MAKOKO LANGUAGE SCHOOL

During the month of July, and into the first week of August, I taught the preschool children at Shaloom. We worked on a little English during the first hour of each school day, and after that it was all Kiswahili lessons until the close of the day at 1pm. God bless Rehema, the woman who has been doing most of the work with the children during my transition! She is so patient with me, and the children! I’m happy I made the attempt to begin teaching the children while I studied the language, but I realized during that month that I needed more help with Kiswahili before I could really work well with the children. The lessons I was getting at the International Language Training Center in Mwanza just weren't sufficient enough to meet my needs. I knew there was another four month course beginning at Makoko Language School in Musoma, three and a half hours northeast of Mwanza, because one of our new S.M.A. priests, Fr. Jean-Francois’ (John Francis) was preparing to attend. I asked my superiors if I could attend the course and they were delighted! Within days I was registered and off to Musoma on August 9th! The course began on Monday, August 12th.

 

My room is on the 2nd floor; last room on the right.

The classrooms are on the lower level.

 

I am one of ten students attending the language school, and the only lay missionary. We have two priests in our group; Fr. Jean-Francois' S.M.A. from French speaking Quebec, Canada, and Fr. Orlando from Mexico. We also have seven sisters studying with us; Sr. Dariana from Poland, Sr. Chiara from Germany, Sr. Theresa and Sr. Linet from India, and three sisters from various islands in the Pacific Ocean near Australia. These sisters are Sr. Sofia from Samoa, Sr. Margareth from the Solomon Islands and Sr. Lucinder from Papua New Guinea. 

 

 

Makoko Language School was founded by the Maryknoll fathers and brothers in the early 1950's. However, since 2001, the diocese of Musoma has been operating the school, under the direction of Fr. Edward Gorczaty, from Poland (front and center in the photo).

 

The school has a very practical approach to teaching Kiswahili. The teaching staff includes eight teachers, all of whom live in the local villages.

Daniel (teacher), Petro (guard) & Joseph (teacher)

Joseph

                                                                                Magdelena 

 

                            Silvester

Stephano



 

Classes begin each morning, Monday through Friday, at 8:30am. Each morning includes five (5) 40 minute class periods, with a 15 minute break after the 3rd period. The classes include story reading and memorizing; practicing dialogues between local people, which are read, played out and memorized; grammar lessons and practical exercises based on the grammar lessons. The students are divided into five classrooms, with two students in each class. The teachers rotate between classrooms. Classes conclude at 12:25pm, with lunch served for the students at 12:30pm. The teachers return to their homes for lunch after the final class, but return to the school by 2pm to work with students in the lab, and to be available for extra assistance. Many of us students walk into the village in the afternoons and on weekends to chat with the local people. I  think that has been most helpful. After completing the third week of study, I feel confident that this course will help me improve my Kiswahili language skills.

 

The school staff is very accommodating, providing three meals a day, seven days a week, washing and ironing our laundry, washing our bedding, cleaning our rooms and cleaning all of the other rooms in the facility. The cooking staff is excellent! There have been very few meals that I haven't enjoyed, and I've tried at least a little of everything. On Thursdays we have a traditional Tanzanian meal. There is a beautiful chapel within the building. We have mass every morning at 7am and rosary every evening at 6. We also have adoration of Thursday evenings at 7:30 for an hour. We have a recreation room (right next to my room!) with a TV, DVD player, refrigerator stocked with sodas and beer (at a very minimal cost), and free coffee, tea and water 24 hours a day. We also have WI-FI available at a reasonable cost. We have tennis and volleyball courts on the grounds, as well as table tennis in one of the larger classrooms. There is a beautiful retreat center, called Epheta Centre, run by the Capuchin friars, located on Lake Victoria, which is only a five-ten minute walk from the school. (More on the Epheta Center in another post.) 

School Chapel

 

                                                                  Epheta Centre

 

Confirmation Day!!

Confirmation in Holy Family Parish - Pasiansi Parokia (Parish)

09 June 2013

Holy Family Parish of Pasiansi Village, in the Mwanza Diocese, celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation (Jimbo) on 09 June 2013. Because Holy Family Parish covers a large area, the parish also has two outstations; one located in the village of Bwiru, and the other outstation is currently using a Kitangiri Secondary School classroom for Sunday mass. Bwiru celebrated Confirmation on 08 June 2013, with approximately 50 children being confirmed. Today's confirmation class included over 200 confirmands. The celebration at Pasiansi was an all day affair, beginning with the Holy Mass at 9:00am. The Mass was alive with music, singing, dancing and speeches! Archbishop Jude Thadaeus Ruwa'ichi was the main celebrant of the Mass. The S.M.A. priests; Fr. Janusz Machota, Fr. Tony Gill and Fr. Jean-Baptiste' com-celebrated the Mass. The Mass concluded at 2:30pm.

