D' Salaam

I arrived this morning from London. Unlike last time there was no problems at immigration. I explained to the kind man directing folks that I had received a residency permit but that it was awaiting my arrival in Dodoma and that all I had (in addition, of course, to my passport) was a printed pdf of the permit. He sent me to the East Africa line, where I was immediately given entrance. A quick stop at customs for a bag check, and I was in the welcoming area.

With no one to welcome me. It seems there was a bit of confusion. I waited for ten or so minutes for a familiar face, looked for my name on the signs drivers were holding, etc., but nothing. Then I noticed a gentleman in clerics. "Ah, that might just be my ride," I thought. "Excuse me, Father, are you from Loyola High School?" He wasn't; rather he was the pastor of the Lutheran cathedral awaiting a visiting Lutheran bishop from the DRC. When he learned why I was asking for a Jesuit father, he insisted, insisted, on schlepping me to Loyola High School. (The bishop, incidentally, never arrived, so it might be said I stood in place of a Lutheran bishop). That, my friends, marks Tanzania. When you hear folks speak of "Karibu" (welcome) that is how it plays out here -- not just the word, the actions that have meaning behind the word. I feel most welcome.

This evening Malasi, the Jesuit regent (Jesuit who has taken vows and working in a Jesuit work before studying theology before ordination) will arrive in D'Salaam with an Irish scholastic who's spent the last weeks working at the parish there to drive me home to Dodoma tomorrow (wow, first time I've written "home" and "Dodoma" together), and on next Friday I begin the 3+ month study of Kiswahili in Morogoro -- I'll be arriving there just in time for the hottest time of the year (often around 40 degrees centigrade -- and humid).

Thanks for the prayers and best wishes. More later.