THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving.  It really is a special time in the year when we’re reminded to give thanks for all the blessings we experience every day.   It’s a special time for us with ties to the U.S., a nation which celebrates this special day.  I think there are lots and lots of countries and cultures around the world that celebrate the blessings of the year, mostly at harvest time when folks give thanks for the completion of a growing season.  But I don’t know of other countries that have a national day, that is,  celebrating on the same day for the whole country.  And so this past week I’ve really been reminded to be grateful.

I’m grateful that every single day I have food to eat.  I’m grateful that I have a house to live in, a place to be safe.  And not only do I have that here, but I also have so many people who are willing to take me in at a moment’s notice and provide a bed and safe place for me for a day or week or more.  I have so many homes:  here, Maryknoll, NY, with Sisters around the world, with my brothers, my nieces and nephews, my friends.  I have enough clothes to wear, more than enough, and when they get ragged I don’t need to keep wearing them but they’re converted to cleaning rags. 

I have had the advantage of a good education, I have a ministry that gives me joy.  I have been endowed with decent intelligence and the gift of common sense.  I have good health and quite a bit of energy for someone pushing 72.  I can walk without hurting, I have almost all my teeth, and I’m only forgetful when I’m tired!

I’m grateful for Maryknoll, my missionary vocation, for belonging to this community, for all the years spent among the people of Tanzania.  I’m grateful for all the learnings I’ve experienced in living with people of different cultures and for the ways that that experience has stretched me.  I’m grateful that this experience continues to challenge me and to make me think about my assumptions and how I do things and how I think about things.

I’m grateful for a loving family, for brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nieces-in-law, nephews, nephews-in-law, grand-nieces and nephews and now even great-grand-nieces and nephews.  I’m grateful for those of our family who have become our angels:  Mom, Dad, Don, Ron, Kathy, JoAnn, Monte.  And I’m grateful for my friend who is like the biological sister I never had , Pat.  She is an angel to the children I meet every day, and she’s doing a wonderful job of it, just like she did while she was on this earth in her earthly body.

I’m grateful for all my friends:  for Maryknoll Sister friends, for friends I’ve known because of Maryknoll, for friends I’ve been fortunate to have met along the way and who have made me a more loving person.  I’m grateful that they continue to be faithful friends through all these years and I’m grateful that I can continue to meet and make new friends. 

I’m grateful that the earth continues to provide for us humans, and I’m grateful that we humans are learning how to care for her a bit better.  I’m grateful that I was born on the land and have grown up with a love of the land.  I’m grateful that I love getting my hands dirty in the soil and I’m grateful for everything that grows and delights my heart.

Whew, this is getting to be long and boring.  And so even though this list may not be exhaustive, I’ll finish it by saying:  THANK YOU!   

Early morning walk to the baobab trees

A bit before 6.00 a.m. and the sun is beginning to rise in the east.  I'm on my way to the baobab trees.  The area in which we live is really on the outskirts of the city, and not much walking needs to be done to get me out of the housing area and into the open spaces.

This is the trunk of one of the trees, beginning to be hollowed out.  It reminded me of creche, a perfect Christmas scene.  Everything is extremely dry these days, with rain expected in about a month.  You can see the color of the soil.

 

Isn't it a beautiful tree?  And the background is pink with the sun starting to lighten the sky.  There are only a few blossoms on this tree this year.  These trees blossom in the driest part of the year, so that their seeds get the maximum rainfall possible for growth.  Nature has her ways.

These trees have such magnificent blossoms, pure white and esquisitely formed.  It's a bit hard to see on this picture but can you see the bee having its breakfast?

This shot was taken up through the branches and the moon is almost ready to set.

