Habari

13th March 2011 - LENTEN DISCIPLINE

2011-03-13T15:09:00.001+03:00

I suppose it’s as good a time as any to get back to writing something on this blog. I’ve been remiss since the beginning of the year or before, so it’s probably past time to get something written. And so this will be my Lenten discipline. Not that it’s a penance to write – not at all. Just need to remember and put down some thoughts.

I was caught up just like everyone else this morning in church when the announcements were made about the festivities next weekend. These are to welcome our new bishop. All parishes in the Diocese collected money and our parish is to provide the cooks. And so the woman announcing this morning was talking about the 400 people that need to be cooked for on Thursday evening, all day Friday, and breakfast Saturday morning. Saturday is the day of the installation and that day the cooking will be for 3000! Starting tomorrow they begin to clean the rice (1000 kg) and she reminded the men that they too are needed to cut the firewood, butcher the goats (40) and chickens (don’t know how many) and cut the beef. I wonder how many steers will be hitting the dust that day! The Guest of Honour, in addition to the new Bishop, will be the President of Tanzania, so everyone is more than a little excited.

We’ve had rain, long dry spells in between, and then last weekend more rain. Everything is green and nice so I’ll try to post some pictures of the wild flowers (and some domestic ones as well). Some crops are doing alright (the millet and groundnuts) but a lot of the corn dried up during the long dry spell. I hope that there has been more consistent rains in the areas where more food crops are grown.
School is going along very well. I have two classes of first year students and most are really great students. We’re moving right along with English learning and all having a good time together. I’ve also been given the job of setting up the library so that keeps me busy on Saturdays.

More again soon – Promise!

22 December 2010 - Christmas time

2010-12-22T15:06:00.002+03:00

Only a few days remain before we will be celebrating Christmas 2010. It seems like this year has gone very fast and soon we’ll be in a New Year once again. As I look back at this year and see that I haven’t done very many postings to this blog, I know that one reason is that has happened which I feared when I returned here to Tanzania in 2009. And that is that I have started to take things for granted again. These new eyes that I had when I returned and used to look at things, events, ways of doing, etc. when I have become so used to everything once again that I don’t see the uniqueness in them and so don’t remember to share that with the readers of these postings. But in contrast to that I can say that this Christmas I feel so much more at home here in Dodoma, know so many more people, know how to get around and not get lost, have made friends with the neighborhood, have discovered who to call on when needing help for repairs, and so many other ways that I now feel a part of this place. And so this year has been a year of settling in and feeling at home. And that has been nice.

After we closed school on the 4th of December I took a week off and had a retreat. I went to the convent of the Sisters who run the orphanage and school and they received me graciously, gave me space and food, and it was a very nice week. The room that I was given was on the second floor and I could look out the big windows on the flowers and trees that are so in abundance at the orphanage, and I could also hear the children as they played and sang and drummed, and sometimes cried. It was a good time for quiet and prayer.

In between this writing I’m baking some Christmas goodies to take along when we go to spend Christmas with our closest Maryknoll Sisters’ community in Morogoro (three hours away). Christmas sweet bread and molasses fruit cake remind me of Christmases at home, and they’re on the list of things to be baked. I’m praying that the electricity stays on. If it doesn’t I’m in trouble. :)

Christmas blessings to everyone. Let us pray for each other.

20th November 2010 - Thanksgiving

2010-11-20T16:50:00.000+03:00

Next week is Thanksgiving, and so my thoughts go to some of the many things that bless my life every day. I think of my family, my friends, Maryknoll community, my faith and insights, our neighborhood, living in Tanzania, my students, fellow staff members, neighbors, sunrise in the morning, sunsets in the evening, clouds soon to bring rain, flowers on the baobab trees, breezes in the trees, lizards playing on the walls, water in the taps, electricity, a car to take me places out of the sun, children laughing as they pass the house, my mission vocation, food in the cupboard, books to read, music to listen to, our church community, people who I love and who love me. And that’s just a couple of minutes of thought. Really, life is blessed. One thing I’ve realized lately is how many more people from around here that I know now than I did one year ago. We were at a gathering a few weeks ago and it was nice to be able to recognize, to talk to, to know so many people. That wasn’t true a year ago, and it’s a nice feeling.

Yesterday was the last day of teaching for the year and I can hardly believe that the school year is over. Next week we have examinations, then marking and preparing the report cards, and school closing date is December 4th. It’s really been a good year and I’ve enjoyed the students so much. Yesterday I asked them what they most appreciated about their year of leaning English and what they disliked about it, then asked their advice on how I could do better next year. The great majority were very positive in their responses and there were sentences like “I love my English teacher” (Those are the ones who will get “A’s” !) and lots of expressions of gratitude. Almost everyone wrote about how they liked that I taught them songs in English. They also appreciated that I took time to answer their questions and to help those who didn’t understand. There were a couple comments as to what they disliked, and it was when I became angry (Yes, it happened a few times when I got really annoyed with their behavior ….). Some commented on how I could improve by saying that they would like that I mark ALL their exercises. I’m sure they’d like that but marking every exercise they do for 90 students makes me tired just thinking about it. Most of the time I asked them to mark their own, and gave them weekly quizzes which I marked in order to ascertain their progress. Anyway, it was a good exercise and most of them asked if I would be teaching them again next year. I won’t – I’ll be teaching the new Form I students and hand over these, who will be in Form II, to another teacher.

This morning at our Small Christian Community meeting and as we prayed the gospel of tomorrow, the last Sunday of the church year, it’s amazing to realize that Advent starts next week and Christmas isn’t far behind. 2011 is just around the corner.

Happy Thanksgiving and an enjoyable holiday season to you.

20th October 2010 – Early Mornings

2010-10-20T10:05:00.000+03:00

Some thoughts /observations as I go out walking in the early morning.
Water: The other early morning people are mostly looking for water. Women from the outlying areas are coming in to try to find a tap that has water. Young boys are on their bicycles with four or five buckets tied to them, going for water for which they’ll be paid.

Fuel: Women are going to the hills in the distance to look for firewood to bring back. Some will use it for their own cooking and some will be sold. Men come walking (trotting) with charcoal that they’ve made, carried in two sacks with a pole over their shoulders. This will be sold to one of the many people who still use charcoal for cooking.

School: Children start to leave their houses on their way to school as I return from my morning walk (about 6.45). The children are of all sizes but what impresses me are the little ones, first graders or kindergarteners, who are walking all by themselves. I met one such little girl this morning, going to first grade, all dressed neatly and cleanly in her uniform (skirt much too long for her but I suppose “she’ll grow into it”) on her way to a school which is about two miles away. What a beautiful smile she had on her face. I’m grateful that these children are safe enough to do this. There are many children walking along the side of a very busy main road as I go to school in the mornings and I’m happy that just recently the traffic police have begun to appear at the place where they need to cross the road. At least they’ll be able to do that safely as the trucks and buses roar by on their way to Dar es Salaam in the morning.

Agriculture: The clouds are beginning to form in the sky these days and smell of burning fields is in the air which means that folks are beginning to prepare for the next planting season. And this morning I saw a fellow on his way out to some field, a hoe in one hand and a panga (machete) in the other. Let’s hope and pray that the rains are good this year.

8th September 2010 - Mid-term Break Time

2010-09-08T14:43:00.000+03:00

Another long time has passed since I posted anything on this blog. What I’m thinking about today is how things change and especially how nature changes. Suddenly we find ourselves in what seems like a different season here. Today was the first day in a long time I walked in the morning without a sweater. The dry bushes are beginning to bloom, the flowers of “kiangazi” (dry season). The field mice are scurrying around when I’m walking along the road. I’m thinking about washing my blanket and putting it away for a few months. All of these outside changes bring a change inside as well, or so it seems. It’s hard to articulate what those changes are but I can feel them.

Or maybe it’s because I’m a bit tired after what seems like a rather long couple of months. Anyway, our mid-term exams at school are over with and the students go home on Saturday. The break is only one week and during that week we teachers will have a seminar/workshop with folks from the Ministry of Education. Apparently there are some aspects of the syllabus (“new” from 2005) that they want to share with us so it is said we’ll be learning from 8 a.m. until 4.30 p.m. all week. That’s a lot of time so I hope it’s worthwhile. I’m looking forward to meeting teachers from other schools and sharing resources and experiences, however.

The students have been in a “mood” this week. I don’t think it’s a very good plan to have them remain at school after exams are finished but the reason for that is so the teachers can finish marking exams and then prepare some short report for the students to go home with. The intention is good but the students’ thoughts are at home and no longer at school so it’s a challenge to have them pay attention in class. We’ve been doing more singing than usual because they love singing, and at least that keeps them awake and attentive when they’re not in the mood for learning.

I just went to the local fruit and vegetable seller to buy five oranges and five bananas. While I was there (a makeshift table under a tree) a little boy came wandering by, about 2 or 3 years old. He was from a traditional house just down the road and was looking so longingly at the oranges that were being sold. Of course I bought him an orange, and you should have seen his eyes light up! It’s the little things in life…

14th August 2010- Reflections on the Death of a Friend

2010-08-14T14:22:00.002+03:00

Sharing some of my thoughts of the past week seems to be a good way to work through a little of the sadness I feel at the loss of my dear friend, Patricia Kelley. It’s hard to believe that so many emotions could be packed into this one week since it was really only one week ago that I was struck with the fact that we were really going to have to say good-bye to Pat here on earth. Although she had been struggling with her disease for about 3 ½ years, still I always believed that she was going to win the struggle and be with us for some years yet. But maybe it was blindness and not wanting to believe – whatever, last weekend her condition grew worse, Monday she returned to her home under Hospice care, and on Tuesday she went to be received by the angels and her loving God.

I never had a blood sister, only brothers, but I feel like I had a close facsimile to a sister in Pat. Her entrance into my life came in 1964 when we met at Maryknoll after having spent our earlier years as Maryknoll Sisters in different parts of the country. Who knows what makes a friendship bloom, but ours did very quickly and strongly. I remember so many good times together during those early years, as we learned together and struggled through those tumultuous days of change in the church. We read the works of Teilhard de Chardin together, puzzling over what he was saying while somehow knowing that even in its obscurity it was important. Then she went to NYC for nursing and I to Manhattanville for music, and although we saw a little less of each other, still we remained very close. I remember my graduation recital at Manhattanville, and how she made the trip from NYC to be with me at that special occasion. As always she knew just the right touch, and brought me flowers – just a sign of her always present graciousness.

Then I went to Tanzania and she finished her degree. Her life took a different turn from mine at that point and I was devastated when she wrote to me that she was leaving Maryknoll. I nearly left myself at that point, but something kept me in while the same thing urged Pat onto a different path.

And fortunately even though our paths took different directions, we kept close in heart. We never lost that special connection. I’ve always been grateful that I’ve been blessed with many “homes” – farm home in North Dakota, Maryknoll Center, different places in Tanzania, and added to that was Pat’s home. I was always welcome, felt completely at home in her house; truly it was a home for me. Pat was the only “East Coast” friend who ever visited my farm home in North Dakota, and she did it twice! That meant so much to me, and was such a visible sign that Brooklyn and rural North Dakota have something in common.

I loved it when we were together and people commented that we must be sisters. First of all, I was extremely flattered because Pat was so beautiful. And maybe like couples grow to look like each other after a long time, our friendship made us resemble each other in some way that people saw.

Her generosity to me was outstanding. I won’t even try to enumerate the gifts, but my first major league baseball game and my first Broadway show were only two of the many experiences I had because of her generosity. And looking in my closet I can pull out this which was Pat’s and that which Pat gave me. She liked to get her nails done, and we went many times together and sat chatting while our feet got pampered. She was gracious to say that she wanted company, but don’t think that I didn’t enjoy it as much as she did.

Gentleness, graciousness, thoughtfulness, interest in so many things: These are just a few other lovely qualities that Pat had. She touched so many lives, through her work and her commitment to it as well as lots of people from very ordinary encounters. Her bravery during her illness was outstanding. She will be missed so much. Robert, her husband, is absolutely amazing and his care for her during her illness was an inspiration to many. She loved her boys so much and she is such an example of a loving mother. She was proud of them, and she had every right to be so. She so looked forward to her first grandchildren, and the twins shared just a little more than a month of time on earth with their grandmother.

During these last couple of days of her wake and funeral mass I’ve been constantly thinking about all those who loved her so much and the rituals connected with saying goodbye to her. I have been living in two spaces: bodily I’m here in Dodoma but mentally and emotionally I’m in New Jersey. I’m so grateful to Pat’s loved ones who have kept closely in touch during these days. That means so much to me.
Although we are saying farewell to Patricia as we knew her, she remains with us in so many other ways. Her loving spirit is part of our lives, a part that will never die, and so gratitude is so strongly connected with sadness right now. Thank you, Pat, for sharing your life with me.

21st July 2010 - Long silence

2010-07-21T14:41:00.002+03:00

It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything here. Why? Lazy, vacation, wondering if it’s interesting to anyone. But with just a little encouragement, here I am.

Last time I wrote, we had just finished the first term of school and were planning to teach extra classes during the school holidays. Those went well but unfortunately during the last week of classes the five-month old baby of one of the teachers died of malaria. It is so hard understand why so many people, children and babies especially, are still dying from malaria. It seems like this little one shouldn’t have died – he was healthy, well nourished, well taken-care of. But when he got malaria it seems that maybe he was given too high a dose of quinine. They say that the medication that children were given in the past is no longer effective, and so some kind/dose of quinine is given to them these days. Anyway, little Godi started throwing up and having diarrhea, got severely dehydrated, seemed to be getting better with liquids/oral rehydration, etc., but then took a turn for the worse. When they took him to the main hospital on that last Thursday evening, there was only one doctor on duty, and there also had been an accident and this doctor was dealing with a lot of severely injured people as well. By the time the baby was prescribed a drip, they couldn’t find any vein in which to insert the needle. By 8.30 in the morning he was dead.

I sat with the mother for quite a while after they brought the baby’s body home, as is the custom here. The bereaved woman sits on the floor and those who commiserate sit with her as she cries, wails, laments, etc. Not much is said, but I guess just being there is helpful. The men are in another part of the house, making arrangements, etc. My fellow teacher was sobbing when we met, but later was meeting with other men. There needed to be a coffin made, grave dug, etc. so those were their jobs. So sad.

The following weekend our friend came to visit, and a wonderful visit we had. We lived together 25 years ago: Sr. Connie, Michelle, who was a Maryknoll Lay Missioner at that time, Bibiana Mkenda, and myself. We lived in community, two Sisters and two lay women, and lived so very well together and became lasting friends. Michelle came to Tanzania with her 16 year old son, who stayed back in Dar es Salaam to work with a group of street children. The three of us (Connie, Michelle and I) drove to Singida and spent the day with Bibiana, who is now Headmistress of a large secondary school there in Singida town. We had a wonderful time, talking, remembering those days, catching up with each other, Michelle and Bibiana comparing the challenges of raising children. It was a graced time, and I think we all feel more grateful than anything else for long, lasting, strong, caring friendships.

Then off to Dar es Salaam. We Maryknoll Sisters had a two day seminar with Sr. Efu Nyaki,M.M., who is from Tanzania and whose mission is Brazil. She shared with us some of her expertise in healing and energy work. It was an excellent two days, and very helpful. Those deep breaths in the morning are a good foundation for the rest of the day!

Then a day of meeting, and finally a day at the beach, enjoying each other and catching up with the news of hither and yon. On Monday, Connie went off to the U.S. for a visit with her mom, among other things, and incidentally was able to accompany a Tanzanian woman who has just joined the Maryknoll Sisters. I stayed on in the big city and enjoyed seeing some of my old haunts. I also had a nice visit with the family of a student I had in the early 70’s. Their second daughter (now 32 years old!) is my godchild, and it was very good to see her again after a long time. By the end of the week I was back home, with evenings spent with only myself for company! During the day I’m busy enough and see plenty of people but the evenings are a bit lonely. Connie will be back before too long.

So the second term of school has started and I think we only lost one student. Others are back with plenty of energy and we’re off to a good start. This week many of them have sniffles and coughs but they’ll recover. Hope I don’t catch it ……………

18th June 2010 - Winter

2010-06-18T14:22:00.001+03:00

Our winter is here. It’s time for a blanket on a bed and a sweater in the morning and evening. The difference between the temperature in the very early morning and that of noontime must be very great. The sun, so close to the equator that it is, is always so strong and hot but when it’s not shining, the coolness is wonderful.

The students went home for their holidays last Saturday morning. On Friday we had an assembly to close school for the first term, and at that occasion a recap of the first term was given by the academic master. The top ten students academically were recognized and the bottom seven were warned, not by name but they would find out who they were when they looked at their report forms. The school has indicated that any student not getting an average of 45 would not be allowed to continue on to the next level so the warning was that if they don’t get that average by the end of the year they won’t be allowed to go on to Form II. An average of 45 might seem like not much to those who are accustomed to another marking system, but here the marking goes like this: A = 81-100; B = 61-80; C = 41-60; D = 21-40 and F = anything under 21. Testing and marking then follows these levels. Our school average for all students and for all subjects came out to be 63 so that’s a decent average. The English average was 64 so that seems to be where we are. I certainly notice an improvement in the students’ English, and that gives me encouragement and the students feel that as well.

Starting Tuesday we began to teach some extra classes for those students who live in Dodoma. They come from their homes every morning and we have three hours of classes with them and then they return home. Parents asked for this arrangement so that their children continue to learn during holiday time, and this keeps them in the learning mode. And because they live in town, there probably aren’t a lot of tasks for them to do at home, and you know what idle hands are ….. It seems to be a good option for everyone, and will continue for the first three weeks of holiday, leaving the last one free for everyone.

Yesterday I had an appointment at 10.00 a.m. to get my hair cut. As usual, I was there on time and do you know how long I waited? Two hours. We were back and forth on the phone a few times with the hairdresser giving me the assurance that she was coming. “Just wait a little bit longer.” Since I wasn’t in a hurry to do anything else and am sort of on vacation, I waited while enjoying the plants and flowers and birds in the courtyard of the Dodoma Hotel, where she has her salon. All the same, I was practicing what I would say to her when she arrived. And when she did come, she explained that the child of a co-worker of hers was in the hospital and just as she was ready to come to cut my hair, a phone call was received asking her to bring some cooked spinach to the hospital since the child was anemic and needed to eat spinach. She explained to me that she couldn’t not do that or she would be accused of being more concerned with her work than with her friends! So what does one say to that? Nevertheless I did tell her with a smile on my face that if there was another hairdresser here in Dodoma who could cut my kind of hair, I wouldn’t go back to her. She laughed and agreed that was true, once again offering an apology. One of the first things we did when arriving in Dodoma was to inquire who cuts European hair, and she was recommended to us as the only one. She does a good enough job, but time and appointments are a challenge for her.

1st June 2010 – Is it June already ??

2010-06-01T14:53:00.001+03:00

Another month has passed and I guess I was a bit busy since the time went SO quickly. I don’t know where the weeks and months go. For lots of youngsters in the U.S. this time of year means the end of school and a chance to enjoy good weather and the fun of summer. I hope some of you can appreciate the mosquitoes that come with the warm weather better than I. And do you know that they like to look at themselves in mirrors? Every morning I can kill (pacifist that I am) at least a couple who are sitting on the mirror in the bathroom. They also like to sit on bed nets, but at least they’re visible there and as long as they stay on the outside then they don’t disturb my sleep. I continue to wonder what purpose these creatures have on our earth…..

We see a lot of baobab fruit this time of the year. I don’t know about you but I didn’t know that baobab trees produce and edible fruit until I lived in this central part of the country where there are so many of these trees. Their fruit/seeds are in pods, some of the pods being quite large (5 – 6 inches long and a couple inches in diameter), and the seeds are small but covered with a sweet cottony something that kids love to suck on. I’ve also heard that these seeds are sometimes soaked in water and that water given to children to stop diarrhea. Collecting these seeds is a business for some, and many people use food coloring to dye them, package them, and then they’re sold in the market, on street corners and everywhere people are passing.

Coming home from work today I was reminded again about how, although we live in the capital city, our area is still very much village. I was behind a herd of cows and goats, and had to wait until they decided to get out of the way. And we hear roosters every morning (early, at a couple different times), and guinea fowls, dogs, cats, cows, goats all during the day and into the night. And this morning during my walk I was out of houses before I had gone 20 minutes, and it was just like being in the wilderness except for the things I could see in the distance. I came across a couple magnificent baobab trees during this walk, and so that reminded me to write about them. Maybe I can put a picture on the page as well, one taken of a beautiful big baobab near St. Gaspar’s Conference Centre.

10th May 2010 – Mother’s Day Yesterday

2010-05-10T15:10:00.000+03:00

There’s something about Mother’s Day that’s SO nice. One reason for that may be that we take the time to acknowledge what wonderful influences the women in our lives have been, be they our birth mothers or other women who helped shape us. Even though this holiday is hardly celebrated here in Tanzania, I did get a couple phone calls from women who look on me as a mother in the sense that I’ve helped and supported and encouraged them in some way in the past. It was really nice to be told that they were thinking of me and wanted to know how I am. Just that much, but very affirming.

Everything is going well at school. I had been lobbying for a staff meeting so that we could all be on the same page as far as what is expected of the students as well as having an opportunity to contribute to the betterment of the school. I should be careful of what I ask for: We had a meeting last week, four hours long! But it was very good, with everyone’s concerns brought out openly and clearly, and I think we’re all happier for it.

Last Sunday we took a drive up to the University of Dodoma and this time we were able to see much more than during our previous excursion. So far there is only one faculty, that of education, but we saw all of those buildings with classrooms, dormitories, administration, etc. This is a huge faculty, and there are already some 20,000 students there. We were also able to see the new part of the university that is now being built, this one the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. This is a very extensive and ambitious project as well, with lots and lots of new buildings going up. I think I heard that there is one more faculty that is still to be built but I can’t remember which it is. The word is that there will be 40,000 students when it’s all finished. That should make this town hop a little!

I don’t exactly like to think of having more traffic because it’s nice to have few cars on the streets. However, having more traffic might actually work in a driver’s favor. Why? Because it seems like pedestrians and cyclists are so used to having the roads to themselves, a driver really has to be on the alert in order to avoid them. When I drive into town I usually come home marveling at the many times one has to give way to those on foot or on bicycles, when I thought the roads were for cars! Anyway, it makes for interesting driving.

26th April 2010 - Union Day

2010-04-26T14:26:00.001+03:00

Today is Muungano Day here in Tanzania. Muungano means “Union” and it’s the day that commemorates the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar into the United Republic of Tanzania. It’s always nice to have an extra day to play around with.

Yesterday was the Sunday when parents visit the girls at school, and so I met some new people again. They come to visit and then have an opportunity to meet with the teachers and to ask how their daughters are doing, etc. It’s a nice chance to get to know them a little and to share insights about the students. Of course those who don’t have visitors get a little down in the mouth, but hopefully that doesn’t last long.

