Wednesday, June 23, 201

Tuesday turned out to be a lovely day! After very good meetings with the young priests with a lot of sharing about their understanding of Salesian Spiritual Direction and Salesian Spiritual Accompaniment, we ended the formal sessions, had lunch, and loaded into two vehicles for an outing to a beach. We drove to a ferry which take cares and passengers a very short distance from Dar Es Salaam over to a peninsula--Digamboni. We had quite a long wait for the ferry, but once across, we drove to Kigamboni where there was a pristine beach on privat property where a caretaker allowed us access. This is a usual outing for the Salesians and the caretaker knew them well. We parked our trucks near some coconut trees and close to where some shade huts were set up before the white sand. These are hand constructed huts with coconut palms woven together for shade.

The beach was spectacular! The sand was white, the water clear and turquoise. The water was warm and refreshing. As one of the Salesians said aptly, “We are swimming in a screen saver!” I took many pictures of the beach and palms, of the seashore and the palm huts. We spent a few hours there in the water, then came out for some refreshments at the trucks before heading home. We were worried that the traffic to the returning ferry would be horrendous. However, much to our surprise, we pulled right up to the front just after a ferry took off and waited perhaps fifteen minutes for the next ferry. The wait was not even close to the wait on the way over. We made it back in time for prayers and supper to the surprise of those who remained at the house. They did not expect to see us until 9 or 10 PM.

After supper, I headed off for bed, but not before visiting with Brother Siga who had more yoga and holistic healing to demonstrate. He translated some more sheets for me and slipped them under my door before leaving early in the morning this morning.

This morning, after mass and breakfast, Fr. Gianni drove me to Temeke where there is a slum for Dar Es Salaam. He explained to me that the slums here, though huge and certainly poor, would be considered middle-class to the people of Nairobi. The massive slums there are much worse than anything in Tanzania and much worse than the slums of Soweto, which usually grab the attention of the world. There in Temeke, we pulled into a compound which was a veritable oasis of grass, trees, and shade as we pulled into the school, camp, and residence of the Salesian Sisters. At present, there are three Salesian Sisters animating that work with some older teens and young adults working as assistants. Today, two volunteers from Italy were on their way to help for two weeks.

There were nearly 500 children at the camp today ranging from nursery school age through secondary school. At an assembly, Fr. Gianni addressed the children in Kiswahili and introduced me. The children were all very animated, sang songs, clapped, and performed skits—all in Kiswahili, of course.

The Sisters, in typical and cordial fashion, had coffee, fruit, and biscuits ready for us and took their time to show us around and explain the work they are doing for the children. There elementary school is expanding and they hope for two more classrooms to be built on the compound before December. At present, they call their elementary school a technical school because they teach the children how to sew. This school and the grounds are so different from the surrounding slum, that one can see why it attracts the children and the families from all over. If any FMA Candidates surface for this area, it is here that their training would be held.

Fr. Gianni maneuvered through the difficult traffic from Tameke to Dar Es Salaam in time for our mid-day meal. We had lunch and now I must pack to travel with him to Morogor where we will meet with a few brothers in Practical Training for a one day seminar.

On Friday, we will travel to Moshi and then to Nairobi. From Nairobi, I will spend a few days seeing things with the Salesians as arranged by Fr. Sebastian Kolyadil. Now, it is time for me to pack! We leave in 45 minutes.

More later!

After lunch, Fr. Gianni drove the truck to Morogoro where the Novitiate has been for the past year. This is a lovely new building nestled in the hills of Morogoro. It took us about 4 ½ hours to get here with very much of that due to traffic on the road out of Dar Es Salaam and the periodic delays that are inevitable getting stuck behind slower trucks on a two lane highway.

The drive to Morogoro was amazing. The terrain changed more than once. We left the coconut palms back at the coast as the bush landscape rose and fell. We passed through many smaller villages until we crossed the junction at Chenize; only then did the population grow thinner and the forested area deepened. In this area, we passed a baboon on the side of the highway. I took little notice because I thought it was a dog, until Fr. Gianni pointed it out. He told me many tales of their fierce behavior, the problems they present these local farmers because of baboons’ intelligence and the difficulty in scaring them away from their crops of corn. He added the curious detail that baboons are not frightened off by women, but only men and that there are even rare and terrifying cases of women raped by baboon.

