January 10, 2001

Dear friends and family,

Happy New Year! 2001 in Morogoro is beginning well. We are now back in class. Final exams will run from January 22- Feb 3. But true to our motto we had many feasts and celebrations over the holiday break...a Christmas feast; an exchange of gifts after Midnight Mass; a wild New Year’s Eve party with a neighboring religious community; and then on January 1 we had a big celebration here during which all of the scholastics renewed their vows and two of our Indian confreres made their final profession.

Parties here in Africa are different sorts of affairs than parties in the States in many ways. First, there is much more preparation. If you decide you want to have chicken or a goat, someone must go out and buy one...live. Then it must be killed and dressed. If you want cashews, someone must roast them, and that is quite a process. If you want salad or fruit, then someone must find the ingredients in the garden. For coconuts you must climb the tree. Markets are more expensive. So all in all, party preparations are very labor intensive.

The party itself is also somewhat different...in some ways more formal, in other ways more free form. There is always someone officially in change, an MC. That person must greet everyone, make speeches, invite people to eat, remind them why they are gathered, etc., etc. And after the feast he always leads a program of some kind. Formal singing and dancing, speeches, stories, organized party games, etc. After that comes just music and dancing, some more eating and drinking till the wee hours. Of course we are mostly all men here, but that doesn’t stop us. The dancing is just free form group dancing...without partners. Needless to say, each ethnic group has its own style, and we are developing our own “Institute style” which is heavily Congolese. It is difficult to describe, it’s a kind of slow motion strutting but with everyone facing each other in a kind of circle. The bottom line is, it’s fun for everyone. Lots of laughing and general carrying on.

The day after Christmas came another adventure. There are many mountains around here. Not as big as the Rockies, of course, but pretty serious nonetheless. Many of them are inhabited, although there is no electricity, phone, running water, or other such things up there. Well, our number 2 here, my friend Fr. Lazarus Msimbe, comes from such a village way up in the hills. He spent the holiday there and we went to pick him up the day after Christmas.A somewhat harrowing one-hours drive through fields and fens after turning off the asphalt highway, we crossed a small river and the road ended at the foot of the mountain. After parking the car we began our rather steep ascent...another full hour. Imagine our relief when finally we saw houses near the mountain top. We asked which one was Msimbe’s and our hearts fell when the people pointed to another mountain top another half hour beyond! But our fatigue vanished after a joyful reunion, some chicken, rice, beer, and friendly chatter. But soon it began to grow dark and we knew it was time to leave...but not before receiving a live chicken and a clutch of newly laid eggs.

Just as we began our steep descent the skies opened and the rain came down with a vengeance. The banana leaves we used for protection were not much good, and the path quickly turned to slippery mud. It took us longer to go down the mountain than it had going up. When we finally reached our car it had sunk into the new mud. After a brief tussle we got on our way. But few of us were optimistic we’d reach the main road that night. Sure enough, about half way through the fields we got really stuck in a very deep rut. So deep, in fact, we couldn’t even open the doors on one side of the car! It was dark, it was pouring, it was hopeless. Finally two in our group volunteered to walk up to the next village to borrow some shovels to dig our way out. Two hours later they returned and the real work started in earnest. Digging, chopping trees, filling holes, etc. So just after midnight, a mere six and a half hours after we had started down the mountain, we arrived home--soaked and caked with mud, exhausted but happy. The bedraggled chicken survived too (not the eggs) but only until the next afternoon when the cook saw it. I think it became part of our new Year’s celebration.

The January 1 celebration of renewal of vows and final profession was also quite colorful and memorable. In the absence of any higher authority, I was delegated to formally receive the vows of each scholastic. (I was what we fondly call here the big potato, the vioazi vikubwa.) ) It was a humbling experience to have those young men kneel down, place their hands in mine, and make those solemn promises with such reverence and hope. And our liturgy definitely was spirit-filled...with singing and drums, dancing in the aisles, and the high-pitched joyful calls of the women which punctuate any really great feast. That same spirit carried over into our banquet.

For me the high point was the presentation of the cake. Almost at the end of the meal, the doors of the large multi-purpose hall suddenly opened and slow, rhythmic clapping began. A contingent of 8 formed a procession, 2 abreast, and with a swinging gait distinctive of the Tanzanians (really a dance) they began to make their way to the head table where I was seated along with the 2 new fully professed. The headman of each row carried in his outstretched hands a beautiful large cake. And everybody was singing in Swahili, “Now Rosario, now Vinoy, serve the Lord with all your strength, body and soul!” The music swelled and procession continued it’s stately sway slowly toward the guests of honor, who (being from India) had never seen such a sight. When finally they reached the table and handed over the cakes, the place erupted in joy! What impressed me most in this “cake liturgy” was the joy on the faces on the ones chosen to bring up the gifts. The joy of presenting. How many times I have stood at the end of the aisle in church impatiently waiting for some organizationally challenged family or some tottering older couple to bring up the offertory gifts of bread and wine. But here, finally I glimpsed the way it should be. Not just the honor, but the joy of presenting. No rush, no hurry, no self-consciousness, just pure joy.

In addition to all this there is the daily fun of teaching, and now final exams. Since I will be in Rome for meetings during exam week, I have slated oral exams with my first year theologians in New Testament. It is wonderful to see them really growing both in their skills and in their faith. I am also teaching driving in an old Landrover (standard transmission) on the back roads of Africa where, thank God, there is only one lane and no other cars so we don’t have to worry too much about driving on the left or right sides of the street. I also have hour-long private conferences with each of the scholastics every month...that’s at least 25 hours in itself. Next week I will be doing a neighboring community the favor of directing 2 of their scholastics in a 5-day retreat prior to their taking final vows. Still haven’t been sick, although I have this fear of coming down with the double curse of Morogoro (malaria and typhoid) on the eve of my departure to Rome. Just my luck. So that’s how my days go.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who made Christmas donations to the “Fr. Dan Project Fund” (c/o Fr. Eric, 1735 Hi Mount Blvd, Milwaukee, WI 53208). Thanks to your generosity we have enough to look for a new barber clipper, buy serious dictionaries for each of our students, enroll one of our men in a specialized two-week computer course, and maybe even get a used motorcycle for apostolic work! We all pray each day that God will reward your generosity to us, and will show us how to use your gifts wisely.

E-mail is up and running well theses days. But the phone bill also arrived! In a move to economize we now only harvest our messages once a day at 6 am. You can help us by refraining from sending big files, with photos and complex graphics that take forever to download. Don’t expect any photo attachments from here either. Sorry. That’s it for now. You know I enclose my love and prayers.

Fr. Daniel