The Last Dance Of David And Irene In Our School

Girl Power - Kiabakari Style

Germany Appreciation Day And The Fifth Graduation Ceremony in Kiabakari - A Short Movie

This is just a short YouTube version of the full-length DVD (2,5 hours long) of the special celebration on December 3, 2014 in our pre- and primary school. I have posted already a still images but the video is a totally different quality of reporting. A special word of thanks to Mr. Aldimilablis Novatus for the shooting and expert editing of the movie. I hope you enjoy what you are about to see! 

Priority 2014

Arrived to home town of Kraków last Thursday night for the long awaited vacation intertwined with the quest of securing some help for the completion of our primary school in Kiabakari, medical checkups, visitations of people and places dear to my heart and so forth.

I am very grateful to my colleagues who invited me for mission awareness Sunday, with preaching and fundraisings for the cause. I am grateful also to Miss Agata Krupa, volunteer of Foundation Kiabakari for the design of the info leaflet I will be distributing in the parishes and places wherever I will happen to be. Gratitude to Fr. Roman Zapała who volunteered to cover the expenses of the printing of the publication and to Wydawnictwo Platan in Kryspinów, near Kraków, for offering to print it immediately and for the costs of the materials used only. Thank you so much, you people of immense heart for the mission's cause in Kiabakari. God bless you much! I do hope this little publication will help people I will meet in my quest to know better Kiabakari, Foundation Kiabakari, what we do, what is needed there and so forth.

Here it is - the little leaflet, my little companion on the road from May to August. May God grant special convincing powers to all readers of this publication to move their hearts to join our cause and help to push it forward. It is in Polish language, understandably, and here it is shown front and back on one page for better viewing.

Anticipation

The next few weeks will be filled to the brim with anticipation of results of projects accepted by Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the development scheme of Polish Aid 2014. It will be known in the near future if any of our Foundation Kiabakari submitted projects will go through. I am not going to be a prophet of any kind. Just praying to God for His Will to be fulfilled as He himself knows how much we need them in this particular point of development of Kiabakari.

I know the amount of work that went into the preparation of the projects, how well they are founded and grounded in reality, how much the local community in our village and district at large needs them.

It is up to the special commission to decide if our reasoning finds its favorable decision.

To me, either way will not make my year much different. If we get the funding, it will be easier to me to complete those projects. If not, it will be up to me to find alternative sources of funding.

I will not reveal in extenso what kind of projects we sent for funding to the Ministry. I can only say that the primary school project which includes the finishing of the remaining three classrooms and computer room with extension multipurpose service building - is absolutely crucial to me. I have to do it this year.  My standard four students will sit for the national exam this year, as you know from my previous posts. For this I need a registration of the school.

As I struggle to get the registration of our pre- and primary school, one of the conditions for the full registration is the completion of the infrastructure and the basic school equipment. The Tanzanian government during the latest inspection estimated that our school project is 81% done (thanks to the pre-school project funded by Polish Aid 2013 and the Small Grant in 2007 which financed construction of foundations, walls, windows and doors of the present primary school). The lacking 19% is crucial.

That is why in prayerful anticipation I will wait for the verdict of the commission. This will tell me how my year will look like. Will it be relatively easy climb towards the important goal with funding from Polish Aid 2014 or it will be a difficult one with me going around the world again in hope of securing the necessary funding? Time will tell. I can only ask humbly the Lord to consider granting me the easier way...

All I ask of you, my esteemed readers, is to pray to God with me in anticipation of things to come. May His will be done.

2 Out Of 3

After two days of celebrations of Mapinduzi Zanzibar and Maulid, today is finally a day of work. Having celebrated the Holy Mass in the morning, I will be soon heading to the Ministry of Education to receive the official letter from the Hon. Minister - the recognition of the Diocese of Musoma as the lawful owner of pre-school and primary school in Kiabakari and myself as an executive director / manager of the same. This process of registration has there major steps and we have done two out of three. After today, what will be left is to finally register the schools and get the government number. This will enable us to be recognized as educational institution in Tanzania and as a recognized examination center for the upcoming national exams for which our standard four students will sit for the first time in the short history of our primary school.

Apart from this visit at the Ministry, what is on the agenda today is the visit to Crown Healthcare Ltd. - our main supplier and maintenance provider for our health center in Kiabakari. Since we have got a brand new water bath machine and microscope funded by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 'Upendo Unaojali' project, purchased at the end of the last year, I am able to bring for the emergency repair our old water bath and microscope - which - after some six years of continuous work in our lab - gave up and broke down.