On Saturday I had a nice visit from a former student of Murigha. When she phoned I couldn’t quite recall who she was, but of course recognized her when we met. As we talked I began to remember her story. She applied for and was accepted as a student in 2000, but her mother came to me and said that she really couldn’t pay her school fees as required but she begged me to allow her come to school and she’d try to pay little by little. She was a widow, with a couple younger children as well, and just didn’t have any means to get much extra money. I agreed that Ashura could come to school, and for four years I met her mother innumerable times, as she would bring minuscule amounts of money. Sometimes it would be only a couple thousand shillings (out of the 300,000 that were supposed to be paid), other times one pencil, or a jar of the cheapest lotion, or a bar of the cheapest soap. But Ashura was a good student academically, and a fantastic worker. She worked with the cows a lot, and was very responsible in everything that she was assigned to do. When there would be some money coming in for scholarships or school fees, I’d make sure that some of it went into Ashura’s account. And so she finished her four years of secondary school, and then was chosen to go on to Teacher’s Training College. By that time I had left Murigha and was back in the U.S. and so didn’t hear from her during those years. So having her phone out of the blue was a real surprise. She was here in Dodoma to take an entrance examination for further studies in adult education, and I hope and pray that she gets this opportunity to advance herself. Right now she’s teaching in a primary school in Singida region, in a remote village to which she has to walk nine kilometers after getting off a bus. As is usual in many village primary schools, there are more kids than teachers should have to deal with, and she teaches science to 80 to 100 kids in one classroom. It’s a real miracle that kids learn anything with conditions like that, but it’s testimony to the dedication of the teachers that they do. Anyway, it was wonderful seeing Ashura again, and to know of her successes. Her mother’s belief that education would change Ashura’s life has borne fruit.

12th April 2010 – Back to School

2010-04-12T18:06:00.000+03:00

Today we were back in the classroom after two weeks of a change of pace. It was nice to have had lots of time to do organizing and catching up, etc. but I realize how much I missed the kids. It was great to see them again this morning, and they seemed fairly ready to get down to work immediately. They were all back except for two, who are reported to be sick, so that’s good. No slacking off with these students.

We are definitely into a change of season, with the windows beginning to rattle at night with the wind. The dust is more and more visible on our bookshelves and other furniture as well, so that means we’re moving into the dry season. But looking around outside there is still so much to bring enjoyment to our eyes. Every open space, i.e., any space that doesn’t have building going on, or farming going on, is filled with wild flowers ( or some would say “weeds that bloom”) – yellow ones, white ones, purple ones – some very tall, some medium height and some creeping on the ground or climbing on whatever they find to climb on. The shapes of the flowers and their shades of colors are so many and so lovely. The millet is also getting ripe and will be ready for harvest before too long. One problem with millet is that the grains are so small and so well-loved by the birds. Birds perch on the top of a head of millet and just start eating from the top down until they have had enough to eat. People try tying all kinds of things on the stalk or over the head, but I still see missing grains on mostly all heads. Every creature has to eat, I guess.

Easter was quiet here but nice. We do notice more noise during the days when the primary school children are at home rather than at school, but on the whole they aren’t at all bothersome. It’s actually nice to hear them at play outside, with their giggles tickling us as well.

30th March 2010 – Holy Week

2010-03-30T14:29:00.000+03:00

We have finished the first half-term of school and so now have two weeks of vacation. The students from other towns went home by bus early on Saturday morning and the rest dribbled out later on Saturday morning. They were SO excited to be going home and anxious to see their families and friends. They were relieved to have finished three days of mid-term exams, and of course are now anxious to see their results. I chuckle at them and their intensity. They agonize over the questions that they don’t know the answers to and the expressions on their faces as they think are memorable. Some of them lay their heads on their desks, I guess thinking that the answer will pop up through the wood! It will be good for them to have a little rest and relaxation from the stress of getting used to a new school, being away from home, new classmates, studying in a language not theirs, in short, all the new things they’ve been confronted with during the past three months.

I spent many hours marking their exams and once again it seems like 90 papers never end. There were some laughs along the line, however. One of the sections had to do with new vocabulary that we had just learned, and one part of that vocabulary was the names of places and another part was the names of young animals. One answer that I got for the place where bees live was “bees home”. Sure. And the answers for young animals were the best: A young cat is called a “catlet”; a young sheep a “sheeplet”, or the best for a young sheep, a “piglet”. We’ll need to do some revision of those words ……

I celebrated my birthday by being on the bus for 12 straight hours! We Maryknoll Sisters had a meeting in Arusha over the weekend so I had to travel on Thursday. I had called a taxi the day before to pick me up here at 6.00 a.m. for a 6.30 bus. When he hadn’t appeared yet at 6.15 I started to phone him, and after a couple tries he answered and said that he was on his way. He arrived at 6.22 and we flew to the bus station. We arrived, I got on the bus, and the bus took off. (The taxi driver found a flat tyre on his car when he woke up and had to rush around trying to find another car. That’s not easy to do when so few people own cars.) The trip was fine; safe and just long. The bus is big, can hold 50 passengers, but the driver seems to do his job effortlessly. At one point he was eating peanuts from the shell, talking on his cell phone, passing a long lorry, all while driving us. All the religious symbols he has near him on the bus must do some good as talismans for protection; he’s got some from every religion under the sun.

We have had some rain this week after quite some time of none so that is hopeful. There was needed a few more showers in order to bring the crops to their desired state, so this was very good. The weather is cooling off considerably, especially at night. We almost need to pull a sheet up at night now .
Do you want to know one thing I’ve noticed about getting older (notice I say “older” and not “old”) is that I can’t change a light bulb anymore! Now that may not be a problem for many, but we have a time trying to get someone to change a bulb. Why? Well, it seems they’re really high up. We find that we don’t have the balance that we used to have, and so climbing even a short step ladder and reaching up is challenging to balance. The youngsters we know who would be happy to help us don’t have these kind of lights at home and so don’t know how to remove fixtures and change bulbs. Others are busy, working until late at night and asking them to come seems like an imposition. I never thought I’d see the day when changing light bulbs was a big problem …

We’re in Holy Week now and may you all have a blessed one. When we arrived at the church on Palm Sunday, we found almost no one there. It was only after a little while that someone came up to us and asked us if we weren’t going for the Palm Sunday procession. Where was it? At the main road, about a ten minute walk away. We should have known that we were out of the information loop when no one else was in the church waiting for Mass to begin. Anyway, the procession was great. Lots of people, lots of singing, lots of tree/bush branches being waved.

Happy and blessed Easter to all.

15th March 2010 – Always Listen to Advice

2010-03-16T17:47:00.001+03:00

Sometimes I wonder why it takes some of us so long to heed advice from those who have more experience in certain matters. Here is how I learned the lesson in a less than easy way.

For a couple weeks we had a family of wasps building a house on our gate, a couple of feet from the door through which we go in and out. Everyone who had visited us had noticed this construction going on and each one warned us about how severe the sting of a wasp can be and advised us on how to get rid of them: Some day after dark, spray the family with insecticide so as to slow them down, then knock down the house and crush it. Well, I delayed, and continued to watch them grow bigger, to increase in number, the house to get larger. Saturday morning when returning from praying with our Small Christian Community, I opened the gate and was immediately stung by one of them. I came into the house and made a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water, applied it, and the pain quickly became a little less. I was teaching within a short time and so rushed off to do that. The students noticed my white flaky arm (dried baking soda paste) but I explained what had happened and went on with the class. The pain and the swelling weren’t bad on Saturday but Sunday, Sunday night, Monday, Monday night the redness and itchiness were really severe. By Tuesday the swelling was down and the itching tolerable. I kept thinking about how it would have felt like to have more than one of those creatures do the stinging, or what if it had been a child that was stung. By next time I may have learned to listen to advice.

The last Sunday of the month is visiting day at school and teachers are asked to be there to discuss with any parents who want to their concerns about their daughters. On the last Sunday of February there were quite a few parents who came to visit, including one with a baby who has been born since her daughter came to school. It was a thrill for Doreen to get to meet her little sister! There was crying and laughing going on, both from those who had visitors and those who watched from a distance while others embraced their mothers. The parents that I talked to were concerned about their daughters, asking about their progress in their lessons, about their discipline at school, how they behave, how they get along with the other students, etc. And inevitably they thanked me for not only teaching their daughters but also for caring for them, guiding them, helping them develop.

1st March 2010 - Another New Month

2010-03-02T13:28:00.000+03:00

Another month has passed and all is well here; I hope the same is true for readers of this rambling blog. We continue to have some lovely rains, and everything is green and beautiful. The corn and the millet look so tall and green and healthy, and the peanuts look great, too. With all of the sandy soil around, I guess peanuts (called “groundnuts” here) do very well. Right now many fields of them are in bloom so they are pretty with their little yellow flowers. We have had a taste of some of this year’s crop already and they are fat and nice. Last year was the third bad year in a row for crops in this area, so people are about at the end of their food supply. The hope that the good rains has given this year is a great boost. Of course, I don’t know if the same is true all over the country or just in our immediate area, but this rainy season has made people very happy.

I spent what seemed like hours and hours marking papers this past week. Monday and Tuesday of this week were days for giving monthly tests, and so after giving the test there remains what? Right, marking them, of course. It seems like 90 papers are never ending, and I got really tired of some of those sentences before I could finally put them away. As expected, there were some high marks (in the 90’s) and some low marks (19 and 20). Some of those with low marks shed a few tears when I returned the papers…. School pass mark is 45 and supposedly they will be returned home if they don’t manage to get that average, hence the tears. They will be given some time yet but still it makes them anxious, of course.

Last Sunday I had a couple visitors, both young girls who have just finished their A (Advanced) Level examinations at different schools here in Dodoma. One is the daughter of a fellow who was one of the first employees at the school in Singida and she was just a little tyke when I last saw her. The other is the daughter of a teacher at that same school. She was in her first year of secondary when I left Murigha, and now she’s finished those four years plus two years of A level. She wants to be a doctor so badly; if she does well in the exams she just did, she has a chance at one of the four medical schools here in Tanzania. The government helps girls who pursue careers in science but she’ll still need extra financial help. Her parents are very supportive with whatever they have: her father has a teacher’s salary (not fantastic) and her mother farms and also does some sewing for people. The other girl also wants to go to University, and is aiming for a career in accounting. Both are lovely girls, hard working, smart, charming. May their hopes be fulfilled.

15th February 2010 - Green everywhere

2010-02-16T14:52:00.000+03:00

Happy Valentine’s Day to all. I hope everyone enjoyed the day yesterday.

We’ve had some lovely rains in the past two weeks; none was too hard or destructive but nice and gentle just when needed. The green everywhere is so soothing to the eyes, and the little wild flowers that have begun blooming are so pretty. There are many butterflies and moths, and hordes of insects. One morning we found gazillions of little black bugs all over outside, and inside wherever they could manage to get in. They have an odor which isn’t all that pleasant, so we’ve been trying to get rid of them little by little. I don’t know where they hide when we sweep. When we think we’ve got them all swept up and turn around, there are a bunch more. It’s obvious that every living creature likes the rain as much as we do.

My flowers are beginning to bloom and they are lovely. They are a very common flower and grow very easily and fast; I don’t know what they’re called (maybe some kind of zinnia?). I should have put some more manure around when I planted them but I didn’t and even so they are still nice for the eyes. I have them in three different places: by the septic tank , on the side of the house, and outside the wall in front of the house between the gates. The ones on the side of the house are really spindly since the soil there is a mixture of left-over cement from when the house was built and pieces of rock. Still it’s amazing that they’ve grown at all.

I want to share with you an incident of a morning last week, one that happens over and over and typifies the spirit of hospitality one meets so often here in Tanzania. I had just arrived at school and was walking toward the teachers’ office when I met a woman. She is one of many who are working on the school compound, cleaning up the construction mess, carrying cement or water or whatever else needs to be moved from one place to the other, or doing any other odd job that might need to be done. These women come every morning with the hopes of being hired for the day, in order to get enough money to buy what is needed for herself and her children. She was carrying a cup of tea and a few maandazi (something like bread but is fried, maybe more like a doughnut) on a plate. When we greeted one another, she held out the tea and maandazi and said, “Njoo, tunywe chai,” meaning, “Come, let’s go drink tea.” Of course I thanked her, and then continued on my way, marveling all the while. Even after all these years of living here I still don’t have that same kind of spontaneous reaction that she has, the one that invites another person to share whatever she has.

Yesterday we were in church for three hours at a special Mass for the children who were joining the Holy Child Society. There were probably about 40 of them, dressed in white shirts/tshirts, some with yellow skirts or trousers, and all with a yellow headband on their heads. They danced in, and danced to all the songs that the choir sang, and were they ever dear. Some started out barefoot and some with shoes but by the end there were more bare feet than not. It was obvious that they had practiced a lot, and their gestures followed the songs so nicely. Everyone was so happy and joyful and singing and swaying along with the children. It was the long windedness of the Padre and the chairman of the parish council that made the time seem long; watching the children was a joy.

1st February 2010 – Fruit in Season

2010-02-02T14:11:00.000+03:00

Every day, every meal, I seem to be making a remark about the wonderful fruit we’re eating these days. This month has us enjoying absolutely luscious mangoes, exceedingly sweet pineapple, and plums that are a wonderfully nice change. The mangoes that are big come from Tabora or Morogoro, and the smaller ones from Tanga region. Pineapples come from near Dar es Salaam, while the plums arrive from the mountains near Lushoto. You’ll note that none of this fruit comes from Dodoma where we live. This region is normally just too dry for such fruit, and so we get it trucked in from all these other places. There is something so extravagant about the mangoes and pineapples – they are just SO sweet, SO fleshy, SO juicy. I love going to the market and buying these things, interacting with the vendors who spend their day selling fruits, vegetables, rice, beans, everything under the sun. Most of the time I engage a young boy to carry my basket. They are always around asking to carry baskets of the people who are shopping, and so I usually give my basket to one of them who then gets a tip when we finish going around the market. The first time that I did that here after years away I didn’t know how much to give as a tip. I gave him 200/-and was looking for some more to give him when he said thank you and walked away! 200/- is about 15¢ US so I guess that won’t break the bank ….

These days there aren’t a lot of green vegetables like spinach sold in the market because since the rains have begun the native plants have come up and folks go out and pick them to cook for their green vegetable. However, not far from here is a windmill, and there are very small plots of vegetables, mostly spinach, that people grow there near the water source. It’s nice to go there in the evening to buy a couple bundles of spinach and then come home to cook it for dinner.

This week there were several homes destroyed in this section of the city, destroyed by a bulldozer. They were homes of the traditional type, with mud brick walls and either earth roofs or maybe some pieces of aluminum roofing sheets. If they had roofing sheets, those things were taken off first, and then the houses were destroyed. We don’t know the whole story but most folks say that these were houses of folks who had already been compensated for their land and given other land to move to but who hadn’t done that yet. And I don’t know if it was because these plots belong to someone else or if they are to be used for some development purpose. Anyway, two houses very near us were razed, but the people who lived there had another place and had moved the night before the bulldozer came. They’re very philosophical about it, so I suspect that they knew it was inevitable. I just hope justice was done.

18th January 2010 – New Year’s Blessing

2010-01-20T13:40:00.000+03:00

One of the biggest blessings of the New Year for us is that we now have a car!! We had been waiting for it for what seemed to be a very long time, and although it has been fine to use our feet and public transport, sometimes walking in the hot sun seemed like not a smart thing to do. My skin just isn’t made for such strong sun rays, I think, and even with sun screen and umbrella, still damage continues to be done. Anyway, we received funding through Maryknoll Sisters, ordered the car in June, and have since that time been in the process of attaining tax exemption. That came through in late November, and since that time there has been the process of clearance from the bonded warehouse, registration, etc. On Thursday the 7th of January, I got a phone call that the car was ready and could be picked up. Immediately we went into action, arranging for insurance, getting bus tickets, so that we could go to Dar es Salaam to collect it. So on Friday morning we were on the bus to Dar es Salaam. Many phone calls and help from several other people gave us the assurance that the insurance would be ready. The bus left at 7.30 a.m., it’s a minimum of a six hour trip to Dar es Salaam, Toyota offices close at 5.00 p.m., (and we weren’t sure if the insurance sticker had to be collected or would be delivered) so we were hoping for a quick trip so as to arrive early enough to do what needed to be done. Well, Murphy’s Law came into play: When we left Dodoma it started to rain, and it rained heavily for some time. The bus driver was cautious and careful, and drove very slowly through the rain. After a couple of hours, we reached a place where the road descends from the central plains to the coastal area, and again the driver was so careful because of the possibility of a slippery road. On another trip I would have praised the driver for being so careful, but this time I was thinking him to go just a little faster. By the time we were getting close to Dar es Salaam, we were already past the seven hour time, and then the bus was stopped by traffic police. I don’t know what the issue was, but it seemed to take forever for the discussion to be finished, all the while sitting on pins and needles hoping the bus wouldn’t be impounded to a police station or delayed a lot longer. Eventually we were on our way again and arrived at the main bus station at 3.30 p.m. We hired a taxi and were on our way across the city, a city that has grown so much in recent years and has more traffic than it could handle. We passed the office of Sr. Rosanne in mid-town in order to pick up the insurance papers, and off to the industrial area for the car. We managed to get to Toyota’s service garage in about a half hour, and so we had one whole hour in which to finish the handing over, which was done expeditiously, and off we drove with our brand new Daihatsu Terios. So much gratitude is given for the funding and for all who helped move along the other processes.

And all this week I have been driving back and forth to school since the students have mostly arrived and classes have begun. I know hardly any of them by name as yet, but that will come. There are some who obviously have a fairly good background in English, and others who probably have very little, so it will be a challenge to bring them all along together. There are two streams, so far 44 students in one, and 45 in the other. It’s a good thing that the classrooms are spacious and that there’s room enough for them all.

31st December 2009 - Happy New Year

2009-12-31T14:56:00.000+03:00

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that you will have a happy, peaceful and fulfilling 2010, with good health and secure in the love of God, family and friends. Hopefully our Christmas season’s spirit of good will and peace will continue throughout the whole year.

We were home from our Christmas break by Sunday evening. It’s always a relief to reach one’s destination safely, especially since I read in the newspaper about a road accident that happened a couple of hours after we passed near Same (Kilimanjaro Region) on the way to Arusha on the 17th. A front tire of a large bus coming from Nairobi burst and lost control, plowing into a small bus and 19 people died: 16 in the small bus and three from the large one. The bus line on which we usually travel seems to have good, well experienced drivers, and they travel at a fairly reasonable speed so I usually feel safe. One can never predict an accident, however.

Our meeting of Maryknoll Sisters went very well and it was wonderful re-connecting with so many. We were 26 altogether, so there was never a dull (or quiet) moment. By Monday morning everyone was on her way back to wherever, and we went to the house of the Sisters in Arusha to begin our Christmas celebration. We had a couple of doctor/dentist appointments to attend to, did some (mostly window) shopping, and spent a lot of time relaxing, listening to Christmas music, reading, decorating the house, etc. Christmas day itself was sunny and bright, and we attended the 9.00 Mass at a church close by. There were casts of thousands attending church that day, with most people dressed up in their best clothes and happily celebrating. The church is large and round and I estimated that about 800 people were inside with another fairly large group outdoors who couldn’t get in. We were talking with some Sisters outside the church before entering (waiting for the previous Mass to finish) and they had a group of children with them. These are the children of women prisoners at the prison outside of Arusha, and these Sisters care for them while their mothers are in jail. What a helpful ministry that is, don’t you think?

At the end of Mass everyone in the church went up to pay a visit to the crib! So since we had already spent two hours + in church, at that point we decided to go home and begin to cook our dinner. And that was a delicious and festive meal, with the additional treat of a ham. There is a very nice butchery in Arusha which is run by some people from South Africa and they make their own hams around holiday times. It was really very good, and with locally grown baked sweet potatoes, a couple of nice vegetables, salad, and dessert (apple pie) we certainly enjoyed “feast day fare”.

When we returned here we found that there had been a couple very heavy rains and our neighbor’s roof had fallen in. This neighbor had a traditional house, built from mud brick with an earthen roof. If these houses aren’t repaired or rebuilt fairly frequently they often get destroyed when the rains come, and that’s what happened. Actually, he was probably just waiting for it to fall down since its location is not in the city’s development plan! The newspapers say that many houses in Dodoma and Morogoro Regions have been destroyed by the rains, and there are pictures of people wading in water up to their knees. We saw places between here and Morogoro where the water was nearly up to the road level, so I don’t doubt at all that there are plenty of places that were on very dry land last week but are under water today. Hopefully there won’t be too much more destruction and the rain will be a blessing and not otherwise.

So --- talk to you again next year!

15th December 2009 - Merry Christmas

2009-12-15T13:32:00.001+03:00

I think this may be the last blog post before Christmas, so let me wish everyone reading this the most blessed of holidays. There’s something about Christmas that’s just SO nice – I don’t know if it’s the promise inherent in what/who we commemorate or the innocence and excitement of children or the good will that seems much more apparent at this time of the year or the sense of giving and receiving or the universality of the celebrations or what – I don’t exactly know but there’s something that makes this a really special time of the year no matter where it’s celebrated.

Our Small Christian Community and the whole outstation where we pray have been reflecting on “making the way straight”, and “putting on the cloak of justice”. The participation of the people is really amazing, and when last week our SCC was invited to help Father pick the main points for him to emphasize the following day, they really got into it. And they did a great job of introducing to the whole congregation the theme of the day on Sunday. It’s very impressive the way people are so committed.

While walking in downtown Dodoma the other day I noticed that the shop keepers are getting into the commercial Christmas mode. Usually there are a few samples of clothes hanging outside shops and small displays of shoes on the sidewalks but this week there were lots and lots of clothes, especially children’s clothes, dancing in the wind outside, and yards and yards of shoes displayed on the streets. Clothes and shoes will be the gifts that children receive if they receive anything, and so the shopkeepers are trying very hard to be the ones to sell. Artificial greenery and flowers are also on display, Chinese made, quite unattractive in my opinion, but decoration nevertheless. A lot of people think that artificial flowers are more “modern” than the natural ones, and so they’re quite popular. I guess I can understand that a little bit here where greenery is rare in the dry season but in many places in the country there are beautiful flowers and plants year around and they are so much more beautiful.

We will be leaving tomorrow on a short bus ride (about three hours) to Morogoro where we’ll stay overnight and then get a ride with the Sisters there to Arusha on Thursday. Friday through Sunday will be our Maryknoll Sisters’ meeting which we hold about once every 1½ years, and so all of us from Tanzania will be there along with representatives from Kenya, Sudan and Zimbabwe. It will be wonderful to see everyone and catch up with them. Then when the meeting is finished we’ll stay to celebrate Christmas with the Sisters in Arusha, probably returning here on the 26th or 27th. It will be nice to visit again where I first lived when I returned in February, and there is a beautiful green yard to enjoy. They say that there’s been quite a bit of rain in Arusha already so that will be a big contrast to our dryness.

Right now it’s very hot and windless, lots of clouds in the sky, sure signs that the rain is close. This morning we woke to a yard full of small moths – clinging to the sides of the house, in the bushes, and all over. The birds are having a feast today, and the chickens as well. All the neighbors’ roosters start crowing around 4.00 a.m. every day in order to wake us up and at least today they had something to crow about!

And what I have to crow about is a great year, starting out with family in North Dakota, then returning to Tanzania and finding a welcoming place and people, satisfying ministry, and happiness. I have so much for which to be thankful.

1st December 2009 – New Month, New Season

2009-12-01T20:47:00.001+03:00

I hope everyone is having a peaceful beginning of Advent, and that you will continue to enjoy the preparations for Christmas without too much stress and strain. It’s hard to believe that December is already here, and that we’re into Advent. Here in Tanzania many of the Christmas preparations happen immediately before the day itself and not a lot earlier. However, Christmas music is already starting to be heard and it is enjoyed by everyone. Someone told me the other day that she was on a bus (about a two hour ride) and as the bus left there were Muslim prayers being sung over the loudspeaker. However, after a little while that changed into Christmas music and lasted until she arrived! Another ecumenical experience ……

I have finished the school year and returned the exam to the kids yesterday. They did fairly well and seemed to be pleased with themselves. When I was at home before coming here, the youngsters at St. Patrick’s parish gave me quite a few pens and pencils and other gifts for the kids here, and so I gave each student one pen at exam time. When I told them that they were gifts from kids in the U.S., they asked me to tell them “Thank you”. And so I do: Thank you very much.

