Building a Cathedral in Tabora
Phil Barlow spent the first 8 weeks of 2007 helping with a project to build a new Cathedral for a growing congregation in Tabora, Tanzania.
My interest in Africa and action to eradicate poverty has been high on my list for many years. Elaine and I first experienced working in Tanzania in 1999 when we spent 8 weeks in the highlands in Tabora on the great railway line to the western lakes of Victoria and Tanganyika.
The latest trip was another 8 week visit on my own back to Tabora to carry out further work on the clinic we helped with in 99 and to check on work to the foundations of a new Cathedral. This was to replace a small church built in 1938 and bulging at the seams on Sundays. The Anglican Parish Church in Hemingford Grey near Cambridge had paid for the design and shipping out of the steel roof and a small team have been out to construct it on site.
The church clinic is run by an English doctor Ruth Hulser and is visited daily by up to 100 patients. Their small laboratory was proving a restriction to their work of blood testing and so I was involved in the re design and construction of a new lab in a spare ward. Working with the African builder was a great experience and we completed the work in about 2 weeks. It was duly opened by the Bishop one Friday afternoon to the delight of the local staff of doctors and medical team.
I was taken out on my first weekend to a distant rural village with no access to medical help. The roads were atrocious and we were bogged down on numerous occasions. It turned out to be a two-day expedition as we could not move the vehicle out of a 4 ft mud hole and spent the night on the mud floor of a village hut.
The Christian Church in Africa provides a great amount of the medical, social and education needs of the country and is a credit to their active faith. Clean water is always in short supply so I got permission to build a 2000 litre water tank to collect water from the guesthouse roof. This was only half full when I left as we missed most of the heavy rains.
A number of people said to me that half the benefit and encouragement of people coming from England is that you are there working along side them in their work for God. The work you actually do is a bonus. They know that we do care and are willing to sacrifice time, family and expense to be with them. This was a tremendously humbling experience and one I will cherish for many years.
I am grateful to those at St Paul's who contributed to my expenses and the donation to the development of the mobile clinic.
Phil Barlow
PS - £6000 is desperately needed for the purchase of a second hand 4 x 4 for reaching the outlying villages.
