Thanks, Continued

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I thank God for the people that were in my life in Tanzania.

Where to start? Certainly with Sossy. I met Sossy within days of that phone call from Rome. He happened to be in the United States, so I flew up to Berkeley from Los Angeles in order to meet him and the equally wonderful Deogratius Rwezaura, then a graduate student at the Jesuit School of Theology. My initial excitement was only confirmed in my talk with Sossy about the need in Dodoma. He seemed like someone I could work with, a fact that was confirmed over the course of our three years together. Not that everything was always smooth, mind you. We had our differences but the respect that we have for one another helped us to manage those moments. It was a delight to see Sossy during the recent colloquium in Boston and an even greater delight to spend a couple of days relaxing with him after the meeting.

There were other Jesuit companions in the community in Dodoma, of course. Michel Ruasha could not have made me feel more welcome to the community; his departure from the parish was not easy for me.

I am very thankful for having had the opportunity to live and work with Martin Waweru Kamau. I’ve recounted a difficult time in our life in our community at the parish before those assigned to the high school moved the 17 kilometres to Ihumwa. I was in part implicated in the difficulty. In any case the tension – the details are unimportant, really –  in the community went unnamed and unaddressed until at a community meeting this outstanding young Jesuit so many years my junior called the community to greater growth by naming the issues and inviting us to address them. Thank God he did. We worked well together – and lived well together.  I can say that one of the best years of my life was the one spent living in two apartments – Martin, Brother Vincent, Kizito, and I.

What would I have done without Kizito? He was an ear for me in some difficult times and never gave me anything except good advice – which when ignored led me down some much rockier roads than I would have had to have traveled had I listened. He taught me a lot in his gentle way. Talk about a man without guile!

Among the people I most admired were our domestic employees. They worked so hard on our behalf. The love of Rose Anthony for the Jesuits and her devotion to  work were inspiring. And her joy was infectious.

At my farewell party, I told the story of our day guard Kikwete. This older gentleman had worked on the security team for our contractor. At one time there was a reduction in force among the guards; the supervisor informed him that for a certain amount of money (about half a month’s salary), Kikwete could keep his job. Kikwete responded by saying that he had too much integrity to engage in such a practice: he’d go home before paying such money. He went home and within a couple of weeks we hired him as our employee because we knew from this incident that he was a man of integrity. He exemplified hard work. Dotto the night guard was equally inspiring. This young man worked through the night and then went to the government secondary school during the day. And inspiration.

The volunteers were such an amazing support. I was supposed to be their support person, but they served me as much in that role as I did them! Their own generosity and desire to be with the people and to serve the nation was inspiring.

And the Ivrea sisters modeled for me what religious life at its best looks like. Jesuit life is not their life, but we could stand to learn from them how to live a more communal existence.

Teachers are liars. They say they don’t have favorites but they do. The challenge is to treat everyone fairly. I had my favourites. One was Esdory Richard, who wants to be a Jesuit. I hope one day I can call him a brother. Another is Christopher Massawe. Christopher arrived at SPCHS without much English. After the first marking period he came to my office inconsolable because of the poor marks he’d received for the previous term. I explained – with Kizito translating because his English was so poor – that it would all work out, that he had to give it time, but that he had to be more actively involved regarding his studies. From that day he showed up every day for extra help from teachers, attended an intensive English program for English language learners during the June break, etc. He finished his first year with B’s. The third is a young girl named Brigiter –  pronounced "brighter," and she is! She comes from a poor, single-parent family. She’s receiving substantial help for her fees, and she never missed an opportunity to thank us for the chance she was receiving. Finally there is Calvin Massawe, who combines maturity and real kindness. He really understands our mission. These four stand for so many others – and they’re going places!

Those are just some thumbnails of folks I’m thankful for. They stand for many others unnamed here.

As I wrote, I’m thankful to have had them in my life.

Next, I think I’ll recount some moments I’m particularly thankful for.