Our rain still hasn’t returned so the corn that was coming up is really looking tough by now. It seems that the rains that people depend upon really begin closer to Christmas; at least that’s how people are consoling themselves now. Anyway, I don’t think that a whole lot of corn was planted, just small plots. Every afternoon we can hear some thunder in the far distance, and I guess that’s the promise of things to come.

We’re into mango season here and they are SO nice. Many mangoes here come from Morogoro, but the best ones (in my opinion) are the ones from Tabora. Pineapples are also in abundance these days, and we’ve had some really sweet ones. Oranges, which were abundant when we first arrived here, aren’t to be seen these days, and tangerines are also non-existent. Papaya is available pretty much year around, it seems, and Dodoma has really good ones. Papaya trees may grow well in an area but the fruit isn’t very good, so it depends on soil, altitude, water, etc. The market in town is very big, but the choice of fruit and vegetables is limited by the season. That’s the best way to live more sustainably, I guess, and there's always enough to eat.

24th November 2009 – Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T14:38:00.002+03:00

This is such a nice holiday, when we especially remember to be grateful for all our blessings. If you’re like me, the list is long and filled with blessings galore. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Our rain is having a rest but the clouds are a bit heavier today, the sun is beastly hot, the wind is slight – all signs that it will probably be raining again soon. There is a field that I walk by every day that has corn up about four or five inches and the farmer has already weeded it. Now it certainly needs rain again. But the ground is green all over, such a difference from just a couple weeks ago. And the baobab trees are all in leaf, and that is also a big difference. There are a lot of baobab trees around, and some magnificent ones. They have been absolutely bare of leaves but now are greened out really nicely.

Tomorrow is my last day of teaching, then I give an exam and the school year is over for 2009. I’ve enjoyed those kids very much and they’ve certainly kept me on high alert. There’s never a dull moment with them, and they never cease to amaze me with their good spirits and high energy. They are almost an equal number of girls and boys, and each group has its distinction. Most of the girls are dressed much neater than the boys, and there are a couple of boys who obviously come from very challenging households. One’s shirt is really thin and is split all the way down the back; he keeps it together with a huge safety pin. Another wears shoes but you can count all his toes, the shoes are so worn out. And the little they have they share. One day I was walking with a small group, and they had each just been given a little square of bubble gum by a teacher. One of the boys very simply tore his piece of gum in half and gave me a half. I know that bubble gum and candy are real treats for those kids and to have Joseph share was very touching. It’s always good to have an example of sharing, especially as the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays approach.

Anybody interested in a longer account of the Final Vows ceremony that I talked about last week can read it on the Maryknoll website: www.maryknollsisters.org You can look for this one and others that I've written or about my work as well. There are other interesting things on this site also .... Yes, really, it's not all about me!

12th November 2009 – The Rains Have Begun

2009-11-12T15:20:00.002+03:00

The long anticipated end to the dry season has come and we are into the rainy season. We were away for five days over the weekend and when we returned we saw water sitting around in puddles, and so we knew that the drought was over. And when we entered the house we smelled rot – We had gone on Thursday and on Friday night there had been a big electrical storm that knocked out the electricity in this area, and so the kilo of meat and the packet of fish in the freezing compartment of our fridge had completely thawed and rotted. What a mess! By now the smell is almost gone out of the house, and the fridge is getting better.

We went to Moshi, on Mount Kilimanjaro, to attend the Final Commitment of Sister Magreth Mkenda, M.M., and it was a wonderful celebration. Connie and I taught and lived with her oldest sister many years ago in Nangwa, and she and I taught in Singida at the same time also. We have continued to be good friends throughout the years, and when her younger sister joined Maryknoll that only cemented our friendship further. Altogether there are 10 children in the family, and the parents are still alive and quite well while in their 80’s. The family, extended family, neighbors, parish did a fantastic job of preparing and executing the celebration and it was an inspiring and joyous time. The three-hour long Mass was preceeded and followed by singing and dancing, the Mass itself was full of blessings and deep significance, and the receptions (yes, more than one) following had plenty of food and drink and celebration. It was a beautiful expression of love and cooperation and celebration for the very special blessing of Maggie's mission vocation.

Now that the rain has started it has taken almost no time for green sprouts to appear out of the earth. No matter where you look there are very tiny green things peeking their way up, and I’m sure the landscape will appear very different in just a few days. The usual pattern during the rainy season is for rain to fall for a couple hours or so during the day, and then the sun comes out. Perfect growing weather. While walking to school I see folks out planting, and in these small plots they make rows by digging shallow holes in the earth with their hoes and then come back with the seeds, dropping in one or two and covering them with their feet. This is mostly corn I see being planted now but I’m sure that some plots have beans as well. Our neighbors have planted sweet potatoes and cassava in front of their house, and today we bought some tomato and Swiss Chard seeds, so we’ll be joining the farmers’ union before too long. We don’t have much area to work with but we won’t be doing large scale farming either.

The night sounds have changed as well. Before we left the wind was still howling around almost all night long. Now that is not the case, and instead we can hear all the neighborhood noises as well as some new ones, like frogs and insects. Everything comes to life with the rain and hope is so tangible at this time of the year.

2nd November 2009 – All Souls’ Day

2009-11-02T15:31:00.001+03:00

First, Happy Feast Day for yesterday, when we celebrated all of our saintly examples, both recognized and unrecognized. It’s always good to be reminded of the Beatitudes and yesterday during the Small Christian Community meeting when we were sharing about the scripture reading of Sunday, the ones that people picked out to comment on were “Blessed are the merciful” and “Blessed are the meek of heart”. Those qualities are ones that I already find in so many Tanzanians, and they are nice ones to have.

And on Saturday evening I went to visit a former student who I happened to meet in town earlier in the week and who invited me to supper with her and her Mom. More about that later, but the taxi driver’s wisdom is what I want to share now. I took a taxi home because I didn’t want to walk from the bus stop in the dark, and as usual the driver and I started talking about life, about how long I’ve lived in Tanzania, about how I like living here. His comment was that, although most Tanzanians live a very simple life, they generally love each other and that makes for a peaceful and good life. That also is true; I never fail to get some insight in how people think from the taxi drivers around here.

Yes, visiting with Asha and her family was a real blessing. Many times it’s hard for us teachers to see concrete results or to know how we impacted the lives of others. It’s a blessing to have confirmation that I have been influential in her life and an example that she aims to follow. She has recently finished an education degree at the University of Dar es Salaam and left yesterday to report to the school to which she’s been assigned to teach. I think she’ll be a fine teacher (of Economics and Geography) and hopefully will influence her students for the good as well.

And today we remember all of our loved ones who have gone before us. I know they’re praying for us and watching over us and we can continue to rely on them for support.

26th October 2009 – More Clouds

2009-10-27T11:28:00.000+03:00

It has been very interesting this week watching the clouds. Much of the time since we’ve been in Dodoma the sky has been very, very clear, with rarely a cloud in it. Now that is changing and the clouds are many and beautiful. Today while walking home from the bus stop, I kept watching the different formations and different shapes of the clouds. They are really beautiful, and somehow so much more visible than in New York. Maybe it’s because of the “open/big” sky, with no tall buildings and not many trees in the way, or maybe the sky here really is different. Anyway, the clouds are definitely becoming more like rain clouds, and proof of that is that we had a very small shower on Friday afternoon. It certainly couldn’t be called “rain” but still it holds promise.

I have also been amazed this week at noticing the splashes of color in an otherwise brown and drab landscape. There are certain bushes and plants that are flowering now, at the absolute height of the dry season. One bush has red flowers, somewhat like the Bottle Brush bush, and it shows up so vividly while walking along the dusty path. Another plant is much closer to the ground and has lovely yellow blossoms, and there’s a white flowered bush as well. Isn’t it amazing that this color should appear when everything else is SO dry. At school and at some places in town there are Jacaranda trees and Flame Trees, and they are just now beginning to bloom. All of these things are signs of rain to come.

People are continuing to prepare their plots for planting. Some of the paths that I take to school in the morning look like they might turn into small fields when the rain comes, so we shall see when that happens. One thing I know is that I’ll have to find another route at that time because I walk through two gullies (or is it the same gully only snaking around so that I cross it twice?) and they will no doubt be filled with water when it rains.

When people clean their fields they also disturb the wildlife hiding in the bushes, so on the path this past week I’ve seen a snake (alive), a scorpion (dead) and lots and lots of Safari ants, all very much alive. These latter creatures travel in a line, all together, and are huge ants that, should they get into your clothing, can bite really sharply. The ones I see across the path are about ½ or ¾ inch long, and very black. I’ve never seen such big ones before. And the scorpion is big and black also. They say that this type of scorpion has a sting not as painful as the small brown ones (and their sting hurts, take it from one who has experienced it) but somehow this big black type really scare me more. Anyway, just like snakes, I keep my eye out for them and have to believe that they have no ill will toward me, and just try to keep out of their way.

The kids at school are doing well. I’m noticing improvement and we’re all more comfortable with each other. They try so hard to say what they want to say in English, but still much of the time give up, take the easy path and use Swahili. Some day ……..

19th October – Clouds

2009-10-19T15:08:00.000+03:00

Probably the most exciting thing that is happening here is that the sky is beginning to be filled with clouds. People are clearing little and larger plots of land while looking at the sky. I expect it will take a little while for the clouds to produce anything, and the wind needs to stop blowing so hard as well, but the signs are certainly appearing. There’s a Swahili saying: Dalili ya mvua ni mawingu (the sign of rain is clouds) and so everyone is quoting that these days. The clouds also help the walking to and from school, as at least there’s some patches of overcast now and then.

The not-so-exciting event of the past week has been trying to cope with one of those nasty head colds, with tearing eyes, running nose, sneezing, etc. The sore throat and cough of last week was, I thought, all that would afflict me but I was wrong. At least the worst days were over the weekend so I didn’t miss any school. Today I feel MUCH better, and there’s even some water in the pipes so I can wash my handkerchiefs! Many of the kids in the classroom are coughing as well, so I think it’s a combination of cold germs, dust, and smoke. Folks, while clearing their fields, often burn the brush, so the air seems to have a lot more smoke than usual these days.

The class is going along well and we continue to have a good time. When they were writing an exercise on Friday, one boy was borrowing a ruler from the girls next to him. She was finishing her underlining and he was saying to her, “Faster! Faster!” That kind of amused me. Today I was asked by the Director to make up the English portion of the entrance exam for the secondary school. The exam will be on 6th November, and it seems like many youngsters have already applied. They take an entrance exam and then only to fill the number of available places will be chosen.
One day as I was arriving at school I met a man on a bicycle who said he had come to take an application form for the secondary school because he has a daughter who wants to apply. I asked where he was from, and he named a place not far from here. He said that he would like her to go to a boarding school instead of a day school because so often when girls go home after school they are assigned work to do and miss out on time to do extra studying. What he said is very true, but not all parents recognize that so this girl is lucky.

Tune in next week to see if we’ve had any rain!

12th October 2009 - The Goings-On

2009-10-12T16:19:00.002+03:00

As I write the date it seems to say to me that the U.S. celebrates Columbus Day today. Right? At least the New York Italians always have a big parade, I recall!

And here on Wednesday we will have a day off, observance of the 10th anniversary of the death of the Father of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere. He is still sorely missed and remains a very admired and revered person for Tanzanians. The other night I was listening to an interview on the radio and the person being interviewed was the retired Bishop of Dodoma. He was reminiscing about Nyerere and his contributions to the country, especially in light of the elections which we are beginning to prepare for in 2010. There has been some controversy and a lot of discussion after the Tanzanian bishops issued a pamphlet with some guidelines about the kind of leaders that Tanzania needs. The controversy has to do with the role of the church and whether it’s getting into politics. The response to that goes like this: The church is not saying that leaders need to be Christian or Catholic but whoever the leaders are, they need to love the people of Tanzania and work for them and not for themselves. Anyway, it’s a great topic of conversation among folks. Politics all over the world is a great subject to discuss.

Every morning when I walk to school I need to walk along the main highway (leading to Morogoro and Dar es Salaam) for about one kilometer. And it is during that time that I see how another group of people make a living. There is a steady stream of bicycles, the majority driven by men, going into the city from the outlying villages, and they are all carrying something that will be sold in the city. Many carry sacks of charcoal on the back of their bicycles, filled to the brim and overflowing and sticking out on either side a couple of feet. There is a great market for charcoal since that is the intermediate cooking fuel. By that I mean that the fuel used by women in the villages is mostly firewood, the fuel used by women living in towns and with a considerably higher income is electricity or gas, but the fuel used by that middle group is charcoal. Anyone making charcoal is supposed to have a license in an effort to decrease deforestation but there is really a vast market for it so the trees continue to be cut down to make it. Hopefully there is a lot of replanting going on as well.

Another thing I see on the back of bicycles are containers of milk. Some have only a gallon jug, but many bicycles are carrying one or two twenty litre containers on the back. These folks probably have a distribution place in town where they take the milk and someone sells it from there. Or they may be taking it to a restaurant for use in making tea, etc. And the third thing I see on the bicycles are chickens: large baskets tied to the back filled with live chickens. These may be going to the market, where one can buy a live chicken and have it butchered for a few extra shillings, or they may be going to a restaurant getting ready to be served for lunch.

One other thing I noticed the other day when I went to town was that there are more beggars on the streets these days. As the dry season gets longer I suppose that the food supplies are finishing for some people, so that may be one reason. But most of the people who are begging are either quite old or blind or lepers, so they have some problem that prevents them from getting their needs. Of course, there are government agencies that are supposed to take care of them but as in any society some folks fall through the cracks. A lot of the churches or mosques or temples also have charitable outreach for people in need, so there is help available. I usually try to avoid going to town on a Friday because there are always more beggars on Fridays. Why? Because Friday is the Muslim holy day, and since giving alms is one of the pillars of Islam, so they are usually very generous on Fridays.

5th October 2009 - Another Week, Another Month

2009-10-05T16:18:00.001+03:00

Another week has passed so quickly. It seems as though the days go by so fast and before you can blink it’s already the weekend. On Saturday afternoon I went with three other women to the celebration of the feast day of the other Small Christian Community of our outstation. They are St. Francis community, and his (of Assisi) feast day was being celebrated by them and so some of the members of our community were invited. There was Mass outdoors using the wall of one of the houses as the backdrop, and then a few speeches and finally food. Every person who was there had a big plate of rice with a little meat as well as a bottle of soda. It was a nice celebration and I appreciated the walk to and fro and the chance to get to know those other women a bit better. I should say that I appreciated getting to talk to the neighbors, but didn’t much care for the walk at 2.00 in the afternoon. I had thought I’d have the weekend without the long walks, but not so. Oh, well.

The classes this week have gone well and I’m beginning to know the students a little bit better also. I find them a bit different than the ones I was used to from five years ago. First of all, they are a bit younger than the secondary students that I taught, and I’m also used to a class of only girls, so having a mixture makes a difference also. Then some of these kids are town kids, and formerly it was mostly village girls who were our students. And I think there’s just a lot more outside influence these days, due especially to TV and video. I’m not saying that these kids are bad, or even harder to teach, but I just notice a difference.

Their concern for each other was made clear for me this week. After class one day, as I was gathering my materials and preparing to leave, one of the boys remained in the classroom. He very seriously informed me that two of his fellow students stutter – he told me their names and that was all he said, then he left. I had already recognized the problem in one of them, but the other one has been sick a few days and so I hadn’t heard enough to know that she also stuttered. I guess this boy wanted me to know that his friends had this problem when I called on them to speak. Since we’re doing quite a bit of oral work, I know this is a concern, but I’m thinking that the others in the class probably have as much concern for them as this boy, and so we can just wait as they work through trying to speak. I’ve had students who stutter before in my classes, and as long as they are given some time they can usually manage alright.

On Friday after class I met up with a former student, one of the first students who attended the school in Singida. She had been in contact for some time and was begging me to meet, so finally on Friday I said I’d go to her after class. She told me that she works at Saba Saba, the place where Connie and I went some few weeks ago to look for used sheets, etc. And so we met and she took me to where she works. When she was at school, she studied the specialization of tailoring, and so that is what she was doing. We went to a big area with canvas over it, so it was like a big tent. In front were a bunch of young men on a platform and they were holding up pieces of used clothing and auctioning them off one by one to the people standing in front of them. Behind those folks again there was a line of about 12 sewing machines with women sitting at them, and Neema is one of those. When someone buys a piece of clothing they see the potential in it, eg. one small shirt I saw was in good shape except for the sleeves, which had holes in them (looked like they had probably been eaten by mice/rats). So the fellow who bought the shirt brought it over to Neema and she cut off the sleeves below the holes, hemmed the sleeves and voila! A good school shirt for some kid which can probably be sold for twice the price that was paid for it. Pieces of clothing kept being piled up on Neema’s machine: seams to be run up, pants to be changed into a skirt, sleeves shortened, etc. There was so much noise and so many people in that area I wondered how she could possibly remember what she was to do to each bit of clothing. She said that she remembers, and that’s how she makes her living! Another one of the many creative ways folks make ends meet around here.

28th September 2009 - Teaching and Loving It

2009-09-28T16:22:00.001+03:00

Is it beginning to look a little like Fall in the northern hemisphere? Here we are definitely experiencing a change of seasons, and it seems to be happening right at the time when seasons are supposed to change. It’s becoming warmer, and the sun seems to be even stronger than usual. We still have cool nights, and that’s always nice for sleeping. The wind continues to blow, and in the mornings we see folks going to their fields to begin preparing them for planting when the rains do come.

One week into my English classes and I’m enjoying them very much. I have a good-sized class of 45, almost an equal mix of boys and girls. I suppose about ⅓ of the class are resident at the Village of Hope, and the rest are from the neighborhood. Those who have finished primary school (9) don’t wear their uniforms, but the rest do, and so it’s impossible to tell who live with their families and who are orphans. I also need to find out more about how being HIV+ affects the health of these youngsters because I’ve noticed that sometimes a child will be very responsive and alert one day and the next day he/she may be looking/acting like there’s something wrong. Anyway, they are generally very attentive and appear interested in what we’re doing. Of course, as with all classes, there is a good range of aptitude/past learning, so some are definitely better in English than others. So far we’re doing fine together, and I expect that we’ll continue to have a good time with some serious learning going on as well.

I was happy for the weekend, not that the teaching is strenuous, but the walk to and from is tiring. I leave the house at about 7.45 a.m., walk 45 minutes, have a bit of time to brush the dust off my shoes and remind myself of my lesson, and start class at 8.40. Class lasts until 10.00 and then I go to the road and wait for a small bus to take me a bit down the road, only about a five minute ride. From the place I get off then there’s another 20 minute walk home. I enjoy the morning walk because it’s still quite cool and the sun hasn’t become too intense yet. The return is a little more difficult because of the sun, and the wind at that time is stronger, too. I’m beginning to reconcile myself to the fact that I’m not as young as I once was (: and hence the tired feeling by the time I return.

We had our first overnight guests this past week, and so that was very nice. Sr. Janet from Morogoro came with a Tanzanian Sister on their way to Mwanza, and Connie went off with them the next morning. And so I’m alone for two weeks as Connie visits her old mission and renews friendships of years ago. I don’t mind being alone but during the weekend the days got a little long. It’s a good opportunity for some solitude.

21st September 2009 - Idd el Fitri

2009-09-21T16:30:00.000+03:00

This week I’m posting a short blog (you’re probably grateful for that …) because the little finger on my left hand minds it when I hit the shift key or a’s, or q’s, or z’s. I cut the tip of it really well the other day when I was cutting grapes from their stem, and so I have an excuse to go slow on the typing. The story of grapes and Dodoma is one for another day.

Our water is back now for the past couple of days, and having a hot shower two days in a row is a nice luxury. The weather is getting warmer, so a shower in the evening feels especially good these days. There were workmen around for two days, from early morning until late in the evening, putting up the gates on the wall around the house. They are huge, and sliding, so it took quite a bit of expertise to install them well. They still need to be painted but at long last they’re up. We should really be secure when the landlord finishes everything he has planned, and installing the gates was a big step in that direction. It’s not as though we feel insecure here, but with a lot of young people out of work and this part of the country suffering from drought this year, it wouldn’t be too surprising to have some attempts at robbery. So far so good, knock on wood, and hopefully that will continue.

Yesterday and today are the holidays of Idd el Fitri, the Muslim celebration at the end of the month of Ramadhan. These are national holidays, so everyone is having a day off. Most Muslim families are celebrating with special meals, maybe some new clothes, visiting family and friends. Tomorrow I begin teaching at the Village of Hope Primary School, Standards VI and VII. The VII’s will be only the children from the Village because they have already finished their exams and those who aren’t resident there are at their own homes. The VI’s will be a mixture of kids, and altogether there will be about 40, I guess. The classes will be revision for the older ones and extra work for the younger ones, mostly in oral English. I can’t wait to meet them and begin to know them!

14th September 2009 - Water, etc.

2009-09-14T10:54:00.001+03:00

This past week was one with almost no water coming from the taps. We hear all kinds of different stories as to why: The water department is servicing the system; they are increasing the size of the water pipe coming this way; they are diverting water from our line to another line reaching further toward the railway tracks; there just isn’t enough water in this area because of the building and the population increase. Whatever the reason, and I have no idea as to which might be the most plausible, water came out of the tap only a couple times this whole week. Both times we quickly filled our buckets, but actually we haven’t been without water altogether because of the water tanks that are on the back porch roof. Thanks to the foresight of our landlord, whenever there’s sufficient pressure in the system, it fills the tanks. We are careful with our use of this precious commodity, so haven’t run completely out yet. Of course there isn’t enough pressure to fill the tank for hot water, but we are grateful that at least we have water with which to wash. The scarcity of water also gives me the excuse to delay washing clothes, one of my least favorite tasks. Of course the dirty ones are piling up and the day of reckoning will come, I’m sure.

There is more to say about how folks make their livings around here. The creativity and enterprise and hard work that epitomizes folks in the non-formal sector continues to amaze me. One fellow peels 30 kg of potatoes that are then made into chips (French fries) by other folks; many women make rice cakes or donut-type snacks and sit at a heavily trafficked spot to sell to whoever goes by. One of our neighbors goes to the hills about an hours’ walk away, gets a certain kind of soil (clay, I guess), makes cooking pots, then goes again to the hills to gather firewood, fires the pots, and then sells them for 500 shillings each! (500 shillings is equivalent to less than 40¢ U.S.) A lot of people buy things that are relatively abundant at one location and taking them to another place to sell with a little mark- up. A lady I met on the bus the other day was coming from town with a bucket of meat, and she was going to roast the meat and sell it at the place where they sell the local brew. She says she does that every day. After we got off the bus she was carrying the 20 litre bucket which was chock full of meat on her head. You’ve heard me complain about walking from the main road with the wind fighting with my umbrella. Imagine that heavy bucket on her head and trying to keep it balanced with the wind. There are a lot of talents in this world that go unrecognized and unheralded.

On Saturday we went to an “mnada”. Mnadas are usually held in rural areas, and are historically and first and foremost a place where folks buy and sell livestock. They have evolved into places where people buy and sell almost anything: used clothing, new clothes, shoes, kitchen needs (pots & pans, dishes, etc), crops, fresh vegetables, food,-- just about anything that one might be in need of. We were actually looking for some traditional craft of the Wagogo, the people who live in this area, and thought we could find some at the mnada, and unfortunately didn’t come across any. We were there fairly early, around noon time, and maybe things like that arrived later, but anyway we came away almost empty handed. What we managed to buy was one used pillow case, something we had been looking for, so the trip wasn’t all useless. This particular event is held on the other side of town, so it took us about a half hour to get there from town.