The terrain changed once more as we left the forested area and entered open valleys and plains, still green and lush. The palms began to appear again as we neared the foothills of the Morogoro mountain range. Dusk fell as we approached Morogoro creating spectacular silhouettes against the setting sun hiding behind clouds of various shades of purple and magenta.

Fr. Gianni described this region as very fertile, cooler than Dar Es Salaam, not quite as humid, but an incubator for mosquitoes making this region one of the most notorious for Malaria. I double checked my backpack for repellant and the mosquito room mister that Fr. Santi lent me in Nairobi.

We met the 6 novices, the novice master, the brothers in practical training (only 4 of them could make it), some coadjutor brothers on staff here or passing through here that I met at the retreat last week: Brother Baron, Brother Abraham, and cleric Anastasio. We shared evening prayer together before a supper of fish, “malagori”—which is a white corn polenta, a form of spinach, and some rice with curry. There were soft-drinks on the tables as well.

After supper, we shared night prayer and Fr. Gianni gave a good night explaining my presence and the agenda for the practical training brothers scheduled for Thursday. Fr. Gianni asked me to be celebrant and homilist for the morning mass at 6:30 AM celebrating his and my feast day of the Birth of John the Baptist. To that end, I will sign off for now and get some sleep to be ready for that responsibility.

There is internet here, but not as readily accessible as it was in Dar Es Salaam (and of course, it was more off than on in Oyster Bay!). Some device is needed for the internet and I will explore that tomorrow so I can make some calls through Skype.

Fr. George, the provincial economer, picked up some carved figures for a Tanzanian nativity. Fr. Gianni picked up some fairly large figures for a Kenya nativity. Hopefully I can transport these safely home for Gael’s collection.

I will pick up sometime tomorrow after finishing with the Brothers in Practical Training and before we leave early on Friday morning for the whole day drive to Nairobi with Fr. Gianni and Fr. Joseph, Vice Provincial and Provincial respectively. With tomorrow, my formal duties here are ended. Fr. Sebastian will meet me for a few days in Nairobi with plans to see some of the animals and the country and to pick up some souvenirs and various items. I have enjoyed the work and the engagement with the various Salesians so far and am grateful for this opportunity. I look forward to a few days without responsibilities or conferences, however, so that I can get some rest and work on the materials for SLIM, once more.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

I tried the mobile phone device for accessing the internet here and I was unsuccessful in getting the computer to respond at all. So, I will live in cyber-darkness once more. More than anything, I regret not being able to contact my mother and see how she is doing.

Today, I was the celebrant for the mass of the Birth of St. John the Baptist. My homily underlined the necessity to live one’s calling and to point out Christ to others in that calling. I made reference to “It’s a Wonderful Life” pretty certain that most had never heard of or seen the movie.

After breakfast, I began the first of three conferences with the Practical Training Brothers: Michael, Fred, Dennis, and

This is a lively group and they have offered the best questions and discussions during and after the conferences I have yet experienced. One question focused on the notion of universal salvation and the use in the Liturgy here in Africa in Eucaristic Prayer III of “many” in place of “all” when referring to salvation. This return to the old language of the prayer seemed a contradiction to this theology of universal salvation. The discussion was long and quite good. The discussion led to many other tangential issues regarding God’s presence, penance, punishment, etc.

Earlier in the day a discussion familiar to most Salesians arose trying to distinguish what a Salesian notion of poverty is and to whom it is directed. That, too, was a lively round. We spoke about the Salesian meaning of poor and abandoned youth and it was interesting to discover that here, too, in Africa is the issue of economic poverty versus other forms of poverty. Fr. Gianni mentioned that the actual physical and economic poverty found in places like Nairobi and other centers in Africa calls out for obvious response. Surely there are other forms of poverty, but our preference must be directed first toward these obvious forms. That does not preclude the need to address the young in many other settings responding to other forms of poverty, but a priority must be given.

