Companions

Fr. Bart Murphy, an Oregon Province Jesuit who has been living and working in East Africa for twenty years, picked me up a little before noon today to give me a tour of the area. He lives and works at the Salvatorian Institute, just a stretch down the Morogoro-Dar es Salaam Road. He teaches church history at the institute, which was set up for the intellectual formation of candidates for priesthood from religious congregations (who receive their spiritual formation in houses of their own congregations located in the environs of the institute.)

After a tour of the facilities (which included his pointing out a bike that he's had repaired for my use during these three months here) we drove around the area, ending up in the downtown. But first we drove a little ways up the peak against which the city rests (high enough to see a troop of monkeys) to get a view of the city--Morogoro is next to the Uluguru range of mountains.. The place had once been a school run by the Holy Ghost community but it was nationalized in the early days of independence and has since served as a teachers college. The downtown is a bustling place with great energy. Hate to put down my new home, but there's an energy in Morogoro's downtown not present in Dodoma's. This might, in fact, have to do with what seems to be a higher standard of living in this area. Morogoro not only has agriculture (sisal plantations and other crops); it also is a university town. Of course with the University of Dodoma on the ascendency (not to mention OLQP!), a similar energy might be found in Dodoma in the future.

After walking around the downtown area we headed to lunch. The first restaurant we went to asked for 10,000 TSH for each of us for a buffet. Bart negotiated them down to 6,000 TSH but was told that would be a la carte. He told the host that it was too much and that we'd go down the road. I expected the host to cave in, but he didn't. We did go down the road a piece. I had chicken and chips (chipsy mayei is a popular street food here, incidentally--as potatoes are sizzling away in a frying pan two scrambled eggs are poured over the top; this is then cooked into a solid omelette, stuffed with potatoes) and a Sarengeti (a lager).

Returned about three o'clock and enjoyed a little siesta and then sat down with Marie Antoinette. Poor thing; it's 1790 and not looking good. (My friend Mary ruined the ending for me in a comment on an earlier post.)