All work and no play . . .

Saturday's class is only two hours, and after some prayer and vocabulary work, we played some games -- stressing speaking in English. The pictures tell the story. There was a lot of laughter and general encouragement as we rolled the dice and turned over the cards.

Playing Yahtzee

Playing cards

Air hockey on the iPad

More about Life in Africa

Today's blog will show a few everyday experiences here in Africa. The pictures tell the story.

The best way to carry books?
Use your head!

The sisters grow their own food
and everyone helps
in shelling beans

Many hands make light work

All the clothes we wash
 must be ironed to make sure
no little bugs are present

Going to church in Masasi

Most people here walk to town. Sue rode to town in a bagagi with S. Trojestina. The pictures show our trip home from church in a bagagi. And as sometimes happens in Africa, we ran out of gas. But no worries -- everyone helps each other out. Our driver flagged down another bagagi driver and borrowed his gas canister. A motorcycle rider took the canister and some cash to a nearby gas station. Our driver found an empty water bottle at the side of the road and fashioned a funnel to put the gas into the bagagi. By the time the funnel was complete, the motorcycle rider was back with gas, and we were on our way. All this was accomplished in less than 5 minutes! It truly shows the helpful spirit of the Tanzanian people.

Sisters walking to church

Our bagagi

Putting gas in the bagagi

Lay Salvatorians in Tanzania

There have been attempts over the years to start Lay Salvatorian groups in Tanzania. Last year, Fr. Lukoa translated formation information into Kiswahili. S. Trojestina works with the women's group at the parish church in Masasi. We are beginning a wonderful relationship with them. On Sunday, we visited together after church, and today, two of their leaders stopped by to talk more about becoming Lay Salvatorians. It's a slow process, but they are enthusiastic. The Sisters, priests and Brothers are collaborating with the lay members of the parish to plan the jubilee celebrations for later this year. There's lots to be thankful for!

Women's group in Masasi
after Mass on Sunday

The Sisters sing as we leave

A visit at the convent

Divide and succeed!

One class each day we divide into ability groups. Sue works with the beginners and S. Barbara has the advanced group. There's lots of conversation, and lots of learning!

Working hard

Sue and the beginners

S. Barbara and her group

Sunday in Makulani, visiting and sharing

Today after Mass, we visited the novitiate house in Makulani, about a 30-minute drive from Masasi. The Sisters from the Congo, a candidate, and the two novices who are in our class came too. There are 7 novices living there now. We had a great visit, a wonderful meal, and a tour of their farm and gardens. The pictures show their exemplary use of newer approaches to make their life better. The pictures, themselves, tell the story.

Sue and S. Petronila

The group in front of the Novitiate

Explaining how bio-gas works

Bio-gas is methane created from manure
and collected and piped into the kitchen
for the cook stove

Solar panels used to generate electricity
for pumping water

Tank for collecting rain water

The tractor gets lots of use!!

Saturday's post, delayed by stateside Jubilee activities

On Saturday we have a short class--just two hours. We sang, read and discussed Psalm 100, which they had read during morning prayer. Then we learned to do sudoku. They were very engaged and worked together in English. They certainly had a lot of practice counting from 1 to 9! The rest of the day is set aside for cleaning and other chores.

S. Barbara explains sudoku

Concentration

A little coaching

Working together

A Friday full of action

Today we had a lot of action in class. In the morning, we had a lesson in prepositions. They practiced them by acting them out -- walk around the room, put the chair over your head. Then this afternoon we did the hokey pokey! Lots of laughter. Lots of learning.

"Sit on the chair."

"Put the chair over your head."

♫"You put your right arm in,
you put your . . ."♫

♫"You do the hokey pokey
and you turn yourself about . . ."♫

And the pictures from yesterday . . .

Madam Sue explaining the timeline project

Individual help

Sharing our timelines

Let me tell something about my life

Good days just keep on coming . . .

Another good day of class. Besides working on vocabulary and verb forms, we completed personal timelines and shared them with each other. We gained some practice speaking and reading numbers and got to know one another even more.

Wonderful progress

The class is going SO very well! It's hard to think it's only the third day of class. We have done so much already. The two of us switch off in our teaching roles. These pictures show Sister Barbara teaching a vocabulary lesson.

Whole group instruction

Individual help

Together, we all grow

We've had two days of classes. There are three 90-minute classes each day. We also eat all our meals together and practice our English conversation during meals. It's quite intense, and we develop into a close, caring community. Today's pictures show us eating lunch together. We had ugali, beans, rice, noodles, and greens. At dinner, we had a treat of some watermelon from the Sisters' garden. Yum!!

Eating our meals together

Lots of helping hands for clean up

Let the learning begin!!

Great first day of class! We have a wonderful group of Sisters with various English abilities. There was great participation today -- lots of helping and lots of laughter!

The class

Our hard working students

Deep concentration!

Sunday, the day before class begins . . .

It was a busy Sunday. Mass here at the chapel with the Sisters was filled with beautiful singing and prayers. We had our last meals with Sister Paula at the regional house. Tomorrow we will eat with our class, and during those meals we encourage speaking only English. Last year, one of the students said, "No English, no service." The classroom is ready, and so are we!

Sunday breakfast at the regional house.

The other side of the table at breakfast.

Happy Birthday, Fr. Jordan!

Today is a special day for the Salvatorian Family. Our Founder, Father Francis Jordan, was born on June 16, 1918. Today we celebrated!! After breakfast, Fr. Josaphat gave a talk on some of Fr. Jordan's teachings. Then there was Mass and a dinner. The pictures tell the story.

Fr. Josaphat giving a talk in Jordan Hall

The chapel decorated for Fr. Jordan Day

Group picture at Fr. Jordan statue

Dancing after dinner.
Yes -- they are doing the "Electric Slide"

Beauty all around!

Here at the mission in Masasi, there are many flower beds that are lovingly cared for by the Sisters. Here are a few samples of the beauty that surrounds us.

Flowers

Flowers in a bed

Flowers draped along a fence

Flowers in the middle of the path