18th January 2010 – New Year’s Blessing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.