Water is Life, Inc.

Ladies Cooking Event
The majority of the kitchens are outside of the main residence. They are all wood fires, which requires a significant amount of work. Before they can start cooking, there’s labor involved with cutting and transporting the wood. Amazingly, they can cook anything from rice to baked bread with precision. Rice is much more common, though. As with many other countries in the world, rice is their main staple. Traditionally, they’ll cook up an enormous pile of it and share it with each other off of a single communal dish. You can see this reflected in the cooking utensils featured in this picture.
If you were to construct a hierarchy of typical Tanzanian fare going from greatest to least, it would be rice, beans, ugali (a stiff cornmeal or cassava mash), vegetables (usually tomatoes), and meat. Sometimes, they supplement their diet with a sardine-like fish called dagaa. Meat is an exception for a meal. However, it is reserved for special occasions and honored guests. A combination of rice and beans provides protein when meat is not readily available. People always ask us, “What do you eat when you’re there?” That’s pretty much the diet we have. You might think the food they eat so often wouldn’t be very flavorful, but it is, and it is satisfying, too!

Bibles for the Lord’s Children
One of Water is Life's objectives is to get the Word of God into the hands of everyone we can. As you can see on the children’s faces, receiving their very own Bible is a meaningful experience for them; the cost of Bibles, in comparison with what people earn, is difficult to come by. The children are taught on a daily basis through Bible stories, which affords them an opportunity for continued growth in the Word of God. One of our donors made this gift possible for all the children. Seeing how the Lord continues to work in their lives is a blessing.

We were able to build a well with one of the pastors in Tanzania, who is in the process of establishing a Christian school at a church located in Sanze Kisarawe, Pwani. It provides a clean source of water, which is faster and safer than bucketing it out of the marshland. The well is about 150 ft deep, which requires a standby generator to pump it into tank storage. We were blessed by one of our donors to make this possible. The clean water supply and abundance have been shared with the community, which is predominantly Muslim. It’s one more avenue to minister to the surrounding villages. We pray that the Lord will use this for His glory.

Joe and Dana, for the third year with Water is Life, brought Vacation Bible School to Tanzania. The theme for this year's VBS was "Putting on the Armor of God." The children absolutely love it. About 750-800 children attended over four locations. It included Bible teaching, crafts, and games, concluding with Dana sharing the gospel message at each location. At the last location, we counted about 100 children who made a commitment to the Lord.

We always work through the local church, so on our departure, they follow up and continue to connect with those who participated from the community. The children also become the evangelistic arm of the church for outreach. When they return home, they share Jesus with their families.

After arriving at Dar es Salaam, we traveled to Morogoro for our third marriage conference with pastors and their wives. Over 250 couples attended the conference over a two-day period. The focus of the conference was "Marriage God's Way." So often, culture takes superiority over God's Word. We emphasized that God's Word is always superior to any other standard. There was a lot of positive discussion and openness that ultimately brought healing and forgiveness.

Tanzania Mission Trip - 2023

Joan and I have been going to Tanzania since 2004. This is our third trip with Joe and Dana Weaver. As with the other two visits, serving with them was a joy and blessing. We left the US on July 1 and returned home on July 24, 2023. We arrived in Dar es Salaam on July 4.

This summer was one of our most challenging trips. The intensity of our schedule and the amount of travel we did while in Tanzania stretched us in ways we couldn’t predict. Yet, it was one of the most rewarding visits because of all we accomplished and the many blessings we received from so many people during our journey.

More to come...