I am writing this from the Missionaries of Africa rest house a little outside of Mwanza. I’ve come here to prepare a retreat I will be giving to the Maryknoll Lay Missioners in the near future. Why here? Wouldn’t the Lake House of Prayer do? That is what it is for right? Retreats? Solitude? Silence?

Indeed the House of Prayer will be for all of the above but in this time of repairing and building it is not the most conducive place to listen to the Spirit’s promptings to compose a retreat for others. So here I am.

The major theme of the retreat is the modern call to be a Contemplative in Action as a Missioner. There is so much change and fluidity in our globalized world that one has the responsibility to have a creative and disciplined spiritual practice that gifts one with joy. A joy that takes risks for others in the Way of Christ.

The work continues, in earnest now, on the Core Community House as the builders fill in the trenches of the foundation with large granite rocks. At my house all the toilets and showers are in working order. Next is the kitchen.

In the midst to all this external building activity I continue to meet with our weekly Meditation Group in my house to build, that is to say, the internal structure for the Lake House of Prayer, the dwelling place of the Spirit within us.

Yesterday in the middle of our mediation one of the women fell flat on her back and stayed that way until the end of the session. When we went over to attend to her, her arms were spread out in a cruciform way and large tears were flowing down her cheeks.

I sat with her after the others left to ask her about what just happened to her. She said when she closed her eyes she felt something from outside her come down on her and make her dizzy, so she had to lay down. She had no answer for her tears.

What happened? This is a common phenomenon here in religious settings, people falling(mainly women) and claiming to be possessed by the Devil. What do I think? First, about the tears, Fr. Keating of Centering Prayer fame speaks about the process of ‘Unloading the Unconciousness’ during meditation. This is a poor women, and being poor and a woman here is the bottom of the pit. There are no possibilities for this group to really express their feelings. So they repress them. Perhaps meditation offered her an opportunity to let go of some of the negativity.

About being possessed by an evil spirit. Others meditating in the room were not possessed by an evil spirit, why her and not us? There is a proverb in Swahili that says, “Shetani wa Mtu ni Mtu”, The Devil of the Person is the Person. The Dark Spirit that was possessing her did not come from an external force but from within. The extreme negativity her life is daily subjected to creates, as a modern spiritual writer writes, “a pain body”. As Jesus teaches, the source of sin is internal not external. The challenge is to help her let go of her deep fear of evil external forces, even if they may be present for they have no real power over her. Also to invite her to let go of her ‘pain body’ to Christ’s healing.

In a few days the Tanzanian people will go to the polls to elect their Fifth president since Independence. The campaigns are in full swing as we enter the final days. Last night a procession of music, cars, motorcycles, buses, people walking and dancing down our dirt road came by the House of Prayer singing and dancing the praises of their local political heroes.

What makes this election an historic one is for the first time there is a credible candidate from the opposition party who has a real chance to defeat the ruling party CCM candidate for the first time ever. The  whole country is alive with debate and excitement for possibilities for the future.

At the Lake House of Prayer work continues during this time. The digging of the foundation is finished as well as the digging for the water tank. We continue to make improvements on the house I live in. We have electricity now! We are repairing the two restrooms for guests. We have completed our water system for catching rain water. Next up is the kitchen.

Yesterday I gave an all day workshop to a group of young women from a group called “Lulu”. These young women come from mainly poor backgrounds with little or no education. Some of them have already had children (many of them running around during the day), others struggles with drugs and alcohol. They are a mixed of faiths, Christian and Moslem. The group seeks to empower the women to find self-confidence within themselves (the pearl) and helps with small income generating projects to guide them to self-sufficiency.

I shared with them some spiritual tools such as meditation, Yoga, Discernment, daily reflection of feelings and their relationship to God and Non-Violent Communication.

At the end each one shared what she got from the day. I was amazed at the diversity of responses. But it looked like expressing one’s feelings in a way that brings out the ‘huruma'(mercy) of the other seemed to win the day. I just hope each one of the young women got something of a “LULU”  that will guide her in a very difficult life ahead for all of them.

