Dear Mom and Dad,

…Two priests from America came out this week to visit one of the other missionaries. We took them up to Ngorongoro Crater to see the animals yesterday. It is about 125 miles from here to the crater and over roads that they had never seen the like of before. I think by the time we got to our school for lunch, which is on the rim of the crater, they were ready for bed. We had canned meat for lunch, which it became clear, was hard for them to get down. It was quite an experience for me to see the many small things that we take for granted every day through the eyes of someone fresh from America. All in all it was an easy trip up, only one flat tire and we met no elephants or African buffalo on the road (these except for the rhino are the most dangerous animals around because they will charge at will and need no provocation whatsoever to do so). After eating we went down into the crater itself and had the best luck I’ve had so far in seeing animals, hundreds of wildebeests, zebra, antelope of all kinds, at least 50 elephants, rhino (we saw two of the plains type and one of the forest variety which are huge black animals, about half again as big as the gray plains rhino and about twice as fierce). We saw five lions, two in one place and three in another. They got a chance to see every major kind of animal there is to see.

About 6:30 we took them to a Maasai boma, the house of a friend of ours. Here again, it was quite an experience to see a place that we feel quite at home in, through their eyes. They seemed scared to death of the people. We went into a house and sat down. After about thirty seconds one was clearly becoming sick and the other was getting whiter and whiter. At that point we went outside, they were both nauseous. It was really a revelation. When offered milk, their reaction was something to see. A Maasai boma is one of the places they don’t want to go to again. These are places we enjoy. When we told them we live on the milk frequently, for days at a time and sleep in the houses often, they were shaken. All in all, it was a pretty amazing experience for me and I guess for them too.

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom and Dad,

…It seems that the small rains are not going to come this year. They are well over a month late. On the mountain, the people still have water but the plains below are in real trouble. The Maasai boma to which I go once a week to teach is typical. It’s a walk of at least ten miles to water the cattle and to get water for drinking, cooking and washing. Most of the cows have dried up and what little milk is left is given to the small children. The older people buy a little corn meal and cook it with a small amount of milk. They are really feeling the effects of hunger. Over the past two months all have gotten noticeably thinner and have lost a great deal of energy. An old man, an elder of a place about sixty miles from here across the plains came in about three days ago and said three people have died in his area. He was looking for government help. The old men say that if there is no rain until the big rains in March, many of the Maasai will die.

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom and Dad,

…There is one boy who did not come back this year to standard seven because of lack of school fees. I’ve checked it out and it seems his father cannot pay. Besides lack of school fees, he needs glasses. He is a very fine boy and has been expressing interest in going to the seminary ever since I got here. I would like to pay for his school fees and glasses from the mission fund. All told it will come to $47.

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom and Dad,

Fr. Simon was changed to another mission and the new man coming in wasn’t familiar at all with area. I’ve been kept pretty busy trying to handle all the problems of our seven schools. Ending the school term and beginning the new one were especially difficult because I still have a language problem and don’t know the ins and outs of the school system very well. The English system is followed here and the beginning of the new school term is in January. I think I’m beginning to get the hang of things now.

The bike had to be sold about three weeks ago. It just couldn’t take the rough roads. It literally began to fall apart, leaking oil from five places. After repeatedly taking it to the shop, it was discovered to be defective from the beginning. This besides the fact that it just couldn’t take the punishment of the roads here. It only lasted 8,000 miles. We traded it in for an Austrian machine, Puch. It is 250cc and of much heavier construction. The bishop made up the difference of the trade-in.

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom and Dad,

…I’ve been trying something a little different the last couple of weeks. Instead of going to an area and living with a teacher or in my own room and then getting around to as many bomas as possible in the time I have, I’ve decided to try another tack. I think that because my contact with the people is so brief it’s not allowing me to get to know anyone really well. My understanding of the people and their customs is going to remain pretty superficial also.

In the past two weeks, I’ve lived at three bomas, two to four days each, spending most of my time at the boma itself, only visiting other people in the immediate area. I have an army cot and a sleeping bag, which I carry on the back of the bike. I take a few cans of meat and my own water, since I’m not able to eat their food entirely yet and am frightened to use the water they use, often it comes from a creek that both the animals and the people use. So far this is working out well. In the evenings, the whole family gathers around the fire, and the atmosphere is much more relaxed than during the day. After the first or second day, the people are more open with me, and ready to talk about their difficulties, customs, etc. At one of these bomas near Oldonyosombo, on the other side of Mount Meru, the elders and young men killed and cooked a goat in my honor. I really feel that this method is going to get me deeper into the mentality of the people – only time will tell.

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom and Dad,

…At the present time Bourka operates five schools, which means, besides the regular expenses of books, slates, ink, etc., we are paying twelve teachers, some of whom are getting as much as $50 a month. Next week we are opening a new school. We were lucky to get an old dispensary building moved to the spot to use as the one room school house. The desks were finished on Wednesday and moved in. Today we got a bill for $60 for these desks and have no money to pay for them.

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom and Dad,

…The day before yesterday, I went to Moshi to pick up the bike. It is 250cc and blue in color . . . the country we passed on the way to Moshi was very beautiful. We traveled through what are called the Sanya plains, located between Mount Meru and Mount Moshi – saw Zebra and Wildebeast. The trip back was very slow, for the first five hundred miles I’m able to go only 30 miles an hour on the bike. I’m being very careful about this, since I’m told the breaking in period is critical and will determine the level of performance later on.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at one of the outstations. Many people were surprised to see the bike come right up to the bomas. With the bike, there’s no trouble going along the bush paths. It’s going to make the work much less tiring and allow me to cover a much larger area.

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom and Dad,

…I used about $60 and bought a bed with springs and also a mattress, blankets, a pillow and sheets. It’s a welcome change from the camp cot I’ve been using. I also bought two four-gallon jerry cans for water (its two miles from here to the pipe).

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom and Dad,

…I met a small boy about four days ago at one of the little maize and bean farms the other day. His name is Cambonia and he is about five years old. I noticed something was wrong with his feet. On looking closer, I found many chiggers were embedded under the front part of each foot. For the last couple of days, I tried to treat him with iodine and surgical cleaner, but was causing him a lot of pain and not seeming to do much good. So today I brought him back to town with me and took him to the hospital clinic this afternoon. That was quite an experience in itself. It took two hours of standing in line to see a doctor and when I finally got in to see him with the boy, he gave a me hard time for not having the right paper. Then he gave us a prescription and we had to wait in two more lines, one for the shot of penicillin and the other to get his feet dressed. What an afternoon! I carried him two miles cross country to the main road this morning and was not all tired out as I would have been a few weeks ago. Besides education, medical competence is about the greatest need here.

Love,

Ned