Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

I'm in Nairobi and have excellent Internet service. Why didn't I take some pictures to update my readers on our progress? A real missed opportunity.

I am here in Nairobi, wearing a different hate than usual. I'm here as the assistant for education for the Eastern Africa Province of the Jesuits. On Thursday evening we'll begin a two day seminar for the heads of Jesuit educational institutions -- looking at the characteristics of Jesuit education and how those get lived out in the day-to-day in different circumstances.

I had a twelve hour bus ride yesterday from Dodoma to Moshi.

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(Looking at the map, you may ask why I didn't just go straight north through Kondoa and Babati. The answer is simple: That more direct route is via the Cape-to-Cairo Road. It is also known and the Great North Road. The only thing great about it is its length -- it is unpaved most of the way, and given that we just finished the rainy season it is in horrible condition. You cannot get a direct bus by taking that route.)

I managed to start and finish a 400-page book that Waweru lent me -- better than looking at the road and all the near misses! I had a marvelous time with our two Jesuits in Moshi, Tony D'Souza and Edmund Mallya.

This morning I hopped on another bus at 6:30 a.m. and got to Nairobi eight hours later. Actually with the road between Arusha and Nairobi now mostly paved it could be a much quicker trip -- but the inefficiencies at the border slowed things down considerably.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that we're holding our students more accountable re: their behaviour. For the most part, they are responding well. We really do have good students -- but they are teenagers!