In the afternoon, the objective will be to discuss the 14 themes of Salesian Spirituality as set down by Fr. Vecchi.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

After the last conference with the Brothers in Practical Training at Morogoro, we had a lovely evening of entertainment and performance. The Novice Master, Fr. Michael, was game to show a film I had on my computer to the whole community. I showed them “The Blind Side,” as I had the confreres on retreat in Dar Es Salaam. The group thoroughly enjoyed the film, perhaps more than the Salesians on retreat. After the film, we had rosary, evening prayer and supper. After supper, the novices performed the instruments they are learning including keyboards, guitars, and clarinets. Many are at the most basic level, so they shared their scale exercises. While enjoying the music, we had some ice-cream—apparently a rare treat in that house—and I shared a Good Night with the community after a few short prayers in the dining room.

I arose at 4:00AM on Friday morning to prepare to celebrate a 5:00AM mass with Fr. Gianni so that we could both leave Morogoro by 5:30 AM. We left as scheduled and met with many trucks leaving the area. Our plan was to rendezvous with the Provincial, the Economer, and some Salesians from Dar Es Salaam. We met them at about 7:15AM at a gas station in Chelinze, the juncture of highways between Dar Es Salaam and other points north or south. We exchanged vehicles so that the one we took from Oyster Bay could be returned while the Provincial and Economer joined Fr. Gianni and myself as we headed off to Moshi to visit the house of post-novitiate. We arrived in Moshi at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro just before lunch time at about 12:15PM. We were met by Brother Celestine, the administrator at the house. On tour, I met many of the candidates, jokingly introduced to me by Brother Celestine as “Pre-prenovices.” There were a good many young men there from various points in Tanzania. The candidates from Kenya had gone away on holiday. There were also a handful of clerics staying to help out at the house, the youth center where there is a secondary school, and elsewhere.

Immediately after lunch, the four of us began our journey back toward Nairobi. The road coming into Moshi was a bit rough, pitted with large pot-holes. The 2 kilometer drive to the Moshi property was treacherous because it was deeply rutted and unpaved. After backtracking on that bumpy road to the main road, we continued north on the highway toward Kenya. At many points, this road was in terrible disrepair causing much slowing and snarling traffic, especially when we reached the third largest town in Tanzania known as Arusha. This town had much more traffic and given the poor road conditions, it took us a very long time to pass through that region. The city, like other cities, had high rises, but even these seemed unfinished and disconnected. In general, it is hard to see much of a grid, zoning, or a sense of planning in any of the cities I have seen so far.

When we finally broke free of that tangled mess, Fr. Gianni said, “Well, now we are going to hit the bad roads.” I started to laugh and then everyone started to laugh. “I thought those were the bad roads!” I said. Soon enough, I saw what Fr. Gianni meant. The main highway began to turn off on “diversions” which were much like the dirt road into the Moshi property. We would travel along these until we reached a stretch of the highway which was finished. Then we would rejoin the highway for a short time before weaving back onto diversions. This style of travel brought us through desert, through plains, and finally into Kenya.

At one point, we stopped along one of the roads with tarmac and got out to find some “bushes” for our needs! At this one stop, I took some photos of the horizon because the peak of Mouth Kilimanjaro was finally visible. It had never appeared from behind the clouds while we were in Moshi.

We stopped at the border crossing and filled out paperwork and had passports stamped at two stations: one for Tanzania and one for Kenya. The vehicle had to be passed through separately. While Fr. TJ took care of that, we walked through thick red dust into Kenya by foot. We got back into the vehicle and drove into Nairobi just after nightfall. We hit traffic, as usual, though the Salesians said it was much lighter than usual for a Friday evening since so many people were home watching the World Cup Soccer. That night Korea played and lost to Ghana. Ghana is the last African entry to remain eligible for the World Cup.

We finally made it back to the Provincial House at Upper Hill near downtown Nairobi. We unpacked and had supper at about 8:15 PM. I went to my room anxious to plug into the internet for the first time since Wednesday. I called my mother and we caught up a bit. Then, I checked some email and went right to bed. I suppose the bumpy and long journey tired us all out.