 

The Confirmation Class

The Pasiansi parish choir performed at its best for the big celebration, as did the young altar dancers (in yellow). Near the end of the Mass, the altar dancers ignited bowls of fire, which were set upon their heads to signify the Light of the Holy Spirit.

 

                            Altar Dancers

After the Mass, the crowd of over 600 people gathered outdoors for more speeches, singing, dancing and dining. Archbishop Ruwa'ichi addressed the confirmands, parents, and guests at the start of the outdoor gathering, followed by performances by various church choirs, students and children's groups.

Parish representative, Fr. Jean-Baptiste', Bishop Thadaeus, Fr. Tony & Fr. Janusz

Children's dance performance

 



 

                                                           Conversion of the devil play act performed by students

 







Following the performances, gifts were presented to the bishop. He received a variety of gifts including clothing, money, vegetables, fruits, chickens and goats! Finally, a simple meal of rice, chicken, cabbage, beans, cooked bananas, watermelon and drinks was served to all of the guests. There were four food stations set up to help shorten the length of time the guests had to wait for their food to be served. There was also a disc jockey from Radio Maria Catholic Radio Station on site.The entire day was very well organized! Outside the church entrance a vendor set up his stand to provide family and friends an opportunity to purchase gifts for the confirmands. Commercialism has even reached Tanzanian!

          Radio Maria Disc Jockey

Commercialism at the church gate

                                                                     Meal served to all guests

The Guests

 



                                                                    Gifts for the Bishop

 

 

S.M.A. REGIONAL HOUSE OF MWANZA

         Fr. Robert, Jean, Fr. Tony & Fr. Janusz

 

Fr. Robert, Jean, Fr. Tony & Fr. Alan

 

                                                                           Marga, Krystina & Ita

 

The Society of African Missions' worldwide organization is made up of many provinces, districts and regions. Every region throughout the S.M.A. world has a Regional House. Fortunately for me, the Mwanza Regional House is only a 15 minute walk from where I stay. Some of the S.M.A. priests and lay missionaries from our region meet each Sunday afternoon for dinner. Unfortunately, some live too far away to come very often. Many people pass through the Regional House throughout the year. Since my arrival on April 15th, I've met a number of S.M.A. members, some of whom I don't have photos of yet. Shown in the photos above are Fr. Robert from France, who is the guest master of the house, but will be leaving at the end of May for a well deserved holiday back home; Fr. Tony from Ireland, who stays next door to me; Fr. Janusz from Poland, who is the Regional Superior and stays at the regional house; and Fr. Alan, who was en route back to his home in the Philippines after spending 8 years in Ghana, West Africa. For many years Marga, who is from Holland, has been running a program to provide assistance for street boys in Mwanza. Ita is also from Holland, and volunteered to assist Marga with the street children for the past year. She just returned to Holland at the end of April. Krystina, of course, was the Shaloom preschool teacher for the past two years. She returned to the US at the beginning of May. Just before Krystina left, she received a visit from three S.M.A. missionaries who work in Bugisi, Tanzania, which is located about 3 hours from Mwanza; they are Jolanta, from Poland, Monika, from Poland, and Fr. Julieto, from the Philippines. Fr. Jean' Baptiste, from Benin, West Africa, who was pictured in a previous posting playing checkers, and stays next door to me, usually joins us for dinner but had a previous engagement the day these photos were taken. I've also met Fr. Mick, from Ireland, who was passing through the regional house on his way home to Ireland for a one year sabbatical, after serving for over 20 years in Ngudu, Tanzania. Fr. PJ Kelly, who serves in the remote village of Kilulu, also spent a few days at the Regional House after his return from the General Assembly in Rome. It's been a privilege to meet so many dedicated missionaries. I look forward to meeting many more.

 

As you can see by the photos below, the staff at the Regional House is also dedicated to gardening. The gardens at the house are just gorgeous!

 

Gardens near the gate of the house

                                                                 Gardens at the front of the house

 

            Gardens on the side of the house

Small screened in hall on the grounds

 

Close up of one of the beautiful roses on the property

 

 

BUGANDO MEDICAL CENTRE

 

 

Last week I was invited by Sister Adelina Kokubonza to visit Bugando Medical Center. Sr. Adelina studied Accounting at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA) from 2007 - 2013. She was just assigned to the hospital in March 2013, in the Accounting office. I've included a little snippet from the hospital's website, just to give you a little information on the center.

 

Bugando Medical Center is a consultant and teaching hospital for the Lake and Western zones of Tanzania. Situated along the shores of Lake Victoria in Mwanza City, it has 900 beds and approximately 900 employees. It is a referral center for specialist care for six regions, including Mwanza, Mara, Kagera, Shinyanga, Tabora and Kigoma. It serves a population of approximately 13 million people.