We also had our lunch there which consisted of roast meat. We were sitting near a tree to which was nailed the carcass of at least half a cow, and pieces would be cut off. The customer picks out the piece he/she wants and then it’s taken to be roasted. When it’s cooked, someone comes with some water with which to wash our hands, and the meat, and voila, lunch. We had beef, but a lot of goats were being roasted. And on the outskirts we even saw some pork being sold. The pork is usually on the periphery so as not to offend the sensibilities of the Muslims and their religious prohibition of pork.

May we all have a good week.

7th September 2009 - Mosquitoes

2009-09-07T13:29:00.001+03:00

A couple blogs ago I promised that I’d share with you my love of mosquitoes. Well, although I try to be kind and non-violent to all God’s creatures, when it comes to mosquitoes I have to admit that my principles become a bit compromised. When we moved into this house, there were SO many mosquitoes. One reason, most certainly, is that fairly near the back of the house there’s a water hole which, I think, collects a good deal of water during the rainy season. That water is used for building especially when there’s no water coming out of the taps. At this point, very little water remains, and what’s there is green and slimy and probably an optimum place for mosquitoes to breed. And so when daytime turns into dusk they gather by the multitude trying to get in the house. We do our best to keep the doors closed, and all the windows have good mosquito netting on them, but somehow they manage to get in. We try to figure out how they do it, and here are some theories: 1) We haven’t managed to get rid of those that were in the house when we moved in (what’s the life span of a mosquito anyway??). 2) They squeeze in under the doors. 3) Some windows we keep open all day and night and the screens don’t fit 100% tightly so maybe they find those places. 4) There’s a conspiracy in the mosquito world that is aimed at annoying us……

Anyway, however they do it, there are always mosquitoes in the house. By the time we finish eating dinner in the evening they’re beginning to make themselves heard and felt. And when we pray after dinner they prove to be a real distraction. We have this “zapper” – a tennis racket-shaped apparatus that is charged in an electrical socket and when it hits a flying insect it zaps them. Sometimes we resemble Serena and Venus chasing mosquitoes instead of tennis balls, but if the mosquito population is any indication, it seems we won’t be winning any tournaments. We sleep under mosquito nets, but should your foot or hand touch the net during the night, you’re sure to wake up with a welt. It would be nice to be able to read in bed at night without the benefit of the net between you and the light, but that’s impossible. I usually do a mosquito hunting detail before going to bed, and have become pretty adept at killing them as they sit on the wall. It’s their hiding places that can’t be gotten to easily: under the bed, behind the bookshelf, in the curtains. Anyway, we can only thank God that we haven’t come down with malaria, and hope that remains to be so for a long time to come.

Speaking of malaria, here is some information from an article that was in the newspaper this past week. Most shocking is this statement: “In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is the single biggest cause of death in children under five, killing a child every 30 seconds.” (The Guardian, September 2, 2009) The focus of the article was really about the cost of malaria, and how it often determines how much money a family has to live on during a particular time. It talks about how the cost of malaria ranges from the purchase of a mosquito net, transport to and from a health facility when a member of the family gets malaria, the fee at the hospital or health center, the cost of anti-malarial drugs, and other costs like caring for the sick and therefore time away from income-generating activities, or the wage-earner her/himself being unable to work and earn money. So the endless cycle of poverty and disease goes on. The article also was encouraging the use of ITNs (Insecticide-Treated Nets) and told about how the incidence of malaria has decreased as families begin to use the nets. There is a well-known initiative in Tanzania to provide these nets to expectant mothers and children under-five, those who suffer a high mortality rate from malaria. Support from the government of Switzerland has helped this initiative, and the Swiss Ambassador is quoted in the article: “Malaria is a poverty-related disease, both in cause and effect, which may explain why it tends to receive relatively little attention from decision makers in the rich countries. But malaria is preventable and treatable.” I’m reminded about the debate going on in the U.S. now about health care, and how some of us are afraid that we won’t get all the choices that we think we deserve in regard to our health care. What about the rest of the world that gets almost NO choice, not even between the life and death of a child?

31st August 2009 - The end of another month

2009-08-31T11:00:00.001+03:00

The weeks are flying by very quickly and here we are at the end of August. Summer is fading fast for those of you who live in the northern part of the earth.
We can feel it getting a little bit warmer here, although the mornings and evenings are still a bit chilly. The wind continues to be strong, and so the dust doesn’t all stay outdoors but seems to seep into the house more than I’d like. I’m happy to see that as people build their houses, they also plant trees, so that should all help as the years go by.

We had a fun time after Mass yesterday morning. Last week the children were all asked to bring something that could be auctioned , and the proceeds would go toward the building of the church. I’ve mentioned before how the people of this outstation are building the church little by little. Since we arrived the visible progress shows up in that the grillwork for the windows is now in. That, of course, doesn’t prevent the wind from blowing in but anyway it’s a step. They’re now trying to raise money for the glass for the windows and for the door. After that will be the plaster, the floor, and who knows what else.

Anyway, the kids participated wholeheartedly, bringing notebooks, pencils, candy, boxes of juice, jars of jam, peanuts, and even one live duck! And everyone soon got into the activity, with the adults bidding on the items. As with these kinds of charity auctions, items are sold for more than they’re really worth. Everyone tried to raise as much money as possible, and so many who might get the winning bid would then donate it to be auctioned again. When the items were finally given to the highest bidder they were then donated to the children at the Village of Hope (orphans who are HIV+), so there was a lot of generosity exhibited. The fellow who bid highest for the duck gave it to Father for his dinner. The children who gave the items were thrilled with the response and with the considerable amount of money that they generated, the equivalent of nearly $300. They were promised that some thing (like certain windows or pews or … ) would be bought with this money so that they can always remember what they contributed. And the fellow who won the bag of candy distributed it to them after Mass, so that was a happy moment!

On Saturday we spent some hours at an outdoor market that sells mostly cloth things, both new and used. The used stuff comes from the US or Europe, many items that stores are getting rid of, and is bundled in big lots and shipped here, although other things were definitely previously used by someone. The vendors buy a bundle not knowing what quality of stuff they’ll find inside, so it’s kind of a gamble. I was looking for curtains for my bedroom, and not looking forward to sewing them so I had hoped to find some readymade ones that would be just perfect. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but I did buy some cloth that I’ll try to sew up and hope they’ll look ok. We also bought some secondhand fitted sheets for the beds. The mattresses that we bought are foam, and they are covered with a very slippery cloth. So when you make your bed with a flat sheet, in the morning the sheet is all bunched up and all over the place because it slides on the cover whenever you move. I had finally sewed four pieces of elastic on each side of the bottom sheet and tied them together to keep the sheet on the mattress since fitted sheets are not to be found in the shops. We consider these sheets a really good purchase. And hey, we have a safe bed to sleep in so who needs to complain!

23rd August 2009 - Activity Around Us

2009-08-24T12:33:00.001+03:00

We had our meeting with the Diocesan heads of departments this past week, and the attendance wasn’t all that good, one reason being that there was some seminar or something that many of the priests were supposed to attend. We did, however, get the names and phone numbers of most of them, even those who couldn’t attend, and so we should be able to move forward from here. I don’t really have much of anything to do with most of them, and the parish priest from our parish was there, so that contact is a good one for me. He said that he has some classes going on at the parish for youngsters of 6th and 7th grade, to prepare them for secondary school, and it sounds like he’d be happy to have me involved in that program. I’d prefer to do this on the outstation level, but one has to start somewhere.

We’ve been having a noisy and dusty and busy week around here. The landlord decided to do the job of repainting the house and so that’s been going on since last weekend. Something wasn’t done right when it was painted the first time and there were spots where the paint was peeling, so another coat of primer was applied, then something they called “white cement” then that was all smoothed and sanded, and finally the paint went on. The trim was all done as well, and the garage door was painted for the first time. The window frames are all being varnished again, so the house is beginning to look really spiffy. Of course, the wall and gates are still being worked on at the same time, and that work is really going slowly. No matter – someday it will get done, and in the meantime the spaces around the house look like a disaster area. We just close our eyes as we walk in and out, and try not to fall over anything.

That reminds me of something that has struck me many times since returning – how one has to be very careful while walking everywhere in order not to trip or fall. In the U.S. it seems like places have to be kept pretty fall-proof; I suppose to avert being liable to litigation is one reason. Here it seems like everything is on different levels, including in the house. There’s a little one or two inch step up into every room so you have to be careful and remember that when going in and out. On the streets and paths there are open pits and man-hole type places, uneven sidewalks with holes, everything on a slightly different level. It keeps us alert!

Another thing I was reminded of is the extra time and effort it takes to do relatively simple things. The other day I made some granola type breakfast cereal. Some kinds of cold cereal are available here but it’s pretty expensive, and I always think it tastes a little bit not quite fresh (aka stale!). And so I bought some oatmeal in a package and raisins in a bag, went to the market and bought peanuts, sesame seeds, and sukari guru, which is a substitute for brown sugar. It’s the sugar that comes from one step of the process in refining sugar, and has a stronger, more molasses-like taste, and is sold in a hard square or ball. The next step was to clean the peanuts, e.g. to pick out the bad ones and the stones, then to wash them and dry them, then roast them in the oven. The same process was followed for the sesame seeds (and you know how small they are!!!), then melt some of the brown sugar, mix everything together and roast it all once again. That whole process is time consuming but the result was good. And at least we have an oven to roast it all in ….

16th August 2009 - Another week

2009-08-16T13:13:00.002+03:00

It’s so good to be able to communicate with family and friends so easily now that we have internet connection. And thanks for all the positive comments about the blog, the photos, etc. I appreciate that, first of all, someone reads all that I write, and secondly, that you’re finding some of it interesting.

I’ve been looking at the syllabus for English (it’s a new one since 2005) and it looks like I’d be able to handle that. I do like teaching the younger secondary students, those who are just beginning their learning in English. It’s nice to be able to give them a good foundation since they need it in all of their subjects in secondary school. On Tuesday we have the meeting that has been arranged with the heads of Diocesan departments, so it will be good to hear what they have to say. I am especially interested in making some arrangements with either the parish or our outstation so that I can begin some tutoring for those who are finishing their primary school education next month. Those who go on to secondary school would benefit from some intensive English learning before January, when they begin secondary. I would hope that could go on even if I do the English at the Village of Hope secondary school. At that school there are seven English periods each week, and since they plan on having two classes of each Form (grade), then I would be doing 14 periods per week for the first year. That would give me time yet to do some tutoring, so I’d like to see how that works out.

I was taking note of and reflecting on all the different kinds of work people do here in order to make a living. Because there’s so much construction going on, that is the occupation of many. There are the real fundis, those who have studied a trade like carpentry or masonry and do the jobs needing those kinds of skills. And each fundi has at least one assistant who carries the cement or water or boards or whatever. Then there are the folks who water the cement as it sets – many of these are women. Others find large rocks or boulders and one sees them all over, pounding the rocks into smaller pieces so that they can be used for building. There are different sizes needed for different work, it seems, so in so many places you can see the different piles of rocks out, ready for sale. I understand these are sold by the bucket, and many folks, even the old and young, get their money from doing that. You see many young men doing the hard work of digging the foundations.

Besides the building industry, there are lots of other ways folks make their livings. When we had a small table made for the kitchen at a carpentry shop down the road, in order to get it to the house we hired a young man to carry it on his head. When the bed, made at the same place but considerably heavier, was ready to be delivered a young man with a two wheeled trailer that he pulls brought it with that. Some folks have small stands along the road where they sell fruit or vegetables or cooking oil or charcoal – whatever needed as other people walk by. So these sellers go to the main market in town and bring these things back, add a few shillings to the price, and in that way make something to live on. I had my umbrella fixed by a man with a table under a tree, and Connie had her shoe fixed by someone under a different tree. You see bicycles on the road in the mornings, coming from outer areas with sacks of charcoal on the back. They have cut trees and made charcoal for use in the town. Other folks on bicycles are carrying containers of milk – all going into the city to sell them. The "informal sector" is alive and well here in Tanzania, and probably not given enough credit for its contributions to society.

Another wild life sighting: We had a large scorpion in our yard the other day. I had never seen such a large one, and this one was black. My experience of scorpions was of the reddish-brown ones, and much smaller. This one was at least 4 – 5 inches long, and he was ugly looking. I went to borrow a hoe from our neighbor in order to kill it, but the neighbor himself came to do the job. It reminds us to be careful when we’re caring for our plants because he had camouflaged himself pretty well in the shade of the plants.

I guess my "favorite" wildlife are our friends, the mosquitoes. But that's matter for another day....

9th August 2009 - More photos

2009-08-09T15:25:00.008+03:00

I Living room. Me on the front porch. I couldn't get more than five pictures on the first try so here are some more.

Kitchen - you can see only the cabinets

My bedroom

Dining Room

Connie nearing the front of the house, coming home with some oranges.

9th August 2009 - Photos

2009-08-09T15:07:00.003+03:00

Left Dining Room, Below Kitchen
Left Back Door, Below Front with neighbor

Many of you are asking about photos of where we live. Well, let me try to share some with you. If I were a better photographer I probably could situate the house better in the neighborhood, but you will pretty much just see the house. There is a tremendous amount of construction going on, and as time passes we'll probably feel a bit cramped (most of the lots are quite small) but for now there is still a lot of open space. Our house is really lovely and very comfortable. As is usual when constuction and furniture making is done by hand and not in a factory, a lot of things are uneven and not quite straight. That only adds to the charm, don't you think? Anyway, I hope you get an idea of our living conditions, which are really great.

9th August 2009 - Village of Hope

2009-08-09T15:03:00.000+03:00

On Thursday we went to visit the “Village of Hope”. This is a place only a couple miles away as the crow flies, adjacent to St. Gaspar’s Conference Centre. It is run by the Precious Blood Community, Sr. Rosalia and Fr. Vincent (both Italians) and four Tanzanian Sisters who are also of this community. They have a lovely and large compound where they offer a range of services, most connected with people infected by HIV Aids. In the middle of the compound are six duplexes, so twelve living communities, where orphaned children who are also HIV positive, reside with a married couple who act as “parents” to these children. These living spaces were built to house about 10 children in each unit, but there are at present over 150 children in residence there. There’s a large kitchen which provides food for all the residents and there is housing for the Sisters in addition to medical services offered. These services include an outpatient clinic where local mothers can come with their children for medical care, a state of the art laboratory where testing for the HIV virus is done, and a unit where those who need hospitalization can be helped. We visited this unit and there were four mothers with their children in one ward, including one who had just given birth the previous evening. In another ward were three babies who had been brought recently, orphans, and they were so sick. The staff hopes to save them with good nutrition and the right drugs, and hopefully they will. There’s also a church and a nursery school for the children right there on the compound, and they’ve also built a residence that houses the volunteers that come frequently from Italy to help out in various projects.

Adjoining this compound is a primary school which has about 500 students. This school was begun for the children residing in the Village of Hope, but all the children who attend are not HIV positive. The school is open to others in the area and so the children mix freely all together. Those with families go home each afternoon, and the children from the Village go to their home as well. The primary school was begun seven years ago and so the children who started in Standard I at that time are now finishing Standard VII and are preparing to take the national examination given at the end of primary school.

And so there is furious building going on in order to have a secondary school ready for occupancy in January of next year. This will offer education to the children from the Village of Hope, both boys and girls, and they will also open it to girls from outside, and so the building includes dormitories for the girls, classrooms, kitchen and dining facilities, library, science labs, offices, etc. There were about 20 Italian men working on these buildings alongside the Tanzanian contractor who is doing the building and his crew, and the construction is very nice.

As soon as Sr. Rosalia and Fr. Vincent found out that I’m an English teacher, I was immediately offered a job. They are anxious that these youngsters who are beginning secondary school have a good foundation in English, and we also talked about offering classes to them as soon as they finish their Standard VII exam, so that they can manage their other lessons as well when they begin their secondary education. I’m really tempted and am thinking seriously about taking this on. For at least the first year there would also be time to do some tutoring of young girls, another dream of mine, so we’ll see. They would also love to have Connie as their Biology teacher, but are open to the other things she has to offer, like values education, seminars on various topics, etc. And as I said above, it’s only a relatively short distance from our house. It would take about 45 minutes by foot, and 5 minutes by car.

The little children who we saw are so adorable. They ran up to us and gave a hug and chatter away about what they’re doing. We visited the classroom of those of about four years old, and they were singing and drumming and having a good time. Because of the good care they get and the drugs that are now available to them they look so healthy. I just can’t imagine their lives without this intervention. What do you think about throwing my hat in with them???

6th August 2009 – Caught Up To Date

2009-08-06T14:39:00.001+03:00

30th July 2009
My thoughts and prayers have been rather preoccupied with the final illness and death of my sister-in-law, Kathy. May she rest in peace. It’s always difficult to be away from family at times like these, when the remembering of our loved one together and the support of each other means so much. It’s a consolation to know that the good that a person does never disappears, and Kathy has left a large legacy.

I’m certainly getting back into the mindset of everything taking lots and lots and lots longer than anticipated. We still haven’t got our internet connection, still haven’t got out check book for our bank account, still haven’t gotten the rest of our furniture. I think one of the reasons is that people have a certain desire to please and so they tell you what you want to hear. “Oh, yes, the furniture will be delivered on Monday” because of course that’s what I’d like to have happen. However, when Monday comes there’s a problem with the hinges not being available, or the varnish not yet being dry, or the person working on it has had to travel somewhere, etc. etc.

We had a meeting with the Bishop the other day and once again he was warm and welcoming. He will facilitate a meeting of the heads of the various departments in the Diocese, our parish priest, the chancellor of the Diocese, and us. That should be a good learning experience for us and a chance to know the things that are happening in the Diocese. And a chance for those folks to know us as well. I hope it doesn’t take too long to come to pass.

And very good news: The funding for a car has been approved!! The request was made to Mission Projects Funding of the Maryknoll Sisters, and the actual funds will come from the fund raising initiative in the Netherlands. Now we need to place the order and, what will probably be the most daunting task, follow all the procedures in order to get exemption from the taxes connected with such a big purchase. As a religious group we are eligible for tax exemption but I hear that the procedure is rather long and arduous. It will be worth it, however, so we’ll do it.

31st July 2009
The rest of our furniture arrived yesterday afternoon – yippee! I had tried to phone several times during the last few days but hadn’t managed to have anyone answer a phone. I was beginning to think that they were avoiding my phone calls …. However, when we least expected it the phone rang and we were told that the furniture would be delivered that afternoon. And so it was – What a nice surprise and how happy we are to finally put away our suitcases. For me, this has been since 12th February, when I was packing to come to Tanzania. Living so long out of a suitcase can get old, so putting them away and out of sight feels like a real accomplishment. By the way, the furniture is worth waiting for. These guys do a really good job and everything looks great. The explanation of the problem was that the hinges that came weren’t the right kind, and so the doors weren’t up to standard and they waited to get the right kind so that everything looks good.
1st August 2009

A new month means that we have been in this house one complete month. We had expected that the completion of the walls and gates as well as the landscaping would have been accomplished by the end of July but that hasn’t happened. We did a bit of prodding of our landlord via text messages on the phone, and he promises to come next weekend. Hopefully a lot of things will be done when he arrives. I especially feel bad about the trees and shrubs he planted but which are beginning to look really desperate for water. We could water them but there’s a trench along one side so most of the water just disappears into the trench. And for security reasons we will certainly need the garage and the gates before bringing a car.

Our Small Christian Community continues to meet early every Saturday morning. Our turn for hosting the group will be coming up before too long. I don’t know where we’re going to borrow the chairs from, but maybe more mats will do the trick.

5th August 2009
Sunday after Mass we went to the Nane Nane grounds that are a few kilometers further down the road out of town. Nane Nane (eighth day of the eighth month) is celebrated as Farmer’s Day, or a day to celebrate agriculture, and the celebration is always held at the large fair-ground here outside Dodoma. There are booths and tents and some permanent buildings in which government departments, companies, community groups, etc. educate and exhibit their work. We only managed to walk in one area (it’s a large area and the sun was hot) and there were lots of interesting things to see. We saw some domesticated animals shown by the department of agriculture and livestock and some wild animals shown by the department of wildlife and tourism. The latter had a lot of visitors and so many Tanzanians got the chance to see one of Tanzania’s great resources up close. Most have never been able to travel to a national park because of the distance or fees or travel costs, etc. so having a chance to see up close a lion, a leopard, hyenas, python, wild cats, parrots, tortoise, etc. was a great thrill. We visited some of the tents showing local crafts and bought a lovely mat for the living room, table mats for the dining table, a couple candles that are supposed to repel mosquitoes. Lots of people were enjoying the festivities, and it was nice to see entire families out together.

We have finally been connected to the internet, thanks to a very competent and caring sales person – her name is Peace (what a nice name!). We had been promised the connection last week but it seems that the modems are out of stock in the country so have had to be ordered from abroad. I don’t know if they come from South Africa or Europe but apparently it will take some time for them to arrive. In order to help us, Peace was ready to lend us her modem, and so on Friday I brought it home. I couldn’t get it to work, so contacted her, and she said she’d try to come. Well, she was busy at the Vodacom booth at Nane Nane so hadn’t managed to come. Finally she did find time, and spent the whole afternoon here, much of the time on the phone with a technician in Dar es Salaam, until she got it to work. Those two young people were so patient and just would not give up. Peace even had to go back to town to her office to get some different software, and finally things work. Hopefully when the new modems come in we’ll have no problems connecting as well. The technician says that some of the Windows programmes work differently, and apparently that’s what he had to work with. Anyway, thanks be to God for their perseverance.

5th August 2009 – 2nd Installment

2009-08-05T12:59:00.001+03:00

Yesterday we did BIG shopping – stove (made in Turkey), refrigerator (made in Japan), sewing machine (China), kettle to boil water (Kenya), buckets (Tanzania), water filter (India), veranda chairs (Malaysia) dishes, glasses, cutlery, iron and ironing board, etc. etc. We gathered everything, including a gas cylinder for our new gas stove, hired a small truck, and brought all our purchases home. We decided that we had spent enough time looking and pricing and that the time was ready to just get this part of settling in over with. We are happy with our purchases and, after one more trip to the main market to buy baskets in order to store things, then we’ll be more nearly ready. About time, I’d say. We still need to make curtains and cushion covers as well.

Today we’re putting things in proper places and Connie is measuring and cutting mattresses in order to make cushions for the couch/chairs. The style here these days seems to be large and overstuffed furniture but we opted for a “simple set”. It consists of five pieces, one a corner piece and the others just four legs with a bottom and a back. They are comfortable ( or they will be when there are cushions on them), nice looking, and relatively inexpensive. By the way, they were delivered on Sunday alright, as promised, only at 5.30 p.m. instead of “between 7 and 8 a.m.”. The problem: the truck needed repair from its work the previous day ……. We were also supposed to get two bookshelves and two bedside tables, but only one bookshelf came out of that lot. Who know when we’ll get the rest!

One of the things that I’ve learned about wood which is different from years ago is that the beautiful hard wood which was used for so much furniture and building is now really prohibitive in price because it has become so scarce (deforestation). This wood, called Mninga (in what language I don’t know), was what we used for all the furniture and even for the supports for the roofing tiles when building the school in Singida because it was readily available at a reasonable price and it can’t be touched by insects so it lasts for a very long time. All of the furniture we have purchased now is made of Cypress, and it’s also nice looking but very different because it is so much lighter, both in color and in weight. We will need to be on the alert to make sure no insects begin to make their homes with us.

