OCTOBER COMMENTS FROM A VOLUNTEER NURSE

Here is a testimony from the young nurse who just completed her Kowak service in October:

“While words can't quite capture the vast array of experiences and emotions that I felt while in Kowak, I will do my best. Traveling alone as a young, female, English-speaking college graduate, I stared out the airplane window, partially questioning my sanity. I had absolutely no idea what to expect- I didn't know if anyone would speak English, if I would enjoy the food, or if I would be using the bush out back as a bathroom. Fortunately for me, Kowak ended up being far better than anything I could have imagined. As I maneuvered through the joys and challenges of each day, I had to full-heartedly trust that God would guide me through. While in Africa, I experienced some extreme highs: I looked at a crowd of 150 students with eager eyes, wanting to learn more about ways to keep themselves healthy, I saw sick and nearly lifeless children recover after receiving antibiotics and blood transfusions, and I helped welcome dozens of babies into the world. However, I also experienced some extreme lows: I watched corpses being carried out on motorcycles, woke up to the sobs of a family who had just lost a loved one, and I put my hands on the chest of a young child, praying for the rise and fall of a breath that would never come. While it’s extremely difficult to process and reconcile everything that I have seen and experienced, there are some major takeaways that will forever shape the way I live my life. First and foremost, I have learned that when you commit your life to God, making yourself uncomfortable and vulnerable, He will always provide for you. When you stop relying on yourself and your own understanding, it allows God to do some pretty incredible things with your life. Surrendering to God does not result in a boring and mundane life, it allows for a life that is beautiful and exciting beyond imagine. A second takeaway, in relation to mission work specifically, is that when you are willing to give, you receive SO MUCH more in return. In choosing to give my time and energy, I gained valuable nursing skills, I attained a better understanding of poverty and how to advocate for those in need around the world, I received life-long friendships, I was showered with love and hospitality from complete strangers, I felt closer to God than I have in years. I left Africa in tears, thanking God for an opportunity that many people don't get to have. Tanzania has my heart and I can't wait to go back again someday. Asante sana (thank you very much), Maryknoll!"

MARANDA MILLER

BACK HOME FOR THE 2017 HOLIDAY AND MORE

        I've been back in the US since mid November after a short three months in Kowak. Christmas is just around the corner so I’m working a little on the decorations, but mostly just visiting family and friends since I returned about 6 weeks ago. I spent a few days in Louisville and Atlanta visiting my son’s.

        Kowak was a different experience this year, mostly due to the absence of Fr Conard, who I lived with the last 11 years. It is unlikely that he will be allowed to return to Tanzania except, perhaps, for a short goodbye visit next year. I have volunteered to escort him through the airports, if and when he goes. As planned, I did work on his finances this year to document where his money and the Maryknoll funds were used the first six months of the year. He departed for Kenya and then New York at the end of June. 

      I had planned to stay six months this year but found there was not much work for me after I finished the financial reports. As I mentioned in the last blog (August) we had a volunteer nurse (Maranda) from Minnesota who arrived a couple weeks before me and she stayed two months as planned. She was a real jewel and we had a lot of fun in the school, hospital and surrounding villages. She worked every morning in the hospital, mostly in the children's ward and then the afternoons at the girl’s secondary school. She fell in love with the girls and them with her, so I always knew where to find her in the afternoons. 

      We had the Silver Jubilee for the Kowak Girl’s Secondary School a week after I arrived (Aug 26th) and the Form IV (seniors) graduation Sept 30, so Maranda got to see the difference in an African vs US graduation and meet some of parents of the graduates and their families. I took video's of the Jubilee for Fr Conard and still photos of many of the 116 graduates for prints and for the school Facebook page. 

      We did have one sad event just a few weeks after I arrived. One of the seniors died suddenly a few days before graduation. Maranda and I were there when the 420 students were gathered and were given the sad news. It was devastating, especially to the other seniors who had lost another classmate just the year before, almost to the day. The student had been fine until just a few days before she died. Maranda and I stayed up late that night preparing memorial cards for the memorial Mass the next morning, just as Therese McCarthy and I had done the year before. A few days later we attended the funeral and burial at her grandmother’s home in Sirori Simba about two hours from school. About 20 students and 10 school staff joined us. It was very crowded and very sad. 

      Maranda and I made three other trips during her stay. One was to a new English-medium primary school which had been built last year buy my friend Fr Joel Marwa in his home village. It opened in January to pre-schoolers, so we were invited to meet the 30 young students, teacher and staff and have lunch there. One week-end we spent the night in Musoma with my friend Liz Mach who is our oldest Maryknoll Lay Missioner and is also a nurse from Minnesota. She celebrated 41 years as a lay missioner in Tanzania so she and Maranda had a lot to talk about. It was a fun week-end. The last trip was a short one day tour of the Serengeti Park with Liz and Maranda. We did not see as many animals as usual, but we did see a lot, and some unusually good looks at several hyena, ostrich, many giraffe and a huge number of hippopotamus. It was a fun day and night. 

       Maranda headed home in mid October, after a sad goodbye to the students and hospital. I continued to work with the new pastor, Fr Julius Ogolla, until mid November. During my stay I met several other village students and one KGSS senior who needed financial help, so I agreed  to sponsor them (5). Maranda and her parents also agreed to sponsor one of the sophomore (Form II) students for the next two years. We also both contributed to the fund raiser for the secondary school to help build a new assembly hall. I received two donations from a couple in Colorado for soccer balls, volleyballs and volleyball nets so I gave them to the secondary school and two village volleyball men’s teams and one hospital women’s volleyball team. As usual I took a lot of photo’s during this visit and distributed the photos. I distributed mosquito nets and photos and rosaries to the hospital maternity patients as I have done several years.  I paid a few medical bills including one for my older friend, Mzee Rya, who had cataract surgery after I left.

