A commitment for Mpalapande
Three years ago, when we first started discussing this idea of building a primary school in the village of Mpalapande, our friends told us they had approached the local government officials with the idea. They said, if the church builds the building, will the government send teachers and provide administration for the school? The answer they received was always yes. However, as Americans, used to dotting i's and crossing t's, we asked for documentation of that agreement. We needed something in writing. At one point, we had a letter from the local village officials. But that wasn't enough for us, we needed the Iringa regional officials to sign off on this. To be fair, this wasn't just our American caution at work, it was a move advised by our friends at the Iringa Diocese. Turns out the local letter wasn't sufficient anyway, as the leaders who signed it were all voted out of office in the next election a few months later. Last fall, we exchanged a serie...