It’s nice to cook with more than one burner, and now with a refrigerator we can get milk and a few more things at one time, rather than buying only on a daily basis. There’s a woman not far from here who has onions and tomatoes and who brings fresh green vegetables (spinach, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage) and maybe oranges to sell. But for a bit of a variety we walk to the main road, cross it and go to a small market there, altogether about a 30 minute walk from here. There we can add some papaya, lemons, tangerines, potatoes (both sweet and Irish), bread, beef, bananas. We have only so much strength in our arms so there’s a limit on what we can carry but with an equally distributed weight on both sides it works out alright. I actually need a third arm to carry my umbrella but so far haven’t evolved one yet!

18th July 2009
This morning we went at 6.45 a.m. to pray with our Small Christian Community, and although a bit early, it was nice. There were about 25 adults and probably about the same number of children there. We met at the home of one of the members of the Community, with the older adults and the men sitting on chairs while many of the women and all the children sat on mats on the floor. First we heard a reading from the New Testament, then everyone was welcomed to share their reflections on the reading. There was some good sharing, mostly by the men, and since the Catechist was there, of course he had to offer a rather long reflection. After that there was a time for prayers of petition from the group when we prayed for the needs of the Community. Finally there was a time for announcements and planning on how to take care of the responsibilities that this Community has in the Outstation. For example, tomorrow is the turn of our Community to provide readers and people to offer the gifts for Mass. There was a collection of money so that there is an amount in the kitty in case of need. And we were reminded that the Community had agreed to provide two windows for the church, one from the women and one from the men and so those who hadn’t contributed were asked to do so. Guests were introduced, including ourselves, and finally, there was a closing prayer and people dispersed. Most went to the church to clean it for tomorrow but we were excused from that task and came home. The whole process lasts only about one hour, but it was a nice time to get together with the neighbors who are Catholic.
Yesterday we spent the morning in town, mostly in the market, buying baskets and those small things we still needed for the kitchen. After an enjoyable time in the big town market we started looking for material for covers for the couch cushions, and amazingly enough, found some that both of us like. I had anticipated that it would take awhile to find something but we managed to do it rather quickly. We still don’t have the rest of the furniture, however ……………….

20th July 2009
Yesterday evening we took a walk that we had wanted to take for some time now, to St. Gaspar’s Conference Centre, where we stayed for the first five days after arriving here in Dodoma. As we walk around it’s so interesting to see the relationships between places we know. For example from here to St. Gaspar’s, if one would go by car it would be quite a distance, but by foot it took us only 45 minutes, and since we weren’t walking very fast it was probably only about two miles. We greeted some of the staff there who were on duty and then walked back, ready to cook supper, eat it, try for a shower, and go to bed at our usual early hour.
We have had trouble getting any water to come out of the shower ever since we arrived. We don’t really understand the water system, because there are two 500 lt. water tanks sitting on top of the back porch, and so one would think that there would always be water in order to fill the water heater, even if the water pressure is very low. There’s so much building going on around so I suppose the water needs in the area are huge, and sometimes the pressure is quite low. I don’t think we’ve ever had none at all, but most times there isn’t any coming out of the shower. Oh well, most of my Tanzanian life I’ve used water in buckets for showers, so why should now be any different? The landlord knows of the problem, however, and has something in mind in order to rectify the situation.

This morning I went to town because our bank account now has a number and it needed something put into it. In order to open an account, after all the other paperwork needed, one needs to have a starting balance of 250,000/=, a little less than $200. Of course we still don’t have a check book so the account is unusable until that comes. Little by little . . .

25th July 2009
We have been hoping and waiting for our internet connection and expecting that we would get it this week but this week is finishing and still none. Hopefully next week will find us with that much anticipated communication tool as well as the rest of our furniture.

Connie has finished sewing all the cushion covers and we are hand-stitching them closed now. They look very nice, and we also managed to find some curtain material for the windows in the living room so that’s her next project.

We have been talking to a few people about our work and we have tentative plans to meet with a neighbor who is a teacher at a local secondary school and who is also a member of our local Christian community. We haven’t had our meeting with the Bishop yet but it seems like we had the green light to go ahead so I don’t think that matters. Next week I hope to buy some books and begin preparing some classes so that when the time comes I’ll be ready.

Some days I am reminded about the kindness and thoughtfulness of people and yesterday was one of them. We had been in town, doing things that needed to be done and picking up some other things, like the curtain material. We both had our hands full of bags, and when we got off the dala dala at the end of the road it was about 1.00, with a hot sun and the wind blowing against us. The head wind seems to need a lot of extra effort when walking, especially with my umbrella open and beating against it. Anyway, after a short distance a car stopped to offer us a ride, and how grateful we were. This was a woman who is a manager at St. Gaspar’s Conference Centre which I’ve talked about before, and she lives in the neighborhood so was kind enough to bring us home. Most days I don’t mind that walk but yesterday it seemed like a hard task, and Meela made getting home easy for us. God bless her!

We have a lot of wind here during these months. I don’t know how long it will continue to be so windy but if the weather is like Singida’s, then it will calm down just before the rains start near the end of the year. It makes the windows and doors rattle at night sometimes, but it’s also good for drying clothes quickly and leaving them with little need for ironing!

The other night I heard a hyena howling outside, seemingly not too far away. The dogs were barking crazily at it, of course, but I’m sure he was in the neighborhood. So you see although we’re living in the capital city there’s still a lot of country around.

4th August 2009 - Finally

2009-08-05T10:52:00.002+03:00

You may have wondered why I haven’t posted anything on this blog for a LONG time. Well, only yesterday were we connected to the internet, and so I can finally get some news out. I’ve been writing fairly often and so this may be much more news than you want to know. Anyway, here goes. I'll do this in at least two installments.

Going backwards in time, here are some events from the time I left Arusha on 10th June. That seems like a long time ago, and I guess it is. Over one month already . . .

I had an uneventful trip by bus to Dar es Salaam, and the next morning early was at the airport to welcome Connie as she arrived from the U.S. My companion arriving in the country made it seem like the actual move and settling into home and ministry was actually going to be a reality. I let her have a couple days of rest, and then we were off to Dodoma. We arrived on Sunday evening and on Monday we went to look at the house that I thought would suit us well and in the meantime another house had become available and so we went to see that also. Connie agreed with me that the house in Kisasa area was very nice, and we met and talked rent with the owner. We couldn’t agree right away, and so agreed to meet the next day before we left Dodoma again. There was still no final agreement but he promised to get back to us by phone later that day. We went off to Morogoro to stay with the Sisters there, and to get a ride with them to Dar es Salaam on Thursday. While we were sitting and talking that evening in Morogoro, the text message came that he had agreed to our offer and so we had a house to rent! What a relief, because we really didn’t want to start all over again to look for housing.

We went to Dar es Salaam and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday had our Maryknoll Sisters area meeting. Friday was a day of reflection and I had prepared it on the theme “Mission and Ministry”. We used the Directions from our General Assembly which was held last October, and so those formed the basis of the day. The Direction we reflected on was: “We continually evaluate the quality and depth of our presence in mission. We include areas such as culture, interfaith dialogue, and worldviews that differ from our own.” Some of the conversations we had around this topic included the changing roles that we see of ourselves as we age and as Tanzania changes. On Saturday we discussed the business on the agenda, and one of the items was to discuss the research that we had done regarding establishing a presence in Dodoma. After hearing more from us, everyone agreed that this was a good place to be and so we were assigned. May our lives and the lives of all we touch in Dodoma be blessed.

Sunday we spent at the ocean. Dar es Salaam has some beautiful beaches and we went to an exceptionally gorgeous one, Kipepeo Beach at Mji Mwema. To get there we took a very short ferry ride and then drove about 10 minutes to a white and sandy beach. There were some thatched shelters there on the beach so that’s where I spent most of the time, while others enjoyed the ocean. Since the sun and I have great respect for each other, I prefer to stay in the shade as much as possible. Of course I did have a walk along the ocean and waded a little.
On Monday we met with our landlord and signed the contract, and also went to see about the possibilities for buying a car. I had written a funding proposal for the money, so if it’s accepted then we need to choose from what may be available. Tuesday morning we put all our earthly possessions on a bus with ourselves and took the journey to our new city. We had made arrangements to stay for five days at St. Gaspar’s Conference Centre, and so we got off the bus near there, a few kilometers before arriving in the city itself. They sent some young people to carry our bags, and welcomed us very warmly. It is a large (about 100 rooms) centre and very comfortable and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. Every morning we walked to the main road and got on one of the small buses that go around the city, got to the main station, and started our walk around to discover what Dodoma has to offer. The first day was to make application for a post office box, and to begin the process of opening a bank account. The bank account takes some time to open, so although we had all the documents required, still we haven’t been approved yet. That has curtailed our purchases somewhat since we don’t have much money to work with until we have an account and our Maryknoll Sister Treasurer can deposit something for us to use . . . . But we have learned quite a bit about the areas of the city, which bus goes where, what shops are where and what is available and at what price, and we even got the phone number of a woman who can cut the hair of non-Africans! All of these were great achievements, don’t you agree?

4 July 2009
Happy Independence Day!
We actually moved into our house in Dodoma on the day agreed upon, which was July 1st. We had been staying at the Diocesesan Hostel for the previous three days while slowly gathering some few essential first needs. And so on that day, immediately after breakfast, Connie went off by small bus to St. Gaspar’s Conference Centre to collect our personal belongings, which consisted of four large suitcases. I hired a taxi and put in the things we had bought so far: a bucket, two plates, two cups, an electric hot plate, a knife, two spoons, a kilo of rice, four onions, two tomatoes, a cabbage, a packet of salt, bottled water, some bread and peanut butter. Then I went to a shop and bought two mattresses and four pillows and off I went to “our” house. After off-loading the things from the taxi, I immediately went to the technical training centre where we had ordered some furniture the previous Friday. We had ordered two beds with poles to secure mosquito nets, a set of five seats with which to form a couch, two wardrobes, two bedside tables and two bookshelves with the assurance that they would be ready by Wednesday. Of course that was living in a dream world to really believe all that would happen in such a short time ….. When I went at the time agreed upon (10.00 a.m.) I was shown the one complete bed and the other getting ready for varnishing ! Nothing else was done, most not having even been started yet. Anyway, I was promised that the beds would arrive before nightfall, and with that I went back and helped start putting things in order. We ate out first meal at noon, consisting of peanut butter on bread and peanuts, standing in the kitchen while a young man was trying to clean some of the dust and cobwebs from the windows. He was commissioned by the landlord to clean the house before we moved in so he was doing his best. We continued to unpack a bit but since we didn’t have any place to put anything, that was almost a useless task. By 4.00 we were thankful to see the beds arriving. Four men quickly put them together but when we asked about the mosquito net poles, lo and behold they had been forgotten. Anyway, the bed was the main part of the equation and we were grateful to have them. Of course when I tried to put on my sheets they weren’t the right size, so I made my bed with khangas (pieces of material) and tied the mosquito net to the curtain rods. I cooked a supper of spaghetti and reconstituted dry fish and it tasted really good. There is a bit of a problem though with eating spaghetti with only a spoon. Since the fish was eaten best by using fingers, that became the best way to eat the spaghetti also. Since we had no chairs, dinner was served while sitting on the living room floor, and soon after we had showers, blessed the house by walking through all the rooms and praying for good things to happen here, and went to bed. The first night’s sleep was good but I was cold! The nights get quite chilly here, and there’s a good wind what whips around so I finally got up and put on my sweater, some socks and found some more khangas to put over me. And so ended the first day.

5th July 2009 – Sunday
Today we went to pray at our local church, a walk of about 15 minutes from our house. Yesterday we had asked the man who is building his house just opposite ours where the church is, and he said that he’d show us this morning, at 9.00 a.m. He himself is an Anglican but said he knows the Catholic Church. When 9.00 came and there was no sign of him, we asked the woman who is hired by our landlord to water the new cement, etc., if she knew where the church is. She said that she did, and proceeded to lead us to it. She herself is Moslem. As usual, I am amazed at how everyone respects each other’s beliefs and helps the other in their faith life.

We arrived at about 9.15, just as the final announcements were being made! We learned that Mass starts at 8.00 a.m., not 9.00. But at the door of the church we were met by a woman who welcomed us warmly, and asked us to sit and meet the parishioners. We were introduced by the fellow who was making the announcements, who I believe is the chairperson of the Parish Council, and were received with applause by all. We introduced ourselves and everyone loves it when we speak Swahili. The woman who welcomed us asked to see where we live so that we can be informed of things that happen in the church community and to ascertain which Small Christian Community we would belong to. So we had a small procession of children who followed us as we made our way back. It became apparent that we live very close to the woman who first welcomed us, Mama Macha, and when we arrived at her house she invited us in for tea. It seems that we will be members of the St. Clara Small Christian Community.
Let me explain about the usual parish set-up here in Tanzania. The larger entity is the parish (parokia) and each parish usually has many outstations (vigango) and each outstation is divided into small Christian communities (jumuiya ndogo ndogo). The church we went to today is St. Anna’s outstation and has several small Christian communities, one of which is St. Clara’s. Each community meets once per week for praying together and for taking care of other community concerns. For example, if a child is to be baptized, that passes through the community, and other things as well. The people were saying that our outstation is to become a parish within the next couple of years. The church has walls made of cement blocks, but no windows have been installed yet nor have the blocks been plastered or the floor finished, etc. All of the building is the work of their hands, they proudly announced, although the roofing sheets were a gift. Today the Catechist led the service because there was no priest available; usually they do have a priest and Mass.

10th July 2009
Today is a recovery day after a whole bunch of walking yesterday. We had set as our task to finish the paperwork at the bank and to do some more shopping for essential items. The walk from our house is probably about one mile and takes us 20 minutes. When we reach the main road we wait for a dala dala (mini-bus) and then have a short – 15 minutes is normal but that depends on how many stops it makes and how long it has to wait for passengers – trip into the main dala dala station in town. Then we walked to the post office to pick up a letter with some checks so that we have some money to live on. Then on to the police station where Inspector Haji, who is married to my former student, was to fill in the second referee form needed so that we can open a bank account. What we thought had been a complete set of papers for opening the account wasn’t actually quite right. A second referee was one piece that needed to be added. Anyway, I had a very nice visit with that family and after filling in the form he took me to the bank in his car, which saved a rather long walk. When I got to the bank I found out that Inspector Haji ‘s account in the bank was a savings account, not a current account and so his recommendation wouldn’t do the trick. While trying to figure out who else might act as referee I stopped at the Vodacom office, trying to make plans to get a modem in order to hook us up to internet, email, etc. And there I found that it isn’t as easy as I had assumed, and one piece of paper needed in order to contract with them as our server is proof of a bank account! Back to square one. In the meantime I was able to contact the secretary of the Bishop and she put me into contact with the treasurer of the Diocese. The Diocese has a current account with the bank so he said he’d act as a referee and told me to come at 11.30 a.m. And so there was another long walk back to the Diocesan Offices, and there I waited for 1-1/2 hours for the treasurer to show up. He happily filled the form, and was welcoming and charming, with no mention of having kept me waiting for that time ….. And then the long walk back to the bank. It seems like we may have completed all the forms necessary now for that task, and so I walked back to the dala dala station and started my journey home. It took more than 45 minutes on the bus this time, because there weren’t many passengers and so the driver and conductor were waiting to pick up a few more fares. When I got off the bus it was after 2.00 p.m. and the sun was hot and strong so I took a very leisurely walk back to our house, under my umbrella, and was more than happy to arrive, albeit hot and dusty. I keep telling myself that it’s good exercise …… We are beginning to be known in the neighborhood and children shout out their greetings to us. We are the only non-Africans I have seen in the vicinity, and with Connie wearing her hat and me carrying an umbrella, we do manage to stand out!

12th July 2009
Some more days have gone by and it seems like we’re not all that much further ahead in our purchases and settling in. We have been waiting for the furniture to arrive for several days now, and the waiting hasn’t produced many results. On Friday we had a call that the couch and bookshelves would be ready to bring that afternoon but since we hadn’t paid any money for a down payment nor paid for the beds that had already been delivered, it would be good to pay something. So I walked to the road, got a dala dala, walked to the workshop, and paid a hefty down payment. Then I was invited to look at the progress of our furniture: the couch set only needed varnishing, the bookshelves needed the back put on them as well as sanding and varnishing. I knew we wouldn’t be getting the wardrobes, and was told that it might be a few days yet for them because the hinges weren’t available in Dodoma and they needed to be ordered from Dar es Salaam. But as I was shown the other things that had been promised for today, I realized that that wouldn’t happen either. After some complaining about how we are sitting on the floor with our old bones, etc., and receiving all sorts of apologies, it was promised that these things would be brought “tomorrow” , and off I went by foot again after being disappointed that I didn’t have a ride in the truck that was bringing the furniture.

Yesterday afternoon came the call we were expecting – only we were expecting the call to say they were on their way and the call that came was that no driver was available and so the furniture couldn’t be brought after all. The next promise was for Monday morning but in the late afternoon another call came that it could be brought this morning, between 7.00 and 8.00 a.m. It’s now 11.00 and there is no sign of the furniture nor any word. We’ll see what happens next.

We have agreed that the looking around for stuff has to quit now, and we just get on with it. The hardest part is not having transport, so carrying heavy stuff around town is not a pleasant prospect. We will try to do a lot tomorrow (Monday) and hire transport to bring it out here.
We are learning a little more about our neighborhood and are finding that it’s an interesting combination of modern and traditional. This area on the outskirts of the city used to be pretty much open space with a few traditional households, with some farming and grazing going on. When the Capital Development Authority started developing this area, each person/family already living here was given a certain number of plots depending on the land they were using. It was up to them to either build a permanent house or they could sell the plots if they wanted to. Many of the plots were sold, like the one we’re on, and anyone with money to invest could buy the plot and build a house on it; that’s what our landlord did. But right next door is a traditional house, made of mud brick and flat earthen roof. The development of the area looks rather haphazard right now but at some point there will be streets, etc. On our walk to the main road we pass lovely modern houses, and then a traditional house with a large enclosure for cows that are kept there. The folks at that place sell fresh milk, and also next door to that they sell pork nearly every day. The hunks of meat are hung from the tree and they have a scale to weigh the pieces when sold. Guess what we’re having for our Sunday dinner ….

Another of the traditional and village life activities that we are experiencing is the celebration of coming of age of some of the youngsters. At a house near us is a boy who has just been circumcised and so there are traditional dances, songs, and drumming going on much of the day and night. I don’t know much about these traditions as practiced by the people from here, the Wagogo, but I suppose we’ll find out as time goes on.

A couple days ago we took a walk and found the railroad tracks. We hear the train sometimes during the day and night so knew that the tracks couldn’t be far. And they aren’t – maybe about a 10-15 minute walk. The well-maintained gravel road ends before reaching there, so I guess that’s as far as the formal development has gone up to now. This road has several bridges because there’s a gully that winds its way through this area. It will be interesting to see what happens in the rainy season. Now we’re in the middle of the dry season, so it’s chilly and windy.

9th June 2009 - Leaving Arusha

2009-06-08T10:03:00.002+03:00

I leave my Arusha home tomorrow after having been taken in since my arrival back in Tanzania almost four months ago. And this move has made me reflect once again on "home". Many times when I meet someone for the first time I'm asked where home is. Sometimes I don't know how to answer because it seems like I have so many homes and so many people have welcomed me into and made their homes be mine. The answers range from Maryknoll NY, to the family farm in ND, to Singida/Arusha/and now presumably Dodoma Tanzania, to dear friends in NJ and NY, to brother in Casper WY, to family in Bismarck ND and wherever they are. Everyone of these places and the people there welcomes me and invites me into their lives and I am at home with them. What a gift that is, and one for which I'm very grateful. I guess that's one of the characteristics of a missioner - to be at home wherever, and so maybe the words of the song are true: Home is any place you choose to put your heart. For now my heart is definitely here in Tanzania and notwithstanding how much I miss family and friends in the U.S., it is very good for me to be here.

I go to Dar es Salaam tomorrow, a 9 hour bus ride, and on Thursday will meet my Maryknoll sister, Connie, with whom I will be living with. I'll let her have a couple days to rest and to get over jet lag, and then we'll go to Dodoma, where she'll see if the possibilities that I saw in Dodoma look as positive to her as they do to me, and also we'll make a decision about housing. On June 18th we'll go back to Dar es Salaam where the Maryknoll Sisters will have a meeting and we'll be assigned to our new home. After that presumably we'll start setting up house and get to work as quickly as possible. This is all very exciting for me, and I'm really looking forward to settling in and meeting the people with whom I'll be working.

I was interested to compare the weather of Arusha, Dar es Salaam and Dodoma - this is what I found. This afternoon the temperature in Arusha is 73 F., Dar es Salaam 81 F., and Dodoma also 81. Low expected is Arusha 57, Dar es Salaam 78 and Dodoma 59. However, the humidity is 65 per cent in Arusha, 70 in Dar es Salaam and 39 in Dodoma. So, as expected, the temperatures of Dar and Dodoma don't vary much but the comfort level is very different because of the humidity. And the low temperatures between Arusha and Dodoma don't differ much but it feels colder here in Arusha because the humidity is higher. I'll let you know what it's REALLY like when I get to these places! Stay tuned ...

5th June 2009 - Packing

2009-06-04T15:42:00.003+03:00

This is my last full week of being in Arusha and so I'm gathering my things and re-packing for departure next Wednesday. These last couple of weeks have been really cool here, but today the sun came out really early and it has been sunny all day. The wind is strong today, and I remember that such is the case during these winter months. Murigha (Singida school) was a really windy place, and as the rainy season gets further and further away, the dust blows something awful. Because we had planted a lot of trees on the school property, that helped so much to deflect the wind and also to keep the dust down. People used to come to the school just to get away from the wind and dust and to enjoy the trees. You might ask why they didn't plant trees themselves. Well, it's really hard to have a tree grow in an environment where goats and cows run quite freely. Supposedly the herds (some really small herds, but groups of goats and cows) are cared for but the herder is often a small boy (or girl) and sometimes playing gets in the way of watching the animals and so what shouldn't get eaten does in fact get destroyed. How did I get off on that track??

I drove into downtown Arusha on Tuesday and was once again amazed at the amount of traffic. Cars and trucks and bicycles and motorcycles and carts and buses and pedestrians are all vying for a place on the single lane road. Some days are less congested than others, and some times as well, but I guess I chose the wrong day and time to go. There are a lot more cars and motorcycles around these days because there are a lot of second-hand ones being brought in and so somehow affordable to a certain group of people. Most of these vehicles come from the Far East and it seems that some of them are good bargains and others are real lemons. I don't know how you can guarantee to get a good vehicle, but maybe that's part of the bargain. Petrol (gas for cars) sells at $3.50 per gallon and many folks buy only a gallon at a time. Sometimes that's true also of taxi drivers, and they might ask you to pay part of their fare first, stop to put in some gas, and then take you where you need to go.

When I went to buy my bus ticket for Dar es Salaam today I was reminded about what happens on a Friday. The ticket seller was not there, and when asked where he was, the reply: He's gone to pray. Friday is the holy day of the week for Moslems and it's important that they go to pray around noon time. The official day off here in Tanzania is Sunday so Christians don't usually have that conflict of balancing work time and prayer time. Anyway, someone else finally got around to selling me a ticket but he didn't have a pen with which to write out the ticket so I now have one less pen. I didn't want to ask for it back because there was a fellow in line behind me and if I had taken the pen then he wouldn't have been able to get a ticket. And so it goes. Thanks to the children of my home parish I have lots of pens!

