Home Again

I've been away from Dodoma.

Last Tuesday afternoon I travelled by bus to Dar es Salaam and then took Kenyan Air to Nairobi on Wednesday morning for a Thursday meeting with Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, the provincial superior of the Eastern Africa Province of the Jesuits. I flew back to Dar es Salaam and took the s-l-o-w-e-s-t bus possible to Dodoma today (but here in TZ I'd rather be on a slow bus than an unsafe one).

My meeting in Nairobi with the provincial was a very good one, and I am happy I made the trip. It also gave me an opportunity to say farewell to some friends, especially Fathers Gabriel Mmassi, Bart Murphy, and Deo Mutayoba. Gabriel and I were at JSTB together in the early 90's; he is presently serving as the rector at Hekima College, the anglophone theologate for the Jesuits of Africa/Madagascar. I first met Bart when I was in language school in Morogoro, where he taught church history at the Salvatorian seminary; Bart is now involved in spiritual direction at our retreat house in Nairobi. I first met Deo when I travelled to Berkeley three years ago to meet Sossy about possibly helping out with a little project in a place called Dodoma.

I have fewer than two weeks before I leave this place -- so much to do!