OMEGA-Team Bailey--The Heart of the Matter

Projects are an important part of the OMEGA team experience, but the heart of OMEGA is the relationships built along the way.
On Day 1 for Team Bailey, the relationships took root as team members interacted:

With the school children....

With each other.........

and with the community

And this is just Day 1.

OMEGA-Team Bailey Day 1 - Work

The team woke early and was eager to head up Mt. Meru to the community of Sambasha. OMEGA teams have developed a strong relationship over the past several years assisting the community in the building of both their church and education facilities for their children.


The team had no hesitation of getting work started immediately and began the day by loading and hauling countless wheel-barrows full of pumice rock to lay as base over which the new concrete floor will be poured.

Help came from all ages as the workers enjoyed teaching some of the team members to count in Kiswahili from 1-5: moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano.

OMEGA--Team Bailey Arrival

Over the next few days, we are going to let you have an idea of what takes place when an OMEGA team comes to Tanzania to work on a project. This particular team was, for the most part from our home church in Lubbock, but also included a couple of Austinites and a Houstonian, who have been delightful additions to the team.
The team arrived at Kilimanjaro Int'l Airport after traveling about 30 hours of travel. They were excited as they exited the baggage claim, with only the delay of one piece of luggage. Each one vividly noticed the different feel and smell to the air as they de-planed. It is something noticed immediately by all our visitors.
After a 45 minute drive into Arusha, we arrived at the hostel which will provide meals and lodging for our group for the next 8 days. Everything was unpacked and the most immediate matter to address was contacting family members. Everyone got a turn at the computer or telephone before heading off to bed.

No one hung around for a group photo, except Ed and Michael.

Hope you will check back each day and get an up date on that goes on with an OMEGA group.

"A Day Like No Other..."

Today was Form 4 graduation at Aldersgate School. Form 4 is the equivalent of 12th grade. One special young man with whom we have become friends is Soma (on my left in the photo). Soma and is friend, Moses are from the Maasai tribe. Like all Maasai, they are very proud of their heritage. They wore the required dress shirts and slacks today for the ceremony, but quickly changed into traditional Massai dress at the conclusion. There are 5 young Maasai men in this class and they gathered with their families under a tree on the school grounds after the ceremony. Most everyone was dressed in the beautiful Maasai "shukas" and decked out in their beaded accessories. Because Soma's family lives so far away, he asked us to represent his family for this special occasion. Everyone in the photo, (but the Texans) are Maasai. Little Nosim is a primary school student, who finds countless excuses to leave the dormitory and come for visits.



At the end of the day, one young man stated, "This is a day like no other....it is just for us.....there will be another day like today". What a grand thought for us all.

Spanning a Century

From 1908


To 2008


A picture in contrast

Technology during a power outage.
Ain't modern technology grand???

The Fundi's Friend.......Frank

Frank is the guy in charge of maintenance at Aldersgate school. He and Ed have been fast friends since Ed's arrival in January of 2007. They are both very quiet and have have a sense for how to fix things and make them work, so they get along very well. Frank is an electrician by trade and helped lay the electrical line the 120 miles between Arusha and Babati. Frank has officially crossed the line of the "fundi factor", and working with Ed, has learned to weld, repair plumbing, build fence, spread concrete, install windows, and pull water well pumps, to list a few. Looking at this photo of the two of them, it appears he has taken on come other of Ed's characteristics.

One of their recent projects was the fabrication of 125 sets of chairs and desks and 25 -10 ft long benches. By setting up "jigs", they starting turning out quality metal chairs and desks and named their process "Precision Manufacturing Company". The job was set up in the cooking area at the school and when the secondary school boys had a break, they lined up to see the process. Unfortunately, I did not get photos.

The "FUNDI" Factor

The word "fundi" is translated as "a skilled person" and the "fundi factor" affects any job that gets done in Tanzania. There is no "cross-'fundi'-ing". Only a "fundi" of a particular type of job does or oversees the job. And the fundi is only a fundi for one particular skill. For instance "fundi seremala" is a carpenter, "fundi wa umeme" is an electrician, "fundi wa bomba" is the guy who works on water pumps, and "fundi wa gari" is the auto mechanic. I don't remember what the word is for "welder".

Anyway, imagine everyone's surprise when Ed arrives and he is the "fundi of everything": construction, carpentry, welding, auto mechanics, electricity, plumbing, painting, farming, and just a good old "honey-do" kind of guy. Our Tanzanian friends are always amazed at his skills and have labeled him "fundi wa vitu vingi" (the fundi of many things).

The beauty of Ed sharing his talents as he works alongside the Tanzanzians, is that they have enjoyed learning they are capable of doing more than just one job. There have been several guys who want to work with him to pick up on other skills.

In some of the posts to come, I will tell you a little more about Ed's "fundi" jobs.