I did not think my next blog posting would be from Kansas since I was headed to Tanzania for 8 months at that time. But my brother Jim's poor heath made me decide to spend a little more time at home with him and my siblings. It has been a beautiful summer so far and we are just now getting some warm weather (> 90F). Jim's health is a little better than I had anticipated but we did spend a couple days in the hospital on July 4th and 5th due to breathing problems. That seems to be resolved and he did start chemo therapy a couple weeks ago which is going well. He also had a gout attack which was not expected and was very painful but he is now on medication to control that.
I have had my own share of problems with my teeth (crown and root canal) so it is just was well that I was home for that. I have been having lots of family visitors every week-end to enjoy the nice weather and pool in the yard so that has been fun. I've recently started riding my bike for exercise and weight control so that has also been fun. I'm trying to learn how to make a website for our high school in Tanzania and then for the hospital there in our village. This has been a goal for a long time and our pastor is now encouraging it since his donors need a little more accurate information about his construction projects than they can get from the existing Maryknoll Fathers website. I got a quotation to have the websites made for me by professionals in Nairobi, but I was encouraged by friends here to try it myself to save some costs. It's going slow but there is hope.
I was pleasantly surprised to see some friends from Maryknoll Lay Missioners during my two week stay in Nairobi in June (Mary Oldham, Fr John Eyble and Cindy and John Korb) so that was a special week-end treat to get updated on their busy lives. None of them live in Nairobi but were just passing through, like me. Of course, it's always nice to see the Maryknoll priests that are in that area. I had several meals with Fr Joe Healy and Fr John Conway but most of the others were out of town. I did a little business while I was in the city to get a new generator order processed. I think it finally arrived at our hospital this week. So at least I got a little accomplished.
Fr Eyble was also headed to Tanzania so I saw him a few days later at our village where he came to visit Fr Conard, our pastor. I gave Fr John a tour of the school and hospital and introduced him to our Discipline Master, Mwl Saronge. I was shocked to learn of Mwl Saronge's death a few weeks later, so I'm pleased I was able to see him one more time. He has been a close friend while I worked at the school and has been very helpful to me and many other volunteers. He has 7 children and the youngest is just 6 weeks old now. A very sad event for our school and the surrounding village where was born and raised. He was our most tenured employee and taught English as well as be the Second Master recently,
I have had my own share of problems with my teeth (crown and root canal) so it is just was well that I was home for that. I have been having lots of family visitors every week-end to enjoy the nice weather and pool in the yard so that has been fun. I've recently started riding my bike for exercise and weight control so that has also been fun. I'm trying to learn how to make a website for our high school in Tanzania and then for the hospital there in our village. This has been a goal for a long time and our pastor is now encouraging it since his donors need a little more accurate information about his construction projects than they can get from the existing Maryknoll Fathers website. I got a quotation to have the websites made for me by professionals in Nairobi, but I was encouraged by friends here to try it myself to save some costs. It's going slow but there is hope.
I was pleasantly surprised to see some friends from Maryknoll Lay Missioners during my two week stay in Nairobi in June (Mary Oldham, Fr John Eyble and Cindy and John Korb) so that was a special week-end treat to get updated on their busy lives. None of them live in Nairobi but were just passing through, like me. Of course, it's always nice to see the Maryknoll priests that are in that area. I had several meals with Fr Joe Healy and Fr John Conway but most of the others were out of town. I did a little business while I was in the city to get a new generator order processed. I think it finally arrived at our hospital this week. So at least I got a little accomplished.
Fr Eyble was also headed to Tanzania so I saw him a few days later at our village where he came to visit Fr Conard, our pastor. I gave Fr John a tour of the school and hospital and introduced him to our Discipline Master, Mwl Saronge. I was shocked to learn of Mwl Saronge's death a few weeks later, so I'm pleased I was able to see him one more time. He has been a close friend while I worked at the school and has been very helpful to me and many other volunteers. He has 7 children and the youngest is just 6 weeks old now. A very sad event for our school and the surrounding village where was born and raised. He was our most tenured employee and taught English as well as be the Second Master recently,
