Yesterday I attended the last of four Priesthood Ordinations in the local parishes. I met a Missioner there who worked in West Africa and South Africa who said he was amazed at the generosity of the people in Tanzania, which surpassed anything he had seen in Africa.

It is a local custom with the Sukuma people to give generously to the newlyweds to help them start out in their new life together. The day of the wedding people gather for all parts of the village. Cows, goats, chickens are downed and cooked in various manner. Songs are created, dancing, praising and gift giving are all given in a heartfelt African celebration.

The Church has taken this wedding custom for its newly ordained priests. For a day the young men are treated like Princes, which is well because after being prince for a day their life of service to a mainly poor population is a real struggle.

Living at the Bishop’s House with Tanzanians gives me a unique opportunity to hear the views of different topics when we gather for meals. I’ve always found the Tanzanians great conversationalists. Many times although I understand what is said, I don’t get the humor when they laugh.

Today at breakfast we spoke politics in a very lively conversation about the near future of the country. Tanzania is undergoing the writing of a new constitution and preparations for the election of a new president. The main issue is religion. It appears by listening today at table that Christians will vote for Christians and Moslems will vote for Moslems. A pity. Tanzanians have a wonderful history of religious diversity that is being destroyed by religious fanaticism.

When I started Mabatini Parish I tried to visit every ‘kaya'(home), of course I didn’t make it to all the people’s homes but I got to the majority of them. It took me six months. Today I started visiting the homes of the Christians at Ibanda Outstation where the site of the House of Prayer is. Some impressions.

Even after 25 yrs in Tanzania it is striking to me to see the poverty people live in. I met one old man in his mud shack. He gave me his only chair to sit in as the rest of the group sat on his bed. We left the door open to let in some light since the shack had  no widows. He has one eye, probably lost the other one pounding on rocks for construction. Looking into his face you see a man of deep humility who struggles to live each and everyday. He knows the world is against him but there is an acceptance and strong will to live.

I was touched by the poor people’s welcome to me. I ask them to give me a word of advice and a blessing in my new work. Their words of blessings meant a lot to me. One begins to wonder as I enter one mud shack after another, who is blessing who here.

Mwanza is a city set on the second largest fresh water lake in the world. The city’s many hills are covered with many big rocks that give the place a sense that this whole place used to be underwater 1,000s of year ago. The pace of urbanization here is astounding, areas that were monkeys and hyenas used to live years ago have been cleared by a massive and for the most part uncontrolled building boom.

The first people called to start this building process are the Rock Breakers. These are hardened tough men who come to break these massive boulders. They do this by first creating a crack in the rock by hammering it with different sorts of hammers. Then they put charcoal in the cracks, light the charcoal to let it do its job of cracking the rock. When the rock cracks a bit they use of sledge hammer to finish the job by slamming the rock into manageable pieces. Sometimes a large rock can take two weeks to break apart. One must have a ‘roho ngumu’ (tough spirit) to persevere with such a hard dangerous work. Most to not last long because along with the tough work the pay does not make it worth one’s time.

Today I took two Rock Breakers out the site of the House of Prayer. I hope to give them a living wage for this work. This is a small way one seeks to live in Justice with the people, by treating them with dignity as the Gospel of Jesus demands.

Living here temporarily  at the Bishop’s house I get to meet a lot of people. There is a priest here from the Kilimanjaro region on vacation. One day he asked me if I had any books on Yoga. I told him I had given away most of my books when I left my former parish including my Yoga books. But I told him that I know something of Yoga and I would be willing to show him some exercises if he wished. So we made a date and time to meet on the roof of this four story building for a session.

The session went very well Fr. Ubonyo was a very good student. It was quite a site for me being on that roof surround by the hills of Mwanza with Lake Victoria in the distant, the sun going down, the cows, goats and many dogs moving toward their nighttime shelters. And me teaching Yoga to a Tanzanian priest. Perhaps a sign that the Catholic Church of Tanzania can be open to the goodness of other religions, after all this is what Vatican II called us to: the engage the world, to get out of the ‘basement’ and get up on the ‘roof’ and LIVE.