Bugando Medical Center (BMC), formerly Bugando Consultant and Referral Hospital, was built by the Catholic Church from 1968-1971, and was officially opened by President Julius Nyerere in December, 1971. In 1972, the Tanzanian government nationalized the hospital and administered it from 1972-1985. In 1985, the hospital was handed back to the Tanzania Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Tanzania.

The hospital is a partnership with the Catholic Church, the Tanzania Government through the Ministry of Health, the Touch Foundation and other partners in making sure that services at BMC are of good quality and that we are training competent health professionals of tomorrow.

 

Within the grounds of the Medical Center is Bugando University College of Health Sciences. The university offers an undergraduate program in medicine. 

Bugando Medical Center

 

After my tour of the hospital, Sr. Adelina and I walked to the university campus for lunch. It was interesting to see a different side of Mwanza. We ate hamburgers at the campus cafeteria; and they were pretty tasty! We waited about half an hour for our lunch to be served because they actually fry the hamburgers at the time they are ordered! What a concept! The burgers came wrapped in cellophane, so of course, I asked Sr. Adelina why. Apparently, there are big, black and white crows who feast on the leftovers of the students. If you leave your lunch unattended, even for a brief period of time, it will quickly get eaten by the crows. I witnessed it myself!
 

 

In September 1990, Pope John Paul II visited Bugando Medical Center. Pope John Paul II's tour during that time was focused on the sick of the world. Fr. Tony Gill, one of our S.M.A. priests, who currently resides here in Bwiru, was assigned to a parish in Shinyanga, Tanzania, during the time of the Pope's visit. Fr. Tony was able to com-celebrate during the mass with the Pope at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Epiphany in Mwanza. I was fortunate enough to have visited the Cathedral during my 2008 visit to Tanzania.

 

"This stone of foundation was put here for Holy Father John Paul II-Sept. 4, 1990"

Metropolitan Cathedral of the Epiphany

 

Altar where Pope John Paul II celebrated mass September 4, 1990



 











My First Weekend Visitor

Mama Rose


 

Cook in training

 

Mama Rose cooks every day for the SMA priests who live in our compound. She is very friendly and has agreed to help me, not only with cooking but with my Kiswahili. She is so patient with me with both the language and cooking. She talks slowly so I'm able to pick up what she's saying, which is most helpful! This past Friday, Mama Rose helped me create a tomato based gravy with cooked beef to serve over boiled potatoes. It was fortunate that we chose that day because my friend, Laurent Mwakakonyole called Friday morning and asked if he could come from Dadoma to Bwiru for a visit. I was so grateful that I would have a decent meal to serve Laurent when he arrived. One of the charisms of the Tanzanian people is their hospitality. I didn't want to disappoint my friend and not have a nice meal prepared. I knew Laurent had left Dadoma about 2pm, so I asked Mama Angela, the cleaning lady for the priests, what time she thought Laurent might arrive, given the amount of time it takes to travel that distance. She told me he should arrive about 6pm. I forgot that the Tanzanian people use a different way of reading time. When I talked to Fr. Tony that evening about 7pm, and explained that I was waiting for Laurent, he said he thought the arrival time would be much later than I was anticipating. You see, the Tanzanian people start counting the hours for the day when the sun comes up, so when the sun rises at 6am, it's 12am. So when Mama Angela said 6pm, she meant midnight in Tanzanian time! That had been explained to me a long time ago but I had forgotten. The meal that I had been keeping warm was transferred to the refrigerator to serve later. Laurent did arrive safely around midnight, after his 10 hour bus ride, and I was able to heat his dinner without causing too much damage.

 

The next day we climbed up the mountain behind my house to see "Jiwe Kuu". Laurent had only visited Mwanza once before so he didn't know much about the area. It was nice that I was able to be the one to show Laurent some of the sights in his country that he hadn't experienced yet.

 

 

 

After our visit to Jiwe Kuu, we took a dala-dala into the city. We visited a really nice Chinese restaurant named Yun Long. Laurent's favorite dish is fish. He said he could eat fish morning, noon and night, and preferred fish to Chinese food, so he ordered tilapia and "chips". I had sweet and sour chicken.

 

 

 



 

         View of Bismarck Rock from restaurant

Bismarck Rock

 

After lunch we did a little shopping and then back to the house. We watched a couple of movies and had a real nice visit. It was nice to be able to entertain one of my dear Tanzanian friends in my African home. In previous years, when I had met with Laurent in Tanzania, we were never able to spend much time together because of other commitments. This was a welcome treat! I look forward to future visits with other local friends.