SEPTEMBER 22, 2013  UPDATE

It’s another Sunday morning and that always seems to be the time I find best for a letter. But it’s been a long overdue letter this time. Things are going well here in Kowak village and it’s good to have Vikki mama back after her 10 weeks of home leave. I think she is also happy to be back to a more comfortable life style. We got her house painted inside while she was gone and I think she is happy with that. I am relieved to have her back as I have been doing her data entry job at the HIV center (CTC) while she was gone. I only spent a few hours a week there but, along with my other activities, it was more than enough.

We had a big day yesterday with the blessing of the new convent at the secondary school. The bishop was scheduled to do that but cancelled at the last minute due to an emergency meeting. So Fr Conard, being the school manager, filled in and all went well. We had about 20 sisters (10 visiting) and 7 priests (4 visiting) and a few brothers along with the 20 teaching staff and 470 students. Most people were sitting outside the small chapel, under the tarplins, like they do for our graduations. Fortunately it was a nice sunny morning and not too hot; just a little warm in the chapel due to all the body heat. The 2 hour service was followed by a little entertainment by each class and a few speeches by Fr Conard, the mother general of the Adorations sisters, the Head Girl and the Second Master. That was all followed by a short lunch for the visitors. This has been a 4 ½ month construction project so we are all pleased it is finished. There will be a little party for the 45 workers that helped the most in the construction later this week. I had to select who worked them most of the 80 some we have used off and on, since I pay the weekly salaries and have the records.

School opened a week ago after a 10 day mid-term break. Actually only half the students went home as Form II and Form IV stayed to study and attend refresher classes in preparation for their big national exams in a few weeks. It’s hard to believe that school will be finished for this year in a couple months (Dec 1). I still have a lot of work to do before I head home for the winter (Nov 1). Mainly I need to finish training the new sister on how to do the bursar job (accountant) and to prepare the budget for next year, which will determine the school fees. Fortunately Sr Marietta is young, intelligent and energetic so things are going fine with her these last 6 weeks. She just finished her accounting degree and has 5 years experience with Swahili which is a big help.

My oldest son Adam is coming to visit me for the month of October so that is exciting and will also keep me busy. I will take the bus to Nairobi this week-end to meet him and ride back with him. I also need to get more dental work done which was started a week ago in Nairobi. Adam is an electrician and I hope to have him working with our electrician along with many other little projects and, hopefully, a day in the Serengeti Park which is just 2 hours away. I am now living in a little two bedroom house next to the soccer field and the church so it is very comfortable and plenty of room for the two of us. I just moved here a few weeks ago, since we had to make room in the rectory for the new priest and a visiting seminarian. I had been living there the last 7 years, so this is a nice change. I still eat all my meals there, but do my own wash here or hire someone.

I’ve enjoyed the company of one of the university students that I sponsor for the last few months. Bhoke has been working here at our school library and store since mid-July. She has one year of school remaining and half of that is a “field” work experience in Dar es Salaam. So she will be departing next week-end. She has enjoyed her time here and made many new friends with the students. She will be missed. She has been teaching her young sister on week-ends in hopes of getting her to score well on the Form I entrance exam which will be taken in about a month by her and about 700 others from around the country. She will have a very difficult time scoring above the 50% cut-off due to her poor local public education.  However, her sister, Teddy, had the same primary school education and did well enough to get in and graduate division 2 (B aver) just 2 years ago. Teddy starts university in October and I will continue to sponsor her, but we are hoping she gets the student loan she applied for. Another local girl that I sponsored this year failed the first term due to her poor primary school education, which was very sad but she was the bottom of 150 classmates. Another one I sponsor had to repeat Form I last year but is doing fine now in Form II. We have 14 repeating Form I now, for the same reason.

Tanzania has many challenges but one of the biggest is their poor education system. There are three teaching certificates.  After Form IV (high school) and “A” level (like a community college) you they can get a teaching certificate at a 2 year Teachers Training College (TTC) and teach in a primary school. Or you can get a “diploma” at the same TTC and teach at a secondary school. Or after A level you can get a degree at a university and then teach at an A level school.  The problem is that these teachers have a very poor primary and secondary education at local government schools and know very little English which is what all the exams are in. So they are supposed to be teaching in English, but few of the secondary students know much English. So everyone scores less than 50% on the national exams and it gets worst every year. It’s been a very big political issue here for tyears and it gets bigger every year as the students score poorer every year.

