AN UPDATE FROM THE KINGS IN TANZANIA 

Dan and Rachel King have lived in Tanzania with their children Aaron and Lydia for almost 6 years. They love the country and the work they do there which makes their forthcoming decisions about education for the children especially difficult. Until recently both children went to the local school in Ifisi. Lydia goes 3 days a week, two of which are with a teacher from Zambia and one with either Rachel or Dan. She also spends 2 days learning Mbela with a family friend. The varied programme keeps things interesting and enables her to explore a range of learning styles but is not an ideal long-term situation. Aaron recently returned to Wales with a family friend and is now living with his grandparents in Swansea where he attends the local primary school. He has settled well and made friends but this arrangement is only for 3 months, just to give him the experience of living in a British cultural context.
 
Dan is continuing with his translation work. He spent time helping with the translation of the Old Testament into 3 local languages. They had finished the translation of the New Testament but were having difficulty especially with the Psalms. He recently met with the spiritual chief of all the Nyakyusa people who is extremely supportive of the translation work. Several other projects in which Dan was involved are now complete including a picture book translation of the Bible and a Nyakyusa song book. He is also working on the script for the recording of the ‘Jesus Film’ in the Mbeya language. At present three other languages are in the final stages of their New Testament translation. The work is never ending.  So far he has been involved the translation of 16 African languages!
 
20,000 New Testaments, printed in Korea, are presently on their way by sea to Tanzania for the 800,000 Nyakyusa people on the borders of Tanzania and Malawi.
 
Rachel returned to Wales to work for a month and was reminded of the gulf that separates health care in the UK and that in Tanzania. She writes “Every day I strive to give my patients a fragment of the care that the NHS provides, the same care I was told by a British patient was ‘disgusting’. In our hospital we see overwhelming numbers of patients who are ill or who simply die because they are poor. The stories of the hardship the people suffer and the lengths they have to go to in order to access medical care are heart-breaking”.
 
Please pray for wisdom as Dan and Rachel resolve the problem of the children’s education; for extra staff and funding for the hospital and for the safe arrival and distribution of the new translated bibles on their way from Korea.
 
Val Vincent