I live on a steep hill that overlooks Mwanza city and Lake Victoria in the distant. It is a good size hill for walking so I try to walk in the early evening before sundown. Usually I go around the hill three times so people are starting to get used to me. Some children like to try their English out on me, others ignore me, some greet me in Kiswahili.

Today a young Moslem girl dress in traditional Moslem dress ran out as I was passing by, grabbed my hand and said, “Good afternoon” with a big lovely smile. I tried to start a conversation with her but she joyfully ran back to her home as suddenly as she came out to greet me. Perhaps we need to hand the world back to the children to show us adults how a simple joyful greeting can change the world.

Today I celebrated Eucharist at an outstation of Kirumba Parish where the site of the future House of Prayer would be. The Pastor introduced me before mass then departed for another outstation to have mass. During his introduction he mentioned that I would be like their pastor ministering to their pastoral needs. He also stated I would be working a lot on the new ‘spirituality center’ so they the Christians should not be surprised.

This is a big challenge for someone like me to come into an area so poor that the expectations are that I would be doing something concrete right away for the community. As the introduction continue I felt a strong interior pull in my spirit telling me I am entering a sensitive topic: How will I form good relationships with the community without getting into a lot of ‘busy’ projects to help the people.

So what to do? The proverb says, “You create the path by walking it”. I will talk the Pastor this week and be as clear as I can about how we can both cooperate in a way that is beneficial to all involve. I will also need to be open to being connected to the locals through liturgical functions but not meetings which deal with the running of a parish. In a way a House of Prayer does not make much sense with so many basic needs unmet but then again a spiritual transformation is needed to truly meet these basic human needs.

Today the Bishop Yuda Tadea  and I went out to the land where we hope to develop the House of Prayer. The view is stunning as the second largest fresh water lake spreads out before us like an ocean. We walked all corners of the land looking for the beacons which mark out the area legally. We found all the beacons except three and those we have made arrangements with the government land department to have them put in.

As we walked the land the bishop and I spoke about how to start developing our dream. I suggested we put up a permanent wall once we have all the beacons. He agreed so perhaps we could start working on the wall in a month or so. A wall for a House of Prayer does not sound very prayerful but a necessary development. The bishop planted some trees but most of them were eaten by goats. The possibility of someone invading the land illegally could set us back months, even years with court cases. We have the legal title of the land, now it falls on us to be good stewards of this piece of land to develop it for the spiritual growth of future generations of Africans here on this part of Lake Victoria.

Yesterday I went up one of the many steep hills in Mabatini to visit a Christian Community that I was very fond of during my time here as Pastor. The climb is very steep, one steps carefully over many rocks and loose sand. One reaching the top we were met by around 40 children in yellow and white uniforms standing in 4 lines singing and dancing a welcome to me. They proceed to lead us right through the heart of the village center singing their hearts out as we passed through the market full of buyers and sellers.

After walking, dancing and singing our way through the market we reached a small hill where a small table with plastics chairs were set up. The people sat on rocks and sand surrounding me with a warm welcome. I shared with them my experiences of the sabbatical and they read me a report of the development of their community. During this time it started to rain and a discussion broke out whether to run for cover or stay a just get wet. We just stayed and got wet as the short thunder storm quickly passed by. I’ve always love the natural flow of life in Africa. It’s raining a bit? No problem, let’s sing another song thanking God for this much needed blessing.

Two days ago I spend 2 and a half hours with Bishop Yuda Tadea Ruwaichi of the Diocese of Mwanza. This was an important meeting for me to determine if I could proceed with the dream of the House of  Prayer. I came away from the meeting affirmed that the way forward is open. The bishop is very keen on establishing a “Spirituality Center”. I was thankful that we have many of the same ideas about Silence and Solitude and the people’s need to deepen their Spiritual lives.

It was also decided during our conversation that I would live at the Bishop’s house until we can build a small house on the land of the future House of Prayer. The Bishop’s house is on a hill overlooking Victoria Lake. The environment is conducive to having solitude and silence.  I believe living there for awhile will help me develop a good working relationship with the Bishop that will be helpful for the future of the House of Prayer.