Names are very important in Tanzania. The challenge is, getting the right one. At times when asking someone their name, there is a pause, a glance at me, then a western-based name is given, rarely is their African name given.

Yesterday at the end of mass I asked the people, there were around 12 present, to tell me their Baptismal name, usually a European saint’s name and their African name. I emphasized their name, not their husband’s, or their father’s name, but their African name that they were given when they were born.

Some were surprised to be asked this, others somewhat shy to pronounce their African name. For me, hearing their African names was like hearing a beautiful song and I told them so. They were pleased to give their African names. I was privileged and happy to hear them.

Now that we are really deeply into the work of the construction of the Core Community House, it is striking to me to see how hard the people are working. The environment just feels different than our building of the new parish at Mabatini in the years past. What is the difference?

A little background. At Mabatini I asked the contractor to hire people from Mabatini for the unskilled labor jobs, which he did. But it was always a struggle for him, workers leaving work whenever they wanted, demanding their wages before the time agreed upon, just a general lack of discipline and respect for the work.

The workers we now have are from the villages, they just come into the city to work at our site, going home for the weekends. They are extremely hard-working, never leave the site, are gentle with their language and respectful of their elders. They are a joy to watch and be around. They are workers in the Old Fashion Traditional African Way. Village people who know the meaning of a hard day’s work who quietly go about their work in a determined and respectful manner.

Why this difference? When many of the young men, and women come to the city to stay they get disconnected from the family life of the village and start to get distracted into unhealthy ways of living that the city offers. There are probably more reasons but I’ll stop here. Village people are the way all humans were before the distraction of modernity. They have something to teach us. And yes, modernity has something to teach them.

Yesterday we had our first ‘site meeting’, which the few important players of the building of the Lake House of Prayer get together, usually once a month, to assess the developments of our work. Present were Mr. Chassa, the main contractor and head engineer, Mr. Mbwambo, site engineer, Mr. Ernesti, my foreman and myself.

The work on the foundation is progressing very well and we should be able to meet our Jan 2016 deadline. The foundation is unusual in that it is all of granite stone which we broke up ourselves a few months ago. Many building projects use bricks in the foundation instead of big blocks of stone. We want our place to last. The water tank is behind schedule because of a cave in during the rains of dirt, it is now full of water from the recent rains also.

I received good news today, Maryknoll has approved my budget request from the completion of the Core Community House. I also continue to rely on my donor support to continue to repair my new home and everyday running costs such as salaries. I am thinking to use the two other rooms in my home to receive private retreatants when I complete the repairs.

After a site meeting, the building team looks at the foundation work.

Progress on our water tank

I was privileged to give a retreat to seven Maryknoll Lay Missioners and three Lay Missioners from the Society of Missions to Africa. It was only for a day and a half but a fruitful time was had by all.

My theme was the imperative for Missioners in this age to be people of silent prayer and discernment. Our world’s changes are calling us to be more contemplative within our very actions. To be still in the midst of action.

The Tanzanians have a custom called ”wosia” which is when an elder, before he passes away or leaves a place gathers his family around him to share what he has learned in life. I tired to share what I have learned during my 29 yrs. in Tanzania. The main thing I’ve learnt is for fruitful work one must have prayer.

The past few days we’ve been having morning Eucharist in my living room. Why? Two reasons mainly, firstly, the rains having been coming or threatening every morning. Also, the large trucks bringing in sand for mixing cement are running over a quarter of our outdoor church, ruining as few of our ‘side pews’. Our pristine natural setting under an ancient African tree has changed with construction materials all around.

I’ve spoken with our head engineer Mr. Mbwambo and we’re going to break up a large rock and build a ‘road’ that will pass by our ‘church’. So, hopefully we’ll be able to get our morning Eucharist in again before the work starts in the morning.

The work on the new house continues at a good pace. We even found out that because of the steep slant of the hill we’re building on we have space for a basement. I’ve asked for an estimate for the basement, then we’ll see if the money will be enough.

In does not take much of a rain for the streets of Mwanza to flood. The hills are covered with houses of many shapes and sizes but the infrastructure to support such a growing population is not present such as drainage channels. So the roads become the channels which take the water to Lake Victoria.

Two days ago during our big rain two students on a motorcycle, driven by a young man were  on their way to take their final exam for leaving secondary school. They were in a hurry and did not heed the warnings of bystanders not to try to cross a flooded bridge. The pressure of needing to get to school to take the test moved them to take the fatal decision, they attempted to cross, at some point the rising water overwhelmed the small motorcycle. One of the students was able to grab on to a tree which saved her life. The other two disappeared in the flood.

People, like these young students are under a lot of pressure to preform well academically in order to make a life for themselves. They have to contend with poor infrastructure from lack of books, classrooms, teachers and drainage channels.

This morning just as Mass was starting (we moved inside for Mass) it started raining hard and did not stop for another five hours. Rains here seem to always bring mixed blessings.

Our 10,000/ liter water tank is now full. The electricity went off. Our trees got a well needed soaking. Dirt that was left too close of our water tank hole fell in by the bucket loads and will have to be taken out. A hole in the wall next to my house caused a torrent of water to erode the land by our front door. People with no running water were able to place buckets under their roofs to catch the precious clean water. I had to move my parking space for fear of getting stuck in the mud. Our entrance gate in full of mud and sand (which we are now working on). Our road will probably be impassable if we get another rain soon like today. The motorcycle drivers are not driving their usual fast speeds because of the conditions of the roads. And my mid-afternoon nap was pleasant in the cool post-rain breeze.

People like to use an expression from Job in the Bible, “Mungu ametupa na Mungu ametwaa”. God has given and God has taken away. And so it is with the rain.