21 November 2013

21 November 2013

Another weekend went by without posting a blog.  That was because I was travelling and attending meetings and enjoying time with friends and so writing a blog took second fiddle.  Last Thursday (14^th) I went to Dar es Salaam, leaving here by Mohamed Trans Bus at 6.00 a.m. and arriving on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam by 1.00 p.m.  The trip was fine up to here, with only one stop along the way, for bathroom and breakfast.  Then as we started getting into traffic, everything came to a standstill.  There is a lot of building and repairing of roads going on, widening the road as well as building some sort of rapid transit train system, and  everything and everybody keeps wanting to get somewhere at the same time the building is going on.  After some time of sitting in traffic that was completely stopped, our bus driver jumped up, went out of the bus, got on the back of a motorcycle that was on the side of the road, and off he went.  Before too long, he was back, having scouted out a way around/though the jam, and we managed to get to the station within the next half hour.  We got into a taxi to take us to the hostel at the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, and then sat in the taxi for another good length of time waiting to leave the bus station.  The taxi driver maneuvered around stopped traffic and back streets and we made fairly good time until the last couple of miles, where again there was a jam with nothing moving.  Finally our driver was able to get off the road and take some back paths and we made it to TEC, sweating profusely and grateful to be out of a “moving” vehicle.  This isn’t a good month to go to Dar es Salaam, since the heat and humidity is awful and it really wasn’t pleasant.  However, it was good to see the Maryknoll Sisters from all over the country and we had an air conditioned room for our meetings, so all was well.  I came back here on Sunday, leaving Dar es Salaam at 6.00 a.m. and arriving in our house by 1.00.  That was good time and my only complaint was a headache, since there was no coffee to be had either before leaving or on the way.

Dar es Salaam has changed so much since I lived there in the 70’s.  Then the population was so much smaller and cars were few and far between.  Now the population is almost 4 ½ million, and I swear most of them are on the road all the time, either on foot or bicycle or motorcycle or car or van or bus.  And don’t forget the truck traffic, with huge trucks and trailers hauling cargo to and from the port in Dar es Salaam travelling all over Tanzania as well as Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC.   Hopefully when the building and repair are finished the traffic problem will be eased a little.  Talk about energy and life, however – lots and lots of that.

10 November 2013

I didn’t manage to write last weekend nor throughout the week.  It was a busy week because I taught four or five hours every day besides having the little ones (20 strong, on our porch, in the heat) in the afternoon.  Sometimes I think I’m getting too old for this!!

But I went “downtown” a couple times and thought readers of these ramblings might be interested in those experiences.  First of all, the distance from our house to get downtown is about six kilometers, not far and on a good road.  BUT the traffic has increased dramatically since our coming to Dodoma four years ago.  Although there are plans for a road that bypasses the main part of the city, that isn’t the case right now and all the truck traffic which comes and goes from the port in Dar es Salaam upcountry to here, Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Bukoba, Musoma, etc. goes right through the town of Dodoma.  Besides the trucks on the road there are hundreds of “daladalas”, small mini-buses that carry folks from one part of the city to another.  And they’re always looking for passengers (aka money) so they zip around trying to get ahead of one another.  And then there are the motorcycles – hundreds of motorcycles.  A lot of transport is carried out by young men on motorcycles these days since they will take passengers anywhere around the town for a much cheaper price than a taxi.  And we can’t forget the bicycles, many carrying loads on the back, nor can we forget the people on foot.  Dodoma is a town which has almost no sidewalks, so people walk on the road along with all the other things mentioned, and now and again there are cows as well.  So observant and defensive driving is the name of the game.

To get a perspective on the size of Dodoma, the 2012 census report says the population of the municipality of Dodoma is 411,000.  That population swells considerably at times like now, when Parliament is in session.  Not only do we have the influx of all those elected representatives of government but also all the other folks who are support staff and other people who travel here in order to meet with parliamentarians.  Plenty of people around.

Since it is my week to cook, I went to the market on Monday after classes.  I always go with a big basket and before I get very far in the market, some young boy, probably about 13 – 15 years old, usually comes along and asks if he can carry my basket.  I always say “yes” since it gets heavy before I’m finished.  So around the market we go, and before long my basket is filled with carrots, green beans, peas, a big cabbage, cucumbers, green peppers, potatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, avocados, oranges, mangoes, lemons – anything and everything that is in season.  The market also has dried grains and cereals (rice, lentils, beans, etc.) but I didn’t need any of that this week but we stopped to pick up a half dozen of eggs on the way out.  My “helper” insisted that the seller put some rice hulls in the bag before putting the eggs so that they wouldn’t break, and then he also insisted on carrying them instead of letting me carry them.  And then we left the market for where the car was parked, about a half block away, and for all this service I paid him the equivalent of 25 cents.  He was very grateful, and off he went looking for another old lady for whom he could carry her basket!

Another service that I had done for me last week was a car wash.  Two young men spent about 45 minutes cleaning a very dirty car.  The place where they work has a power wash and a vacuum so they did a fantastic job and the car shines.  They also informed me that a tire needed air so made sure I got it put in before I left.  And that service cost the equivalent of $2.50 and then I added a tip of 50 cents.  Again these kids were happy that they’re working AND got a tip besides!  There is so much youth unemployment in Tanzania.