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.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
16th April 2009 - Easter Week
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.
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.
Monday, April 6, 2009
6th April 2009 - Holy Week
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.
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.
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