4th August 2009 - Finally

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.