Work

"Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying." ~Studs Terkel

The footage would make an OSHA officer wince.

Progress

Here is a video of the roofing up on the matrons'/patrons' (dorm moderators') residence -- a small sign of a little more progress.

A Star is Born!

Or will be.

My friend Fr. Eddie Siebert, sj, will becoming to Dodoma 11-15 May in order to shoot some film about our project. The film will be used for two things: (1) a promotional dvd to help us get the good word out about this important project, and (2) a documentary on how the notion of "misssion" and "missions" and "missionary" has changed in the last decades. You can check out the work of Eddie and his colleagues here.

Digital autographs will be available upon request.

Mabati!

That is one of my favourite Kiswahili words. I just like the sound of it. What does it mean in English? Corrugated iron sheeting.

Mabati is the most common roofing used here. Ours arrived on Saturday from Dar-es-Salaam. I'd expected -- and thought we'd agreed on -- maroon, but the color is more brown than maroon. It will look good, nonetheless. As soon as it starts going up, I'll take some snaps and post.

I missed a trip to Rome by this much (shows index finger millimetres away from thumb). Our contractor thought it would be good for one of us to join a representative from the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference on a trip to determine whether a proposed deal on tiles is as good as it seems. Alas, the originally proposed dates conflicted with an important meeting -- and the ultimate date chosen is this week, which I can't manage. Only slightly disappointed.

Just a Reminder...

...of where I am.

We were without Internet for several days. The government Internet provider was down nationally. It makes me realize just how much I depend on the Internet and just how precarious such services are here. (Fortunately we have had no problems with power recently -- and when we do it is a matter of a few hours at night.) I do have separate access to the Internet, however -- using my Kindle. It isn't as effecient as a computer, but it does the job of receiving email (hard to respond with the Kindle keyboard, though).

Among the news I received via my Kindle was that we'll be welcoming Sean and Laura, Jesuit volunteers from the States in the fall. Nice to have such generous folks join us in this exciting enterprise.

"Just Tell Us What You Need"

I read those words from various people so often. And because folks have been so supportive financially, spiritually, and otherwise, I am hesitant to ask for more help.

Any money that has been donated to OLQP by friends and family, etc. that has not been designated otherwise is going to financial assistance for students. And by the beginning of the school year in January 2011, this assitance will allow us to have 1/4 of the entrance class as fully sponsored students, a great achievement.

But we want very much for our students to have books in their hands. For that reason we are working with a local non-governmental agency, PEN Trust, to ship books via Books for Africa. We're going to share a container with some other schools. Your help with the shipping costs would be very much appreciated, so if you could hop over to the BfA site and make a donation, that'd be terrific. BfA has a policy of requiring $1,000.00 in an organization's account before posting it on the web, but if you just let the folks at BfA know that your donation is meant for St. Peter Claver in TZ, they'll apply the funds to our account. Thanks very much.

Another thought? Do folks have telescopes that are collecting dust in a closet? Last night I looked up at the sky and marveled at its beauty. How wonderful it would be to introduce students to astronomy and its marvels!

Incidentally, the same goes for used musical instruments -- if you have a horn that's hiding, a drum that's not being rolled, an accordion no longer acclaimed, or a flute that's floundered (I could go on!), we could use it here.

God bless.

A Visit to St. Ignataius Preparatory and Primary School

Yesterday I visited the Jesuit grade school (pre-k to standard 7) here in Dodoma, St. Ignatius. In the fall, its first students will graduate, and we are hoping that many of them come to St. Peter Claver High School.

The head teacher, Sr. Euphrasia, introduced me to four young women in the Standard 7 Class. All of them hope to be with us at the new school next year. I asked them what their hopes were for the future: 2 doctors, a pilot, and a business woman. High aspirations. Sic ad astra...

I spent the remaining 2.5 hours of the day with 19 teachers at the school. I presented a workshop on teaching for understanding and creating a community of learners devoted to inquiry -- relating these two things to the type of pedagogy that should characterize the teaching at a Jesuit school.

It was good to be with the folks down the road. (Down the road doesn't quite capture it: One travels about 1.5 kilometres on a paved road and then another 2.5 kilometres on a dirt road that's pretty rough. We might way that the primary school in the "suburbs" of Dodoma!)