The Wait is Over... Alleluia!

Made it to Musoma!

Sunset on Lake Victoria from Musoma

Happy Easter from the Village, Friends! He is Risen! I hope you all had an amazing Spring Day filled with celebration and rejoicing! Here in Musoma we went to Mass with the IHSA sisters and then in the afternoon we enjoyed party time and a lovely dinner at St. Justin’s Home for disabled children. It was unlike any Easter I’ve ever had before but defiantly one of my favorites! 

    Musoma is great! I am working at a Center for young woman called Rosemiriam Dagg. Here, they teach life and vocational skills like sewing and entrepreneurship. So far I am just getting to know the teachers and the students. I have started them a website (https://rosemiriamdagg.org/) And am looking forward to helping with their books and accounting strategies. They have a small store where they sell things they sew and hopefully we will be opening a bakery and pharmacy soon! 

Sewing class at Rosemiriam Dagg Center

Easter was a bit different here in Africa, I am reminded of all of the wonderful things these holidays entail and what they truly mean. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday hit me especially hard this year, the reality of Jesus dying and the unknown that was to come after that struck me harder here than it ever has before. Usually by the time these days of remembrance roll around I am thinking of how Lent is almost over and Easter Celebrations are right around the corner. However, this year I didn’t even know what the Easter plans were until Sunday morning- so not stressing over them gave me time to contemplate the reality of the death of our Lord.

Here in Musoma, there are many things that are not as readily available and people have to go without a lot of the time. I am so grateful that this is the place where God has led me. I always wondered why I, out of everyone in the whole world, was so blessed to be born in the USA. Here, it seems that that question is even grander to me. Why am I the person who gets to have an indoor, sitting toilet? Why am I the one who can easily afford a candy bar whenever I feel like it? I think every single Tanzanian works harder than I do- getting up at 4am to clean and cook, then getting all their children ready, then going to work as a farmer or fisherman, coming home to cook dinner and hand-wash all of the laundry, just to get up the next day and do it all over again. 

Me at my Musoma House!

You can always use the excuse “they don’t know what they are missing”- the consciences of the Western World but I think instead of trying to reason why I was so blessed to be born in such a wealthy, privileged country my time would be better spend just appreciating the fact that I was and trying to learn from others who have less, how I can extend those resources to the farthest possible place. 

I think just about everyone my age has a grandparent who grew up in the great depression and usually those stories end with ‘so they keep everything’. Tanzanians (in my experience) are kind of like that. They know how to reuse and repurpose anything you give them. It is so impressive- wine bottles melted into serving dishes, sewing scraps tied into rugs or dishrags, empty juice boxes made into toy cars with caps as the wheels. There are so many examples here of how to avoid filling our landfills and oceans with trash. And there are tons of lessons I’ve yet to learn, I’m sure. But I think we could all take a step back from our ‘first world problems’ sometimes and realize that maybe we are the ones who need to learn a few things here and there. 

View of St. Justins with Lake Victoria in the background

Lent is a powerful time for reflection and consideration, but now that its over and we are back to eating meat on Fridays and having chocolate again, let us not forget the lessons learned during that time. He has risen, just as he did last year, and the year before, but that does not mean that we should take for granted what has happened or assume that it will happen next year, or the year after that. “But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of Heaven, nor the Son but the Father only” - Mathew 24:36

Cathedral of Musoma Diocese 

“Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy; welcome them into the light of your face”