       We had three very nice visitors who stayed with us at Kowak Mission my last two weeks there. Alesha was a graduate student from the Univ of Toronto; Editha was one of her research assistants from Arusha, and Lameck was the other research assistant from Mwanza. They were all very pleasant and fun to have around at meal time. Alesha is working on her PhD for the next 3 months at Kowak and the final 3 months in another village not far away. We have two American volunteers (Jay and Kathy) coming in late January from Colorado to teach English for two months so I helped them make the contacts before them arrive. Maybe I’ll meet them, if Fr Conard is allowed to return while they are there.

       I attended several Masses in outstations with Fr Ogolla. One of them was for a blessing of the new church in Miko which Fr Conard finished building just before he departed. I took a nice video during that Mass and Blessing ceremony to show Fr Conard in November. I stopped in New York on my way home and spent three days with Fr Conard at the assisted living center (St Teresa’s) at Maryknoll. We had a very nice visit and he was able to view my video’s with the help of Fr Dick Quinn, Fr Conard’s first pastor in Africa. I also got to greet many of the older Maryknoll priests I knew when they were in Africa.

        Merry Christmas ya’all

MY ELEVENTH YEAR IN EAST AFRICA STARTED TODAY

        I was just reading my last blog from Nov 2 of how it might be my last trip to East Africa. I wanted to spend the year home with family and friends for a change while I had good health, but I made the mistake of reading a book called Being Mortal. I also planned to attend the 55^th reunion of my Chanute High School class in September since I had missed the 50^th and some classmates have died since then. But the book convinced me of the importance of spending time with the elderly in the last years of their lives and that is the case with our Maryknoll pastor, Fr Conard, in his 87^th year of life and 61^st year of mission in Tanzania. As it turned out I suspect this will be Fr Conard’s last year in Tanzania.

        I was also attracted to return by the scheduled visits of two new sets of volunteers and the potential return of one or two former Kowak volunteers. You read about them in my last blog, I hope.  The new volunteers included a retired couple from Hawaii, the Shannons. They arrived in mid-July and are scheduled to depart the mission today (Aug 19^th), so I will miss them. I certainly regret that but my return was delayed about two weeks due to a sudden medical issue the day I was scheduled to depart. That seems to be under control now. The other new volunteer is a new nursing graduate that was scheduled to travel with me, so she had to travel alone which I also regret, but God had other plans. Maranda arrived fine as scheduled.  She’ll stay until mid-October, then I’m hopeful to have a returning volunteer, Dr Jim, for two or three weeks. The lovely Therese McCarthy has family issues which will keep her home this year but we are praying for a better year and a visit next year.

        It won’t be the same without Fr Conard, of course and we are all praying he will recover and return to Kowak soon. He fell during mass in mid-June and injured his back. But the main problem now seems to be more mental and recognizing that he is back in America for treatment. His back pain is under control and he is sleeping well. I’ll be working on his financial reports for this year and his project reports for Maryknoll project money that should all be spent now, since the projects are mostly completed. My change of departure allowed me to schedule a visit to Maryknoll in NY to visit Fr Conard which I am so happy I did. He really needed me and others to cheer him up. 

        I’ve had a wonderful visit in Kansas and around the country since I returned last November. In addition to seeing my sons Adam and Kyle in Kentucky and Georgia and their lovely wives and children, they came to visit me and the extended family in June. It was a fun week. I traveled to Miami with Sr Barbara McCracken for two weeks in February as we did the previous year. It was great to see Rose Anderson and many of her friends again. Rose came to see me just two weeks ago on her way home from a Colorado vacation so that was a fun surprise for my going away party attended by 40 friends and family. I also received  over $600 in gifts for mosquitos nets for the new mothers at Kowak hospital.

        Last April I went to visit Vikki Smith in Salem, OR, for two weeks and meet many of her friends. The scenery was wonderful but meeting her sisters and friends and getting to visit the Mt Angel Abbey was a special treat. I also got to see our friend Bertha Haas in Portland and my cousin Joyce and her husband and son in Portland. A real treat was the fund raiser, Taste of Tanzania, for the handicapped children’s school in Tanzania and getting to meet one of our former Kowak volunteers, Patty Murphy, a retired PA in Portland. At the end of April and early May I made one last two week trip to Utah with my friends the Johnson brothers, David and Jim, to see several National Parks and visit former Kowak volunteers, Henry and Jean who live in Salt Lake City. Jean escorted us through the wonderful Natural History museum at the University of Utah and we three were given use of their condo for a week in Moab, while we re-visited the parks in that area.  It was a wonderful trip with a lot of video photography to enjoy when we got home. We topped off the trip with a visit to the Trappist Monastery in Snow Mass, CO  and an overnight in lovely Basalt nearby.

        The last two months of my home stay in June and July were spent at home and at church with my contemplative prayer group and listening to wonderful spirituality speakers like Sr Elia Delio who our group sponsored at Avila University in late June. Most weekends were with family in my backyard swimming, playing lots of croquet and watching the kids on the new swings and on the old trampoline. The weather was great nearly every weekend so it made for a wonderful family summer.  Thanks you all.