Front of the Basement taking shape

Part of the Vision for the Lake House of Prayer is, simplicity. I hope we can provide an atmosphere that encourages our guests to return to the basics of being attentive to the natural needs of body-mind-spirit. Also, the simplicity of returning to a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the spreading of his Father’s Kingdom of Love, Justice and Peace on this earth.

One area in which I have been trying to simplify my life is food, shopping for it, cooking it, and eating it. I don’t have a refrigerator, and don’t intend to get one for now. I, in a way, have to shop more often(like the people do) to get what I need that day, fresh.

I usually eat beans, fish, pasta and a green vegetable called ‘mchicha'(like a spinach). I have someone help me with some of the preparation of my food, like mchicha. Yesterday I saw Anna(a worker) picking grass around my window. I went outside to ask her what she was doing. She said she went to the market but they did not have any mchicha so she was picking some mchicha that grows wild around my house. She went on to explain there are four kinds of mchicha that she was picking from our land (it all looked the same to me, green).

Later, for dinner, I mixed pinto beans with the ‘grass’ from my front yard. It was delicious. I never thought living more simply meant eating ‘grass’.

Working on basement

Working on the water tank

Getting ready to put the floor in at the House of Prayer

If I go a few days without blogging perhaps it because I don’t get an internet signal on the hill that the House of Prayer is on. This can be a blessing not to have to deal with THE SCREEN for a few days. It can also be a lack when important emails don’t get answered right away or I don’t get to write here and let you all know what’s going on with me.

It just starting raining, hard, with a possible thunder claps. I need to get off or the thunder will fry with computer. See you, maybe in a few days, or sooner I hope.

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.