20 May After breakfast this morning Fr. Melchior, pastor of the Jesuit parish in Dar es Salaam – the parish in whose boundaries Loyola High School is found – took me on a tour. We walked from the community building over to the parish buildings. This tour started what was an overwhelming day. I saw poverty the likes of which I’ve never witnessed before. I know there are people in more dire straits than those in this neighborhood, but this is the greatest poverty I’ve witnessed. A lot of travel of folks on the road –rutted and narrow way is the better description – as we walked toward the parish compound. Melchior showed me how the building is falling apart. The settling is considerable, the cracks at places are wide enough to put two fingers in. What they couldn’t do with a structural engineer here to advise them!
The parish primary school is an obvious priority for him, and his devotion to the children is obvious. I enjoyed visiting two classrooms and being welcomed by the children. I did witness the difference re: pedagogy between what I’ve become accustomed to witnessing in so many US classrooms and here: There is much more stress on rote memorization, choral response, etc. A challenge lies ahead of me – but not an unwelcome one.
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