Letters from Africa

July, 2009

We began the new school year last February with 209 girls. We now have a freshman and a sophomore level!

It was pretty hectic in those first weeks of the new term. The dorm roof was not finished, and there was no building for the teachers (all Tanzanian schools are required to provide housing for their teachers). The bunk beds were all over the place in the dormitory building! They were set up tightly, one next to another in the dormitories and on the corridor. It was so tight everywhere so it was difficult to squeeze through from room to room. But now the dorms are finished, and the electricity and water are connected. We've been able to register 27 more girls. We now have 236 students for this school year, which runs until the end of November.

Guess what? We now have an actual kitchen! Instead of firewood, it uses cow dung, which is very environmental-friendly and economical, for the cooking. And we have another 'green' improvement: we've installed a science lab and a solar-powered computer lab that still operates when the electricity goes off (which is more than half the time), courtesy of solar power. The computers are micro-computers; they are only about 4 inches square by 2 inches deep. Many solar and computer experts tell us we are probably the only school in all of East Africa that has a lab with this type of computer running on solar energy.

Since the building for the teachers hasn't even been begun, they are living at a hostel connected with a mosque about six miles away. We have to drive them back and forth. Sometimes the hostel has guests coming, so our teachers need to find another place to stay until their rooms are once again unoccupied. Recently, we've made arrangements with Madaraka Nyerere, the son of the first President of Tanzania, to repair and renovate the home of his grandmother for our teachers. When it's done, it will give the teachers a one year rent-free, quiet, permanent place to live. We'll then probably have to buy each teacher a bicycle so they can travel back and forth from the house to the school.

It is very hard to get and to keep qualified Tanzanian teachers, so please remember our teachers in your prayers. Thanks!

Right now, we have a native Tanzanian priest, Father Maruru, on staff. Each day, he has Mass for us and a rotating group of students. Of course, the three of us (the Sisters) are overjoyed. As Resurrection Sisters, we know the Mass is the main source of our strength, our closest connection with our Risen Lord, and the way of being united with all the members of the Body of Christ. Our girls, even our non-Catholic girls, are also very happy to be able to go to Mass often.

Our next major project is the building of an all-purpose hall to serve as a dining room (right now, the girls still sit on the ground outdoors for all their meals), a place where we can have Mass indoors, and a place where we can show the girls videos, etc. But we can't start construction yet, because we don't have the funds. But God has been so good to us we can't complain.

God bless you, and please continue to pray for us as we do for you.

Love and prayer,

Sister Beata Joseph C.R., Sister Ewa Maria C.R., and Sister Maria Jadwiga, C.R.

P.S. Sister Stephanie returned to Chicago the end of April from what was supposed to be a "three to six month" assignment to "start a school" in Tanzania. Instead, she spent 28 months there and poured her whole being into building up the Kingdom of God. We are so grateful to her for her most loving discipleship. Sister Beata Joseph is now the Headmistress, Sister Ewa Maria is the Superior, and Sister Maria Jadwiga is the "newcomer."