Amazing Grace at the foot of Kilimanjaro

Last week saw me (David) travel to Moshi, a town at the foot of Mount Kili (the picture was taken from my hotel window) where I attended a conference on behalf of African Enterprise. The husband of the Tz director of AE was bringing a paper on "Protecting our Children in a Changing World" - addressing the adverse affects of media and technology on our kids.
His wife, Grace Masalakulangua (also known as 'Amazing Grace') is a fiesty, highly gifted African communicator, who now leads the Tanzanian team.
I met so many special people, each deserving a blog item, but time doesn't allow.
However, I must tell you about Esther, another Amazing Grace in the form of a tiny 7 year old, stunted and skinny, with the very light of LIFE shining out of her. She lost both of her parents to HIV/AIDS and had herself been diagnosed with the virus. When she came into the care of the workers, she was at the point of death, covered with weeping sores. They cared for her, prayed and fasted, believing for her healing. Over time she regained strength and her skin cleared up.

After a while, they took her to a doctor for tests. The tests came back negative! The doctor told the people off asking them who on earth had made such a dreadful error. It turned out to be him! In disbelief he went back and checked his records. Sure enough, all the tests had come up positive - the papers were there to prove it. He restested her - negative!
At times God sure can make clever people look silly! All in love, of course...



I had driven to Moshi on my own, a little nervous because I was in a borrowed car which didn't have the legally required fire extinguisher.
The Arusha-Moshi road is reknowned for police road-blocks and if they find something out of order, they will fine you (or accept a 'gift' to save you going through the legal hassles). The old extinguisher had gone off suddenly a few days before when I put the driver's seat back - it was underneath and got caught, unleashing its load on my most extinguished and bewildered son.
Well, wouldn't you know it, I approached a village and there there was a large group of police observing the traffic. A senior officer selected me out of all the cars, stepped onto the road and waved me over. He looked as stern as you can get and walked around to the window. I was 'packing it', but rather than act coy, decided to put on a big smile and reached for my license. His expression changed immediately - he broke into a smile and asked me to give three of his officers a ride to Moshi because it was the end of their shift! I wished I'd taken a picture of them all - I'm sure they would have happily posed, but I was so relieved, I decided to not push my luck.
As I dropped the last of the officers off, he said "God bless" in Swahili. He must have picked up I was a Christian so we exchanged details in a mix of stilted Swenglish; a little teary and genuinely grateful.
God bless Officer Felician!