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Heart First's Own Carol Bjorkman Visits Africa

The next day, we flew from Dar es Salaam to Mtwara.  It was a little more than hour flight.  We unpacked and readied ourselves for the conference in our hotel.  It was new, clean, and there was a comfortable bed and some air conditioning.  I don’t think I could have endured the entire week without a reprieve from the heat which was ever present.  I quickly learned that things we take for granted such as hot water, clean water and electricity are luxuries.  There were daily power outages, we did not have hot water (which was not missed all that much), and we could not drink the tap water.  All water we used had to be boiled for at least a minute or it had to be bottled. 

The inconveniences could be endured and overlooked when we finally got to the church site of the conference on Monday morning.  Sixty women from Mtwara and the region surrounding it attended the conference.  My job was to speak on HIV/AIDS, health and hygiene (including diarrhea, parasitic infections, rehydration, clean water and hand washing), and Bible study application.  Previous speakers had spoken on other portions of Bible study.  Thanks to posters made from friends and a most awesome “diarrhea doll” the messages I was sent to convey were well received.  I asked how many women knew someone who had died from AIDS and they all stood up.  I asked them to remain standing if they had an immediate family member who had died from this disease and about 1/3 remained standing.  It was overwhelming to see the impact this disease has had in the sub Saharan region.  When we had question/answer time at the end of the day, many of the questions were HIV/AIDS related.  I was able to answer most questions, but it was not all that easy. 

The other four women on the team spoke on various other aspects of spiritual growth.  The conference attendees were leaders in their churches and had been selected to attend the conference.  I learned that it was a huge sacrifice for them to leave their families (some traveled 50+ miles) for the five days of the conference.  They were willing to do this so they could be instrumental in helping teach and train other women in their home churches.  Fourteen different denominations were represented.  Any sacrifices I had made to come there were minimal compared to the daily difficulties these women face.  And yet they served us and seemed so thankful that we had come.  We were greeted daily by the women streaming out of the church, singing and carrying our supplies.  The greeting usually brought tears to my eyes.  They always insisted that we go first in all meal and hand washing lines.   It was humbling and difficult to accept.

One of the highlights of the trip was watching the women worship.  Their faces exhibited joy.  They worshipped not just with their words, but also with their whole bodies.  I definitely could not move like they did as they sang songs.  It was difficult to not speak their language, but it was most obvious we were worshipping the same God.  The women all speak Swahili; only three spoke some English.  We spoke through translators all week.  I would have loved to hear some of their stories.

It is my prayer that the teaching we gave made a difference.  One of my “life” scriptures is in Philippians 1:21- For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.   That scripture seemed to come more alive in my heart as the week progressed.  It is my heartfelt prayer that my life will continually be poured out in service to Christ, and that when it is all over, He will say “Well done, you were faithful”.