EDNY August Pilgrimage Group

It’s actually quite difficult to describe in words what the experiences of the last few weeks have been like. On Wednesday, August 13th a group of 16 people from the Episcopal Diocese of New York arrived in Dodoma to go to their linked parishes and visit their kids. Three of the four villages I went to during the visit were linked to parishes in New York and the fourth was a parish that is new to The Carpenter’s Kids program and we were able to participate in the first ever distribution in the village.

I think if I tried to describe everything that happened during the almost two weeks that the New York group was here, this blog posting might rival War and Peace in terms of length (it may do that anyway!). The one thing that has remained consistent throughout all of these experiences – and really my entire time here in Tanzania - has been the incredible warmth and generosity that has been extended to everyone in our group. It’s really quite amazing.

On Friday August 15th, I went to the parish of Ntyuka which is just outside of Dodoma – about a 20 minute drive or so. Ntyuka is one of the three parishes in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika that is supported by St. Luke’s Church in the Bronx. Pastor Noah and I were the staff members for the group and we went with Donald, Francilla and Corey (all from St. Luke’s) and Brian, Judy and Sue (all from St. Bart’s in Manhattan).We were met about half a mile outside of the village by a group of kids who proceeded to run behind the car as we drove into the village. We were a little concerned that some of them were getting too close to the car and tried to wave at them to not run so close, but really all that did was get them to run faster. We finally got close enough to the priest’s house to get out and walk, which we did and we were greeted by multiple handshakes and karibu’s (welcome) and habari’s (hi/how are you). The priest, Rev. Alfa, greeted us all in English and invited us into his home for breakfast. We had tea and mandaazi, which are kind of like donuts only much, much better.

After we finished breakfast, we went to the church to start the festivities. There were lots of people in the church - the choir, a mother’s group, children of all ages. The music was amazing. To start things off, Rev. Alfa made some remarks and introduced some members of the community who are involved in The Carpenter’s Kids program. Then it was our turn for introductions. Pastor Noah and Frank, one of the translators who was helping us while the New York group was here, ably translated everything into Swahili. After introductions and some parish reports, we all helped Donald, Francilla and Corey unpack the gifts they brought for their Kids and everyone who helps with the program. It was quite the party as things were handed out. Everyone in our group was given gifts as well – everything from bowls made out of sun-dried gourds to necklaces and woven bags. Donald was given the chief’s treatment though and was wrapped in a bright red piece of cloth and given sandals, a staff, a long machete-like knife, a belt and a carving of Joseph leading Mary holding baby Jesus on a donkey. When I can post pictures, I’ll be sure to put up my photo of Donald all decked out in his Ntyuka gear. When the distribution of gifts was over, we took a short stretching break and then went back into the church to have lunch. There was so much food I literally cannot remember everything. There was lots of rice and there were multiple meat options and vegetables- just lots of stuff. We were given our choice of soda – Coke, Sprite or orange Fanta (my personal favorite) and a bottle of water. After lunch we reluctantly said our goodbyes and headed back to Dodoma.

On Saturday August 16th, I went to Chali Isangha, which is the westernmost parish in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika. It took a good 2-2.5 hours to get there on some really bumpy dirt roads. Needless to say, we were all thrilled to get out of the Land Cruiser! Chali Isangha seemed more remote than any of the other parishes I’ve been to and I suppose given that it was the furthest I’ve traveled in Tanzania with the exception of the Dar-Dodoma trip that shouldn’t be too surprising. It just really felt like we were far away from anything familiar. Again, though, the welcome was as warm as we’ve come to expect. We arrived in the village a little after 10am and were greeted by Father Alexander and invited into his house for breakfast – tea, mandaazi, and sweet potatoes (white sweet potatoes, not yams).

After breakfast, we walked over to a small clearing sheltered by some trees that provided us with some shade and the festivities began again. Unlike Ntyuka or Mwitikira, Chali Isangha is a parish that is new to The Carpenter’s Kids program and this was the first distribution. You can really see a difference in the way the children who’ve been a part of the program for at least a year act when you see children who are new to the program. These children were very quiet, reluctant to wave or smile back at you. They did sing us a very nice song, though, with the words ‘karibuni wageni wetu, karibuni,’ which means ‘welcome our visitors, welcome.’ The day here was similar to other village visits, but it contained a short description of The Carpenter’s Kids program and a demonstration on how to use mosquito nets. After that, we got to help hand out uniforms, school supplies, mosquito nets and shoes to all of the kids. After each child received their items, they went to change into their new uniforms. We had to help some of the kids tie their shoes because they didn’t know what to do with the laces. Once all of the kids were in their uniforms and shoes, they reassembled for a group photo before we officially broke for the day. They looked wonderful.

