Meeting the Bishop

Sossy brought be to the episcopal residence to meet the bishop of Dodoma, whom readers have heard about already from the earlier entry about the report of the ground breaking. Our meeting was brief but it was very powerful. He was very welcoming and encouraging. His invitation to help this local Church – with national implications, really – was most sincere.
When I spoke I lost it. I started recounting my conversation with Sossy and Deo in Berkeley. I mentioned that I had told Sossy that I didn’t want to be the mzungu who came with all the answers (although you can see that is a trap easily fallen into), and how Sossy assured me that they realized that I don’t have all the expertise but that I have some that they could use at this point. I also mentioned what both Tim Kesicki and Rui Nunes had shared with me: That I will learn something important about the spiritual life not available in the same way late modern industrial society (Okay, they didn’t say “late modern industrial society” but something like it ☺). Indeed, I’m beginning to see that after just a few days here I have a lot to learn from the Tanzanians in this regard. When I have the opportunity in the next day or so, I intend to tell Sossy that I am asking to be missioned here to assist in the founding of the Our Lady Queen of Peace Educational Center.
My fear is the vastness of the project. It will stretch me. I feel very comfortable relative to the skills needed to get an academic program up and running, but I have a lot to learn relative to the skills involved in this new job, which includes the duties associated with a high school president as conceived in Jesuit schools in the United States. This is to say that my experience has mostly been in how to spend money, not raise it and make budgets! The other fear is that there is so much more involved in running a boarding school (the first project of the centre) –a coeducational one for 1,200 students!