On a brighter note, I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my third grandchild, Ryan Scott. I think his due date is about Oct 21^st, so it will not be long. It seems my son Kyle has already started posted pictures of him on the icloud from the ultrasounds, but I have not been able to access them yet. That will be a fun visit when I get down to Texas before Thanksgiving.  I think they are planning to go to Atlanta to visit Chrystal’s parents that week, so I need to get there soon and still see some doctors before that in Kansas as well. So Nov will be a bit of a rush. But I’ll see them again in Kansas for Christmas so that will be great.

I suppose many of you have heard of the bombing of the Westlands Mall in Nairobi last night about 6 pm. That is a couple kilometers from the Maryknoll Society house where I stay and just a couple blocks from the Sarit Centre where many Maryknollers shop and visit doctors and dentists. In fact my dentist is at the Sarit Centre and I was just there a few days ago. I am headed back to that dentist this Saturday  so I suspect the traffic will be terrible with increased police presence in that area. Adam is scheduled to arrive Saturday evening, so it may be a little more hectic at the airport also, esp. after dark. He will be traveling by taxi and should be fine. I will keep the family posted if anything changes there.

I received a nice email by surprise a week ago from an old friend in England. His two sons are about Adam and Kyle’s ages and one of them (Steve) is working in the US and will be traveling by motorcycle from the East Coast at the end of the month. We are hoping he will arrange to stop in Kansas City for a few days and meet my family. I have never met either boy so I am disappointed I will not get this chance. I hope those plans come together and the family gets to meet him. Adam and his family were just in KC a few days ago on a driving vacation around the country. I suspect they had a great time visiting family. But after 4 weeks in a car I suspect they are all glad to be back at grandma’s house in Texas.  

AUGUST 4, 2013 UPDATE

Sunday morning and time for mass (8 am), but I’ll skip this one since I’m driving Fr Jim to the next one at 11 am. I’ll attend that one with Jim and our new seminarian. Fr Jim still falls asleep at the wheel if it’s more than a 20 minute drive; esp. late in the morning. His new breathing machine has been working well, but he still gets tired in late morning and takes a nap if possible; sometimes one in the afternoon after lunch.

             We bought all the new pipe (7 rolls) and installed one section at the bottom of the hill. Now all is working well, Thank God. We will probably never get compensation for the thin wall pipe or the labour. We use the mission pump several days a week to fill the school tank, as the #3 generator is still not repaired. We cannot find the part needed. Even if we could repair it, the water source is drying up and can only pump a few minutes. It appears to be due to the dam break last year near there. Lameck the MP (member of parliment), brought in a very large bulldozer last week to make dam repairs but it was still too wet to get where it needed to. We had two nice rains (2” and 1”) about a week apart so this may be the start of a new rainy season, but it seems too soon.

             Fr Jim and his vicar attended the 3^rd and final ordination of new priests this week. In addition to announcing the new priest at Kowak the bishop made a point to say the Fr Matungwa would continue living at Kowak.  Jim asked Fr Val about that later and Val said that was “just words” and he still plans to move when his new house is ready in late Sept.  Jim does not expect that and wants me to move soon to Alex’s house to make room for the new priest before the 18th. I hate to make two moves but looks like I need to and see what develops.

            I met a former Form IV student, Milka, this week that I had sponsored during her last two years here. She asked for money to attend an A level school (Jr College) in Tabora. I agreed, so will send that via mpesa this week. Her mother died 2 years ago and her new mother refused to finance her. At least it is a gov ernemt school, so $300 for a year including pocket money is cheap, she says.