Once a week at the Lake House of Prayer we have a small group of people meeting for Christian Meditation. We usually meet in the bare living room of the house I am living in and slowly repairing. Yesterday we had to find another place to meet as the electrician was wiring up electricity for a pump we installed for our new water tank.

So we moved outside under a mango tree but it started raining. Where to go? We returned inside to the master bedroom which I am using now as a kitchen. The session went well as the people are settling into the Silence in a simple yet powerful manner.

Work continues on the 50,000 liter water tank. The foundation of the Core Community House is done. The contractor has built three “offices” around the property. TANESCO the national power company has brought the pole that will enable us to get electricity. Next we will repair the two bathrooms and get a kitchen sink.

In the midst of all this activity we continue to have Eucharist under our ancient tree and sit in silence mediation wherever we can find a quiet place. After all if all this activity is not grounded on a contemplative attitude it is basically worthless.

Two days ago I gave a workshop on the Spiritual Practice to 80 women from my former parish Mabatini. This is the first time I had returned to give a workshop of any kind since I left in 2013.

The start was fairly slow. We say we’ll start at 9am but people really don’t come until 10am. One of the leaders was late also. She told me at the break that she just came from the hospital were her husband was admitted with malaria and typhoid. That’s why she was late. One seeks to remember this when waiting. Just showing up many times is a minor miracle.

I shared with the women some of the Spiritual Tools I use in my life: Meditation, Yoga, Discernment, the Examen and Eucharist. It was fun to do the Yoga together. Some of the women were healed of their nagging ailments. At one point I asked them to lay down on the floor on some woven mats and just relax. Something they never have time for as they struggle each day to make ends meet.

At the end they expressed their gratitude for the day. I was happy and fulfilled that I was helpful. Serving the folks this these, who don’t get a lot of attention from the world is one of the reasons I’m in Tanzania.

A few days ago I brought a guest to see the building site. He was surprised to see the almost completed 12 foot hole the young men a dug, all by hand. They get used pickaxes, shovels and hoes, no machines. Another crew is digging the foundation for the Core Community House, by hand, with the same kind of tools.

They come early in the morning, when we are having mass under our tree. They start early to take advantage of the cooler weather but they work until 6pm with a break for a hardy lunch to fuel they’re tired muscles.

Just about everything we are going to do with the building will be by hand.  We might use a machine to mix the cement though, especially when we put the floor in.

In a country where the youth by far make the majority of the population, where unemployment is very high it  is good to create jobs where many can participate and earn a living. After all handmade stuff is more beautiful that machine made.

The heading for this blog is something foreigners often say here when things aren’t going their way, like there is a competition going on here. On my weak days, in my own ways, I say or have the same attitude.

Africa carry’s the “White Man’s Burden” of expectations, that it never seems to meet. That the strong notion of progress will match models from other parts of the world has a hard time finding its reality here. This is not because Africa is deficient in fulfilling these models of progress but that these mental projections in economics, politics and social structures from other parts of the world are forced projections on Africa.

Yes, Africa has its problems but it will ‘only win again’ if it lives from its own integrity and not trying to compete with outside expectations. And yes, Africa wants to learn from outside sources but it will integrate such knowledge in its own unique way, like any country.

 

Photo credit:  Fr. John Eybel

Development or Maendeleo in Swahili is a big item in a country like Tanzania. The Founding Father of the country Julius Nyerere once said, “The developed countries can walk  but we must RUN”. At times Mwanza feels like a city on the run. As one visitor recently said, “There is so much VITALITY here”.

When one is seeking development he/she must “fuatalia”, follow-up, all the time, everyday. It can take some time but one must be patient and keep on following up until the thing gets done.

We’ve ‘fuatalia-ed” to almost where we have our water system ready to catch and conserve rain water. We still have some final steps to go, so we need to ‘fuatalia’ until the end. For the one who can ‘fuatalia’ is the one who usually get some ‘maendeleo’. Getting a 10,000 liter water tank ready for service is not going to make the government’s development report but is sure is maendeleo for the Lake House of Prayer.