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!

Did I Not Make a Promise?

Here are even more pictures.

Kids, listen to what your elders tell you:
Picking at a pimple can lead to an abscess!

Our generator will ensure that even when the power goes out
our students can study!

Most of the members of the faculty.

OLQP Statue

Here are some pictures of the statue at our roundabout. So thankful to a friend in Santa Barbara who has a great devotion to Our Lady who helped us with this statue. It is a remarkable welcome to the campus.

Even More

I will miss my Pajero -- "Punda" -- Mule -- I call it.

The parents of Jackie and Dennis both work at SPCHS --
and the family lives in staff housing.

Just in case you didn't believe me: We have scorpions!

And they're big!

More Farewell Pictures

Kikwete, the day guard at the Jesuit Residence.

Sister Maria, scic, (director of boarding) and
Madam Lidya (assistan headmaster).

Professor Kalifunja Osaki, a friend.

The food was great -- you see why I'm fat!

Dotto is the night guard at my office.

A word about Kikwete and Dotto. There is an obvious age difference, but they are close friends. Kikwete was riffed by our contractor, but the supervisor said that for a small price he'd pass over him and rif someone else. Kikwete responded, "I'd rather go home proud than pay a bribe." We knew at that point that we wanted to hire him because of his integrity. Dotto works all night and goes to school at the city high school during the day -- I've been privileged to help him with his English. Will miss these two people immensely.

SPCHS Farewell

Here are some photos of the farewell party the employees threw for me.

There was a procession with gifts, including the popular gift of vitenge.

As per custom, I got wrapped in the vitenge.

That cane is a Maasai cane -- hiding a knife.

I couldn't ask for better Jesuit companions than Sossy and Kizito.

I Promise

I have a ton of recent pictures -- including many from the farewell party for the thrown by the school employees. I promise to post them in the next couple of days.

Glub Glub Glub

I think that's the sound of someone drowning.

I have so many things to attend to, so many issues arising, so many projects to do that this little blog of mine keeps heading to the bottom of the list. Sorry -- when I can come up for air, I'll all the news that's fit for print!

New Construction

We're putting up a cowshed (to initially accommodate 10 cows) and a piggery (which will be able to house 3 sows with their piglets, 8 other sows, 2 boars, along with pens for weaning pigs, and growing pigs.

The cowshed

The cow shed, situated along one of our compound's lanes


This grass for cows does well in Dodoma

The piggery

Pen for sows and their piglets

The weaning pen

Piglets will spend two months with their mothers, two months in the weaning pen (litters from different sows are brought together in this pen), two months in the growing pen, and then to market.

Morning Routines

After morning Mass at 6:30 a.m. in our multi-purpose hall because our chapel is still being constructed, our students "pick up their chairs and move quickly and quietly to the tables."


Then table captains line up to get pots of porridge (called uji).



And return to the tables and serve it.



This is maize porridge. I myself prefer the porridge made from finger millet flour -- a nice nutty, almost chocolate taste. The students, however, prefer finger millet porridge.

More Pictures from Singida

In an earlier post, I shared pictures that my friend Andrea posted on Facebook. My camera battery ran out early in the trip, and though I remembered the charger, I forgot the adapter for the plug.

Here are some pictures that capture rural life in Singida. You can tell how much rain they've gotten. You'll see the picture in the smoky kitchen (I'm sure one gets used to it) -- the hanging gourd is used for making yoghurt.

The hanging gourd is used for making yoghurt.

Rural life

This fierce storm threatened us, but we manage to
get back to Singida town.

Part of the boma -- the livestock pen enclosed
by the compound's buildings

The women's house -- also the kitchen

My sister Michelle would compose this better -- It had its
own simply beauty that I didn't manage to capture.

Mt

In today's homily I told students a story of my first weeks in Tanzania, and they got a big kick out of it.

I told the story because it has to do with mountains -- and the mountain featured in today's gospel (the transfiguration of Jesus). I explained to them that when a mountain is named the word "mount" is used -- Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru, Mount Kenya, and so forth. And in English this is abbreviated "Mt."

In my early days in Tanzania, I couldn't get over how many mountains there were -- and they all had Christian names: Mt. Agostino, Mt. Maria, Mt. Bartolomeo, etc.

The Kiswahili word for saint is mtakatifu, and it is abbreviated "Mt." Not so many mountains, but lots of saints!

JOY!

"Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God."
~Teilhard de Chardin

Proper School Homepage

I know there are many parents and parents of prospective students who find their way to this blog.

The blog is really intended not so much for school news but is rather intended as a way to keep my friends and friends of the school in the USA informed about some happenings.

I am happy to announce that within the coming weeks the school's website will be up and running.

I am very excited about it. The design of the website and all the necessary arrangements are thanks to my nephew-in-law (is there such a term?), Stephen Weinberg, who is one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet.

Singida

Last weekend, I made a trip to Singida, which is the region north of Dodoma Region.

View Larger Map
I was the guest of my friends Mungwe ABC Athman and Andrea Wall, who run the Poverty Eradication Netowork Trust, an NGO in Dodoma and Singida aimed principally at increasing literacy.

It stands among the top five moments in my time here. I have some of my own pictures, that I'll post in another batch, but here are some from the weekend posted by Andrea at her FB page.

This is a picture of part of the boma at Mungwe's parents' place in the village of Ikhanoda, in a district known as Rural North Singida.. (A boma is a structure to keep livestock -- it very often uses the walls of human housing as part of its own structure. So for instance, the men's house might be on one side and the women's house on the other with fences on the two remaining.) Mungwe's parents are both well into their eighties -- Mungwe's mother is one of three wives of Babu Rajabu, a convert to Christianity from Islam.


Here's a picture from Itaja. We had a very unhealthy picnic here (Pringles, muffins, oatmeal cookies -- you name the carb, we had it.) This overlooks the Rift Valley, looking toward Kondoa. (Incidentally, like Kondoa, Singida has ancient rock paintings.)


Mdilu was an ujamaa village that remains; it has an outcropping that is a dome. We had a great view from there.

This part of Singida has had great rain during this season, resulting in great crops but also some pretty bad erosion.


We didn't stay in the village but rather at a hotel in town on the edge of Lake Singida. Here is a fishing boat we came across just a short walk from our hotel.


We also saw a leopard print on the path to the boat -- just metres away from where I was sleeping!

We actually visited people, though. The first two pictures are of Mungwe's mother, Asifiwe (short for Bwana asifiwe -- Praise the Lord!) and his father, Rajabu (pictured with their domestic servant -- known universally here as "house girls" -- and some grandchildren of one of his other families). The third is from his relative Fatuma's place. These folks are sooo poor, and yet they shared local soda (finger millet brew just at the edge of fermentation) and boiled fish.