During the week when Torkild was away something happened that shook us deeply.
Our German friends and neighbors, Friedhelm and Rosy fell ill (you probably remember that we wrote about Friedhelm many times. He built several churches with the help of Torkild in large parts of Tanzania). Rosy wrote to us to hear how we were doing because they had gotten a temperature and felt bad. Their maid was very ill with covid-19. Seemingly, she had passed it on to Friedhelm and Rosy.
I immediately suggested that they saw a doctor, but Rosy said Friedhelm was so sick that he could not sit in a car to get to the doctor. Finally, the doctor instead came to their house. Friedhelm was admitted to a missionary hospital approx. 150 km from Arusha with doctors from the West.
The day after Torkild’s return Rosy called and said that Friedhelm’s condition had worsened. Possibly he would be taken by plane to a hospital in Dar es Salaam or Nairobi. She had forgotten their passports so Torkild decided to take the passports to the hospital with our driver, Hilary to see if he could help.
In the meantime, the doctor had talked to Rosy and advised her not to move Friedhelm as his condition was extremely critical. The problem is that most Tanzanian hospitals do not have any respirators. And they needed one for Friedhelm.
At noon the following day after Torkild had arrived in the hospital, Friedhelm passed away, quietly and peacefully.
It was big a shock to his wife who had no relatives around her. She immediately began calling the children to inform them of their father’s passing.
The body had to be moved from the hospital before evening on the same day, as they have no cooling rooms. Hilary drove the body in Friedhelm’s car and Torkild took Rosy in our car. They drove to a hospital in Arusha where Friedhelm was put in a cooler.
Friedhelm had earlier expressed that he wanted to be buried in Tanzania. He received a truly royal funeral. He was buried at our FPCT church in Ngaramtoni, which is the local church that we work with.
He leaves behind his wife and four children. One of the sons came to be a part of the funeral.
The father disappeared and they have had no contact with him for several years. Ruth is a bright girl in school. Her school decided to sponsor her schooling because they are really poor. For various reasons the school recently shut down and Ruth had to find another school.
The mother cannot afford to send Ruth to another school. Ruth’s grandfather is a Maasai and he wants to have her back in Maasai land. He does not want a girl to get eductaed, but instead follow the Maasai traditions for girls: to be married. Maasais think that only boys should get educated.
Ruth’s mother told me that Ruth’s grandfather had received an offer from an elderly, wealthy Maasai who wanted to pay a very large dowry in the form of many cows in order to marry Ruth. Ruth had been desperate because she wanted to stay in school, get her education and choose her husband when the time was ripe. For this reason the mother and Ruth came to our office asking for help.
We trusted God and sent Ruth to a good, Christian school where she is thriving.
We received a sponsor who will support her until Form 4 is completed. But Ruth wishes to continue for another two years and graduate from High School. If any of you would like to support Ruth for a few more years please write us or send a gift to our missions account. Please earmark it “Ruth”.
