Goodbye Gathering

Tanzanians are, by nature, a wildly generous people.  Marilyn had warned us of this before we headed to Igoma and in fact, shared with us that the EMCC has encouraged the Tanzanian church leaders to scale down on their gift giving to volunteer teams.  These are a people who have very, very little compared to North American standards, and yet give and give and give some more.

I don't think I fully grasped that fact until the night of our "Goodbye" Ceremony.  As a team we had taken some small gifts for the Pastors and Urafiki staff and we spent part of the early evening assembling those together.  As we gathered with our new friends under the shelter of a grass roof at the Hill Front Hotel, we exchanged gratitude with one another for the time spent together and the privilege of working with each other.

The gifts given to us were phenomenal!  I could not believe how much was given to us and I felt profoundly humbled by the generosity we witnessed....and Marilyn tells us that this night WAS scaled down from previous years!  It turns out Edah was paying very close attention when we were out shopping earlier in the afternoon, as we received beautiful woven baskets, filled with bolts of fabric and a variety of gifts within.  I simply sat in awe.

I have to acknowledge how beautiful the hearts of my Tanzanian friends are.  They are filled with so much joy to give and to say "thank you" for the time we spent with them.  We laughed as we talked about how they will likely have much more rest now that we would be gone!!  For many of the staff, they continued to work their shifts at the Clinic and then would come with us to work at the mobile clinics as well.  One day while we were in Nigeze, I discovered that three of our Tanzanian teammates had actually worked overnight at the Clinic and then were leaving with us in the morning for another full days' work.  Never did we hear a complaint or mumbling.  They were simply amazing.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have met and worked alongside these remarkable individuals.