A Better Picture

Here is a little eye candy for our dedicated readers since we are feeling exhausted from our 6 hour hike up the Uluguru mountain and would not be able to write the quality blog entry you have come to enjoy.  After a rough start getting the necessary passes and such, Martin, our fearless guide, led us up the Morning Side trail.  It was absolutely breathtaking, both physically and aesthetically.  We had a perfect end to our day in nature with a spirituality discussion. But more to come about the hike and tomorrow’s Safari…Goodnight, dear readers. Or, perhaps, good day.

http://picasaweb.google.com/uhusiano

Rapid Fire

Ananiya

Today we visited the Mgolo sistes’ development again after being picked up by our dala dala around 9. Once we arrived, we split into 2 goups of 5; one group went to work with the elderly and the other with orphans, from infants up to about 4 years or 5 years old. The children I was blessed to spend time with today were incredible. We got to meet some of them yesterday during their lunch time. One boy, whose name I learned today was Ananiya immediatly called me “babu” or grandfather. Today, as soon as I reached the top of the stairs across the courtyard from the children, Ananiya began calling out “Babu! Babu!” After settling down our bags, we went across to the children who greeted us with huge smiles. Ananiya ran straight toward me, wrapping his arms around my leg. From then on he and O were practically inseperable. He held onto my thumbs and climed up me, we chased each other around the courtyard, we spun around together, I tickled him until he dropped to the floor, and he used my legs as a slide. When the children were called in to class, Michael and I sat in the courtyard for a couple minutes. He told me that one of the children had asked Ananiya in Swahili if it was okay to go over by me to which Ananiya replied ” He is our grandfather”.

In class, we got to do puzzles with the children, draw on small chalkboards, practice numbers and build with legos. Right after class we helped the children with lunch. I sat next to Ananiya, who had returned from the kitchen with a bowl of food. I tried to get him to start eating, but he just made faces at me. Once everyone had their bowls, I realized why. Maria, a little girl, of no more than 5 years, placed her bown on the table and walked to the head of the table where she recided a prayer one line at a time, allowing all the others to repeat after her. After the closing sign of the cross, Maria returned to her seat and lunch began. Three bowlfuls later, Ananiya was the last ti finish lunch and join the others for their nap, which was our time to say goodbye. Although I immensly miss being “uncle” to my niece and nephews back home, it was great to be “babu” for a day. 

~joe

Pasada revisited

…Continued from Friday, July 6

Sorry we left you hanging before! We weren’t able to finish our reflection from our visit to PASADA (the comprehensive AIDS center in Dar es Salaam). We split up into three groups to accompany the Home Based Care nurses and volunteers on their visits to wagonjwa (those who are sick). Many people we visited were suffering HIV/AIDS, TB, and resulting opportunistic infections. Here are some of our stories…

O Brother, Why Art Thou Here?

The question “Why are we here?” was a simple one posed today by a 70-year-old religious Brother (Donald) born and raised in Brooklyn, NY who has lived in Tanzania for the past 49 years. Still emblazoning his Brooklyn bravado as if he had just moved away last month, he made me, and the others in our band of Hawks, think about the deeper meanings behind the inquisition.

The answers vary immensely from person to person and, for the most part, are a virtual work in progress. One of the most honest answers from one of the students was “I really don’t know why I’m here!” It’s not that we haven’t thought about this trip every day for the past 10 months (and as some will say, for theire entire lives), it’s just that we are all trying to keep a very open mind as to what we are experiencing out here in East Africa and I truly believe that we may not necessarily “figure it out” during our 3 weeks’ time here.

A Day at Mgolole

After finishing our breakfast, we headed out to a place called Mgolole here in the town of Morogoro. We were to spend our day with Tanzanian Catholic nuns who run a self- sustainable project to support the local community here. Our first stop was a room where the nuns manufacture candles and eucharistic hosts. This is one way in which they gain profit in order to run their facilities. The next stop was a printing press where they bind, print, and publish books and other materials for local businesses.

After this we got to see the heart of their facility; the orphanage. Here they take care of children ranging from infants to teenagers. We were lucky enough to take part in feeding and caring for the infants and toddlers. Most of these children were abandoned by their parents immediately after they were born, so spreading a little love was a rare luxury for them. Their smiles lit up the place, so captivating that it was almost impossible for us to walk away towards our next stop; the elderly people’s home also run by the Mgolole Sisters.

Wednesdays, 10pm, ABC

Some tourists asked us if we were the actors from “Lost” today.

“No,” Joe replied.
“Are you sure?” one of the men asked.
“You know what, now that you mention it, maybe I am,” he said after they left.