This morning, I joined the Salesians for mass in the crypt chapel at 7:15 AM, had breakfast, and then basically read and slept for the morning. It is now after lunch and I will call Fr. Sebastian Kolyadil who has made some plans to show me some of Kenya before I depart next Friday. In the meantime, the shrine here at Upper Hill has been full of people and activity as a fundraising walk was held today to finish the payments for the hall here. As I mentioned on my first days upon arrival, The Shrine of Mary Help of Christians is also a designated parish for this part of Nairobi and therefore it is the supporters of the parish who have come out for a festival today and to participate in the walk. All have returned from the walk, but they are offering a health clinic for people to receive checkups, booths with food, and various entertainments from bands playing, to dancing, to performing choirs. The place has been alive all day. It is now nearly 3:00 PM here, and there are no signs of the activity slowing down.

I am struck by many things in these many days. I am struck by the amazing friendliness and warmth of every person I have met. There is a traditional greeting which is to touch heads right and left, very similar to the double embrace in Europe. The young and old—though there are very few older Salesians, really—are very happy, generous, and hospitable. There are a few confreres who are sick and require extended care. One is a younger man, only 44, who had a brain hemorrhage while serving as dean at the house of philosophy students. This man has made a remarkable recovery from almost total paralysis to walking with a cane and still fighting weakness on his left side. Unfortunately, the Salesians say that this man has been rather negative even before this and he easily goes into depressed slumps. A few of his classmates, such as Fr. Eric, who picked me up at the airport in Dar Es Salaam, really practice tough love on their ailing companion, Fr. Edwin. Our entire retreat was dedicated to praying for his full recovery, including the recovery of his peace of mind and determination.

A small detail to note has been the placement of a large bucket in every shower and usually a smaller bucket near the washing sink or toilet. I am not sure what these are for and I will ask, but I suspect it may have something to do with the limitations on hot water or even water pressure itself. With this small detail, I notice that every bed has a mosquito net. It is necessary in hotter climates, but it is a given also here in Kenya, which is quite pleasant and even cool during the months of June and July.

I have also noticed that most rooms, even in newer buildings, have only one outlet. Usually that outlet has one receptacle and a switch for turning it on or off. That has made running various things a bit difficult. Here in Kenya, I have borrowed a power-strip from the Provincial.

Politically, Kenya is heading toward a referendum up for a vote in December. As for Tanzania, their presidential race is going on and their elections are set for October. In the major cities, there are some stop lights, but very few. Police are usually present to direct traffic, if you could call it directing anything! In Tanzania, there is a strange light that has a turning arrow and a red light. The red light does NOT mean that the traffic travelling straight cannot go. In fact, the light assures this traffic that the opposite traffic cannot go during the turning traffic. It is rather confusing!

I have noticed that the usual eating utensils are a fork and a large spoon. Certainly, knives are available and even set out, but most use the fork and spoon together rather than making use of the knife, except to cut something that cannot be cut with the fork or spoon. Tangerines and oranges are usually green or yellow. I have yet to see a fruit that American eyes would consider ripe, though the fruit is juicy and very ripe. Breakfast very often consists of warmed hotdogs and bread. In fact, the one time we stopped for coffee and a roadside breakfast, the restaurant offered hotdogs.

The coffee is delicious. I had some of this instant coffee with Fr. Sebastian Kolyadil in Rome. The most common brand of instant coffee here is Africafe. This is usually served with hot milk. Every house I have been too has a table with cups, thermoses of hot water, thermoses of hot milk, spoons, instant coffee, and tea bags. Some will have containers with biscuits and most common are the coconut biscuits.

Many of the dining rooms have a depiction of the Last Supper that is another example of African art—mainly lithographs or cloth printed images of various scenes. Perhaps I can bring a few samples of these home. As I prepare for these last days, I wonder what I can bring back to carry to some mementos of East Africa. Perhaps I can find some wood carvings, some of these cloth prints, and other similar items. I will depend of Fr. Sebastian to direct this search.

Overall, my experience has been warm and rewarding. The Salesians seem to really enjoy and savor the information and resources I have brought and that is always a rewarding experience. I was struck again and again how so many Salesians would weave the materials into their prayers, into Good Nights, into homilies, and in other settings from place to place. Certainly, this was a demonstration to me of their desire to learn and to apply many things. It was certainly a gracious nod to indicate their attentiveness and appreciation. I could take a few pages out of their book!

I will communicate more as Fr. Sebastian exposes me to more people, customs, and culture in the coming days.