             The Adoration Sisters are all well now, but that varies from week to week. Two of the new ones have had their first cases of malaria. I worked with Bhoke and Sr Theresa in the duka this week to get it better organized, so we can inventory more easily. That will be a monthly thing along with the cash count at the school and parish. Bhoke had some good ideas and I think we will be impressed. I am getting the school store well stocked now and sales are increasing. That may not last as the student pocket money is depleted. The new head mistress, Sr Tessena, came to inspect and was shocked at the condition of the small denomiation notes. She wants me to take them back to the bank and get new ones. I laughed and said we are lucky to have small notes in any condition. These are normal for Tanzania. I thought she had been here for several years. She must have lead a sheltered life. She has asked all the employees to return all the school keys to my office or hers at the end of each day and pick them up the next morning. I just installed a key panel on the back of the bursar office door with names of each employee to allow us to get the keys more easily and see which are missing.

            No new construction projects now except for a large, rock lined drainage ditch in front of the school mango tree near my office. It will be done Monday. The convent is about a month away from completion, so the 4 new sisters are all living in the head mistress’s house. We will open the new children’s ward after the new chairs, desks and kabati are built. Fr Jim is using a craftsman in Utegi to do that.  Maybe it will be ready in two weeks. We had the hospital four wheel drive Toyota rebuilt this week and expect it back tomorrow. Then we will have the hospital pickup motor rebuilt. 

            Mass is almost over so I better get ready to hit the road. I’ll be going to Musoma tomorrow for more cash, to pay bills and get more school store supplies. I also need to go into the CTC today or tomorrow and finish entering 6 new patients as I did not get to do that on Friday. 

Tom in Kowak

AUGUST 2, 2013 UPDATE

Exciting news for us yesterday here at Kowak Mission. But first --Happy First Friday for those of you that celebrate that. That is pretty big here and keeps our two priests busy. Soon I will be able to say three priests, because the bishop announced yesterday that, Item 1 : we are getting one of the newly ordained priests, Augustino, on Aug 18^th. That is really big news for us. It also means I may be moving next door so the three priests can live together. Item 2: I got more help this week at the bursar office at the secondary school. A young Indian sister, Sr Marietta, arrived Monday and has hit the ground running. She has some training in accountancy and knows Swahili well as she has been in Tanzania 5 years. Item 3: we got a young seminarian, Francis, yesterday and he will be living with us for the next two months. Item 4: the District Medical Officer (DMO) has been transferred and a new one will arrive soon. He has stolen thousands of the dollars in government funds from us over the last two years and he finally got caught and transferred and the money was refunded. Item 5: my nephew, Braden, and his wife, Shanna, are expecting their first child. I just got that news on email today and this will be sister Peggy’s first grandchild. Of course I am expecting a new grandchild (Ryan) in October (Kyle and Chrystal), so this is a really, really big year for our family.

One other minor item but big here is the arrival of our new diesel generator for the school. We have been waiting for the this for three years and finally got the money to get an 18 kw Lister from the UK. It will be installed over the new few weeks. Another big item here last week-end was the baptism of 99 children and students. About 10 of these were from Kowak Girls Secondary and another 12 received first communion from the school. We hope to open the beautiful new children’s ward in a few weeks (54 beds). We are having furniture and cabinets made first. The new beds arrived and are now in place. We got a new Indian sister a few weeks ago to work at the hospital as an x-ray technician and pharmacist, so this has really been a big help. We are expecting another sister in January. That will make 6 sisters at the hospital and 5 at the school.

I have one of my sponsored University students working here, Bhoke, at the school as a librarian and girl Friday. She has been a big help and it is nice to finally get to know her. I am also encouraging her to teacher her young sister, Sophia, English so she can apply here next year in Form I (freshman). We had a very nice visit from 2 German University students last week that I met in town a few weeks ago. They are volunteering at a handicap children’s school in Musoma for a few months. They monitored a few classes and got the usual tour of everything. They were very pleasant.

I think I’ll make this one short and sweet, so good night.

