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.

We’ve started digging the hole  for our 50,000/ liter water tank. We are also in the process of measuring the foundation for the Core Community House with realistic hopes of starting to dig the foundation (msingi)  beginning next week.

It rained hard twice this morning. I had mixed feelings on the rain, grateful for we very much need the rain, but regretful we did not get the water tank up and running to catch the rain in time.

We have an historic Election coming up in a few weeks. Mwanza is electric with anticipation, everywhere one goes people are debating the issues and political parties. Yesterday our crew digging the hole for the water tank got into a heated debated with another crew building on our neighbor’s plot. The digging stopped and the rock breaking became silent as voices were raised in passion political debate. The work suffered but hopefully the democratic process continued in this rapidly historically evolving country.

Last night my guard and I sat looking over Lake Victoria talking about the life of the fisherman. He was born and raised to fish on a large island north of us. He told me that the lake is so big that the fisherman can get hopelessly lost when they “kupoteza ramani”(when they lose the map). The map is the night sky and the stars. They navigate without any instruments whatsoever, not  even a simple compass. They follow the stars and memories of land shapes within their heads.

But when the stars get covered over with clouds, they’ve lost the map so to speak and get lost. Thank God for cell phones because then they can call for help. They may have to wait (some are never found) a few days but help can reach them.

Jesus calls missionary disciples to be fishers of people. Sometimes we lose the map, something that is not in our control. Then we just need to call for help and wait. Those who persevere, as Jesus said, will be saved.

I spoke to my neighbor about the noisy dogs. I respectfully gave her my view that the problem is with the dogs and not bad spirits in the night. I offered to help with the costs of hiring a guard if she can do without the dogs. She agreed.

As for finding another place to sleep in the meantime, I won’t. This is another part of life here in Mwanza, ‘Kuvumulia’ (to persevere). But this is not about Mwanza, it is about finding God’s Presence/Challenge in the midst of barking dogs of our lives.

Perhaps in the end the ‘barking dogs’ within are what I need be concerned with. If the ‘barking’ of my fears and angry are still within, then it won’t really matter much about the barking dogs without. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find another way to be safe for us all.

Today I met with Mr. Mbwambo, the site foreman for Chasa Investment Ltd. Contractors. We signed a contract for the foundation and a water tank underneath one of our mango trees.

Afterwards we measured out the placements for the Staff House foundation and the 50,000 liter water tank. Also, we decided where we will be putting up the Contractor’s office and supply shed.

So we took a small but important step along the way to establishing the physical presence of the Lake House of Prayer. It is my hope that we can completed the Staff House around the middle of next year.

Thanks once again all you who support this adventure in various ways. As we say in Swahili, “Mungu akubariki sana kwa ukarimu kwetu” (God bless you for your generosity to us).