Gotta go, we have to shoot a scene in five minutes.

Smart Boyz at the Beach

After a long morning of dala dala rides, we arrived at a home for street boys, called “Smart Boyz,” started by Loyola High School graduates. There are eight boys currently living at the home and, although they all come from different parts of Tanzania, they live together like a family. Three of them travel the two-hour trip each day to go to Loyola High School, where they excel in school at the top of their class.

After introductions and a tour of their home, we decided to take a trip to the beach together. All 17 of us stuffed into a dala dala and made our way down to the Indian Ocean. To our surprise, the beach we were dropped off at was the Sunrise Resort, a trendy tourist spot where we broke a few rules playing football and bringing pre-made pb&j sandwiches (a little SJU class). The crystal blue water, palm trees, and white sand really put the Jersey shore to shame, but the boys’ company was what made the day truly spectacular. Cassie and Alena gave swim lessons, and Michael joined in burying one of the boys in the sand. The kids were really going to town with Joe’s iPod and even had fun with Jenn’s old-school CD player. The day was topped off with some dancing to Bob Marley sung by a local rastaman.

We Live in a Beautiful World

Life in the U.S. is strange. I guess there are many people out there that would take offense to that kind of statement, but it’s true. Life in the U.S. is stranger than any of us would ever believe.

As we traveled through the countryside from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro, I came to realize that the world holds magestic sights that can only be described through personal experence. What have we experenced here so far? Beauty. That is the only possible way to describe my own experence. Beauty is everywhere, it’s the the eyes of the children, the glimmer of the ocean, the light of sunset, the clouds that dance past the peaks of mountains, and the smiles on the beautiful faces of those that surround us. It’s funny to say, but these are the same things we can find at home, but we never really get to see. Why is that? Is it because we have our faces stuffed in our laptops, or because we have our cell phones stuck to our ears? For me the likely culprit is that re-run of Seinfeld that I have to watch at 7:30, or the new season of Entourage, or that lame summer job that I have to work for some extra spending money. The point is, that I have come to understand how self-limiting I was back home. Why haven’t I taken the Great American Roadtrip? Why haven’t I seen things for myself like I know I should? The simple answer is that I’m too busy…too busy making excuses. Life in the U.S. is strange because I make excuses.

Mambo?

We are currently waiting for our first dinner not at Tanga Fresh (kinda miss the place, but perhaps we’ll go back tomorrow). The “Jes Res” of Dar es Salaam invited us for a little party, well dinner.

Yesterday (don’t know fluent Swahili quite yet, we’re working on it), we sat in a classroom with a Jesuit Volunteer. She was teaching 12 to 15-year-olds “Oral English.” We were their class project for the day, but Miss Susie quickly gave us an assignment too. We were to sit with 4-6 students and exchange names, age, place of birth, what we want to be when we grow up (our answer: I still don’t know), and differences between the U.S. and Tanzania. Let us just note how well these students’ English is. Probably better than my English when I was their age – or maybe even now still. One of the students said that we have zoos while Tanzania has National Parks. We have cooler weather, while it is “winter” here now and a gazillion degrees. Annie asked one of her students, “Is this your winter?” He responded, “Uh, no. We have dry and wet. No winter.” Very true. And Miss Susie moved onto similarities, one student stated, “We are all people.” And another, “We are all alive.” Some pretty powerful stuff from a 14-year-old.

Safari (journey); Tumefika (we have arrived!)

We have arrived! Our journey began Tuesday in Princeton, NJ with a dinner and overnight stay with the Justice Worx community. The meal and time spent with the community over a BBQ, ultimate Frisbee, and a brief commissioning/reflection was a great way to start our trip (in addition to being a little closer to JFK airport in NYC). Wednesday we left early for the airport and had plenty of time to prepare for our 13 hour flight to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The connecting flight was delayed several hours, but we finally boarded the plane for a very sleepy final leg to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Some of the current Jesuit Volunteers picked us up at the airport and very enthusiastically “piga stori” – told us the current happenings of their community and neighborhood. We drove the 30 minutes from the airport in the dusky sunset framed by palm trees and buses (“dala dalas”) to the Mabibo Lodge – where we’ll be staying the next 4 nights – located close to Loyola High School and the Jesuit community and parish in Dar es Salaam. We walked over the rutted roads to Tanga Fresh for our inaugural culinary feast – the specialty “chipsi mayai” (eggs and french fries) was served – as well as wali na maharagwe (rice and beans), samaki (fish), and mshikaki (grilled meat). We’ll have to say usiku mwema (good night) for now because it’s been a long 3 days!

Amani (Peace), Beth Ford and Matt Fullmer