Before we went back to Father Alexander’s house for lunch, he took us to their church for a tour. At first I thought that they were in the middle of construction because there are walls, but no roof. However, Father Alexander explained that they had used the wrong kind of soil in the mixture for the bricks and the rain had washed the roof and the upper part of the walls away. There was a small shelter made out of wood that was in the middle of the church, but that was the only thing that would protect anyone from the rain. We took some pictures of some of the Carpenter’s Kids in the church as they’d followed us into the building and were watching us listen to their priest. Then we headed back to Father Alexander’s house for lunch. I have never seem so much cooked rice in one place outside of a restaurant. After a quick bathroom break, we all piled back into the Land Cruiser and began the long journey back to Dodoma.

On Sunday we split up into several different groups to go to church services. I went with the group that went to the Cathedral here in Dodoma. Instead of going to the English service, though, we all got up early and went to the 7:00am Swahili service. It was great! It was actually much more like services at my home church than I thought it would be. It was in Swahili of course, but it still felt like home. We were asked to sit right up front with the choir and the priests and in about the middle of the service we had to introduce ourselves to the entire church – easily about 350-400 people. After the service we headed to Msalato Theological College to have a tour of the campus and have lunch with the staff. Everyone there was wonderful and very happy to have us there. The staff gave Miriam a lovely knitted shawl as a going away present to thank her for her friendship and her work here in Dodoma.

After we finished lunch, we headed to Jubilee High School where 4 groups of Carpenter’s Kids had gathered to participate in a Sports Day. I finally got to meet some of the kids from the Cathedral parish which is linked with my home parish, St. John the Divine in NYC. They were excited to see someone else from their linked parish and were thrilled when I told them that Canon Alan (ask he’s referred to here) and Matthew said to say ‘hello’ to them. Some of the kids were wearing their I (heart) NY t-shirts and New York caps and pointed them out to me several times just to make sure I saw them. We were treated to some great soccer games, netball games and several tug-of-war matches with Willie from The Carpenter’s Kids staff providing commentary over the loudspeaker. Noel and Daudi did a great job serving as referees during all of the matches. Readers from St. John the Divine will be happy to know that the Cathedral boys won a well-played soccer game and the Cathedral girls won the first netball game in the tournament! We headed back home around 5pm so everyone had time to rest before the parish visits started again on Monday morning.

On Monday August 18th, I headed to Mvumi Makulu with Pastor Noah and the St. Bartians, which is the great name for the 5 members of St. Bart’s in the pilgrimage group – Brian, Sue, Judy, Robin and Lucia. St. Bart’s is linked with Mvumi Makulu and supports a group of 100 children there. I got to be a videographer for the day, as I used Brian’s video camera to record the day’s happenings so Brian could be an active part of the day at his parish. After a quick lesson, I was ready (for the most part) to start. We drove the hour or so from Dodoma to Mvumi Makulu through some beautiful country and arrived at Mvumi to see a large group of people waiting for us singing. All 100 of the Carpenter’s Kids were there leading the singing of a song that translates to ‘welcome, welcome our visitors, welcome to Makulu parish.’ Some of the kids were wearing their I (heart) NY t-shirts they’d received from last year’s St. Bart’s group. We stayed outside to listen to the kids for a little while before going into the parish priest’s (Father Ashery) house for breakfast – tea and mandaazi.

After breakfast, we walked around the village to see some of the kids’ homes and meet their guardians. The St. Bartians even tried their hand at making flour for ugali! It was impressive. After we saw several of the kids’ homes – houses made of mud and wood – that were surprisingly cool given the heat of the day, we headed back to the church and started the now familiar pattern of village visits. There were introductions all around, followed by gifts from the parish to all of us, gifts from the St. Bart’s group – including some great gifts that Sue made by hand – and parish reports. The group also brought pencils for all of the non-Carpenter’s Kids children in the village so everyone got something which was really nice. One of my favorite gifts of the day was a beautiful stole for Father Ashery that a member of the St. Bart’s parish had made with an inscription commemorating the day and the partnership between St. Bart’s and Mvumi Makulu. There was lots of singing and dancing, with a group of Carpenter’s Kids giving several performances. As we were waiting for lunch, we got to spend some time with the kids. It was great to see all of the St. Bartians playing with their kids. There were fist bumps, high fives and peace signs all over the place – that goes over really well with kids here. Lucia was even teaching some of the kids a clapping game. It was fun.