In the afternoon, time permitting, I may feel tempted to go to the movie theater. Some new movies playing (same blockbusters as elsewhere in the world). We will see!

Registration Of Our Schools In Kiabakari

Just a quick note. Went this morning to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training with the complete documentation from Mara Region for the registration of our pre- and primary schools. Met nice people there. Hopefully, Hon. Minister will find time to sign approval of the docs, so we can process with the full registration. Fingers crossed and prayers, please!

First Aid Kits

The First Aid Project 'Huduma ya Kwanza' is going on very well in Kiabakari. Volunteers of our Foundation Kiabakari are doing exceptional job running courses for inhabitants of Kukirango ward and for teachers of primary and secondary schools in the area. Apart from teaching aids which Karolina and Agata prepared, now they finished preparing special first aid kits for each school - fourteen in total. every headmistress/headmaster will be presented with the kit for free at the end of the course for each school. Here are a few pictures of the prepared kits and its contents. Well done, Karolina and Agata!

Recycling Education

I would like to share with you quickly a remarkable story of a lady in my home parish who relentlessly goes around people's houses collecting papers, magazines, newspapers for recycling. The money she gets from the recycling center she collects until it suffices to support one child in my pre- and primary school in Kiabakari through the educational adoption program of Foundation Kiabakari. So far this year she was able to adopt educationally four children already. Amazing effort! Recycling for education. Recycling wasted paper to give it a new meaning - a hope for quality education for underprivileged children in rural Tanzania. Hats off to the wonderful lady! I applaud her effort as I send a thanksgiving letter to her today for the donation of the fourth adopted child in our school.

Ad Gentes

I am truly grateful for the Polish Episcopal Conference 'Ad Gentes' Department funding for the provision of breakfast for our pre- and primary school students and the salaries of a cook and a cleaning lady - for the next two years. This - together with Foundation Kiabakari continuous educational adoption program - certainly will ease off immensely the pressure to increase school fees due to skyrocketing costs of life in Tanzania and will help to maintain the same high quality education for our children in Kiabakari for the basement level of financial committment of the families. Very, very happy!

Dividing The Time By The Spoon

Since my comeback to Kiabakari at the beginning of October, I have this prevailing feeling that the time has become densely congested, packed with numerous activities and challenges, all thrown at us at once. It feels like if the time has become a jelly which is so thick that one can divide it by the spoon...

Empty Desks

After consultation with MM, seeing the point they made after observing our school for almost two months and after meeting with sisters, I clearly see that our educational adoption efforts must be directed for the time being (especially with our sponsors' donations for the next year) to the procurement of school books for our students in primary school.

Muffins

Tomorrow is the big day for children from our school. They are going on school tour to Serengeti National Park. You can only imagine how excited they are! Since I came to Kiabakari in 1991, I have never heard of any school tours in government primary schools in our area to Serengeti. So, tomorrow is a historic day. The very first ever school safari to the Pride of the Nation - the Serengeti National Park...

Meetings

The day of several crucial meetings and visitors. My head is already spinning and still there is one more meeting 'sine qua non', but so far I have been very pleased and happy with the day's proceedings!

Heart Warming

It started innocently, just like that... At first I noticed first graders stopping in their tracks on their way to our school as I was celebrating morning Masses in February, when the first grade class opened at that time... Some of more curious and inquisitive children would stop initially near the school and just stare wondering what was going on up the hill in the bright lit chapel in such an early hour of daylight...

Photo Session

Last Monday, on February 7, 2011, the doors to standard one classroom opened officially and our graduants from Blessed Maria Teresa Ledóchowska Pre-School crossed the threshold of the classroom for the very first time. This marked the actual opening of our Blessed Edmund Bojanowski Primary School in Kiabakari. A genuine milestone and hallmark in my life and struggle to make the dream, the vision of Divine Mercy embracing the whole human person right here in Kiabakari, on the Divine Mercy Hill and around it - come true...

Two Victories

This day today brought a genuine mental rollercoaster. Feeling a bit drained and burned out, but calmly happy as two miracles happened today, two small victories, two prayers heard and answered, and all this on this special day, the Feast of the Birth of Our Lady...