Bible and Mission Centre (BMC) in Denmark is doing a great job with a number of churches in Africa. One of the stars in the crown has to be BMC Arusha. I had left a message for Pastor David to contact me, and Saturday morning I was fetched at Malaika by Joy, a minister at the church (worship). 

She took me to the church building a few minutes drive away from Malaika. The church started just over a year ago, and it is amazing to see what has been achieved in such a short time. Everything about the building and the place, is neat and tidy, and already 70-80 people attend the services. I had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with pastor David in his humble office at the church, and listen to him relating all the events leading up to establishing the church, and his many plans for the future. Always great to spend time with a “real” man of God.

I had some plans for the afternoon, but Pastor David suggested that I accompany him and his lovely wife Angel, to a graduation party for a daughter of one of the church members. I would then have the opportunity to meet many of the other church members, and not least David’s brother, who is also very involved in BMC.

David suggested I take my motorcycle to the graduation, as many had mentioned they would love to see this crazy old man and his bike. I followed his car to the venue, which turned out to be about 10 km away, the last 3-4 km on tricky dirt roads. Unfortunately, they were busy building an asphalt road not far from the school, which we weren’t able to cross, so we had to walk the last, almost two kilometers to the school. Full marks to David’s pregnant wife Angel, who labored along bravely, without complaining. 

It turned out to be a fantastic afternoon, with great conversation, fantastic food, photos taken, speeches, music and much more. I mentioned to David’s brother that I would like to give a small present to the girl who was graduating, and before I knew it the master of ceremonies announced that there was a visitor from Denmark who would like to say a few words. No turning back! This all happened in connection with the cake cutting, where I was the first to be served a piece of the cake, by the girl graduating. Everyone packed up laughing when I exclaimed: I presume I didn’t just marry the girl!

After the celebration, David had arranged for someone on a motorcycle to guide me back through the maze of Arusha. They left me in the vicinity of Malaika to manage the last kilometer or so on my own. It was dark by now, but by some miracle I found my way through the dirt roads of Arusha to my homestay. 

Tanzania has a population of just under 60 million people. The country has incredible attractions - Serengeti, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar - to mention a few. I am not sure whether all these attractions have been marketed in the right way. Farad at Malaika certainly doesn’t think so. She feels that many of the places have out priced themselves, and are out of reach to many foreigners, even. She also feels that the Kenyans have done a much better job of promoting themselves as THE safari destination. She gave Kilimanjaro as an example - most people believe Kilimanjaro is in Kenya. It is in fact entirely in Tanzania. But Kenya are promoting tours to the famous mountain, which is only 20 km from the Kenyan border.

One thing for sure - the Tanzanians are some of the friendliest and most helpful people I have ever met.

Tomorrow I will be in the saddle for 8-9 hours to reach Tanga at the Indian Ocean. My first sea view in about 6 weeks.