I'll write one more post early next week before I leave Arusha. Have a good weekend.

28th May 2009 - Sounds

2009-05-27T12:01:00.005+03:00

These days I've been noting the sounds I hear in the mornings. The first thing is the 5.00 a.m. call of the local muezzin. I think there must be two mosques in hearing distance because I often hear what I think are two different voices. The call is basically telling the Moslem faithful to get up and get to the mosque for their morning prayer, and of course he (always a "he") also chants that God is great, etc. At about the same time the vehicles start travelling on the road which is just on the other side of the hedge/fence of the property here. This road starts at the main Arusha-Babati road and the paved part of it ends here (it was paved when President Bush came to visit Emusoi Centre). Many mornings there are what sounds like small cars or taxis passing although this morning there was obviously large trucks going somewhere, and they were loud. Then the pigeons begin to coo. There is a nest under the eaves just outside the windows to my room, and so they awake and start their day with their sounds. By the time they've finished the other birds begin, and it's about this time that the sun begins to come up. More and more birds sing as there is more and more light, and there are some quite varied songs coming from them.
Just on the other side of the road, so the closest neighbors, are offices and residences of a law firm. It's a large compound with several buildings, and this firm maintains all the plants and trees alongside the road. Apparently the founder of the firm was one of the first Tanzanian lawyers, and it is now being run by his son. They advertise themselves as experts in Real Estate and Property law, Corporate law, Commercial law, Tourism and Wildlife law, Trust law and litigation, and they obviously take good care of their staff, since the houses are very nice and there's a social club included. They're good neighbors and very quiet.
Kitty-cornered from this property is another large compound, and this one is a tour company. They are the ones that have a lot of safari cars going in and out, and many times are coming and going early in the morning and late at night. They also have a bunch of dogs, so those dogs and the dogs here when they get going together create quite some cacophony. Some bark, some howl, some do both, and they really are loud some nights. Sometimes also some animals dare to come around and into the compound, and so that drives the dogs really crazy. These animals aren't large nor very exotic (the most common is like a weasel) but they sure drive the dogs wild.
During the day there isn't a lot of noise except for the times when someone is teasing the dogs outside the fence and they get wild and bark their heads off. Besides in the morning, the Muz zein calls people to prayer at noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and the last time around 8.00 p.m. On Thursdays and Saturdays the Pentecostals are singing and praying, and although they are way down the street, they can be heard very clearly. I've begun to know some of the songs by heart! And in the evenings the girls at Emusoi Centre pray,and their singing is also very loud. There's the occasional sound of a herd of goats passing on the road, and children talking and laughing as they go to school -- all nice sounds.
Enjoy the sounds in your life.

19th May, 2009 - Connections

2009-05-18T15:33:00.006+03:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything so I guess it's time to let you all know what's happening. I went to Dodoma again last week and spent two days looking for housing. I rather enjoyed it, and was reminded again of how important connections are. All of the contacts were friends of friends of friends ..... and so it goes. The word goes out and somehow things happen. One of the people who showed me a house was someone that was asked to do so because the original contact was out of town. Amazingly enough, in the course of the conversation I learned that he was married to a former student of mine! After that connection was established I certainly got the red carpet treatment.

Hopefully we will be able to make a decision about the next step soon after the arrival of Sr. Connie, with whom I will be living and working. She comes next month, so I'm looking forward to settling in.

One thing that struck me during the 12 hour ride to and fro was the grass cutting along the sides of the road. The rainy season is now finished or finishing in most parts of the country so the grass which grew so tall along the sides of the road and in the ditches is now being cut. It's being cut by men with slashers and machetes, all by hand. I'm not sure what portion of ditch is given to each person but it's obvious that each fellow has his piece and works at it. It would be interesting to know how many people are hired to do this grass cutting each time it's done since Tanzania is a big country with many, many miles of roads.

The day before I left for Dodoma I visited a woman who lived near the school in Singida when I was there and who now lives outside of Arusha. She has a very long and very tragic story, but the short version is that she has five children with her who she ran away with from her husband who is a drunk and was beating her within an inch of her life. When she first came to this area she managed to get a job at one of the flower farms, and she said it was a great job. She was paid almost $2.00 per day and was also given morning tea and a noon meal, and with this job she was able to pay rent for two very small rooms and to buy food for her children as well as school uniforms and supplies for the two youngest (the oldest boy has finished primary school; the oldest girl and second boy had to quit school and so don't even have a primary school certificate). Unfortunately, with the demand for flowers bottoming out because of the financial situation in Europe and the U.S., the farms have had to lay off many workers, and because she was among the latest employed, she was among the first to go. And then in March she fell when getting out of a bus and broke her arm so that is just now healing. The oldest boy does whatever job he can get, and together they are just barely managing. She says that the only job available to the oldest girl is selling local beer, and she doesn't want her to do that since sellers always have to taste the gourd of beer first (a guarantee that it isn't poisoned). I'm sure that stories such as hers are multiplied many, many times but her loss of what she considered a very good job shows again how the world is connected and especially how what affects the developed world has many repurcussions for the developing world.

The cold season has started and mornings and afternoons see us all with sweaters or jackets. I even sometimes pull up a second blanket at night so that 's a big change from February.

Finally some photos

2009-05-03T17:04:00.015+03:00

Mt. Hanang

Bibiana & Family Easter

Maryknoll Sisters & Friends

Morogoro Retreat

Arusha house

Mt. Meru (Arusha)

Gladys, M.M.

Morogoro

Deo making juice Easter Sunday

Sunday & his mother cooking on Easter

1st May 2009 - May Day

2009-05-01T17:16:00.005+03:00

Today is a national holiday here: Worker's Day. There are national celebrations taking place in Musoma and everyone has a day off. Usually the national celebrations consist of a parade of workers, speeches by politicians, etc., so the president is there in Musoma doing what needs to be done for the occasion. As I remember there is usually some promise of wage increases on this day, so we'll see if that happens this year. I'm sure all the workers are anxiously awaiting and hoping for an increase because I hear so often complaints about the increase in cost of living.

Yesterday I had an enjoyable morning visiting a lot of shops in downtown Arusha. I was looking for ballpark figure prices for things we'll need as we set up a new house and so decided to walk the main street to see what is available. And there I found some shops the same as years before and some very different. I have had in the past quite a lot of experience with shopping in Arusha, but a lot of that shopping was for books and school supplies or tractor spare parts. And I never needed gas or electric stoves nor refrigerators so looking at those things was a new experience for me. I remember some shops that sold household things, and they were really very ordinary and had not a lot of variety to choose from. Those same shops now are quite different -- spruced up, lots more things to choose from, nicely displayed and nice things to buy. Many of the goods are from UAE, Dubai, that area, but there are also things from Europe and East Asia. And the prices vary a great deal. At one shop I was looking at bed sheets and towels and noticed some blankets on the shelf. I asked where they were made (Korea) and the price and was told that they sold for the equivalent of almost $90.00! When I asked the price of the locally made blankets, the shop attendant told me that they didn't carry them. "But," I said, "you probably know the price, don't you?" And she told me that they are sold for less than $10.00! You can guess which blankets we'll buy.

There are stoves, mostly gas but some electric, simple ones without a lot of bells and whistles, ranging from about $300.00 to nearly $1000.00. The same is true for the prices of refrigerators. Some of the price variables come from size, some comes from where it's made. Anyway, it was interesting to see the variety of things available. Even before I left in 2004 there had been quite a lot of trade liberalization taking place, but now obviously there is a lot more.

I didn't bother looking at furniture because I know that we will have it made locally. There are local carpenters in every town who make furniture as you want it made. I'm sure we'll go with a simple frame with sponge cushions for couch and easy chairs, and that that will be relatively inexpensive. Beds will be the same: frame with wooden slats and a sponge mattress. I think I know the kind of mattress that lasts (the same kind we had at the school) so that will be fine. I notice that the manufacturer is still in business here in Arusha.

As I went around I remembered how much I enjoyed this kind of interaction with people, in shops or wherever. At one shop I went in to ask for directions and got into a long conversation with the shop attendant. One of the reasons that happens is that folks are surprised at my command of Swahili, and so they're interested to know all about me. When I was ready to go home, I engaged a taxi to bring me back here. The taxi driver and I also had a good conversation, and one thing I was interested to hear is how he, as a very young man, attributes the stability of the country to Nyerere. I thought that maybe after quite a long time since Nyerere was in power and ten years since his death, the young people may have moved on and forgotten his contributions to the country. Not so, and I was glad to hear that sense of history and gratitude from him.

Have a great month of May.

25th April 2009 - Cooler Weather

2009-04-25T17:12:00.003+03:00

Can you believe that I’m looking for something to wrap around my shoulders today! It’s chilly after a rain last night and because we’re moving closer toward June and July when it’s usually the coldest months here. I hope that just the opposite is happening in the northern hemisphere and that you all are finally getting some spring weather.

I just returned across the hedge from Emusoi Centre, where there are a bunch of girls studying English, maths, history, Swahili in order to prepare them to enter Secondary School next year. I was reminded again of the different customs practiced by the different ethnic groups here in Tanzania. There are over 120 tribes who live here, most of them Bantu but a few others are Nilotic or Cushitic . Each has a different language and somewhat different customs. These days there is a lot of intermarriage so some of the cultural expressions are becoming national expressions or are not practiced as much as they used to be. One that I find with fascinating differences is how a youngster greets an older person. At Emusoi the students are mostly Maasai, and so when I pass a student in the hall there, she greets me and bows her head, expecting me to lay my hand on her head and return the greeting. Where I lived in Singida, it’s just the opposite: the child raises her hand to me and I’m supposed to bow down so she can lay her hand on my head and greet me. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how the differences came about?

Yesterday I went to visit another friend from the early 90’s. He was a young man in those days and got married around that time. He now has five children, two of them already in secondary school. I like the names they have named their children: Bahati (Good Fortune), Baraka (Blessing), Faraja (Comfort), Fadhila (Kindness), and Wema (Goodness). Of course they also have saints’ names but these “Majina ya nyumbani” (Home names) are wonderful, don’t you think? This man wanted to be a priest when he was a young man but his father refused to give him permission to go to the seminary. And so he started work, got married, has those very nice children, and is quite involved in the religious and church life of the community. He is the Vice-Chairman of the parish council, his wife the Chairperson of the Catholic Women’s Group and sings in the choir. They showed me pictures of two of their children who received First Communion this year -- two of 200 in the group ! He is also the leader of the Small Christian Community in the neighborhood where they live. When I asked him about this group, he said that they get together for prayer and discussion of the needs of the community every Saturday. I assumed it would be in the late afternoon or evening but he told me that they meet at 5.30 a.m., before they go off to their shops or fields or wherever! He said that there are about 40 adults in the group, and there are usually at least 25 who attend these meetings. He has a job as an Agricultural Extension Worker and his wife has a couple knitting and sewing machines so she has a business of knitting sweaters and sews and embroiders cloth. The house that they started building in 2003 isn’t finished yet because they, like so many others, build slowly as money becomes available. Right now all their extra income goes into paying school fees for the children so the house, although they live in it, can wait for the finishing touches.

Hope everyone who reads this is well.

16th April 2009 - Easter Week

2009-04-16T08:36:00.003+03:00

I'm back from my trip and the celebration of Easter. I hope that you had as nice an Easter as I did.

Beginning from the beginning: I had an interesting bus trip from Arusha to Dodoma. If you look at a map of Tanzania you will see that Dodoma is almost straight south of Arusha. In the past I've gone to Dodoma via Babati and Kondoa, and that's the way I expected we would go. Imagine my surprise when we started going east toward Moshi as we left Arusha! Because of the disrepair of the Babati-Kondoa road, the bus takes the long way around: east and south almost to the coast, then south, back west to Morogoro and finally north and west to arrive at Dodoma. It took us 11 hours and 45 minutes, and we stopped exactly three times. The first time was about 11.00 a.m. when we stopped for food for about 30 minutes. Then there was a bathroom stop about 1.00 p.m. and finally at Morogoro and the headquarters of the bus company where we stopped for another 30 minutes while they checked the bus. It was a nice bus and the road is all paved but the seats are just not roomy enough and the constant ride without stopping to stretch legs made for an uncomfortable ride as the hours went on. I was happy to pass Moshi during a cloudless period and saw Mt. Kilimanjaro in all her splendor. It had obviously been raining on the mountain because I could see that there was snow quite a ways down it. The glacier is definitely melting and this snow won't stay, but for the moment she has a beautiful white cap.

The same bus driver did the whole trip and I noticed that he was drinking Red Bull whereas years ago drivers would have been chewing khat (mirraa). Mirraa are leaves of some plant that are chewed as a stimulant, and long distance drivers and conductors of buses and lorries used to chew these leaves quite a bit while on the road. I don't know if these aren't available these days or if it's considered more modern to drink Red Bull but whatever the reason that's certainly a difference.

So we arrived in Dodoma at 5.45 p.m. and I booked into the hostel run by the Diocese of Dodoma. After a shower and supper, I was soon asleep while relieved to be out of the confines of the bus. The next day I waited for the Bishop to return from some commitments that he had in order to have our conversation about the possibility of ministry in his diocese. In short, he was very encouraging and welcomed us to work in Dodoma. There are plenty of needs there and in the future there will be more educational institutions so we would have lots of young people with which to work. He invited me to eat with him and his community while I was there so I was dining with the Bishop and enjoying the conversation and getting to know a bit more about the situation there.

On Thursday I took a tour around the city of about 2-1/2 hours, and got a pretty good picture of it. I was taken to a couple of areas that would be suitable for housing, and the Bishop said that he'd ask his friends about available housing for rent. I think it would be the opportune time to get established there because there are several educational institutions being developed and when they are in operation I'm sure there will be more demand for housing. Everything that we would need seems to be available there so I don't think we would suffer. Now we just have to come to a decision and follow it into existence. I really like Dodoma and feel like I could begin work there tomorrow!

I attended Holy Thursday Mass at the Cathedral in the evening and it was packed with people. Actually the Bishop said that there weren't too many people there (!) and I guess that was because there was actually room in the aisles yet for more. All the pews that I could see were full ...

By 8.00 a.m. on Friday I was in another bus, now on the way to Singida. This bus was really crowded and I had to put my suitcase at my feet so almost the whole way my leg was pressed up against the iron bar of the seat in front of me. Again there was no room for stretching except for the short stop it made in Manyoni at which point I was able to stand up and move my legs a bit. I arrived in Singida just as the outdoor Stations of the Cross were beginning and as soon as they finished the Good Friday service began, at 3.00 p.m. That service lasted until 6.00 p.m. -- church services aren't noted for their brevity here in Tanzania! I met with an old friend later and got caught up with news of him and his family. He was the contractor who built the school and he has a daughter born during that time and whom he named after me. She's now in secondary school so Darlene Charles is probably the only student in Tanzania with that first name.

Saturday morning again at 8.00 a.m. I was on the bus to Nangwa. By the time we left Singida there was no room, even standing room, in the bus but don't think that prevented the bus people from putting more folks in. By the time we got to Nangwa I had to struggle to make my way to the door, and since there was no way that I could get out with my suitcase in hand, that went out through the window. Bibiana's oldest son, Deo, was there to meet me and that was the beginning of a lovely Easter. We spent Saturday afternoon chatting and catching up on the family and mutual friends. The boys are all doing very well in their various studies and are fine young men. It was so good to see them again and to relate to them as adults. Together we remembered incidents of when they were just babies/children, and all in all had a very good time. When I passed Nangwa in March everything looked really dry but by now it is raining, and it poured on Saturday afternoon. The maize is looking good, and the wheat is just coming up. Bibiana and her husband work really hard, teaching full time as well as farming so that they can make money to provide good education for their children. Parents really make tremendous sacrifices for their children, here in Tanzania and all over the world.

Saturday night at 10.00 began the Easter Vigil in the parish church and it lasted until 1.00 p.m. when the last strains of the Easter music finished. By that time it was raining again and we slipped and slid up the mountain in the dark. Sunday morning we spent time together cooking and preparing the Easter dinner, the boys helping in every way. In the afternoon I visited some people I knew from my years there, and we just continued to enjoy each other's company. By Monday morning at 6.30 a.m. I was on another bus, this time here to Arusha. I was in the back of the bus at the beginning but at Babati was given a seat in the front. Again it was crowded, but not so bad as some of the other buses. I was back here a little after noon, and happy to not have to ride any more buses for awhile. I came with a badly swollen and very sore leg, I think the result of being banged and squeezed in too many buses. It feels a bit better today so hopefully it's on the road to recovery.

As I was riding the buses during this trip I thought often about the fact that there just isn't enough of most things here. There aren't enough buses, there isn't enough room in any bus, there isn't enough food for many people, there aren't enough medical services, there aren't enough hospital beds (just read in the paper that at the one cancer hospital in the country there are 120 beds and 220 patients, so 100 of them have to sleep on the floor), there aren't enough schools, there aren't enough teachers, certainly there aren't enough books, and the list could go on and on. And recently coming from the land of plenty, where there are so many things and so many choices, the contrast is very apparent.

Anyway, I feel as though another step along the way to settling in has been made. More again soon.

6th April 2009 - Holy Week

2009-04-06T14:47:00.004+03:00

Monday of Holy Week and Easter is just around the corner. I hope that this week will be a blessed one for all, and the celebration of Easter a joyous and life-giving time. I was reading some things about Easter today on the Spirituality and Practise website, about how we could think about resurrection as a verb, how when we are people of resurrection and hope, we defy death, forgive, do things that are life-giving, fight death and needless suffering. When we affirm others and their life, when we treat everyone with dignity and the possibility of a relationship with us, then we are people of life, of resurrection. Anyway, enough of that fervoreno, and I wish for all of you the graces of this season.

Tomorrow I leave Arusha on the 6.00 a.m. bus to Dodoma. I have an appointment with the Bishop to discuss the possibility of ministry there and so I'm looking forward to the trip, to the conversation, and to hopefully getting a little bit more of a direction as to what lies ahead. The trip is to take 11 hours, so it will be a long day tomorrow. Hopefully the road won't be too muddy and we won't get stuck or that the bus won't break down. I'm thinking positively.

And after a couple days there in Dodoma I'll move on to Singida, probably an overnight there, and then to Nangwa and the celebration of Easter with my good friend, Bibiana, and her family. Her daughter will not be going home for the holiday, but the boys (three of them) plan to be there. Nangwa is where I lived between 1980 and 1988, and so it will be good to revisit the place. It is situated right at the base of Mt. Hanang, the third highest mountain in Tanzania which is a little over 11,000 ft. It was right out my window all of those years, and a very lovely place. It gets cold, however, and I remember times that I could hardly write on the blackboard because of cold and stiff fingers. It shouldn't be too cold yet in April; coldest months are July and August. It's a great wheat growing area, so I expect I'll see fields of sprouting or very short wheat.

More when I return after Easter.

1st April 2009 - A New Month

2009-03-31T10:21:00.005+03:00

I've finished my project and so am waiting for another one to do. It was good for me to learn all the Rights of the Child and to reflect on how these are or are not being put into practise here in Tanzania. One of them (there are altogether 42) is the right to an education, and trying to make that happen has been my work here for so many years. It means so much to youngsters, especially girls, to have that opportunity. One reason, of course, is that education opens so many doors for a person. It prepares her to make her own way in the world, gives tools for making a living, and is most of all a broadening, mind-expanding process. I think that for girls in some of the more traditional cultures around the world, education allows them to grow up, to mature, to become an adult before marriage and having children forces them into that role. Traditionally many girls are married as soon as they reach puberty, so if they have a chance to go to secondary school, that means that they have four more years to grow up, to mature, to learn, to be ready for the responsibilities of marriage and motherhood. Don't you think that's really important?

It is now the policy of the Tanzanian government to have a secondary school in every Kata. Let's see if I can tell you a bit about how the country is divided. There is first of all the central government, and then the country is divided into Regions (there are I think almost 30 now). Regions (Mikoa) are divided into Districts (Wilaya), Districts are divided into Divisions (Tarafa), Divisions into Wards (Kata), and Wards into Ten Cells (Nyumba Kumi) or Ten Households. So when I lived in Singida my points of reference were: I lived in Singida Region, Singida Rural District, Ilongero Division, Maghojoa Ward, Murigha Cell. So going back to the first sentence in this paragraph, each Kata (Ward) is supposed to have a day secondary school. The implementation of this policy has been more or less successful, with the community expected to build the classrooms and teachers' houses up to the lintel, and then the government finishes the buildings by providing the roofing materials. They also supply teachers, books and supplies. And there is the problem. There aren't enough trained teachers for all of these schools and so many of them are very inadequately staffed. However, that problem is recognized and more training is now being provided, so hopefully that situation will be resolved before too many years pass.

Having said all of that, there is still a great advantage that I see of having these schools, as problematic as they may be. I was really happy to hear from so many of the folks I saw at Murigha and Msange that their children were attending secondary school. Because these schools are of the community, the fees are relatively little, and although there are probably other contributions required (like they need to go with their own desk !) still many families will do their best to manage those fees and contributions. One woman I met in Msange when I visited was a woman who I knew from the early 1990's, a woman who had quite a few children and was always a bit sick and destitute. She was about as skinny as my arm, short and wrinkled, very talkative. I remember that at one time we provided milk for her baby, Micah, every day. She would come with him when he was just little, and we'd have milk for her to give him since she couldn't provide enough for this tiny wrinkled infant who resembled her so much. Anyway, although we were so sure that he didn't have a future, he managed to survive and she told me with great pride that he is attending secondary school at Maghojoa!! That would never have happened a few years ago, and I think it's marvelous. Girls go to that school, too, and all the youngsters go to their own homes every night.

And so education is really important for so many reasons. In the developed world it's so much taken for granted and everyone has that advantage and privilege. In the developing world we're still struggling for that gift to be given to everyone. Some day .... And that, please God, is not an April Fool's joke.

25th March 2009 - Routine Days

2009-03-23T11:01:00.006+03:00

I've finally gotten back to my early morning walk every day, and am glad about that. I walk to the main road, which is about 2 kms. away, and then back again so I'm usually gone about 1/2 hour. I get out of the house about 6.15 a.m. as the dark just starts to turn into light. It's a paved road that I walk on so I don't have to spend all the time watching that I don't step into holes or ruts. One difference that I note from the road that I used to walk on near Maryknoll is that this one has cow pies on it .... and so I do watch for those!

On the way out I don't see too many people but by the time I turn around to come back there are more on the road. I rarely meet a car but usually do meet several bicycles and then a lot of people walking. Some are obviously going to work and there are several youngsters in their school uniforms going to school. The students normally greet me in English and are probably happy to have someone with whom to practise on in the mornings. I'm sure the older ones aren't sure if I know Swahili and so many aren't the first to greet me. According to custom here, that's not usually the way it's done, eg. the younger person is supposed to be the first to greet the older one. And so if I'm not greeted I break the ice and start the greeting. I've noticed that I'm meeting some of the same folks every day and so they're doing the respectful thing and saying hello first.

The road is lined with trees and flowers and there's an irrigation ditch running alongside it. I don't know the source of that water but near this area are coffee plantations so maybe this water is part of their system. I see some folks filling their pails with this water so for sure some of the houses alongside the road don't have piped-in water.

