Farewell Lake Fish

Tuesday morning and we are parting ways with our Fish Lake group. They have been great to have and we will miss their smiles and enthusiasm. I think some of them are ready to return home and see family.

Dale and I spent the morning at Tumaini. I snooped around and found the collection of senior project reports in the Computer Science office (in sort of a pile with calendars and syllabi). I will be supervising the third (final) year students as they research topics. I was very impressed with the quality of the projects and clearly the students spend a significant amount of time researching and sampling and developing their senior thesis. Typical topics are: bank security, web sites for municipal governments, web sites to manage hotels and travel agencies, comparing classroom to on-line learning and improving computer services to students. It will be a challenge to guide the next class on to topics that will be challenging and at the same time doable ( I hope that is a word).

Dale had a class on New Testament from 10 to Noon and I sat in after reading the reports beginning at about 11 AM. His one student (me) was very attentive and seemed to be involved with the topic, but a little disappointed that the teacher hadn't written anything on the board. We stuck around for a bit more and Dale was able to talk to the acting Theology Dean and at least get an office to share.

We returned to the apartments and helped pack up the Fish Lake group. Most of the Tanzanians call it Lake Fish (like all the other sensible lakes). There was lots of last minute shopping and cramming things into the suitcases. But, at 2 PM everyone was ready and we took a final group picture. You may notice that there is an extra face in the crowd. This is Pastor Nixon of the Ipogoro Church (just at the bottom of the hill as we leave Iringa). He is accompanying the Fish Lake group back to Dar Es Salaam for a visit with family and will be back in Iringa by Saturday. We will worship at his church on Sunday. He is very energetic and as explained before has an amazing outreach in his church.

As we waved goodbye, we all gave a sigh of relief and did a quick survey of what was left behind. We found a pair of flip-flops, a calculator (people shouldn't use these things anyway) and a couple of printed e-mails. Not bad for 10 days of shuffling, packing, unpacking and trying to live together.

The Fish Lake group spent about 3 hours on the road and spent the evening at Tan-Swiss Lodge (where we all take a break on the way from Dar). They will bus into Dar on Wednesday, stop at a resort on the ocean and fly out about 9 PM from the airport.

Caleb and I started to explore the possibility of putting up an antenna for my ham radio. I paced off the distance between our balcony and the next building and it was just about right to put up a wire antenna across the gap. We had to get a ladder and open a 100 lb hatch door on the adjacent building but got one end of the wire up on a vent pipe. The other end attaches to the balcony railing on our bedroom. We got all that up and what should pop up in the middle is a 20' tree. (Who put that there?) After much pulling from the ground and the balcony, Dale, Caleb and I got the antenna over the top of the tree. Now I needed a 12 volt power supply to power the radio. Low and behold, there in pantry was a combination car battery booster/air compressor. It has a small 12 battery that is trickle charged from 110 Volts. I clipped my power cables to the booster and voila we have a complete radio system using things we found in the pantry: 20 meters of clothes line and a battery booster. I made one voice contact with VU3WIJ in India and turned things off to charge the battery.

After leftovers and a hot game of Yatzee (won by Annica!) we turned in and started our real sabbatical. Dale has class at 8 in the morning, I don't have class until 8 on Friday morning. I still have some prep to do and plan to spend some time in the library on Wednesday. Hopefully, I might find out when and where my second (seminar) class meets.