Tanzania

My 2005 Personal Prayer Diary/Daily Planner (from YWAM) states the following facts about Tanzania (on the east coast of Africa, south of Kenya and east of the Congo):

• Population: 35,922,454
• People who need Jesus: 17,451,128 (48.58%)
• Literacy Rate: Male 86%, Female 71%
• Life Expectancy: Male 43, Female 46
• Infant Mortality rate: 10.368%
• Annual Income: $210 (US)

It's all quite a lot to take in, I know. Just trying to wrap my head around the life expectancy....seems impossible. The book notes that it takes into account the effects of escess mortality due to AIDS. Even so....think about it. How old are your parents? Mine are both past fifty....And the infant mortality rate--just to give you a small comparison, the rate in India is just about 6%, and in the hospital I worked in there we saw babies dying all the time. Daily. It was the norm. Tanzania is almost twice as bad. In Canada, the rate is less than half a percent--less than one in every two hundred babies vs. Tanzania's one in every ten.

Okay, I know statistics get overwhelming and some people don't understand how they work, so I'll move on to question and answer time.

Question: Why should I care about what goes on somewhere that I'll never visit in all my life?

Answer: Because God made Tanzania and its people; He loves them and weeps for them in their distress; because we have been appointed His hands and feet and heart for this world we live in. If Christians don't care about what happens on the other side of the world, who DOES care?

Question: Isn't there gross poverty and AIDS all over the world, in places that you've actually been?

Answer: Yes, and more and more as the days go by. AIDS is spreading in every nation, including our own, at an alarming rate. It has been estimated that every 14 seconds another child becomes an orphan because of AIDS, and by 2010 there will be 25 million such children world wide. There are already 1.1 million in Tanzania alone.

Question: Why the sudden bleeding heart about Tanzania?

Answer: I'm not sure that 'sudden bleeding heart' is entirely accurate. I've always longed to go to Africa (my aunt & uncle were missionaries in South Africa for years & years), and the more conferences I go to and the more I hear about AIDS orphans and the more I know about infant & maternal death, the more I want to respond.

Question: Why bring this up now?

Answer: Last week I received an email from a YWAM base in Tanzania that is looking for midwives to help at their birth centre. About a week before that, I was going through this long, long (one-sided) dialogue with God as to why I fell short by only a few births (from my time in India/Timor) which prevents me from going through the certification process here in Canada to be a midwife. And the conversation went a bit like this:

• Judy: Why me? Why me? Why didn't you give me what I need? Me me me me me me me!!!
• God: There are women, praying to me, who need you to help them so they can know who I AM.
• Judy: I am SO selfish.
• God: I know. You'll get over yourself. I'll help.

Question: So what you're saying is that you're NOT perfect?

Answer: Not in the literal sense of the word. Shocking, I know; but I'm still aiming for perfection.

Question: I thought you and Jason were newlyweds and just out of college and all--how can you afford to do this?

Answer: We can't afford it. But we can much less afford to be disobedient to God who gives us everything. We know He is faithful to provide. He's never called me somewhere He couldn't afford to send me!

Question: So when are you going?

Answer: I don't know. But Jason & I are praying about it. It won't be a long-term thing. But God knows how long, and we're just waiting for Him to tell us to jump so I can jump on the plane. God knows what women need me specifically, in the role of a midwife and a Christian and a woman to come alongside them and show them the way and deliver their babies and prevent any more infant mortality that comes my way. Jesus has always been faithful to us, and we trust in Him. He has the timing, the money, and the wisdom to accomplish all this, even through me.

Question: Can I come along?

Answer: Absolutely. Bring gloves.

Well, I think those are all the questions I have time for today. But feel free to post your own questions, and I'll answer them as I find the time. Keep us in your prayers, and I'll keep you updated, eh?