I smell cows as I walk by so I'm sure that behind the trees and hedges some of the people have little sheds with a cow or two for their milk. I know a woman who has one cow (and now a calf as well) and who sells four litres of milk every day (she also keeps some for herself and gives away one litre to a woman with a small baby who she can't nurse). At TShs. 500/= per litre, that's 2000/= per day or 60,000/= per month, a nice little income. She has taken in a young girl, an orphan, who has finished primary school and probably isn't capable of going to secondary school, and this girl takes care of the cow for room and board and clothing and some spending money. After a couple of years she will be sent to a course to learn sewing, she'll be given a sewing machine, and hopefully will be able to make it on her own. Anyway, this is an example of how folks manage to live.

I also smell pigs at one section of the road so there must be a shed with some pigs, too. My NYC and other city friends don't believe me when I tell them that I can smell the difference in the manure of cows and pigs and chickens and horses, but it's true. There's a real distinction, just ask any farmer.

I'm working on a project for Emusoi Centre to keep me occupied and out of mischief. It's doing a draft of a Child Protection Policy Statement, using the United Nations Convention for the Rights of a Child as a basis. It's an interesting project to do and I'm learning a lot. Children have a good amount of rights according to the Convention but there are many places in this world where these are disregarded, and poverty certainly plays a role in that.

I hope you see some flowers today.

21st March 2009 - New Season

2009-03-20T08:47:00.005+03:00

Thanks to all of you who have commented on this blog, either on this site or in emails to me. If you're finding it informative then that's great. I'm glad to be sharing some of my life with you.

I thought that you might be interested in some of the items I've been reading about in the newspaper:

-The global economic crisis and its impact on Tanzania. The other day the President was talking about two projects to which investment commitments had been made, nickel mining and aluminium production, and that these are now on hold for an indefinate period because of the economic situation. They would have madeTanzania self-sufficient in aluminium production as well as created thousands of jobs. Tourism and export earnings have also declined in the past few months, and one example is given of coffee and the 30 per cent drop in price that it has experienced. Have you all noticed a 30% drop in the price of the coffee you buy? What's wrong with this picture???

- A shameful phenomenon that the government is trying to stop is the killings of albinos for their body parts. It appears that some traditional healers believe that the blood, bones and skin of albinos have magic powers that bring luck to those that wear them, and so there have been about 45 albinos killed in Tanzania during the last 18 months. Unfortunately, when things are difficult some people revert to fear and witchcraft and that has led to this awful situation. It's a great shame to the country and there is now a concerted effort to stop it. This is happening far from the cities, of course.

- A talk given by the Irish Ambassador to Tanzania on St. Patrick's day stated that she's worried about the situation of maternal health here in the country. She gave the statistics that 578 Tanzanian women out of 100,000 die in childbirth while in Ireland it's l (one) out of every 100,000. That's a big difference, isn't it.

- The minibus drivers were on strike for some few hours because the government wanted to reduce the fares because the price of fuel has decreased. That didn't go over very well with the owners of those buses and there hasn't been a resolution yet but they did go back to work. Almost everyone in the towns uses these buses so they're badly needed.

- Right here in Arusha people are worried about the lack of rain. It's unseasonably warm and dry these days, and folks say that the maize (corn) that was planted last month is now all dried up. If this were a usual season it would be raining every day now, they say.

Have a good weekend, and for all of you who are celebrating the coming of spring, Enjoy the warmth!

18th March – Return to Arusha with Gratitude

2009-03-18T12:34:00.002+03:00

This is the last installment of the saga of my journey around the country and visit to my old home.

I had another close friend to visit before leaving Singida and so spent Friday evening with her. She had been my right hand in more ways than one while we were at Murigha, and was the person I always went to for advice. She was loaned to Murigha from the Government and so when I left she returned to the Ministry of Education and is now Head Teacher of a primary school near Singida. We had a wonderful evening of catching up on the news, including all the news of her seven children and by now several grandchildren. It was a late night and by 5.00 a.m. the next morning Bibiana and I were up and getting ready to leave. We left on the bus at 6.30 and were about 50 kms. out of Singida when we came upon about eight lorries stuck on the road. By good luck our bus had a very good driver, and so (after one failed attempt) managed to thread his way around the lorries and pass through. The bus itself looked like it was sort of put together with this and that, and there was some contraption behind the driver that I think took the exhaust from the motor out the top of the bus. The door handle on the bus was two bolts welded together in some fashion – it reminded me a bit of Greg’s pliers …… But the driver got us here to Arusha by about 1.30 p.m., for which I was very grateful. I had a front seat so the bumps weren’t bad; however, it was a seat for three people and the other two women were as wide as I or more so and the bus got no marks for comfort as we squeezed in. The main thing is that we arrived safely. Bibiana got off the bus at Nangwa where she went to spend the weekend at home.

Arriving here I was both energized and tired, energized by being with so many good friends and by the fantastic welcome by everyone, and tired by a lot of excitement and conversation and speaking constant Swahili. I realized from this trip that there were three things that I need to get used to again: one is using bed nets in order to sleep at night without the company of mosquitoes. These nets do a good job but it’s a pain to have to fix them to the bed every night and then my feet usually touch the net anyway. Still they help. Another thing I needed to do that I hadn’t done for awhile was have a bucket shower. Again, that works ok but it isn’t quite the same as having warm water flow over you. And the third thing that I need practice on is the Asian (squat) toilets. When I left five years ago I was very used to them and actually preferred them because they seem to be a cleaner alternative. My knees have forgotten, however, how to squat and so I need to practice. I hope that all I need is practice/exercise and that it’s not aging knees that cause the pain.

I hope to be able to scrounge up some help for scholarships for students. The school has had to raise school fees in order to pay salaries and to replace the roof tiles that have broken. When we built the school we opted to use locally made tiles for the roofs but it seems as though they were not the best choice. Almost all of the roofs are leaking quite badly now (there are actual gaping holes in the roof of the dining hall) and they need to be replaced with iron sheets. The administration still wants to give priority of access to education to girls from the local area but the families of most of those girls can only afford part of the nearly $400. per year school fees. We’ll see what happens.

Life is a great gift and mine has been wonderously blessed. I am so grateful.

17th March 2009 - Singida and Murigha

2009-03-17T12:23:00.003+03:00

After a good night’s sleep and some breakfast, Bibiana went off to school and I got a taxi and went to visit some friends and acquaintances in Singida town. I hadn’t announced that I was coming so hoped that I’d just see some people that I knew. And I did! Just walking around I met several, and got a very welcoming response from them all. Some were restrained in their welcome, some made a big fuss. It was just fun to see them all and they appreciated the fact that I had come. One HUGE difference from five years ago is that almost everyone has a cell phone, and so when I’d ask about someone, soon I’d be given their number. There were some people, business people, who had been very helpful and so I went to see them and expressed my appreciation of their help for all those years. And they in return were grateful that I had taken the time to visit them. I also got some stories of how things were after I had left, stories that I took with a grain of salt. Change is almost never easy for anyone.

By early afternoon I was back with Bibiana and after a late lunch we went to another secondary school in the town, where I had heard that two teachers (husband and wife) whom I had left at Murigha were now teaching. I found the man there (his wife was sick that day) and made arrangements to visit them later that evening. He wasn’t too surprised to see me since he said that he had gotten a phone call from another teacher who we had been with and who is now in Tabora. The message was: “Mama amekuja!” (Mother has come!) How that word got from Singida to Tabora and back to Singida in that short time is amazing. We then went to visit Bibiana’s brother and his family. Basil is an agricultural officer there, and I knew him from long ago when he was working with the Heifer Project in our area. That was even before I knew he was Bibiana’s brother.

The changes I noted in Singida town were not too many. Because of the newly paved road going west and north and the improvement to the Dodoma road, there is a bit more business going on, and more building of houses on the outskirts of the town. There are a few new shops as well, but the roads in the town are as impassable as ever. Singida is an underdeveloped region, historically no one has wanted to go there because of how difficult it is to travel on those roads. There is also the problem of water, and that shortage of water is probably the reason that there is no significant manufacturing or business opportunities. Most of the business has to do with sunflower oil production. That area farms a lot of sunflowers and there are several small factories that press the oil and then truck it to other parts of the country.

It was interesting to hear the reflections of people and how they saw our time together. I am grateful that their memories are positive, and they talked about how well we worked together, how they appreciated my style of leadership, especially how they were involved in the decision making process, and how they felt that they had an opportunity to get ahead (mostly due to the farming that they were able to do along with their jobs). I was also told that their sense of service to others was fueled and inspired by our working together. I felt a lot of good will and affirmation and love from them all.

I had made arrangements with Sister Monica, the Headmistress of Murigha Girls’ School and the school I founded beginning in 1990, and had anticipated that I would use public transportation to get there to see them. She assured me, however, that she would send the school transport to pick me up, and so that was settled. By 10.00 a.m. on Thursday, 12th March, she phoned to say that they were in town and would be arriving shortly. I expected to see her and the driver in the school pickup, but what came in was that alright plus students in the back followed by a minibus with more students and some of the school’s non-teaching staff whom I knew from five years before. And they came in singing and clapping with a very warm welcome. That was the beginning of hours of welcoming and loads of memories.

The trip to Murigha from Singida town still takes more than an hour (for only 35 kms.) and I think I remember the same ruts and pot holes. There had been rain along part of the way, and I saw fields upon fields of onions. There are quite a few low areas along the way with a black, clay-like soil, and these conditions seem to be excellent for raising onions. The crop looks very good this year, and hopefully the folks will get a good price and have some cash for their needs.

Arriving at the school I was met at the gate by several of the neighbors and right inside were the students, lining the road to meet me. I greeted the people I knew and was given a bouquet of flowers, then walked further into the school grounds while the students sang. All of a sudden there was a flurry and running down the road came Maria, arms and legs and dress flying. Maria had worked on and off doing odd jobs at the school and for us at our house for over ten years. She had begun as soon as she finished primary school by asking for work, then after a few years got married and had two children. By the time the second one was born, her husband had begun drinking heavily, and so she left him and depended on her work with us along with doing some farming in order to care for her children. When we left, I proposed that she be given the job as assistant cook for the school, and she did begin that work. In the past five years she has risen to be chief cook, and is the pillar of the kitchen. I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone so hard-working, and one who doesn’t mind what kind of work she does. She does everything quickly and well, with no complaints. I was thrilled to see her, and very glad that she looks so healthy. I didn’t get a chance to see her boys, but she assures me that they’re fine and both in primary school.

The school had prepared an assembly to welcome me. The students, the teachers, the non-teaching staff, neighbors: all had been invited. There were songs and dances by the students, a traditional ngoma (dance) by the staff, speeches, gifts. After the program there was a lovely meal prepared for all of us, after which I had the opportunity to go around the school. The student population is now nearly 300, and two new classrooms and an additional dormitory have been built. The environment has been kept up very well, the trees and flowers are beautiful. The tractor driver and the chief animal keeper (along with several others) took me around, to see the fields and the animals. This year they have planted sunflowers, maize, onions and coriander, a total of about 75 acres. When we were looking at the fields I thought that the crops looked good but were in need of rain before long. We went to look at the cows, pigs, goats, chickens, and the fellows pointed out to me which ones were from my time. It’s a good thing that they remembered because I certainly didn’t. Actually I think there was one cow that I would have recognized anywhere (brown with droopy ears), but the others were all a blur.

After looking around at everything, I went out of the school property to visit with some of the neighbors. Many were hearing that I was there so came to say hello. Some folks who knew that I was coming had prepared soda (pop) and chicken for me and we had a good time sitting around, remembering our times together. I was amused when they told me that I hadn’t changed a bit: “You look exactly the same, like you just left yesterday.” When I reminded them that I had gained weight, they replied, “Oh, yes, truly you have gotten heavier.” One of the young men told me that he thought before I arrived that he might not have recognized me because I may have aged so much in five years, and was glad to find out that he did know me! I’m also glad that that fear was unrealized ….. Soon darkness was upon us and I went to the Sisters’ convent for a rest and dinner. As we were eating dinner, about 9.00 p.m., the rain started, and it rained beautifully for nearly an hour. I knew what I would be hearing the next day: that I had brought the rain.

After a good sleep I awoke and took an early morning walk around the campus. Because of the rain everything was fresh and clear, with a gorgeous sunrise. I met the guys who were milking the cows, and just as I thought, the first words out of their mouths were: Thank you for bringing the rain. When I assured them that I have no ability to do such a thing, they nodded, but I’m sure they’re still saying the same thing.

Friday morning I was taken to the village (about 10 kms. by the road) in order to greet some of the folks there. They didn’t know that I was around so it was a big surprise, and still I was able to see several people from the days we lived there in the village before the school was built. One person that I was especially happy to see was the fellow who had been a local leader when we arrived and facilitated a lot of things for the school. He had retired from leadership before I left but I found him as village chairman again now. He does have a gift for leadership, so it’s good he’s using that talent again. After visiting around for awhile I went back to school for lunch and then we were to leave. As we were eating lunch the heavens opened again and there was another lovely rain. For sure my visit was a blessing, for the crops as well as for me.

It was 4.00 before the rain had subsided enough to leave, and again the pick-up was full of people. Kusindikiza is an important concept here. It means to accompany someone, and so when a guest comes to visit you don’t say good-bye at the door but you walk along, sometimes quite a distance, with the guest as he/she leaves. And so the secretary, the storekeeper, the tractor driver, the grinding machine operator, Maria, the Headmistress – all of them rode in the back of the pick-up to town in order to accompany me along the way. The road was muddy and slippery but we managed to arrive safely in town, where we said our good-byes.

This is already too long so I'll finish tomorrow. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

16th March 2009 - Trip to Dodoma

2009-03-16T08:50:00.003+03:00

I'm back in Arusha with so much to write about. I'll do this in installments, so I'll see how far I get today.

When I wrote last from Morogoro I had a bus ticket which was supposed to be for Monday 9th March at 7.00 a.m. We got to the station about 6.45 and learned that the bus was coming from Dar es Salaam and passing at 8.00 a.m., not 7.00. I should have known/remembered that these young men who act as agents for the buses don't usually tell the entire truth; after all their job is to get passengers and once a ticket is bought they have done their job. Anyway, the Sisters left to go to their teaching that morning and I sat and visited with one of these ticket agents. Three parts of the conversation were especially interesting. Firstly, he told me that he had a three year old daughter who was "very, very smart" and so he wanted her to have a good education. Since he just gets by with what he makes from the job he has, he asked me if I wanted to take her, live with her, educate her so that she gets a better chance in life. Of course I told him that I couldn't do that, but we talked about how he might help her develop her talents in the home that she has. Secondly, he told me about how important it was to do an honest days' work and how he manages. He gets a little bit of money here and there, and with that he pays the rent on the room he rents, buys simple food, fuel to cook it with, etc. It was amazing to me to hear how he manages. Finally, after someone had come and told him about an accident that had occurred, he gave me his take on drug use in the town. He said that it is extensive among the young men, both smoking (I assume marijuana) and needles (heroin??). When I asked how they manage to buy the drugs, he told me that they indeed are the thieves that harass the people and steal what little they have. And they are the reason that more wealthy people's houses have walls and locked gates and watchmen and watch dogs.

The Morogoro bus station is like all bus stations here in Tanzania: full of sellers walking around with things that a traveller might need: bread, candy, peanuts and cashews, shoes, handkerchiefs, flashlights, phone vouchers, coffee, water, soda -- you name it and it will be available. One guy was walking around with a three foot stack of hats on his head!

The road to Dodoma is all paved and very good so the bus ride was comfortable. An interesting exercise is now being used to try to lessen the number of deadly bus accidents. Buses tend to be driven very fast, because the first bus to pass any point most often gets the passengers, and so speed causes some horrific accidents. Now each bus leaves its station with a timetable of where it is supposed to be at what time, and traffic police sign that timetable at those points. I don't know if it helps, but at least there's an attempt to control the speed. By about 12.30 we were in Dodoma and again I noticed how the city has grown. A place that I remembered as being a bit out of town is now surrounded by buildings and a part of the city. Dodoma is the official capital of Tanzania although much of the commerce and many embassies remain in Dar es Salaam. Parliament meets in Dodoma, however, and some of the government offices have moved. Dodoma Region used to be known for its underdevelopment and aridity but the city of Dodoma looks really nice now. It seems to be developing according to some kind of plan, and so that makes the city attractive. I was told that after the new water scheme was completed there is no longer a water shortage (and there was plenty of water at the hostel where I stayed). Electricity and communications are good, because Parliament needs those services, and I was told that there are two universities also being built there. I found the city attractive, and what I saw made me even more interested in settling there. It was also cooler than Morogoro. I wanted to see the Bishop to get his ideas but unfortunately he wasn't in town. The Sisters who are in his office were very welcoming, and I'll go back after making an appointment. This Bishop is also the Chairman of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference so he's a busy person.

The next morning, Tuesday, I was off on the bus to Singida by 8.00 a.m. When I had previously lived in Singida it was always after taking a deep breath that I left Dodoma for Singida because the road was so bad. Now it is paved for all but about 100 kms. out of about 25o kms. What a difference that makes! We arrived by about 1.00 p.m. and there I was met by Bibiana Mkenda, a very dear friend with whom we lived in Nangwa and who is Headmistress of a large secondary school in Singida town. Tuesday was a national holiday in Tanzania (Maulid, celebrating the birthday of Prophet Mohamed) so Bibiana and I had the afternoon to chat and to try to catch up on five years of separation. It was a wonderful visit, and her welcome of me was so generous, including giving up her bed for me. She lives in a small and simple house on the school grounds; her husband remains at the family home in Nangwa and teaches there and her children are all in boarding schools, secondary and university. She goes home to Nangwa almost every Saturday and returns to Singida on Sunday, an arrangement that many families make.

This is enough for now so later I'll continue the saga.

8th March 2009 - Sunday

2009-03-08T15:39:00.002+03:00

One more post before heading off tomorrow. I can imagine that next week will be a "dry" one as far as writing is concerned, but I'll remember lots of things to write about when I return to Arusha. This afternoon I want to tell you about this morning.

We left the house at 8.00 a.m. to go to Kingolwera prison, a few kilometres outside of Morogoro town. The Sisters who live here in Morogoro (Janet and Gladys) go each Sunday, for Mass and then they meet with the prisoners who attend the church service. When we arrived we met the priest and a seminarian who had just arrived as well. We left Janet at the church, and Gladys and I went along to a building further into the prison grounds, a building normally used as a nursery school for children of the staff. Some of the staff soon appeared, followed by two groups of prisoners: one a group of about twenty women and another group of about 10 men. They sat separately, each with one guard, and the rest of the about two dozen benches were occupied by staff members and families. Mass began, and the women had obviously prepared well: nice songs, well-done readings, prayers, etc. When Mass was finished, Father went off to the church to have Mass with another group of men prisoners and the staff that is concerned with them, and the others who had attended mass also left. We then had about a 45 minute session with those remaining, today being extraordinary that there were men who joined the group. Gladys asked that we sit around in a circle, and at first the men's guard said that we needed to have two circles. But then he came up with the solution that if I sat at one end of the group of men and Gladys at the other, then that would be separation enough. And so it was. It was a good time with them, Gladys talking about some ways to cope with the stress of being in prison. They were open and interested and seemed to be grateful for the chance to learn these techniques. We had previously asked to see some of the handwork that the women did, and so at the end of the session we were invited into where they really live. We actually didn't have a chance to see their living quarters, but could see through the fence that their "cell blocks" were quite open and airy. We were told that the usual number of women in each block is about 14. They seem to be treated well, and when we asked if they are given everything they need, the answer was yes, although it might be a little short. For example, two young men came while we were there bringing a few bars of laundry soap for their relative who was imprisoned. The guard said that she was one of the lucky ones because she has family close by and so they can bring her some extra things now and again. This women's prison is the main one for Tanzania, eg. it holds all the women who have been convicted and sentenced to long terms. They all learn a craft and do some beautiful handwork, mostly basket weaving, embroidering tablecloths and other decorative cloths, sewing.

We saw the blackboard in the main office that had the census, and there were 59 women there today. And three children. Two of them are still nursing but the third is a bit over two years old. The Matron told us that she needed to see if the Sisters who run an orphanage near here would take her because she was beginning to worry that the environment might be affecting her adversely. The mother is from the other end of the country and has no family who could take the child so they're looking at other alternatives for her. It would seem to be kind of a dilemma: the advantage of keeping a child with her mother and yet the concern that there might be other factors which wouldn't be good for her. She's a darling little girl, and greeted us so politely.

After Janet and Father returned from the church and their session, we were invited for lunch at the home of one of the guards. She is a member of the Small Christian Community (all parishes in Tanzania are divided into these Communities) and these Communities take turns cooking for their guests each Sunday. After the nice lunch we returned home for some rest in the heat of the day, grateful for the chance to spend time with people we don't normally meet.

Hope you all have a great week.

7th March 2009 - Trip to Mgeta

2009-03-07T10:10:00.004+03:00

Yesterday we decided to explore some part of the mountains and by 7.30 a.m. we were in the car and beginning to head out of town. After about 20 km. on the main road (heading toward Iringa) we made a left and started toward the highlands. The paved road ended quite soon, and we were on a washboard road that wasn't actually too bad. Soon we began to climb, and did that for an hour until we reached the village of Mgeta. What did we see along the way? Well, lots of fields, small ones, most of them with folks working in them, either weeding or planting or some still plowing. The maize is almost knee high in that area so they must have been getting rain for some time already. We saw lots of banana trees but not too many other fruit trees at the beginning of the climb. The road is winding, blind curves constantly. There were a couple small buses that we met and a few small trucks but otherwise the mode of transport is walking and bicycle. And a lot of the bicycles were being walked on the steep road. As we drove higher we met more people on the road carrying their hoes - they had obviously been working in their fields since sun-up and were now going home for some breakfast and/or rest. We could see on the side and usually quite far below the road, a river with not a lot of water in it. There were also some parts of the road that had paving stones and culverts so that probably helps the road to be passable when the rain is heavy. There's a nice bridge and a lovely scenic view just before reaching the village of Mgeta. At Mgeta there's a church, a primary school and a secondary school, also a few shops. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a Health Centre also, although we didn't see it. Apparently the big market day is on Thursday so we missed that.

We decided to keep climbing and did so for another 45 minutes or so. The higher we got the cooler the air was, of course, and there were signs that they had had more rain. At the place where we decided to turn around the view was spectacular: looking across valleys to other parts of the mountains we saw almost every inch of land being farmed, and a lot of terraced fields. Everything was so green and lush. We came upon a large open area with some buildings that looked like warehouses, and it is here that the trucks come to pick up produce to take down to the lowlands and cities. At one point along the road we were surprised to meet a group of about 10 young white folks, accompanied by two Tanzanians. We stopped to talk, and found out that the young people were students from Norway, studying at the Agriculture University, and were on a field trip to talk to some of the farmers in the area.

I guess what surprised me most was the way these farmers can farm the side of the mountains as they do. Coming from probably one of the flattest places on earth, it is amazing how people can farm on such steep slopes. And these mountains must be quite densely populated. It's hard to see many homes from the road since the road is just carved into the side of the mountain, but I'm sure if we had left the main road we would have come across many homes.

We found a place along that river where we could pull the car off the road and it was there that we stopped to eat our lunch. We sat on some stones, watched the river, and had a nice lunch and rest. Once in awhile we could hear the voices of people walking above us on the road, but otherwise it was as though we were alone in the world. It really was a wonderful trip, a nice contrast to the town and lovely cool air.

In the evening we went "out" - it was Friday night after all. We went to a restaurant called "Dragonaires" - decorated with red Chinese lanterns but featuring pizza on Friday nights! The pizza was very good, and apparently they use the cheese which is made by the Seminary we visited the other evening. Altogether a very nice day.