Tom in Kowak

JULY 31, 2013 UPDATE

We are starting to get some rain again and everyone is pleased. The last rainy season ended in mid May, so it’s a little early but welcomed, if it is the start of another season. Of course the road are our hill will be very slippery as no one has delivered any clay soil (morem) to smooth things our and shed the water better. Anyway we had one heavy storm (lightning and 2 inch rain) 2 weeks ago and another nice shower last night, so we shall see. The lightning really did some damage to electrical fixtures including lights and a TV and the hospital X ray machine and both well water pumps. We are waiting for a technician from Nairobi who should arrive today.    

The parts for these repairs was not cheap, but part of life with electricity. Our electrician had to travel 4 hours by bus to Mwanza to find what we needed.  He still cannot find the part we need to repair our new generator which failed after 10 hours of operation and required rewinding the generator. We are still not sure what caused that, but no one warranties anything here you hope these dealer is honest and sells you a good machine. In this case it may have been a used machine, but no way to know.

Our new poly pipe (1 1/2inch plastic) is working well now and no more daily leaks due to the thicker wall. Our new large generator for the school arrived last night. It should be a little more reliable as it was built in the UK and cost a bundle ($15,000). Now we need to unload it from our lorry. They said it took 10 people to load it yesterday in Mwanza. We also got 50 boxes of chocolate cookies and a ton on meds for the hospital. Our driver finally arrived in the rain at 9 pm. He left here at 5 am that morning so he was exhausted.

Today is pay day at the school and the mission, so I will be busy. Fortunately our newest India sister, Sr Marietta, arrived Monday so I had started training her yesterday. She should be a big help today. When I told her I was going home for 5 months in November she about went into shock. She is young, so this really too much job for her just yet. It should be interesting. We now have 4 new sisters in the school and 2 more coming later this year and January from India. Out next project is to change most of the 200+ padlocks around the school. That starts tomorrow. Then we need to start keeping inventory in the school store to see why we are not making any profit. We have big income ($100/day +) but never have any money left after expenses. It goes on and on with need-to-do projects. Well it’s 8 am so I need to get to work.

Tom in Kowak

JULY 19, 2013 UPDATE

I am embarrassed; my apologies for the long delay in updating this Blog. I probably had the time to do it the 5 weeks that school was closed on June, but now that it is open and Vikki is on home leave, all hell has broken loose. Somehow I kinda like it, cause there is plenty of work and never enough time. I never have to watch the clock, except to see how late I am for something.

Yesterday I spent 4 hours on data entry at the HIV center (CTC), putting in the statistics for 84 children under 15 yrs that came in on Wednesday. That is so sad to even think about 3 and 4 yrs old kids and young teenagers with AIDS from their mother; as if they did not have enough hardship with the constant threat of malaria and other common diseases of this poverty ridden area. And most of the mothers probably got it from the bad conduct of their husbands. What a culture. I think we have a lot to learn from them on how to handle adversity. How they can stand in a line at the bank for 2 hours to make a deposit for school fees to a distant relative is beyond me.

Speaking of bank deposits. When school opened (2^nd term) I had 450 girls with cash for pocket money and deposit slips to handle in 5 hours (2pm to 7pm). Since then we have been going thru the bank statement to confirm that they are all real deposits and getting them deducted from their school fee debt. Most only pay 50% every 2 months. Thank God I have a new sister, just off the boat from India, helping me. We have to issue the new debt list next week and file the 6 month report for income taxes and make salary deposits (40 employee), so it will be another crazy week.

Our new generator (15 kw) is due to arrive next week from Nairobi and I cannot pay for it until one of our new sisters becomes a signatory on our account. The new convent construction is coming along but we have another 3 weeks of hard work. Of course I have to be available to supply cash for supplies and salaries at the end of each week. Today was payday for 25 workers, plus a few at the school. I picked up 60 boxes of cookies on the way to the bank and then stopped at the electric company to pay the hospital, school and mission bills (about 80 of them). Then I had to get cash for Fr Conard and talk to the bank manager on how to transfer 23 million shillings to a bank in Mwanza for our new generator.  We hoped to pick up the 6 windows being fabricated for the convent but they were not ready. We I got back I had to take pictures and print passport pictures for 26 seniors so they can get their certificates tomorrow for the environmental club.

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying an active life.

Tom in Kowak