realized. One part of the problem was that TTCL (Tanzanian Telephone Corporation Limited - a state owned company) which is going to provide the internet connection via ADSL had not completed part of the work required. Hopefully, they came this afternoon and finished the work. The other problem is that the computer fundi (fundi is Swahili for expert/technican) at Mackay House and I struggled today to get the routers that will share the signal from Mackay to Msalato. So the internet connection won’t be working until perhaps Monday. I hope to also get six power supplies for the computers here (assuming the Tanzanian bank, which is actually British, recognizes the accurate amount of money in my account) so that all of the computers will be working. Well, I have to head off to bed so that I can spend tomorrow working on developing an outline for my two classes for the semester. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support!!

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February 21, 2008 by Stephen Day.

I just had my first real class (one where I lectured) and it went pretty well. The class was Church History II with Diploma I. The topic was the Great Schism (the split between the Eastern and Western Churches). The students had asked me to lecture on the matter even though the time frame of the class is the Reformation Era. I got good questions from the students and they seemed to engage the material. They got hung up on some issues, but they were ones that I have gotten hung up on before as well — i.e. the role of icons in the Eastern Church and the theology of the Trinity. In fact, one of the students asked me to lecture on the theology of the Trinity — I said I would work on that. I am no theologian! Anyway, it went very well and I am liking teaching. Below is the handout/outline that I gave the students for today. Forgive the few spelling mistakes… I haven’t figured out a few things on my new computer.

Have a great day!

Church History II
The Great Schism

I. Tensions Arise
A. In the first few centuries the persecution of the Church helped it to stay united, since there was a common foe – the Romans
B. As the Church grew and relations with the Roman Empire became peaceful, Church leaders began to develop different theologies and practices

II. Fundamental Theological Differences between and within East and West Emerge
A. The divinity and nature of Christ was agreed upon at the Council of Nicea in 325, but the nature of the Holy Spirit – the third part of the Trinity – was a subject of many debates.
B. There were splits even within the Eastern Church – two different schools of thought (“Antiochene” and “Alexandrine” - the names coming from the two cities where the groups were centered). The debate within these groups was centered on “how can the immutable, eternal God be joined to a mutable historical man” (Gonzalez, Vol. 1, P. 252)
a) Details about these two interpretations of the Trinity can be found on page 252 of Gonzalez’s first volume of The Story of Christianity.
C. The Western Church was not concerned with these detailed points of theology, because they faced invasions from barbarians and accepted the dual nature of Christ (both human and divine).
D. Another key split between Eastern and Western Christianity was the use of icons. Icons are central to Eastern Christianity, but were interpreted as idol worship by the Christians of the West. This debate was an early one and was settled in Western minds in 754 at a Council called for by Constantine V, which forbade imagry (icons) in religious worship. This further split East from West. The decision of 754 was partially and then fully reveresed in 787 (Seventh Ecumeical Council) and 842 when the worship or veneration of images or icons was allowed once again and then normalized. These decisions angered many Western Christians… furthering the divide.

III. Historical Differences
A. It is key to look at the different experiences of the Eastern and Western parts of Christendom. The Roman Empire ceased to exist as a unified entity in 476. The Roman Empire had united Christianity and helped to establish the core tenants of the faith by the calling of the first Ecummenical Councils.
B. With the end of the unified Roman Empire the Western and Eastern remanents developed independently as did their understanding and practice of Christianity.
C. The two branches of Christianity faced different threats. The West faced invasion by the “barbaian horde.” The East, after 650, the threat was from Islam.
D. A key historical (as opposed to theological) difference between the Eastern and Western Churches was the role of the Bishop of Rome (also known as the Pope). Early in Christianity there were five key leaders in the Church. The Bishops of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Rome. These bishops were known as patriarchs and seen as THE leaders of the Church jointly. The Bishop of Rome had no special authority. Note that many of these partiarchs are based in the Eastern part of the Church. After the fall of the Roman Empire (as a united East-West empire) the Bishop of Rome became a larger figure in the Church and, in the West, took on the mantle of leadership of the Church.
E. Also, there was the linguistic split between East and West that furthered the divide. The Christians of the West (or more appropriately, the leaders of the Western Church) spoke Latin, while the Eastern Church’s leadership spoke Greek.