I have my ticket for the bus to Dodoma on Monday but I'll see if I can write again before that. Have a good weekend.

5th March 2009 - Morogoro

2009-03-05T09:30:00.002+03:00

Early morning in Morogoro is lovely, with a cool breeze coming in the windows and the sun not yet at its strongest. Morogoro town is, I think, among the ten largest towns in Tanzania and is situated at the foot of the Uluguru Mountains. Anywhere one goes in the town the mountains can be seen, and they are beautiful. This area is know for its wonderful vegetables and fruit, grown in the mountains and brought to the town for sale.

I notice a slower pace, fewer people, a bit less congestion in comparison with Arusha. The people here seem more friendly and open; I suppose that's all due to the smaller town. Tuesday morning I spent with Janet as she did some beginning of the month things, like paying bills and shopping. She spent about one hour at the bank, just to get cash. Then it was off to Vodacom to pay the telephone and internet bill, then to Tanesco (electric company) to try to pay the bill and get connected with a new meter. That didn't work and she was told to return after 3.00 p.m. So we shopped for some food items in an Indian run "supermarket", which had four aisles. There are a lot of things to buy there, many of them imported and therefore expensive; we stuck with the local goods like yoghurt and chicken. Some of the imported things come from Kenya but many from South Africa.

By this time the sun had gotten quite hot and there were a lot more people on the streets. One more stop before the market was a fish shop, and that had frozen fish from both the ocean (Dar es Salaam) and Lake Victoria (Mwanza). Finally we went to the market and that was really crowded. It seemed as though so many more stalls had been added (we used to stop at this market when returning to Singida from Dar es Salaam) and there was hardly room to walk in between the stalls. But the produce is wonderful and reasonably priced. I probably should say "cheap" since for about $.40 we could buy a pineapple, or a kilo of potatoes or a bunch of 10 bananas or two avocados -- well, you get the picture.

As I was waiting for Janet at the Tanesco office, I was looking across the bicycle path and saw a typical business, a way that many women make a living, especially in towns. There was a lean-to made of poles and cardboard and that was where the cooking was being done. Customers came and sat down on an old tire that was on the ground outside the lean-to. The woman came out and offered water for washing hands, and then brought out a plate of food for each, setting the plate on the ground. And there was the restaurant. I couldn't see what was on the plate, but I assume it was rice and beans. When the men finished their meal, she came to collect the plate and spoon, and offered each a cup of water. They paid her and off they went. And outside the lean-to was her little girl, probably about 15 months old, sitting on the ground and playing with a couple of cups. Sometimes men come to the towns for work and leave their families in the villages, so they often use these outdoor restaurants for their meals, quick and cheap.

In the afternoon we spent another two hours at Tanesco until the business was finally completed. Some things take a l0000ng time here ..... Then we drove to the outskirts of town to see Sokoine University, the agricultural university of Tanzania. It has a lovely campus with the mountains towering above; everything looks very well kept and clean. We saw sections for Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Pest control, Crop Production, Food Science, and there were probably others we didn't see. On our way out we stopped at a canteen and enjoyed a drink with some roasted bananas. Nice.

Morogoro is about three hours from Dar es Salaam on a very good road so it has become the home for many, many Catholic religious communities who do the formation of their candidates here. There are probably more than a dozen congregations with large campuses, and there is certainly some pooling of resources, i.e., professors, etc. The Maryknoll Sisters who live here in Mororgoro teach, among other places, at a Wholistic Centre, which is for Sisters of many different local communities. In the past many of the Sisters' communities didn't put an emphasis on education, and so that is now trying to be corrected and education of different kinds is being offered to these Sisters. Many, many Tanzanians continue to join Religious Life and the Priesthood, in both local and international communities.

I'll try to post again before leaving for Dodoma and Singida on Monday.

4th March 2009 - From Morogoro

2009-03-04T09:45:00.003+03:00

The trouble with not writing every other day or so is that then there's SO much to write about! I'll try to be a bit selective so that you're not straining your eyes.

Last Thursday morning we left Arusha bout 7.30 a.m. heading east and south. After taking some time to get out of Arusha with the morning traffic, the first town we passed is Moshi, which is at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was completely covered with clouds, normal for that time of the morning. It depends on the time of the year as to what time of the day the mountain can be seen with all its splendor, and it is a magnificent sight when it does appear.

The road is quite good, and after travelling east to Moshi, before reaching the Kenya border the road starts going south. It's pretty much south and east all the way then until Chalinze. If you want to follow on a map, the road goes south at Himo, then passes Same, Hedaru, Mombo, Korogwe, Segera and then Chalinze. Between Himo and Mombo there are continuous mountain ranges on the left, first the Pare Mountains and then with hardly a noticeable break, the Usambara Mountains begin. So on the left of the road are mountains, and on the right the plains. I noticed a few different things: The towns seem bigger, more people, more buildings. There are also more trees. It seems that there's been a real push toward more tree planting and I think that it has succeeded. There are also many, many sisal plantations along that road, and they appear to me to be in better shape, so obviously there has been an effort to revive them. Most look well cared for and hopefully they are productive. At many places alongside the road there are folks selling their produce: mangoes, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, pineapple, honey, live chickens, baskets -- anything that they have that someone going along in a car or bus might need. I was also noticing the different farming methods. Because the rain has sort of started in some places, there was a lot of plowing being done. Some of it is done by tractors, small ones pulling two and three disc plows. Other times you see single disc plows pulled by oxen, but more often the plowing is done by a person and a hoe. Obviously those fields aren't very big; that's really hard work. All the seeding was being done by hand.

At Chalinze we headed west, and nine hours after leaving Arusha arrived in Morogoro. We did stop to eat our lunch after passing Mombo, so my estimation of eight hours wasn't too far off. There are two Maryknoll Sisters living and working here, Gladys and Janet. Since I was to stay on after our meeting, I was privileged to get a bed at their house. The others from Arusha, Sisters from Iringa and Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Nairobi, all stayed at Amabilis Hostel, run by the local Tanzanian Sisters. That was where we had our meeting on Friday and retreat/seminar on Saturday and Sunday. During the retreat we were joined by seven Tanzanian friends, so the mix was wonderful and the days very helpful and inspiring. The heat made the days a bit uncomfortable and sometimes made us all sleepy; the heat and humidity reminded me of my days of living in Dar es Salaam, and these are the months that are the worst, as we wait for the long rains to really begin.

Let this be enough for now, and I'll soon tell you more about the town of Morogoro. There's a lot to write about....

25th February 2009 - Sorry about the Pictures

2009-02-25T13:47:00.002+03:00

Well, you haven’t seen any pictures yet, have you. I’ve just not been able to do what it takes (even with good help from afar) to post them on this blog so until I gain some more skills everyone will just have to use her/his imagination. Just take it from me that my immediate environment is beautiful here, especially since we’ve had a nice shower of rain almost every day.

When I went out the other day I was reminded of one type of vehicle on the road that I didn’t mention previously: the cart. A lot of goods are transported around the city on two wheeled pull/push carts. These are made by placing a wooden frame with short sides on an axle with two rubber tires. The axle and tires are taken from old vehicles and the wooden frame, about 3-4 ft. by 5 ft. is fastened to it. There are two poles extending forward at the front, with a shaft placed between them. That front part is used to pull the cart, and sometimes these are very heavily loaded. Sacks of potatoes or rice or fruit or vegetables, boxes filled with anything and everything, crates of soda and beer, carcasses of cows or goats going to or from butcheries, live chickens - - these are only some of the things I’ve seen being transported this way. When the load is heavy there is often a second person pushing from the back as the person in front pulls. And remember that these share the road with everything else: cars, buses, lorries, bicycles, people. It’s actually a very “green” way to transport goods; everything from which the cart is made is recycled and no fossil fuels are used to run it. One can’t help but empathize with the men pulling them, however, when you see the sweat running down their faces.

I guess the slower pace here applies also to the internet. This morning I wanted to read the local newspaper from North Dakota (Divide County Journal – a weekly that has news of the county including the nieces and nephews and their sports activities). It took 15 minutes to download, and that would normally take three or four minutes in the U.S. Maybe that also affects my ability to upload pictures to this blog???

Tomorrow is the trip to Morogoro and it will take us about eight hours, I suppose. The distance is about 500 km. We will drive in a newly serviced car, a Toyota Rav-4. Since the other three Sisters are all drivers I’m sure I won’t have to test my ability to remember that I need to drive on the left side of the road ….. That will come, however. I did get my Tanzanian license the other day. It had been expired for over three years but all I did was pay the fee and it was renewed for another two years. The fee included the eye examination, which I didn’t need to take!

I'll write again as I get the opportunity.

21st February 2009 - One Week Already

2009-02-21T15:50:00.001+03:00

Time goes fast here, too. Already I’ve been here one week and it feels like it’s time to do some more physical activity. I’ve been concentrating on learning to use the communication tools that I have and am grateful for the opportunity to do that. Yesterday I managed to connect the phone to the laptop and so can access the internet using the phone as a modem. It really is a smart phone!

Next week on Thursday we will go to Morogoro for a Maryknoll Sisters’ meeting, and I’ll stay on there for awhile after that. Then I’ll travel to Singida to visit my old school and friends and when I return I will want to do something to contribute, too. There’s always a lot to do at Emusoi so we’ll see what that might be.

I need to correct my mistake and my exalted opinion of Arusha. Arusha isn’t the second largest city but instead is the 4th, according to fairly recent estimates of population. Dar es Salaam is of course the largest city with 2.5 million, Mwanza the second with 400,000, Zanzibar (the city on the island of Zanzibar) the third with 372,000 and finally Arusha with almost 300,000. I suppose my exalted opinion comes from the fact that Arusha was the city I went to for anything major while I lived in both Nangwa and Singida, so it always seemed so huge compared to those places. Anyway, I wanted to set the record straight.

I’m going to try to post some pictures. One is of Mt. Meru taken yesterday evening and with snow on it. That’s not very usual, especially this time of the year, but it was covered with clouds the whole day and so I suppose it was raining at the top. When the clouds cleared away in the evening there was a good dusting of snow on it and it was really beautiful. Another is of a tree that I like and have seen only in some few places in Tanzania. Because I admire this tree I wanted one for the school (Murigha) many years ago and so bought a seedling (only one) to plant near the entrance of the school. We called it “mbuzi” (goat) because the seedling cost as much as a goat would have! I will be interested to see if that one I planted has survived. Lastly I’ll put a couple pictures of the house. It’s a lovely house, and large. It’s made from cement block and plastered over with cement with a roof of tin sheets. The walls inside are plastered and painted nicely, and the floors tiled in the living and dining areas but throughout the rest of the house, including the bedrooms, the floors are plain cement. There is a steady supply of water and modern bathrooms. Electricity has been quite steady, so the fridge does its job well; the stove uses bottled gas. A difference you would note in the bathrooms would be that the sink, cupboards, shower are built with cement block and then plastered and painted, so you would see a rather unique shower stall, for example. Someday you might see a picture ......

Have a good weekend.

19th February 2009 - Some answers

2009-02-19T14:31:00.000+03:00

It's good that you readers are asking some questions because some things are just so second nature that I forget to explain them. Keep them up, please.

I arrived at Kilimanjaro airport, which is about halfway between two towns/cities: Arusha and Moshi. Moshi is the smaller town, and at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is from there that expeditions leave to climb the mountain, and it's a nice little place, with lots of banana trees. Arusha is larger and the launching place for most folks who want to do the National Park circuit: Tarangire, Manyara, Ngorongoro, Serengeti. According to the 2002 census Arusha has a population of under 250,000 but it's hard for me to believe that those numbers still hold. That might be true of the municipality of Arusha, but there are outskirts on all sides that look like they belong, so the population seems like much more. There is a downtown area, with shops and offices, some hotels, and then there are the outskirts where most of the people live. Those who live in the downtown areas are mostly shop owners, many of them originally from India, who live above the shops.

One area rather on the outskirts of the municipality is call Ole Siti, and that's where I'm at right now. About 10 years ago the Maryknoll Sisters decided to buy a plot of land and to build a house, one which could be used for the Sisters who work in Arusha (we were renting before) and one that was big enough for Maryknoll Sister guests travelling between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam or wherever. The plot was large enough to divide it with Emusoi Centre, the education centre for Maasai girls. (Check their website: www.emusoicentre.co.tz) And so that's where I've set down for the interim until I settle into where I'll actually live and work. There are three Maryknoll Sisters living here at the moment, together with one Maryknoll Sister Candidate (we expect that she will travel to New York in the summer to begin her orientation period as she becomes a Mk. Sr). And so that's where I am for the time being.

Arusha is probably the second largest city in Tanzania and has a very good climate. Mt. Meru is very near and we see it out the living room window every morning. Most of those tourists who filled the plane came here to Arusha to depart for their safaris, although some of the younger ones may have gone to Moshi to get ready for a climb of Kilimanjaro. The area right around Arusha usually gets suffiicient rainfall and the soil is pretty good, so a lot of vegetables are grown close by. Flower growing for export to Europe has also grown in the past few years but now there is the complaint that because of the economy in Europe and the US, that market is diminishing.

For those who have been wondering: Habari means NEWS, so that's what I've called this blog. And yes, I do have a camera and will post pictures sometime. I need to learn how to do that first .... I'm into learning these days (actually it's something I always like to do) so I think I'll manage before too long!

17th and 18th February 2009 – After Three Days

2009-02-18T20:16:00.000+03:00

There’s a saying in Swahili that a guest is a guest for three days and then after that they can be given the jembe (hoe). And so yesterday (17th) I was happy to do a few household tasks. I cooked lunch and then did something that I haven’t missed doing during the last five years: washed clothes (by hand). I’ve never been very good at it and don’t know whether I’m really getting them clean or not. I’ve watched a lot of Tanzanians wash clothes and it’s usually done so well and looks so easy, but I don’t seem to have the knack, even after all these years. I loved it that as I was leaving home Isaac thanked me for doing his laundry. You can be sure, Isaac, that if I had had to do it by hand it wouldn’t have gotten done! It usually doesn’t take very long for clothes to dry but yesterday afternoon a lot of clouds came up and we even had some thunder. No rain, however. By this morning my clothes were dry.

I’ve very much enjoyed the fresh fruit that we’ve had: bananas, mangoes, pears. And there are trees here on the property with lemons, limes, guava, avocado and pomegranate. All of the food that I like to eat is locally produced: fish from Lake Victoria, rice from rice-growing areas of Tanzania, potatoes from close by, vegetables grown in open plots wherever possible, chicken from farms on the outskirts of the city. There is a wide variety of bread that can be bought now, some of it very good. We have some very dense whole wheat bread that is delicious, even though it crumbles when cut. Small groups of women make jams and peanut butter to sell, and they’re all very good. There is even some lovely locally made cheese. And so I certainly will not starve.

18th: I went to town with Geri to look for a phone today and was successful. I was amused on the way to see a fellow riding a motorcycle and talking on a cell phone at the same time. He passed us on the left but we soon caught up with him ahead a bit, trying to kick start his motorcycle into action again. I guess the two tasks became too much for him and the motorcycle choked.

I have a beautiful new phone and after it gets charged I’ll be able to communicate all over the world on it. Thanks to Mom and Dad and their telephone cooperative (and for Greg and Bill for sharing) I came into some $$, and so used some of it for the phone and some air time. It can also be connected to my laptop and to the internet and I don’t know what else. Very fancy.

I was noting some of the prices of things in the shops. I’m being told that I’ll be shocked by the price increase, but I remember being surprised by the same thing when I first went to the U.S. after a long time. Diesel and petrol (gas) is a little over $1.00 a litre; milk is about $.75 a litre (that’s the milk brought here from locally kept cows. The packaged milk in the supermarket is about twice that much.). The exchange rate is about Tshs. 1300 to US$ 1.00. I need to do that conversion now as I shop in order to get some perspective as to price. What had started some years ago (right before I left) continues: lots and lots of goods from South Africa. It’s still a little hard for me to wrap my mind around being partners with South Africa because for so many years Tanzania absolutely boycotted anything from S.A. except refugees. Then after apartheid ended, little by little we’ve been invaded by businesses from there.

More again soon. As time goes on and I become busy these postings will probably be further apart. In the meantime, read on!

15 and 16 February 2009 - Settling in

2009-02-17T13:46:00.000+03:00

Today (15th) is another day without electricity. Maybe there is repair work being done, and so when the work week starts it will be back to normal? Who knows. Anyway, jet lag caught up to me last night and I was wide awake until after 2.00 a.m. That will be finished before too long, I'm sure, and I'll be back to normal. Geri took me for a get-acquainted drive around the environs and city, and that helped me get some perspective. A lot of the buildings look the same but there are also a lot of new establishments, new hotels, new businesses. There are so many advertisements on electric poles for cell phone services, and I'm told that so many people in the country now have cell phones. Some services reach way out in the villages, and some of the services are relatively cheap, especially texting. Another thing that caught my eye was the color of the buildings along the road. It seems that the cell phone companies are recognized by certain colors so the companies give free paint to shops to paint the outside of the shop their business color. And some of them are really bright!! And then of course there are the people. There are so many walking along the road, riding bicycles, as well as riding in taxis and daladalas. These latter are the minibuses that transport people around the city. I was also reminded that one needs to be a very alert driver on these roads..... It's a little haphazard with not a whole lot of regard for the traffic rules, but somehow everyone seems to get where they need to go.

I'm trying to note experiences/sounds/scenes that new eyes see, that would impress a newcomer to this country. I'm finding, however, that my senses are already getting used to these things. I'll keep on trying though so that you all have something interesting to read.

(16th) Monday and the start of the work week. I'm so lucky to have this time to adjust to a new time zone and not have to go off to work. Everyone else in the house was up and busy while I had the leisure to think and read and write. This morning it was cloudy, with very, very small showers passing through. The electricity is on today - Yea!

This morning there was a yard full of crows picking up the scraps after the dogs were fed. These crows aren't completely black but have some white on them - and they're BIG! There are a lot of dogs on the property. They act as watch dogs and guard us well at night together with the watchmen. This area hadn't been very populated and so it was bothered quite a bit by thieves wanting to come in. Of course knowing that Wazungu (root word means "dizzy" and refers to Europeans/strangers/non-natives) live here is also a calling card. History has led people to believe that all white people are rich, and so for those who don't know us that is a calling card. And of course we do have more than most. Just living in this nice house proves that. There certainly have been a lot of folks moving into the area, however, and that is a big difference from five years ago. This section of the city was almost on the outskirts then; now it's been built up so much.

Late afternoon brought a heavy shower of 15 minutes. It poured straight down for that length of time and then that was the end. The grass and trees loved it. In the evening some dear friends came to visit and it was wonderful to get caught up on all the news, especially that of Singida (where I lived when last here). We got caught up on our families, mutual friends, and we talked about how many new schools have been built, the shortage of teachers for them, the state of education in the country, the differences among schools as to quality of education, etc. One of the friends is Headmistress of a school in Singida, the other a teacher in schools in Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo, and both are such dedicated professionals.

When we took them back to town to their brother's house about 8.30 p.m. it was a good reminder of how many people in urban areas live. After leaving the paved main road, we drove on a very rough road for about 1 - 2 km. There were plenty of people walking along the road, probably just now getting home after work. Many of the houses along the road also serve as shops. People use a front room to put in a few basic supplies and sell them to make a little bit of money. There were also many people who had set up their small tables along the road, selling peanuts, fruits and vegetables, sweets/candy, tobacco/cigarettes, rice -- anything that might be needed for the evening and that could be picked up as people walked home. The tables were lit by kerosene lamps; some of the sellers were men and some were women. The shops in the downtown area are all shut up, with gates and shutters at night, and watchmen are posted.

You'll hear from me soon again. Thanks for being interested.

14 February 2009 - Arriving

2009-02-16T09:35:00.000+03:00

It seems to be fitting that the first posting to my new blog should be from Tanzania. I arrived yesterday, Friday the 13th, at the scheduled time of 8.20 p.m., and it just seemed as though little had changed in five years.

But to start from the beginning of the trip: The flight from JFK to Amsterdam was uneventful. We left about an hour late but seemed to make up time on the way. The plane was crowded but after we were served dinner, I laid my head against the window and slept until we were awakened to have breakfast before landing. There wasn't much time in Amsterdam because of security clearances so we were soon on our way again. This time I didn't get my favorite window seat but instead was sandwiched between two others in the middle row of seats. Each and every seat in the plane was occupied, and I think the seats get smaller with each trip (am I getting bigger?? -- don't answer that) so the feeling of being crowded and herded was very present. Anyway that leg of the journey I didn't get any sleep.

I was following the flight tracking on the video screen and started to get excited when I could see that we had crossed the equator. And then when we crossed the border over Tanzania I really could feel the flutter in my stomach. I was feeling that this is another new beginning, another adventure, not knowing exactly what the future holds but happy and confident that it will be good. I remember how I marveled many years ago to think that I was actually in AFRICA! And here I am back again.

As we were descending I noted that at an altitude of 24,500 feet the temperature was 3 degrees F., lots warmer than it was many days while I was in North Dakota. And the ground temperature when we landed was 84 F. That's a lot warmer too! There was a good breeze as we got off the plane, and it felt very pleasant.

It was nice to be able to skip the long lines of tourists who were waiting to go through Passport Control, and to go to the short line for Tanzanian Citizens and Residents. But then I had to wait for the luggage until nearly the end. I guess my bags were put on first and so got out last or ...? When going through Customs, the officer asked me what I had in my bags. I answered him in Swahili, and so he asked me if I was a returning resident. When I answered in the affirmative, he asked me when I was here before,and I told him that I first arrived when he was probably not yet born. When I told him that I first came in 1969, he said that truly he hadn't been born yet! That happens a lot here - the population is so young. At Maryknoll I'm usually considered relatively young; here I'm a respected elder.

Sr. Maureen was there to greet me, along with Letitia, a young Tanzania woman who is in the process to become a Maryknoll Sister, and the driver of Emusoi Centre (Maryknoll Sisters' project) who is called Deo. It was good to see familiar faces. I have known Maureen for many years and Deo was driving for the Centre even before I left. Srs. Mary and Geri awaited me here at the Maryknoll house in Arusha to say hello when we arrived, and before too long it was time for bed and for getting off some very swollen feet.

This morning I awoke after 8.00 a.m. so had a good 9 hours of sleep, basically uninterrupted. It was lovely to see Mt. Meru clearly out the living room window, and to see the growth of the trees and bushes on the property. Everything has grown a lot in the five years, noticeable to me because the grounds were just being developed when I left. I was asking myself why I seemed to notice the sky so much today. I don't remember looking at the sky in the same way in New York or North Dakota, but I can't put my finger on what the difference might be. That's a mystery I'll try to solve.

As I was drinking my coffee I was looking at the newspaper of a couple days ago and noting some headlines: "Elephants Destroy Crops" (that was in Mara Region, northwestern Tanzania) and "Global Financial Crisis Bites Zanzibar" (because tourism is down, although you could have fooled me seeing all those folks on the plane last night). Some news is peculiar to here while others are part of the world scene.

Today I was struck by the way the sounds are different. There is an evangelical Christian church down the block that played music most of the day, loudly enough to hear clearly, and this evening a preacher shouted his message from there. He was given some competition at sunset when the local Mosque broadcast the call to prayer. There are different sounds here in the city than I was used to in the village but the feeling of living closely with the outdoors is clearly the same.

I wanted so send emails to let near and dear ones know that I had arrived safely but by 10.00 a.m. the electricity was cut and it only returned at 7.30 p.m. I'll get used to not depending on uninterrupted electricity, I'm sure.

This is a long first post. I hope it's interesting to readers, or let me know what you would like to hear about.