We went in to the church to have lunch and were happy to see the Carpenter’s Kids sitting inside having lunch with us. I got a great picture of the St. Bartians with the little girl who led the singing and dancing as well. We were escorted to our car by almost all of the parish Carpenter’s Kids who all wanted to shake hands and say goodbye even if their hands were still covered with the remnants of their lunch. It took awhile, but we finally said goodbye to everyone – I think there were a few kids whose hands I shook at least 5 times, but they kept getting back in line to say goodbye. We headed back to Dodoma with hearts lighter than they were when we arrived.

That evening we had dinner as a group with Bishop Mhogolo and then after dinner those of us on staff here in Dodoma and in New York had a separate meeting with him to discuss the program.

Tuesday, August 19th, was our final day of parish visits with the New York group. I went with Patti Welch, who is the chaplain of the Cathedral School in New York to her linked parish, Ilindi. The parish is linked with the Cathedral School and the 50 Carpenter’s Kids in Ilindi are supported by children at the school in New York. I wasn’t initially scheduled to go to Ilindi, but I asked if I could switch groups because I wanted to be with Patti when she went to her linked parish. Patti is actually the first priest I met at St. John the Divine back in 2005 when I first visited the church before joining the congregation, so I thought it would be great to go with her when she visited Ilindi for the first time.

We arrived in Ilindi a little early, so we sat outside of the chuch and listened to the Mother’s Union and the Carpenter’s Kids sing for awhile before going into the church for a breakfast of tea, chapati (a tortilla-like flatbread) and some dried liver. I did try to liver because I didn’t want to be rude. I only ate one piece – enough to convince me that liver jerky was not really my thing – and gave the rest to Noel who was eating it like candy and happily took it off of my hands. After breakfast, we went to visit 3 of the Carpenter’s Kids’ homes and meet their guardians. Patti had a great time and really connected with the guardians. She had her picture taken with each family and was even given a handmade broom from one of the grandmothers of the kids. One of the most moving moments of the morning for me was meeting the grandfather of one of the kids. His left leg had been amputated above the knee because he’d developed cancer in the late 1960’s. He had to use 2 canes to get around, but he was in the group that met us at the church when we first arrived, he’d gone back home to see welcome us there and went back to the church for the rest of the day. It wasn’t a short walk between the two places either.

When we’d finished our tour, we went back to the church and went through introductions, parish reports and the giving and receiving of gifts. The kids all really liked their Carpenter’s Kids t-shirts, but the best gifts were the pictures the kids in New York had drawn for the kids in Ilindi. Each picture was mounted on a piece of construction paper and each of the 50 kids received one. After the gifts were given, the Carpenter’s Kids sang us several songs and presented Patti with copies of the lyrics that they’d written out. Patti also taught everyone the prayer that they say at the Cathedral School and with the help of Noel, translated it into Swahili so everyone could understand and say it along with her.

We had lunch in the church – again so much food! – and then went outside for some pictures. Patti and I were each given chickens earlier in the day. I held mine for about 4 seconds before they took it to put it in a plastic bag for me. Before we left, Patti and I left our chickens in the care of the priest before we left so he could take care of them until someone else from the Cathedral School visits Ilindi next summer. We arrived back in Dodoma in the late afternoon and had a short time to rest before heading to the farewell dinner during which everyone in the New York group was given a gift from the Carpenter’s Kids staff and each staff member was given a gift from the New York group. I was especially happy because Tyson and David, whom I met when we all went to Mikumi National Park during my first week in Tanzania, were at the dinner too. Their father, Peter, works as a driver for the Diocese and all of our drivers and their families were invited to come. The boys were easily the best dressed attendees and looked sharp in their suits.

On Wednesday, we had a roundtable discussion with the New York group and the priests from their linked parishes that was moderated by Bishop Mhogolo. This gave everyone a chance to share what the experience meant to them and to say goodbye or see you next year, as the case may be. After we had lunch with the priests, we piled into a bus and drove to Morogoro so the New York group could go to Mikumi National Park. Sarah and I were excited because our hotel rooms had large beds (we have twin beds in our apartments) and televisions. We were able to catch up on some news – Russia and Georgia had a war and no one told me! – and watch some South African soap operas on the one English channel available. It might not seem that exciting to anyone else, but we were thrilled.

We drove the New York group to the airport in Dar es Salaam on Friday, August 22nd so they could fly home. It was sad to see them go, as we all enjoyed having them here, but we know that they are going to go back to New York and spread the word about The Carpenter’s Kids program. We hope to see some of them back next summer!