IV. The Schism
A. Most scholars recognize the formal spilt between the Western (or Roman) Church and the Eastern (or Orthodox) Churches as occuring on June 16, 1054. This was the date on which Cardinal Humbert, acting as an ambassador/emissary for Pope Leo IX, declared that the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, to be excommunicated. Cerularius responded by excommunicating the Pope.
B. One small point that is worth noting is that at the time that Cardinal Humbert declared Cerularius to be excommunicated, the Pope, in whose name Humbert took this action, was dead.
C. The controversy that led to the 1054 excommunication dealt with the celabacy of the clergy. The Eastern Churches had long allowed married clergy, but Rome had outlawed the practice. Also, Eastern Church leaders opposed the use of unleavened bread for communion.
D. Some historians suggest that the schism actually occured in 1204 when Western forces conquered Constantinople.

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February 19, 2008 by Stephen Day.

February 19, 2008

Well I wanted to let all of you know about some progress that has been made. Yesterday I went into town to meet with the computer fundi at Mackay House (the headquarters of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika) to sort out a few things. The main purpose of the trip was to find out what would be needed to establish an link between Mackay and Msalato for internet access. This is a convoluted scheme to get internet to Msalato for the time being until the capital can be raised to purchase a satellite dish. Try and follow this… I am signing up for a new telephone line to be put into Mackay and also to have an ADSL (same kind of DSL broadband you can get in the States) line activated. This line will have a modem that connects to the internet and the output of the modem will be connected to a wireless router on the roof of Mackay which will be connected to an antenna that points at Msalato (about 12 km away). At Msalato there will be an antenna that is pointed to Mackay that will be connected to a router, which will be connected to another wireless router which will simultaneously spread the signal on campus through Wi-Fi (802.11g for the nerds) and share it via Ethernet cable (CAT-5e) to offices and the computer labs and servers. No, I can’t claim credit for this idea… it was my predecessors – Kirk Steffenson of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia (aka TheDiocese.net).

So while I was out on Monday afternoon I was able to meet with Mackay’s fundi, a wonderful Tanzanian named James. We figured some things out and went to TTCL to learn what the cost of a new line and its setup would be – not bad only about $100 US for the new line, ADSL modem, and other setup costs. So hopefully today or someday soon I can sign up for the new line and possibly by Saturday the signal will be up and running all around Msalato. Let us all pray for this!! I was also able to investigate the prices for replacement computer keyboards and power supplies. The current computer network here is only about a year old and was made possible by a grant from the wonderful and generous people at Trinity Episcopal Church, Wall Street, in Manhattan (as the name implies). The one significant problem with this system is that the keyboards that were purchased with it have failed at an alarming rate. At this point I think maybe half of the twenty-four keyboards are working. I was surprised to learn yesterday that a new keyboard could be purchased for only 13,000 TSZ when bought in bulk. That is only about $11.50!! I bought one yesterday and have used it some and have been pleasantly surprised. As for power supplies… we have had five that have died. Who knows how or why… the computers are connected to a huge voltage regulator and the servers are attached to an APC U(uninterruptible) P(power) S (supply) so it is unlikely that anything along those lines killed them… but who knows. I was also surprised to find power supplies for only 25,000 TSZ (about $22). So at the end of this week I hope to buy six new power supplies (one spare) and fifteen new keyboards. That will be about $300, which will return the network here to full use.

I start teaching in less than one hour… I am a bit nervous and would appreciate your prayers. Oh and for those staying up to date on the news in Tanzania – yes President Bush did just visit the country for a few days. No, he didn’t make it to Msalato or Dodoma. I believe he stayed in Dar es Salaam and maybe went up to Arusha (which is a touristy place at the foot of Kilimanjaro- the highest mountain in Africa). So, I did not see my president while he was in the country. I have heard though that the main topic while he was here was not his AIDS or Malaria programs which he was presumably coming to trumpet but the race for his successor – especially the fact that one of the front-runners is the son of a Kenyan.

Well, I better finish preparing… I am a bit nervous. Thanks for your prayers and support.

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