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!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
15th December 2009 - Merry Christmas
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
1st December 2009 – New Month, New Season
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.
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.
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