At Mass with a Goat
A report from Dermot Dooley who has just started his placement as a XVP volunteer in Tanzania
I have been in Tanzania for a month and already I feel like I have settled in well. It is a bit of a clichˇ to say that it's the people that make a place special, but nothing could be truer of Tanzania. One of the first things that everybody says here is 'Karibu sana' - 'you are most welcome.' It is because I have had such a great reception that it has been so easy to settle in.
When I arrived I spent the first week in Dar es Salaam at Loyola High School, a fairly new Jesuit High School in the outskirts of the city. An American Jesuit, Fr Don Ward, and a few American volunteers who are working in the school, were quick to ease some of my fears and tell me what I might expect. Fr Don also took me on many tours of the surrounding area. These always ended up taking longer than expected as all the children would come running to greet and play with Don. On one occasion I followed him as he visited the sick. I was warmly welcomed into the one-bedroom house of a severely disabled 20 year old. His house was barely big enough for his bed to fit in. He told us that he had had some lunch but was not sure when he would next eat. Despite this he still made every effort to make me feel welcome.
After spending a week in Dar es Salaam I travelled here to Dodoma where I was shown around the primary school, St Ignatius, and the youth centre. Dodoma is a very dry area. In many places it is semi-desert and I am still trying to cope with living with all the dust. It is fairly flat here so most people commute to work by bike.
However the energy that the local kids have has made teaching them very hard. I am teaching English to Class 1, and it is a real challenge. The class is very young, most of the kids are five or six years old, a lot of them are struggling with my pronunciation and, perhaps most importantly, it did not take them long to realise that I would not hit them. This means that teaching is a little more like crowd control than English. I am hoping that this will be something that can be resolved quickly.
For the past few weeks I have been staying in the Jesuit community, next to the church. I am always amazed at how busy the parish is. Every day there is a course of some sort going on and when I arrive back in the evening at least one of the three choirs is practising. The people of the parish are also very generous. Last week somebody gave the Jesuit community a goat. These gifts are given during the offertory procession on Sunday. It was the first time I have seen a live goat being led towards the altar in front of a packed church.
I am really enjoying working here. I was worried that travelling out on my own would be too much to cope with but everybody here has made me feel welcome and very much at home. Having said that, I am still looking forward to the arrival of John, an old boy of St Ignatius College, Enfield, who will be joining me shortly.
When I arrived I spent the first week in Dar es Salaam at Loyola High School, a fairly new Jesuit High School in the outskirts of the city. An American Jesuit, Fr Don Ward, and a few American volunteers who are working in the school, were quick to ease some of my fears and tell me what I might expect. Fr Don also took me on many tours of the surrounding area. These always ended up taking longer than expected as all the children would come running to greet and play with Don. On one occasion I followed him as he visited the sick. I was warmly welcomed into the one-bedroom house of a severely disabled 20 year old. His house was barely big enough for his bed to fit in. He told us that he had had some lunch but was not sure when he would next eat. Despite this he still made every effort to make me feel welcome.
After spending a week in Dar es Salaam I travelled here to Dodoma where I was shown around the primary school, St Ignatius, and the youth centre. Dodoma is a very dry area. In many places it is semi-desert and I am still trying to cope with living with all the dust. It is fairly flat here so most people commute to work by bike.
However the energy that the local kids have has made teaching them very hard. I am teaching English to Class 1, and it is a real challenge. The class is very young, most of the kids are five or six years old, a lot of them are struggling with my pronunciation and, perhaps most importantly, it did not take them long to realise that I would not hit them. This means that teaching is a little more like crowd control than English. I am hoping that this will be something that can be resolved quickly.
For the past few weeks I have been staying in the Jesuit community, next to the church. I am always amazed at how busy the parish is. Every day there is a course of some sort going on and when I arrive back in the evening at least one of the three choirs is practising. The people of the parish are also very generous. Last week somebody gave the Jesuit community a goat. These gifts are given during the offertory procession on Sunday. It was the first time I have seen a live goat being led towards the altar in front of a packed church.
I am really enjoying working here. I was worried that travelling out on my own would be too much to cope with but everybody here has made me feel welcome and very much at home. Having said that, I am still looking forward to the arrival of John, an old boy of St Ignatius College, Enfield, who will be joining me shortly.