Colleagueship

I've written about it before, but I experienced it anew last evening. The people who work here at the parish all came together last night for Mass and a party. After some great food was eaten -- and some drinks were drunk! -- the dancing began. As you can see, fun was had by all -- even Horace, the young son of the parish secretary turned his frown upside down.

There were problems with the cd player. Finally, we found a song that didn't skip: pole, samahani -- so sorry, please excuse me. I thought the words were, pole, samaki -- so sorry for you, fish. "Pole" is a great expression; it means "sorry for you," distinguished from the "sorry" meaning "I apologize."

Spes Gregis

A little Latin for a change: hope of the flock.

Students from Standards IV and VII at the Jesuit primary school here in Dodoma, St. Ignatius Primary School, recently visited the OLQP site.

I didn't accompany them on their trip (this photo was taken by Claire Ball, and English volunteer who arrived just about a month ago), but from all reports they were very excited.

A Video Update on Progress at OLQP

I headed out to the OLQP site today, expecting to be slip-sliding in mud because we had such a heavy rain last night. They didn’t get as much rain at the campus (which is about 10 miles away from the Jesuit parish, where I live). A lovely day. Here are some videos that capture the progress. Petit à petit l’oiseau fait son nid – that’s’ French, not Kiswahili: Little by little the bird makes its nest.

While on the campus I was particularly struck by how “chirpy” the birds were. As Bart Murphy told me in Morogoro after a few rains brought out the green and the buds, “It doesn’t take much for nature to be thankful.” Incidentally, I saw some spectacular birds – all we manage to see here at the parish (named for its ward kiwanja cha ndege -- ndege being the word for both bird and plane), really, are sparrows.

The Novice Gives Tips to the Master

Here's just a quick glimpse of my teasing my driving instructor. Incidentally, I presided at Mass at an outstation a few miles outside of town. I was accompanied by a Jesuit scholastic, Martin. We took a very rough road to get to the church -- filled with lots of very slick and deep mud; I was happy that he was the driver. I drove home, though -- and he told me I didn't need one more driving lesson. (I must say, though, that driving in the city scares me. Michel told me to get the rules of the road of the USA out of my mind: "Pretend you are the only driver on the road, and you'll be fine," he counseled.)

I won't bore you any more with driving tales.

Planting

The OLQP campus encompasses 500 acres. Yes, 500 acres! And the acreage is suitable for growing crops -- given sufficient water.

We've spoken of the importance of our growing as much food for ourselves -- produce as well as livestock (dairy cows for milk, goats and pigs for occasional meat, chickens for eggs). And we'd planned on having an agricultural program in the technical college to be opened in a few years. We hadn't planned on having an agricultural stream for the high school until we were recently asked by the government to consider it. We've considered it and are going to follow through with such plans. These programs will really affect the lives of many, many people.

At Christmas I had the opportunity to have a great discussion with my brother-in-law Denny Johnson's good friend, Mike Anderson. He shared with me just how big a difference education can make relative to agricultural production. Amazing, really. It makes me excited about what we might do.

Driving Ndugu Malasi

Argh! We haven’t had Internet service for three days. It seems that we reached our account’s monthly limit re: bytes. There’s now an added person living in the community in the community who prefers reading the newspapers on-line than watching sports on television (me!), so something might have to give!

Last week I had my first lesson on how correctly to drive a manual transmission. It actually went better than I thought. My problem is that when I first learned 27 years ago, I learned incorrectly: I engage the clutch before the break all the time. Other than that bad habit and going into fourth by accident once (and stalling out), I’ve done pretty well. But oh, the things a driver has to attend to here, as I’ve noted. Malasi told me to “stay in your lane,” to which I snarkily replied, “You know there are places in the world where they actually paint the divisions.” He took it in good humor.

Folks have clamoured (a bit of an overstatement) to see pictures of me. Here’s a video.

Siwezi Kuendesha Gari Vizuri

I don't drive a car well. That's not exactly true. I've driven since I was sixteen and have had only one accident (within a week of getting my license and NOT my faulty) and two moving violations (rolling stop and speeding -- only slightly, on the highway). I have a reputation for being a good driver.

But I learned how to drive a stick-shift improperly many years ago. Malasi took me out to the road off which our building site is located. In most parts it is a very good road, though not paved. It's hilly, and there are some rough patches -- AND there aren't a lot of people on it. I thought it would be perfect, especially that last part (I'm too proud to be laughed at as I learn).

Well, I actually did quite well, though the bad habits that I learned when as a novice in 1983 I worked for St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center in Charm City (that's Baltimore to those not in the know), remain. The chief bad habit is applying the clutch before the break when slowing down, say for a huge puddle that you meet in third gear. I hope to break that habit.

What I'm not good at yet is city driving here. There are a thousand things to keep track of at once here: bicycles, pedestrians along the left side of the road, speeding buses passing on the right, dealing with these things as you are approaching a roundabout (called a kipilefti here -- Get it? "Keep Left" becomes kipilefti!). (I know that's not a thousand things, but the combination makes it seem like such!) Malasi was very patient and helpful.

Oh, the other habit: Driving on the left isn't so hard, actually. I've been a passenger here long enough to be accustomed to that. What I am not accustomed to is directonal placed on the right side of the steering column -- I kept on turning on the windshield wipers to indicate a turn.

I'll get the hang of it. In the meantime, my guardian angels will be doing extra duty -- as will the guardian angels of other drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, etc. (I'd add cows and goats, but don't think they get the same angelic assistance.)